| |
Lucas turned and stretched to wrap his arm around Lydia, but she wasn’t in bed. He rubbed his eyes and looked across the bedroom. The shower in the adjacent bathroom was silent.
He rose to his feet and grabbed his bathrobe. He stretched and arched his back. A series of painful pops ran up his spine. He turned his neck, side to side, to ease the tightness and more popping occurred. Rubbing swollen knuckles, he wondered if all those years of daredevil stunts had finally caught up with him. He ached from joint pain, arthritis, and age. Although he had not made it public, he had retired from racing and stunt driving six months ago when he helped rescue Lydia. However, retirement didn’t shun the pain.
Lucas walked slowly to the bedroom window. With two fingers he opened a gap in the Venetian blinds and peered out at the driveway. Lydia’s Nighthawk motorcycle was gone.
Two of her dresser drawers were open and empty.
“Damn,” Lucas whispered, shaking his head.
He dressed and went to make coffee.
Some mornings Lydia wanted to drive, think, and try to get a grasp of what her life was meant to be. Something in his gut told him that this wasn’t one of those mornings. He sensed she had finally left him for good.
She had continually struggled with the knowledge that she had been created in a laboratory, had no family background, and she constantly feared she’d kill again. Nothing Lucas had ever told her could convince her otherwise. She reviewed the knowledge over and over in her mind. It ate at her, and her resentment toward her creators and toward him festered.
Over the past two months, Lydia had become more sullen and silent. She kept her distance and when he reached out for her, she turned away with tears in her eyes. She’d disappear in the woods for hours or practice shooting her 9 mm on their shooting range. She never smiled and always seemed to be deep in thought. At times, her silence frightened him. Eventually, he understood the day would come when she would leave. He tried to ignore it, and he hoped today wasn’t that day, but the evidence reinforced his fear because she had packed a lot of her clothes.
Lucas reached for the coffee canister from the cabinet and noticed a piece of paper near the sink. Stepping closer, he recognized the writing to be hers.
Lucas,
I’m sorry to tell you this way, but I cannot say good-bye face to face. You’d convince me to stay. I gave you six months like we agreed, but how I feel inside hasn’t changed. Your life will always be in danger as long as I’m with you. I know you love me, and because I love you, I must leave. I cannot live with you because they will kill you to get me. You’re safer without me. That’s why I’m going to find them and stop them for good. You deserve a better life. You deserve better than me.
Lydia
Tears burned Lucas’ eyes. His chest felt empty, hollow. He glanced to the wall calendar and saw she had circled the date. Indeed, six months had passed more rapidly than he imagined possible. She had kept her word to wait out the six months, but he suspected she never had a day she didn’t suffer inner turmoil. He felt guilty for trying to hold onto her when it was obvious her mind centered elsewhere. Keeping her close, he reasoned, had protected her and others.
He picked up the phone and hit ‘1.’ The party picked up on the third ring.
“Daniel?” Lucas said.
“Yes.”
Lucas sat at the kitchen table with the note in his hand. “She left me.”
“Lydia?”
“Yeah. Can’t say I’m surprised.”
“Any idea where she might have gone?”
“No. I thought she had adjusted and was getting settled back in. I believed things were getting better.”
“She didn’t give any hints that she was leaving?”
“Not verbally.” Lucas sighed. “She’s been very quiet lately. Always deep in thought.”
“I’m sorry, Luke. I know how much you love her.”
“I’m worried about her, Dan.”
Daniel was silent for a minute. “I don’t know what to say, but I’m here if you need an ear.”
“That’s why I called.”
“Did she take her Jeep or the Nighthawk?”
“Nighthawk and some clothes.”
“She packed light?” Daniel said.
“More clothes than the last few times. But I doubt she’d ever move any furniture. She acts like she wants to roam. With everything I’ve offered to make her feel like we have a home, she’s more inclined to be alone.”
“Maybe she wants some time alone for a few days. Maybe after that, she’ll come back.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Did she take any weapons?”
“I haven’t checked, but knowing her, probably. Her letter indicates she’s going after them.”
“Who specifically?” Daniel asked.
“I have no clue. She’s not mentioned any labs or scientists. She’s sullen and silent. Brooding for weeks. Other than that, she’s been practicing her marksmanship at targets on our firing range for hours at a time. That seemed to calm her.”
“She has a vendetta.”
“Against who? She’s mentioned no one.”
“Check through the house and your garage for possible maps. Look through the recent history searches on your computer. She’s bound to have left a clue somewhere as to what she plans to carry out.”
“I’ll check, Dan, but she’s not one to make notes. She has an excellent memory. A photographic memory is how I’d describe it. She was created that way.”
“Damn,” Daniel said. “That broadens the search.”
“How so?”
“TransGenCorp, Grayson Enterprises, and Desert Labs. She’s been inside all of them. All she’d need is to have seen a list of names for other genetic scientists. She may perceive them as enemies and go after any of them.”
“I have to find her before she kills anyone.”
“Desert Labs is the closest to your location.”
“I’ll check there first,” Lucas said. “After what she did at Desert Labs, I didn’t think she’d forgive herself.”
“I don’t think she has. She’s accepted those killings as what she does. Has she ever expressed remorse?”
Lucas shook his head. “In words, yes. I can’t say that she said it with sincerity though. Her eyes seemed cold. God, I need to find her.”
Lucas carried his phone to the living room and sat on the sofa. He looked at the television and noticed the screen was frozen.
“Have you seen the news this morning?”
“No,” Daniel said. “Not yet.”
“I think I know who she’s going after.”
“Who?”
Lucas grabbed the remote and unpaused the screen. “Apparently Steven Matthews escaped custody this morning.”
“Crap. You know she’ll hunt him down.”
“There’s no doubt about it.”
“Where was he in prison?” Daniel asked.
“A federal prison in New Mexico.”
“That’s a good drive.”
“I know. The problem is finding her.”
“There may be one way.”
“How?”
“Her Nighthawk has GPS. Go to your computer and activate a tracker on it. She may not be too far away.”
“I never thought of that.”
“Just hope she hasn’t, either, or she’s turned it off.”
Lucas seated himself at the computer. He searched for the Nighthawk’s tracker number. Once he found it, he typed the code into the GPS tracker service.
“Thanks, Dan. I appreciate your help.”
“Anytime.”
Lucas started to hang up, but he didn’t want to be alone. “Forgive me for being so selfish, Dan. How is everyone?”
“We’re fine. Julia had her eight-month pregnancy checkup. Morton and Felicia are well. The rats are always into mischief, but Morton keeps them in line.”
Lucas typed in the search command, and the Nighthawk showed on the Oregon map about ten miles away. She hadn’t been gone too long, or she had stopped at the side of the road, contemplating which route to take to New Mexico. She might have abandoned the bike altogether.
“I found the Nighthawk, Dan. She’s not too far away.”
“Good. Go find her.”
“Wish me luck.”
“I’m certain you won’t need it.”
Lucas hung up, finished making the coffee, and filled a travel mug. He checked his gun clip, grabbed the coffee mug, and headed for his SUV. His motorcycle would have been his vehicle of choice, but he wasn’t awake enough to drive it. Besides, with his nerves on edge from worrying about Lydia, he needed a vehicle with more balance. Had the Nighthawk been moving on the GPS map tracker, he’d have had to take his bike, especially if she was driving off road.
He wondered why she had stopped so close to their house. Had she reconsidered her decision to leave?
They had lived in Myrtle Creek for less than six months. After spending a weekend in a rented cabin, she had expressed how much she loved the area. Her brief expression of enthusiasm prompted Lucas to research the realty market in the area because he hoped she was ready to make the adjustment of settling down somewhere. They found a modest house set away from town near the forests where they could have privacy and enjoy nature.
But Lydia’s joy was short-lived.
Daniel suggested the possibility that Lydia had a vendetta. Steven Matthews had escaped. She hated Matthews for taking her captive and that he had planned to use her as a template to clone more genetic warriors. Had his project been successful, she’d have been trapped inside an incubation chamber for the rest of her life. Removing her from the mechanism would have killed her.
Lucas hated Matthews as much as Lydia did.
He hoped she’d come back and ask for his assistance. If it meant she’d stay with him after they ridded the world of Matthews, he’d help her carry out the assassination. Something told him she didn’t need his help, and she had stopped for another reason entirely. The mysterious attraction she had succumbed to in Myrtle Creek wasn’t something he understood. The place was serene and isolated by thick forests, but she had an ulterior reason for living here that she had never disclosed to him.
On several occasions, he had awakened to find her sitting outside in the middle of the night. She sat in silence at the forest’s edge in a trancelike stupor, constantly listening to the chorus of insects, birds, and noises he never quite identified. Whatever reason she had for moving here, he knew he needed to hurry and find her before she did something he couldn’t undo or repair.