by Brinda Berry
Em’s body forced the mattress to dip in the middle of the bed. She curled up behind me and placed an arm around me.
“I want my dog back. I could deal with everything if I had Biscuit. He always made things better.” I squeezed my eyes shut against the world.
“I know.” She rubbed my arm. “I know.”
* * *
When I woke, I panicked in a disoriented way that only happens when you’ve been in a deep sleep.
“What are you doing here?” I attempted to scoot back to the headboard.
Regulus sat on my bed and dropped a book to the floor. Looking guilty, he retrieved it and left my room without a word. He returned with Em.
“You’re still here.” I sat incredulous and confused and stared at her. Then I remembered that she’d brought Regulus to my house and he wasn’t gone either. “Both of you.” I lay back and closed my eyes, hoping they would disappear like a bad dream.
“Mia, I wanted to stay and help. Let’s get you cleaned up,” Em said.
“Why cleaned up?” My words came out slow and suspicious.
“You have a little vomit on you.” She waited for argument. Encouraged by my silence, she continued, “A lot of vomit.”
“I can clean myself up. I’ve been doing it since I was a toddler.”
“Yeah. Sure. But your dad asked me to stay. He doesn’t want you in the bathroom alone. It’s either me, your dad, or Regulus.”
We had a momentary stare-down.
“Well, when you give me such stellar choices…” I mumbled as sat up. “I’m a little dizzy.”
“Uh-huh,” she answered. “When’s the last time you ate?”
“I don’t know.” Mumbling seemed to be my new mode of communication.
Em took my elbow and guided me to the bathroom. I took one look in the mirror and moaned.
“What’s wrong with my hair?”
“Well…if it wasn’t there before, it might be vomit.”
“Ew. No.” I looked at her in the mirror. “Shower.”
“Right,” she said. “Let’s get you out of this lovely T-shirt.”
“I can do it myself.” I protested like a five-year-old.
She stepped back but watched me for any sign that I might faint or vomit again. I faced the shower, undressed and ignored her. Stepping in, I turned on the hot water and let it pour over my head. I hoped it would cleanse the black emotions that bubbled slickly around my mind.
When I opened the shower curtain, Em was gone and a clean towel lay neatly folded on the toilet lid. Clean clothes hung on the back of the bathroom door. A glass of ice water sat on the counter beside the sink.
I dressed, brushed my teeth and toweled my hair. When I opened the door, Regulus stood in the hallway as if waiting for me to emerge.
I looked around for Em. “Is she gone?”
“Downstairs.” He leaned against the wall and stared at me.
“What?”
“I like how you look when you wake.”
I felt heat rush into my cheeks at the way his eyes locked with mine. The gaze felt intimate and searching. I didn’t know what to do with that. The type of looks he used to give me when we’d dated. I could drown in his eyes.
I cleared my throat. “Hey. Thanks for staying, but I’m fine now.”
I took the stairs at a dangerous speed and exhaled only when I reached the bottom. Find Em. Find safety. Find a way to way to build the wall against Regulus. My heart was racing at the panic building in my chest because I knew my weakness.
“Sheriff Alder brought us food. Regulus, Emily, would you both like to stay for sandwiches?” Dad turned to get some plates from the cabinet.
“I’d like that,” Regulus answered.
“Don’t feel like you have to eat.” I took the water that Em handed me. “I appreciate everything. Really.”
I looked at Em. “You guys are the best, but it’s late. I’m sure you need to go home.”
“We’re fine,” she said.
“I’m not even hungry.” I stared at the dog food bowls in the corner of the kitchen. Regulus moved to stand in front of them and I looked away.
“I’m making you a sandwich,” Em said.
“She’s always worked herself up like this since she was little. She internalizes everything and makes herself sick,” Dad said.
“I’d like to talk with her privately after she eats,” Regulus said to Dad.
“Go ahead into the dining room,” Dad said. Em handed me a plate.
Regulus sat across from me at the oak table in the next room. He waited while I ate the ham and cheese sandwich. After three bites, I stopped and pushed the plate away.
“I’m fine. You guys should go.”
“I’m afraid for you. I can see the sorrow in your face. I would take it away. If I knew how…” Regulus leaned forward and ducked his head, eye level with me.
“I can’t understand why Bleeker would do this. Why kill my dog? Why Nancy? To make a point to me? I hate him. I hate him with every cell in my body. Beyond hate. If the world were on fire and I—”
“Hatred will only make things more difficult.” Regulus shrugged. “You must stay calm if we’re to catch him.”
I nodded. “Why thank you, Mister Spock.” I narrowed my eyes. “So, are you and Pete in some partnership now?”
He looked at me, the words confusing him. “Mr. Spock? Partnership?”
“You didn’t know each other before the wreck. He asked you to come over, right?” I pushed back in the chair.
“We talked. I would not say that we are partners.” He hesitated and looked away. “Pete knows we can help each other.”
“I’ll talk to Pete. He’ll help me get Bleeker.”
“I’m here to help you.”
“Well, thanks. But I don’t need help. I need some sleep. OK? You’re not responsible for me. I really don’t want you here.” I stood, rubbing my forearms.
“I came here because I knew you would be upset over Nancy even though you’d pretend not to be. And I know how much you cared about Biscuit. I came because I care about you. I care deeply.”
“You care about me because…well…um…I’m your gatekeeper. It’s that simple. I don’t think we should be around each other more than necessary. The truth is I don’t feel that way about you.” I avoided his eyes.
“I know you say that, but it’s not true. It is not only that you’re our gatekeeper. When I saw that vehicle go over the side of mountain, I knew I’d lost something very important to me. You’re more than a friend to me.”
“There’s nothing more,” I said. “I…I don’t think…I don’t think we can be friends.”
I struggled to get my voice under control, the squeaky high pitch that sounded unnatural in my own ears. A rushing of hurt, fear and loss swelled in my head like a tidal wave that threatened to devour me.
He stood and shook his head, taking two steps back and looking at me like I’d slapped him. He strode to the door and rested his hand on the knob for a moment. “Some people lie to others. Mia, you lie to yourself.”
13
Regulus
Regulus got into Em’s car, slammed the door, and texted her with the phone he’d borrowed. “I am outside.”
“I know. B right out,” she answered.
He texted. “Hurry.” He stared at the screen, grimaced, and added a word. “Please.”
Mia had to be the most stubborn individual he’d ever met. Did she know he could tell she lied? He wasn’t a synesthete, but he’d been trained to read people.
Her bottomless brown eyes gave her away. Pupils so huge they swallowed him whole. And her voice added to the deception. She’d barely been able to speak the lies.
She thought she could depend on her brother more than him.
Regulus thought about his Situational Analysis Training and the oddity that was Mia’s brother. Peter Antares Taylor, or Pete as they called him, would have been a good IIA agent. An excellent agent if one could get past the fact that h
e made decisions based upon an emotional compass.
Operation Zodiac wanted Dr. Bleeker handled. An organization like OZ had no power in the politics of dimensional management. Pete obviously didn’t comprehend this detail.
Regulus massaged the back of his neck with one hand. The IIA wanted Dr. Bleeker ‘handled’ so it would be done. It didn’t matter what OZ wanted.
He’d heard lots of rumors about Pete. Rumors that the IIA had been desperate to have him. Rumors that he might be better than Mia at portal detection. The truth—not rumors—that he’d turned them down when they’d been very persuasive.
Unlike the lengthy conversation that Regulus got from Emily, Pete summarized what had happened in brevity. Pete had told him in a thirty second phone call what needed to be done.
Was Pete upstairs? Regulus looked at the windows at the top of the house. He thought that a bedroom had probably been Pete’s once.
He glanced at Mia’s window and wondered if she lay on her bed again. She’d looked so fragile and sad. Breakable. The thought of her pain unsettled him.
“Hey.” Emily hopped into the driver’s seat.
“She’s OK?”
“No.” She opened her bag and grabbed keys. “Can people our age have nervous breakdowns?”
He didn’t look at her because he really didn’t know the answer to that.
She barked a cynical laugh. “That was a stupid question. Of course they can.”
“Emily.” He looked at her frown. “Em. Mia is going to be fine.” She would be. He’d make sure that of that.
“Don’t act like I’m overreacting. I’m telling you that we are all she has for support right now. Her dad doesn’t know the pressure she’s been under since he doesn’t know about the IIA and Pete and—”
“I didn’t say anything. Anything about overreacting.” She was making him sweat. He looked out the window again. It was too difficult to listen to her talking as if she was afraid to stop and take a breath.
“Oh, you didn’t have to say anything. I can tell.”
She started the car and he sighed. “Em, I know you are upset. You don’t have to be upset at me.”
“Uh!” she said through gritted teeth. “I’m sorry.” The car lurched forward in the dark when the tires spun on the ice.
“Careful.” He regretted the word when he looked at her profile. Was she smashing her lips together? “Em?”
“Yeah. I’m careful.” She turned the car onto the road. “What are you going to do about this? Austin and I need to help. We want to know the plan. You think you can cut us out of what’s going on, but you are so wrong.”
Good. She’d assumed that he’d do something. He liked that.
“You have my word that I will capture Dr. Bleeker. He won’t be a threat to Mia again.”
“I know you care about her. I do. But you need a plan. Are you waiting for him to make his next move?” Her voice grated like a marker squealing across a clean board.
He didn’t share his plans with her but looked out the window instead.
“No answer, huh?” She drove the rest of the way back to his dorm in silence. She was angrier than he’d ever seen her. He watched her tap her fingers on the steering wheel during the ten mile drive. Emily had spoken her mind and he couldn’t fault her for that.
She turned into the dorm parking lot in a sharp, jerky motion. Her stiff posture told him that she hadn’t liked his comment on her driving, so he didn’t make another.
“Thank you for taking me to Mia’s,” he said.
Emily nodded solemnly. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I know you’re doing the best you can.”
“I am.” He got out, closed the door, stepped back, and watched her taillights disappear into the distance. He rubbed the back of his neck again. He couldn’t afford to have Emily shut him out. She might be his only ally when it came to reaching Mia.
“Regulus.”
The low voice and the hand on his shoulder jolted him. He pivoted away and his hands formed into fists. This guy should have known better than to sneak up on him.
“Pete. Why are you here?” He narrowed his eyes and attempted to slow the rush of adrenaline.
Pete shook his head and held up both hands. “Needed to talk and it can’t wait.”
“Talk.”
“I called home and discovered you’d left with Em. You ready to catch Bleeker?”
“You know where he is?”
Pete gave a quick sideways nod to his truck. “Come on, before he gets away. I have orders to back off and let you take him in. I’m not happy about it, but I’d rather you get him than wait while the guys in charge decide who’s the bigger dog. Jurisdiction,” he added with a disgusted tone. He jogged to his truck parked a couple of spaces from them.
Melting ice shone on the parking lot from where someone had salted the pavement. Regulus walked around patches of sludge then hesitated. He trusted Pete for some reason that defied his training. Training told him to count on his teammates. Arizona sat in the room and could be summoned in minutes.
“You coming?” Pete challenged him.
“Yes.” He hopped inside the warm truck. The engine was still running.
“I’ve tracked down his aliases and the credit cards tied to them. He’s been charging on three different cards this week. He charged on one of them a half hour ago.”
“Here?”
“Yeah. He leaves town, he comes back, leaves again, comes back. I can’t figure out what he’s doing.”
“If you know where he’s going, why haven’t you caught him?”
“That’s the problem. He’s not ours. If I catch him, I can’t keep him. He’s not a US citizen. He doesn’t exist. I need you to take him into your custody. I want that trash gone.”
“I see. Does Mia know you’re here?”
Pete frowned. “No.”
“She’s distraught.”
“You don’t think I know that?”
“It’s unfortunate…” He paused and searched for the best way to continue. He was supposed to say he was sorry for the untimeliness of Nancy’s death. He rummaged through his brain for other appropriate terms. Condolences. Sympathy. Prayers. There was no need to finish the sentence.
Pete shook his head. “Don’t.”
Why did Pete deny his feelings, like Mia had? She’d denied, again and again, but he knew the death upset her.
Regulus nodded. “I think it’s important to understand why he disposed of her.”
“We don’t have time. That’s your problem. You think too much.” Pete banked a left and drove off-road.
Why was Pete in a hurry to act and not plan strategy? This type of behavior could get them killed.
But he wanted to believe in Pete. Wanted to do whatever he had to do to protect Mia.
Regulus steadied himself with his hand against the dash. “Do we have a predetermined destination?”
“Do I know where we’re going?” He gave a dry laugh, bordering on unstable. “Am I worrying you?”
“No.” He hoped he sounded convincing. The reckless attitude had to be because of Nancy’s death. Nothing else made sense or matched what he knew of Pete from the personal file he’d once read.
“Do you have answers with more than three words?”
Regulus paused. Despite wondering if he’d survive the ride to their destination, he smiled. “Only when necessary.”
“I know there’s a portal up ahead. I think he’s been hunting for it.”
“You sense the portals as adeptly as Mia?”
“Maybe better. I’ve been practicing.” Pete’s mouth formed a hard line in the glow of the dash lights.
Regulus wondered what the look meant. Maybe Pete wished he was an ordinary citizen, unaware of the intricate availability of travel between worlds. Or maybe he thought Mia should practice. He didn’t ask because he guessed Pete wouldn’t answer.
Pete slowed the vehicle to a crawl. “Let’s park here and walk in.”
“We’re going
to wait at the portal? How do you know he’ll come?”
“He’s coming. My team is herding him this way.”
“To the portal?” Regulus attempted to school the surprise he felt. Pete had managed to do what he hadn’t and he didn’t know if he should be impressed or jealous.
“This is where you take over. I don’t want him going through and getting away. We’re bringing him to you. You take it from here.”
Regulus was silent for a moment. The plan was one a good one. One that seemed flawless on the surface. One that would ensure the capture of Dr. Eli Bleeker. One that would keep the criminal away from Mia and her family. He could place the criminal tracking tag in Bleeker with a shot from his stunner. His apprehension would be the one merit on his record that would change his life.
In his world, an arrest of this magnitude would promote him from his current position as field agent.
His stomach churned for the first time in a while at the lack of choices before him. A promotion would mean reassignment away from Mia. She needed him.
Or did he need her? The realization bore down on him with clarity. He wanted to be with her beyond the need to please the IIA. He wanted her more than he could remember wanting anything before.
The sound of a vehicle tearing through the woods broke into his thoughts. The gunfire report rose to a deafening level.
“Are you trying to kill him?” Regulus shouted to be heard, kept his head down, and looked left and right.
“No.” Pete yelled. “That’s not us.”
They both ducked lower when bark splintered above their heads.
He didn’t understand what Pete meant. All that gun power came from Bleeker? Impossible. An armored truck spun into the clearing. The clearing that Pete had identified as a portal. Gunmen shot from the windows in a 360 degree perimeter of the vehicle.
“What’s he doing?” Regulus moved to his haunches, ready to find a break in the shower of bullets. He needed to capture and tag Bleeker here. Once out of his jurisdiction, he couldn’t make the arrest. He didn’t have authority to tag criminals who crossed back. The thought of losing Mia and his current post had paralyzed him for a second. It was long enough for Pete to place a hand on his arm.
