Page 106 of The Dis-Graced

“I only insulted him to get under your skin. I admit, it was jarring that he was promoted to CFO with so little experience, and I tried to drive a wedge between him and Drake, but I never disliked him. I was just being a bitch in one case, and apprehensive in the other.”

“Oh, well…gee, thanks for the compliment, I guess.”

“I’m not too proud to admit when I am wrong. I was raised not to trust. That people would want what I have. And they do. I’ve been burned so many times. I hope you can understand, and perhaps you can forgive me. I have a feeling we’re going to be in each other’s lives indefinitely.”

“I don’t know about that. I mean, my brother robbed your son. I think he’s going to hate me.”

“Before I came to get you from the police holding, Drake and I had a talk. He told me how he felt about you. He also said you were angry with him, and he didn’t know whether or not you’d forgive him for some overstep of your privacy. It was the first time he ever came to be about a woman, and I knew at that moment that if I didn’t start being nice to you, I’d never gain access to my future grandchildren.”

“Wait, what?!?” I gasp in shock. “Grandchildren? Did we really just leap to grandchildren. Was ALAN modeled after you.”

“No, Grace,” ALAN’s voice streams from my phone. “It is mind-boggling that you have not secured yourself a mate for which to produce offspring with by now. Irene clearly sees this as well.”

Irene chuckles. “I can’t believe this is what the hoopla is all about.”

The car lurches forward, continuing on at break-neck speed.

I know my mind should be on my brother, but the thought of Drake approaching his ice queen mother because of his feelings for me is a bit overwhelming. Knowing my luck, we’ll reunite at the airfield a moment before the world ends.

“There it is!” Devon’s finger extends, and I look past it to see a small airfield.

?

Drake

“Can you make this vehicle go any faster?”

“It sure can, but with this traffic, Mr. Dallanger, it’s ill advised,” Jim says while keeping his eyes on the road.

“I can’t believe how stupid I am. This whole time, I had thought Lucas was my friend. My best friend. How did I not see it?”

“Well, if Lucas is a psychopath like that voice-operated thingy you have said, you wouldn’t see it. Not easily. They’re so damn good at lying, and there’s always an excuse. Always a reason. Nothing is ever their fault. When I was a detective, I’d say a good half of the men I took in were psychopaths.”

“I guess this whole time, our friendship meant nothing to him.”

“Well, I don’t know the guy, so I can’t say what was real or not. All I can tell you is that he’s bad now.”

ALAN’s voice streams from the speakers. “Luke as using a different phone to communicate with people. Luckily, the microphone of the phone I have access to is picking up his conversation. He is chartering a jet to meet up with Chenglei Nguyen in Costa Rica.”

I feel a flood of relief knowing that we at least know where they are going. “Awesome! Did you find anything else out?”

“Apparently, Lucas initiated deals with Gabriel Icor, Aston Fletcher, Bart Ingals, Ellie Chan, Alistair Whent, Maxwell Stryder, Eric Remmington, and Alicia West, but he was never intending to actually sell to them. The true sale with Chenglei Nguyen was initiated over a year ago, while you were wrapping up my final coding. Chenglei holds grudges with each of the people he was trying to sell to and was making a play for their money.”

“So, if this Chenglei guy hadn’t wanted to settle some scores, we’d have never known about this?”

“Precisely. The good news is that I have access to the private jet’s control panels, and I can shut it down at any time.”

“That’s great, shut it down.”

“There’s bad news.”

“What’s the bad news.”

“FBI is now arriving on scene, and he’s talking about uploading my greater form.”

“How is that possible? He doesn’t have access to that type of equipment?”

“The private jet he’s on belongs to Chenglei, who has outfitted it for my tech.”