by S. M. Savoy
Charlie overrode Sara’s wristcomp, but it wasn’t on her wrist anymore. He activated the tracking device. It claimed to be with her wristcomp, and he swore furiously.
Rick found Oz and Sara’s wristcomps beside an unconscious Sam and Tomas. The microchips Oz had installed lay in a puddle of blood. Someone had known where they were and cut them out. The park was large and tree shaded with branching paths that wound through the greenery. It was impossible to see very far at all.
He picked the closest path and ran. A police officer shouted for him to stop but he ignored him. Trees and buildings blocked his view and the path split in three directions. He hesitated and then ran to the right, emerging on a road with busy foot traffic but seeing nothing at all suspicious.
Swearing savagely, he turned and ran back the way he’d come.
The same officer was waiting, speaking into a radio clipped to his shoulder.
He again ordered Rick to freeze, and Rick ignored him again, running past him and down the left-hand path.
Charlie was yelling directions to the Scouts in his earpiece and a map formed above his right arm, showing the roads leading from the park.
Yellow highlighted a road leading to the closest airport and he swore again as he spun back to take the center path to reach that yellow road.
Sirens screamed in the distance and the original officer had been joined by another one. Both screamed for him to freeze.
“Private security,” he shouted, and the younger man shot.
The bullet lodged in his shoulder but didn’t slow him.
Major Nelson shouted, “Rick, get on the ground and put your hands behind your back. You won’t be able to catch a car on foot and you’re going to cause us a serious problem. That’s an order, Marine!”
Rick glanced back at the police chasing him. He’d have to run right past them to get to his car, although he could steal one…”
Nelson said, “We’ve alerted security at the airport. There’s nothing you can do. Give yourself up, Rick.”
Stasia said, “Please, I need you… They’ll lock you up.”
Charlie snapped, “Stasia!”
Nelson said, “Do you want them to kill your damned brother too?”
Rick stopped running. They wouldn’t be able to kill him, but Nelson was right. He couldn’t catch up either and trying could expose them. He knelt and then lay face down, wincing as another bullet impacted his back. He felt it like a sharp tap, and he hoped his aura hadn’t scared them enough to ale them keep shooting because his lack of injuries would be impossible to explain.
* * *
The Scouts scrambled to get to Newport. No one had seen or heard a thing. Hawk began searching.
Charlie strode into Tomas’s hospital room followed by Joy and Major Nelson, leaving nurses and orderlies rushing away in his wake. A gray-haired man sitting beside Tomas’s bed jumped to his feet and skittered backward, holding a hand up to his face.
“Have you found her,” Tomas asked in a quavering voice and reached for the water glass.
Charlie’s magic hated this man and urged him to kill. It took effort to hold himself back and he stopped in the doorway to get himself under control.
“Who are you?” Joy asked, and the cowering man lowered his hands.
“Henry Richmond, my vice president,” Tomas said.
Charlie eyed Tomas thoughtfully. Apparently, he’d been medicated. He spoke woozily, and his tone had changed completely from the worried inquiry if they’d found her to dismissive unconcern as he mentioned Henry. Joy waved Charlie back as she crossed the room.
“She’s got this,” Nelson murmured.
Charlie shrugged off the major’s hand but hesitated.
“Have a seat. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Joy said to Henry.
“No. I’ve stayed too long already.” Henry darted a nervous glance at Charlie. “Feel better, old chap. We can talk more at the office.”
He sidled past Joy, and Charlie stepped away from the door to let him pass. A glance down the hall showed the nurses he’d passed were huddled in a tight clump. Security would be arriving momentarily.
Tomas pursed his lips, eyeing Charlie dismissively. “My Meredith was the same. She had a thing for brawn too until she met me. A beautiful woman. Not as brilliant as Sara— but my genes, you know. And Sara found herself a brilliant man too.”
Henry fled the room, his shoes echoing along the tiled hospital corridor as he ran from Charlie’s aura. Tomas didn’t seem to feel it and continued speaking as if he hadn’t noticed Henry’s abrupt departure.
Charlie didn’t know if Tomas was speaking to Joy or him or himself. “It must hurt. God, I was so angry…” he shook his head and his gaze drifted to Joy.
“What were you angry about?” she asked as she casted Sweet-Talk and sat on the bed beside him.
“I thought she was having an affair, but I should’ve known better. Such a waste. We might’ve had more children. Imagine how amazing my son will be. My grandchildren.” He giggled, then burped and looked surprised and embarrassed as he sipped his water. “Excuse me, miss,” he said to Joy as if just noticing her there.
Joy said, “Tell me about your grandchildren.”
“I have none yet. But soon, I hope. And they’ll be brilliant and so beautiful. Meredith was gorgeous. The most beautiful woman I’d ever seen, and she left her oaf the minute we met and married me. She recognized my brilliance. It wasn’t the money. She adored me. I saw her letters.” He laughed a moment, then began to cry. “But I was wrong and she’s dead. She’s dead and it’s all my fault.”
“Who’s dead?” Joy asked softly, casting Sweet-Talk again.
Nelson gripped Charlie’s arm tightly, but he needn’t have. Charlie was riveted with both fear and horror. He clenched his shaking hands and let his breath out sharply when Tomas answered.
“My beautiful Meredith.” He glared at Joy and leaned forward, stabbing a finger in her face. “But I have a second chance. Sara. My beautiful Sara. I should never have let her go live with him, but I didn’t see it then.”
“Where is Sara?”
“I don’t know.” Tomas leaned back and closed his eyes, his expression dreamy and relaxed. “Somewhere on the ocean with her brilliant scientist. She found one just like her mother. She’s gone but I can have her back.”
“Do you mean Oz?”
“Oz?”
Tomas opened his eyes and peered at Joy doubtfully and then glared at Charlie. “You thought you could take her from me.” He cackled and rubbed his hands together, his expression becoming smug. “But my beautiful Sara wants a brilliant man. She doesn’t care about the money either. But it doesn’t matter if she wouldn’t sell her plans. She’ll give me beautiful children, as beautiful as her and as brilliant as him— as me.” His expression became thoughtful and a bit angry. “Think of what we could make. Her designs were brilliant. How did I not see it earlier?”
“What didn’t you see?” Joy asked.
Tomas’s smile returned. “She’s as smart as I am. She has vision.”
Charlie said, “Ask him where she is again.”
“I told you where,” Tomas snapped. “She’s on the ocean with him, making me beautiful grandchildren. I should’ve got her to tell me about her work first though. That was stupid.”
“You think she and Oz ran away together?” Charlie asked doubtfully.
Tomas laughed so hard tears trickled from his eyes. “You think she’d stick with you when she could have a brilliant man? A man worthy of her? Don’t be ridiculous! She’s just like Meredith,” he said dreamily and closed his eyes again. His eyes opened, and he glared at Charlie. Your threats mean nothing! You mean nothing. I’ll never let you have her again!”
Joy frowned and waved Charlie away.
Nelson pulled him from the room.
“Tell me about your last lunch with Sara,” Joy was saying as the door closed behind him.
N
elson said, “He doesn’t know anything. I almost feel sorry for him.”
“Well, don’t! He’s an ass. She’d never leave me for Oz.”
“I know that, but you can see how he hopes it’s true, and Meredith did leave that football player— what’s his name— and run away with Tomas. They were gone for a month and returned married, and everyone was shocked.
“I know, but there’s no way!”
“But you can see why he thinks there might be. Or did you think he was lying?”
“No.” Charlie rubbed his face and slid down the wall to sit weakly on the floor.
“She’s so afraid. I’d hoped he was involved. I don’t know what to do. I never should’ve let her leave the zone with only two guards.”
“It should’ve been more than enough. If you’d been with her, they’d have you too.”
Charlie glowered and stabbed the icon connecting him to Hawk. “Find anything?”
“No. Not yet. I won’t give up.”
“Nothing?”
“Too many people and planes have been through. Sara and Oz left no prints. I can see the tracks from the passengers and luggage racks, but the people went in different directions and the luggage racks stopped at four different vehicles before returning to the main terminal where they were handled by over twenty people. I have no way of knowing if they were moved that way or carried off or if this plane made another stop somewhere first. I don’t even know what leads to pursue. The tracks won’t last much longer.”
Charlie glanced at the time display in the upper corner of his HUD. “Four more hours. Follow the cars and if one led to a plane follow that.”
“Is she…”
“Awake and afraid, angry and confused. I wish to god I could tell more.”
“We’ll find them.”
Charlie disconnected and tapped the icon to connect with Rick. “Stasia?”
“She’s still searching Tomas’s office. I’m so sorry. I have no idea why the bracelet was empty. I took it right from the shelf in her office.”
“Guthrie has security on it to see who entered.”
“Her father?”
“Is convinced she ran away with Oz,” Nelson said.
“Really?”
“If he’s lying, it’s an Oscar winning performance,” Charlie admitted. “I think he was telling the truth. Damn it!” he jumped to his feet and ran for the exit. “I wanted him to be involved! He was our only lead!”
“Excuse us,” Nelson said to the shrieking nurses as he chased Charlie.
Small shrieks and clatters followed Charlie out the door.
“That was stupid,” the major said as they got into the car.
“It wouldn’t have matter if I’d walked. It was better to get out quick.”
I guess… You can’t be involved in the search like this.” Nelson grasped his shoulder hard. “Hear me out. Your aura is causing a major scene wherever you go. Let the rogues do the questioning. Hawk has reported his findings to Agent Lewis, and he has men on it. We’ll have the footage from the airport soon, and I’m sure we’ll get some new leads.”
“And every hour they get further away!”
“And we’re spreading out in a grid and summoning.”
“We’re too damned slow!”
“We’re going as fast as humanly possible. We have a squad up in the jets. Get back to the school where your aura won’t affect anyone and oversee them from there.”
“Sara could fool me if I didn’t have this connection with her,” Charlie said thoughtfully and reached for the door handle.
“Don’t be ridiculous. What will killing her father get you other than jail time? He was drugged to the gills and not fighting Joy’s magic.” Nelson slapped Charlie’s hand from the handle. “I’ll have her find out what he’s on, and we can go talk to him again after she reports if you think it’s necessary. But I mean it, Charlie, I’m not covering up a murder for you! That man had nothing to do with it!”
“Then why isn’t he dead?”
“Why isn’t Sam dead? Who the hell knows why? Maybe they just didn’t have time. They drugged them and removed their microchips in seconds.”
“Three minutes and forty-six seconds,” Charlie said as he gripped the steering wheel to stop himself from running back inside.
“Exactly. Rick found Tomas, Sam, and the wristcomps and trackers within minutes. This was an orchestrated attack, planned to the tiniest detail.”
Charlie closed his eyes and rested his forehead on the steering wheel. Sara’s fear beat at him and his magic was furious that he was doing nothing. The fire beneath his skin was distracting, and he hoped she didn’t feel his pain and fear and think he was captured too.
“Let’s go see what Guthrie has to say,” he said, and Nelson relaxed. Charlie glanced back as he drove away, he’d wanted Tomas to be involved but the man had really thought he’d have grandchildren.
- 14 -
We Know Nothing
Joy positioned her screen so Charlie could see it. “He’s dying, Chief. He’s got a year, tops. Henry Richmond is running his company. He’s been in charge for two years now. But he was the one running it before Tomas was sick. The man should really be a partner. Tomas did design the S-30s and still works in the lab but it’s Henry who keeps development going. Tomas spent all his time wheeling and dealing. He owns stock in so many companies it will take months to sort it out.”
Guthrie said, “If he’d been involved with Liniar and company Sara would’ve told us.”
Joy shook her head. “I asked him about that, and he says the skeins and new engines won’t really affect his bottom line, then he raved for ten minutes about how smart Oz was and how clever Sara was to hook up with him. He’s one hundred percent convinced that she’s with him and going to give him a grandchild. So much so that he calls this mythical child his son. He gets Meredith and Sara confused in his mind, but I spoke with his doctor and he said confusion is to be expected and will grow worse as his symptoms progress.”
“What’s he dying of?” Guthrie asked.
“Syphilis.”
“Jesus,” Charlie gasped.
“I know. He has massive brain lesions already, but he’s convinced he can beat it. So convinced, I questioned him extensively to see if Sara had mentioned she could heal but he said her medical degree was ridiculous and laughed as if it were the funniest thing he’s ever heard. He thinks she designs weapons like him and was working on bioweapons. I honestly think he’s a bit conflicted about Sara. He’s proud of her accomplishments but in a sort of it must be Oz thinking of them way and then it’s like he remembers she’s his daughter and it’s okay for her to be smart as Oz as if he literally can’t envision a woman being his better intellectually. I have no idea why he started coming to see her. He rambled about Tara and the game deck and wristcomps and money and how he thought he could talk Sara into selling but every avenue of questioning led back to grandchildren.
“He must know he’s dying,” Liz said. “A man like him would find that an impossible truth. I’ve never met a more self-absorbed person in my life. A grandchild, especially a boy grandchild, might be his version of immortality.”
Joy said, “He has no real affection for her. I’m sure of that.”
“We always knew that,” Charlie said bitterly, and flicked Joy’s report closed. He’d read it so often he’d memorized it. This was the third doctor she’d spoken with and they all confirmed the first reports. Tomas was dying and since as far as Charlie could figure Tomas only loved money, there was no reason for him to kidnap Sara. She was worth more to him working in her lab. He loved the idea that she was a brilliant scientist. Both Tara and Tomas were milking her disappearance for all the publicity it was worth.
“She’s alive,” Liz said consolingly.
“It’s been a goddamned week!” He jumped to his feet and began to pace. “We have no leads. We—” Sara’s fear buffeted him, and he cried out. He could pract
ically hear her screaming for help. “Oh god, Sara, how?” How!”
“What?” Liz asked breathlessly as Nelson exclaimed. Charlie realized he’d fallen but Sara’s fear was so strong he could hear her shouting for him in her mind. She wanted his help with a need past desperate.
“Charlie?”
Liz took his arm and he screamed with rage and fear.
“She wants me so badly, Liz. She’s so afraid. She’s terrified.”
“I feel it,” Liz said, and Charlie hugged her. Liz was afraid too. He realized the others had left the room and he was glad. His magic was frantic as it swirled around him, and he knew it would infect anyone it touched with its fear as it had Liz.
Nausea roiled his stomach and he vomited. Small skeins of lightning began to careen around the room, impacting the walls and desk with sharp crashes, breaking into scintillating sparks and reforming to do it again. Charlie barely felt the sharp shocks but Liz’s pain as they impacted her made him cringe.
“Go!” he said and roughly pushed her away.
“I—”
“Go!”
Liz left him huddled on the floor.
“Please, Sara, please! Where are you?”
Thunder rumbled, and the window blew out. Lightning scorched the desk and Charlie leaped to land in it. “Where are you!” he bellowed, but the lightning held no answers he could understand. He felt its urgency but no pull and he wished with all his soul that he’d rolled a paladin and could find evil.
“Take me to her,” he screamed, envisioning himself by Sara’s side, pleading mentally for it to summon him to her but the lighting flowed around him unchanged. The heat beneath his skin was matched by heat from the lighting. It sought as desperately as he to form a connection. And Sara’s fear built until she blacked out. He felt her go as a grateful fading to black. The table caught fire and the alarm shrieked. He fell to his knees, barely feeling the flames that washed over him. The physical pain felt good, giving his rage an outlet as his magic healed his wounds. Water cascaded from the sprinklers in the ceiling, quenching the flame but not the lightning. It faded to a thin line, and he jumped from the table to peer from the shattered window. But his relief was short-lived. She became aware again within minutes so terrified that he screamed too. His magic raced around the room, a whirling vortex of blue. He screamed with frustration and jumped out the window.
