Savior Part 2: Son of Eden (The Savior Series) (23 page)

Then I changed my mind and zoomed after her as fast as I could. As I galloped around the corner I was thankful to see that she wasn’t driving very fast. I could have ran her down even if she was going at top speed but that would have made it much more difficult for me to make her stop without hurting her. Luckily she was only driving at about five miles per hour when I grabbed the back of her SUV with my right hand and lifted it into the air. She abruptly lunged forward as the vehicle came to a sudden halt but her seatbelt kept her head from hitting the steering wheel and I was relieved to see that she wasn’t hurt. The rear tires continued to spin as I held the back of her SUV. I looked around the parking lot as I suddenly realized that I had been so focused on getting Audrey to stop that I had not checked for bystanders before I lifted the SUV into the air. I breathed a sigh of relief as I noticed that the parking garage was completely empty except for Audrey and me.

The garage grew quiet as she took her foot from the gas and the rear wheels of her SUV stopped spinning. My heart was racing as I gently sat the vehicle down and gazed at her through the back window and her eyes were filled with shock and awe as she stared back at me in the rear-view mirror. For a second I thought she would floor the gas and try to escape but I was relieved when I heard her finally shut the engine off.

My heart skipped a beat as she opened the door and emerged from the vehicle, still silently staring at me with a look of bewilderment in her eyes. I opened my mouth to speak but before I could get any words out she suddenly dashed towards me. My body instinctively grew tense as she rushed toward me as I wasn’t sure if she was planning to attack me or not but once she was within range, Audrey practically left the ground as she leapt into my arms and yanked my head towards her as she planted a passionate kiss onto my lips. She had pulled my head towards her with so much force that I probably would have been injured if I was normal.

“You saved me,” she gasped as she rested her forehead on mine after she finally came up for air.

“Yes. I suppose I did,” I said, smiling as I peered into her shimmering blue eyes while she continued to caress my face with both hands. It was the first time that I had smiled that entire day.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked. “Why didn’t you tell me the moment you saw me in that bar?”

“I wanted to. I wanted to tell you the second I saw you but I also didn’t want to expose you to the danger that comes along with knowing my secret.”

“I knew there was something special about you,” Audrey said, smiling and biting her bottom lip as she peered into my eyes.

“Is that right?” I grinned.

“Absolutely. Why else do you think I would consent to being seen with you in public?” she joked.

“Wow! Well that sure sucks,” I chuckled as I placed her back onto her feet.

“I’m just kidding, Adam…I mean Reap—”

“Shhh!” I interrupted, placing my index finger over my mouth as I checked for eavesdroppers. Luckily the garage was still empty.

“Sorry!” she said, as a silly expression flashed onto her face as she too looked around to make sure no one had over heard her. When she realized the coast was clear she finally turned back to me and flashed an odd smile. “So… now that you’ve told me that you’re
him,
I guess that means you changed your mind about dumping me,” she mocked.

“I suppose I can keep you around,” I said jokingly. “After all, you did agree to go out with me when you thought I was just an average Joe.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble but I was only dating you because I thought you worked with the C.I.A.” she chuckled.

“No way! So you really believed me when I told you I worked in the intelligence field?” I asked, not completely sure if she was joking or not.

“Of course not, silly. You’d have to actually be intelligent first,” she teased, causing us both to burst into laughter.

It felt good to have finally told Audrey the truth about me but in the back of my mind I was still troubled by the inevitable decision that I would have to make if I was able to successfully rescue Monica from the clutches of The Righteous. I had known Monica much longer than Audrey and the loved that she and I shared seemed to be almost destined to be, but that didn’t change the fact that from the moment I met Audrey I felt an overwhelming connection to her as well. The part that troubled me the most was that if it came down to choosing between them, I had suddenly realized that I truly didn’t know who I’d choose.

For a second I thought about telling Audrey about Monica but I ultimately decided against it. I knew that not doing so could cause a firestorm of issues in the future but instead I simply continued to enjoy her company and reveled in the fact that, at least for the moment, she was still in my life. I was always so focused on worrying about the future or finding out secrets about my past that I never really devoted enough time to focusing on the present. In a way, I think that was the main reason I felt so attracted to Audrey. Living for the moment was simply easier when I was around her. Whenever she was near it felt as though all of my worries seemed to just fade away and the only thing I cared about was her.

“Well this has been an eventful night,” Audrey said as she leaned back against her SUV as we watched a blue sedan drive past us and exit the parking garage.

“Tell me about it,” I smirked.

“So what’s next, Mr. Superhero?” she asked. “What other earth-shattering surprises do you have in store for me?”

“I dunno. I could show you some of my abilities if you want,” I shrugged.

“No thanks on the powers, Sir! I think I got enough of that when you nearly yanked my truck off the ground! I’m pretty sure you gave me whiplash, too!” she joked.

“Give me a break!” I laughed. “You were barely going two miles an hour! There’s no way you were injured at that speed.”

“Yeah, well we’ll see what my attorney has to say about that!” she chuckled.

“Oh! So now you’re suing me?!”

“Damn right I am!” she replied, trying her best to hold back laughter as she pretended to be serious.

“So, I tell you my biggest secret and you repay me by slapping me with a lawsuit?!” I jokingly groaned, as I playfully smacked myself on the forehead. “And you wondered why I didn’t tell you in the first place!”

“Okay, I’ll make a deal with you. If you take me to your secret hideout… perhaps I’ll
think
about dropping the charges,” Audrey replied, smiling and biting her lip as she looked up at me.

“You’ll
think
about dropping them?” I repeated.

“You heard me,” she playfully insisted.

“Sorry babe, but it’s gonna take a lot more than that to gain access to the secret hideout.”

“Really? And just what
does
it take to get you to take me there Mr.
Reaper,
” she asked, in an interesting tone.

My heart rate tripled as I thought about what I
really
wanted to say to her but I decided to continue to be a gentleman instead. Something on my face must have given me away, however, because Audrey suddenly started to blush as she smiled back at me.

“Well? What’s it going to be, Mr. Reaper?” she continued.

“Okay, okay! I’ll take you to the secret hideout… but only because you twisted my arm about it!” I chuckled.

“I did
not
twist your arm!” she jokingly protested.

“Well I guess you made me an offer I couldn’t refuse,” I replied.

“But I didn’t offer anything,” she said.

“
Not yet
,” I replied under my breath as I wiped my mouth with my right hand and smiled.

“Excuse me?”
she chuckled, narrowing her eyes as she smiled at me.

“Oh! Um… I said…
let’s…
get out of here,” I lied as I tightened my stomach to keep from laughing.

“Sure you did,” she said sarcastically. “So, where are we going?” she asked as I walked around to the passenger side door of her SUV.

“The secret hideout, of course,” I answered as I opened the front passenger door and took a seat.

“Seriously?” she asked as she climbed into the driver’s seat and fastened her seatbelt. “Adam—I mean, Reaper, I was just kidding, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. I don’t mind taking you there, though. It’ll be fun. Plus I’d hate to have to deal with that pesky lawyer of yours,” I joked.

“Okay. If you say so. So where to?” she grinned.

“Lexington, Florida,” I replied.

“Wow, Florida?! I guess we’re going to the airport then?” she asked as she started the engine.

“No, we can drive,” I said, as I reached into my pocket and fished for my wormhole beacon.

“That’s a seventeen hour drive, Sir. It sounds like fun but I don’t know if I’m up for that right now,” she admitted.

“Just trust me, Audrey,” I said as I withdrew my wormhole beacon.

“What’s that?” she asked curiously, as her puzzled eyes focused on the virtual display that appeared above the device after I turned it on.

“It’s a… well, to be completely honest I still don’t know exactly what it is. I just know we can get to Lexington in about thirty seconds if I do…
this,”
I said as I pressed the combination of virtual buttons in the same sequence that Howie had shown me. Suddenly a loud crackling noise filled the garage and a colorful speck of light appeared just in front of the SUV and ballooned outward until it formed into a gigantic orb of rotating light.

“Okay, drive!” I said quickly as I realized that I had once again forgotten to check for bystanders.

“What do you mean, drive?! What am I supposed to do?!” Audrey asked as she stared at the rapidly rotating orb of light and energy in amazement.

“Just drive through it before anyone sees us! But take it easy because you don’t want—” I started just as the SUV sped forward. In a matter of seconds we emerged from the spinning orb within 3D where we nearly crashed into a nearby wall but fortunately Audrey was able to slam on the brakes just in time.

“So… I’m thinking I should drive next time!” I exclaimed as I stared at the wall that stood two inches in front of the SUV.

“What’s wrong with my driving?” Audrey asked, jokingly downplaying the narrowly avoided accident.

“That was just a little too close for my comfort,” I chuckled.

“Whatever, punk!” Audrey quipped a she unfastened her seatbelt. “Seriously though, what in the heck just happened?” she continued as she turned her head and looked throughout our former secret hideout.

“We just went through a wormhole. It’s kind of like teleporting,” I said proudly.

“Are you kidding me?” she asked, her eyes wide with amazement as she looked over at me.

“Nope. This little buddy right here allows me to travel thousands of miles in the blink of an eye,” I advised as I held the wormhole beacon in front of my face. “The only part that sucks is I can only use it to travel to three places—which, by the way, means we’re going to have to drive back because there’s no way I can use this guy to get us back to Nevada. Well, I suppose I could but I’d get into a lot of trouble if I suddenly showed up at Area 51 with a civilian with me.”

“Yeah that does suck,” Audrey grinned. “Especially for you since I’m not letting you ride back with me!”

I chuckled and smiled warmly at her as I admired the innocent gleam in her smiling eyes.

“I think you’re forgetting the fact that I could outrun this car if I wanted to,” I boasted as I opened the passenger side door and exited the vehicle.

“Oh yeah. I didn’t think about that,” she giggled as she threw her keys into her purse and stepped out of the SUV. “Exactly how fast can you run, anyway?” she asked as we met at the rear of the SUV.

“Believe it or not, I’ve reached Mach 5 before, which is the equivalent to just under 4000 miles per hour. I can only move that fast at certain times though—only when my adrenaline is really flowing. Typically, I average around three to four hundred miles an hour.”

“Really?” she asked skeptically. “That’s an awfully large gap. How is it that your average is so far below your top speed?”

“It’s sort of complicated. I’d honestly need my friend Howie here to really explain it in a way that would make sense. Come on, let me give you a tour of the place.”

“Sounds good,” she replied as we walked further into the front room of 3D.

Mentioning Howie had made me momentarily worry about how pissed he’d be if he found out that I had brought a civilian into our sacred club house/hideaway. I knew how serious he was about safeguarding the sensitive information and equipment that was stored in 3D but I quickly shrugged off my worries because I knew that Audrey was harmless.

“Do you want to watch a movie?” I asked after giving her a brief tour of the place.

“Sure, that’s fine,” she responded as she followed me over to the large sectional couch that sat in front of the massive projector screen on the back wall of the front room.

“I wish I had had a place this cool to hang out in back in high school! That must have been pretty awesome,” she chimed as we both sat and got comfortable in the center of the large couch.