The Chemist Part 25

She grabbed a set of clean clothes, disarmed the door, and snuck to the bathroom. She didn't want to see Daniel until her teeth were brushed. Which was stupid. She couldn't be allowed to kiss him again. That wouldn't be kind to either of them.

The hall was dark, the bathroom empty. The door to Daniel's room was open and the room beyond was empty, too. She ran through her ablutions quickly, trying not to spend too long at the mirror, wishing her face were further along the road to healing. Her lips were worse than yesterday, swollen again, but that was her own fault. The superglue had fallen off in her sleep and the darker welt down the center of her bottom lip showed some promise of changing the shape of her mouth permanently.

She heard the TV on as she came down the stairs. When she walked into the big front room, she saw Daniel bending over the console beneath the flat-screen. The front door was open, a warm breeze blowing in through the screen. It ruffled the curls on the back of his head He was grumbling to himself. "Why does anyone need five different input options?" He ran a hand through the hair that was falling into his eyes. "It's a DVD. I'm not trying to launch the s.p.a.ce shuttle."

His Danielness stopped her where she stood, and a wave of cowardice made her want to turn around and sneak back upstairs. How would she tell him the things she needed to say? The thought of making him unhappy was suddenly more repugnant than she had been prepared for.

Lola yelped from outside the front door, looking hopefully through the screen at her. Daniel spun around and when he caught sight of Alex, a huge grin lit his face. He was across the room in four long strides, and then he lifted her up in an exuberant bear hug.

"You're up," he said excitedly. "Are you hungry? I've got everything for omelets."

"No," she said, trying to extricate herself. At the same time, her stomach growled.

He put her down and stared at her with raised eyebrows.

"I mean yes," she admitted. "But first can we talk for a second, please?"

He sighed. "I thought you might wake in an a.n.a.lytical mood. Just one thing before you start..."

She wanted to duck away. The guilt was very strong. But it wasn't as strong as her need to kiss him back. She didn't know if she would get another chance. It was a very gentle kiss, soft and slow. He'd noticed the condition of her lips.

When he broke away-him, not her; it was like she had no self-control at all-it was her turn to sigh.

He let his arms fall but took her hand as he led her to the couch. Little zings of electricity buzzed up her arm, and she silently castigated herself for being such a sucker. So what if this was the first time he'd held her hand? She had to get a grip.

Lola yelped again, hopefully, when she saw Alex nearing the door. Alex shot her one apologetic look. Khan and Einstein were both curled up on the porch behind her, Khan creating a ma.s.sive boulder of fur.

Daniel grabbed the remote out of his way, muting the TV before dropping it onto the ground. He pulled her down next to him, keeping her hand. He was still smiling.

"Let me guess. You think we are being unwise," he said.

"Well... yes."

"Because it's impossible that we could really be compatible, given the genesis of our relationship. I'll concede it wasn't exactly a Hollywood meet-cute."

"It's not that." She looked down at his hand. It entirely engulfed hers.

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe this whole retribution scheme was poorly thought out. There was nothing to stop her from running again. She could make back the money she'd lost. She could go to Chicago, work things out with Joey Giancardi, be a Mob doctor again. Maybe, given what she now knew about the plan to eliminate her, the Family could actually offer her some protection.

Or she could just work a counter at a backwoods diner and live without the extras-like tryptamines and opioids and b.o.o.by traps. Who knew how long the IDs she already had might last if she kept her head down?

"Alex?" he asked.

"I'm just thinking about the future."

"Our long-term compatibility?" he guessed.

"No, not long term. I was thinking about what happens tonight. Or tomorrow." She finally looked up at him. His soft gray-green eyes were just a little confused, not troubled. Yet.

"Your brother will call soon."

He made a face. "Wow. I hadn't thought about that." He shuddered. "I guess it's better to mention this casually over the phone-by the way, Kev, I've fallen in love with Alex-than in person, right?"

She disapproved entirely of the tingles that snapped through her nervous system when he made his facetious practice announcement. That wasn't a word to bandy around casually. He shouldn't have used it. But still, the tingles.

"That's not the part I was worrying about. You remember the plan."

"Once he's in position, we send the e-mail. He watches who reacts. Then we meet up with him and..." He trailed off, his brow suddenly furrowing. "Then you both are going to-what's the phrase?-take them out, right? That's going to be very dangerous, isn't it? Couldn't we just let Kevin handle things alone? It seems like he probably wouldn't mind. I get the sense he liked his job."

"That wasn't our deal. And, Daniel..."

"What?" His voice was harder now, with an edge. He was beginning to understand.

"Neither Kevin nor I will be able to... well, perform at our best if the leverage they have against us is in the same place the bad guys are."

There was almost a physical weight to the meaning of her words as they dropped, an aftershock in the silence that followed.

He stared at her, unblinking, for a long moment. She waited.

"Are you joking?" he finally asked. His voice wasn't much more than a whisper. "Do you think I'm really going to let you leave me here to twiddle my thumbs while you risk your life?"

"No. And yes, you are."

"Alex..."

"I know how to take care of myself."

"I know that, but... I just can't wrap my mind around it. How will I stand it? Waiting here, not knowing? Alex, I'm serious!"

His voice turned impatient at the end. She wasn't looking at him; she was staring straight ahead at the television.

"Alex?"

"Turn up the volume. Now."

He glanced at the TV, froze for one brief second, then jumped up and fumbled on the floor for the remote. He jammed a few wrong keys before the newscaster's voice thundered through the surround-sound speakers.

"-missing since last Thursday, when police believe he was abducted from the high school where he teaches. A substantial reward is being offered for information leading to his recovery. If you've seen this man, please call the number below."

On the large screen, Daniel's face was blown up to four times its actual size. It was a snapshot rather than an official portrait from the yearbook. He was outside somewhere sunny, smiling widely, his hair tousled and damp from sweat. His arms were stretched over the shoulders of two shorter people whose faces were cropped out of the image. It was a very good picture of him, both attractive and engaging; he looked like the kind of person you would want to help. An 800 number was printed in bright red across the bottom of the screen.

The picture disappeared, replaced by a handsomely aging anchorman and a much younger, perky blond anchorwoman.

"That's a shame, Bryan. Let's hope they get him back home to his family soon. Now we'll take a look at the weather with Marceline. How are things looking for the rest of the week, Marcie?"

The picture moved to a sultry brunette standing in front of a digital map of the entire country.

"This is national news," Alex whispered. Her mind started working through the scenarios.

Daniel muted the sound.

"The school must have called the police," Daniel said.

She just looked at him.

"What?"

"Daniel, do you know how many people go missing every day?"

"Oh... their pictures don't all end up on the news, do they?"

"Especially not full-grown men who've only been missing a few days." She got up and started pacing. "They're trying to flush you out. What does that mean? Where are they going with this? Do they think Kevin killed me? Or do they think I figured out the truth and took off with you? Why would they think I'd take you with me? It has to be about Kevin. It is his face, too. They must think I lost. Right? This news spot would be easier for the CIA to arrange than for my department. Of course, if they're working together..."

"Will Kevin see this?" Daniel worried. "He's right there in DC."

"Kevin's not showing his face, regardless."

She paced for another minute, then went to sit with Daniel again. She curled her legs under her and took his hand.

"Daniel, who did you talk to yesterday?"

His color heightened. "I told you. I didn't speak to anyone but the people at the counter."

"I know, but who were they? Male, female, old, young?"

"Um, the checker at the grocery store was a guy, older, maybe fifty, Hispanic."

"Was the store busy?"

"A little. He was the only checker. There were three people in line behind me."

"That's good."

"The dollar store was small. It was just me. But the woman at the counter had a TV on-she was watching a game show. She didn't look up much."

"How old was she?"

"Older than the first guy. White hair. Why? Older people watch more news, don't they?"

She shrugged. "Possibly. The third?"

"Just graduated, I guess. I remember wondering if school was out before I realized she worked there."

Her stomach felt suddenly heavier. "A young girl? And she was friendly-very friendly." It wasn't a question.

"Yes. How did you know?"

She sighed. "Daniel, you're an attractive man."

"I'm ordinary, at best. And I'm a decade too old for a girl that age," he protested.

"Old enough to be intriguing. Look, it doesn't matter. We'll do the few things we can. You stop shaving as of now, and we lie not just low, but flat. Aside from that, all we can do is hope the girl's not a news watcher. And that they don't run any pieces on whatever social media kids are using right now."

"Would they?"

"If they think of it. They're throwing Hail Marys."

He dropped his head into his free hand. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. We've all made mistakes on this little endeavor."

"You haven't. You're trying to make me feel better."

"I've made several major errors in the past few weeks."

He looked up, disbelieving.

"One, I didn't just ignore Carston's e-mail in the first place. Two, I fell for the trap. Three, I missed your tracker. Four, I didn't arm the ceiling in the barn. And then Kevin made the mistake of taking off his gas mask... I guess that's the only one I can think of for him, except for not having transport out. b.u.mmer, I guess he wins that round."

"Well, he also did something wrong in the beginning or the CIA would have bought that he was dead."

"Good point. Thanks."

"Arnie, though," he said sadly. "Arnie's still batting a thousand."

"Don't you just hate those insufferable perfectionists?"

Daniel laughed. "So much." The humor left his face. "But I don't think you made so many mistakes. I mean, I guess when it comes to what's best for you, yes. But for me... Well, I'm glad you fell for it."

She gave him a sardonic look. "That's taking romance a little too far, don't you think?" She wished she could completely excise the memory of their first night together, with a scalpel if necessary. She wished those images weren't so clear and sharp in her mind-the tendons standing out in his neck, the sound of his m.u.f.fled screams. She shuddered, wondering how long it would take until they faded.

"I'm serious. If it wasn't you, they would have sent someone else for me. And if that person had gotten the best of Kevin, whoever it was would have killed me right then, wouldn't he?"

She looked into his earnest eyes, and then shuddered again. "You're right."

He stared back for a long moment, then sighed. "So what do we do now?"

Alex frowned. "Well, our options are limited. My face still isn't ready for scrutiny. But it's now better than yours. So we can stay here and keep our heads down, or we could go north. I have a place. It's not as fancy as this one or as well protected. I don't have a Batcave." The jealousy in her voice on the last line was unconcealed.

"So you think it's safer here?"

"It depends. I'd like to get Arnie's thoughts about the town before we decide. Kevin's take wouldn't hurt, either. Hopefully he'll call soon. The plans have changed a little. I think he's going to get his wish. He gets to be the victor after all."

THE DAY DRAGGED. Alex didn't want to leave the television. It didn't change things much, knowing how many times they aired the piece and how many outlets picked it up, but she still had to watch. Arnie took the new situation with the stoicism she expected, only the tightening of his eyes betraying his worry.

Alex wanted to send Arnie to the Batcave with a list of everything she needed. She'd love to have the SIG for herself, plus extra ammo, and for Daniel the sawed-off shotgun that she'd seen in Kevin's stash. A sniper rifle wasn't as helpful in close quarters as a shotgun would be. It could incapacitate multiple attackers with one load of buckshot.