Chapter 2

“Four sisters, darling. Sorry to disappoint.” She held out a hand. “Come on. You need food, and this is something to celebrate.”

They left the lab and headed out to Bubble, their favorite local bar. It wasn’t a big place, and it wasn’t crowded on a weeknight, but the kitchen served a late-night menu until one in the morning and they claimed to have the largest selection of sparkling wine available in the Boston area. Lennon ordered a salad and a glass of something from Schramsberg, because he was so tired he didn’t think he could eat much. Rada got the same bubbly, a sandwich, and got them a cheese plate to split with a warning look at Lennon.

“You know,” she said to him, “All kidding aside, I’m immensely proud of you. I know that the product is going to pass all the testing, with flying colors, because the components have already passed. The only holdup is going to be the projectile part of it, because I don’t think there isa safety inspection for those types of projectiles.” She was being deliberately vague, because one never knew who was listening, but she couldn’t hide her excitement.

“Thanks.” Lennon knew he was blushing. “It’s been a lot to work on, you know? But I’m excited too. When I think about everything that this product will do, with the lives it will save…I’m downright giddy. And I’m not a giddy kind of guy.” He toyed with his champagne flute.

“You don’t look giddy, you look glum.”

He shrugged. “Maybe, a little bit. I’m kind of tired. You know how I get when I’m in the heat of a project. But it’s also…”

“You just can’t wait to throw the whole corporate thing off and dedicate your life to saving the rain forests?” She raised her eyebrow. “Because I’ve got to tell you, man, you could probably do that by now. If not right this minute, then after this product hits market. You can live very comfortably off what you make from it.”

He opened his mouth. Then he shut it again. What he wanted to say was that he wanted someone to share it all with, but he technically had that too. He was right here with the person he cared most about in the world, or at least the person who cared most in the world about him. It wasn’t the same as having someone to come home to at night, but he guessed that wasn’t in the cards for everyone. “I still miss Greg, I suppose” He took a sip of his sparkling wine. “It’s probably difficult because it was all so unfinished. I don’t know if he’s dead or in jail or in a coma or in Tahiti or what.”

Rada bobbed her head from side to side. “I can see your point. It’s been a long time, though. Maybe it’s time to move forward.”

“You’d think that, wouldn’t you?” Lennon laughed at himself. “Anyway, I’m probably simply tired. Tomorrow morning it’ll just be a sour note at the back of my brain, I promise.”

“No sour notes!” A warm hand landed on Lennon’s back. He smiled as he recognized the person to whom that hand was attached. His director of security, Kaden Townsend, had somehow sneaked into the pub without anyone being the wiser and surprised them all. He slid onto the barstool beside Rada and accepted the glass of sparkling wine the bartender pressed onto him. “Why are there sour notes?”

Rada rolled her eyes in her very best melodramatic fashion and smiled at Kaden. “The boss man is spending the night after he makes the discovery that’s going to win him the Nobel Prize for sure mourning for lost love.”

“A Nobel, huh?” Kaden drew back, lifting his eyebrows. “I’m impressed, boss man. It’s good to have a plan.”

“There’s no plan, and no Nobel. Come on, Rada. There’s a lot to do before we find out if this is even commercially viable.” Lennon blushed and ducked his head.

“Oh, you mean like when you designed nanobots that could repair a damaged heart while it was still in the human body. Or when you designed nanobots that could repair a damaged spine.” Kaden lifted his flute in an exaggerated motion. “Excuse me. My mistake.”

Lennon had to laugh. “Okay, fine, but this is a little more complex and it’s not about winning a Nobel Prize, it’s about leaving the world a better place than we found it. Don’t get me wrong, the Nobel is an honor, but it’s not why we got into this job.” He grabbed a forkful of salad. “Kaden, how did you know to come looking for us? We’re happy you’re here looking for us, of course, but we didn’t tell anyone where we were going.”

Rada elbowed Lennon, a playful grin taking some of the sting out of the gesture. “He’s the director of security, Lennon! It’s his job to know these things. He’s our staff ninja, in a suit and tie.”

Kaden nodded. “She’s right about that, actually. I had something I wanted to talk to you about, Len, so I checked the security cameras and noticed you leaving your office. I might have had to do some super-secret spy stuff to figure out where you guys went after you left, though.” He waggled his perfectly sculpted eyebrows up and down and leered.