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Patrick said, "Bryn! On your nine!" She turned left, expecting to see an eneate

And the gate was a whole lot easier to scale than the wall itself

Bryn cli it open for Patrick, who eased in with his eyes darting fro to see, not even a dog or a gardener Eerily quiet

"Maybe he’s gone," she said "This may not be his full-tiabond ways," Patrick said, but he wasn’t disagreeing "Go I’ll cover you"

There wasn’t any need There were no booby traps, no ambushes, no hidden deadly eneht up to the front door

The , and conventionally built for this part of the countryIt hat the well-to-do thought of as "rustic" despite being cohts were on inside Bryn thought about opening the door, but then, on a whim, decided to justknock

The door was answered by a boy

Bryn blinked Yes, that was a boy, all right, about ten years old, brown hair, a coffee-and-cream skin tone, eyes so darkly colored it was hard to tell iris from pupil He stared at her for a second, then turned and yelled at ear-piercing volume, "Dad! They’re here!"

Bryn looked over her shoulder at Patrick, who seeun So did she Bryn had time to mouth, what the fuck? and then the boy moved aside, and a man stepped up into the doorway in his place

He wasthe buttons on his button-down shirt Well-worn jeans and battered work boots

"Ah," he said "Co I can add to what you already know, but I’ll certainly try Can I offer you a drink? Iced tea, maybe?"

"Sure," Bryn said She wasn’t at all sure what the hell was going on, and from his expression, neither was Patrick "That’d be fine Excuse ," the o play with your sister Stay out of here until I call you--understand?"

The boy looked up at his father and frowned "Why can’t I stay?"

"Boring stuff," Reynolds said "Go Scoot" As his son ran off through the large, coht, Reynolds watched hi saze with surprising directness "Coet you that tea and sort all this out"

Chapter 12

Bryn had to wonder whether Patrick found this as surreal as she did--sitting at the breakfast table in the big granite-countered kitchen while themade them iced tea With freshly sliced lemons "I saw you on the security caone out to let you in, but I was afraid you’d think that was confrontational"

He set Bryn’s iced tea in front of her, then Patrick’s She gave Patrick a little shake of her head to tell hiy, and good She waited for any ill effects, but nothing came

"So--you’re on the board of the Fountain Group"

"Yes" He put his glass down, and his easy expression shifted to so serious "At least I was, until very recently Until I discovered exactly what they were doing in theirprocessing centers I’ve resigned now, and I can assure you, I had absolutely no idea of the cost overruns associated with the research If I’d known, I’d have taken aggressive action to rein in that kind of reckless behavior"

The stunning cluelessness of itat hiin Finally she said, "You were concerned about the costs," she repeated "What about the--ethics of what you were doing?"

"Ethics?" He said it as if the ere untranslatable Maybe it was, in his world "Look, this is about budgets, isn’t it? I told you, when the true costs were uncovered, I just found it all unacceptable, and I si it into the expanded program That’s all I know you’re here from the auditors, but--"

"Auditors," Patrick said, and pulled his sidearm He put it on the table between them with a heavy thunk on the wood "You really think we’re auditors"