The Chemist

Alex hadn’t had time to get a car seat. She glanced around surreptitiously to see if anyone was watching, but the area of the parking lot she was in was mostly full, and the people arriving now were far away. The early quitters had already left; she was alone.

She laid the child on the backseat and wrapped a seat belt around her waist. Then she covered Olivia with a blanket to conceal her.

Alex straightened up and checked for witnesses again. No one was nearby; no one was watching her. She pulled a syringe from the inside pocket of her pack and leaned in to administer the drug to the sleeping child. She’d calculated the dose for someone weighting thirty to forty pounds. It should keep Olivia under for about two hours.

Alex turned the car on and cranked up the air-conditioning. She started breathing again for what felt like the first time since she’d entered the zoo.

Phase one was successful. Erin would wake up in forty-five minutes, more or less. Alex was sure that paramedics would be attending to her by then. When she woke, she’d sound the alarm about her missing daughter. The zoo would be searched first, then the police would be brought in. Alex had to be in position when Erin realized her daughter had been taken, that she’d not merely wandered off while her mother was having some sort of seizure. Alex was 85 percent sure which call Erin would make first.

She really hoped that Val would be done working her magic by the time she arrived at the new hiding place so Alex would know exactly which plan was moving forward – not because she’d made up her mind as to which outcome she wanted most. Going in alone… that was suicide. But taking Daniel… was that murder-suicide?

Maybe Val’s confidence in herself was misplaced. Maybe Daniel would just look like himself in a wig.

Alex could do it alone. She’d just make it very clear what would happen to Olivia if she, Alex, didn’t live through the night. That would keep Carston in line, wouldn’t it?

She didn’t want to think about the things Carston could set in motion. The traps he could lay so that once he had Olivia back, Alex would be his.

Alex called Val as she approached the new building, and when she pulled into the underground garage, Val was waiting by a set of elevators with a wheeled cart – it looked like something a hotel visitor would receive room service on. The garage was otherwise empty of other people. Alex couldn’t spot any cameras, but she kept her body between the open back car door and the best view inside. Neither Val nor Alex spoke. Alex shifted the sleeping child to the bottom shelf of the cart, then rearranged the blanket around her so her shape was obscured.

This elevator was more normal than the one that led to Val’s penthouse – just a silver box, as in most of the buildings where Alex had lived. It made her nervous that the box would suddenly slow and the doors would open, exposing them. Val must have felt similarly. She kept her hand on the button for the sixteenth floor, as if holding it down would guarantee them express service.

While the elevator climbed, Alex noticed Val’s expression for the first time. It was… a little too stimulated. Alex hoped Val wasn’t heading into some kind of power-mad version of a sugar rush.

The elevator doors opened to an empty hallway. It was a nice building, with fancy moldings and marble floors, but it looked pedestrian after Val’s other place.

Val pushed the cart down the little hall, motioning for Alex to go ahead.

“Number sixteen-oh-nine, on the end. It’s not locked,” she said, and the eager tone of her voice made Alex wary again. Though maybe if Val got hyped up enough, she’d change her mind and come with Alex for the main event.

Alex walked into the apartment in a hurry – there was a lot to set up and she needed to be fast. She barely took in the routine living room–kitchen spread, the fabric-shrouded windows, or the beige color scheme. She noted an open door on the far wall, revealing a brightly lit room with a queen bed, and headed for it. She could see some of her duffel bags leaning against the flowered bedspread.

She was halfway to the door before she really absorbed the whole space, and then her eyes focused on the man standing in the dimly lit kitchen.

Even though she’d been expecting something, it didn’t stop her from spooking. She jumped a step back, her thumbs automatically going to the little hatches of her poisoned rings.

“Well?” he asked.

The tall man in the cheap black suit waited, fighting a smile.

“Told ya,” Val said from behind her, and Alex could hear the smug grin on her face without looking.

The man looked Nordic with his fair skin and pale, white-blond hair. His blond beard was neatly trimmed and reminded her of a college professor’s. His eyebrows were so pale against his forehead they were nearly invisible, completely changing the look of his eyes and his forehead. The hair around the edges of his head was straight, short, and neatly combed. The top of his head was pale, shiny, and totally bald. It changed the perceived shape of his head and made him look ten years older. He wore thin silver glasses, and his cheeks were unexpectedly round. His most striking features were his bright, icy-blue eyes, framed by nearly white lashes.

“You look like a Bond villain,” Alex blurted out.

“Is that good?” Daniel asked, his voice not quite right – it was clipped, somehow, a little slurred.

Alex felt her heart sink as she more closely examined the transformation. If she hadn’t been looking specifically for a disguised version of Daniel, she would have walked right past this man on the street. Even if she had been looking for Daniel, only his height would have made this man a suspect. As the despair settled sickeningly into her stomach, Alex knew she’d really been counting on Val’s failing.