Protruding from a strut to his right was a switch box with two unlabeled buttons. With a final glance upward, Kazimi pressed the lower of them, and instantly, the elevator rattled to life.

Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

Where blood has been shed for liberty and the freedom to improve one’s lot, the wound from which it spilled will heal in time.

—LANCASTER R. HILL, Climbing the Mountain, SAWYER RIVER BOOKS, 1941, P. 97

There was nothing at all friendly or engaging about the way FBI Special Agent Tim Vaill looked across at Lou, or made small talk as they settled in. The muscles in his chiseled face had not once relaxed. Compared to him, his partner McCall was mellow.

At times, the two men actually seemed to have completely separate agendas—one of them to put Lou at ease, and the other to tighten the screws that kept his internal organs in place.

“We were surprised to learn that you had a record, doctor. Wanna tell us what that’s all about?”

Lou asked more than once if he should be contacting a lawyer, and was assured each time, by both agents, that would not be necessary. Not once did either of them suggest that he could feel free to do so if he wanted, and he found himself wondering what they would say if he insisted.

Finally breaking his stranglehold eye contact with Lou, Vaill gave McCall a sidelong glance.

“It’s a bit noisy in here, don’t you think?” he said. He returned to Lou. “What do you say we go outside and walk and talk?”

Another query from Lou about whether he should contact a lawyer. Another negative response. More of the uneasy feeling that there would be no lawyer until the agents got what they wanted.

“Before we go anywhere, what do you say you two tell me what this is all about?” Lou risked.

There was nothing about the encounter that encouraged the smart-ass side of him to leap to the fore, rapier wit at the ready. He worried about aggravating the situation, whatever the situation was, but he was equally concerned with getting back to Humphrey and the lab. It seemed pretty clear that this walk and talk with Vaill and McCall was not an offer he could easily refuse. Vaill leaned across the table, obviously not concerned with invading Lou’s personal space.

“How about you ask for a check and we go outside?”

Clearly the man intended to keep his responses cryptic. While Vaill seemed ready to pounce, McCall stayed relaxed.

“I’d do what he asks,” McCall suggested.

Lou studied both men. He wasn’t a big TV guy, but he’d watched enough dramas with Emily to know the good cop–bad cop routine when he saw it—even when the players were as good at it as these two.

“No harm in taking a walk,” Lou said with a shrug.