Sledge leaned against the closed door while Logan took a seat. “I told her.”
“I knew you would. How’d she take it?”
“Well, she’s still in my presence, and she didn’t act like we were all a bunch of freaks. I chose to take all of that as a good sign.”
“Odds are, that’s a fair bet. She’s a levelheaded person.” Logan rubbed his eyes with closed fists. “It was a real risk coming out here before the storm hit. They’re saying this one could be historic.”
“Just our luck, right? We wouldn’t want anything to start going our way now and ruin our unlucky streak.” Sledge did what he could to sound lighthearted, though he knew it came off flat, worried. How could he help it? The woman he loved, the woman he needed the way he needed oxygen, was in danger.
They all were.
“Hopefully, once we have a handle on decoding the data, we can get a handle on finding where these bastards are hiding out nowadays,” Logan growled. Sledge sensed the wolf’s satisfaction at the idea of revenge, and his own wolf howled in recognition.
Though he didn’t agree. Not completely. “Even if you managed to somehow find the location for them, what good would it do us?” Sledge asked. “What are we supposed to do? Storm the place? Cut them down? What if they’re waiting for us? What if there are more of them than there are of us?”
“A bunch of bureaucrats and scientists? I think we can handle ourselves,” Logan chuckled.
Sledge didn’t find it so funny. “Let’s not make the mistake of underestimating them,” he murmured. “You know I don’t like to go against you on anything, and I don’t want you to think I’m being disrespectful or overstepping myself, but we can’t assume anything. They could have armed guards posted—why wouldn’t they? It’s top-secret stuff we’re talking about. They can’t have just anyone wandering in.”
Logan’s expression turned to one of grim understanding. “Of course. That was a clumsy thing to say. You know how seriously I take this. And yes, they could have armed guards. But we’ve faced armed guards before too, right? All the time. And you and I both know that armed or not, we still have the advantage. There isn’t much they can do to us that we won’t bounce back from, especially if we go in as wolves. They’ll be too busy to pissing themselves like those guys we dealt with the night we found Marnie. Remember? Remember how good that felt? Remember how sure of ourselves we were on the way back? We were kings of the world, weren’t we? There was nothing that could touch us.”
Sledge looked back on that night. The Before Time. Funny, but he used to think of his life before almost dying as the Before Time. He was only a man with only himself in his head.
Now, the Before Time was the time before he’d met her. When she came into his life, everything shifted. The entire world tilted on its axis. She was all that mattered, all that would ever matter. Every breath was for her; all of his efforts were directed toward her happiness, her well-being. Her safety.
“You know, it’s almost difficult to remember that,” he admitted, grimacing at himself. “What does that say about me?”
Logan’s grin was full of understanding. “It means your wolf has found his focus, and that’s fine. That’s what we do. But that part of you, that memory, it can’t be far away.”
“Of course it isn’t. I remember. I remember feeling sure of myself.” He sat on the cot, shrugging. “I felt that way on the beach today too. Even that brief time as the wolf reminded me how powerful we are, what we’re capable of. When I was telling her about us and what happened out there, I couldn’t decide if I hated those scientists and lab rats, or if I was grateful to them. We’ve never really talked about it, any of us. Not with each other.”
“No, you’re right. It’s not an easy thing to talk about, and we don’t do the whole sharing our emotions thing very easily, do we?”
“That’s true.”
“Listen. I have no doubt we can take on all comers, and if that’s what it comes down to, that’s what it’s going to be. I’m still head of this group.”
“Nobody’s debating that,” Sledge assured him. “Nobody’s questioning you, and you know I’ll be right next to you when the time comes, if it comes. I almost hope it does. I’d like to sink my teeth into a few people, honestly, though I don’t think I’d be lucky enough to run into them.”
“I can still see their faces, too,” Logan snickered. “Yeah. I’d like to see them again. I’d like to remind them what they’ve done.”
“You know, there’s a chance that the work Marnie was doing had nothing to do with us specifically. There could be others.”
“But they were going to shut us down. They’re going to destroy us, kill us. Why would they go through it again?”
“Maybe they changed things. Maybe they decided to go in another direction. I don’t know, but people like that don’t stop, do they? Not when they’ve seen the glory—even if that glory is all in their head. Even if they were only imagining all the fame and fortune they would earn after making some huge scientific breakthrough. That sort of greed and ambition, that’s a disease. It doesn’t just go away.”
Logan leaned back, tipping his face upward to look at the ceiling. He folded his hands over his stomach, stretching his legs out before him and crossing them at the ankles. He practically took up the entire room—and Sledge filled the rest of it.
They sat in silence for a while, their energy dark and seething, full of anger and questions and the sense that they were denied what they deserved. There was nothing so bitter as that feeling, wanting vengeance and not having a clear idea of how to get it.
When Zane stuck his head in the room, they both jumped like they’d been half-asleep. “Sorry,” he grinned. “I just wanted to say I think I’m going to get out of here soon. It’s really whipping up like crazy out there. No offense, but I don’t feel like spending the night. I’ll go relieve Jace at Marnie’s house—maybe we’ll just stay there. We can keep things safe for her too. I know Braxton took her patio furniture into the shed earlier today.”
Sledge offered him a smile. “I know she’ll appreciate that. Thank you, guys, for keeping things running over there.”
“No problem. Maybe you guys should think about heading back too—seriously, before the roads flood.”
That got Sledge off the cot, and he followed Zane out to the vestibule and the glass door which gave them a look outside.
It was no joke. He whistled in wonder as the wind drove the rain in sheets, slamming against everything they made contact with. “Oh, damn,” he muttered. He was angry with himself for making the drive at all, even when he knew how important it was.
Marnie had a point, though. It was better to share information like this face-to-face rather than relying on the security of a network, firewall, all of it.
“I would hate to have to spend the night here with her,” Sledge admitted, casting a look over his shoulder. The door between the hall and the control center was closed—they never left it open, not for any reason—but he could imagine her back there, matching wits with Doc, showing Val she wasn’t the only one skilled at research and data collection.
It was all fun and games now—as much as anything like this could be fun and games—but that would change quickly if they were called upon to spend the rest of the day and maybe the night in this cheerless place.
“Well, I can’t rush her,” he mused out loud. “This is important. Maybe things will slow down a little. It’s not that long ride.”
“I would hate to see you two get stranded in floodwater,” Zane pointed out.
“Yeah, I would hate it too.” Sledge nudged him, snickering. “Thanks, Mom.”
“Don’t be a dick,” Zane sneered, shoving Sledge. They walked back to the control center, where Sledge found Marnie sitting next to Val at her computer.
She didn’t look up when he entered, and it gave him the chance to observe her without her noticing. She was in her element, her head close to Val’s, the two of them murmuring in hushed
tones. He saw Val nod several times, her eyes widening, her mouth forming a little O shape whenever Marnie told her something that came as a surprise.
It was rare meeting anyone who could surprise Val. He had the feeling they would work well together given the chance, but of course, that chance would never come. Marnie wasn’t meant for this sort of life.
And that was a good thing because if she was involved with them in any way professionally, he would be too worried for her to think straight.
She glanced up, noticing him watching, and gave him a shy smile. He smiled back, touched by her sweetness, proud of the person she was. “How’s it going?” he asked, looking from her to Val.
“This girl is schooling me over here,” Val admitted. It wasn’t a polite lie, either—she wasn’t the sort of person to offer a lie just to make someone else feel important, especially not when it came to her line of work. “And she gave us pretty much the entire key we need to translate the names, dates, everything. Everything those people kept track of.”
Marnie shrugged like it meant nothing. “I just got lucky. They sent me that file by mistake. If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t be able to help you.”
Val shook her head. “No, if you weren’t so remarkable, you wouldn’t be able to help me. Any average person wouldn’t have been able to look at that and remember it, like, months later. Don’t be ashamed of who you are; don’t be embarrassed by it. We women need to stand up and embrace the things that make us who we are, whatever sets us apart. That something to be proud of. Don’t forget that.”
Marnie was blushing furiously by the time Val finished, but she nodded just the same. “Okay. I won’t forget.”
Sledge cleared his throat, sorry to break in on a moment like this. He sensed this could be a turning point for Marnie, and he welcomed it. She deserved to feel confident about her abilities rather than feeling like she needed to make herself smaller in front of other people. Maybe this Beth had been the one to encourage her through the years—there was a chance that without Beth, Marnie would lose that spark, that drive, that confidence.
Not if he had anything to say about it. If he had to work from then until the end of his life, he would make sure that not a day went by when Marnie didn’t know how he valued all the things that made her special.
“I just took a look outside. It’s awful. I hate to think about driving in this, but it might be better for us to get out of here and head back before things get really bad. It’s gonna blow for hours, and unless we want to spend the night…”
“I was thinking about leaving, too,” Val confessed. “I haven’t spent more than five or six hours at home since this whole thing started. I don’t think I’ve been home in two days.”
“Three,” Hawk corrected. “And I should know since I was here with you.”
As if on cue, Marnie looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry to put you all through this.”
“You aren’t putting us through anything,” Val assured her, laughing. “None of this is your fault! I’m just glad we can help you.”
“Same here,” Hawk assured her with a wink.
To his surprise, Marnie’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry,” she whispered to him when he went to her, concerned. “This is overwhelming. I didn’t know you guys for devoting so much of your time to this—I guess I assumed you had other things to work on. I know it’s not all about me—I’m trying to keep my ego in check.” She laughed softly at herself, which he took as a good sign.
“It’s for you, and it’s for all of us,” Sledge reminded her, reaching a hand out for her to take. She stood with a resolute expression on her gorgeous face, her perfect face, the face that could so easily have been destroyed in the car accident.
It wouldn’t change who she was inside, the person he’d fallen in love with. She was wildly brilliant, talented beyond measure, but she was also timid, so humble, generous. They’d come so far from the way they’d treated each other in the beginning—with her caustic dismissals, her assumptions that he was up to no good. His frustration with her, his suspicion that there had something wrong with her when she refused to accept the help he so willingly offered.
Now, when he looked at her, when he touched her hand, he saw his future. And while it still made his heart tighten, he would learn to accept that because it meant accepting her, accepting that he was worthy of someone as incredible as Marnie Harris.
“Come on,” Zane called out. “I’ll follow you part of the way before I turn off and finish the drive to Marnie’s house.”
Sledge held her hand tighter than ever. “You ready to take a wild ride?” he grinned, hoping she didn’t hear the nerves in his voice because it wasn’t just him anymore. Before her, he wouldn’t have thought twice about making the drive like the one in front of them.
There didn’t seem to be an ounce of fear in her as she smiled back. “A wild ride? Gee, I haven’t been on one of those recently.” At least she hadn’t lost her wry sense of humor.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Holy crap.” Marnie resisted the impulse to shield her eyes, too terrified by what she saw around her. The only thing that stopped her from doing it was knowing how it would worry Sledge, which she didn’t want to do. He was already worried enough about so many other things.
Maybe they should’ve waited until the storm passed. But it was too late now—they were smack in the middle of it on a road that was starting to flood. At least there was no traffic, with so many other people being smart enough to stay off the road at that particular time.
For all she knew, the roads were closed—though there were no signs and no police cars warning people to stay away.
Then again, the way the wind howled, any signs could’ve blown away. The cops or state troopers or whoever might’ve thought twice about hanging around. That would’ve been smart of them. It would’ve meant they were smarter than the three people in two separate cars currently trying to navigate what felt like the end of the world.
“Don’t worry. We’re far enough off the ground that this won’t be a problem,” Sledge promised.
For the sake of keeping their spirits up and avoiding an argument, Marnie only smiled and nodded like she believed him. She wanted to believe him. She wanted what he said to be true, but all she could think about was reports she’d seen in the past of people getting swept away by sudden floodwaters, people who were trapped in their cars and swept downstream until the water covered them.
In fact, she had only just heard a story about something like that weeks earlier, hadn’t she? Before everything started up, before she’d started losing the people in her life. A mother and her child had been swept away in a flood, the water rising suddenly, too quickly for her to do anything about it. She’d even been pregnant, this woman, and all three of them had died without anyone being able to help them.
To her horror, she giggled. It was a tiny giggle, squeaking out before she could stop it, but it was there. And he heard it.
“Tell me you don’t think this is funny,” Sledge muttered. “Tell me you don’t have a death wish.”
“I definitely do not have a death wish,” she assured him, rolling her eyes. “A morbid sense of humor, maybe.”
“Why? What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking how ironic it would be if this was what killed me. Here I am, getting shot at, getting run off the road, and I managed to make it out okay. All it took was an act of God.”
“I don’t even want to hear you joking about things like that,” he warned. “Especially not when I’m doing everything I can to keep us alive.”
“I know you are, which is why I haven’t said anything.” She clasped her hands together in her lap, willing herself to stop staring out the window, but it was fascinating, the way the wind practically flattened the young, flexible trees. It amazed her that they could bounce back.
The older trees, on the other hand, were losing limbs left and right. She watched an entire limb that made up practically an e
ntire half of a tree get stripped away like two invisible gods were playing with a wishbone.
“Everything is fine,” Sledge assured her, even as he struggled to keep the car moving in a straight line. The wind wanted desperately to push them from side to side, and she felt the car swaying slightly as they worked their way down the road.
“I have every faith in you,” she assured him, which was true. He was a good driver and strong enough to manage to steer the truck through the storm. A quick glance out the passenger side mirror told her Zane was successful too, driving behind them.
“You know what I want to do with this is all over?” she asked.
“Sleep? Because that’s what I would like to do.”
“Besides sleeping.” She sighed happily, closing her eyes. “I would like to do nothing. Absolutely nothing for just a little while. I’ve been working for so long. I guess that’s part of who I am or who I saw myself as. Yeah, I think that’s what it is. It’s like my whole identity has been being smart and working. Proving myself, you know?”
“You don’t have anything to prove. Anybody with eyes and two brain cells to rub together can see you’re talented, gifted, capable. Who are you really trying to prove things to?”
She got the sense that he welcomed the discussion since it gave him something to focus on besides the danger they were in. At least she wasn’t complaining or blaming him for venturing out into this instead of spending more time at headquarters.
“Myself, maybe. Maybe I feel like I have to prove something to myself. You’ve got to understand,” she continued, turning in her seat to face him. It was preferable to looking out the window or the windshield. He was a lot better looking than anything out there. “My parents didn’t know what to do with somebody like me. They knew I was smart; they had me tested when I was a little kid. Beyond that? I didn’t exactly get a lot of support or encouragement, not because they were bad people or negligent parents but because they had no experience with someone like me. I guess not many people do, after all. Us geniuses with eidetic memories don’t exactly come around every day.” She rolled her eyes, snickering at herself. “God, how pretentious.”
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