Evolutionary Romance- The Complete Trilogy

by Sarah Biglow

  “This is amazing news. But, you’re sure you’re ready?” he said, his gaze narrowed behind his glasses.

  I recounted sports trivia in my head to keep his prying powers at bay. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I pin-wheeled my left arm for effect, showing them that it was almost healed. It only hurt a little bit. Not enough that I was willing to sit at home doing nothing. My parents didn’t’ know I was getting back to “work” so fast. But, they didn’t have to know.

  “You got cleared by a doctor?” Tina questioned.

  “Would I be here if I hadn’t?” It was a lie. I hadn’t called the hospital for any follow-up.

  They all seemed to buy my response. “So, do we have an assignment yet?” Spencer asked.

  “No clue.”

  Tina pulled out a tablet I hadn’t realized she’d been holding and started tapping away on it. I learned long ago to give her space when she was doing her hacker thing. “According to the 9-1-1 database, there’s a home invasion in progress,” she announced.

  Spencer cleared his throat. “I’m pretty sure your uncle warned you not to go hacking databases like that again.”

  “He said if I did, he’d tell my mother. Well, it’s an empty threat now, isn’t it? She knows already. So, it can’t hurt. Besides, it gives you two something to do.”

  I looked at Spencer. “Come on, nerd. Let’s go save some people.”

  “I’m not sure this is such a good idea. What if they have guns?” Spencer whispered as we approached the address Tina had given us.

  “I dodge,” I quipped.

  “Not funny. We’re even in the getting shot department. I’m not eager for either of us to repeat that experience. Maybe we should let the cops handle this one,” he said as we ducked out of view from the front of the house. Anger suddenly passed over his face. “On second thought, let’s take these guys out.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  “Jessie,” he answered, as if that was supposed to mean anything to me.

  “Gonna need more than a name.”

  “The little girl we saved from being kidnapped. You broke the dude’s arm and wrapped him in a parking meter.”

  “Oh, right. That was pretty awesome,” I recalled.

  “I told her if she needed me, I’d be there.” He crept up to the front window and peered over the windowsill. I crouched beside him and caught sight of a man in a mask holding a gun on a woman sitting in a kitchen chair, hands tied behind her back.

  “Can you tell how many people are in the house?” I whispered.

  Spencer closed his eyes, his entire face going slack as he concentrated. I’d never really paid attention when he used his powers. It always seemed to just come to him. By the color draining out of his face, I guessed it wasn’t good news.

  “Jessie is in there but she’s hiding. She’s scared.”

  “Is it just the one guy in the living room?” I prompted.

  He shook his head. “There are two more guys upstairs. I think they’re getting close to finding Jessie. We have to do something.”

  At that moment I wished for the power of invisibility. It would make sneaking into the house easier. I motioned for Spencer to follow me around the side of the house. The back door was already open, evidence of a crowbar marked the door and the door jamb. I nudged it open with my foot, holding my breath as I waited for it to betray our entry. Lucky for us it was quiet. Which probably explained why Jessie’s mother had been caught off guard.

  “I’m going to find Jessie,” Spencer hissed and started toward a back set of stairs.

  I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “We have to assume they are all armed. You aren’t going up there alone. You might be able to get in their heads, but you aren’t the one with the power to take them out.”

  “I can do this,” he argued and pulled out a Bluetooth headset, a reminder of our solo operations.

  I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but I still carried mine, too. I stuck it in my ear. “Look. We go together. I can take them out, you get the girl.”

  “What about the one down here?”

  “I’ll deal with him when we know Jessie is safe. But I’m going to need you to be my ears, okay? Get inside his head and tell me what he needs to hear.”

  “I can do that,” Spencer agreed.

  I stepped in front of him to lead the way up. I could hear the slamming of drawers and the banging of doors being thrown against their hinges as we made our way to the second floor. Spencer gestured to my left and I could see a masked assailant rifling through a chest of drawers. He was too focused on his task to notice as I crept into the room.

  “Hey, asshole!” I called and slammed a foot into his solar plexus before landing an uppercut with my right arm. He went down like a house of cards. I glanced at Spencer. ‘Find something to tie him up’.

  Spencer disappeared down the hall, reappearing moments later with a mess of bungy cords. They’d have to do. I stretched one farther than it probably was meant to and wrapped it around the guy’s wrists and ankles until he couldn’t move. I dragged him out into the hallway and used a second cord to secure him to the railing.

  “Where’s the girl?” I hissed.

  Spencer closed his eyes again and pointed to the far end of the hall. I caught movement that way and my heart skipped a beat. Given the lack of screaming, the third guy hadn’t found her. Yet. Without waiting, I barreled down the hallway and burst into the room. The walls were a vibrant shade of purple to match the curtains and canopy bed. This asshole was bent double, rifling through more drawers.

  “Hey moron, you aren’t gonna find anything in there,” I said and waited for him to turn around.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he growled before crumpling to the floor. Spencer held a lamp in both hands right behind him. I hadn’t even seen him move.

  I secured him to the other thug in the hallway and waited while Spencer retrieved Jessie. She’d hidden herself in the closet. Her eyes were wide with fear as she crawled out.

  “It’s you,” she said in a trembling voice.

  Spencer bent down and smiled. “I told you if you were in trouble, I’d be there.”

  “Where’s my mom?”

  “We’re going to help her next. Did you call 9-1-1?” Spencer probed in a hushed tone.

  She nodded. “I heard men yelling and my mom screamed so I hid and called the police like my dad showed me.”

  “You did good. They are coming to help. We’re going to get your mom but I need you to stay really close to me. Can you do that?”

  She gripped his hand tightly and we headed for the stairs, creeping back down to the first floor. It was eerily quiet, not a good sign. I stopped just out of view of the living room. I could still see Jessie’s mom tied to the chair and her captor pacing back and forth. He wasn’t talking and I shot Spencer a look over my shoulder.

  “What’s on his mind?”

  The answer came faster this time. “He’s worried about where his brothers are. And he’s worried about somebody named Ramone finding out they don’t have the money.”

  He shrugged not knowing what it actually meant. Leaving that for me to decipher. “I could use a name.”

  “Patrick.”

  I took a few deep breaths, held my hands up where he could see them and stepped into his line of sight. I had a few seconds while he was trying to sort out the confusion of seeing a new face. “Patrick, your brothers aren’t coming.”

  “Who are you?”

  “It doesn’t matter who I am. Except to know that I’m not going to let you hurt this family or steal their stuff. I’m sorry if Ramone isn’t going to be happy with you, but whatever it is you owe him isn’t getting taken care of by doing this.”

  Patrick leveled his gun at me. It was the second time in a week I’d had a weapon focused on me. His fingers shook around the grip making it clear he didn’t want to use it. “How do you know about all that?” he stammered.

  I was about to make up an answer when sirens wailed. I caught
the blur of red and blue emergency lights as the police pulled up. It was time for us to make our exit. While Officer Boudreau was aware of what we were up to, this wasn’t exactly a sanctioned outing—no one, but Tina and Marisol knew we were here—and I didn’t want to see what happened if Mrs. Boudreau got mad at us. So, instead, I said, “You aren’t getting out of this. The police are right outside. If they see that gun, I bet they shoot first and ask questions later. You don’t want to leave your brothers alone like that do you?”

  “You hurt them?” he accused.

  “They’re fine,” I answered. “But, you really should put that gun down. No one wants anyone here to get hurt. Right?”

  He rubbed the back of his gun hand across his chin, considering my suggestion. He finally laid the weapon down and kicked it away. Jessie’s mom stayed quiet the entire time, but I could see unshed tears in her eyes.

  “You need to surrender,” Spencer said, appearing from the stairwell. Jessie clung to his arm.

  Patrick nodded. “I’ll surrender.” His voice lacked emotion though, like the words weren’t entirely his. He marched to the front door, opened it and loudly announced. “I’m surrendering.”

  Outside, several officers descended on him, quickly tackling him to the ground. I saw Officer Finley among them. Tina would be pissed she had missed this. I focused my attention on freeing Jessie’s mom. “My daughter,” she sobbed, she finally let the tears fall.

  “Mom!” Jessie called and raced into the room just as I freed the woman’s hands.

  “Oh baby!” She pulled the little girl close. “Thank you. I don’t know how you did that. But thank you.”

  “The other two are tied up on the second floor. We’d appreciate if you, uh, didn’t mention us to the cops,” I said.

  She nodded, relieved that she and her daughter were okay. Spencer and I made a run for it out the back. Instead of going around to the front we hopped a few fences until we were far enough away from the scene. Making sure that no one would be able to connect us to what had went down.

  “I’m impressed. You got in his head and wore him down,” Spencer said as we started back toward the library.

  “You made him surrender. How’d you do that?” I asked.

  “No, I didn’t,” he said, hands shoved in his pockets and his gaze focused on the ground in front of him.

  “Yes, you did.” I got in front of him and put a hand on his shoulder. “You told him to surrender and then he just did it. Kind of like a robot. Shit, do you have mind control powers, too?”

  Color flooded his cheeks, but he still wouldn’t look at me. “Sort of. I don’t mean to do it. I mean … uh, okay I meant to when we were at Town Hall a few months back with the reception lady, Gladys. It seemed like it would help this time.”

  “Does everyone know you can do this?”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t mentioned it to anyone. I don’t know, it feels like if people knew about it, it might turn into a bad thing.”

  “Keeping secrets, Sorano? I thought we weren’t supposed to do that anymore?” The hypocrisy of my statement wasn’t lost on me.

  “What did the doctor say about you healing so fast?” he countered.

  “Nothing.” It wasn’t really a lie. The doctor just hadn’t examined me to find out.

  “How long do you think they’ll let us keep working together since you’re all cleared for action?”

  I wanted to hope for a permanent partnership. As odd of a pairing as we were, we worked. I knew he’d have my back and he knew I’d take out anything coming his way. Despite trying to figure out this thing with Henry, him and I still didn’t quite fit together as a team. We were both blunt instruments. And if things progressed between us, I wasn’t sure I could handle working with someone I was starting to care about in a romantic sense. We’d just have to wait and see what happened on both fronts.

  Chapter Eight

  Henry

  I got to headquarters just as Spencer and Declan appeared, cheesy smiles beaming at each other. To an outside observer it looked like two friends just sharing an inside joke. I knew better though. I guessed Tina hadn’t stopped them from going out on a mission together. I assessed Declan from a distance for any sign of injury, but he looked fine. I let my gaze linger on the contoured muscles of his chest, feeling an entirely non-power related heat warm me.

  “Why do you two look so happy?” I commented as I caught up to them.

  The smiles faded immediately. “It’s nothing,” Declan answered, not meeting my gaze.

  “Sure, looks like something,” I pushed and realized too late that I sounded like I was jealous.

  “We were just catching up on some stuff. You know, since we’ll be working together again,” Spencer interjected.

  “Right.” Tina hadn’t told them about her apology so they didn’t know I knew about their little adventure. I left them standing by the side entrance. I made it all the way to the main conference room before I heard raised voices.

  “How many times do you have to be told not to do something before you will listen?” Lena screamed.

  There was only one person who could upset her that much. I slipped through the door to find mother and daughter in a heated argument. They didn’t notice me as I settled into a chair and took in the drama. It was like a car wreck. Horrific, but yet so entrancing, I couldn’t look away. Too bad I don’t have popcorn for the show. Maybe Tina had taken my advice and asked to have an honest conversation with her mother.

  “Oh, because Uncle Nick can do so much damage by spilling the beans, now. Hello, you already know what I can do,” Tina shouted back.

  “What you did was highly illegal and put your friends in danger. There is a reason medical clearance is required before someone can go back out,” Lena snapped.

  “You really think I would do that to my friends? He got the okay from the doctor.”

  “No, he didn’t,” Lena said, her tone dying down in volume.

  Tina’s brow furrowed. I didn’t like him going out without getting checked out, but it also meant Lena wasn’t aware of his rapid healing, yet.

  “You’re wrong. He was cleared,” Tina said, her tone moving down to a normal decibel.

  “Because that’s what he told you? Tina, people lie. I thought you had figured that out by now.”

  Tina stormed out of the room, either to go berate Declan—which he had coming to him—or to sulk somewhere in a dark corner. Lena stared after her daughter in silence for a minute before turning back and noticing me. “I’m sorry you had to witness yet another of Tina’s meltdowns.”

  I nodded. “I had no idea he’d pull a stunt like that just to get back out there.”

  “It seems he and Spencer are more motivated to reunite than we believed.”

  “What did they do exactly?”

  “Stopped a home invasion, saved a little girl and her mother.”

  “Can’t be mad at them for that,” I said.

  “It concerns me that Mr. O’Bannon would risk further injury just to prove he and Mr. Sorano should work together.”

  “I meant, I saw him yesterday and he seemed to be doing better. He’s super strong. Maybe he’s got a higher tolerance for injury.”

  Lena stepped closer to me. “Which is why we needed him examined before we let him back out there again. Perhaps that idea will be more palatable if he hears it from you. Don’t think I have been blind to how close you two have become in recent months.”

  “It’s not what you think,” I deflected. “But, I can talk to him. If you do something for me.”

  Her mouth tightened into a thin line and she stepped back. She was not a woman who liked being given directives. I knew that, but I also knew we needed to try and foster some peace around here before things got out of control. “Tina has really been struggling. She still feels like you are keeping secrets. And she’s hurt that you didn’t tell her what was going on when she first started digging. Talk to her. Not as her boss or a scientist, but as a mother. I th
ink she needs that.”

  Lena’s shoulders dropped a fraction. “I assumed she enjoyed the search.”

  “Wrong, she didn’t. She feels betrayed. I think we both know that can be dangerous with what we’re doing.”

  “Fine. I’ll talk to her.”

  “Great. I’ll see what I can find out from Declan. I’ll try to convince him to hold off on any more surprise missions before he’s ready.”

  It wasn’t hard to find Declan. He was sitting on the bench outside the front of the library scrolling through his Facebook feed. I wanted to sit beside him, but knew it could send the wrong impression. Well, one which he wasn’t ready for even though I was.

  “Heard about your unsanctioned mission,” I said to catch his attention.

  The nape of his neck turned pink as he set his phone aside and looked at me. “Tina told you?”

  “No, Mrs. Boudreau. She found out Tina did a little extracurricular hacking and you haven’t been cleared by a doctor.”

  “I feel fine. I don’t need to see a doctor.”

  “That’s not how it works and you know it. If you’d gotten hurt on any normal job, you couldn’t go back until you were given medical clearance. This is the same thing.”

  “You keep saying that like it’s actually going to matter to me,” he quipped.

  I sat down. “Look, I know you are used to doing things your own way. And honestly, I can see why you’d want to go back to how things were. You, Spencer, and Tina had a good thing going. But the company is responsible for our well-being now. You saw how upset your parents got. How do you think they’d feel knowing you went out again without being checked over first, to make sure you really were okay?”

  “They’d be pissed,” he admitted.

  “They aren’t the only ones. You could have gotten hurt again or reinjured your shoulder worse than it had been. Just because you feel good doesn’t mean it’s all better.” God, I don’t know what I’d do if that happened.