by Jody Klaire
“No, but then when she got in a mood like that, I stayed out of her way.” I turned to Frei. “What I’m saying is, I weren’t Lynne, I hadn’t lived her life. I couldn’t say I’d be any different if I’d been dealt her cards.” I tapped the counter. “Think she found it refreshing that I just took her as I saw her.”
Frei shook her head, a gentle smile on her face. “No wonder it’s hard for her to get over you.”
“Who?” Had I missed a page? “Lynne?”
“No,” Frei said with a chuckle. “I just meant . . . You . . .” She sighed. “It’s easy to like you.” She looked down at her hands. “It takes a lot to see a person’s faults and love them anyway.”
I smiled. “Actually, in my book, that is love.” A light dinged in my head as I said it. That had been the theme of my meditations. I’d been working on them every day. It was illuminating. “Love is unconditional.”
“Amen to that.” She got up and wandered to the study where there was a liquor cabinet.
“Are you teasing me?” I knew Renee was supportive of my meditations but I weren’t sure how other people would react.
“No. One Corinthians chapter thirteen verse five: it does not dishonor others, it’s not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” She smiled with warmth as she poured a glass.
“So I can get you to recite scripture to me?” I was teasing now but I was impressed. It felt nice to know something about her. It was nice to know that she had layers.
“Sure, just don’t expect it to be accurate. It’s been a while since I memorized passages.” She sipped her drink. “Funny that they pop up in your memory when you need them.” She wandered to the ice bucket and dropped a couple of cubes in.
“They do?”
She sipped her drink again and let out a satisfied sigh. I didn’t get how she could sip the stuff like it was pop. “They do. What’s with the new kid you adopted?”
I frowned, confused by the switch in conversation. I was enjoying getting to know her but it sounded like she was done sharing. “Huh?”
“The fainter. You were on the bench having a heart-to-heart.”
I turned to look at the closed door. We couldn’t see the quadrant from the villa.
Frei wandered to our living room and tapped a laptop that sat open on the coffee table. “I’m the boss.” She perched on the edge of her chair. “And someone needs to keep an eye on you.” She narrowed her eyes at the screen. “And scramble the bugs.”
“Right.” I had no idea CIG had that kind of technology. “Guess I need to censor, huh?”
“That was my next point. Back to the kid.” She raised her eyebrows, expectant.
“He’s cleverer than he lets on. He’s . . . he needs my help. I can’t explain it. I have to help him.”
Frei sipped away, watching me. “You don’t have to explain it. If you think he’s special, he is.” The ice chinked in her glass as she rested it on the edge of the armrest. “Build up his calves.”
“Huh?”
Her blue eyes softened as she smiled. “It helps the flow of blood returning to his heart. Kid has Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome.” She tapped her legs. “The stronger they are, the more it will help him. It won’t cure it, but it’ll go a long way to helping.”
“How did you know . . . ?” I glanced at the door and back to her. How?
“Andrews sends his reports to me.” She sipped again, never taking her eyes off me. Amusement filled them as I stared at her. “You want to take a picture for your wall, Lorelei?”
I opened and closed my mouth, trying to think of something to say.
“Give him salt. Make sure he has plenty of water.” Frei cocked her head. She sat in silence, watching me stare at her like a dimwit. “Quit drooling. Jäger is on his way. He’s got his eye on you. Don’t stare at him too much.”
“I don’t stare . . . do I?”
She took her glass, her laptop, and wandered down the hall toward the stairs. “Quit wooing the locals or I’m going to need a ticketing system for the admirers.”
I tensed, turning to the door. Jäger. I didn’t want to face him.
Then I heard her laugh. A laugh that sounded like she was up to something. I peeked through the window. Jäger was nowhere to be seen.
“Why do I get the feeling that you were just done sharing?” I called up the stairs.
The ice chinked again. “We’ll make an investigator out of you yet.”
I doubted it.
I went back to the door and checked outside, just to be sure. Why I was attractive to him at all, I didn’t know. Frei, I got why he’d like her. I could understand if he liked Renee or Owens even but me?
What was it with me and psychopathic lunatics anyway? Did I wear some kind of scent? Eau de maniac.
It would take somebody unhinged to be interested in me, in a romantic sense anyhow.
Maybe I did need to work on not staring. I was sure that I was getting worse. Not having my burdens meant I was playing catch-up. Frei had me trying to figure her out.
How normal folks had time for slushy stuff, I didn’t know.
Nope, I had a weed to help grow into a big strong tree. A healthy, fit and . . . well . . . valuable tree.
I sighed and shut the door behind me. I wondered if CIG had room for a weed with a fainting problem.
Chapter 18
THREE WHOLE WEEKS passed before I had realized. I was so busy working with my bunch of misfits that I hadn’t done anything but eat, sleep, and drill my troops. Some of them were already starting to look better. Those blessed with a jock gene had gotten tougher. I’d adapted Jed’s regime so that he got fitter but not bigger. Doctor Andrews and Renee had said that he was a bit of a bully so I weren’t gonna take no chances.
Problem was, Jed had more issues. I tried not to think of Sam and “cover him in the same molasses,” as Nan would say, when his eyes kept drifting to out the window. A pretty little girl with long brown hair had him gazing with a longing in his eyes. I had to admit, I was kinda worried. To me, the girl looked like your stereotypical nerd. She even had that bounce-walk thing they often did. There was something different about her. An arrogance that came from knowing that she was clever. A know-it-all.
I’d seen her strut past a few times, nose in the air, no time for nobody. At least that’s what it looked like. The poor kid was under so much pressure that she could have been carrying me on her shoulders. Dimmed burdens or not, I could see past the outer shell and she was cracking under the strain.
It was the musician. One of the kids who Huber wanted. A kid worth my weight in gold to Caprock. I didn’t know if she had any idea but she made Renee look laid back. Anyhow, I didn’t miss the glint in Jed’s eye.
He wanted her.
That thought rippled through my mind when I was in the gym with Miroslav one afternoon. I was pushing him to passing out point when a pain shot up my arm. I gripped it, expecting Miroslav to be doing the same but he just watched on with concern in his eyes.
Another pain shot up the same arm and I got up from the bench opposite Miroslav. I went looking for the cause. Whatever it was. It hurt.
“You okay, Miss Samson?” Miroslav panted at me as I scoured out the window. If I’d had my burdens properly, I would have known where the pain was coming from. I would have known who needed help.
“Gut feeling,” I mumbled. The pain hit again. This time I yelped with it. It was like being thrown into a wall. My brain fired into panic mode with the thought.
“Do you need something?” Miroslav pulled himself up then wobbled like he had Jell-O for legs.
“No. Sit. Someone is hurt is all. I need to find them.”
Didn’t that earn me a puzzled look. “Hurt? How do you know?”
“Hard to explain. I’m different. Now sit ’cause you’re giving me a chest ache.” I was thankful it was the two of us. I wished I could get a message to Renee or Frei but I didn’t have a phone. It was best I didn’t. I’d
blacked out the entire CIG base when I’d called home.
“Samson?”
Renee. I turned ready to hug her. Maybe that’s why she’d popped into my head in the first place.
“Musician,” I blurted out, trying to show some restraint. Miroslav was a cool kid but even he would notice if I squeezed the air out of a professor I wasn’t supposed to know. “She’s hurt.”
“She’s missing.” Renee’s gaze flicked to Miroslav and back to me.
“Jed,” Miroslav and I said in unison.
I turned to him. “You know where he could be?”
Miroslav wrinkled up his brow like he was deep in thought. “I know he likes her. He wants a chance.”
That didn’t make me feel better. “A chance?”
“I don’t know,” Miroslav said and chewed on his lip. “I know that he’s been working on something for months but he says lots of things. It is not the truth much of the time.”
“Samson, can you find her?” Renee sounded as concerned as I felt but it wasn’t that easy.
I couldn’t track down people like that anymore. I couldn’t feel anything to that level. I also couldn’t tell Renee that because she’d guess it was from when I had helped her. She’d feel guilty and she’d tell my mother. I didn’t want either conversation.
I shook my head. The pain made me wince and feel wobbly. “I can’t get anything but pain . . . wait . . .”
The flash of a workshop, chisels, stone.
“Where do they make statues and stuff?” It wasn’t crystal clear like it used to be but I’d go with it.
“Follow me.” Renee strode off without looking back. She was all Commander Black now.
“Miroslav, stay here, okay? Don’t tell nobody just yet.”
He nodded as Renee turned at the door, her eyes narrowed like she’d fire a “move it, Lorelei” at any second.
I kept my eyes on Miroslav. I didn’t want to leave him alone in the gym. He didn’t even have his chair. “Drink your water. Don’t get up too fast. Slow, deep breaths, okay?”
He saluted me with a grin.
I laughed. Yeah, I was a sucker. Even Renee flashed a smile at me.
“I need some way of getting in touch with you,” I whispered as we hurried across the quadrant to her block. “I know the weird telepathy thing is fun but I ain’t sure it’s always gonna work.”
“No telepathy,” she whispered back. “I was on my way to you to ask for your help.”
“Right, well . . . not so much unless you count yelping like a girl.” I rubbed my arm. I felt like I was being hurled into objects at random.
“You are a girl. It’s allowed.” She let me into the air conditioned building. Lockers lined the halls, doors with glass panels at the top. Like my building it screamed high school. A fancy one but high school none the less.
I’d hated high school.
It was hard not to glance around for a hiding place in case I needed to escape from a pack of bullies.
I said a silent prayer, thanking God I wasn’t a kid no more.
“Are there workshops nearby?” I asked, trying not to turn and run. The pain was getting worse. I was hobbling because my shin hurt. My head felt fuzzy, my stomach rolled, and I had trouble walking in a straight line. I was worried that she had some kind of head injury but tried not to let it show too much.
“Yes, they’re just—”
“Professor Worthington?”
Renee’s shoulders hitched at the sound of a very soft, smooth female voice. She took a breath, glanced at me with a “let me handle it” look, and turned around.
I followed her gaze to Professor Owens strolling up the corridor like she was on a catwalk. Her charcoal suit and white top against her tanned skin made her look Italian, suave, and, well, she irritated me. I didn’t know why but I didn’t like her all that much.
“We don’t have time for this,” I muttered through gritted teeth. The nausea was getting stronger.
“Who’s in charge?” she fired back.
“Frei last time I checked.” I flashed her a smile. “Two minutes and I’m leaving Professor Fancy-Pants to find our POI.”
Renee’s eyes twinkled. I knew she was half-ready to laugh and half-ready to throttle me. She focused on Owens who was eyeing me like she might tell me to step outside any second. Guess the dislike was mutual.
“Nikki, can I help you?”
Nikki? They were on first name terms? Chump.
“You seemed in a hurry. Is there anything I can help with?” Owens looked me up and down with unguarded hostility. I flexed my biceps at her which cut the appraisal short. She wasn’t pulling that arrogant crap on me.
“Lost one of my runts,” I snapped. “Likes to play with chisels.”
Renee glared at me. I didn’t care. I had somebody to go save from an unhinged admirer.
“Then shouldn’t you call security?” Her demeanor showed she’d figured me for a nasty piece of work. I was happy to go along with her theory.
“Shouldn’t you run off and play with your books?” I tried to keep myself upright. Not quite the razor reply I was going for but my head felt like it might fall off any second.
“I’m not the criminal here, Samson.” She put her hands on her hips, I half-expected to see a camera flash at the pose. “Or should I say, Riley.”
That just made me snort. We were a “dum, dum, dah,” short of a Saturday morning matinee.
“If you think I’m going to let you hurt another person, you have another thing coming.”
Huh? What mental institution had she broken out from?
“Really?” I stepped forward. If I was mean, her comment would make me meaner. “You want to find out why your threat is so dumb?”
“Ladies,” Renee muttered in such a way that we both stopped and stared at her. Either she was about to pull her gun with that tone or make me do push-ups. “We have to find Jed. Samson is going to return him to his dorm. She has no intention of harming me.” She glared up at me with her clear gray eyes. “Do you?”
“You want the whole truth?”
Renee’s eyes hardened. We both knew she could kick my butt from here to Dakota but Professor Smarmy pants didn’t. “Try me.”
“I hate doctors of any kind.” I shot that at Owens for good measure. I was pleased to see her flinch.
“Beware a woman who can finish a dissertation. The pen is mightier so they say . . .” Renee ripped open the door. “In.”
“I don’t take orders from you.” I folded my arms. A shot of pain zinged its way up my leg. I hurled myself through the door and sprinted up the stairs while yelping like an idiot. They were little stairs with not enough space to fit my colossal feet. My calves burned, my arm and leg hurt, and my heart clattered in my chest.
Renee caught up to me as I reached the door at the top and tapped in a code.
“How would Jed know it?” I asked as I braced myself. I could hear myself wheezing.
“He doesn’t or at least shouldn’t. Maybe he forced Miranda to tell him?” She held open the door and glanced behind before taking my hand. “Rooms are this way.”
I limped along behind her. “But he’s been working on it for months remember? He knows the code somehow.” I gripped my leg as another shot of pain hit me. “And who is Miranda?”
“Our POI, Dimwit.”
Ah, right. I smiled at the teasing and squeezed her hand. “Any ideas?”
“If I told you to wait outside and not charge in, would you listen?” she asked.
We both knew the answer to that so I just cocked my head at her.
“Exactly,” she muttered. “Jed is a bully, so you do the math.” Tetchy, and combined with a grimace. Commander Renee Black was on duty.
“I had to be nasty to her . . . and you,” I mumbled as Renee led us up another set of stairs. I didn’t like her getting mad at me.
“I know.” She squeezed back, dragging me up the last few steps. “It’s just alarming how good you are at it.”
; I knew that tone. She’d used the same one back in Serenity when she’d asked me to help out Aimee by causing chaos. My ability to do it all with style freaked Renee out and she’d got real mean.
I’d reacted by freaking her out a whole lot more. I’d have been lying if I said I didn’t want to do the same now.
“I’m not Yannick. I’m not a killer.” I yanked my hand free. The irritation at her doubt overrode the symptoms from Miranda or whoever was hurt. “You know me, so quit the snarky crap.”
Renee glanced my way but kept on walking.
“Owens is brave,” I muttered. “Dumb but brave. It takes guts to stand up to who she thinks I am.” I hoped that would calm Renee’s temper and my own.
“I’d call it a screw loose,” Renee muttered under her breath but not too quiet I couldn’t hear. She ripped open another door.
“Ah, so you’re mad at her?” I weren’t sure how I felt about that and it took me a second to shake it off. Renee was always mad at me. That was our thing.
“I’m just worried about Miranda.”
“Uh huh.”
We got to a room that had “Studio” written in big letters over the door.
“Stop digging, Samson. Who gave you that ridiculous name anyway?”
I opened my mouth but she held up her hand. “Frei.”
I nodded.
“Remind me to step on her sunglasses next time I see her,” she muttered.
“What she do?” Renee was grouchier than I’d ever seen her and that was saying something.
“Locks,” she snapped then sighed. “Either way that’s between me and her.”
Good luck, Frei, I thought. She’d need it.
Renee pulled open the door, her hand ready at the gun stowed under her suit jacket. She stopped and I clattered into her.
“What the—?”
We both stood there, staring like fools as Miranda and Jed were locked in a battle alright but not the one we were both expecting. There was an empty contraband bottle of whiskey beside them. Miranda was giggling as Jed slurred something into her ear. When they’d come up for air.
I’d never seen Renee so shocked. I nudged her and nodded to the defaced sculpture of the principal. “Guess they thought he rocked a moustache, huh?”