Chapter 25

 

 

Malcolm glanced up from his computer when his cell phone pinged a notification. He touched the green phone icon. “Yes?”

“Excuse me, sir,” a rough voice replied. “There’s a woman at the front desk who is demanding to see you.”

Malcolm rocketed to his feet even before the man finished speaking. “I’m on my way down now.”

“Excuse my presumption, sir,” the disembodied voice continued. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. She’s wearing some kind of theater costume, and she seems to be under extreme stress. I’m not convinced she isn’t some kind of nutcase.”

Malcolm did his best not to crush the phone in his fist as rushed out of this office, toward the stairs. “Hold her there. Don’t let her leave.”

He plunged down the stairs four at a time and blasted into the lobby, then charged to the reception desk where he saw Vic standing toe-to-toe against the big burly security officer. She was waving her hands and shouting in his face, so she didn’t see Malcolm come up behind her.

He could barely contain his excitement at seeing her again. The last twenty-four hours had cost him a lifetime of stress, waiting for her to come through. Now here she was, wearing the same clothes she’d had on when she left the Guild House.

The guard’s gaze moving to a spot behind her caused Vic to spin on her heels. She gasped, then drew a deep breath and restrained her reaction. Her angelic face beamed up at him.

He grabbed her by the elbow and hustled her toward the office building’s entry door as he barked over his shoulder to the guard, “Thanks a lot. Tell my secretary I’ll be back in the office tomorrow morning.”

He marched Vic out of the building and around the corner where no one could see them. He couldn’t go any farther. He had to put his arms around her and kiss her.

She panted and gasped against his mouth.

“You’re back!” he mumbled between kisses. “God, you don’t know what a torture the last three hundred years have been!”

She laughed and her cheeks radiated their magnificent heat against his face. “Where’s your accent? You look different with short hair.”

He planted another kiss on her lips. “You don’t know how good it is to see you—really you. I thought I couldn’t stand to wait.”

She looped her arm around his waist and collapsed into his embrace. “You’re okay! Boyd didn’t catch you, I guess.”

A shadow of doubt crossed his face. “Yeah. I don’t know what happened, but I guess it’s all right.”

She cocked her head to study him. “What’s wrong? Did you have it out with him or something?”

“No, I never had it out with him. I really don’t know what happened. After I sent you back here, I expected the worst. I expected him to confront me or throw me in the basement or something. I at least expected him to leave word for the rest of the Guild that I was their enemy, but he never did. I never saw him again. I avoided him the rest of that day, and by morning, he was gone.”

Vic observed him another moment, then grabbed his hand. “Never mind. I have to change my clothes, and then I have to go see Ree. I have to tell her what I found out about the elixir.”

“Come to my place.” He couldn’t stop kissing her and laughing. Relief overwhelmed him until he feared he would fly apart at the seams. “I’ve got something for you there.”

“Oh-ho!” she crowed. “I bet I know what it is.”

“No, you don’t. Just wait until you see.”

Malcolm took her around the Allied building, to an enormous skyscraper jutting into the heavens, and let himself in with a code key. They rode the elevator to a penthouse apartment near the top floor. Vic caught her breath at the sight of it. The wide-open floor swept to huge windows overlooking the city.

Malcolm left her standing in the middle of the living room and disappeared into a side room, then came back with a Macy’s shopping bag. He grinned as he handed it to her. “I hope everything fits. I thought you might need it.”

She peered inside and found a pair of blue jeans, high-heeled leather boots, a white blouse, and a trimmed jacket. She stole a glance at him and found him beaming at her. “What’s all this?”

“Just what you see, sweetheart,” he replied. “You showed up in Stromness in that clown suit of yours, but you said when you left you would need some different clothes when you came home. So I got you these.”

She dropped the bag to hug him again. “Thank you. It’s perfect.”

She kissed him, and he felt himself sinking into that mystical world where nothing existed but her glorious body enveloping him. He could disappear into this apartment with her and live for all eternity.

She tore her lips away and left him cold. “I better go see Ree. Then we can relax.”

“I’m taking you to dinner tonight,” he informed her.

“Is that so?” She laughed again. “Is that your way of asking me out on a date?”

Her sultry voice filled this lonely apartment with so much love and life he couldn’t contain it all. He sat down on the couch and threw his arm over the back to watch her change. “I figured we have enough history behind us, I could assume you’d come out with me when you got back. If you have other plans, then by all means, let me know. I’ll rearrange my schedule.”

She giggled while she unlaced her bodice. “I’m sure the CEO of Allied Chemical can rearrange his schedule all he likes.”

The smile drained off his face.

Vic stopped in the middle of taking off her dress. “Did I say something wrong?”

He shrugged and looked away. “About that—I can take you out to dinner tonight, but until we get the formula made, you and me are gonna have to keep it on the down-low, if you know what I mean.”

“No,” she replied. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“I’m trying to tell you, sweetheart, that Allied is a Falisa front. I can’t be seen with a woman who, first of all, works for the competition, and second of all, goes back and forth between me and known Angui. Does that make it clear to you? I’m still undercover. I have to be careful, and so do you. If the Falisa find out you’re working for the Angui, they’ll treat you as an enemy.”

She went back to changing. “I thought you were in charge of Allied and the Falisa. Can’t you run interference?”

“Only to a certain extent,” he replied. “And I’m already running about as much interference for the Prometheus project as one man can. I need you to maintain appearances a little longer.”

“All right. I can do that.” She slipped her legs into her jeans and hitched them around her curvy hips. “These are perfect.”

“You look like a million bucks,” he remarked.

She blushed. “I hate to think what Ree and Ellen and the others will say when they see me. They won’t recognize me.”

“Tell them you’re having a midlife crisis.”

She whipped around to stare at him, and when she saw him smirking at her, she sailed across the room to tackle him into the couch. He caught her coming and wrestled her onto her back. She shrieked in glee, and they both collapsed laughing on the floor.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down on top of her. He melted into her kiss. What delicious happiness to hold her in his arms one more time! He would never let her go now. He slithered one hand down her shoulder, to her breast, cupping it through her shirt and sensing her stiffen with mounting desire. He shifted his weight on top of her and pressed his pubic bone between her legs. She spread her thighs and draped one leg around his ass, hauling him into her.

He started to succumb but broke free at the last moment. “Come on. No more dawdling. Let’s get this business finished, and then we can fool around.”

She got to her feet, stuck her feet into her boots, and shucked on the jacket.

Malcolm leaned back to admire the finished product.

She pushed back her tousled hair. “What?”

“You look like a completely different person.”

“I am a different person,” she remarked. “I changed in Scotland.”

“You certainly did.”

He took her hand and led her out of the apartment, never before feeling so good in his life. She was here, the real her, the her he craved so much, the her he loved. Yes! He loved her! His heart sang those words to the stars.

He punched a few buttons on his phone during the elevator ride to the ground floor. When he held the door for her, a stretch black limo pulled up to the curb.

Vic drew back. “What’s this?”

“If this is the only time I get to enjoy your company for a while, we’re gonna do it in style.” He cracked the limo door and stood back. “Get in. We’ll stop by Ree’s place, then we’ll go out to eat.”

She hesitated but got in.

Her cheeks radiated light and warmth to his soul. He couldn’t stop staring at her. How many lonely nights had he dreamed of this day? How many weary years had he waited to sit next to her and thread his fingers into hers? How many times had he closed his eyes and fantasized about kissing her just like this?

The limo slithered along the streets until it stopped in front of Ree’s apartment building. Malcolm escorted Vic inside and knocked on the door.

“If she’s not here, she’ll be at Ned’s place,” he remarked while they waited.

“You make it sound like you come here all the time,” she said.

“I do come here all the time. We talk strategy and stuff like that.”

“Aren’t you worried about someone seeing you?” she asked.

“I take precautions to check if I’m followed,” he told her. “I’ve been lucky these last hundred years or so. There’s no one in the Falisa who suspects me. Boyd was the last one. Now I call the shots. I come and go as I please.”

The door flew open, and Ree stood on the threshold. Staring at Vic, she opened her mouth and closed it several times but couldn’t seem to bring herself to speak.

Vic took a deep breath. “Hello, Ree. Do you mind if I come in?”

Ree stood rooted to the spot with her hand still holding the door.

Ned appeared next to her and measured Malcolm and Vic standing in the hall. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Do you mind if we come in?” Malcolm asked. “I didn’t think you wanted to discuss your business out here.”

Ned nudged Ree. She gave an involuntary spasm, and her head whipped around to look at him. He took hold of her shoulders and physically moved her out of the way so Vic and Malcolm could enter the apartment, then closed the door behind them.

Malcolm showed Vic into the living room where Ellen, Louis Kirk, Ben Harris, and Noah Kelly all stood by a cocktail cart along the wall. They all turned around and froze at the sight of the couple.

Vic’s jaw dropped. “What in the hell is going on here?”

Ned moved into the living room from behind her. “I think you know everyone here, don’t you, Vic?” He crossed to the couch and flung himself down. “We’ve been waiting a long time for you to show up.”

Noah hurried up to her and took her hand. He dashed in and planted an impulsive kiss on her cheek. “There you are! I’ve been waiting all these years to thank you. I wondered if I’d ever see you again.”

Vic scanned the party. “What in the hell are you all doing here? Is this…?”

“We’re discussing the Cipher’s Kiss,” Louis replied. “Malcolm tells us you have some interesting information for us about the formula.”

Vic kept looking around.

Malcolm’s heart went out to her, and he put his arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay, sweetheart. We’re all on the same side here.”

Vic’s eyes skipped around the room. “You’re all…you’re all in on this? You’re all Angui?”

“All except Ree and Ellen,” Ned replied.

Vic’s hand flew to her forehead. “I can’t believe this. All this time…you knew.”

Malcolm gave her shoulders another squeeze. “We all knew. We’ve been watching and waiting and planning how to tell you when you were ready.”

She rounded on him. “Is that why you sent me back—to tell me about all this?”

“Of course not.”

“Why did you send me back, then?” she demanded. “How could you do that to me?”

He took hold of her shoulders and turned her the rest of the way to face him. “I sent you back because I love you, sweetheart. I love you with all my heart and soul. You crushed me back there. Don’t you realize that? I have never loved anyone the way I love you, and I couldn’t live without you.”

She lowered her eyes and started to soften. “But…”

The words came out of him in a rush. “I remember every moment with you in 1740. I thought you were one of the women from the future, and I thought you came back there on purpose. Then I found out it was all an accident, that someone sent you there unawares. I realized after a while that it must have been me. I sent you back, first of all so I could meet you, and second, so you could find whatever it is you’re going to share with us tonight.”

A silence fell over the room until Ellen spoke up. “What are you going to share with us tonight?”

Vic dove into her handbag and pulled out the book. “I found this in the Guild House. It contains the species name for the brandywine tundra beetle.”

Ree gasped out loud. “It does?”

“It’s a June bug,” Vic blurted out. “I recognize the name.”

The others exchanged glances.

Vic faced Ree. “Do you remember when I spent that summer with my cousins in South Carolina, in seventh grade? She was a bug fanatic, and I helped her with her science project about identifying all kinds of bugs. One of them was the Green June bug, native to most of the eastern half of the United States.”

Louis frowned. “If you’re right, we’ve been testing all the wrong bugs. This could be the breakthrough we’ve been looking for.”

“I didn’t get a chance to look through the rest of the book,” Vic went on, “but I think the guy who wrote it must have documented the Latin names of most of the other ingredients. His name was Nikolai Wainwright, and he—”

Ellen whipped around fast. “Nikolai Wainwright!” she shrieked.

“Do you know him?” Vic asked. “It seems like he did a lot of time traveling. He had all sorts of stuff from the future. I didn’t get to see half of it, but he must have known a thing or two.”

Ellen looked away. “I knew him. That bastard tried to kill me.”

“He did?” Vic asked. “What did you do?”

Ellen’s mouth twisted in a vicious grin. “I killed him first. Luckily, I nabbed this book from him before I had to flee. Maybe we should compare notes.” She held up another bound leather book almost identical to Vic’s.

Vic started back. “Oh! Okay.” She crossed the room and wedged herself into the couch between Ned and Ellen.

She and Ellen laid their respective books open on their knees and started studying every detail about Nikolai Wainwright. Malcolm watched her for a moment until Louis Kirk nudged him in the ribs.

“It seems it all worked out in the end. You got her back.”

“Yeah.” Malcolm couldn’t take his eyes off Vic. She’d slotted into this scheming den of wolves like she belonged here.

Ree drifted to Malcolm’s other side. “This is incredible. I never thought she’d come around like this.”

“I did,” he replied. “If you’d seen her in Orkney, you’d know she belongs with us.”

“You realize what this means, don’t you?” Louis remarked.

“What does it mean?” Ree asked.

“It’s time,” Louis replied. “It’s time to tell the others.”