by A Rosendale
He felt flattered that even now she would call for him. “I’m here,” he whispered back.
Her eyes fluttered open and a tired smile lifted her lips. “Dirk.”
“I love you,” he replied.
“I love you, too. The baby?”
“Is perfect!” he answered honestly. “They’ll bring him in soon.”
“You’ve seen him?”
“Yes. He’s brilliant.”
She sighed in satisfaction. “What’s his name?”
“You’re leaving it up to me?” he said in mock surprise.
She gave a weak laugh. “Don’t lie. You’ve already chosen. So?”
He laughed. He loved that she knew him so well. “Cooper Pearce.”
Alma toyed with the name for a moment. “Cooper Pearce. I like it.”
“You’ll like him even more.”
When the nurse realized she was awake, she hurried to gather the baby. The moment the baby was laid in her arms, Alma was flushed with abounding love. The bright eyes that gazed back at her were the same blue-green as his father’s. Tiny fingers curled around her pinky.
She looked up to find Dirk wiping at his eyes. “Oh, Dirk,” she said, reaching out a hand for him. He took her hand and sat on the edge of the bed. He brushed the baby’s cheek with a rough finger and smiled.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “This,” he motioned to her and the child, “You two are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
She smiled and looked back at the baby. “Cooper,” she said. “I like it. Cooper, your mommy and daddy love you more than the moon.” She laughed at her own thought. “No, we love you more than the sea.”
Dirk smiled and squeezed her knee. “And we promise to be there for you, no matter what.”
* * *
It was three months before a work call came through. Dirk had never regretted his job more than at this moment, when he entered the little partitioned room where Alma was rocking Cooper to sleep. Her gentle hums were so effective at lulling the child to slumber. Dirk never wondered at the phenomenon; her gentle voice and soft touch could coax him to sleep against the worst nightmares.
“I have to go,” he whispered, stooping next to the chair.
She frowned, but nodded. “Be careful. I love you.”
‘She’s too good to me,’ Dirk thought. She never complained about his job, its long hours or its dangers. “I love you, too.” He kissed her cheek and touched Cooper’s tiny hand. “I love you, too, Coop. Take care of your mom while I’m gone.”
Chapter 36
Dirk fairly bounded up the stairs and down the hall. He felt better than he had in months. The beautiful weather that greeted him in Boston after a month-long foray only added to his great mood. By now, Alma would be on summer break and maybe he’d be able to convince her to take Cooper to the babysitter for the day so they could spend some time on the water.
When he opened the apartment door, though, all ideal plans faded in a tumble of confusion. He had to squeeze through the door because a tall pile of boxes blocked it. In fact, the entire apartment was crowded with packed boxes and disheveled piles. The wooden panels of Cooper’s ‘room’ were folded and leaning against the far wall.
“Alma?” he called tentatively. Indefinite possibilities filled his mind and his heart sank as each scenario cascaded into darker territory. “Alma!”
“Here,” a disembodied voice called from a fortress of wardrobe boxes. A moment later, Alma scrambled out of the maze in a T-shirt and cut-off shorts. Her hair was pulled back in an unkempt ponytail and packing tape stuck to her forearm. “Dirk!” she greeted brightly and leaned forward to kiss him, but his bewilderment prevented him from returning the gesture.
“What’s going on here?” he asked. His duffel bag was slung over his shoulder and sunglasses perched on his head. “Is everything alright?”
“Yes.” She uttered a mild chuckle. “I can’t imagine what you must be thinking walking into this mess.”
“I’ve certainly had more positive homecomings,” he conceded and urged her explanation on with a raised brow.
“I accepted a job with NOAA in Portland. We talked about it last time you were home, remember? You said to go for it? Well, the movers come tomorrow. I’ve already got a house in Oregon. The only thing I wasn’t sure about is what you wanted to do with the apartment. I didn’t know if you needed to keep it for work. I was going to leave messages in the apartment and on your personal cell phone if I hadn’t heard from you by the time Cooper and I left tomorrow.”
“Oh, thank God,” Dirk breathed in relief and kissed her.
“What did you think?” she asked curiously.
“Honestly, first thought was that you were leaving me. Second thought was that something horrible had happened and you were…”
She smiled reassuringly. “I have no reason to leave you, Dirk. I’m sorry for instilling such panic!” With that, she squeezed him tight with tape-ridden arms.
He finally dropped his bag and returned the hug.
“What else needs done?” he asked after a moment.
“Well, not much, honestly. You have impeccable timing.”
He glanced up at the kayaks above them. “Then are you up for a final paddle around Boston?”
She melted in his arms like he’d delivered the pardon to an extended prison stay. “That sounds marvelous!”
* * *
Sore, sunburned, wind burned, and laughing, they stumbled into the barren apartment.
“It’s been too long,” Alma sighed happily as she entered the nearly empty master suite.
Dirk stared at the blank brick walls and remembered when he’d first moved in with no more belongings than the suitcase in hand, filled with clothes and a handful of polaroid’s. Despite the bare bricks, the home felt so much fuller than that day.
He echoed her sigh as the shower turned on.
Alma kicked off her shorts and discarded the hair tie on the bathroom vanity before stepping into the walk-in shower for the last time. She closed her eyes to let the hot water cascade over her.
A low moan preceded Dirk’s arms encircling her from behind. “It’s been too long,” he said in a low voice. Alma smiled at his repetition of her words and leaned into him.
* * *
“Are we insane?” Alma muttered from the passenger seat. Cooper was mid-scream. He didn’t cry often and rarely to such degree.
Dirk shot her a confused glance. “In reference to…”
“Are we insane driving a six-month old across the country?”
He grinned and patted her knee across the center console. “Maybe a little.” He took a split second to take in her freckles, an endearing quality he would never take for granted.
She frowned in consternation amidst the racket and Dirk was quick to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
“But you deserve this. You’ve wanted to move back to the Pacific coast your entire career and work for NOAA. This is a good move, Alma. Cooper will be closer to his grandparents. It’s a good move,” he reiterated.
Alma shot him a brief smile and turned around to console their son.
“We’re almost to Cleveland,” he assured her.
She laughed. “Oh, that’s a relief!”
He laughed with her. “Just wait until you see my historical landmark while we’re in town.”
She made sure he saw her dramatic eye roll and they both laughed again.
* * *
“Ta-da!” Alma announced. She motioned melodramatically to a dark gray bungalow-style house with a whitewashed porch.
Dirk grinned at her pizzazz. He followed her through the front door with baby carrier in hand. Polished pinewood floors greeted them. Alma led them through a galley kitchen and then upstairs to the two bedrooms, bathroom, and master suite. Her final presentation was the overgrown backyard. It was at this point a frown finally crossed her face.
“It looked better in the pictures,” she muttered, perturbed. “Cooper can’t ha
ve a swing set in this mess.”
Dirk put an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll get it sorted out.”
Alma shook her head. “I start work in a week. There’s no way I’ll have time to sort out the house and this wreck, even with my parents’ help.”
Dirk felt a twinge of distress. “I’ll take care of it,” he offered.
Alma regretted the glance of disbelief she shot at him. “I’m sorry. You’re just…”
“Gone all the time,” he finished remorsefully. He had to admit he’d been gone more often in the past few months. “I know. But I’ll be here for a bit. I’ll take care of the yard.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he insisted. “Let me get Cooper worn out and settled into his play pen, and this mess will be gone by sun down.”
His promise was only interrupted by William and Ava’s arrival around noon. They all stopped moving and cleaning to have a brief Subway lunch, during which William entertained the baby with games of peek-a-boo and tickling.
Alma stepped outside near dusk. She stared into the darkening shadows by the fence. Dirk was raking the remaining weeds and vines into a pile. He was shirtless, his pale skin practically glowing in the dark. The yard was clean and safe, the brambles and stickers scraped away to bare, clean earth, ready to plant with flowers or vegetables.
He looked up as he scraped away the last of the debris. A wide smile crossed his face when he sighted her.
“How’s the view from the porch, dear?” he called.
“Pretty great,” she answered honestly. “You want to come in for some pizza?”
“Let me finish up here.”
Alma watched the ripple of his muscles in the twilight for a few more minutes before ducking back inside.
“Hey,” he greeted as he pulled on a T-shirt and entered the kitchen.
“Hey,” she replied.
“Where are your folks?” He’d hardly seen William and Ava through the afternoon.
“They went to the hotel.”
“Hotel? We have three perfectly good rooms here!”
“Yes, but no beds to fill them,” Alma pointed out logically.
“Ah,” Dirk amended. “I see. And how’s the little guy?”
“Passed out,” she said factually. “In his playpen.”
“I’ll put him to bed. Then let’s dig into some pizza and beer.”
Dirk lifted Cooper from his playpen with gentleness that would have startled an outside observer. The boy never even knew he’d been moved. Moments later, he was settled in his crib upstairs, a baby monitor placed delicately on the changing table.
“This is the perfect house, Alma,” he declared upon returning to the kitchen.
She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe…”
Dirk covered her lips with a finger. “Perfect,” he reiterated. “Come on.” He allowed her a piece of pizza and a bottle of beer before leading her outside by the elbow to the back porch stairs. They sat side-by-side and stared up at the stars.
“Perfect,” Dirk said again. He caught Alma’s smile in the dark and took her hand. “Don’t you think?”
“Yeah,” she admitted. “Perfect.”
Chapter 37
Tires screeched and the vehicle lifted onto two tires as it rounded a sharp city corner.
The passenger was too frightened to note the paternal instinct that had caused the driver to place a protective arm across her. Staccato reports chased them around the corner. As all the wheels reconnected with asphalt, one of the bullets found its mark and the vehicle swerved violently on a blown tire.
It had hardly screeched to a halt when a strong hand gripped her arm and hauled her out of the car. She stumbled down the steps to a Metro station. Her hand ached from his grip. A train was just pulling away into the dark. The dark-haired man shot a glance behind them. When the last car disappeared, he yanked her to the edge of the landing, jumped down onto the tracks, and tugged her after him.
When they were a hundred yards down the tunnel, she heard the distant rumble of another train headed their way. Panic gathered in her already tight chest. But as the headlamp of the train glowed in the void, the firm hand yanked her into a concealed alcove and a steel door slammed shut behind them. The deafening rumble of the train followed moments later and the painful grasp on her hand released.
“Who are you?” she demanded in a voice she hardly recognized as her own it was so high pitched and sharp.
“Shh,” he ordered brusquely.
The room was small, probably a storage closet or a control room. She didn’t know enough about the Metro to know for sure. From the sound of his shushing, she imagined he was pressed against the door, listening for sounds of pursuit following the train’s departure. Apparently satisfied, footsteps shuffled across the floor towards her.
“Have a seat.” His voice was low and surprisingly gentle.
She hesitated, then pressed her back to the wall and slid to the floor, her knees drawn to her chest. She heard and felt him sit close by.
“Who are you?” she asked again. This time her voice was more stable.
He didn’t reply.
“Come on. I deserve to know the name of the man that whisked me out of my lab just before it exploded.” She suddenly sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh my God! It exploded! My colleagues, my assistants…my friends!” A strangled sob escaped her throat.
A firm, warm hand touched her bare knee. “I’m sorry.”
She allowed herself a few moments of crying. Then she gathered herself, wiped tears from her eyes and used her shirt to mop up stray snot.
“My name is Dirk,” the man answered.
She thought maybe he was trying to distract her. Regardless, she appreciated his response.
“I’m Sonya Ivanova.” She paused. “But I imagine you already knew that.”
His smile remained invisible in the dark.
“Why me? What’s going on?” she asked.
“That’s something we need to talk about,” he replied.
She regretted the moment he took back that warm hand and she was left all alone in the dark.
“What projects are you working on? Any reason you can think of why someone might want you dead?”
Sonya considered the question. “No. I’ve been toying with some theories, but mostly I’ve been working on a compound to reduce the fallout of nuclear weapons. Kind of a mop, like a clean up method. That seems like it would benefit everyone, right? Why would someone want to stop that process?”
There was no answer.
“What do we do now?”
“We’re going to wait here a bit.”
“How did you even know this was here? I thought for sure we were going to be creamed by that train!”
“A diagram in the station.”
“You caught that as we ran through like bats out of hell?” she said incredulously.
“Yes. I make a living on noticing minute details,” he answered with a bright note to his voice.
With that, they fell into a tense silence.
Sonya felt adrenaline fade and with it came the heaviest exhaustion she’d ever experienced. She was dozing when a dull green light split the darkness. The sudden light in such stark black cut through her eyelids and brought her awake. The light emanated from the face of his Timex watch. A moment later, that warm hand grabbed her wrist and urged her to her feet.
“Let’s go.”
They headed back into the dark tunnel. Sonya realized there hadn’t been a passing train in several hours and assumed it was the early hours of the morning when the Metro had officially shut down for the night. She gripped Dirk’s hand. The station glowed ahead; the dull, fluorescent lighting was bright and painful after so long in the utmost dark. He placed his hands under her arms and lifted her to the landing before following with a fluid leap. Then he grasped her hand again, as if losing contact would allow her to drift in the panic of loss and anxiety.
“What now?” she asked when they were back at stre
et level.
“We head to the airport,” he answered simply. A major thoroughfare was only blocks away. Once there, Dirk waved down the ever-present taxi. The sun was rising in the east when they entered the airport’s glass doors. Sonya noted the streak of black soot across Dirk’s cheek and had a sudden urge to wipe it away. The idea surprised her.
Obsessed with her unusual thoughts, she didn’t notice his vigilant glances about the airport while they waited in line for tickets stateside. Suddenly he shook his head and pulled her out of line.
“What’s happening?” she asked as they weaved through a thickening crowd of travelers.
Dirk ignored her question and they burst back onto the street. He tugged her into a jog down the sidewalk.
* * *
“What now?” Sonya demanded as they rounded yet another city block.
“Now we procure a vehicle.”
“’Procure’?” she questioned.
A smile crossed his face, but the grip on her hand never let up. She found security in the embrace.
Twenty minutes later, they were weaving through the city in a Mercedes.
“So ‘procure’ means to steal?” Sonya’s tone was humorous, despite the desperate situation.
Dirk grinned and shrugged.
“Why are we leaving the city?”
“Whoever is after you had the airport pretty well covered. We need to find a new exit point. So we’re driving to Switzerland.”
Sonya considered the proximity to Switzerland from the city of Lyon. It seemed logical. Bern was only a short distance away. Perhaps they’d be able to make a safe get away from there.
“I don’t have my passport,” she announced with consternation.
“No worries.” Dirk dug in his back pocket and tossed a small blue book to her.
“’Mary Sorbon’?” she questioned skeptically.
“You get what you get,” he replied with a light smile.
They wove out of the city and began to climb into the mountains.
“You’re married?” Sonya noted.
Dirk glanced at the silver band on his left hand and touched it idly with his thumb. “Yes.”
“Kids?”
An attractive grin lifted his lips. “Yes.”
