human life trying to re-create me. I’m the proof of their illegal experiments and the people they’ve made disappear to make it happen, and that’s why he wants me gone.”
There was a knot in Charlie’s gut that was getting tighter by the moment. She was going to destroy herself to take them down.
“I’ve got your back. I’ll always have your back. You do what you have to do,” Charlie said, and kept driving.
Wyrick absorbed the vow in a way Charlie would never understand. He could have said I love you, and it wouldn’t have touched her any deeper.
She tried to thank him, but knew if she opened her mouth she would cry, so she nodded instead, and the tears came anyway, rolling silently down her face as they drove.
A short while later, they were on the freeway and eyeing the darkening sky in the north, remembering there was a winter storm coming in, when Charlie broke the silence.
“I know the area you lived in, but I’ve never been there. You’re going to have to direct me.”
“Oh...okay,” she said, and then proceeded to do so until they were approaching the estate. “It’s the four-story brick with the black iron gates.”
“Holy shit!” Charlie said. “That’s a mansion.”
“I know,” Wyrick said. “Merlin was very wealthy, but I live in the basement apartment. Unfortunately, the remote to the gates is in my car back at the hangar, so you’ll have to key in the code.”
Charlie drove up to the entrance and rolled down the window.
“What’s the code?” he asked.
“Seven, three, four, three,” Wyrick said.
Charlie punched in the code and the gates swung inward.
“Drive around to the back,” Wyrick said. “That’s the ground-floor entrance to where I stay.”
“Do you have an extra house key?”
She sighed. “Inside.”
“If I pick the lock, am I going to set off an alarm?”
“No. I didn’t set it because I was coming right back.”
Charlie pulled up to the back entrance, then opened the glove box and got out a set of lock picks.
“Give me a couple of minutes, and then I’ll come back and help you inside.”
She nodded, then watched him striding to the door. He paused to check out the lock, then opened the wallet of lock picks. She saw him take out a couple and squat down in front of the door. Less than two minutes later, he stood up and opened the door, then came back for her.
“That was too easy,” Wyrick said, thinking of all the months she’d spent sleeping here, feeling safe.
He shrugged. “Or I’m just good.”
She rolled her eyes.
He grinned. “Are we hobbling, or do you want a ride?”
“Probably the ride,” she said.
He leaned in, scooped her up into his arms and carried her inside, kicking the door shut behind him as they went.
She’d left lights on in the front part of the apartment, but she wanted to get into her bed.
“My bed’s down the hall. I’ve been thinking about sleeping in it ever since that first night in the hospital.”
Charlie carried her to the bedroom, then eased her down onto the side of the mattress. He took off her boots and the jacket she’d worn home.
She lay back with a groan, and when Charlie pulled the covers up over her, she sighed.
“I just need to rest for a little bit and then I’ll be in the office, bringing UT down around their ears.”
“Is the thermostat set okay for you?” Charlie asked.
“Yes. If you need to go home to get some things, now’s the time to do it. That winter storm watch said the front would hit Dallas by midafternoon and it’s really dark in the north.”
“I don’t want to leave you.”
“Then get my gun. It’s in the top drawer of that dresser.”
He stared. “You have a gun.”
“Yes, and it’s bigger than the one you carry,” she said.
Charlie opened the top drawer.
“Look under the bras.”
There weren’t any bras there, just a variety of colored socks, and then it hit him. She didn’t have boobs, therefore she didn’t have bras. He turned and glared at her.
“Your sense of humor is weird as hell,” he said, then shoved the socks aside and put the gun on the table beside the bed.
“Go do what you need to do. There’s a remote for the gate and a spare key to my apartment in the kitchen upstairs. Go up the stairs at the end of this hall. You’ll come out in the kitchen. They’re in the drawer next to the sink.”
Charlie left the bedroom, curious as to what was above