Page 54 of Once a Killer

Dailey’s face turned as red as the ribbons on his uniform and he sputtered for a moment. Then he turned to Jameson. “Get rid of her.”

Weston stood against the wall like a statue, watching all of them.

“Sorry, General,” Jameson said, his voice cold. “You heard Bree. She’s doing her job, and she isn’t going anywhere.” He narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to the general. “I’m not particularly interested in talking to you about my program. I let you into my office as a courtesy. So you can talk in front of her, or you can leave. Your choice.”

“What is she, anyway? Your side piece?”

Jameson’s jaw twitched and he stared at the general. “First of all, General Dailey, I don’t have aside piecebecause I’m not married. Don’t judge everyone else by your own behavior.”

The general’s already red face darkened, and he opened his mouth to respond. Jameson ignored him as he continued, “Secondly,” he jerked his head toward the door. “Get out. You’ve wasted enough of my time. Door’s over there.” He angled his thumb to the left. “I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”

“I came all the way from Washington to meet with you.”

“Then head right back to Washington. I don’t want to do business with you.”

The colonel bent close to Dailey and murmured something into his ear. Daily jerked back to stare at him, and the colonel jerked his head toward the door. “Now,” he said, his voice sharp.

Dailey stood up, yanked open the office door and stepped into the lab.

When Dailey began wandering toward Hayley Brogan, Jameson turned to the colonel. “Get him out of my lab. Right now.”

The colonel jumped up and hurried into the lab. Took the general’s elbow and said something to him. Dailey tried to yank his elbow away from the colonel but couldn’t free himself.

Weston, his face stony, said something else to Dailey. A muscle twitching in his jaw, the general finally nodded once. Weston gripped his elbow and led him to the door of the lab. Opened the door and shoved him outside. Said a few words and closed the door in his face.

“I thought the general was Weston’s boss,” Bree said quietly to Jameson.

“Sometimes, a colonel isn’t always a colonel. He’s…”

He snapped his mouth closed as Weston returned to the office. He stood beside Jameson and held out his hand. “I’m Daniel Weston,” he said. “I apologize for the general.” His lips tightened. “He’s not the most tactful person I know.”

Then he went over to Bree. Held out his hand and shook hers. “My apologies for the way the general treated you. He’s a complete pig.”

Bree’s mouth curled into a smile. “Funny, I was thinking the same thing.”

Weston grinned, then went back to Jameson. “All right if I sit down?” he asked.

“Sure,” Jameson said. He glanced over at Bree. “Ms. Gordon is my bodyguard. Shecan’tleave the room when someone’s in here with me.”

“I suspected that was the case. The general outranks me, but there are no excuses for the way he behaved. He’s retiring in a couple of months, so he figures he can say and do whatever he wants. No idea why the brass sent him here to talk to you.”

“Me, either,” Jameson said. “I made it clear after I met him several months ago that I didn’t want to deal with him.” His jaw worked. “Makes me think the Department of Defense isn’t really interested in my program.”

“It’s definitely interested,” Weston said. He glanced at Bree, then eased closer to Jameson. “We requested this meeting because the Army is interested in buying your program.”

Jameson leaned back in his chair and studied Weston. “As I said, my program isn’t for sale.”

“I understand that it’s not finished. That it may not be finished for a while. But we’d like to buy it now. We think it will have a lot of applications that will be very valuable to us. We’ll buy it even though it’s not finished. We’re prepared to pay you two hundred million dollars for it. The money can be transferred into your account today.”

Bree stared at Weston, unsure if she’d heard him correctly.Two hundred million dollars? Oh, my God.

Jameson shook his head. “I’m not selling the program, Weston. Not today, not any day. When it’s finished and ready to go, I’ll license it. The Army is welcome to buy a license, and it won’t cost the American taxpayers two hundred million dollars.”

Weston narrowed his eyes. “You gonna sell a license to anyone who comes up with the money?”

“That’s my business, Colonel. But I can assure you I won’t be selling licenses to hostile countries.” He scowled at the guy sitting in the chair next to his desk. “There are a lot of things I won’t do for money, and that’s one of them.” He jerked his head toward the hallway. “Unlike, I suspect, the general.”

Weston stared at his hands for a long moment. “You’d be right about that,” he said quietly. He exhaled. “I apologize for assuming that you would. If it’s any comfort, General Dailey’ll be out of the Army by the time you’re ready to license your program.”

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