Read Long After Midnight for Free Online

realized. He knew exactly the threat RU2 posed to him. “And what would you do with it?”
    “What do you think? Make a potload of money.”
    “I don’t think so. I think you’d bury it.”
    “So? You’d still have the millions I’d give you for it.”
    “True. And what will you do if I don’t sell it to you?”
    “Destroy you,” Ogden said casually. “And your friend Lynski and your little cohort in Oklahoma. I won’t hesitate to wipe all of you out of my path.”
    Oklahoma? Shock rippled through Noah as he realized Ogden was talking about Kate Denby. How the hell had he found out about—
    “I want an answer, Noah.”
    “Give me time to think.”
    “I can’t oblige you. You’ve been moving too fast lately. You’ve made me feel most insecure.” He paused. “I think you’re trying to buy time and play me for a fool. I was afraid you’d take that path. In fact, I expected it. I’ve always known that beneath that bad-boy persona, you were something of an idealist. Are you at your desk?”
    “Yes.”
    “Look out the window.” Ogden hung up the phone.
    Noah slowly returned the receiver to the hook and stood up.
    He was knocked to the floor.
    Glass shards from the broken window pelted his back.
    An explosion. Some kind of explosion . . .
    He crawled toward the window. He could hear screams.
    He pulled himself up by the windowsill.
    “My God,” he whispered.
    The east wing of the plant was engulfed in flames. People were running from the ruins. His people . . .
    He had to get down there. His plant . . . his people . . . He had to help. . . .
    The floor was heaving beneath his feet.
    Another explosion. He hadn’t heard it.
    Damn you, Ogden.
    Searing heat.
    Pain.
    Darkness.
    Dandridge, Oklahoma
4:10 P.M.
    “Hi, Kate.” Alan Eblund got out of the Chevrolet, a smile illuminating his dark brown face as he watched Kate coming down the steps. “Good to see you again.” His gaze went to the crowd cordoned off several yards from the GeneChem building. “What you doing stirring up all these nice folks?”
    “Those ‘nice folks’ were trying to take my scalp.” Her gaze went beyond him to Michael sitting in the driver’s seat. He was frowning. Not good. “I’m sorry Michael thought it necessary to inconvenience you, Alan.”
    “No problem. What’s a partner for?” Alan opened the passenger door for Kate. “Much nicer work than that drug buy we staked out yesterday.”
    “Thanks . . . I think.” Alan had been Michael’s partner for the last six years, and she had always liked him. “How are Betty and the kids?”
    “Great. Betty’s always talking about calling you and asking you to meet her for lunch.”
    But the call would never come. Her friendship with Betty Eblund had been one of the casualties of the divorce. Betty was a policeman’s wife, and her loyalty was with her husband’s partner. “That would be nice.” She handed Alan her car keys. “Third row back. You’ll recognize it. It’s the same gray Honda I’ve been driving for five years.”
    “Right. I’ll see you at the house.” He loped away from the car.
    “Are you trying to make me look bad?” Michael asked moodily once Kate had settled herself in the passenger seat. “I send you child support every month, and you return the checks. You could have gotten a new car.”
    She sighed. “I didn’t want child support and I don’t need a new car. The Honda runs fine. And I had no intention of making Alan think you weren’t a good provider.”
    “Just because we’re divorced is no sign that I intend to evade my responsibilities. Nothing will change that.”
    “I know that’s the last thing you’d do.” Michael had always been arrow straight and almost fanatically conscious of his duty. He had been very upset when Kate had refused child support. “I just didn’t need it. Can we go?” She nodded at the crowd. “I’m tired of looking at those vultures.”
    “Then you should get a job where they don’t target