Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 93984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
“There’s a lot of money on the line if this new drug is approved by the FDA. Throwing around a few million dollars here and there to eliminate obstacles is just a drop in the bucket in comparison to what will be made in the future.”
A low grunt came from Justin again before he accelerated through the green light. He turned left, heading deeper into what appeared to be a sleepy suburb. “I’ve dealt with politicians that were less problematic. I never expected Big Pharma to be worse. Joke’s on me.”
“Joke’s on both of us. I wasn’t expecting to run into trouble this early either.”
They rode in silence for several minutes, the car winding through a sleepy little town filled with mature maples, quaint middle-class homes, and even a red-brick firehouse. Gabriel fully expected there to be a dalmatian lounging somewhere inside near one of the fire trucks.
They continued on until they reached what appeared to be a large, open-air mall and gathering of restaurants. Justin pulled into the parking lot, and Gabriel sat up a bit. It was nearly ten in the evening after their adventure at the hospital and then the hotel. The shops were all closed, and only a couple of the restaurants still had their lights on.
“What are you doing?” Gabriel asked, working to keep the concern out of his voice.
“Easy now. We’ve still got our truce,” Justin said, but his voice didn’t have any of the playfulness it had contained when they’d first made the truce the night before. The man was worried, and Gabriel couldn’t blame him. Their uphill battle was already looking far steeper than it should have been.
“But…”
Justin grinned now. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, but I don’t trust how well you went through all your shit when you repacked. It looks like we’re up against an idiot and a professional, and I’m not sure which one got into your room. If it was the professional, he could have slipped a chip into your shit and be using it to track us.”
Gabriel sighed. As much as he wanted to argue with Justin, he had to admit it was a possibility. And if Justin was going to take him to his own home, then it was only fair that he took precautions. “Are you going to be able to make the checks without destroying my possessions?”
Justin pulled into a parking spot at the back of the lot under a light. He put the car into park and turned off the engine. “Yep.”
They got out of the car at the same time, and Justin popped the trunk. From a little black bag, he pulled out a handheld device that looked just a little bigger than a phone.
“Open up your suitcase.” Justin tapped on the machine. “I’m getting something, but it’s faint.”
Gabriel’s stomach clenched at the idea that someone had slipped a tracking device on him and he hadn’t even seen it. Of course, he’d made the mistake of not even looking for it in the first place. He’d been searching for all of his possessions while at the same time trying to find a clue as to who broke into his room. There hadn’t been a thought to a tracking device. He’d underestimated this fucker.
Clenching his teeth, he swallowed back a curse. A rookie mistake. If he’d made that mistake when he’d been starting out, he would have been dead long ago. He knew better. It couldn’t possibly instill Justin with a sense of confidence to know that his partner was making such obvious blunders. The thought that Justin might believe he was an idiot bothered him more than he wanted it to. It shouldn’t matter what Justin thought of him, but Gabriel had to face the fact that it did. Greatly. And that was not a settling feeling at all.
Opening the bag, he started pulling out clothes, stacking them in an untidy pile in the trunk after running them in front of Justin’s little reader. After the clothes, he moved to his shoes and then a handful of weapons prior to grabbing his shaving kit.
“Jackpot!” Justin crowed.
Gabriel froze with the bag in both hands, holding it gingerly as if he’d suddenly discovered that he was holding a bomb. Not that he’d been careful with it earlier. Before, he had found it opened and dropped on the floor of the bathroom, and he’d simply scooped it up and zipped it shut again.
Putting down the reader, Justin took the bag from Gabriel and started to slowly pull out each item, inspecting it closely, then dropping it on the clothes. When the bag was empty, he carefully ran his fingers along the interior. Gabriel was about to suggest that they simply burn the bag when Justin’s lips parted in a huge grin. Digging into one of the pockets, he pulled out what looked to be a piece of black tape with a tiny wire sticking out of it. Justin dropped the bag into the trunk and held the tiny device up to the light.