Broken Protocols (11 page)

“It is.” He glanced around. “It’s also private.”

“I presume we’re hiding here until it’s safe to go home again?” At his nod, she rubbed her temple. “It’s because of me, isn’t it?”

“In a way. You don’t have ID or tags. If anyone were to find out about you at this stage…”

Levi hated to admit that the government was corrupt and getting worse every day. He’d love to reassure Dani that this world wasn’t worse than the one she’d left. But it would be hard to find proof of that.

Still, her world wasn’t perfect either. And as long as one kept a low profile in his world, everything would be fine. Most people never had any run-ins with the authorities and life continued in an easy way.

If he didn’t have Milo to contend with, his life probably would have been easy, too.

“How long do you think it will take? I’m getting tired,” she asked. And for the first time since they arrived, he took a good look at her. She’d slumped against the wall and her color had all but disappeared. She appeared to be doing a long slow slide to the ground. She pressed her lips together and shifted the huge cat in her arms again.

“Do you want to sit down?”

She looked around. “There isn’t a place to, is there?”

“On the floor.”

His comp emitted a beep. He pulled it out and smiled. “That’s Milo. All clear. The suits came, they visited with him, asked a few question, got a few answers, and now they’ve left.” He smiled. “Hopefully satisfied enough that they won’t be back.”

Dani smiled. “Good. Let’s go.”

“Not so fast.” Levi clicked through his comp, searching his security readouts to make sure his place was empty. It appeared to be. He did a search throughout the building. Checking for an anomaly, something else that was illegal. There were a few people in the building, and like Johan, most had secrets. Authorities were not welcome here. He checked his wrist unit. “This building is supposed to be exempt from those raids. Lord knows we pay enough for that, but we still seem to have one or two.” He looked up. “Okay, it looks good.”

“Go back the same way?” Dani asked, heading toward the corner.

“Yes, but slowly. Just in case.”

They made their way back to the rooftop elevator. Loud music was once again blasting from Johan’s place. If it weren’t for Dani, Levi would suggest they blend into the festivities. But with the cat and her current level of exhaustion, she’d stand out as new and different. It also wasn’t safe to bring her into a social situation yet. She needed to learn about this world.

Within seconds, they were in the elevator and scooting back to his floor. He led the way back home and as soon as they were inside, he set up stealth mode again. As far as anyone outside this place would know, the place was empty. There would be no power readings, water usage, lights, or heat showing up on scans. It was about all he could do. And considering Milo, it wasn’t enough. But it was more than most had. He walked into the kitchen and set up coffee. When he turned back, it was to see two sets of eyes staring at him. Fatigue in both, but also hope. He was stumped. He tilted his head and asked, “What do you want?”

Dani grimaced. Charmin had no such problem. “Foood.”

D
ani watched the
shock settle on Levi’s face. “Sorry, but I’m hungry again, too. All I want to do is eat and sleep.”

He shook his head and motioned to the bread still on the table. “I have some cooked meat in here somewhere.” He turned to rummage in the fridge.

After placing Charmin on the kitchen table, back where he’d been sitting earlier, Dani picked up the knife and started cutting. Milo walked into the kitchen and stared at her.

“See, I told you shakes would be better,” Milo said. “Her body needs nutrients. She’s going to need a lot of food to make up for what she could get in a vitamin drink.”

“If that’s the case,” Dani said, “A shake and food would work. Just a shake, no way.”

Behind her, Levi said, “That’s actually a good idea, Milo. Make them a booster. Get the data from the pod and fix one for each.”

Charmin, staring at the bread in her hand as she buttered it, said, “What’s a booster?”

“A shot of vitamins in this case, to help your bodies adapt,” Milo said.

“Ah. So food.” Satisfied, he sat back and watched every move she made.

“If possible, Milo,” Dani said, “Could you make Charmin’s very small and with cream as a base? He’s not likely to drink anything else.”

Charmin nodded. “Cream. Cream is good.”

“Cream is not good for you. It’s fat. And not a good fat.” Milo made a disgusted sound. “It’s awful and it will kill you.”

He stalked off in the direction of the pod. Dani turned to look at Levi, who appeared to be slicing a hunk of meat. She just didn’t know what kind it was. And she hated to ask. She was so hungry that if it was cloned, she probably wouldn’t care. Tomorrow was a different story. “Milo has strong views, doesn’t he?”

Levi looked up with a smile. “Always has. Not to worry. He has a big weakness for chocolate.” At her surprised look, his grin widened. “Makes him seem more human, doesn’t it?”

“What about your parents? Are they alive? Live close by?”

He stacked the meat up on a plate and brought it to the table. “They died when Milo was little. I’ve been looking after him for a long time.”

“That must have been tough.” She couldn’t imagine. She’d had a hard enough time looking after herself. She’d had parents though they’d never been close. And now…she stared down at her bread. She hadn’t spoken to them in over five years. Would they even know she’d disappeared?

She wondered. “Is there a way to research the people who lived in my time?”

“There is. The record keeping of today is something quite different than in your time. So you’d need training, but we can certainly do that. You’ll need to learn our way of life. In fact, I had considered taking you to Johan’s while we were up top, but I figured you’d need to familiarize yourself a little more with our ways before socializing.”

She stared at him. Took a bite of bread and meat and chewed. Her mind reeled with the implications of all she’d have to learn. The pitfalls waiting for her. She swallowed.

“I can’t imagine.” A shudder slipped down her spine. “It’s hardly like visiting a foreign place.”

“That’s exactly what it is.” He dropped a piece of meat in front of Charmin to go with the other pieces already lined up. Charmin showed no sign of slowing down or being distracted from his food. “You will be fine. There are a lot of things to learn, but it could be worse.”

She stopped and stared. “In what way?”

“We all speak English.”

He had a point.

Milo returned with a large glass of something fuchsia pink and a small bowl of something much less bright. He placed the glass in front of her and set the cream down in front of Charmin.

Charmin said, “What is it?”

“Cream,” Dani said helpfully. “Their version here. Try it. So far you’ve eaten everything else.”

He sighed, leaned in, and sniffed. “Doesn’t smell like cream.”

Feeling like she was trying to get a two-year-old to eat his spinach, she said, “It will be good. Besides, it’s to make us feel better. Help us heal.”

He looked over at her, his huge green eyes staring at her unblinking. “Then you try it.”

She should have seen that one coming. Shooting Charmin a disgusted look, she picked up her glass of pink, took a deep breath, and swallowed a big gulp. And felt her throat close and her eyes water. She gasped for breath, desperate to keep her reaction minimal as Charmin watched her with a smug look.

“It’s different. Hot almost. Definitely different.” She gave him an encouraging smile. “Try it.”

“Yours is much stronger than his as you are bigger and the damage to your system is a little more extensive.” Milo slumped at the far side of the table, a glass of something rich and creamy with a light green tinge in his hand. He held his drink up. “Mine is an everyday dose, whereas yours is intensive.”

“I’ll say,” she muttered. With a grimace, she picked it up again. Resisting the urge to plug her nose so she couldn’t taste the drink, she downed it in one gulp. It was the only way she would get it down. She just hoped it would stay there.

She placed the empty glass on the counter and gave Charmin a fat grin. “Your turn.”

He glared at her then at the glass before slowly approaching his bowl, nose first. He sniffed several times, then reached out and licked several times. And missed the cream each time.

“Oh no you don’t. You drink it all up, just like I had to.” And she hoped she’d never have to again. She leaned in closer and watched as Charmin tried again. This time he got some of the pink stuff and froze. He licked his lips several times and said in surprise, “Hey, it’s good.” He lowered his head and lapped at the cream.

“Damn. How come his tastes decent and mine is so strong I feel like puking?”

“Yours had to be stronger.” Levi stood up, walked to a cupboard, and pulled out a glass. He held it to a wall and it filled automatically. She hadn’t even noticed a spout. He brought it back to her. “Plain water.”

She reached for it and drank the whole thing, then held it out asking for more.

“Wow, she drinks like she eats. Told you she’d be perfect for you.” Milo grinned up at his brother.

Levi quietly brought a second glass of water back to her. She accepted it and turned to Milo.

“Did I just hear you right?” Dani asked, a new hardness, coldness in her voice.

Charmin sat back and stared at Milo. “Ha. You are so going to get it now.”

Milo took another sip of his drink. He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “What’s the problem? I said he’d like you. So what’s the big deal?”

She stood up. “Did you actually go back in time…snag me…for your brother?”

*

Levi was about
to join them again when he heard Dani’s question. And he really wanted to hear his brother answer it.

Milo’s face twisted like he’d sucked on a grapefruit. Dani eyed him suspiciously. “You did, didn’t you?”

He shrugged and stared down at his drink.

“Why me?” It was the burning question in her mind. Like how had he come to choose her?

“I had to find a target…er…a person to use for the experiment. Levi has horrible taste in women.” He gave an exaggerated shudder and a quick sidelong glance at his brother. “So I figured I could do two things at once. Find a lovely woman for him, add a few enhancements, and try out my experiment at the same time.”

Levi winced. While he mulled over the pathetic state of affairs, Dani spoke up.

“Enhancements?” she said in a low dark tone of voice.

Milo shrugged. “That part didn’t work out the way I expected it to.”

“In what way?” Levi stared at him. It was the first he’d heard anything about enhancements. “What did you do?”

“Hey,” Milo held out his hands defensively. “I was just enhancing her communication abilities.”

Levi stared at him in shock. “Why?”

“Because you’re deep, man. You like to talk. You like to communicate. I figured that if she wasn’t much of a communicator, that’s something that could be easily enhanced.”

Somewhere in the background as Levi tried to work his way through the maze of thoughts crowding his brain, he heard laughter. As in maniacal, off the wall laughter. He stared at Dani.

She was bent over, and damned if there weren’t tears rolling down her cheeks.

He waited. Charmin reached out and smacked her with a paw. She appeared to slow down after that. Finally, she choked back the last of her giggles.

“Care to explain?” he asked.

She took a deep sobering breath and pointed at Charmin. “Milo’s enhancement did work. It worked on Charmin.” She giggled again. “Thank God he didn’t add bigger boobs or something just as ridiculous. Imagine how Charmin would look then.”

“Really,” Charmin sniffed the air. “That would be preposterous.”

The two men stared at her then at Charmin.

“You were supposed to come alone,” Milo said slowly, staring in fascination at the cat. He opened his mouth as if to add something, then closed it and just shook his head. “And I thought that enhancement was minor for your body size, but if they…it…” he corrected quickly, catching Levi’s attention for a moment, adding, “went to him…considering his size…it would almost make sense.” He slumped down on the closest chair. “Wow. Just like…wow.”