After putting the car into park, Sean nodded at the abandoned warehouse. "That's the place."
"It's creepy."
Sean rolled his eyes at his co-conspirator. "Look, that's why we're meeting here. Not even the down-and-outs would come all the way down here." He reached into his coat and checked his gun and when he was satisfied that it was loaded and ready to fire, he put it into an outer pocket. He caught David's look and smiled. "Just being safe not sorry. Ready?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
"Let me do the talking," Sean said. Again the younger man nodded. Sean opened his door and stepped out of the car into the darkness.
The pair walked rapidly across the empty lot in front of the warehouse. Rusty chains and padlocks secured the main doors at the front of the warehouse. Sean rattled each door experimentally but both remained secure.
"That's going to really draw attention to us," muttered David who stood close to Sean.
Sean ignored the complaint of his partner. "There's got to be an entrance round the side we can use. Come on." Sean moved to the side of the building nearest the parking lot. With David dogging his footsteps, Sean walked down the side until they came across a door that opened easily when he turned the knob. Sean let out a small sigh of relief; the meet was on after all. Drawing out his gun from his pocket, he led the way into the warehouse.
Sean jumped when the door banged shut. Whirling, he glared at David and opened his mouth to speak. Before he could so, a series of spotlights burst into light. Sean put a hand against his eyes to shield him from the sudden glare and turned back to face into the warehouse.
"Good evening, Sean. You're on time, I appreciate punctuality."
Sean experimentally dropped his hand away from his eyes and after a moment or two of blinking away spots found that he could see quite comfortably. "Where are you?" He peered into the impenetratable darkness that lay beyond the circle of light that the two of them stood within.
There was a chuckle. "The wonders of modern technology allow me to be anywhere I wish to be. It allows me to take advantage of business opportunities when and where they arise, like the one I wish to discuss with you tonight."
Sean smiled. "We're always ready to discuss business opportunities."
"The details are on the table. Pick them up now and have a look at them."
Sean focused on the table a few yards away from him. He hadn't paid it much attention until now. He pushed David forward, toward the table, and nodded at the papers. David brought them back and Sean grabbed them eagerly and moved forward into the light to read. After a few moments he looked up and exclaimed, "But..."
The voice said calmly, "I'm used to delivering the best in everything, Sean, and so are my customers. I have orders for the first five on the list."
Sean bit his lip and looked down at the list; anyone who had any association with the GLA knew exactly who Blair Sandburg and Dan Slater were. "Dan Slater's not a..."
The voice interrupted, "I know, Mr. Crook. I have some people interested in obtaining him. As you can see from the security information, the convoy is going to be in two separate vehicle groups. Each group will be using different routes. I am only interested in the premium merchandise."
Sean scraped his teeth over his lips. "What about the guards and if there are other..."
The voice mocked him. "Isn't that why you contracted out the dampener heist, Mr. Andrews? I am sure Mancini and his band of merry men will be able to take care of that problem. I'll only pay and take the five mentioned so anyone else is surplus to requirements." The voice grew sharp. "Understood?"
Sean breathed out. "Understood."
There was a small pause and the voice sounded out again. "You've met Mancini, then?"
Sean, relaxed by the obvious question, answered off-handedly. "Yeah, twice, you know that. We've spoken on the phone since the last time. He's cool with me making the deal."
The voice sounded bored. "That's good. Tell me have you met his... companion yet?"
Sean glanced at David and then shrugged as if man behind the disembodied voice could see him. "Yeah, I did."
"You don't sound so very sure."
"Look, Mancini will kill me if he finds me discussing his… well, you know." Sean trucently replied.
There was a chuckle. "Your companion will find out soon enough: after all, he's going to be involved, isn't he?"
Sean licked his lips nervously for a moment and then smiled as the thought of the night of entertainment a few months ago came flooding back into his memory. Answering more eagerly this time, "Yes, I did."
"You sound as if you enjoyed the meeting, Mr. Andrews. She's very responsive, isn't she?"
Sean's nervousness fell away, a dirty smile played over his lips for a moment.
He answered, "You could say that, she'll do anything for you and you don't have to do that much for her."
The voice asked quietly, "A man's dream then?"
"Oh, yes."
"Good." The voice was flat and cold. "See if you can negotiate a price with Mancini for her."
Sean swallowed. "She's bonded to him... he won't let her go."
The voice became irritated. "Mancini's a businessman at his core. She's not his first sentinel, he can pick another, he can even go and kidnap another, I mean Cascade's full of them, isn't it?" There was a small pause and then the voice returned, calmer. "See what you can do, just express my interest, after all, if the price is too high I might not be interested -- everything has its price."
David whispered to Sean. "How much?"
Before Sean could shush his companion, the voice commented, "Ah, your companion is very business-like. What was your deal with Mancini? A percentage or an actual figure?"
Sean swallowed nervously. "I, I didn't know how much we'd be getting so we negotiated a percentage deal, just like on the dampeners. Fifty-fifty on their value."
There was a chuckle. "Ah, then Mancini has stiffed you already. He told you there were a hundred boxes on board the truck?"
Sean answered slowly. "Yeah..."
"Wrong. There were two hundred cases. He's probably planning to go into business in competition with you."
"I told you he was hiding something, Sean," David interjected.
Sean shook his head angrily at David and moved towards the table, as though the voice belonged to someone sitting behind it. "How do you know that?"
"I have my sources, how do you think I got the security information?" There was a small pause and then the voice continued. "Turnabout is fair play, you said that you hadn't specified a specific payout to Mancini?"
"Yes."
"What if you told him that I'd valued the cargo at one price when in fact it was really worth double?"
Again David made as though to speak but Sean cut in first. "How much is double?"
"With Sandburg intact, five million."
David whistled. Sean put a hand to his chin and paced for a few moments, outside the circle of light. He stepped back in and moved up close to the table, "Five million is good." He paused. "Mancini won't have anyway of knowing about our deal?"
"Not from my lips," the voice replied smoothly. "Although remember he's got a sentinel working for him."
Sean smirked and shook his head. "I'll just have to keep her occupied with other things won't I?"
"What are the delivery instructions?" David asked.
"They are all in the file. I assume that you are relying on Mancini to provide a staging base? In the case on the table is a transponder and radio preset to a specific frequency. When you have the consignment secure at the staging base, use the transponder and I will locate you. When I am in the vicinity, I will contact you to arrange the final transfer details."
"How do we get the payment?"
"Once I've inspected the cargo, I'll confirm payment details." There was a slight pause and then the voice continued. "I think that covers all the relevant points, I look forward to completing our transaction in a few days." There was an audible click and then nothing.
After waiting for a few moments, Sean moved forward to the table and grabbed the medium sized leather case off it. He gestured to David and hissed, "Let's go." He wheeled and moved quickly out of the building, case in one hand, the file of papers in another.
@@@@
Jim ran a finger around the collar of his stiff dress shirt collar as if to see if there was anyway he could get out of it and then sighed loudly. Blair shook his head, "Relax man, he's not going to bite."
Jim took his eyes off the traffic for a second to glare at his guide. "I still don't know why we've been invited."
"Naomi put us on the list. You know, make peace and not war."
Jim grinned a little. "Love, the phrase is love, Blair." Jim fell silent while he negotiated the turn into the grounds of the new institute. As the truck passed through the wooden gates, he commented, "This conference in DC is …"
"Conveniently timed," Blair completed Jim's sentence. "As soon as I walked in his office he brought out the registration pack for the conference from his briefcase." Blair frowned a little. "I don't know how he knew. I approached him first."
Jim nodded at Blair's words. The presence of Sarah at the seminar would have been a major coup for Blair and would have meant that none of the Sentinels that Blair approached would have refused permission for their guide to go. Grinning a little, Jim commented, "Hunter has ways of getting information that others can't even imagine."
"Still, it would have been nice for Sarah to come..."
"I am sure she's having a good time in DC. I gave Hunter a nudge about taking some time out of the conference to show her the sights."
Blair looked out of the window a second and then asked quietly, "You going to tell Courcy about the case?"
Jim paused, ostensibly to concentrate on pulling the truck into the line that was waiting for the valet parking, but really it was to gather his thoughts. He glanced across to Blair. "What do we have to tell him? That Cascade police and the GDP have spent the past two weeks investigating a hijack that may or may not have had something to do with a seven year old kidnapping and come up with a whole bunch of nothing?"
"He'll be just like the families at the funerals, glad that …"
Jim turned his gaze on Blair. "Oh yeah he's really going to welcome the fact that the Senior Sentinel Prime is working on the case. Especially as he'd specifically requested that the Search teams looking for his daughter didn't have any sentinels on them. "
"What was the logic in that? Surely…"
Jim grimaced and shrugged. "I don't know. Not sure why no one overruled him either. I mean the local GDP should surely have had something to say to him about it. As it is … " Jim trailed off as the memories of the two funerals of the men killed in the dampener heist went through his mind yet again. He'd always been acutely aware of his position amongst the Sentinel / Guide community but the services for the fallen GDP men had opened his eyes to how the larger community of GDP personnel viewed him. The wives and families had thanked him for getting involved with the investigation.
"Jim?"
Surprised, Jim looked at Blair and then saw that the car in front of them had disappeared. Before the driver of the car behind blew his horn, Jim released the brake and drove the truck forward and switched off the engine.
"Are you all right, Jim?" Blair's voice sounded concerned.
As Jim opened the truck door, he nodded. "Fine, chief, just fine." After handing the keys to the valet, Jim waited for Blair to join him. Instinctively, Jim caught hold of his guide and led him away from the entrance to the institute. They rounded a corner and found themselves in a peaceful garden. Ignoring the garden, Jim gently but firmly pushed Blair to the wall. He performed a quick sensory scan of his guide. He demanded, "How are your barriers?"
"High," replied Blair in a relaxed and soothing tone of voice. "Ease up, big guy."
Jim rumbled a little as he felt Blair open up the link but readily accepted the connection, relaxing as his Guide eased some of the tension that had been building all day.
"Nothing will happen here. Roger's a family friend, he doesn't hate us, he's just a very confused man," soothed Blair.
"Mine," Jim stated simply as he ghosted a hand over Blair's head.
"Yours." As if to confirm the statement, Blair leaned into Jim, bending his head so that it lay on Jim's chest.
After a few moments of silent communion the two broke apart. Jim stretched. "Put those claws away," Blair joked, and then grew serious. "Remember Roger was Mancini's victim."
Jim looked sheepish. He put his hand on his heart. "I promise I'll behave and I'm off duty tonight."
"I'm sure you'll like him once you get to know him."
Jim cocked his head to one side. "Better go and join the party, I think Naomi's looking for us."
The pair moved off towards the entrance, shoulder to shoulder. The shielding that Jim provided ensured the emotions behind the whispered remarks of 'guide' and the little side-glances from some in the crowd didn't get to Blair.
The few in the entrance hall that were openly hostile got a cold stare from the Dark Guide.
Jim performed a sensory sweep as they entered the main reception room. When he found nothing suspicious, he moved forward, allowing Blair to move with him.
"Blair! Jim!" Jim easily heard Naomi's voice over the conversations of the high and mighty that populated the room. He searched for her location and quickly found it. She was standing to their right, close to the wall that was dotted with paintings. Tugging on his partner, Jim headed in her direction. "C'mon, Chief, she's over there."
Naomi met them halfway. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd come..."
Jim opened his mouth to meet the implicit accusation but Blair stepped forward and said, while pulling Naomi into a hug, " "Sorry, been really busy with a few things, kept meaning to pick up the phone and say that we were but.." Blair grinned, "This seminar I've been arranging has been taking up a lot of my time. "
Blair was about to launch into an explanation when Naomi took his hand. "Tell me later." She turned to Jim. "Thanks for coming, I appreciate it very much."
Jim nodded tersely to Naomi. His thoughts were no longer on the conversation; his hearing had registered a small 'pop' as if someone had switched off a white noise generator. Extending his senses, he could just about hear a regular ticking. Jim tensed as he remembered Blair's description of Courcy's artificial heart valve; 'he ticks.'
Blair whispered in his ear, "Be nice, its only Naomi."
Forcing himself to relax, Jim smiled at Naomi. "Hi, Naomi. Been keeping busy?"
Naomi smiled back. "Yes I have, Jim. I've been helping Roger..." She glanced at Blair and then tailed off. "With things."
Jim nodded. "Blair told me."
There was a slightly uncomfortable silence for a few moments as the three looked at each other and then Blair asked, a little too brightly, "Shall I get some drinks?"
Jim scanned the room again making sure all was safe. He noted the armed security guards that were stationed in every corner and the others that patrolled the floor. Registering nothing that could be a threat to his guide, Jim stated, "Water, please, for me."
Blair touched Jim's jacket briefly and mouthed, "I'll be okay. Remember, no biting or scratching."
Rolling his eyes, Jim shooed Blair away. "Go and spend some time with Naomi. Don't worry about me."
Blair released his hold on Jim's jacket and moved off toward the bar area with Naomi.
Jim watched the pair go and then scanned the room again, feeling uneasy. He nodded to one or two of the crowd that he knew, but guessed that most of the guests were from the university or from the business world. Keeping his senses on alert, Jim decided to fill in some time by viewing the collection of art that covered one of the walls of the room. When he was halfway down the collection, a young woman approached him.
"Sir, would you like a brochure for the auction?" The young woman offered him a small brochure. "Mr. Courcy is running an auction tonight of these delightful pictures. All proceeds are going to local wildlife and nature protection charities."
Jim took the proffered brochure automatically. "Thank you." He smiled at the woman and moved off again, not really seeing the pictures as he moved past them. Despite what he'd said to Sandburg about being off duty, his mind couldn't help but drift back to the Mancini case -- the lack of any progress was irritating him. Feeling the need for his guide and friend to be beside him, Jim cast his hearing out to locate Blair, and a little of his unease calmed as he focused on his guide's slow and steady heartbeat, indicating he was relaxed. Jim snorted -- of course Blair would be relaxed, this was his world. The reception was packed with academics and ecologists and save-the-world types. Involuntarily, his hearing picked up on a conversation between two men who stood in front of one of the pictures that Jim had walked past a few minutes ago.
"Immature style, of course. The brushwork is rather primitive."
Jim focused in on the picture in front of him, a forest scene. He could see the marks that each individual brushstroke had made on the canvas, could almost gauge the amount of pressure that the artist had used in applying paint to the canvas.
"Don't you think though she showed some promise? Her use of color is excellent, the way she uses light is spectacular."
Jim could see what the latter speaker had picked up on, the colors of the light seeping through the forest were so realistic and vivid, he could almost be looking at a photograph.
"Lupine Sunrise?"
Jim started to hear Blair's voice at his side. "Sorry chief, just..."
Naomi chimed in. "The pictures are great aren't they?" Her voice sobered a little. "They are all Meggie's. Roger's put them up for auction." Naomi paused and looked around her and then moved closer to Jim and Blair. In a soft and sympathetic tone, Naomi added," I think he's finally starting to let go of the grief."
Blair looked at the picture. "Where's the wolf?"
Jim shook his head. "Not that sort of sunrise." He had located the description of the picture in the brochure he'd been given. "The flowers are the focus of this picture, they are called lupines." He paused and frowned a little.
Blair reacted to Jim's pause and frown by linking in. "Jim? You okay?"
Jim pushed the thought away as coincidence. He patted Blair's shoulder. "I'm okay." Knowing that his guide didn't believe a word he was saying, Jim changed the subject. "Did you know I could see every brush stroke?"
Blair turned to look at the picture again. "Wow! That's amazing..."
"What's amazing?" A cool voice sounded from behind Jim
The trio turned and Naomi was the first to react. She darted forward to the older man who stood a few feet away. "Roger!" She held onto his arm and pulled him towards the group. "This is my son Blair and his sen.. friend James Ellison. Blair, you remember Roger don't you?"
Jim thought for a moment that Blair would go right up to Roger but instead his Guide stood shoulder to shoulder with him. Instead of Blair going to him, Roger had to step forward to shake Blair's hand. Jim couldn't help letting a purr of satisfaction echo down the link with his guide.
"Yeah, I do. Been following your achievements, you've made a difference." Roger smiled broadly at Blair. "I've just tried to do the best I could." He sobered. "I heard through the grapevine that you'd bonded. I hope things aren't too bad."
Frowning, Jim concentrated on not letting Roger see his irritation, only relaxing when he felt the comforting touch of Blair's hand on his back and then the smooth verbal tomes of his guide, as he stated, "We're doing fine."
There were a few seconds of uncomfortable silence and then Naomi broke it. "Blair's making a difference in his world, too, Roger."
The grey-haired man raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"He's Guide Prime of Cascade, and completing his doctorate."
Roger turned to Blair, completely ignoring Jim. "Doctorate? He's letting you study?"
Jim tensed again; all his instincts were screaming that the man was a danger to his guide. He didn't relax but kept still as he felt through the link a change in Blair. Jim heard the sentinel soft words spoken by the Dark Guide, "I can deal with him, he's ignorant."
"Jim allowed me to follow my choices in life. We're a partnership. Equals."
Nodding, in agreement with Blair's last words, Jim focused his attention on Roger Courcy. The smile disappeared off Roger's face for a second "So what's your subject?"
"Dark Sentinels."
Roger's eyes snapped to Jim and then back to Blair. "Ah! Interesting topic, ancient history though now that life is civilized, I mean with the GDP guidelines keeping the whole clan / tribe ethic in check. The whole dark Guide / Sentinel dimension is so primitive, don't you think?"
Jim tried to stop his teeth grinding together in frustration as Courcy managed to twist everything into an attack on …them. He turned his attention to the link and noted with satisfaction that the dark guide was beginning to emerge. Now Courcy would get an idea just how 'primitive' they were. Jim heard the howl of frustration that echoed down the link when Naomi steered the conversation into safer waters. "Roger, we were just looking at Meggie's pictures."
Courcy switched his attention from Jim and Blair to the wall; he took a step toward it. "Oh, any picture in particular?"
"This one." Jim took the initiative away from Naomi. "I was just looking at it when Naomi and Blair came back with the drinks." Copying the terminology that he'd just overheard. "Her use of color and light is quite remarkable." His hearing caught a sudden increase in the metallic ticking of Courcy's artificial heart valve.
"Ah, yes, Lupine Sunrise. One of my favorites. It was one of the last she completed before the.. Before she..." Courcy dabbed at his eyes and turned away from the group. Naomi went to his side and embraced him.
Jim made a point of turning away and studying the picture in depth, the color of the lupines standing out against the wooded background. What was the connection between the picture and the graves on a lonely mountain road.
"Jim?"
Jim turned his gaze away from the picture towards his guide. Without any words being exchanged, Blair moved closer and touched Jim's back. The link between them opened instantly. A cough from behind alerted Jim to the return of Courcy and Naomi.
"Was she planning to be an artist?" asked Naomi, obviously trying to keep things cool.
Courcy shook his head. "No, it was just a hobby, we were planning for her to go to college to study business administration and then for her to come into the company, continue the campaign to the next generation. I was really proud of her you know? She'd caught up on the education she'd missed and was really knowledgeable about the campaign work I was doing." Roger waved his arms around him. "This institute is a tribute to her, she'd..."
Jim stood back from the picture and deliberately interrupted the older man. "Where exactly in the loft do you think it will go best, Chief?"
Blair turned from Roger to look at Jim. "Where what will go best?"
Jim waved his brochure at the canvas, "This picture. Lupine Sunrise. I mean we have to have it, your spirit animal's a wolf, isn't it?" Jim smiled as Blair looked at him confusedly for a moment or two.
"It'd look nice on the wall next to the balcony, you know, next to that photo of you and that marlin you caught a couple of years back."
Jim beamed at Blair. "Yeah I know where you mean." Linking arms with Naomi, he suggested, "Naomi, lets go and register for the auction." Before the woman could protest, Jim had moved her away.
"Thanks Jim!" Blair's tone was sarcastic.
Jim glanced over his shoulder and saw and heard that the two left behind were already deep into an academic conversation about Burton and other workers in the field. That didn't surprise Jim at all, 'know thine enemy' was a motto he'd lived by in the army.
@@@@
It was the voice that reached her first, "Meggie, Meggie? I know you're in there, come on back to me."
She wanted to run and hide in the nice comforting blackness that she'd found but however she tried; she couldn't resist the call of that voice. She started moving towards the voice and the touches that accompanied it. Most times she hated the sound of the voice, but at times like this it flowed over and around her like the old patched comforter she'd used as a child. She drew in a deep breath and let the intense vanilla scent of her guide flow into her. She reached out a hand and held onto him tight and finally stepped out of the comforting blackness. Her Guide.
His voice anchored her in her hated normality. Opening her eyes to look at him, Meggie closed them again as the brightness of the halogen lights overhead threatened to overwhelm her sight. She offered no resistance when she felt the touch of her guide within the link that they shared and let him adjust her eyesight.
"Come on Meggie, show me those beautiful eyes of yours."
Meggie couldn't resist the voice that was gently, this time, compelling her to open up. She'd learned that particular lesson, amongst others, a long time ago. She opened her eyes and saw her guide. Loosing her grip on his arm, she checked the room for anything that might prove harmful to her guide. Because her vision was below normal, she checked that the room didn't contain alien smells. Capturing the faint aroma of tobacco and an unfamiliar perfume emanating from her guide's clothes, Meggie began to check him over more closely. As her fingers slid over the silk shirt he was wearing, she felt Mancini link in and nudge her sense of touch higher. The silk became even silkier under her fingers as they traced the lines of Mancini's musculature. Meggie's fingers stopped when they touched the smudge of lipstick that was on the collar of the shirt, her nostrils flared as the lipstick and perfume all combined together and threatened to overwhelm her. Meggie pushed down on her guide so that he was lying on the floor beneath her.
"Girl!" The voice was sharper now, pulling Meggie back from the brink of another zone. Then the brief moment of her possession was over as he rolled her onto her back and lay on top of her. Mancini didn't explain anything. He didn't need to. "Mine."
Meggie flinched as Mancini pushed their link wide open, his need for a bonding overwhelming her as it always had ever since the first time. "Yours."
@@@@
As they joined the end of the line to register for the auction, Jim turned his attention back to Naomi and smiled at her. "You're looking well."
Naomi flashed a smile at Jim. "Thank you, so are you, and so is Blair, he's looking happy. He said the seminar was your idea."
Jim quirked his lips upwards and glanced back at where his guide was standing, arms and hands moving as he debated some dry theoretical point with Courcy. "Just the title, he's done all the work for it."
Naomi lightly touched Jim's hand. "Thanks anyway. And thanks for coming here too; I know it means a lot to Roger."
Jim frowned, "I don't like his views. He's here and it looks as though he's going to be in my... Cascade a lot."
Naomi shook her head at Jim. "Roger's trying Jim, he's trying to clean his aura of the hate and the grief."
Jim nodded to someone in the crowd who called his name and then turned back to Naomi. After a few moments of trying to find phrasing that wouldn't be confrontational, he asked quietly, "Tell me just why he has such a lot of hate for sentinels."
Naomi stopped in her tracks and turned to face Jim. She stared at him quizzically for a few seconds and then curtly asked, "Who's asking, Jim?"
"I guess all of me is. I'm just curious that such an intelligent and successful man should be so..."
"Closed minded?" Naomi suggested.
"Well if you want to put it like that, I wouldn't disagree." Jim volunteered, "I've had a look at the file, there's nothing in there that would explain it." Jim was startled when Naomi pulled him closer to her. "Naomi…"
"Roger's still very sensitive about discussing the whole thing especially in public."
Jim resisted the urge to sneeze as the scent that hung around Naomi threatened to overwhelm his sense of smell. "What's that?"
"A new perfume one of Roger's businesses is developing. You can probably also smell the incense we're burning in our meditation sessions."
Jim cleared his throat and nodded. "So?"
"You know the federal agencies blamed Roger's security chief for the problems at the handover point?" Jim nodded. Naomi sighed. "He was a sentinel.
Jim raised his eyebrows as he processed that information. "How did that get left out of the police report?" Jim's attention was diverted from Naomi as he heard a substantial increase in the ticking of Courcy's heart valve. He turned to look at Courcy and Blair and relaxed when he saw the relaxed, absorbed and happy expression on Blair's face. Turning back, Jim was just in time to see Naomi shrug and shake her head.
"He hasn't told me much, we've focused on enabling him to let go of his grief.
Did you know that for all this time he's never acknowledged her death?"
"It's difficult sometimes for relatives to let go when there isn't a body to grieve over. If he'd allowed sentinels on the search team, they would probably have found both the body and the criminals involved." Jim fought the urge to go over to Courcy to find out just why his heart rate had surged again.
"I doubt even you would have been able to find anything in that country. We went camping up there, found the place where the FBI said she'd been held."
"An old roadside diner wasn't it?" Jim watched Naomi carefully as she shivered in response to his question. "Are you cold?"
"No, thank you Jim. Just that it had a bad aura. I performed a cleansing ceremony there. After that Roger started to accept her death." This institute is part of the process. It wasn't even under construction before the ceremony but he really put his heart and soul into making it happen afterwards. Did you know the opening ceremony is on her Birthday?"
Jim shook his head. "No, I didn't." He quickly glanced back at Blair who was still talking or debating with Courcy. Relaxing when he sensed that Blair was more than holding his own, he turned to Naomi. "Any chance that we get a backstage tour?"
Naomi grinned. "I am sure Roger won't mind, on one condition only, though."
Jim arched his eyebrows. "What?" A beat later he smiled. "Hunter's out of town. Conference in D.C."
Naomi's face fell a little and then she shook her head. "I'll show you around anyway, or better still get Cross to do it. He's head of security."
Jim smiled. "That'd be great, Blair will enjoy it too. I'll just put this bid in and we can get the tour out of the way before the auction. We'll have to leave after that, early start in the morning." He glanced back at Blair again and he almost wished that he could command Blair to come to his side: he was suddenly uncomfortable with his guide being separated from him. But despite everything the GDP said, Blair was his own man. As Jim stood there, his guide looked directly at him and nodded imperceptibly and started to make his way across the room towards him.
TBC