Mind Slide (30 page)

“
Thank you,” he said.

“
Uh, for not stripping you? Or-”

He laughed. “For watching out for me. And saving our lives.”

She smiled and placed both hands on his chest. “Yeah, sure. Anytime.”

He started to pull his shirt over his head, then stopped to look at Kelly. “Do you mind if I change clothes?”

He wanted her to turn around. She reluctantly did so, listening to him strip behind her.

“
I know you're still waking up, but considering we were chased all over town, I think there's more to your story?”

He smirked. He circled around to the other side of the Jeep and stripped naked. He reached into the back and grabbed his shopping bag of clothes.

“
Yeah, that's one way of putting it.”

He filled Kelly in on what he knew. He told her about Gabriel, Mister Suit, the men following her at the mall. Unfortunately, learning all the details only raised more questions.

“
Can I turn around now?” she asked.

“
Yeah.”

She turned to see him wearing khaki shorts and a button-down shirt. He folded his old clothes and stuffed them in the bag.

“
Okay, I still have a ton of questions,” she said.

“
Me and you both.”

“
Who stole my guest book? And why?”

Mason leaned against the Jeep. He was a smart person, but didn't have all the facts. He had to fill in the holes with guesses, but the results were logical.

“
I think both Gabriel and Suit are after this.” He held up the flash drive. “Maybe they thought Doc left it with someone in your guest book, someone he used to work with. Turns out he left it to us.”

“
What do they want with it?”

Mason shrugged. “Maybe Gabriel wants to sell it to the Nazis. I don't know. But I know Suit wouldn't want this floating around.”

“
Maybe Gabriel's on our side? He did call to warn you, didn't he?”

“
I don't know. I don't know who to trust.”

She walked around the front and put a hand on his arm. “You can trust me.”

He touched her shoulder. “I do. I'm sorry I got you involved in all this.”

“
You didn't. My father left you the key to that locker, but he knew I was the only one who knew where it was.”

“
I vote we turn this flash drive in to the police. I'll give it to Brian myself.”

Kelly thought about the videos she watched. “That might make life hard for you. You'd be exposed to the entire world.”

“
So would Suit. I don't know how far up this goes, but he'd be arrested. They'd leave us alone then.”

“
What about Gabriel?”

He sighed. Neither one of them could hide from someone that could mind slide.

“
I don't know. Haven't worked that part out yet.”

A few rain droplets fell from the sky. Mason held out his hand.

He shut his eyes tight.

“
It's just rain,” she said. She pointed to the Jeep. “Let's get the top up.”

They worked together quickly on the soft-top, then moved to the rear windows and doors. He could feel his heart beating harder. It was only rain. He'd been caught in the rain before. Rain couldn't hurt him.

As he zipped up the back window, lightning stretched across the sky.

Lightning was a different story.

He climbed behind the wheel, Kelly already inside. She looked at him with concern.

“
Mason, are you okay?”

He gripped the wheel and leaned his head against it. He jumped as the thunder shook the sky.

“
I used to tell myself I didn't belong in that mental institution. If I had a family, I wouldn't have been there. But maybe I'm crazy after all.”

“
I didn't mean what I said. Back at the hotel.”

He flipped through his memory and replayed the conversation in his mind.

I'm in love with a crazy man.

“
Which part?”

She smiled. “The crazy part. You're not crazy.”

“
Oh. So that means-”

She leaned across the seat and kissed him. He parted his lips and grabbed her shoulders. She sighed slightly and touched his face.

He pulled away when the sky raged again.

Kelly took a deep breath. “Okay, we're gonna get through this.”

She leaned over and pulled the lever to lower his seat. She gently helped him lean back, and kissed him on the cheek before leaning back herself. She turned toward him and held his hand.

She needed to get his mind off the storm.

“
Would grabbing my ass help?” she asked, hoping to make him laugh.

It worked. He opened his eyes and turned toward her. “It just might.”

She smiled and grabbed his hand, placing it on her hip. “This is as close as we can get for now. Your Jeep sucks.”

He gripped her tighter as more thunder and lightning struck.

“
You're dealing with all of this well,” he said.

She shrugged. “I was almost boiled in a basement. This is nothing. Maybe it just hasn't hit me yet. Things never seem so bad when I'm with you.”

He smiled and tried to breathe deeply.

“
So, what's our next move?” she asked.

“
Well, I thought we were doing pretty good earlier, at the hotel. I'll start by kissing your neck, then move down do your shoulders. Then-”

“
No,” she said, blushing. “I mean with this stupid flash drive.”

“
Ah.” He tried to think as lightning struck again. “We'll avoid our houses, and drive right to Brian. He's the cop. He'll know what to do.”

“
Do you think...my father was killed by the men chasing us?”

“
I don't know. I asked Brian to look into it. Maybe he's got something for us. I do have my doubts now he was killed in a car accident.”

Thunder rolled again. He reached out and took her free hand with his own, his hand still on her hip.

“
Don't worry,” she said. “I'll take care of you. I promise.”

Mason smiled. He had only received a few promises in his life. There was the promise that he would get a beat-down from security if he didn't behave at Yingling. There was also the promise from Doc that what he called the
fire
experiment wouldn't be as bad as it sounded, which he was wrong about.

No one had ever promised to take care of him before.

He didn't have much experience with love, except for his adopted family.

She was in love with him. She had told him so.

He was quite certain he was heading in that direction with Kelly, if he wasn't already there.

She stroked his hair gently as the storm raged on. After twenty minutes the clouds parted to reveal the night sky. His nerves started to unwind. He opened his eyes to see Kelly still watching him. She smiled and ran a finger down his cheek.

“
I'm still here.”

He gave her a kiss, an act that was getting easier for both of them.

“
You ready to go?”

She sat up straight in her seat. “Yes. We'll split the drive this time. I can drive this thing better than you'd think.”

*****

Mason was relieved to be near home again, even if he couldn't go home. He called his neighbor, Miss Freeley, during the drive to ask her to feed Lucy. She didn't like her phone ringing close to midnight, but she agreed to the favor.

His sense of relief turned to panic as Kelly turned down Brian's street.

There were four squad cars outside Brian's house. Cops walked in and out of Brian's front door. Neighbors stood on their porches and in the middle of the street, watching the scene.

“
Oh God, no,” he said.

Kelly parked as close as she could to Brian's house. They got out together and ran up the sidewalk. An older cop stopped them.

“
Whoa, folks. I'm sorry, but you'll have to...Mason? Is that you?”

Mason nodded at Finley. He had known the man for two years. He was one of the first to congratulate Mason whenever he found a missing child.

“
Yeah, Finley. What's going on?”

Finley looked around to make sure no one was listening. Mason was a friend to the department, but rules were rules, and Finley was getting ready to break a few.

“
Brian was shot. He went to Augustine Hospital an hour ago. He lost a lot of blood, but they think he'll pull through.”

Mason almost felt sick.

“
What about Lisa? Dani?”

“
Dani's fine. She's at the station. Lisa...she's missing.”

Kelly put a hand on Mason's shoulder.

“
We pulled a dead body out of there. No ID. His fingerprints were actually burned away, maybe with an acid. I don't like this, Mason.”

“
Me neither. I'm gonna go start digging. Call me if you find something?”

Finley nodded. “Will do.”

Mason and Kelly walked back to the Jeep. As they climbed inside his cell phone beeped. He had a text message from a phone number with only the number one. He leaned over so Kelly could read it with him.

Do I have your attention now?

They waited several agonizing minutes for another text, but nothing came.

He circled around the block and parked on the adjacent street. It was quiet except for the hum of the street lights. He killed the engine and leaned back in his seat.

“
What are you doing?” Kelly asked.

“
I'm gonna find Lisa.”