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 b.u.t.ton 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 roomkitchen 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 s.p.a.ce, 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 gla.s.ses, 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.
"Val did a good job," Alex said, and then she started moving again. "Let"s get Olivia set up."
Einstein was sniffing around the blanket-covered child. He whimpered quietly, ill at ease.
"Is it good enough?" Daniel persisted while pulling the child out from under the cart and cradling her against his chest.
"Let me think about it while I do this," Alex hedged.
Daniel laid Olivia on the flowered coverlet, smoothing the sweaty fluffs of hair back from her forehead. It took Alex only a few seconds to get the IV bags hanging. One clear, one white and opaque, and then a very small bag with a dark green fluid inside. She quickly placed the IV catheter using the smallest needle she had and then started the fluids.
"Back out of the way," she told Daniel.
Alex pulled up the camera on a phone Val had given her-left behind by a friend, Val said-and snapped a few pictures of Olivia sleeping. She flipped through them and found one that she decided would do.
"This is my least favorite part of the plan," Daniel muttered.
She glanced up and saw his pained expression. It looked strange on his new face.
"Let"s hope Carston feels similarly."
His frown deepened. Alex took his hand and pulled him from the room. The way he was holding his mouth made the round shape of his cheeks more prominent.
"What did she do to your face?" Alex asked.
Daniel stuck two fingers in his mouth and pulled out a little piece of plastic. "These make it a little hard to talk." With a sigh, he replaced the plastic, and his cheek rounded out again.
Val waited for them in the big living room, eyes still lit up with her success.
"That baby"s not going to wake up, right?" she asked.
"Right."
"Good. I wouldn"t know what to do with a kid. Now, what do you think? Totally altered, yes?"
Alex looked at Daniel again, and her shoulders slumped. He was thicker around the middle, too; she hadn"t noticed that before. It all looked so real.
"You don"t think it"s good enough, do you?" Daniel asked.
"It"s good enough," Val answered for her. "And she knows it. That"s why she looks so glum. She"d much rather risk my life than yours."
Daniel looked at Alex, waiting for her answer.
"Val"s right. Except for the part about risking her life. I don"t want to risk anyone"s."
Val snorted.
Daniel grabbed Alex"s hand and pulled her against his chest. "It"s going to be fine," he murmured. "We can do this together. Your plans always work. I will follow your instructions to the letter, and we"ll make it through. I promise."
Alex squeezed her eyes tight, trying to force the tears back into their ducts.
"I don"t know, Daniel. What am I doing?"
He kissed the top of her head.
"Cut it out," Val interrupted. "You two are making me jealous, and that"s never a safe thing to do."
Alex opened her eyes and pulled away, brushing at Daniel"s suit to make sure she hadn"t left any makeup on it.
"I see you had time to get the things I needed from the Batcave. This toolbox is perfect."
"More than perfect-check the fifth drawer down. I packed the rest how you asked," Daniel told her. "Do you want to go through it before I put it in the car?"
"That"s a good idea."
The silver toolbox-one of the props from Kevin"s stash, she a.s.sumed-had wheels and a pull-up handle, like a suitcase, but unlike a suitcase, many locking drawers that pulled forward out of its face. She went swiftly through the top drawers, identifying the location of the different drugs by the color rings on the syringes. The syringes were stacked in the rubber trays she usually stored them in. The next drawer down had a variety of scalpels and razor blades. She wouldn"t need so many; the point was to make the drawer look full. Saline bags and tubing were next, along with needles and catheters in different sizes. The next compartment was deeper. It held her pressurized canisters and several random chemicals from Kevin"s stores.
The second-to-last drawer was key. It held another tray of syringes-these empty-and seemed shallower than the last. She traced the edges of the bottom of the drawer-of course Kevin would have something like this. She could fit her fingernails around and lift up the false bottom. She peeked at what was underneath.
"Let"s hope Carston"s up for some Oscar-level acting," she murmured to herself.
She went through the final, deepest drawer, where Daniel had stowed her more ostentatious props-the blowtorch, the wire snips, the pliers, along with several arbitrary tools Daniel had added from the items available in Kevin"s h.o.a.rd.
There was one more useful thing she needed-just a tiny configuration of wires that she"d picked up the first time they"d visited the local Batcave. She pulled it from her backpack now and hid it in the third tray of the first drawer, under a syringe. She would want easy access to that one.
Alex straightened. "Perfect. Thank you."
"You," Val said, pointing to Daniel. "Get to the rendezvous point. You," she continued, moving her index finger toward Alex"s face. "Let"s fix you up and get going. The clock is ticking." She motioned to a set of double doors across the room.
"I"ll be there in thirty seconds," Alex promised.
Val rolled her eyes. "Fine, have your little good-bye scene." She turned and walked through the doors.
"Alex-" Daniel began.
"Wait."
She took his hand again and led him out the front door, pulling the toolbox with her free hand. He had the big first-aid bag slung over his shoulder. Einstein tried to follow and then whined when she shut the door on him.
They walked down the quiet hall to the elevator. Alex pressed the b.u.t.ton. When the doors slid apart, Daniel walked in and she followed, putting one foot across the breach to hold it open. She dropped the toolbox"s handle and reached up to hold Daniel"s face between her hands.
"Listen to me," she said quietly. "In the glove compartment of the sedan there"s a manila envelope. There are two sets of IDs-pa.s.sports, driver"s licenses, and a bunch of cash."
"I don"t look that much like Kevin now."
"I know, but people age, lose hair. You can toss the gla.s.ses, shave, dye your hair back to brown. And if things go badly, you"ll need to do all of that. Then get to the nearest airport. Get on any plane that"s leaving North America, okay?"
"I won"t leave you behind."
"When I say go badly, I mean that I won"t be around for you to wait for."
He stared at her with that odd new version of his troubled face.
"Okay?" she repeated insistently.
He hesitated, then nodded.
"Good," she said, trying to sound like that discussion was closed. She wasn"t feeling the conviction behind his nod, but there wasn"t time to argue about it.
"You stay quiet tonight," she instructed. "Don"t speak to anyone unless you have to. Think like an underling. You"re just there to drive the car and carry the bags, okay? This is just a paycheck. None of what"s happening means anything to you. No matter what you see, it doesn"t affect you. You have no emotional response. You got that?"
He nodded seriously. "Yes."
"If things get dicey, it will make sense for you to run. This isn"t your problem."
"Right," he agreed, but his answer was less decided this time.
"Here." She yanked the gold ring from her finger. It was the bigger of the two. She removed his arms from around her and tried it on all his fingers. As with Kevin, it fit only on his pinkie. At least she was able to get it all the way down over his knuckles. Hopefully it wouldn"t look too out of character.
"Be extremely careful with this," she told him. "Slide this little hatch out of the way if you need to use it. Whatever you do, don"t touch the barb. If you"re not in the act of using it, keep it closed. But if you"re trying to get out, and someone"s in your way, all you have to do is put that barb in contact with his skin."
"I got it."
Alex looked into the startling blue eyes, searching for Daniel behind the strangeness of his oddly simple disguise. She was out of instructions, and the feelings she wanted to share with him didn"t seem to have corresponding words.
"I... I don"t know how to go back to my old life," she said, trying to explain. "I don"t know how to do that anymore, without you. Having you as my liability is the best thing that ever happened to me."
He smiled just a little bit, though it didn"t reach his eyes. "I love you, too," he whispered.
She tried to smile back.
Daniel put his hands on her shoulders and kissed her for one lingering second. Then he smiled at her again, unfamiliar and familiar at the same time. She took a step away from him.
"I told you I"d be there when you needed backup," he said.
The elevator doors closed.
CHAPTER 29.
There was no wig involved this time, just a quick trim that left her real hair looking like it had an actual style. A pixie cut; that"s what people called it, she thought. The color was medium blond now, and it lightened up her complexion. It was also flattering to her face shape the way her real hair hadn"t been since... she couldn"t remember the last time her hair had been attractive.
"Seriously," Alex said. "Did you go to cosmetology school?"
Val applied mascara with a hand as steady as a surgeon"s. "No. I never liked school that much. It always seemed a little bit like prison to me-I wasn"t going to sign up for extra. I just liked playing with my appearance, having a face for every mood. I practice a lot."
"I think you"ve got a real apt.i.tude. If being the most beautiful woman on the planet ever gets dull, you could open a salon."
Val flashed her brilliant teeth. "I never thought I would want an actual woman friend. It"s more fun than I imagined."
"Ditto. Just curious, and you don"t have to answer, but is Val for Valerie?"
"Valentine. Or Valentina. It changes, depending on mood and circ.u.mstance."
"Ah," Alex said. "That fits better."
"It"s very me," Val told her. "It"s not the name I was born with, of course."
"Whose is?" Alex murmured.
Val nodded. "It"s only logical. My parents didn"t even know me when they picked a name out. Of course it didn"t fit."
"I never really thought of it that way, but it does make sense. My mother picked a name for a much more... feminine kind of girl."