The Chemist

by Stephenie Meyer

  How odd it was, watching over them. It felt wrong, and she'd expected that. But it also felt good, satisfying some need she'd never known was there, and that she hadn't expected.

  She spent some time thinking about her analysis of the situation, searching for flaws in her theory, but the more she looked at it, the more it made sense. Even the woeful lack of evolution in her would-be-assassins--by the third try, someone should have been aware of her system and changed the approach--made sense in this light. There had never been any operation, just expendable individuals sent after her with little or no briefing. She thought through every conjecture two or three times and felt more confident than ever that she finally understood the ones hunting her.

  And then she was bored.

  What she wanted to do was log on to the website of Columbia University's pathology program and read the latest doctoral dissertations, but it wasn't safe to do that while the department was actively trying to locate her, which she was certain they were. The department couldn't trace every connection anyone made to her old interests, but this one might be too obvious. With a sigh, she put in earbuds, opened up YouTube, and started watching a tutorial about fieldstripping a rifle. It probably wasn't anything she'd ever need to know, but it couldn't hurt.

  Kevin woke up at five thirty on the dot. He just sat up, as alert as if someone had flipped a switch to turn him on. He patted the dog once and headed toward the door. It took him only a second to notice the gas mask she was wearing and jerk to a stop. The dog, right on his heels, paused too and pointed its nose in her direction, looking for whatever had upset its master.

  "Give me a sec," Alex said.

  She got awkwardly to her feet, still aching and sore--whether more or less than at the beginning of the night, she couldn't tell--and walked stiffly to the door to undo her security precautions.

  "I didn't say you could do that," Kevin said.

  She didn't look at him. "I didn't ask for your permission."

  He grunted.

  It took her only a few seconds to clear his path. She removed her mask and used it to gesture to the door.

  "Knock yourself out."

  "Knock you out," she thought she heard him mutter as he passed her, but it was too low for her to be sure. The dog followed him, tail swishing so fast it blurred. She imagined the guy at the front desk probably wasn't paying any attention at this hour, but she still thought Kevin was pressing their luck a little. A screaming match with the management wasn't going to help them stay incognito.

  She rummaged through the food Kevin had bought last night. The remaining sandwiches weren't as appetizing as they had been eight hours ago, but there was a box of cherry Pop-Tarts she'd missed before. She was working her way through the second pastry in the sleeve when Kevin and the dog came back.

  "You want to catch a few hours?" he asked her.

  "If you don't mind driving, I can sleep in the car again. Better to get where we're going."

  He nodded once, then went to the bed and lightly kicked his brother.

  Daniel moaned and rolled onto his back, covering his head with a pillow.

  "Is that necessary?" she asked.

  "Like you said, better to get going. Danny's always had a problem with the snooze button."

  Kevin yanked the pillow off Daniel's head.

  "Let's go, kid."

  Daniel blinked owlishly for a few seconds, and then she watched his face change as the memories hit, as he realized where he was and why. It hurt to see the peace of his dreams crumble into the devastation of his new waking reality. His eyes darted around the room until he found her. She tried to make her expression reassuring, but the damage done to her face would probably trump any arrangement of her features. She searched for something to say, something that would make the world a little less dark and scary for him.

  "Pop-Tart?" she offered.

  He blinked again. "Um, okay."

  CHAPTER 12

  Alex did not approve of the safe house.

  They'd reached it late in the afternoon. She'd kept her nap to just four hours during the drive. She didn't want to be on a nocturnal schedule forever. So she'd been awake as they turned off the highway onto a two-lane surface road, then to an even smaller road, until finally they were on a one-lane dirt path --calling it a road was too complimentary.

  Sure it was hard to find, but once you did... well, there was only one way out. She never would have chosen to live backed into a corner like this.

  "Relax, killer," Kevin told her when she complained. "No one is looking for us out here."

  "We should have switched plates."

  "Took care of it while you were snoring."

  "You weren't actually snoring," Daniel said quietly. He was driving now, while Kevin directed. "But it is true that we stopped at a junkyard and stole a few license plates."

  "So we're trapped out here on a dead-end lane while Mr. Smith goes to Washington," she muttered.

  "It's secure," Kevin snapped in a tone that was clearly intended to close the discussion. "So don't go stringing your death traps through my house."

  She didn't answer. She would do what she wanted when he was gone.

  At least his setup was far away from neighbors; they drove for at least fifteen minutes down the dirt path without seeing any evidence of other human beings. That would keep the collateral damage low if for some reason she felt the need to burn everything to the ground.

  They arrived at a tall gate flanked by a heavy-duty chain-link fence with a crowning line of spiraled razor wire. The fence ran so far off into the distance to both the right and the left that she couldn't see where it turned or ended. Beside the gate, there was a very serious-looking NO TRESPASSING sign with an additional notice below that read ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK; OWNERS ARE NOT LIABLE FOR INJURIES OR HARM THAT MAY RESULT FROM TRESPASSING.

  "Subtle," she said.

  "It gets the job done," Kevin responded. He pulled a key fob from his pocket and clicked a button. The gate swung open, and Daniel drove through.

  She should have expected that his safe house would be so obvious.

  After a few more miles, the house came into view like a mirage, its dull gray second story hovering on a light haze over the dry yellow grass. Here and there, a few dark, scrubby trees studded the grassland with some texture. Over it all, the washed-out blue sky stretched to infinity.

  She'd never been totally comfortable with the Great Plains. She'd been a city girl for too long. This felt so exposed, so... unanchored. Like a strong wind could just erase everything in sight. Which probably did happen around these parts, biannually. She really hoped it wasn't tornado season.

  The rest of the house was revealed as they topped a low rise in the mostly flat road. It was large but dilapidated, two stories high with a rickety porch wrapped around half the ground floor. The coarse, dead grass ended about twenty yards from the house, replaced by sand-colored gravel that covered the dirt up to the cracked lattice that attempted to camouflage the foundation. The only breaks in the monotone vegetation were the house, the stunted trees, the reddish scar of the dirt lane, and then several indistinct shapes that were in motion, roving along the edges of the road. She'd seen a lot of cows on the way in, but these animals looked too small to be cows. They did seem to be furry, ranging in color from black to brown to white to a combination of all three.

  The shapes started to converge on the car, moving a lot faster than cows.

  Einstein's tail began wagging so ferociously that it sounded like a small helicopter in the backseat.

  "What is this place, Kev?"

  "My retirement plan."

  The animals reached the car--half a dozen dogs of various sizes. Fantastic, Alex thought. One could have been Einstein's twin. Another was gargantuan, looking like it was more closely related to equines than canines. She recognized a Doberman, two Rottweilers, and a traditionally colored German shepherd.

  On the approach, the dogs had been totally silent and aggressive in their postu
re, but as soon as they saw Einstein, all the tails started wagging and they shared in a raucous chorus of barks.

  "I train dogs for placement as guard dogs--commercial and private ownership. I also sell a few to families who just want a really well-behaved animal."

  "How do you keep this under the radar?" she wanted to know.

  "You can drive, Danny, they'll get out of the way," Kevin instructed.

  Daniel had come to a stop when the dogs surrounded the car. Now he eased carefully forward and, as promised, the dogs moved to flank them and follow them in. Kevin then addressed Alex. "Nothing is in my name. No one ever sees my face. I have a partner for that."

  As he spoke, she saw a figure walk out onto the porch--a large man wearing a cowboy hat. She couldn't make out any other details from this distance.

  "Everybody knows the dog ranch is out here. Nobody bothers with us. It has no connection to my past life," Kevin was saying, but she wasn't paying much attention. Her eyes were riveted on the man waiting at the top of the porch stairs.

  Kevin noticed her preoccupation. "What, Arnie? He's good people. I trust him with my life."

  She frowned at that expression. Daniel was looking at her, too. He started to slow.

  "Is there a problem, Alex?" he asked in a low voice.

  She heard Kevin's teeth grind behind her. It was obvious how much he hated the way Daniel turned to her for guidance.

  "It's just..." She frowned, then gestured to Daniel and his brother. "This is already a lot for me. The two of you. I don't know how to trust even you, let alone another person. Who only this one vouches for." She pointed at Kevin and he scowled.

  "Well, that's just tough, shorty," Kevin answered. "Because this is your best option, and the guy I vouch for is part of the deal. If you want to execute this plan of yours, you'll have to suck it up."

  "It will be okay," Daniel reassured her. He put his right hand lightly over her left.

  Stupid how something like that could make you feel better. It wasn't like Daniel comprehended even the most basic elements of the danger they were in. But still, her heartbeat decelerated a tiny bit, and her right hand--unconsciously clenched around the door handle--relaxed.

  Daniel drove slowly; the dogs kept up with them pretty easily until they stopped on the gravel. She was able to get a better look at the man waiting for them.

  Arnie was a tall, heavyset man, part Latino, maybe part Native American. He could have been forty-five, but he could have been ten years older, too. His face was lined, but it looked like the kind of leathering that was due to wind and sun rather than age. His hair, which hung several inches below the hat, was salt-and-pepper gray. He stared at them without any emotion as they stopped, though there was no way he could have expected a third passenger, even if Kevin had told him about Daniel.

  Einstein exploded out of the car as soon as Kevin cracked the door open and immediately set to sniffing and being sniffed. Daniel and Kevin climbed out almost as quickly, eager to stretch their long legs. Alex was more hesitant. There were a lot of dogs, and the brown-spotted horse-dog looked to be taller on all fours than she was standing. They seemed to be occupied with one another at the moment, but who knew how they would react to her?

  "Don't be such a coward, Oleander," Kevin called.

  Most of the dogs had converged on him now, nearly forcing him to the ground with the combined weight of their greeting.

  Daniel came around the car and opened the door for her, then offered his hand. She sighed, irritated, and got out on her own. Her shoes crunched on the gravel, but the dogs didn't seem to notice her.

  "Arnie," Kevin called over the sound of the happy dogs. "This is my brother, Danny. He'll be staying here. And, um, a temporary... guest, I suppose. Don't know what else to call her. But guest seems kind of over-positive, if you know what I mean."

  "Your hospitality takes my breath away," Alex murmured.

  Daniel laughed, then climbed the stairs in two quick steps. He offered his hand to the stone-faced man, who didn't look as tall standing next to Daniel, and they shook.

  "Nice to meet you, Arnie. My brother's told me nothing at all about you, so I look forward to getting to know you better."

  "Ditto, Danny," Arnie said. His voice was a rumbly baritone that sounded as if it wasn't used often enough to keep it running smoothly.

  "And that's Alex. Don't listen to my brother; she's staying as long as she wants."

  Arnie looked at her, focusing now. She waited for a reaction to the mess of her face, but he just regarded her coolly.

  "A pleasure," she said.

  He nodded.

  "You can move your stuff inside," Kevin told them. He tried to walk toward the stairs, but the dogs were weaving around his legs at high speed. "Hey, boneheads! Attention!"

  Like a small platoon of soldiers, the dogs immediately backed off a few paces, formed an actual line, and froze with their ears up.

  "That's better. At ease."

  The dogs sat down in unison, tongues lolling out in sharp-fanged smiles.

  Kevin joined them at the door.

  "Like I said, you can grab your stuff. Danny, there's a room for you at the top of the stairs on the right. As for you..." He looked down at Alex. "Well, I guess the room at the other end of the hall will work. I wasn't expecting extra company, so it's not fitted up as a bedroom."

  "I've got a cot."

  "I don't have any stuff," Daniel said, and though she listened for it, she didn't hear any sadness in the words; he was putting up a good front. "Do you need help with yours, Alex?"

  She shook her head. "I'll only take a few things in. The rest I'll stash somewhere outside the fence."

  Daniel raised his eyebrows in confusion, but Kevin was nodding.

  "I've had to run out in the middle of the night before," she explained to Daniel, pitching her voice low, though Arnie could probably still hear. She had no idea how much he knew about Kevin's old job. "Sometimes it's not so easy to get back to pick up your things."

  Daniel's brow creased. Some of the sadness she'd been expecting before flickered across his expression. This was a world not many people entered on purpose.

  "You don't need to worry about that here," Kevin said. "We're secure."

  Kevin was one of those people who had chosen this life, which made his every judgment suspect to her.

  "Better to keep in practice," she insisted.

  Kevin shrugged. "If that's what you want, I know a place that might work."

  *

  THE HOUSE WAS quite a bit nicer on the inside than the outside. She'd expected moldy wallpaper, 1970s oak paneling, sagging couches, linoleum, and Formica. While there was still an attempt at a rustic theme, the fixtures were new and state of the art. There were even granite countertops on the kitchen island under the elk-horn chandelier.

  "Wow," Daniel murmured.

  "But how many contractors were inside this place?" she muttered to herself. Too many witnesses.

  Kevin heard, though she hadn't meant him to. "None, actually. Arnie used to be in construction. We got all the materials from across the state line and did the work ourselves. Well, mostly Arnie did it. Satisfied?"

  Alex pursed her balloon lips.

  "How did you two meet?" Daniel asked Arnie politely.

  She really ought to study Daniel, Alex thought, practice his ways of interacting. This was how to act like a normal person. Either she'd never really known how or she'd forgotten completely. She had her lines down for waitressing, for cubicle jobs; she knew how to respond in a work environment in the least memorable way. She knew how to talk to patients when she was doing her illicit doctor gig. Before that, she'd learned the best ways to pull answers from a subject. But outside of the prescribed roles, she always avoided contact.

  It was Kevin who answered Daniel's question. "Arnie was in a little trouble that related tangentially to a project I was working on a while back. He wanted out, and he gave me some very valuable information in exchange for my killing hi
m."

  The silent Arnie grinned widely.

  "We hit it off," Kevin continued, "and kept in touch. When I decided to start preparing for retirement, I contacted him. Our needs and interests aligned perfectly."

  "Match made in heaven," Alex said in a sweet voice. Great, so people might be looking for him, too, she didn't add aloud.

  Kevin and Daniel went to the downstairs master to gather a wardrobe for Daniel and outfit him with toiletries. Alex showed herself upstairs, easily locating the small room Kevin had offered her. It would work. He was using it for storage right now, but there was enough space for her cot and personal things. One of the large plastic storage bins would make a decent substitute for a desktop. The bathroom was down the hall; it connected to both the hallway and what would be Daniel's bedroom.

  It had been a very long time since she'd shared a bathroom. At least this one was bigger and posher than she was used to.

  The brothers were still busy when she went back to the car to sort through her stuff. There were three dogs on the porch; one she was pretty sure was Einstein, one huge black Rottweiler, and a reddish-brown, sad-faced dog with floppy ears who reminded her of the dog whose leg gets broken at the end of Lady and the Tramp. So that probably meant he was a hound dog or a bloodhound or something--she wasn't sure which was which.

  The Rottweiler and the hound started toward her with more interest than menace, but it was enough for her to take a huge step back toward the door. Einstein raised his head and gave a low, cough-like bark, and the other two stopped. They sat down where they were, like they had when Kevin had given them the at-ease command.

  She wasn't sure if Einstein actually had the authority to give the other dogs orders--did dogs recognize rank?--so she moved cautiously along the porch, waiting for them to attack. They held their relaxed positions, just watching her curiously. As she passed, the hound's tail thumped loudly against the wooden slats of the floor, and she had the odd impression that he was playing up the sad eyes in anticipation of being petted. She hoped he wasn't too disappointed that she wasn't brave enough to try it.

  She dug through her things wedged in the trunk, pulling together an emergency kit and fitting it into a backpack; this she would keep with her at all times. She took most of her dirty clothes to wash inside--hopefully there was a washing machine--but left the businessy stuff with the other bags in the trunk. She had to have at least one set of clothes with her off-property stash. She'd run out one memorable night--after assassin two was gassed trying to cut her throat--in just her underwear and had to steal a neighbor's coveralls out of the back of his work van. She'd learned that lesson. And to always sleep in pajamas that could double as daytime clothes.