Joe Cotter
Cotter and Billy surveyed the living room of Jessica's empty condo. "Looks like she blew outta here, huh?" Billy said. "I think we freaked her out."
"Your sheer brilliance is surpassed only by your ability to state the completely obvious," Cotter observed.
Billy frowned. "Huh?"
"Exactly."
The freckled redhead muttered, shook his head. "So we blew it."
Cotter's eyes flashed. "Did we? Or did we do her a favor?"
Billy nodded. "Yeah. I see what you mean."
Cotter retrieved his cell phone and made a call. "She's gone," he said into the phone. A moment passed, then he added, "Is that so?" Cotter nodded and said, "Okay, thanks." He ended the call.
"Here's the latest. She's flown the coop. Literally."
He sighed and shrugged. "Like I said, maybe it's for the best."
"But the others—"
"I know." Cotter cut him off. "We still have a job to do."
"Couldn't we just . . . talk to her?"
Cotter looked at him. "That would be nice, but I'm following orders here."
"So what's next?"
Cotter pulled out his cell phone and punched in a number. As the phone at the other end rang, he said, "We need to hop the next plane to DC."
YOU ARE READING
The Planck Factor
Mystery / ThrillerOn a dare, grad student Jessica Evans writes a thriller, creating a nightmare scenario based upon the theory that the speed of light is not a constant-one that has a dark application. Her protagonist (the fiancé of a scientist killed in a car crash)...
