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“And you think it’sJemwho’ll be in danger in this scenario?” He gave Nick an openly contemptuous look. “Jem could kill Frasier and his entire security team without breaking a sweat. He could do it without even using his sight. I never would’ve agreed to use him for this if I didn’t know that without a shadow of doubt.”

There was a more loaded silence after Black finished.

“You already sent him,” Nick said, his voice deathly cold.

“No,” Black said, now openly annoyed. “Weren’t you listening? I didn’t have tosendJem anywhere. I told him what I was thinking, asked his opinion, and he left on my plane…” Black looked at his watch. “…a little more than an hour ago.”

“Bullshit.”

Black snorted. “Really? Call him. Right now. I’d love to hear this.”

Nick didn’t take out his phone, but he was breathing harder.

Looking at him, I couldn’t help but be a little concerned.

“Nick,” I began, soft.

He didn’t so much as look at me. “I’m going to fucking kill you, Quentin.”

Black scoffed. “No, you’re not.”

“The fuck I’m not.”

Black stared at him in the rearview mirror as he gripped the steering wheel in both hands. His light still felt annoyed, but he now looked faintly wary, as well.

“Infiltration is Jem’sjob,Nick.” Black’s annoyance won out. “Hate to tell you, brother, but your boyfriendlikesfield work, and he’d damned good at it. He’s also a workaholic. Which is a long way of saying… take it up with him. The approach washisidea. Jax wanted to go with him, incidentally, but I gave it to Jem alone, because Jem can handle it alone. Easily. You being an over-protective git about it isn’t going to change any of that, by the way.”

Black glanced over his shoulder and switched lanes, aiming the SUV toward an approaching offramp leading into South San Francisco.

I’d been so absorbed in their conversation, I’d forgotten to pay attention to where we were going. Now I looked around as I saw Black taking the exit leading up to Oyster Point Boulevard. I didn’t know much about the area, but I’d had a friend, what feltlike a hundred years ago now, who’d worked for a biotech firm located on Oyster Point.

Maybe for the same reason, I was under the impression that’s all that was out there.

Now, as Black slowed the car as we reached the light, hung a left and drove us out in the direction of the ocean, I saw buildings on all sides of us. The area had definitely grown since I’d last been out here. A number of the buildings did have very biotech-sounding names, but a lot I couldn’t identify and most I’d never heard of.

After we’d driven for a few minutes, Black hung another left. A much larger complex of buildings, visible in the distance, began to grow closer every second. It was pretty clear that was our destination.

I recognized the large, animated logo on the roof.

“Is that…” I stared at the glowing, hyper-stylized“LR,”written in neon blood-red and black calligraphy with a circle around it. The design managed to evoke spaceships with its rotating light. It also evoked fire, and something like cowboys. It was a bizarre, futuristic mark that looked vaguely like a cattle brand.

“That’s Lucian Rucker’s company?” I asked. “One of them?”

“Prometharis,” Black confirmed.

“Is this where he died?” I asked.

Black gave me a brief look. “Yes.”

“Prometharis?”Nick snorted. “Like Prometheus? Do they play with fire? Or kidneys?”

Black smirked in the rearview mirror but didn’t answer.

“Pretentious,” I commented.

Nick grunted in clear agreement from the back seat.

“And douchey,” he added.