“You clearly have a thought.”
“I was wondering how my day could get more ridiculous.”
Her expression almost softened.
Then Kellen held up the wire.
“If you own Vale, then either somebody ignored this problem for three years…”
He looked at the clean cut.
“Or somebody knew exactly what they were doing yesterday.”
Serafina’s phone rang.
She looked.
Unknown number.
She declined it.
Immediately another call.
Her chief of security.
She answered.
“Where are you?”
A male voice loud enough for Kellen to hear through the rain.
“On Route 46.”
“Do not move.”
“Why?”
“We lost your vehicle telemetry twelve minutes ago.”
“I know.”
“A security unit is three minutes out.”
Serafina looked toward Kellen.
“Someone cut a sensor lead.”
Silence.
Then:
“Who is with you?”
“A mechanic.”
Kellen muttered:
“Former engineer.”
She almost smiled.
The voice became sharper.
“Serafina, do not let anyone touch the vehicle.”
She looked at Kellen’s soaked hands.
“A little late.”
“Move away from the car.”
“Why?”
“Please.”
The tone changed.
Not command.
Fear.
Serafina’s eyes narrowed.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing confirmed.”
“Then confirm it while driving.”
She hung up.
Kellen looked toward her.
“Good relationship?”
“Complicated.”
“Security chief?”
“Yes.”
“Name?”
“Owen Mercer.”
Kellen froze.
Serafina noticed immediately.
“You know him?”
“Not personally.”
“How?”
“He was director of engineering security when I got fired.”
Her expression hardened.
“Still is.”
Kellen looked down the road.
Headlights appeared through the rain.
Black SUV.
Fast.
Serafina tightened one red-gloved hand around the umbrella.
Kellen said:
“Take the wire.”
She looked toward him.
“What?”
“Keep it.”
“I thought you should.”
“No.”
“Don’t give it to your security team.”
“Why?”
“Because if this is connected to what happened three years ago, you don’t know who buried my report.”
The SUV grew closer.
Serafina looked from the vehicle to Kellen.
Then quietly:
“You think my people did this.”
“I think your car came from a Vale garage yesterday.”
“And today a safety vulnerability I was fired for reporting is sitting in my hand.”
He placed the severed wire inside a small clear parts bag from his toolbox.
Then handed it to her.
“Those are facts.”
Serafina took it.
The black SUV stopped behind them.
Two men stepped out.
One held an umbrella.
The other did not bother.
Owen Mercer walked toward Serafina.
Fifty-one.
Tall.
Gray at the temples.
Dark waterproof coat.
The controlled face of a man who had spent decades ensuring emergencies looked organized.
His eyes found Kellen.
Then the toolbox.
Then the old Vale badge.
Something moved across his face.
Recognition.
Kellen saw it.