Chasing Silver Part 6

When it became too much to bear, she squeezed hers shut, seeking out his mouth instead of trying to make sense of what was probably nothing. Nathan responded like a starving man, attacking her with both tongue and teeth, and when she had to gulp for air, he forced her back for more.

Coming was almost a relief.

Remy clamped down around his c.o.c.k, screaming into his mouth as the shudders wracked through her slim frame, exploding bright and hot and so f.u.c.king fierce she was sure she was going to have friction burns everywhere they touched. Somewhere she heard him say her name, but beyond the confines of her flesh, everything else seemed far away, too far to notice except for that which directly touched her. c.o.c.k, chest, hands, skin.

And that mouth. Back on hers.

She could drown in that mouth.

Kirsten hated Los Angeles. It was hot and smelly and, for as crowded as it was, everything moved at a snail crawl that made her want to scream out loud in frustration. It didn't help that she had discovered Remy's escape had taken her not only across the country but also back in time. Seventy-five years might be a drop in the bucket in the history books, but for practical purposes, she might as well be in the Dark Ages. She was dealing with Neanderthals here. Sooner or later-and probably much, much sooner-she was going to shoot someone through the eye just for being stupid.

She hoped it was Remy Capra.

A day of searching had given her zero information on the mysterious British guy and his Mustang. Her original idea had been to get into the police computers and do a simple search with her parameters, but getting in had been her first stumbling block.

As a civic employee, she had been implanted with tracking chip technology for years, and while it gave her instant wireless access no matter where she went back in DC, Kirsten learned almost immediately she didn't have the same capability here. Incompatible technology, she decided. There were enough Internet cafes around to still let her online, however, but the second she saw the old-fashioned computer, complete with clunky keyboard and mouse, she knew she needed a new plan. She hadn't had to deal with such antiquated interfaces since before starting school. The only way she knew to navigate computer files was by talking to the d.a.m.n things.

And that was before she realized you had to pay to use the supposedly public access in the cafes. Her cashcard and Fedcred were as worthless here as beads and trinkets. What cash she had-she'd hocked her watch, an antique, as soon as she could-was for food and shelter, not to waste f.u.c.king around with clunky computers and their ridiculous programs.

She didn't have time to wait for voice-activated interfaces to become the government standard. So if she couldn't get in through the back door, that only left the front.

She made sure she showed up at the police station after the day shift had clocked out. Nights meant fewer people around to ask questions she might not be able to answer; if they were doing their jobs, they would be out on the streets. Darkness gave criminals comfort and the opportunity to take more risks.

With only her chip to prove she was a cop, and no way to scan it for another forty years, Kirsten had few options to get inside with a minimum of questions. She stuck with the tried and true, lying about being the head of a private security team from DC. It was half-true, anyway, and she knew enough of the lingo to be able to convince the weary officer on duty to let her talk to someone higher up. That was all she wanted.

Walking back and forth in the confines of an interrogation room, though, she wondered if she'd be able to sell her story without the benefit of red tape on her side.

Again, she cursed Remy's name. None of this would have even been necessary if the b.i.t.c.h had just died with the rest of her gang.

She stopped pacing when the door opened and a man walked in. He was tall, much taller than she, with broad shoulders designed for football and long legs made for more carnal games. Short dark hair seemed even darker next to his tan skin, and the liquid eyes that met hers were eerily shrewd. Her mouth curved into an automatic smile. This one would be easy to manipulate and fun to boot.

"I'm Isaac McGuire." He thrust his hand out in greeting. She took it and smiled even wider at the heat pouring off his skin. "They tell me you're from DC, right?"

Kirsten nodded. "I'm tracking a fugitive on the loose. My sources say she's here. I need your help finding her."

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Gradually, Nathan pulled himself from sleep, swimming through layers of fluffy darkness to open his eyes to the bright morning sun. He blinked the grit from his eyes, looking over to the empty side of the bed. He stretched, smiling at the slight, almost unfamiliar ache in his muscles. The vague smell of sweat and s.e.x lingering in the room made him hard again.

By the time they had collapsed in exhaustion at some point in the early morning hours, Nathan had thought he would never be able to have s.e.x again. Apparently, he just needed to rest for a few hours. Nathan wanted to lure Remy back to bed, fold her body around his, and start where they left off the night before.

He imagined Remy was in the kitchen, scavenging for food. She shouldn't have to scavenge for food. He should go to the grocery store.

With the money he didn't have.

Nathan didn't allow that thought to dampen his good mood. He didn't want anything anything to dampen his good mood. He wanted to squeeze every last drop of pleasure from it before the novelty wore off. Besides, he had enough cash left over from the day before to take her out for coffee. to dampen his good mood. He wanted to squeeze every last drop of pleasure from it before the novelty wore off. Besides, he had enough cash left over from the day before to take her out for coffee.

Digging a pair of shorts and a T-shirt out of the dresser, Nathan reflected on what Remy was wearing. Or not wearing. If she was wearing the T-shirt from the day before, he might be forced to carry her back to bed. He might be forced to carry her back to bed, regardless.

He didn't find Remy in the kitchen as he had expected, but sitting on the couch, one foot resting on the cushion, the other leg folded beneath her. The white T-shirt she stole from his dresser drawer was stretched tight across her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and her long legs were bare. His c.o.c.k twitched, but he didn't make a move towards her-yet. She was rolling something through her fingers; it looked like one of the coins she had given him, except larger. Whatever it was, it engrossed her and allowed him a few uninterrupted moments to study her.

There were purple marks the shape of his mouth on her neck, and her lips were full and swollen. Her dark eyes were thoughtful but distant. She rubbed the back of her leg, and he noticed a light bruise the size of his thumb marring the soft whiteness of her thigh. Nathan knew his skin was marked as well, from her teeth and nails. He wanted to caress the bruises on her skin with his mouth, lick the sensitive marks.

He wandered into the kitchen and dumped the old coffee out of the pot. He wouldn't be able to keep this from Isaac-the man had eyes after all, and they had done quite a number on each other. Of course, that meant he'd have to put up with Isaac's lectures about not bringing crazy women home, and not thinking with his d.i.c.k, and having safe s.e.x ... ?

"Oh." Nathan closed his eyes. "Oh, f.u.c.k."

He hadn't thought of grabbing condoms, not once. And it wouldn't have mattered because he didn't have have any condoms. f.u.c.king the probably-crazy girl was understandable, but f.u.c.king her without any protection? He didn't need Isaac to tell him how stupid that was. any condoms. f.u.c.king the probably-crazy girl was understandable, but f.u.c.king her without any protection? He didn't need Isaac to tell him how stupid that was.

Nathan abandoned the coffee pot and returned to the living room. "I think we need to talk."

Her fingers stopped dancing, the object of her attention disappearing into the palm of her hand. "Yeah." She scooted over to make room for him. "I think so, too."

Nathan took a deep breath. She probably wasn't protected either. He settled beside her on the couch, but pointedly didn't touch her. He needed to have a clear head for this conversation-if he touched her, he feared he'd compound the problem. He decided to just get right to the point. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think about using protection last night. I know I'm clean, but if you're worried about getting pregnant, we could probably go to the clinic."

Remy frowned. "Pregnant? Oh, no, that's no problem. My shot won't run out for months yet."

"Oh, well, that's good then. But pregnancy isn't the only thing we have to worry about. I mean, I don't know how clean you are."

"Clean? You don't mean taking a shower, do you?"

"No. I mean, I don't have any s.e.xually transmitted diseases. But you might. You might not even know about it."

"Oh." Remy's frown cleared. "You don't need to worry about that. I've been fully vaccinated."

"Oh. Wait. What? What are you talking about?"

"Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about." She flipped the coin in her hand onto his lap. "You ever see anything like that before?"

"No. What does this have to do with vaccinations?"

"Just ... answer my question, okay? I promise, it'll make sense soon. Or maybe not."

Nathan held the heavy coin between his forefinger and his thumb, studying it. One side of the coin was blank, with a dull shine. The edge was smooth and uninterrupted. The engraving on the other side was elaborate. Nathan had never seen anything so fine, so detailed on a coin before. It depicted a woman in motion, looking over her shoulder. The artist had been so careful about the detail of the work that Nathan saw the fear on her face-but the fear was almost hope. As though the one chasing her could be her death or her savior. There were words arched across the top that he didn't understand and more along the bottom, from what looked to be a second alphabet.

"No." Nathan handed it back to her. "Never. Where did you get it?"

She almost seemed disappointed in his response, letting it rest in her palm for a long moment, her hair hiding her face as she continued to regard the coin. When she spoke, her voice was even more subdued than it had been when he'd walked in. "That ... is a very long story."

Nathan thought this this very long story was the same story he had been waiting to hear from her since the moment she showed up at his feet. Perhaps he would get some answers to his questions. Who was she, really? Where was she from? How did she end up in that warehouse at that precise moment? What were the lights and the explosions? And why did he feel this strange connection to her? "I think I've got the time to hear it." very long story was the same story he had been waiting to hear from her since the moment she showed up at his feet. Perhaps he would get some answers to his questions. Who was she, really? Where was she from? How did she end up in that warehouse at that precise moment? What were the lights and the explosions? And why did he feel this strange connection to her? "I think I've got the time to hear it."

Remy nodded. It was as if he'd said what she had been expecting to hear.

He didn't antic.i.p.ate her rising from the couch, though, or going to the pile of her clothes she'd left folded in the corner. As she crouched and grabbed her pants, digging around in the pocket, he frowned. She was pulling out the fake ID that had upset her at the gas station.

She returned to the couch, facing him with her legs tucked beneath her. "I want you to look at this again," Remy said, holding out the card "I want you to tell me what you see."

Nathan had no idea what she was on about, but he humored her and took it. He read aloud as he had before.

"Remy Capra. Cla.s.sification: C. Date of Birth, March 15, 2058. Residence, District of Columbia. The card is about as thin as paper, though stronger. There's a hologram behind your picture." He looked up at her solemn face.

"The picture doesn't look quite right anyway. It looks almost like a ... mug shot? I suppose you're going to tell me this isn't a poorly done fake ID?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm telling you."

Nathan turned the card over, looking for any more clues, but found nothing but a barcode and a black strip. He knew she wasn't lying to him. Or rather, she believed what she was saying. Nathan had seen it a thousand times before. Facts and truth were nothing compared to the delusions the human mind could conjure and accept as reality.

"Then what is it?"

Exhaling in frustration, Remy s.n.a.t.c.hed the card back. "You think I'm crazy. f.u.c.k, if I didn't know the truth, I'd think I was crazy, too. But this..." She waved the ID in the air. "...Is all I have left of who I am. Who I was. This and those stupid coins."

"So, you're telling me you were born in the year 2058. Fifty years from now and three thousand miles away. And somehow you managed to travel ... what? Seventy-five years back in time?" Nathan kept his face professional, as though he were talking to a particularly confused witness. "Even if I granted time travel was possible, why would you end up in a deserted warehouse in Culver City?" Even as he asked the question, he realized the absurdity of it. What was he expecting? That she'd have a convincing explanation?

"I don't know." For the first time since he'd come out, Remy looked agitated. The color was rising in her pale cheeks, and her fingers couldn't seem to stop moving. "I've lived in DC all my life. Born, bred, thought I'd die there. One minute, I'm jumping out the window of Senator Henryk's house, and the next, it feels like somebody's trying to scoop out my insides with a pitchfork and I'm on the floor of that warehouse on the other side of the country."

She stood up and began to pace in front of the couch, looking everywhere but at him. "I know what this looks like. I've been up since five-thirty, trying to talk myself out of telling you the truth. Because it's cracked. I know that. You know that. But after last night..." Her gaze caught on the camisole lying discarded on the floor. It took a moment for her to speak again. "I guess I'd rather you think I was cracked than a liar. But I'm not either."

Remy's eyes were bleak when they met his, but her words made him look away. Running his hands through his hair, Nathan focused on the floor, unable to bear the sincerity of her gaze. He could make her leave. Tell her to get her clothes, and her coins, and find somewhere else to be crazy, because he couldn't help. Didn't want want to help. Except he could no more push her out his door than he could, well, travel through time. to help. Except he could no more push her out his door than he could, well, travel through time.

But if he didn't kick her out, what was his other option? Continue to humor her? Feed her delusions? Encourage this flight of fancy?

He couldn't do anything until he had exhausted all possible explanations. He'd go through the standard questions systematically, until he could begin to narrow things down. "Remy ... have you ever used drugs? Were you under the influence of any drugs that night?"

She was shaking her head before he finished the question. "I haven't touched anything since I was sixteen. I've seen too many people frag on the stuff, and as much as I might spoil for wanting to escape, no way would I do it that way."

Nathan nodded. Short of hauling her in for a blood test, he had no way of confirming that.

Frag?

Nathan was half-tempted to keep a running tally of the words he didn't recognize, or were used in the wrong context.

"Have you ever been hospitalized for mental illness? Does your family have a history of mental illness?"

Remy snorted. "Hospitals require money, Nate. But no, never been locked up for that. I don't think my mom ever was, either, but I can't tell you about my father's side. I never knew any of them." She collapsed back onto the far end of the couch, curling up into a defensive ball. "You think I didn't already go through all this? I'd love for this to be some grand delusion, because at least then, it would make sense. I mean, LA, and the warehouse, and ... you."

She suddenly looked very small and nothing like the fierce girl he had come to known. He hated seeing her like that.

So what are you going to do about it?

Nathan leaned back on the couch, staring at the ceiling silently, as if he could find the answers there. After several moments of tense silence, he said, "I don't think you're on drugs and I don't think you're crazy, Remy. But time travel? It's not logical and it's not ... it's not possible." He slid his eyes sideways to look at her, but he could tell he wasn't saying anything she didn't already know.

Her thick lashes lowered for a moment as she considered his words. "I don't know how to ... oh!" With an unexpected burst of energy, she uncoiled and twisted around, sweeping her hair over her shoulder with one hand to expose the smooth column of her neck while the other grabbed his wrist. "Feel," she ordered, and lifted his hand to the base of her skull.

Nathan ran his fingers over her soft skin until he felt a slight rise, an unexpected b.u.mp, just below her hairline. He pressed his thumb against it lightly, but it didn't give. It remained impressed against her skin, hard and unmoving. A part of him flinched, disgusted on some vague, primal level, but he didn't understand why. "What is it?"

"A tracking chip. I got it when my mom left me and I ended up in the system. The feds do it to keep an eye on all their delinqs, but I hooked up with someone a few years ago who fried it for me." Remy turned to look back at him, her eyes begging him to believe her. "You don't have these now, right?"

"No, no, absolutely-" Nathan stopped, thinking about radio-frequency identification chips and that if problems of size, power consumption, and maybe antenna performance were solved, a GPS tracking implant wasn't such a far-fetched idea. "Well, not yet anyway, and if we had the technology it would be unconst.i.tutional..." He stopped again, considering Homeland Security's demand for a national ID card. Hadn't the federal government already mandated some sort of required ID? "No, we don't have them now."

She let her hair fall back along her spine and settled to face him again. "I know what it sounds like. It's why I wasn't going to say anything. But after last night ... you deserve to know at least as much as I do. One thing I can't stand is liars, and it was killing me thinking that's what I was doing with you."

Nathan took her hand, absently rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. There was one big reason to dismiss her-it was all crazy. But there were a lot of smaller reasons to believe her-her odd way of speaking, the bizarre ID card, the unfamiliar clothes, and, of course, the computer chip-if that was what it was-embedded in her skin. Perhaps it was best to accept the possibility that there was more in heaven and earth than dreamt of in his own philosophy, and give her the benefit of the doubt.

He looked up. She was staring at him, waiting for him to say something. She had dropped into his life and somehow changed everything without doing anything, and now she was asking him to trust her. The way, he realized, she already trusted him.

"Okay, Remy. I believe you. There's too much evidence to ignore right now."

Relief bloomed in her eyes, and she visibly sagged as if she was a marionette whose strings had just been cut. "G.o.d, I've been trying to find the sauce to tell you for hours now," she admitted. "I was dread sure you were going to lob me as soon as I gabbed."

Nathan quickly translated. "No, I wouldn't want to throw you out." He swallowed, clearing his dry throat. "Can you tell me everything that happened before ... before you showed up at the warehouse? Were you stealing these coins?"

Remy's cheeks flamed in color. "Yes. Not because I needed them-well, I did did need them, but it was more than that. Kirsten was so f.u.c.king paranoid about her father's collection, and then she led the raid on the safe house ... all I could think about was getting back at her." need them, but it was more than that. Kirsten was so f.u.c.king paranoid about her father's collection, and then she led the raid on the safe house ... all I could think about was getting back at her."

The more she spoke, the faster her words came, though even she seemed to realize her answers were coming out in a jumble. "Maybe this would be easier if you asked me direct questions. Otherwise you're going to get my entire biog, and I can't think of a single reason why you'd want that."

Nathan thought of several reasons why he'd want her biog biog, but now wasn't the time for an in-depth interview. "So, you broke into ... Henryk's house to steal the coins as revenge. You grab a handful. Kirsten gets a piece of you and then, poof?"

Remy nodded.

"So we start with the coins. What are they, where they came from, what the engravings mean, previous owners." He almost couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth. He was going to investigate this. He was going to research and interview some one and treat it like a case. The warm, electric feeling he always got before a new hunt, a new mystery, a new puzzle, already sizzled away in his gut at the thought of it.

Her hand shot out and caught his wrist when he began to reach for the other coins. Nathan looked up and saw her dark eyes fixed on him.

"You could still kick me out." The shock in her voice gave it unexpected strength. "Why aren't you?"

Nathan considered her for a moment, watching the surprise and hope flash in her eyes. He had two choices, but only one option. "You could be crazy. You could be telling the truth. But it doesn't harm me to check out both possibilities and get a confirmation either way, does it?" But Nathan saw the answer didn't quite satisfy her. "Because I don't want you to leave."

The disbelief held in her face for another second. Then a brilliant smile lit her up, dispelling much of the sobriety that had shrouded her since he walked in. In a flash, Remy was straddling him, arms around his neck, hot mouth raining kisses across his brow, down his jaw, tickling to his mouth. "You have no idea how f.u.c.king scared I was. I didn't want to think last night was all in my head."

Nathan wrapped his arms around her, happy to hold her. Whatever had happened during the night, they had both felt it. It wasn't just a strong physical reaction; it wasn't chemicals and blood reacting to certain stimuli. Even now, even with no secrets between their bodies, he wanted to explore her with his mouth and hands, to be as close to her as possible, touch as much of her as he could, taste the salt on her skin.

"We'll get to the bottom of what happened to you," Nathan promised around her hungry mouth. He still hadn't ruled out the crazy option. He knew she could be caught in an elaborate fantasy. But hadn't it been his job, his very life's work, to gather evidence? To a.n.a.lyze, and verify, and investigate?

But what if you're wrong again? Remy seems handy with a knife. Do you want to risk it? Again?

She broke from the kissing to twist and reach for the coin she'd discarded. "Let's start with this one," She pressed it into his palm. "This was the last one I took, and I dropped it right before everything went t.i.ts up. I stopped running, picked it up out of the gra.s.s, and the next thing I know, I'm here. It could be a coincidence, but at least it's a place to start, right?"

Nathan thought it was an excellent idea. The coin was the most distinctive of her little collection. It felt cool initially, but after a second, it began to warm. He pulled away before it became uncomfortable, but there was a distinctive pink circle on his flesh. Gingerly, he reached for it with his other hand to inspect it more carefully. People would remember it, and if the dealers he spoke to didn't know it, he had no doubt they'd be willing to do a bit of research for him.

"Yeah, we'll start there. We can start with the coin and antique shops." He paused a minute before adding. "There's an occult shop in Santa Monica. Might as well cover all our bases."