Authors: Steve Delaney
Realizing that my clothes were still in the suitcase outside the bathroom, I held the towel bravely and opened the door to find Alicia squeezing past me with an armful of clothes and toiletries saying, “It’s about time. Hope you left me some hot water.” The flat iron she carried somehow hooked onto the towel around my waist and tugged. Alicia was not aware what she was caught on so she tugged harder. My panicked hands tried to keep a grip, but she managed to pull most of the towel off me when I finally got a good hold of it just in time for her to turn and look down at exactly what she was snagging on. The room felt ten degrees warmer and I could feel my heart thudding in my chest as her eyes followed up my abdominal muscles, over my broad chest and finally into my eyes with an open, tentatively inviting look.
I stepped in and my still damp chest pressed against hers while our lips brushed lightly, then more firmly into a passionate kiss. I wrapped my free arm around her, running my fingers through her long, silky hair. Her palms then pushed against my hips, separating us for a moment. Our eyes met hungrily, and her voice was trembling with desire but firm when she said, “Wait…wait. Not yet.” Then she disappeared behind the bathroom door and shut it abruptly.
Suddenly I wished for a bucket of icewater to douse myself with. As I listened to the sound of her shower running, I dressed and thought about what she had said. Not yet. Yet. That was not quite a no. In fact, it meant yes, just later. Ah, there is the big problem. Later could mean next week. It could mean next year, but it could also mean tonight, right after her shower.
Needing to stop obsessing, I made us some turkey sandwiches with chips for dinner. Very romantic, right? My big hands were stiffening up again. It took me two tries to unwrap a slice of cheese without dropping it. The sound of running water stopped, and then I sat silently as Alicia got dressed in the other room. I imagined her brushing out her long, wavy hair. Was she putting on makeup or lingerie? Was she wondering about me? Has she thought about what might happen tonight? My God, I was so dependent upon reading thoughts that without it I was lost. Not knowing was driving me crazy, but at the same time it was exhilirating.
Alicia emerged wearing yoga pants and a tank top. Her long hair was pulled into a braid that snaked around the front and rested along her right shoulder. It was not the sexy ensemble from my fantasy, but she looked hot all the same.
Seeing the sandwiches, she brightened and said, “Oh, thank you! I’m so hungry right now.” We ate and laughed and managed to have a nice time together without mentioning what almost happened, although I could hardly think of anything else.
The single bedroom of the cabin was outfitted with a king-sized bed. One bed. As I threw our sweaty clothes into the tiny washer, Alicia pulled a spare blanket and pillow from the front closet , and then settled herself down on the sofa. From where she was laying it looked like she was watching me finish loading the laundry. Maybe she was.
“What are you doing?” I asked. She matter-of-factly stated, “I’m going to bed. You’re too tall for the couch so I took it.” Then she looked at me playfully as I approached her and she said, “Why? Were you expecting some other sleeping arrangement?”
“Sleeping? I wasn’t really thinking about the sleeping part,” I replied, sitting lightly on the edge of the rustic armchair next to her. She sat up with our knees touching and took both my hand in hers. Her breathing was more rapid than usual when she said, “Baby, you don’t know how much I want something to happen between us.”
“No,” I said with a soft smirk, “I think I d…”
“No, you really don’t. You came into my life and fixed everything like some kind of genie, and you’re almost as sexy as you think you are. You’re like a dream come true. But at the same time you’re in so much danger that I…I can’t risk it. This is my second chance at life and everything is so confusing. If I let myself love you--and something happened to you--I don’t know how I’d recover from that. Do you understand?”
“Makes sense,” I replied. “So you’re not ready for a relationship right now. That’s sensible. The same should apply to me. My life is so totally screwed up that I have no business thinking about a serious relationship. But I am. I can’t help it. I’ve never felt this way before about anyone. I don’t care about the risks, Alicia.”
She leaned in looking down at my lips and then hesitated before pulling back in frustration. “Arrrrrrrgh! You drive me crazy. Please go to bed before we do something that I’m going to regret. Please.”
I stood and said good night, involuntarily letting out a chuckle.
“What’s so funny?” she asked with annoyance.
“Arrgh? Really? I make you feel like a pirate, I guess. That’s cool, I’m okay with that.”
Alicia threw her pillow at me, laughing, and insisted, “Go to bed, Adam. Your bed.”
I tossed the pillow back to her and retreated to the bedroom alone. It was better this way, I told myself, not believing a word of it. My thoughts raced as I stretched out on the bed, ready for a long sleepless night. I fell into a deep sleep almost immediately.
The wonderful smell of coffee brewing awoke me in the morning, late enough for the sun to be fully up. Long sunbeams shone through my southeastern facing bedroom windows, revealing a fair amount of airbourne dust. I had to tighten my abs hard to bring myself to a seated position, feeling the stretch in my lower back and in the back of my thighs. As a workout junkie, I was used to soreness the day after a workout, but not this kind of immobility. I must have groaned since Alicia walked in holding a mug of steaming black coffee and two aspirin. She was still wearing the tank top and yoga pants that she slept in, but looked great all the same. Maybe it was her smile or the look in her eyes that revealed how happy she was just to be with me. For the first time in my life I felt the same.
“Good morning,” she said, “It’s about time you got up. I was hoping we could get some of this exercise done in the morning, maybe take it easy after lunch.”
“Thanks for the coffee,” I replied and swallowed the pills with a sip of coffee, “ Are you a morning person?”
“Not usually, but that was when I was using—you know—but since then I guess I have gotten up early feeling pretty good. Thirsty, but good.”
Thirsty. That worried me a bit, but I figured that waking up thirsty is pretty common, so I let it go. I set the mug on the nightstand and said,“Alright, I’m going to need some help here. Please.”
Alicia patiently helped me to my feet. I stiffly plodded around like Frankenstein and tried to change into my workout gear. Just bending my knees and elbows took effort, my muscles taut and straining. She helped me put on my top, but left me on my own to change my pants. The hardest part was putting on my socks and shoes. Finally, I was dressed and after downing the remaining coffee in a gulp, I was ready.
We started with a walk, but as I warmed up, it soon quickened into a job. We hadn’t gone more than a mile before Alicia’s breathing became heavy, and she couldn’t keep up. I slowed to match her pace until we arrived at the clearing with the rocks. She was dripping sweat. This was going to be harder on her than on me, I thought. It turned out to be equally brutal for both of us.
We did nothing but exercise all day, every day, with brief interruptions for meals. Alicia continued to take part in the workouts, drinking gallons of water in the process. We saved the empty bottles and refilled them with the tap water from the cabin. At night we were so exhausted that neither of us wanted more than a shower and eight hours of deep sleep. The problem was that during the day I found my eyes and thoughts drifting toward Alicia.
It was a week that I will always remember with fondness. Each day we talked for hours. We laughed. We flirted. There were a few occasions when I felt sure that were were on the cusp of another kiss, but each time the moment passed…the opportunity lost. Oddly, the hesitation was usually on my part. All of a sudden I had something to lose that truly mattered. Maybe this is what it felt like to fall in love. The excitement and joy were expected, but this newfound fear was a surprise.
By mid-week I felt as limber as I was before my injuries, and by week’s end my balance and reflexes seemed to be better than ever. On the last day we packed up the car, then took one last walk through the woods before leaving.
For a while we just walked, but when our hands touched I took hers in mine and we continued like that down the trail. When we came in sight of the small clearing of boulders we stopped, just looking into each other’s eyes. Always practical, and typically braver than me, Alicia broke the silence.
“Are you going to try to find her?”
“You mean Kate?”
That earned me an incredulous look, “No. Amelia Earhart.”
I swallowed a chuckle, “Right. Kate, of course.”
We walked into the clearing, then I continued, “She’s still alive, I can feel it, and she needs help.”
“So,” Alicia persisted, “You’re going after her, right?”
“Well,” I stammered, “not after her in the romantic sense, just to save her from Harrison Kirkwood and his goons.”
Raising one eyebrow, she said, “Not romantic? You think that’s what I’m scared of? Sometimes men don’t understand anything.” She stopped and turned to me, “I’m worried about you getting killed. All I can think about is that this Harry person broke every bone in your body and almost killed you with a single thought. What do you think will happen when he’s trying really, really hard to kill you?”
Quietly I muttered,” Do you think I haven’t thought of that? I’m scared to death to face him again. But it’s the right thing to do, and if anyone in the world can do it, I can. Until all this started, these freakish abilities of mine were never put to good use. Now I have a chance to do better. I have to take that chance.”
“Just listen to yourself,” Alicia retorted, “You’re not doing this for Kate at all. This is just a way for you to prove something to yourself—Some foolish misguided sense of responsibility you developed all of a sudden. You want to do the right thing? Fine, call the police, alert the press. That’s enough, Adam.”
I stepped closer and said, “Not hardly enough. If I send the police after him, what do you think will happen to those cops? How could they possibly cope with something like that? The police aren’t the answer, I am.”
Eyes shimmering with hot tears, Alicia shot back, “Fine, Adam, do this foolish thing and get yourself killed. You are the only good thing in my life and when you are gone I will have nothing. Don’t you get that? I can’t just wait for you to return, wondering what happened to you. If you go I will start mourning for you as soon as you’re gone. I will protect myself, always will.” Before I could answer she stormed off back down the trail.
Seething with frustration, I turned to the largest boulder, a hunk of granite over four feet across. On impulse I spread my arms across it and gripped it tightly, breathing deeply. Then I pulled upward with all the strength of my legs, arms and back. At first, nothing happened, but as I cried out the great rock tore free from the soil around it and rose slowly from the ground one inch at a time. With a jerk I heaved the boulder up onto my chest, my heavy muscles shaking with the strain. Finally I hurled it at the pile of smaller rocks and it impacted with a thunderous crack that shook the ground.
My chest heaved as I took in breath, staring at the fallen rock.
From behind me, I heard a small but determined voice. Alicia was back.
“If you must go, then I go too. End of discussion.”
And it was.
The drive back to the airport in Milwaukee was quicker than I anticipated. I bought us tickets, but had to make the attendant believe that I had already shown ID. The flight was in the late evening, the last one of the day. Before we knew it we were approaching another security line. This time I just bent the light around both of us and we walked the wrong way through the exit into the terminal. To my total shock, we were completely invisible even when walking, which I had never been able to do before. Maybe all this practice is improving my skills, I hoped.
Once on the airplane and hours into the flight, Alicia asked, “How do you know that they are in Virginia?”
I leaned over and whispered, “You may recall that I saved three of Harrison’s soldiers from asphyxiation by commanding their minds to breathe, remember that?”
“That’s what you told me, so yes.”
“Well, I didn’t want them to just attack us again, so I mentally blocked them from hurting us. They couldn’t pull the trigger if they tried.” The seatbelt lights came on, and the voice of the captain announced the beginning of the descent into Norfolk. Then I continued, “The other thing I did was command their minds to always allow me access, no matter what countermeasures are in place. Like leaving the mental backdoor unlocked.”
“Okay, that’s great and all,” Alicia said, “but how does that lead to Virginia?”
“That backdoor access had some unintended consequences. If I lean my mind toward those three, even slightly, I can see where they are and what they are doing. So, I’ve seen the Norfolk addresses when they open their mail, and followed them on their drive to work. I can see the facility from the outside, but once they step inside, I lose my connection.”
Alicia processed that for a moment, then asked, “What can you remember about the facility?”
Thinking back, I recalled, “The one who lives in Norfolk drives north over a bridge then through an underwater tunnel, then keeps going north toward a town called Newport News. Just outside the town there is a turnoff with a sign that says “Private Road - Authorized Personnel only” or something like that. The sign in front of the building says “Alliance for Metahuman Threat Management.”
“Hmm,” Alicia snorted, “Seems like just the kind of place you should avoid.”
“No argument here,” I agreed. But I was going anyway, of course, because I’m smart like that.
Alicia cocked her head to the side like a puppy that heard a curious sound. “Norfolk. Haven’t you mentioned that place before?”