He ran his hands through his hair then placed one of his fingertips to his lips. Mae had kissed him. He’d been kissed before. He’d been kissed often. No kiss had ever been like that.

  The thought of never seeing Mae again just didn’t sit right. There had to be a way to clear their names and keep suspicion from them.

  Maybe he could just tell the truth. They burned the actual plan to make the laser. Then no one would have to come after them again. There would be no doubt because they would know exactly what had happened to it.

  He pulled to a rolling stop in front of his apartment building. The light traffic had allowed him to arrive in optimal time.

  The parking garage was well lit. He grabbed the backpack as well as his overnight bag and stepped out of the car. He would go through the items and give what hadn’t been used back to Tom. He couldn’t see any reason that they would want the clothes or toiletries returned.

  He held his breath then let it release. No hooded man ran after him. Nobody peeked out from the stairwell or rounded a parked car.

  He was alone.

  He took the elevator to his floor and then walked toward his door. A suited gentleman walked toward him flashing his badge.

  “Well, that was quick.”

  “We need to be thorough, Mr. Anderson.”

  “Of course. Just so you know, I have no idea what I have inside. I’ve been gone a few days.”

  He opened the door. The weapon that came down at his face was caught by the lights in the hallway. He grabbed the billy club before it whacked his nose and held it shakily away from his face.

  The officer from the hallway was moving to assist him. Levi dropped to his knees and the officer took a shot. There was a whimper of pain.

  Levi reached inside and turned on a light. The assailant lay on the floor grasping his shoulder.

  “You shot me!”

  Levi was surprised that the man was surprised.

  Then he felt the blow to the back of his head. Stars danced before his eyes as he fell down to his good knee then onto his face.

  ****

  Mae let the curtain drop then stood up and looked around her house. There was a layer of dust on all the tables. The radio was playing. No doubt her alarm had been going off since she’d left days ago. It was set on an automatic timer.

  She bent over to turn off the radio. The mirror above the fireplace caught a shadow and she turned in time to see the baton ready to come down and strike her.

  Hands up, she pushed against the device. The man was too strong. The baton came down but it didn’t strike her head, instead it bounced off her shoulder. She grabbed the throbbing place and backed up. Her gun was in a side table. She wasn’t a great shot, but she had qualified. If she could just reach it…

  Too late.

  Strong arms wrapped around her middle and she was hoisted back against a muscular chest. She flailed her legs and kicked the guy in the shin. He grunted, but didn’t release her. She threw her head back and whacked his nose. Again a grunt, with no release.

  Finally, she stopped wiggling. Maybe if she pretending that she was giving up the man would drop his guard.

  “What do you want from me?”

  The chair lamp flicked on. In the wing backed chair sat a gentleman with blond hair. His legs were crossed and his hands were steepled. “What I want is the plans for the laser.”

  Thick arms still wrapped around her, but now her feet were on the floor. She laughed under her breath. “Guess you figured out the plans you got weren’t the real ones.”

  “I did.”

  “Well, I can’t help you. The military took the plans from us and they burned them. Just set them on fire while we were sitting there.”

  The gentleman leaned forward. “Let’s say I believe you. This means that I have no reason to keep you alive.”

  She bit her tongue. She would not reveal her secret power. If he knew then she would be dead for sure.

  “I guess not.”

  He leaned back. “This does not scare you?”

  She shrugged the best that she could while the behemoth of a man still held her. “There is very little I can do about it. I guess I’m just glad that you’re done chasing me. I’m tired.”

  The truth again. She was getting good at just saying it like it was. And for some reason she had absolute peace about whatever might happen.

  Maybe in the back of her mind she knew that an officer from the military was supposed to come and investigate what happened. They were supposed to be waiting on her. Since that was the case, where were they? Had they come and left when they were late?

  Line dancing might not have been the best idea.

  “Don’t worry about your boyfriend; he will not be coming to your rescue?”

  “Boyfriend?”

  “The man with the cane.”

  She tried to wrestle away. “Don’t you touch him!”

  “I see I have touched a nerve.”

  Levi had protected her the entire time they were on the run. She couldn’t let him get harmed for this. None of it was his fault. Walter/Max should never have dragged him into it. The NSA should have just spoken to him frankly and they would have realized Levi was clueless. Then they could have sent an actual team to recover the plans and none of them would be in this mess.

  “Look, Levi, is my friend. He doesn’t know anything about the plans.”

  “He was with you, was he not?”

  “He was.” She laughed under her breath. “He thought OPAL was a girl. The creator told him to take care of his girl. He was searching for a girl, nothing more.”

  “I see.” The man with a Russian accent rubbed his hands together. “You must understand, I do not want to hurt anyone. Oh no, that is my employer. I just want to stay alive. And if I don’t get a working laser by tomorrow then my entire team and our families will die. And as you’ve stated, the plan you gave us was flawed.”

  Mae swallowed. He was in a bad position, but she couldn’t help him. If his boss was willing to kill that many people for the plans, then how many would he kill if he had the plans.

  “I’m so sorry. The plans were destroyed.”

  The man holding her wrenched her arms harder behind her back. Muscles felt as if they were being stretched beyond their capacity. The bones felt ready to pop free.

  Tears streamed down her face as she gritted her teeth and forced herself not to scream out.

  Where were the officers? Why weren’t they coming to help her?

  ****

  “Bill, I think that we’ve waited long enough. I mean the lights are on, she’s clearly home.” Ericka had her hand on the car’s door handle. Something didn’t seem right to her.

  They hadn’t lost the trail of the two, but they had been ordered to back off. The higher ups obviously believed that Mae and Levi were close to a discovery and they didn’t want them to be spooked into stopping their quest.

  Ericka had sat at home twiddling her thumbs until Bill called to say they were being asked to interrogate Mae. Ericka didn’t like the precedent. The NSA and FBI had sent Mae on the mission. She was doing what they asked—find out what Levi Anderson knew about OPAL. Maybe she went farther than necessary, but she hadn’t quit.

  The plans had been recovered and turned over the government. What more could have been done?

  Mae and Ericka had been friends for a long time. Ericka knew that Mae was a good agent.

  “Fine. Let’s go knock on the door.”

  As they approached Ericka heard the sound of a faint scream. She pulled her weapon and put her finger to her lips.

  Bill nodded. He’d heard the sound too.

  Bill turned the knob and the door opened. The noise of a struggle came from the living room which was right of the front door. Ericka entered and eased around the corner.

  What she saw sent chills up her spine.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Levi cradled his head. Stars still danced before his eyes, but finally things were clearing up.

  Tom was squatting in front of him. “Levi? Levi? Can you hear me? Can you see me?”

  “Yeah, just be a little quieter, okay?”

  “Thank God. I’m so glad you’re all right. Leah would have killed me if something had happened to you.”

  Levi nodded and set his world spinning. He grabbed his head, praying it would stop. Something had happened to him when he entered his apartment, but he couldn’t remember what.

  The hit to the head that he remembered. “I thought you weren’t coming.”

  “Leah made me. And it’s a good thing I came over when I did. There was a guy trying to drag you down the hall. I took him out and called the law.”

  “Did you karate kick him?”

  “Ha, ha, because I’m half-Korean, I get it. Good to see you still have your sense of humor.”

  With Tom’s one leg doing a karate kick might have sent him to his butt. Levi would have laughed if his head didn’t hurt so badly.

  He looked around. He was indeed sitting in the hallway with his back against the flowery wallpaper.

  Mae!

  He tried to rise, but couldn’t.

  “Mae? Is Mae okay?”

  Tom looked down and to the side. He was trying to hide something.

  “Tom, I want to know.”

  “She will be. Two of the FBI officers that have been following you found her just in time. Apparently, she had been hoisted by her collar onto a hook on her wall and she was, um, choking, but she is going to be fine.”

  He fisted his hand. If he ever got a hold of the people doing this to them then he wouldn’t care if he went to prison for his actions.

  “What now?” It was all the words he could manage.

  “The military has corroborated that you two gave them all the papers you found. I told them the location of the cave, and they’ve been through it with a fine-tooth comb. They did find what they thought were ashes on the ground which will be analyzed, but I don’t know if they’ll get much out of that.”

  Levi put his lips into a straight line. They should have scooted them under a boulder or something. Or took them out and scattered them in the wind.

  “So, for now you two are free to get back to your normal lives. The men who attacked you both have been caught and arrested. I believe they will turn over the name of their boss for a lighter sentence. Their boss had assembled an international team of ex-military and spies to retrieve the plans and he was threatening their families if they didn’t succeed.”

  “I see.”

  “Now, I want to take you to the hospital and get you checked out and then I’m going to call Leah.”

  “Whatever.”

  He had no energy left. Tom helped him to his car that was in the parking garage and this time he rode as a passenger to the hospital. Once there he couldn’t help but look for Mae. Surely, she would have been brought to the same hospital. They lived closer together than he thought and this hospital was between them both.

  “Are you looking for Miss Girasol?”

  “Of course I am.”

  “Levi, you need to let it go.”

  Levi buried the back of his head against the pillows and sighed. He knew Tom was right. He’d said the same thing to her. If they got together people would assume they were sharing notes.

  At that moment the door burst open and Leah rushed in. She came closer and gave him a gentle hug. “Levi Anderson, I worry more about you now than I ever have. You have to stop doing this to me.”

  “I’ll try.” He offered a weak smile.

  Leah talked a little longer and she and Tom left with the promise of picking him up tomorrow. Then he was alone. Back in a sterile hospital room studying the walls and now without even a purpose.

  ****

  Mae’s throat had a red mark and hurt as if her windpipe had been crushed. She kept her mouth closed and didn’t speak just because every movement caused pain. Ericka came and sat with her for a while. She told her what had happened to her assailants and to Levi and that he was in the hospital to be observed from the blow to the head.

  Mae would have asked which one, but did it matter? She couldn’t go see him without arousing suspicion.

  When Ericka left and she was alone in the sterile room, she realized that this was what she had to look forward to again. Admittedly the week of adventure had been more than what she would have liked, but at least it was better than sitting around in her fluffy pajamas eating carrot sticks and watching television during her free time.

  Life had never been this exciting. Now sadly everything would fail in comparison. Maybe she would need to try and find some new things to do. She could take up surfing, if she lived closer to the ocean.

  Or she could take up skydiving. Maybe not with the heights issue.

  Maybe she could learn how to cook like a professional chef. Although that didn’t seem as exciting as racing away from bad guys and looking for buried plans.

  She needed to face facts. What she really wanted was to be with Levi.

  Something she could never have.

  She turned the television on and tried to watch it.

  “Delivery for Mae Gir-a-sol?”

  “That’s me.” She sat up straighter in the bed, grabbing her throat at the sudden shaft of pain.

  The young man walked in with twelve white roses in a vase and sat them next to her. He handed her the card.

  “Enjoy.” Then he was gone. He didn’t ask for a tip. Not that she could have given him one. She had no money since her purse was still sitting in her work car at the park, she hoped.

  She opened the card. In finely written scrawl it said, “Get well soon, L.”

  A smile teased her lips as she drew out one of the roses and brought it to her face. It smelled sweet, bittersweet.

  Chapter Thirty

  “Anderson!”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “You finished that filing yet?”

  “Almost sir.” Levi continued to flip through the drawers and place the folders in the correct location.

  All day, every day. File this paper. File this folder. Pull this paper. Pull this folder. Run this paper. Run this folder.

  At least it was a job. He had benefits. He had a pension. He had a job. It was enough, sort of.

  He’d been back home and away from Mae for about three weeks. He’d gone to church and been questioned multiple times about his temporary disappearance. He’d remained vague.

  The news had reported that a general of a foreign country he’d never even heard of had been arrested on charges of attempted murder, stealing of property, conspiracy, as well as a host of other things.

  Levi assumed that was the Boss of the international team that had been after him and Mae.

  Ericka and Bill, the two FBI officers had grilled him thoroughly after his release from the hospital. He’d been asked about the ashes and he’d shrugged. He didn’t want to offer a lie, but he wasn’t going to answer about them either.

  He assumed that Mae had gone through the same rigorous questioning. If she’d given a different answer they would have been in jail.

  He also knew she was back at work.

  Mae liked to sit on a certain park bench outside her office and have lunch. He’d seen her there on a few occasions. Not that it was close to his employment, but he’d had to see her.

  As he left the office, he walked in that direction now. He didn’t know why he did it, he just did.

  And there she was. On the bench staring off into space and taking a bite of her sandwich.

  He’d asked Tom many times what the government could really do if they dated. They’d been more than forthcoming about all they knew. They couldn’t give them anymore.

  Why wouldn’t anyone believe them when they said that they had enjoyed each other’s company during their time on the run? Why was that so hard to believe?

  Leah had told Tom to help him. Tom had reluctantly agreed. But Levi was tired of waiting for an answer. He was tired of being alone.

  Red and yellow leaves danced on the wind and landed at his feet as he drew closer. Then there she was sitting and looking so beautiful. He was going to go for it. He’d deal with the consequences later.

  ****

  Mae had taken her lunch outside on the park bench. It was the same every day. The bench. The sandwich. The loneliness.

  The cold turkey sandwich in the soft padded lunchbox wasn’t as appealing as it normally was. She took a bite then looked up. A man in a button up blue shirt and a pair of tan pants holding a cane was walking her way.

  Her heart hammered in her chest. She’d thought she’d seen him before, lurking and looking at her from the shadows. But today, today he was right out in the open.

  “What are you doing here?” She whispered it more forcefully than she’d intended.

  Levi started pacing in front of her. “I can’t stay away any longer. I’ve been at my apartment all by myself and I’m going stir-crazy.” He knelt down in front of her. “I miss you. I miss all the crazy times we had together. I miss how you like to kick off your shoes every time you enter a room even in the cave you seemed tempted.

  “I miss that you always ate the same thing when we would eat out. Or how you put your hair up and this one little strand…” He lifted it between his two fingers then let it slide away. “…always comes out. Or how you twist your hair around your finger when you’re nervous.”

  “You noticed all that, did you?”

  He nodded as he moved to the bench beside her. “I know that being on the run all the time isn’t healthy. That we would have to be normal people, but I was wondering if you could give me that chance. The chance to be normal people, with you?”

  Mae placed her hand to her fluttering heart. “You’re kidding right?”

  He frowned. “No?”

  “But what about what people would think?” She held her breath.

  “I no longer care. They will have to carry me away at gun point. I refuse to ever leave your side again.” He crossed his arms over his chest and a smile lit up his face.