“That is fantasy.”
Claire shifted her gaze to him.
“Then you will not object to letting someone test both drinks.”
Rourke nodded toward one of his men.
“Take the water and Keller’s glass.
Keep them in sight.
Use the field kit in the car.”
Victor’s head turned sharply.
The reaction was small, but Keller saw it.
“You forgot we travel with one,” Keller said.
“I forgot nothing,” Victor replied.
“You packed the kit yourself.”
For the first time, Victor had no immediate answer.
The two glasses were secured inside separate clean bags and carried toward the private elevator.
Rourke watched them leave before returning his attention to Victor’s phone.
The countdown beside the scheduled message continued to fall.
Twelve seconds.
Eleven.
“What happens at nine seventeen?” Rourke asked.
Victor said nothing.
Claire looked beyond him toward the velvet curtain leading to the service corridor.
Jenna remained beside the water station.
Her back was pressed against the brass cabinet.
She was staring at Victor as though the room had narrowed to the space between them.
“Ask her,” Claire said.
Victor’s voice became sharp.
“Leave the staff out of this.”
Rourke turned toward Jenna.
“Come here.”
She did not move.
“Jenna,” Claire said quietly.
“The message is already playing.
Silence will not protect you from him now.”
Jenna crossed the dining room on unsteady legs.
The guests watched her pass.
A few had lowered their phones after Rourke’s men warned them not to record, but no one pretended any longer that this was an ordinary dinner.
Jenna stopped near the table.
“What were you told to do?” Rourke asked.
She looked at Victor.
He stared back with cold, unmistakable warning.
Jenna swallowed.
“Mr.
Hale said there would be a private security exercise.
He said one glass would be turned so the staff could prove we followed instructions under pressure.”
“And the blue bottle?”
“He brought it through the employee entrance this afternoon.
He told me it contained a harmless sedative used for a test.”
Keller looked at Victor.
“A test on whom?”
Jenna’s eyes filled, but she did not look away.
“Mr.
Rourke.”
A murmur moved through the dining room.
Victor shook his head.
“She is protecting herself.
She switched the bottles.”
