Arc Angel (21 page)

He ripped his mouth away and practically dumped Miranda back in her chair.

“I can’t do this,” he stammered. “I’m sorry. I have to… to go. Call Matthews on the intercom if you need anything.” He headed for the door, trying not to see the stricken look on Miranda’s face. “I’m going to… to take a shower. I’ll see you later.”

He walked briskly to the elevator and got in, managing to stay standing until the door closed. Then he sank to his knees, trying desperately to regulate his breathing and slow his pulse. What the hell had he been thinking? He knew he couldn’t get involved with a woman anymore, knew what the consequences could be. But Miranda had looked so wounded, and he’d thought he could help. Wasn’t that a laugh. Like he could help anyone. He could barely keep himself alive.

***

Kate chugged the double espresso she’d made for herself, hoping it would jumpstart her brain and lessen her throbbing headache. She was off duty today, but had been up for hours, going over and over recent events, trying to get some answers.

She’d been keyed up after she’d left the dry cleaners last night. Too many strange things had been happening lately. The museum artifact, the whole Miranda situation, the Tech Corp accusation—if they were all pieces of the same puzzle, she was having a hell of time trying to get them to fit together.

The most disturbing thing about all of the recent craziness was her own reaction to it. Everyone who knew Kate would have described her as no-nonsense. She believed in the facts and the evidence and went where they took her. She’d grown up with a strong sense of the importance of rules. If they’d still had hall monitors when she was in school, she’d have been one. She’d taken to police work like a duck to water, loving the order and structure it gave her. But now, several times in the last few days, she felt like her backbone had been yanked out and replaced with something squishier.

First, there had been her weird reaction to the museum’s artifact. Several other officers on the force claimed to be able to sense things: evil, spirits, pain. But Kate never felt like she had a sixth sense in any way. And yet when she’d seen the artifact… she couldn’t have gotten a stronger sense from it if it had sat up and spoken to her. It was powerful, dangerous and it didn’t want to be in the Elder’s Grove Museum. But it did want her. How had she known that?

And then with Miranda… Kate knew she should have pushed harder at the initial interview, and brought Miranda back down to the station when the hacking complaint had been called in. But she hadn’t. Even though that was what the rules said to do.

She felt as though she had some connection to Miranda, something deep down that most people only had with family they’d spent their whole lives with. And that connection was strong enough to make her go against everything she usually did, without hesitation. But things were escalating. Those men from the dry cleaners last night were in serious condition at the hospital. And she knew Miranda had put them there. What if they died, like the mugger had? Was she willing to shield a murderer from justice?

The whole strange mess had her tossing and turning all night, which was probably why she’d heard her e-mail beep at 3 a.m. Grateful for the excuse to give up on sleep for awhile, she’d gotten up to check, expecting it to be junk mail.

It hadn’t been junk mail.

The video hadn’t shocked her, no pun intended, since she’d already figured out most of the key elements last night, but the way she’d received it had been surprising. Not the sender —an anonymous e-mail box—but that it had been sent to her personal e-mail.

Kate didn’t keep her home e-mail a secret, but neither did she share it with anyone she didn’t know. She made a conscious decision to try to separate her work life from her personal life, such as it was. And yet someone had sent a video regarding one of her cases to her personal inbox, rather than her work account. Which meant that whoever had sent it only wanted Kate to see it, not the entire Elder’s Grove police force. Why?

That was the question that had kept her up since 3, and the reason she sat in her pajamas, mainlining caffeine at her kitchen table.

She’d e-mailed Miranda after viewing the recording, asking to talk to her, but hadn’t heard back yet. For the twentieth time, she cursed and wished they hadn’t parted on such strained terms the day before. She may be a detective, but she didn’t know if she could figure this out without Miranda.

She went through the facts she had again. One, Miranda was a superhero, Arc Angel apparently. Crazy, but substantiated by the video. Two, someone wanted Kate to know about Miranda’s power. Why? So she’d arrest her? But if so, why hadn’t they sent the video to the station directly, or at least to Kate’s work account where it would have been documented and she’d have been forced to reveal it? Because, on the other hand, there was Three, the accusation against Miranda involving Tech Corp’s security system. That one had come in to the station and was officially on record.

Kate’s head spun. Okay, someone wanted Miranda to be in trouble with the police, at least on some level. Hence the hacking accusation. But even if they pulled Miranda in for questioning regarding the security break in, she’d be released within hours, at least until more evidence came to light. But a video of assault? Kate doubted a judge would grant bail. Miranda would be locked up for the foreseeable future.

So maybe someone wanted Miranda to stay away from the police
and
to stay out of jail. If she was forced to stay away from the police, the police couldn’t help her in any way, which implied that Miranda was involved in something where she might need help. And if she stayed out of jail, she stayed accessible.

Kate had a hunch that a single person, rather than several separate, unrelated people, was the mastermind behind all of this, and that person was related to Tech Corp in some way.

The throbbing in Kate’s head faded, and she set her caffeinated lifeline down on the table with a clunk. That was it. It had to be. Someone needed Miranda for something, and they didn’t want her talking to the police about it. And at the rate things were escalating, it seemed likely that they needed her soon.

Kate had to warn Miranda. But she also had to try to answer a few more questions. What did the mystery person need Miranda to do? And why had Kate received a copy of the video? Did someone want Kate to know about Miranda’s secret? Why?

So many mysteries. Fortunately, Kate was damn good at solving mysteries. She’d start by researching Tech Corp. There had to be a connection between everything. And she would find it.

Chapter 16

Miranda hunched down in her chair. She felt as if she’d been coated, inside and out, with a layer of ice. And so she sat, frozen, her mind stuck on the same images: Bryce pulling her close and then pushing her away. She kept seeing the expression on his face as he’d dumped her off his lap: complete and utter disgust.

What had she done to make him look that way, like he couldn’t even stand to be in the same room with her for another second?

God, she was an idiot! She knew she wasn’t good at being a normal person. Hell, that was probably why she’d gotten stuck with Arc Angel: the superhero had sensed a fellow weirdo. She should never have acted on her feelings for Bryce. But he’d been so close. And so sweet. She’d thought he actually cared about her. He’d come to her rescue last night. He was her hero.

And then when he’d kissed her… she’d actually thought he wanted her. Only she could have confused pity with passion. Obviously he only felt sorry for her. He probably thought of her like a stray puppy or something. Sure they were cute, and you were nice to them, but they didn’t inspire some grand passion.

Miranda winced as the image of Bryce’s face flashed in her mind again. She looked down to try to dispel the picture and saw her sweatshirt on the ground next to her chair. She snatched it up and clutched it to her chest, wanting to hide in it, even though it was too late to hide. Bryce had already seen her.

She closed her eyes against the pain, only to pop them open again as a voice came out of the wall.

“Ms. James?”

Her heart leapt until she realized it was just Matthews on the intercom.

“Mr. Bryce asked me to check on you, to see if you needed anything.”

Like a doggie treat.

Miranda forced herself to stand up and stagger over to the box on the wall. She cleared her throat and pressed the call button.

“I-I’m fine, thank you.”

“Very good, miss. There’re whole grain pancakes and fresh fruit in the kitchen if you’d like any. And I put the belongings I retrieved from your apartment building this morning up in your room. Please let me know if you need any additional items.”

“Thank you, Matthews.”

She dropped her hand from the intercom and wondered what she was supposed to do now. Continue to take advantage of Bryce’s hospitality, even though it was based solely on pity? He’d made it clear that he didn’t really want her here.

But she couldn’t go back to her apartment, not unless she wanted to talk to Gavin and the police. And she couldn’t just wander around. Anywhere she went, she’d be looking over her shoulder, wondering if her mysterious admirer was watching her, waiting to grab her for another “meeting.” The thought sent a shiver up her spine. The only way to be free of all of this—mystery men, police, reporters and Bryce—was to get rid of Arc Angel. When she went back to being plain old Miranda James, everyone would leave her alone.

Becoming Arc Angel scared her more every time. She couldn’t control her, and, after last night, she realized she had no idea what Arc Angel was capable of. Not to mention that each time she tried to get rid of her was harder than the last.

But the scariest thing? Part of Miranda didn’t want to get rid of the superhero. The killing people aspect of Arc Angel still made her feel like she wanted to puke. But the other parts... When she was Arc Angel, she was strong, powerful, completely in control. Everything Miranda on her own wasn’t. Arc Angel didn’t have trouble talking to people, or going after what she wanted. In the comics, she’d had a string of lovers, all handsome, intelligent, powerful men, usually with awesome superpowers of their own. Miranda had even read some fan fic where Arc Angel hooked up with Superman.

Arc Angel wouldn’t be trapped in the house of some guy who felt sorry for her. Hell, he wouldn’t feel sorry for her. He’d be mesmerized by her. If it had been Arc Angel in that chair, Bryce wouldn’t have pushed her away. He’d have… no
she’d
have taken
him
upstairs and had sex with him. Bryce wouldn’t have been able to resist her.

A thought darted across her brain. Maybe she should let Arc Angel out and then go upstairs and find Bryce in the shower…

Miranda shook her head, hard, trying to dislodge the new image that had appeared. There’d be no seduction, by anyone, obviously. He’d made his feelings quite clear. Heck, she’d have backed off if he’d just looked at her funny. The whole literally pushing her away thing had been overkill.

Miranda blinked away the tears that had reappeared. Another advantage of being a socially maladjusted recluse: no connections to other people, no heartbreak. She wanted her old life back. It may not have been great, but she’d never felt this pain either.

Well, she couldn’t go back in time, but she did need to come to terms with what had happened with Bryce. Because even though she’d wracked her brain for alternatives to staying here with him, she hadn’t come up with any. She needed him. Which meant they had to have a little talk about what had happened.

Miranda grew light-headed at the thought. Okay, maybe they wouldn’t talk about what actually happened. In fact, maybe they could ignore that completely. Maybe they could just try to figure out what their next steps were going to be. She could do that, right?

She decided she needed to channel some of Arc Angel’s mojo without stirring up any of the actual power. Maybe she could use some of the good things about her alter ego, while avoiding the bad. Which of Arc Angel’s qualities could she use now? Confidence. She squared her shoulders. She could be confident, right? Calm. She automatically checked for her anxiety symptoms. Her heart beat a little fast, but other than that she seemed to be doing okay. Power. Hmmm. She didn’t feel very powerful. But hey, two out of three ain’t bad.

Miranda did a gut check on seeing Bryce again. Could she do it without throwing up? She thought she could. But she also knew it needed to happen soon, before she lost her courage. So she girded her loins by putting her sweatshirt back on, and headed upstairs to talk to him, trying to channel Arc Angel’s personality the whole way.

She marched up the steps and strode confidently down the hall until she realized that she didn’t know which room was his. As she paused, she heard the sound of running water on her right. She turned and headed toward the noise.

When she reached his bedroom, she tapped on the open door. No response.

Use your brain, Miranda. The shower is still running. He can’t hear you.

Maybe she should come back later. She had turned back and taken a step out of the room when she remembered: WWAAD? What would Arc Angel do? Well, she definitely wouldn’t scamper off like a small woodland creature. Arc Angel never got nervous. She’d keep moving forward.

So Miranda did just that. A little slowly, but she still moved forward, toward the bathroom door. Steam billowed through the crack between the door and the frame. She was only a few yards from the door when she noticed Bryce’s drafting table on the far wall. Images—some framed, some mere sketches—of Bryce’s characters hung on the wall above the table. Arc Angel featured prominently in most of them, though some of his other characters also appeared here and there.

Miranda inched closer, dying to get a better look. Despite her new connection with Arc Angel, a huge part of Miranda was still a raving fan girl. And here she had a chance that any Bryce Campion fan would have killed for. A chance to see his work in progress.