WindSwept Narrows: #23 Molly & Natasha

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  He swore he saw stars exploding at the same time his body convulsed, his hands leaving the side of the tub and sinking against her scalp. She controlled his thrusts, taking what she could without choking as she licked and suckled until he groaned and pulled her head free.

  Without hesitating, he pulled her onto his lap, one hand against her head, the other wrapped around her middle when his mouth took hers in a long, sensual kiss. Tongues mingled and tasted and both pulled back just enough to rest their foreheads against one another with a couple of soft sighs.

  “Lady, you are dangerous…”

  “A girl has to learn her power and skills…a little at a time,” she said with a kiss, her head lowered when she attempted to hide the yawn. “Sorry.”

  “Let’s go to bed, Tasha,” Dell stood up, tapped the switched to shut down the tub and lifted her over the side. “Wrap up in a towel and get inside. Be careful on the tiles…I’ll be right behind you.”

  She didn’t need to be told twice, vaguely aware of Dell covering the tub and controls. She left the door open for him and dried as she walked to the bedroom, the stairs barely registering before she draped the towel over the edge of a door and slid beneath the blankets.

  Dell made the rounds in the house, checking alarms and locks before climbing the stairs to the spacious loft bedroom. His gaze shot to the towel hanging over the bathroom door and then landed on the outline of the curves beneath his blankets. Neither one was a bad thing, he decided, draping his towel over the back of the chair and slipping into bed next to her.

  He whispered to her, words he’d held onto for just the right woman.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Tasha swore she’d told him she was leaving before seven. Repeatedly. In the shower; at the toast she stole and ran for her SUV and when he had her pinned to the seat and unable to avoid him when he demanded payment in the form of mind numbing kisses. Not that she really protested a lot, she mused as she drove through the early Monday mist.

  It wasn’t such a bad drive, she thought as she pulled into the employee lot. She had her pack and computer bag on her shoulder, ignored the light rain and shook her ponytail once she was inside the warmth.

  “Thomas Chou! I’m commandeering you,” she called out when she saw Tommy sitting in the break room as she walked past.

  “Can you do that?” He asked, hurriedly stuffing the last of his breakfast sandwich into his mouth and running after her down the hall to where her office was.

  “Cat, I need Thomas for some work on the Fielding thing,” Tasha called out when she saw Catherine Jenkins heading to her office. She grinned at Cat when a palm rose with a wave.

  “Tommy…you’re hers until she cuts you loose,” Cat returned with a nod.

  “You are so teachers’ pet,” Tommy laughed and continued into Tasha’s office. “Okay, whizz girl, what do you need?” He plopped himself into a chair in front of her desk, one untied high-top sneaker foot lifted and resting on his knee.

  Tasha settled her packs on her desk before sinking into the chair. She shrugged her jacket off and let it fall to the back of her chair, her hands immediately on the computer bag. She pulled a folder free and handed it to him.

  “I need information…but I need it done in a certain way. I need you to scan the pics of each of the kids on the identification documents. Then run them through the aging program. Give them each twenty years. Then run them through the ID program and see if you get any hits,” she watched him open the folder and look at the lists. “In all likelihood, the left columns won’t net you anything because they’re supposed to be faked names. However, run all the names without photos and get a collection,” she sat back, hands up and pressing the heels of her palms to her eyes.

  “That’s gonna generate a lot of information.”

  “Go by the age on the document. Eliminate all others. Since Molly ended up in Florida as well as San Francisco, our limit is the US continental area. Let’s leave Hawaii and Alaska out of it. All I need is a few positive, without a doubt hits. If you come up with anything, find me,” Tasha opened her computer and waited for her instructions to generate questions.

  “You want the employee list run, too?”

  “Yes, and obviously, I don’t have photos on that, but the information on each might be enough to locate them. I’m hoping, at least.”

  “This is a long shot, Tasha.”

  “Which is why I snagged you instead of someone else,” she answered with a sweet smile.

  “Good answer,” he shoved up from the chair and walked down the hall, the folder open as he moved.

  Tasha pulled the copy folder out and opened her laptop. She found the file she wanted and duplicated it. Just because. Nope, she told herself. You are not paranoid. It was pure coincidence that the guy from Utah knew the guy haunting Molly. Uh-huh.

  By noon she had all her notes and papers tacked up on her wall. She was sitting perched on the edge of her desk when Tommy wandered into her office, holding a bucket of popcorn and offering it to her. When she took a handful of the warm, buttery corn, he turned and faced her board.

  He swiped one hand down the side of his faded jeans and stepped up to left side. He tapped the name. “You got that wrong. It might be why you didn’t have luck finding anything.”

  “And you did?”

  “I ran his photo. It was crooked that a guy that old wouldn’t have something more than what popped. His name was too common. Only it isn’t,” he lifted the dry erase marker from her hand and with his left hand, wrote the name there for her.

  “That’s how it’s spelled,” he said, tapping out the letters to spell, “Harriston. I found the shrink degrees, where he went to college and where he grew up. After that it was easy to find his name on the corporation that was fronting the school. I’m not sure you’re gonna like it, though.”

  “Nothing new there…spill it…” Tasha watched him print out the name of the corporation. She whistled low and long. “So…knowing that all this is very hush-hush…and given what you’ve read and know and even in the sci-fi portion of your brain…what do you think they wanted with the school and kids? Could it be as flat and boring as just cultivating new, lively brains?”

  “For the brain side, yeah, I think it could, given the corporation has more arms than any octopus in existence. Solve problems like energy storage or compatibility issues in medications, and you corner the market and make a killing, profit wise. The other side of the school…” he shook his head and took another handful of popcorn, nibbling as he stared at her board. “Not so much. That would have been over the line of illegal if it could be proven they were experimenting on the mentally handicapped kids. But I did some searches on the names…even some of the ‘genuine’ ones, weren’t. And a lot of them have less than easy to age facial flaws that’re making it a little more difficult. However…” he paused and chewed before exhaling slowly. “I did run over something that I’m really sure you’re not going to like.”

  “Oh, you’re just making my day here, Tommy...give,” she ordered resolutely.

  “The recognition software is amazing…and I got five hits I took and ran with, history, background…all that…” he puffed up his cheeks and met the curious gaze. “They all died in the last year in accidents. Two work accidents, two highway accidents and one a mugging.”

  Tasha straightened her back, closed her eyes for a long minute and looked at her board. “Molly wasn’t spotted or approached until her photo hit a story spread in the newspaper about new physicians and other staff members joining the hospital.”

  “Interesting…I found them because they were in local newspapers. Two for charity functions, one for a local office she was running for, one in the background of a sporting event where his kid was featured and the last because they won a raffle.”

  “Get me the print outs, Tommy,” Tasha pushed off the desk. She grabbed up her jacket and small pack. “I’m going to talk to Molly. Keep digging. Set me up a map in here. I want pins where they
all were when they died. Separate files for each one.”

  “Got it,” he answered as she swept past and almost ran for the underground.

  Tasha didn’t stop until she reached the movement pavement, and even then, her foot was tapping. She knew their security was good and Molly was in her office during the day. But if some of the accidents happened at work…

  It was possible it was nothing more than coincidence. She could actually see the sarcastically arched brow of her boss in her mind. Tasha sighed. Yeah. She didn’t think so, either.

  She made a mental note to contact Jonathon when she finished talking to Molly and the security people around her and the medical center. But when she climbed the stairs and stepped into the just past noon weak fall sunlight, she saw Jonathon heading into the health center. With two men at his side. One in a suit that fit him to perfection, the other in jeans and a thick pullover.

  As she drew closer, she noticed they were older, perhaps in the mid-fifties. Both were handsome and confident, but the expression on their faces far from pleased.

  Tasha was a few feet behind them when Jonathon stepped to the side, his attention on the platinum haired, white coated woman turning some files into the receptionist. Molly’s head went up, surprise on her face, tears filling her eyes as she broke into a half run.

  “Dads? Oh god!” The words were breathless and filled with emotion as she half stumbled, half ran across the open space of the clinic floor and into the open arms of first the suit and then the jeans.

  Then Tasha recalled the names of the men who had taken her in when she was thirteen. She didn’t have all the particulars, but she knew it had been a very good thing.

  The three of them stood huddled in a hug for a long minute, before Jonathon stepped forward, his hand on Molly’s head and lips moving quietly next to her ear. Molly evidently agreed, sniffled and started to turn. That’s when she saw Tasha standing back from the group.

  “Tasha?”

  “I…well, it’s not important now…” She tried pulling back and found her hand gripped. Molly stood close and tugged. “Molly, seriously…you have company and I…”

  “And if you’re here, it is important. Come to my office. I have an hour and my lunch is there,” Molly pulled her closer. “Mike Fielding,” she gestured to the suit. “And this is Greg Harvey. My dads…this is Tasha Banks. She’s working the…” she stopped and pushed a long breath between her lips. “The mystery…from the security department for the resort.”

  Both men shook hands with her and followed the two women to the office near the end of the long corridor.

  Molly had felt her empty stomach flip the instant she looked up from the files she handed off and saw the collection of men watching her. But her heart reacted without a single hesitation. Her sneakers almost caught on the flooring as she landed in the open arms of Mike Fielding. Then she was released and handed off to Greg. Then Jonathon handed her the white square of linen with a little smile that she saw through very watery eyes.

  “You did this,” she said once the door to her office closed. She faced Jonathon, still wiping at her cheeks.

  “Cassidy and Tasha need all the information they can get, Molly,” Jonathon never took his gaze from her face. “I won’t risk losing you because of silence or secrets,” he took both her hands in his, a breath of relief slipping free when she came readily into his arms. One hand went to the back of her head, the other around her middle. His eyes closed, his lips moving next to her ear. “Thank you.”

  “I guess that answers a lot of our questions,” Greg Harvey shoved the sleeves of his sweater to his elbows and leaned against the desk. He crossed his arms over his chest and watched the pair for a long minute before looking at Mike Fielding.

  “I guess it does, considering we interrogated him on the ride from the airport and he survived,” Mike offered up a one-shoulder shrug. “And didn’t deck one of us.”

  “You interrogated him?” Molly shoved out of the protective arms and spun with her hands on her hips. She glared at one then the other, jaw set and eyes narrowed. “I cannot believe you two.”

  “Rant all you want, Molly,” Greg just offered up a little smile. “You are our daughter. We went through this when she was seventeen, too. Had this jock football player by the short strings who did nothing but stalk our apartment constantly.”

  “I assured them I wasn’t seventeen and my intentions were mostly honorable,” Jonathon told her with a wink when her glare zipped from man to man. “I’m gainfully employed and have reasonable ethics.”

  “Oh, my god, this is not happening,” Molly put both hands over her face and went behind her desk, sinking into her chair and banging her head on the surface.

  Jonathon chuckled and moved behind her to lean on the window ledge.

  Tasha stood by the door, watching them all. “I don’t know what you guys can tell me to help, but I do have information and questions. It might actually be very good that you’re here,” she said after taking a deep breath. “And I’d honestly rather not mess up your reunion…”

  “I’m okay, Tasha,” Molly said through the muffled, bent head buried on her arms. “Talk…you wouldn’t be here unless it was important. Is it the files?”

  “Files?” Greg pulled two chairs across the room. He sat down and casually crossed his hands over his lap. Neatly clipped dark blonde and silver hair barely moved when he looked around at the occupants of the room. He stopped on the hard, chiseled face of his partner, the longish hair shaking when he ran one hand through it before taking the extra seat.

  “Molly had some old discs in a zip bag. The data was completely viable and I pulled it off,” Tasha explained carefully. “I made copies, printed the files and destroyed the original discs. This morning, I had one of my apprentice researchers begin researching. The file contained original names, newly assigned names and identification created for the new identity.”

  “You knew about them?” Greg stared at Mike without moving a muscle.

  “She told me about them before she started college,” Mike said quietly. “Yes, I hid them for her. Yes, I kept her secret and I returned them to her when she moved to Florida and asked for them back. Yes, I should have told you but she asked me not to,” he finished softly, the silent request for understanding in his gaze. “It stayed locked in the safe for over fifteen years, Greg. I don’t even know why she wanted to keep it, but now I’m glad she did, if it’s going to help.”

  “I don’t know why I kept them,” Molly said in the space of silence. “I know that I had promised you both I would never forget, no matter what the counselors thought I should be able to do. They just sat. I think I was afraid of them. I…I was afraid you’d want me to turn them over to the police.”

  “You are the more ethical of us,” Mike reminded him with a grimace at the dark expression from his partner.

  “I couldn’t go to the police. I couldn’t…I wasn’t strong enough then to…I knew the questions and the constant…they’d never let me forget,” Molly said softly, her head shaking as memories of the fear inside her rushed back in a flood that had her gasping for breath. The arms came from behind, holding her close, his hands firmly over hers.

  Greg stared at her, feeling with all the empathy as though she were their natural born child. “Molly…” he shook his head. “I’m so sorry, honey. I…”

  “He was a little high end strict in those days,” Mike offered with an apologetic sigh.

  “I’d seen her around the neighborhood for a few days before I came in early one morning to check on some orders and…San Francisco can get pretty cold at night, even in the summer.” Greg thought about his first meeting with Molly. “It was just starting June and she was huddled in my service entrance, almost blue and shivering like she’d shake apart. My entry was a little more recessed than others and she was curled into a tiny ball…she was so small then…”

  Molly sniffled and offered a weak grin. “I didn’t hit my growth spurt ‘til I was fifteen,” sh
e defended with a hint of apology. She opened the bands around her and went to Greg’s chair. Before he could move, she dropped to the arm and laid her head on his shoulder. “You didn’t do anything to apologize for, dad.”

  “I made you think you couldn’t trust me,” he countered, his arms around her snugly. “I didn’t know what to do…my partner’s a doctor, not me, believe me,” Greg explained with a long sigh. “So I called him and he came right over.”

  “Two hours sleep after a forty-eight hour shift in the ER,” Mike recalled, his gaze on the two of them, his memory far away.

  “Anyway, we got her into my office and warmed up and fed…I convinced her to work for me at the shop and gave her a place to stay with us. I suppose it was instinct that told us it was the right thing. I don’t know. I just knew we could trust her not to kill us in our sleep.”

  “Along with the place to live, she had to go to school,” Mike grinned proudly. “Instead, she took the GED and passed, graduating at twelve and a half years old.”

  “So they signed my up for college summer programs,” Molly said easily. “It’s how I met a lot of the people that work here. I had so many options at…at the academy. Always a different field, always a different puzzle to solve.” She shook her head slowly. “But none of it felt right.”

  “I discovered she’d been reading my medical books,” Mike recalled, staring at her in amazement.

  “Devouring them, more like,” Greg told Jonathon with a shake of his head. “It was a couple weeks later before…” Greg stared over at Jonathon who had moved to lean against the desk, his hands tense on the edges. “She woke up with nightmares. She’d never talk about them…at first…just wake up gasping for breath and screaming at someone to run and never stop.”