Captive Heart by Mina Carter, J.William Mitchell

much coffee. She didn’t seem very happy, yet she managed the weak smile of a sleep-deprived, sexually satisfied woman.
    “Some companies over the years have hired figureheads to sit at the top as the image they project,” said Rollie with a kind fondness in her tone. “Marie was like that, and so much more. She was my mentor. Growing up as rough as I did, I might have ended up dead in a ditch somewhere or worse, a crack whore. She taught second grade science, and we met after I hid in her tool shed when the rain hit.”
    She picked up her coffee and started to drink but then set it down, picking up a piece of toast instead and nibbling on it. “Fortunately for me, she didn’t turn me in. She took one look at me and all the science books of hers scattered all over the place that I had dug out from her boxes, and she took me in. She wanted to adopt me, but there were certain circumstances, and it was impossible. Despite that, I’ve been with her ever since, and I couldn’t have imagined a better way for my life to turn out.
    “In every sense of the word apart from biological, Marie was my mother. When I started rising, I took her with me. There was no way I was leaving her behind. When I finally started the company after my first few projects took flight, she was more than happy to assume my identity when I asked her.”
    She laughed. “She knew how much I hated the politicking and the limelight. She knew it bothered me and disrupted my workflow. I’ve always liked to work with my hands. Mixing other things in it just messed things up for me.”
    Day nodded slightly and tried not to let his surprise show on his face. From the way Rollie acted and talked, he’d pegged her for some fat cat’s daughter, raised in luxury and educated at the best schools money could buy. His respect for her rose more than a few notches at the revelation. She was a kid off the streets. Like he was. They were kindred spirits.
    Day speared a sausage and glanced over at her. “So, the million-dollar question. Who would want to kill you?”
    Rollie shrugged. “That’s just it. I can’t think of people who would want to kill Caroline Gavilan. They would want to kidnap her, but killing is counterproductive,” she stated, referring to herself in third person. “But then, I guess I can’t think of anyone who would want to kill me , either. The real me.” Then a thought seemed to have struck her, and her brow furrowed in thought. “Unless…sonofabitch,” she muttered. “Those greedy bastards.”
    “Talk to me. Which greedy bastards?”
    “Of course. This has everything to do with the Icarus Project. Dammit.” She pounded the table in emphasis and causing everyone else to look at her in surprise. Dropping her voice, she spoke in a more discreet tone. “The Icarus Project is the latest, and biggest, project GTC has ever done. It’s something I’ve been working on for years, even before I started the company. Basically, we’ve developed a new kind of energy system that taps the high yield of photon particles.
    “Can you imagine? High yield from a relatively small amount of potential energy. It’s cheap, efficient, safe, compact, and best of all, it’s renewable. This will change the world. And, as you can imagine, put quite a few energy companies out of business. They’d either want to get their hands or this or do whatever it takes to stop it from coming out including…”
    “Assassination. Yeah, I’m with you. Your competitors don’t want you to finish development, or even talk about it.” Day shook his head. “Who are we talking about? The guy who hired me was a middleman but, whoever it is, they’ve got money, that’s for sure. Those goons that came after us were a professional outfit.”
    “It’s not just the competition that’s involved here. There are a lot of people out there who stand to lose a lot if we bring this tech into daylight. Marie was supposed to make a presentation of the project at the Global