Darwin's Natural Selection (28 page)

“Looks…ah, hairy on you.” Darwin snorted, smiling as Tom smirked at him from beneath the mustache. “As for the bad-ass mixed tape, sorry about the short notice.

Being pursued by government goons and all that.”

“And all that. Right.” Tom sat back, grinning, still mustachioed and much happier than the governmental-goon situation warranted.

About thirty miles out, they stopped at a big-box store to pick up clothes and winter gear and a couple of burner prepaid cell phones. And a few other items.

“Seriously?” Tom stared at the boxes in Darwin’s hands and then back up to his sheepish expression.

Shrugging, Darwin put the boxes on the conveyor belt heading toward the register.

“Necessities. And how can you say ‘seriously’ while wearing that certain item?”

“Don’t knock the ‘stache.” Tom stroked the fake mustache still attached to his upper lip. He kind of liked it. It made him feel dangerous. That or like a stripper. “And quit trying to change the subject. Three cases of candy bars?
Cases?
”

Darwin gave him a sweet smile. “Don’t you want me happy?”

“You eat all those, you’ll be happy and toothless.”

Darwin paid with a credit card. As he pushed buttons on the payment device, Tom tried to read the name on the card. He knew Darwin was too smart to be using his own.

Tucking the card back into his wallet before Tom could get a good look, Darwin gestured toward the new purchases. “Let’s go,” he said. Tom figured it was better not to know too much anyway. The less he knew, the less he could blab if something did happen and the lab goons got ahold of him.

They grabbed their things and headed toward the exit but Darwin herded him into the men’s room before they got to the doors.

After checking the stalls to confirm the restroom was indeed empty, Darwin pulled out one of the cell phones and tossed it to Tom.

“Call your sister,” Darwin ordered, taking one of his new shirts out of the bag.

“See if there’s a verdict yet.” He yanked off the tags before tugging it over his head.

He’d left the uniform shirt in the truck to be disposed of later, so he’d made the trek across the parking lot in only a white t-shirt he’d been wearing as an undershirt and the uniform cargo pants.

With a nod, Tom ripped the package, grumbling at the stubborn plastic containing the phone. When he finally got it free of the packaging, he turned it on and dialed Anne’s number. As it rang, he shoved the remains of the plastic into one of their shopping bags.

“Hello?” Anne’s voice had the cool tone of someone expecting a telemarketer.

“Anne, it’s me.”

“Tommy!” she shrieked, making him wince and hold the phone a little farther from his ear. “Where are you? What’s going on? Whose phone are you using?”

“Listen, Anne, I’ll explain everything later,” he said, interrupting the steady stream of questions. “I just need to know if the jury’s back yet.”

“They sure are.” She sounded smug, and Tom started to smile. “It took them all of twenty minutes to find him guilty of everything—first-degree

assault,

kidnapping, being an all-around asshole…

actually I made that last one up.”

He laughed, dizzy with relief. Tom had been pretty sure Dave would be found guilty but part of him had held on to a little doubt and worry until he heard the actual words.

He gave a nod to Darwin, who grinned back at him.

“So where are you? Get your ass back here so we can go out and celebrate,” Anne demanded.

“I have to go, Anne,” Tom said, trying to figure out exactly what—and how—to tell her. “Darwin and I are going away for a few days…uh, camping.” Darwin gave a soft snort and Tom gave him a helpless shrug.

He’d never been a good liar.

Anne seemed to believe him though.

“He’s got you camping? It must be true love.”

“Yeah.” He flicked a glance at Darwin but a rush of shyness made him look away.

“Anyway, the cell reception will be pretty much nonexistent but I’ll try to call when I can.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Anne said.

“You two just have fun. You deserve it after all this, Tommy.”

“Thanks, Anne,” Tom said, intensely relieved at how well that went. “You’re the best.”

“Remember that,” she laughed, “next time you call me a bossy know-it-all. Love you, Tom.”

“Love you too. Bye.” He ended the call, feeling a little sad. Who knew when he’d see his sister again? Shaking off his melancholy, he put the phone in Darwin’s outstretched hand.

“You okay?” Darwin asked as he crushed the phone in his fist and dumped the remains in the trash.

“Yeah,” Tom said. He shook his head, marveling over Darwin’s insane strength before digging into one of the bags for the coats they’d just bought.

“Thanks,” Darwin said, taking the coat Tom proffered. He also jammed a stocking hat on his head and tucked all the blond strands of his hair beneath. He nodded at Tom’s dress shoes. “Boots.”

“Right.” Tom switched out his footwear, pulled on his plaid coat and also donned a hat for good measure.

Darwin looked him up and down. “You look cute. Like a pocket lumberjack.”

As Tom sputtered at that, not sure if he should be offended, Darwin pulled him in for a quick, hard kiss, erasing any thoughts of staying insulted.

“Ready?” Darwin asked, his voice roughened just from the short kiss.

Tom wasn’t able to form a complete thought. “Huh?”

“Let’s go then.” With a grin, Darwin steered the other man out of the bathroom and through the main doors into the parking lot. They were halfway to the truck when Tom heard someone yelling behind them.

His first instinct was to run but, when he glanced behind them toward the store, he saw one of the employees waving a filled plastic bag.

“Must’ve forgotten one,” Darwin said, turning to head back toward the store.

“No, I’ll go,” Tom urged. “You load up the truck.”

Darwin shrugged and took Tom’s bags.

Hurrying back toward the store entrance, Tom gave the store employee an apologetic smile.

“Thanks,” he told her, taking the bag.

“Just glad I caught you,” she said, sounding out of breath. “You were gone so quick I thought I’d missed you, but then I saw you leaving the store. Barely recognized you with your coats and hats on.”

“We were in the bathroom,” Tom explained, not sure why. It must have been his Midwestern genes kicking in, forcing him to take the time to make polite conversation with a stranger, even while on the run with the Bionic Man. He swallowed a grin. “Thanks again.”

“No problem,” she said, turning to go back into the store.

Tom took only two steps toward the parking lot when he saw it.

The black SUV looked like a hundred other black SUVs, but he instantly registered it was different. The driver pulled into a parking space midway between the store and Darwin’s truck with the quick ease of a professionally trained driver.

Four men got out of the vehicle and gathered behind the tailgate of the SUV.

Even though they had exchanged their suits for khakis and casual jackets, Tom knew for sure—these were not casual shoppers looking to pick up some supplies. Their faces were hard and there was no mistaking those matching haircuts.

His first instinct was to run toward the truck and Darwin, but he quashed it. The men didn’t seem to be focused on him. Tom was pretty sure they hadn’t noticed him…

yet. He looked around, his brain blurry with fear until his gaze landed on a family walking out of the automatic doors. The mother was young and pretty and obviously frazzled by the three kids swarming around her filled shopping cart. There was a baby carrier tucked into the front of the cart and the mother steadied it as she stopped the cart to let a car pass.

Although his plan still wasn’t fully formed, he walked toward the family.

One of her kids, who looked about four, chose that moment to make a break for it.

He darted into the parking lot, oblivious to the cars crisscrossing the walkway.

“Logan!” his mom shrieked.

Tom ran toward the boy and scooped him up, carrying him back to his white-as-a-sheet mother. He lowered the boy to his feet, releasing him but ready to grab the kid if he took off again.

“Thank you,” she said, grabbing the little boy’s hood. “He’s always running off.” She gave him a small shake. “Logan! You can’t be doing that! You scared me half to death!”

“You’re welcome,” Tom said, trying very hard not to look over his shoulder at the four men by the SUV. “Just glad he’s okay.”

The mother shook her head, a little color returning to her cheeks. “And those cars—they’re supposed to stop for people crossing.

Thank you again. It was a good thing you were here.”

“Do you need a hand getting to your car?” Tom asked, the amorphous plan taking on a more definite shape in his mind.

“Oh, you’ve done enough already,” she demurred. “I don’t want to bother you.”

Tom smiled at her, using his dimples to full effect. “It’s no bother. Here.” He nudged her aside and took over the cart handle. The baby in the carrier was completely bundled up so that all he could see was a little pink face looking up at him. Tom smiled again.

“Beautiful baby,” he said, although the part he could see looked pretty standard, baby-wise, to him.

It was obviously the right thing to say, since the woman beamed. “Thank you. And thank you for your help. Sometimes I dread going to the store with this crew.”

She grabbed the hands of the two youngest and they crossed the parking lot together, the kids eyeing him curiously. As they approached the men standing by the SUV, Tom turned his face away, asking the woman, “Where’s your car?”

“Over there,” she said, pointing to a minivan three spaces down from the government agents’ SUV. Tom swallowed and forced a smile.

They drew closer to the men and Tom started to sweat despite the cold wind. He looked to the right, focusing away from the SUV. The woman gave him an uncertain smile and he desperately tried to think of something to say so he didn’t look like a staring weirdo.

“I’m Tom, by the way,” he blurted.

It must have worked because her smile became much more genuine. “Angela.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said. The men were just three cars away now. They weren’t moving, weren’t heading toward the store, and that was really starting to freak Tom out. Were they just waiting for him to reach them so they could grab him and throw him in the SUV? The new sweat that had just formed under the brim of his hat grew suddenly clammy.

“Hi, baby,” Tom said to the little pink face peeking out at him. He didn’t know what exactly to say to a baby. He just wanted to keep his face down and act as if he were a normal part of this family and not the gay lover of the superhero they’d created in a lab and were currently pursuing. “How’re things? Life treating you okay?”

The other kids giggled at that and Tom grinned at them and shrugged. Guess that wasn’t a normal thing to say to a baby. He didn’t care. They were one car away from the SUV. All he could hear was the thunder of his pulse in his ears. With each step, they got closer and closer…

And then they’d passed the men, and the bumper of the SUV disappeared out of his peripheral vision. Suddenly Tom could breathe again.

“Hey!”

The call came from behind him and his heart stopped pounding. In fact, it quit beating altogether for what felt like a solid minute. Tom couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, but just kept pushing the cart forward, carefully placing one foot in front of the other.

“Hey, wait!” The call came again and Tom stopped, squeezing his eyes closed in a hard blink before turning around to face the owner of the voice. It was one of the agents, with that dreaded haircut and with his hand extended, holding out a…

Pacifier?

“Think you dropped this.”

Angela stepped forward and accepted it.

“Oh thank you,” she told the agent. “We’re always leaving a trail of kid stuff wherever we go.”

“Happy to help,” the agent said.

Tom still couldn’t say anything. His entire face felt numb. He gave the agent a short nod and forced a facsimile of a smile before turning back to the cart. On autopilot, he loaded Angela’s bags into the back of her minivan as she strapped the kids into their seats. Tom shut the tailgate firmly and Angela walked over to him.

“Thank you so much,” she said. “That would’ve probably taken four times as long if you hadn’t helped. And thank you for catching Logan too. That was some quick thinking.”

“You’re welcome,” Tom managed to say, his voice returning as his heartbeat slowed slightly, thanks to the three-car buffer between him and the agents. “Have a good day.”

“Would you…” Angela started. She hesitated for a moment before rushing on.

“Maybe let me buy you a coffee sometime?

As a thank-you, I mean.”

Tom smiled as kindly as he could manage. He had infinite sympathy for Angela and her babbling invitation. “I would, but I’d better go. My boyfriend’s waiting.”

“Your… Oh!” Her eyes got wide and she blushed. “Oh okay. Sorry. I guess I read those signals way wrong.” She busied herself with closing the sliding van door with more fuss than was really necessary.

“No problem,” Tom said. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too—thanks again!”

With a final wave to the vanload of kids and their flustered mom, Tom moved around the front of the car parked next to the minivan. Somehow, without looking too conspicuous, he had to get to Darwin’s truck without the agents seeing him. If they knew he wasn’t with the family, they’d take a closer look. And that hairy thing on his face wouldn’t keep them from recognizing him for long.

A truck pulled into the empty space next to the car and Tom jerked back, swallowing a curse before he realized he knew the truck.

It was Darwin’s.

Darwin jerked his head toward the passenger seat as he reached over and pushed open the door. Hurrying around the front of the truck, Tom jumped in, pulling the door closed behind him. He’d never heard such a satisfying “clunk”.

“You okay?” Darwin asked tightly, and Tom nodded, flopping back against the seat and closing his eyes for a moment.