by Janie Crouch
A flash of his law-enforcement credentials at the ER nursing station got him Megan’s room number and silenced the questions about whether he was family and allowed back to see her. There was no way in hell he was going to be waiting out in the foyer.
He found the examination room quickly. She was perched on a table, clutching what looked to be an insulated lunch bag. Her gaze was unfocused across the room.
Sawyer knocked as he pushed his way through the door. Seeing that she was okay with his own eyes helped release the knot in his chest.
“Hey,” he said softly, trying to get her attention without startling her.
Her gaze slowly moved toward him as he walked into the room.
“How are you doing?”
“I’m okay. I had to get four stitches in my head.” She brought her hand gingerly toward her head. Her voice was soft. “I don’t really like needles.”
Sawyer walked the rest of the way over to the examination table, not stopping until he stood right in front of her. He was relieved when she didn’t move away. “I don’t blame you. I don’t like them, either. Do you feel up to telling me what happened?”
“I was just driving home—I don’t live very far from Cyberdyne. I went through an intersection and a car just came speeding through and rammed into me. Hit me on the passenger side.”
Sawyer whistled through his teeth. Depending on the speed and size of the other vehicle, this could’ve easily been a life-threatening accident. Sawyer was just thankful the vehicle hadn’t been coming from the other direction, hitting Megan on the driver’s side.
“Was anybody from the other vehicle hurt?”
Megan shifted a little uncomfortably. “Sawyer, after the car hit me, someone got out of it, came up to my car and took my purse and briefcase.”
“What?” Shock rolled through Sawyer.
“I was dazed. I’d hit my head on the window and was bleeding. I thought he was coming over to see if I was all right. But he just reached through the broken window and grabbed my stuff.”
Sawyer immediately grasped what had happened. This hadn’t been a random accident. Someone had deliberately hit Megan’s car with the intent to steal from her. And after what he had discovered today at Cyberdyne, Sawyer knew whoever hit Megan wasn’t after money. They were after the Ghost Shell countermeasure. Sawyer’s curse echoed through the small room.
“You believe me?”
“Why would you make something like that up?” Sawyer turned more fully toward Megan.
She shrugged. “The police thought I might be.”
“The police don’t have all the facts in this situation.” Before Sawyer could help himself he reached up and touched Megan’s cheek. “The most important thing is that you’re okay. I’m sure DS-13 were the ones who hit your car and took the countermeasure. I know it’s a setback—a big one—but you’re still here. That’s what matters.”
Sawyer didn’t tell Megan how lucky she was that she’d been dazed when that DS-13 member approached her car. If she’d tried to fight or keep the man from taking her briefcase, he might’ve just eliminated her right then and there. It wouldn’t be the first time DS-13 had utilized such measures.
But as glad as Sawyer was that Megan was safe, losing what progress had been made on the countermeasure was devastating in a situation where time was already working against them.
“So, do you think you can provide me with a list of everything that was lost? Once I get you home, I’ll go back to Cyberdyne and—” Sawyer didn’t finish his own statement. What would he do back at Cyberdyne? He had no idea who he could trust.
Sawyer didn’t have to finish his sentence anyway because the doctor came in. “Okay, Ms. Fuller, I’ve signed your release forms and you’re free to go.” The young doctor looked up from her chart and found Sawyer sitting next to Megan. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’ll come back when you’re ready.”
“No, it’s fine, Doctor. You can give any report in front of him.”
“Well, you’ve got no signs of a concussion. That was my biggest concern. You’re going to have some pretty big aches and pains for a few days, and your head will probably be very tender from the cut and stitches. But overall it could’ve been much worse, considering.”
The doctor smiled at Megan and then turned and looked at Sawyer. Sawyer gave the pretty doctor his biggest grin, glad to hear Megan was going to be all right. The doctor smiled back.
“Here’s a prescription for some pain medication, Megan. Don’t be afraid to take it. Call my office if you need anything.” She handed the prescription to Megan, and her card to Sawyer. “She probably shouldn’t drive today,” the doctor said to Sawyer. “Or really do much of anything, just to be sure.” The doctor smiled once more at both of them and left.
Sawyer looked down at the doctor’s card. Her cell-phone number was written on the back of it. Sawyer was glad Megan would be able to contact the doctor if needed. He reached back to put the card in his pocket when he noticed Megan’s odd look.
“Are you okay? Does something hurt? Do you want me to get the doctor to come back?”
“I’m sure you’d be able to do that without any problem.”
Of course he would. The doctor couldn’t be very far; she’d just left. “Just hang on, I’ll go get her.”
Megan shook her head. “No, I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.” It seemed as if cold Dr. Fuller was back rather than the warm Megan he’d been talking to for the past few minutes.
Sawyer rubbed his eyebrows. Okay. “Are you sure?”
“You don’t even see it, do you?” Megan asked, still shaking her head.
Sawyer grimaced. Maybe the doctor had been wrong and Megan did have a concussion or something. “See what?”
She seemed about to say something then stopped herself. “Nothing, never mind. You’ve got the doctor’s card in case you want to call her, right?”
“Yeah, she left her cell-phone number on it, too. That was nice. It’ll be easier for you to reach her if you happen to need something in the middle of the night.”
Megan turned away from him. “Yeah, I’m sure that was her intent.”
Wait, did Megan think the doctor had given Sawyer her number? Was that why the temperature had dropped to below freezing in moments flat?
“Do you mind giving me a ride to a rental-car place? My car was completely totaled.” Megan was already walking over to the chair where her jacket rested.
“Megan, don’t be ridiculous. You heard the doctor. No driving today. I’ll take you home. Plus, I need you to tell me everything you remember about the car and man in the accident. Also, a list of everything that was taken.”
“That last part is easy.”
Sawyer went over to help her put on her jacket, noticing the winces as she moved her arm and shoulder. “Oh yeah? Why is that?” he asked her.
She shrugged then winced again. “The only thing that was stolen was half a ham-and-cheese sandwich.”
“What?” Now Sawyer was sure Megan had some sort of head trauma.
She looked up at him with her big brown eyes and smiled. “Um, yeah. I was in such a hurry today in the break room that I put the rest of my lunch in my briefcase and put the countermeasure drive in my lunch bag. The guy today took my briefcase and purse, but didn’t even touch my lunch bag. Why would he?”
Sawyer couldn’t help it. He reached down and picked Megan up off her feet in a hug, careful not to touch her injured areas. He quickly set her on the ground and watched as her mouth formed a little O. But at least she didn’t slap him.
“So you still have everything to do with the countermeasure?” Sawyer didn’t release her waist. He couldn’t seem to help himself.
“Everything but some papers that are easily replaceable. Yep.” Megan reached over and patted the lunch bag she’d set on the examination table. “Right here. I’ll bet somebody was pretty pissed off when they saw what was in my briefcase.”
Sawyer laughed out loud. He didn’t doubt it. He wished he c
ould’ve been a fly on a DS-13 wall for that discovery.
“Let’s get you home so you can rest. No more nonsense talk about renting a car. I’ll take you home and drive you wherever else you may need for a while.”
“Fine. As long as you promise not to make fun of where I live.”
One thing he had to give to Megan, she never said anything he expected her to. “Scout’s honor, Dr. Fuller. Lead the way.”
Chapter Eight
Walking up to Megan’s small house a little while later, Sawyer knew he wouldn’t make fun of it; he wondered why she would think he would in the first place. She lived in what he would’ve expected—a nice neighborhood, with modern amenities and nondescript style. Not much character.
But hey, Sawyer didn’t judge. Sawyer’s town house outside DC was no prize. Of course, he was hardly ever there. As a matter of fact, there were probably some boxes still unpacked in his closet from when he’d moved in three years ago. Nobody could accuse him of being a homebody. Obviously, Megan was the same.
Sawyer helped Megan from his car and up to the door of her house. She seemed pretty steady on her feet, but his hand hovered at her elbow just in case.
But the inside of her house was the opposite of what Sawyer was expecting. It was the opposite of everything he knew about Dr. Fuller—head R & D computer scientist at a large technology development company.
The interior of her house was as warm and cozy and cluttered as the outside was sterile and modern. Sawyer stopped just inside the doorway, while Megan walked all the way in. She took off her jacket and hung it on what looked like a set of antique hooks attached to the wall. She then walked across the hall into the small kitchen.
“Are you coming in?” she called out as she put a kettle—a red one with white flowers decorating it—on the stove.
Sawyer slowly took his coat off and hung it on the hook next to Megan’s. He leisurely wandered into the kitchen looking around.
Megan was watching him. “This is my house,” she said, biting on her lower lip.
Sawyer smiled. “I see that. It wasn’t what I was expecting.”
“What were you expecting?”
“I guess something closer to what your office looks like. More—” Sawyer struggled to find the right words “—organized and contemporary.”
“You mean cold?”
Sawyer shrugged. That was what he meant, but it seemed unkind to say it out loud.
“I know what people think of me at Cyberdyne.” Megan’s water was boiling, so she turned her back to him to pour it into two mugs with tea bags. “You probably think the same thing.”
“Not necessarily. I think you have a hard job—made nearly impossible with all that’s going down with Ghost Shell. You do what you have to do to get the job done. No fault in that.”
She turned and leaned against the counter. “Maybe. I know I’m not everyone’s favorite person. I definitely don’t have a rapport with people like you do.”
Sawyer could tell this weighed on her. He walked over and leaned against the sink so they were closer. “Well, I’m not able to use the words symmetric key algorithms in a coherent sentence like you do. So I guess we’re even.”
Finally a little smile. He didn’t like the way her features were so pinched. She was probably in a lot of pain from the accident. “Why don’t you go sit down on the couch? I’ll finish the tea and get your pain meds ready. Time to stop thinking about work for a little while.”
“But—”
“No buts.” Sawyer wrapped his arm gently around her shoulder and urged her away from the counter toward the kitchen door. “You don’t need to be Dr. Fuller right now. Just go relax.”
Megan tilted her head sideways, looking at him oddly. Sawyer thought for a second she might argue, but instead she made her way into the living room. Good. She needed to just shut down for a little while.
Sawyer finished the tea and got out some of the pain medication she’d had filled at the hospital. He decided to make them something to eat, since he knew Megan had had only half a ham sandwich for lunch—the other half was with some pissed-off DS-13 employee right now. Sawyer’s culinary skills were the opposite of legendary, but he was able to warm some soup and find some cheese and crackers for them both. He set it all on a tray he found on the kitchen table.
Megan seemed genuinely surprised when he brought in the food. “Wow, thanks.”
She was cuddled deep into the oversize cushions on her couch, a blanket pulled up to her chin. She had kicked off her shoes and her legs were tucked underneath her. Her hair was down from the bun she so often kept it in, brown curls framing her face and shoulders. Her glasses were on the side table.
She barely looked old enough to have her own place, much less be the head computer scientist of anything.
And she was breathtakingly beautiful.
How had he missed that before? Maybe because the past few days he had gotten so used to seeing the prickly Dr. Fuller that he hadn’t really noticed the woman underneath. But here, surrounded by all the things that obviously made her feel at ease, Sawyer couldn’t help but be drawn to her.
“My soup-warming skills are legendary, I have to warn you,” Sawyer told her as he set down the tray beside her on the couch. “Many a gal has fallen prey to the chicken-noodle wonder.”
She giggled. Dr. Fuller actually giggled. Sawyer knew he could easily become addicted to the sound of Megan’s relaxed laughter.
“I’ll bet. I’ll try to control myself.” She took a sip of the soup. “Mmm. But it may be hard.”
Sawyer sat down on the other side of the couch and began eating his food. Yep, the soup was as bad as he suspected it would be.
“You know, without all your Dr. Fuller gear on—lab coat, glasses, hair pulled back—you don’t really look old enough to be head of the R & D department for a company as large as Cyberdyne.”
Megan shrugged. “I’m twenty-nine.”
Sawyer did some quick math in his head. Her file had told him she had worked at Cyberdyne for eight years, had been head of R & D for five. He also knew she held two doctorates from MIT—but how was any of that possible when she was only twenty-nine years old?
Megan could obviously see his confusion. “Yeah, I went to college when I was fourteen, finished at sixteen. Went on to MIT for my graduate work and finished at twenty.”
“Like a master’s degree?”
“I got my master’s then two PhDs in computer and conceptual engineering.”
“While you were still a teenager?”
Megan took another spoonful of her soup. “Well, I was twenty by the time I finished.”
Sawyer laughed. “Twenty? That late? What a slacker.”
“Actually, one of my dissertation advisers alluded to that.”
“That you were a slacker because you didn’t finish two doctorates at MIT while you were a teenager?”
Megan shrugged. “Yeah.”
“That’s absurd.”
“No, he was right. I was dragging my feet a little bit my last semester because I wasn’t sure what I would do once I was finished with school. I was comfortable there.”
“School had to be pretty different for you than for most people.”
“Yeah, I was always the little freak.”
“C’mon, now. I’m sure that wasn’t true.” But the way Megan said it, Sawyer knew she felt it was.
Megan reached over and put her empty soup bowl on the large trunk that served as a coffee table. “Nobody really knew what to do with me. I was the scary little kid who could do advanced math problems in her head, but never got any of the pop-culture references and turned a neon shade of pink if anyone used bad language.”
“Weren’t your parents around?”
“My parents divorced when I was young and I never really saw my dad. My mom remarried a great guy, but they had their own set of kids, twelve years younger than me. My mom couldn’t exactly come live with me at MIT with two preschoolers in tow.”
She tucked herself back under the blanket. “It wasn’t too bad, really. Nobody was ever mean to me or anything. And the intellectual challenge of the doctoral program was exactly what my brain needed.”
Sawyer honed in on what she wasn’t saying. “Yeah, but it sounds like it was pretty lonely.”
Megan looked at him with those big brown eyes, her cheek resting against the soft cushioning of the couch. “It was an excellent opportunity for which I’m very thankful.”
Sawyer put his own bowl and plate down and scooted a little closer to her on the couch. He noticed she didn’t shift away at all—the total opposite of her actions at Cyberdyne for the past four days.
“It sounds like your college experience and mine are pretty similar,” he told her.
That definitely got her attention. “Really?”
“Yeah, except nobody recognized my advanced intellectual giftings, so unfortunately they placed me in a fraternity. It forced me to get average grades and have great parties on the weekend.”
Megan laughed. “Yep, sounds exactly the same.”
He smiled. “It was definitely an excellent opportunity for which I’m very thankful.”
“So how’d you end up going from fraternity to law enforcement?”
He reached over and tucked one of her curls behind her ear. Her eyes began to droop just a little. It had been a long and exhausting day for her.
“That’s a long story for another time. Right now, I think we need to get you up to bed. Your body’s had quite a shock today with the accident.”
Megan shuddered. “I don’t even want to think about it. I keep picturing that man with the hood coming toward my car. He was definitely after the countermeasure, Sawyer, I just know it.”
Sawyer nodded. “I know you’re right. But we’ll talk about that tomorrow. Right now you need some sleep. I’m going to stay here and sleep on your couch. Just in case you need anything.”