The Wiseman Revelation (The Wiseman Series Book 2)

by Hightower, R. C.

  Everett looked at Langston, silently pleading to stay.

  Langston glanced down, not wanting to see Everett’s disappointment. “She’s right.”

  “That’s it then?” Everett asked. “Just see you when I see you?”

  “I’ll text you before I leave,” Langston said.

  “Awesome.” Everett’s tone was anything but awesome. “I’m out.” Everett turned on his heel and walked away. Langston heard the faint click of the front door as it opened and closed.

  He sighed heavily.

  “I’m sure he won’t be upset for long,” Jade said. “Even in the short time I’ve known him, I can tell he’s going to miss you, and I’m sure he wanted to spend a little more time with you.”

  “I know.”

  Jade rubbed his arm. “I’m going downstairs. Call me if you need anything, okay?”

  “Okay. I’m sorry.”

  “You don’t have to apologize. I think I understand.”

  Langston tried to smile. “Thanks.”

  “I’m still taking you to the airport in the morning, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay,” Jade said. “I’ll see you later.”

  Langston went back to the computer, opened it, and looked at the screen. This woman was, in part, the reason for his existence. He’d been in her presence, multiple times, and hadn’t known who she really was.

  It no longer mattered that Antoinette could be terribly antagonistic to the point of being threatening. It didn’t matter that she obviously had some unethical business dealings. She was another direct link to Langston’s birth parents, and as cynical as Antoinette may seem, somewhere in her heart, she’d valued new life at some point in her career.

  As odd as it had been, and as bizarre as it was becoming, Langston loved his life. He touched his wrist, remembering Antoinette’s grip. She’d known William and Eve Wiseman. She’d worked with Dr. Wiseman, and probably Dr. Chang, too. She could tell Langston everything. He got up and walked to the window, rallying slightly when he remembered Antoinette’s face the very first time she’d laid eyes on him. In hindsight, she’d looked almost vulnerable, happy even, and then the curtain had come down.

  Everything was beyond Langston’s grasp. The nano project had been taken away and was unlikely to be returned. Missy and Agent Roswell had at least spoken to him, but really had just opened a new set of questions. There was a woman straight from his nightmares out there, somewhere. Had she had something to do with the shooting? And who had J.T. been speaking to about him? And what about Garvey? How would he receive Langston’s unexpected arrival?

  Langston leaned his head against the hard window frame and closed his eyes. He tried to clear his mind, but thoughts kept rushing in. Instead of trying to brush them away, Langston let all of his anxiety and fear and worry wash over him, taking it all in. Preoccupied, he didn’t notice that the sand in an hourglass on his mantle was drifting upwards in the container, as if trying to reverse time.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Jade pulled onto the street, heading toward the airport.

  “How do you like your new car?” Langston asked. As an early graduation gift to herself, Jade had bought a gently used Toyota with the money her mother had left her.

  “I like it and it’s better than riding the bus!” She glanced at him as he rubbed his eyes. “Did you get any sleep?”

  Langston yawned. “I think I got about three hours.”

  “Maybe you can sleep on the plane.”

  Normally, he’d disagree. Sleeping on a plane was one of the most uncomfortable ways to grab some shut-eye. “I’m so tired, I just might. I’ll probably wind up with a stiff neck.”

  “You know they sell those neck pillow thingies at the airport. You should get one.” Jade flicked on her turn signal and started to switch lanes. The car beside her honked and she swerved back into her lane. “Oops.”

  Langston held on tightly to the door handle. It wouldn’t actually help if they wrecked, but it made him feel better anyway. “I really am sorry about last night. I know you were looking forward to hanging out.”

  “That’s okay.” Cellophane crinkled loudly as Jade reached into a snack-sized bag of gummy bears in the console. “Did Everett text you back?”

  Langston checked his phone. “No.”

  “He will,” Jade said, not sounding as confident as Langston wanted.

  “Yeah,” he said, quietly.

  “At least your leave got approved.”

  Langston tried not to roll his eyes. Dr. Pillay, in full jerk mode, had indeed approved his leave... at nine o’clock last night and after citing how wholly unorthodox Langston’s request had been. “Yeah.”

  “And graduation is only two weeks away, so I’ll finally get to meet your mom at my party.”

  Langston hoped the smile on his face looked genuine as he reached for the gummies. The bag slipped out of his hands. He caught the corner and a clump of bears spilled out onto his lap. He plucked them off his jeans and popped them in his mouth.

  “I can’t believe how long this trip is,” Jade said. “So you won’t get to Bangkok for, like, a day?”

  “Twenty-six hours.”

  Jade whistled. “That’s some serious traveling.”

  “The first part isn’t so bad. I’m just going to LAX, but then I have to go to Tokyo before Bangkok.”

  “What do you think it will be like, seeing Garvey in person for the first time?” Jade asked.

  “I don’t know. I hope he doesn’t get angry.” Langston wanted to meet Garvey face to face, not over the phone. It was very possible that this approach could backfire.

  Jade reached out and stroked his chin. “Who could be angry at this face?”

  Langston wished she’d keep both hands on the wheel.

  “Make sure you call me when you can,” Jade said. “I want to know everything.”

  Langston laughed. “Oh, you’ll be glad to have some space for a while.”

  “Are you crazy? I miss you already! I don’t know what I’ll do without you for twelve whole days.”

  Langston averted his eyes, changing the subject. “How’s your family?”

  “Great. My dad’s elbow was giving him some trouble, but he got a cortisone shot and seems to feel better.”

  “That’s cool. What about your sister and niece?”

  “They’re doing great. Justine sent some pictures. I’ll show you when I park.”

  “Hey,” Langston said. “Thanks for sticking by me through all this. You’re amazing.”

  Jade smiled. “I’ll always have your back.”

  Langston looked at Jade. He hoped she really meant that.

  It took everything in Jade not to burst into tears when she hugged Langston goodbye. But she hadn’t, and she was proud of herself for that.

  She waved until he was through the doors of the airport. She got back in the poorly parked car, but instead of putting the key in the ignition, she just sat there. The faint scent of the soap Langston used lingered in the car’s interior, and a green gummy bear lay in his seat. He must have missed that one when he dropped the bag. Jade picked it up and squeezed it gently between her fingers until its head bulged.

  In the rearview mirror, she watched people pulling luggage, checking bags, and hugging one another, as she thought about the declaration Langston had made a few minutes earlier.

  When he’d said, “I love you, too,” Jade had been relieved. She hadn’t wanted to say it first, even though she felt the same way. It was the “too” that caught her off guard. She hadn’t actually said she loved him. She’d screamed it in her head as she held him tightly, wishing he wouldn’t go, but she hadn’t said the words aloud. Even afterwards, she hadn’t verbally returned the sentiment. The only word she’d managed to choke out at all was “Bye.”

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to inhale every bit of him. She felt his lips on hers. She could feel his hand in hers just before he’d squeezed it and let go. She tho
ught about what their apartment building would feel like knowing he wouldn’t be in it, and she didn’t want to go home.

  Jade leaned onto the steering wheel and burst into tears. What if he meets Garvey and realizes his family is more important than his relationship with me? What if his plane crashes? What if I wreck on the way back home? She jerked back, taking in huge gulps of air. Her heart pounded and she broke into a sweat. She threw the door open in an attempt to alleviate the sense of suffocation. She closed her eyes, feeling lightheaded.

  “Stop, stop, stop,” she chanted quietly.

  The sense of impending doom continued to crowd the car and she reached for her purse where her bottle of Xanax was. She struggled with the child-proof cap with trembling hands, before stopping abruptly. She dropped the bottle and reached for her cell phone instead. Tears streamed down her cheeks and along her chin, dripping onto the phone screen as she dialed. By the time her sister answered, Jade felt like an elephant was sitting on her chest.

  “Hello?”

  Jade breathed heavily into the phone. “Just… Justine.”

  “Poppy?” Justine sounded alarmed. “Are you okay?”

  “Can’t… breathe.”

  “Okay. You’re having a panic attack.”

  “Can’t… breathe,” Jade repeated.

  “I know, sweetie. You’re hyperventilating.” Justine’s voice was calm now as they had done this many times before. “Breathe in.” Justine inhaled audibly and Jade breathed with her. “Now breathe out.” Justine blew into the phone. She repeated the process several more times and the tingling in Jade’s fingertips began to subside.

  “Where are we?” Justine asked.

  One of the techniques Jade’s therapist had taught after her mother’s death was to be aware of her panic level. She’d given Jade a scale of one to ten.

  “Eight,” Jade breathed.

  “Good. You’re doing great. This is going to pass, okay? Just keep breathing. You’re not dying.”

  Jade sniffed.

  “What happened?” Justine asked.

  “I’m at the airport. Langston just left.” Jade looked down and realized she’d dropped the gummy bear into her purse. She dug it out and squeezed it again. That seemed to make her feel better.

  “Aww,” Justine said in that motherly tone she sometimes used with Jade. “I know you’re going to miss him, but I’m sure he’s going to be safe and his plane will not crash. No one is going to die.”

  Jade nodded. “Okay.”

  “Where are we?”

  “Seven.”

  “Do you think you should take your medicine and sit a few minutes before you get back on the road?”

  Jade felt her panic ratcheting back up. “I don’t know if I can take my medicine.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m pregnant.”

  The line went dead silent. “What?”

  “I’m pregnant,” Jade repeated.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course, I’m sure.”

  “When did you find out?”

  “This morning.”

  “You took a test?”

  “I took three.”

  Justine sighed. “What did Langston say?”

  “I didn’t tell him.”

  Jade could almost hear the wheels in Justine’s mind turning over the phone. “Why not?”

  “Because his bags were packed and his flight was booked.”

  “You should have said something.”

  “I couldn’t.” Jade said. “This trip is important to him, and if I told him, he would have dropped everything to stay here with me. I don’t want to be the reason he missed an opportunity to reconnect with his family.”

  “I understand… I guess.”

  “I wanted to tell him. God knows I wanted to tell him.” Jade’s breathing quickened. “I wanted to make the right decision. I didn’t want any reason for resentment.”

  “Did you use protection?”

  “Yes. Condoms.” Jade sniffed. “That two percent failure rate really screwed me over.”

  “Does Dad know?”

  Jade’s weak laugh was shaky. “If Dad knew, you’d have seen it on the news already.”

  “Has he met Langston?”

  “Yeah, for like five seconds. He’s going to kill him and me.”

  “Do you want me to move up my flight?” Justine was scheduled to arrive a day before graduation. “I can be there when you tell Dad.”

  “No, don’t change it. I can hold it together until you get here.” Jade heard Isabella crying in the background.

  Justine sighed again. “Where are we?”

  “I don’t know,” Jade said. “Seven, still, I guess.”

  “I’m going to call you right back. I just need to get Bella settled.”

  “Okay.”

  Jade put the phone down in the console and gave herself a pep talk. “Everything will be okay. Graduation is only two weeks away. Langston will be back, and we’ll tell Dad together. Dad will not murder us.”

  She took another deep breath and sat the gummy bear upright in Langston’s seat.

  “Ready?” she asked the bear.

  Its indentions for eyes stared blankly ahead.

  “Yeah, I know how you feel.”

  Jade turned up the volume on the radio. “Under Pressure” was playing. Images of Langston singing wide-mouthed into a microphone on his birthday came to mind, when they’d sung it on karaoke night. She put her hand on the radio button to turn the station, but couldn’t bring herself to do it.

  Jade sat listening to the song, waiting for her anxiety to decrease and staring at the phone, willing Justine to call back so she’d have someone to talk to on the drive home.

  Langston stuffed his bag into the overhead bin and sat in his window seat. He watched the baggage handlers outside as he listened to other passengers shuffling around, finding their seats and putting up their belongings. He felt movement beside him, and turned to smile at an older woman wearing a bright pink velour jogging suit and an obvious wig. She smiled back. He turned to look out of the window again, wondering if Jade was still sitting in the parking lot. She had looked on the verge of tears when he’d gotten out of the car, and he wondered if she’d cried after he left.

  He’d wanted to tell her he loved her and was glad she’d said it first during their goodbye hug. At least now Jade knew how he felt about her, and hopefully she wouldn’t be too upset when he called in a few days to postpone his return.

  The sound of a flight attendant’s heels on thin carpet punctuated the ambient chatter of the cabin as she checked, then closed, each bin with a loud click. She passed his row, leaving behind the faint aroma of lilac, and continued to the back.

  “Good morning, folks,” a man’s voice said over the PA. “Welcome aboard Delta Flight 2567 to Los Angeles. Our flight time will be two hours and forty-six minutes. Calm winds today, sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit, excellent visibility. We’re happy to have you with us this morning, and we should be on our way shortly. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.”

  Langston’s neighbor nestled her neck into a travel pillow and opened an issue of O magazine. Langston pulled out his phone and checked his itinerary. In addition to Thailand, he’d also purchased two one-way tickets to London.

  There was no return flight ticket to Seattle.

  Pawhuska, Oklahoma

  Liling Baker pressed her cell phone tightly against her chest, still shaken from the call she’d just received. The living room ceiling fan whirred overhead, the beaded pull chain rhythmically tapping against the light fixture. Tap, tap, tap. Liling put the phone down next to her and let the circulating air cool her perspiring forehead, mentally preparing herself to go upstairs. She padded across the thick carpet and out of the room, her shock slowly giving way to apprehension and excitement.

  From the kitchen window of the sprawling ranch house, Liling could see the silhouette of her husband’s four wheeler kicking up a cloud of dust against the dusky, lav
ender sky. In the quiet room, she could hear their four-year-old daughter’s distant delightful squeal. She couldn’t see Margo, but Liling knew she was nestled against Kenny’s chest, enjoying the speed of their ride and the wind in her face.

  Liling would tell Kenny about the call after Margo had been put to bed. Right now, she needed to tell the man sitting upstairs. Wiping her clammy hands on her jeans, she walked back through the living room and upstairs to an apartment they’d built shortly after moving in.

  The apartment was large with hardwood floors, plush furniture and custom-made lowered granite counters in the kitchen and bathroom. From the skylights, Liling could see the first few stars emerging in the darkening sky. An air purifier hummed quietly in the corner, and she lingered next to it, rallying her courage.

  “Liling?”

  He must have heard her come up. “Yes, I’m here.”

  She walked to the little alcove he liked sitting in after dinner. When she walked in, he set the book he’d been reading aside. His entire left side, including his face, had been burned, the tight skin contracted and discolored. A blanket was draped across his lap, the soft material drooping below the left knee where his leg should be. The aftereffects of the explosion had left him frail and scarred, but he’d managed to retain the same distinction he’d always had.

  Liling sat in the chair next to him, smiling softly. “Agent Roswell just called.”

  He took off his reading glasses, sitting up straighter. “What did he say?”

  “Langston contacted him. He asked about the family, about his brother and sisters.”

  “Did Jake tell him I’m alive?”

  Liling shook her head. “No, but Langston’s already investigating. He’s on a plane to Thailand right now to look for Garvey.”

  William Wiseman rolled his wheelchair to the window and looked out. Liling followed. They watched Kenny make a U-turn around an oak tree.

  “What do you want to do?” Liling asked, already knowing what his answer would be.

  William didn’t take his eyes off the snaking four wheeler. “I want to see my children.”

  Liling rested her hip against the window sill. It was because of William that her brother had gotten the treatment he’d needed to recover from their near fatal accident over twenty years ago. Liling would do whatever was in her power to make sure William saw his children again. “Okay. That’s what we’ll do.”