by Sharon Sala
Charlie laughed. “You also owe Wyrick some thanks. I’d never heard of your family or the business. She’s the one who read me the riot act for being so uninformed. And she’s the one who told me to call you back. If it hadn’t been for her, it would never have happened.”
“However you got here, we’re grateful to you,” Carter said. “And we couldn’t let you leave without a proper Irish send-off. Ruth packed a lunch, including chocolate goodies for you, Wyrick, and a bottle of our finest Irish whiskey for Charlie.” Then he took an envelope from his pocket. “And this, Charlie Dodge, is a printout of the money transfer from my bank to yours for a well-earned fee. What I want both of you to know is that you’ve become friends, and friends are always welcome in this house.” He hugged Charlie, then in a grand gesture, kissed the back of Wyrick’s hand. “I’d hug you, too, but I’m afraid you’d take the hide off me for doing it.”
Wyrick hid her delight with sarcasm. “Is this where I’m supposed to say ‘I’ll never wash my hand again’?”
Everyone laughed, including Charlie, but it was the laughter that prompted Edward to lift his own hand as if asking for permission to speak.
“Laughter. Such a beautiful sound, and I was feeling we’d never hear it in this house again. Thank you, dear Wyrick, for your wit. It is a thing highly revered by the Irish. I also thank you for your kindness, and I will miss our little talks.”
Wyrick was suddenly fighting back tears, and in a move she never saw coming, she pushed past all of them and wrapped her arms around Edward’s neck.
“I didn’t want your last hug from a woman you didn’t know to have been a sad one.” Then she lifted his hands to her head, and then to her face, and let him “see her” in the only way he could.
A sudden hush moved through them as Edward “looked,” beginning with the shape of her head, cupping the smooth, silky dome and then the shape of her face. Moving the sensitive tips of his fingers along the curve of her brow to the length of her nose. Then her mouth to the jut of her chin, until finally, he sighed.
“Ahh, Wyrick, you are a beauty.”
Charlie couldn’t look away. The thought flashed through his mind that he’d never been that close to her in all the years he’d known her. And if he knew what was good for him, he never would.
The family led them down the hall and then through a smaller hallway into the kitchen.
“Friends come and go through the kitchen, which is the heart of the home,” Dina said. “On behalf of all of us, thank you for caring, and for sharing our life and our world without judgment. Kenneth will carry the food basket to the car for you.”
Peter, the chef, and Ruth, Arnetta and Louise were standing beside the table where Charlie had sat with them, sharing coffee and tarts when he’d first arrived.
“Safe journey,” Ruth said.
“Safe journey!” the maids echoed.
“Godspeed,” Peter said.
Charlie stopped, scanning the faces of family and staff with purposeful recognition.
“You have something special going on here. You are far richer in family than any amount of money you can claim. My daddy always said a thing is stronger when it’s held together by many smaller parts, rather than just one of a matching size. That it’s because when one falters, the others are always there to shore it up. That’s how I see all of you.”
Wyrick groaned. “Somebody open the door. I don’t like tears or goodbyes.”
Laughter followed their exit as they took the bricked path to the garage and loaded up. A few minutes later, they were on their way back to the chopper.
“Are we still on truce time?” Charlie asked as they left the castle behind.
“I don’t see the need,” Wyrick said.
Charlie paused, accepting the disappointment and then letting it fall away.
“If you can’t see a need, I guess it’s over,” he muttered and thought about seeing Annie.
Wyrick heard what sounded like regret, but ignored it. They still had a flight back to Dallas together. She opted for the old rule of thumb that “silence is golden,” and Charlie didn’t seem inclined to interrupt it. On the way to the airport, they learned Johannes Deutsch had suffered a heart attack, and that Miranda was behind bars on suicide watch.
“The higher you are, the farther you fall,” Charlie said.
Wyrick was noncommittal as they loaded the chopper. She went through the usual flight checks, then powered up and headed south, back to Texas.
Only twice did Charlie even acknowledge her presence. Once to offer her a bottle of water, and once to give her half of the Hershey’s bar he’d found in the basket Ruth had packed.
When they landed at the hangar outside Dallas, Benny was there, waiting to help her. They transferred the luggage to their respective vehicles, and then Charlie followed her to her car and handed her the food basket.
“Take it. I’ve got all I want,” he said, holding up the bottle of Irish whiskey. Then he left her standing there.
He was tired to the bone and tired of dealing with her and an anger he hadn’t caused.
He drove out of the hangar without looking back, and when he got home, he ignored the “office” still present on his dining room table.
There was only one thing on his mind, and that was having dinner with Annie. Morning Light had private rooms for family visits, and he called them to set it up.
To pass the time, he began searching online for new office spaces and bookmarked five before he quit to get ready for his date.
After a quick shower and shave, he chose dark blue slacks, with a blue-and-gray sports coat and a white dress shirt sans tie. He stopped on the way to get flowers, then drove to the center with one hand, steadying the vase with the other.
His gut was already in a knot as he walked in with them, mentally preparing himself for the crying woman, the man looking for his lost son, Marty, and his first sight of Annie. It was always a jolt to see the absence in her eyes, but he told himself that there was a part of her somewhere that might still register his existence.
Pinky, the receptionist, was getting ready to leave. The doors would soon be locked to visitors, but she’d been notified that he’d be dining in and was waiting for his arrival.
“Good evening, Mr. Dodge. I’ll let them know you’re here.”
“Thank you,” Charlie said as he signed in.
He waited at the door for an escort, who arrived almost immediately. He didn’t know her name, but he recognized her face.
“Oh, the flowers are lovely, Charlie. We have your dining room all set up, and they’ve gone to get Annie,” she said as she led him into their private room. “Do you want someone to be here with you?”
“No. Why?” Charlie asked.
“She doesn’t feed herself anymore.”
“I’ll feed her,” Charlie said.
“As you wish. There’s a call button on the wall. If you need help, or whenever you’ve finished, just press it. Someone will come.”
“Okay, thanks,” Charlie said and had a moment of actual fear when she walked out, thinking of being alone with Annie, which was stupid as hell, but that was how he felt.
A crisp white tablecloth covered a small dining table, with flatware, napkins and drinking glasses already in place. As he placed the flowers on the table, he noticed how close the chairs and place settings were, like an intimate dinner for lovers.
A few minutes later, he heard footsteps, and then an orderly arrived, pushing Annie in a wheelchair. They’d dressed her in beige slacks and a ruffled yellow blouse, even done her hair and painted her nails. She was beautiful—and she looked right through him.
“Good evening, Mr. Dodge. Let me get Annie settled in the dining chair before I leave.”
“Can I help?” Charlie asked, wanting to put his arms around her just to feel the shape of her body again.
“I’ve got it,” the orderly said.
Charlie stood back, watching as the orderly grasped both her hands, gently c
oaxing her to stand, then settled her in the dining chair and pushed it up to the table.
“Oh, here comes your food,” the orderly said and stepped out as a couple of servers brought in a small food trolley, transferred the plates to their settings, filled the glasses and set the desserts in place before leaving.
Finally, they were alone.
Charlie sat down beside her, then laid his hand on her arm.
“Hello, sweetheart, you’re so beautiful tonight. It’s me, Charlie. I came to eat dinner with you. Everything looks good. I hope you’re hungry.”
He knew she heard him talking, because she turned her head toward the sound of his voice, but she didn’t react, not even when he tucked her napkin into the neckline of her blouse, then unfolded his own napkin and put it on her lap.
Looking at the meal, he realized they were now feeding her foods that were easy to chew and easy to swallow—meat loaf, mashed potatoes with gravy and a serving of peas. The little dishes of fruit cobbler were dessert. The drinks were cold. No danger of burns from hot coffee.
He picked up a fork, then put it back and chose a spoon. Checking to make sure none of it was too hot to eat, he scooped up a bite of potatoes and gravy. But when he lifted it to her lips and she didn’t open her mouth, he realized she needed a prompt.
“Annie, open your mouth,” he said, and she did. When he put the spoon in her mouth, she ate what was on it.
He took a bite of meat loaf while he was waiting for her to swallow, then spooned up a small bite of meat loaf for her, which she ate. Then the peas, which she also ate, and he forgot about his own food. Everything he’d imagined, hoped, planned on, was out the window. It was all about the sustenance he was getting into her body. He was finally doing something for Annie, and the whole time he was feeding her, he was talking.
“I miss you, baby. Nothing is the same without you,” he said as he gave her a drink. “I am so damn sorry this happened to you that it makes me ache. I’m a private investigator. I solve crimes, and find the lost for anyone who hires me, and yet I can’t find you, the person I love most. I’ve registered a complaint with God, but it didn’t change a thing.”
And then, right in the middle of feeding her dessert, she quit. She wouldn’t open her mouth again, and she wouldn’t take a drink. He leaned over and kissed her cheek.
“Okay, I get the message. I just want you to know how special this was for me. I love you, Annie...so much.”
Then he pressed the call button and stood behind her chair with his hand on her shoulder, waiting. He felt something brush his skin and looked down. She’d tilted her head so that her cheek was against his hand.
He quickly knelt in front of her, searching her eyes for even a flash of recognition, but her expression was blank and her eyes were closed.
“Oh, Annie...sweetheart... I know you’re still in there. I love you, too.”
And then staff was in the room and the moment was gone.
One woman wheeled Annie away, while another began cleaning the table.
“Mr. Dodge, what about your flowers?”
“She can’t have them in her room, can she?”
“No, I’m sorry. Spilled water causes falls. Broken glass is dangerous, too.”
Charlie nodded. “I thought not. Do whatever you want with them,” he said, “and thank you for making this happen.”
“Of course. Are you ready to leave?”
He nodded.
“I’ll walk you to the door,” she said.
“I’ve never been here when it was this quiet,” Charlie told her as they walked back up a hall.
“Sundowning is hard for most of them. A lot of them are on meds for the agitation,” she said and swiped an ID card through the lock to let him back into the lobby. Then she walked him to the front door, swiped another lock and let him out.
“Have a safe trip home,” she said.
Charlie thanked her and walked back to his car.
It was dusk and night was quickly encroaching. Security lights in the parking lot were coming on, and he could already hear traffic and sirens and cars honking, and loud music from a passing car—the sounds of the city.
It was time to go home, but tonight he was taking a small piece of joy with him. In one brief flash of cognizance, he’d seen Annie again.
His Annie.
The one who remembered him.
It was enough, and now it was time to rest.
* * *
Wyrick had an agenda of her own as she headed back into Dallas, still watching the rearview mirror for tails. When she finally pulled into the drive at Merlin’s, she breathed a sigh of relief. Merlin was sitting on the front porch with a cold drink and a set of headphones on. He liked to listen to audiobooks. She slowed down and honked to let him know she was home. He waved as she drove around to the back.
It took two trips to get all her things inside, then she locked herself in.
As always, the first item on her agenda was to secure the apartment, making sure there were no cameras or listening devices. Then she unpacked her clothes, laid one pile aside for the cleaners and started a load of laundry.
She thought of Charlie as she began sorting through the food basket and felt a measure of guilt. She’d been hateful to him from the moment they’d left the Dunleavy residence, but it was the only way she knew how to keep distance between them.
It wasn’t the first time she’d been a bitch, and it wouldn’t be the last, and Charlie had Annie. He didn’t really care how she behaved as long as she did her job.
Once everything was in order, she went into her office and opened the first of twenty-five files. Each had a multitude of folders, all with different programs she’d written, all pertaining to Universal Theorem. She’d known for years that there’d come a time when she’d have to draw the line. The incident with Mack Doolin had been the last straw. She’d just had to wait until she was home to act.
She checked the time. It was an hour later at Universal Theorem. They’d be coming back from lunch, or were in meetings, or in labs trying to re-create versions of her.
She knew who they were. She’d sat in on those meetings. She’d seen their faces. She understood what they were really about. What they hadn’t known at the time was the depth of what she knew and what she could do. Keeping her abilities a secret was the only way she had of protecting herself. While she worked at UT, she’d purposely slowed down her own projects, and time and time again, let them fail, completing only the assignments that were harmless to humanity.
But when UT failed her, she took it as her chance to escape. Either she would die from the cancer or she would survive it, and then she would run. And run she did,
But she wasn’t running anymore.
They’d tracked and attacked her for the last time.
She opened the first program and without hesitation, clicked Send. Then the next, and then the next. And for the following three hours, opened files and clicked Send.
* * *
It was a warm, sunny day in Richmond, but then most days were beautiful this time of year in Virginia. Cyrus Parks had just returned to the office from a business lunch, and was about to put a new tail on Jade. The last two men he’d sent after Doolin’s disappearance had quit, which made Cyrus wonder what she’d done. Jade, being Jade, there was no telling, but he figured she was harmless enough, and he would have his way.
Before he could act, his computer went dark, and then the lights in the office went out. He picked up the phone to call maintenance, only to discover the phone lines were also dead.
He felt all over his desk until he found his cell, and sighed with relief. He could use it as a flashlight. But when it didn’t work, either, he suddenly realized this wasn’t a power outage. It was an attack. They’d been in conflict with a company in China over some patents, and he immediately laid the blame at their feet.
Because of security issues, there were few windows in the building, so the darkness was complete as he stumbled out of his off
ice. The building was in an uproar. He could hear people shouting, a few screams and a lot of cursing, as they began trying to find their way about.
His secretary was shouting, “Mr. Parks! Mr. Parks!”
“Here! I’m here!” he said. “Find a wall and move toward the elevators.”
“They don’t work, sir. I just got off one when the power went out.”
“Does your cell phone work?” he asked.
“No. I’m scared. Is this the attack where the world goes dark? My preacher talks about this in church all the time.”
“I don’t know what it is, but we need to find a stairwell and start feeling our way down.”
“Oh, my Lord! We’re on the fourteenth floor,” she wailed.
“Well, we can’t stay up here waiting, because this is obviously an attack on Universal Theorem. I need to get home. I can work from there.”
They started feeling their way along the wall and ran into others, all moving carefully to a stairwell. But the building was huge, and the employees numbered in the thousands in this building alone. The stairwells were packed, the masses moving slowly as they felt their way down.
It took over an hour just to get down the stairs. People were leaving the parking lots by the dozens. When Cyrus finally walked into the fresh air, he was drenched with sweat and his legs were trembling. He staggered to his car, half fearing it wouldn’t start, but it did. However, the phone in his car was also inoperable, and he was beginning to worry about what he’d find when he got home.
A short while later, he drove into his driveway, but when he tried to open the garage door with the remote, it didn’t work, either. “What the hell?” he groaned. “Who’s behind this?”
He used his door key to get inside his house, only to realize his computers here were as dead as the ones at UT. He turned on a television and was so relieved it was working that he dropped into the nearest chair and turned up the volume just to experience technology at work.
Within minutes, breaking news bulletins began to interrupt the programming, and they were all regarding the home office of Universal Theorem, where he worked, talking about a mass shutdown of the facility that was, as yet, unexplained. And then another bulletin popped up about a UT site in the Netherlands, and then a site in Osaka, Japan. They’d all gone dark like it just had here. He sat in stunned silence, learning that their labs in Alaska and a technology center in San Francisco were down, then more... One after another, every aspect of their purpose and accompanying research had been shut down.
