Invisibility Cloak (15 page)

“It has been a long time.” Amanda said, barely keeping up with her. She mentally slapped herself; why hadn’t she put on her new leg brace she had fitted last Friday? She had to think constantly to pick up her foot, so she wouldn’t trip.

Pick up my foot. Lift up. Pick up my foot. Lift, lift
.

It was hard to talk with another person and concentrate as she walked, for cripes sakes. All of the insecurities she had walking without the blasted brace would have melted away if she had it on, but she’d totally forgotten to slip it on underneath her jeans.

The brace fit unseen under long pants and actually lifted the ball of her foot up, so this foot drop issue she had been living with for the past few months after the car accident was almost non-existent when she had it on. But she couldn’t wear it with shorts or a dress because it was extremely ugly. Interesting, she just realized something.

Here she thought she had no superficial ego, but she obviously did when it came to the brace. Was the physical therapy she went to almost every other day working? Would she ever walk like she used to
? Oh crap.
She just missed what Ginny asked her.

“I’m sorry, what was that Ginny?” They had stopped in front of a door.

“I said, here we are, at Wayne’s office.” Ginny pulled out her key ring rifling through the silver sets. “I do not think I have his on here anymore.” She put the ring back into her pocket. “It must be in my desk drawer,” she mumbled under her breath. “I’ll be right back.”

She moved down two doors, extracting her keys to open up her office door. Looking over at Amanda, she reached over to turn on the light. “Amanda, come on in.” She pursed her lips, “I’m not sure how long this will take and I don’t want you standing out there while I search around. Come on.”

Nodding, Amanda went over to Ginny’s office. “Thanks. I’m sorry; I don’t mean to be such a bother. What was I thinking, just running over here and not telling you before-hand?” Amanda grimaced at her last statement to Ginny. Oh, she knew why she rushed over to the Institute. It was to get some answers without Ryder hovering over her shoulder. Well, no time like the present, she mused.

“So, Ginny, do you know what Wayne was working on before he died?”

Ginny shuffled her feet and hunched her shoulders. “Amanda you know Wayne always had a few projects cooking at the same time.”

“But was there a big project? Something for the Pentagon?”

Aha.
Amanda definitely saw Ginny slide her eyes around her office. “Listen Amanda, you know I consider you a good friend, but this is classified stuff you are asking about.” Ginny opened her bottom desk drawer and produced a key. “Ah, here it is.” She pushed out her chair turning to Amanda. “You need to check out Wayne’s office, I get that.” Ginny’s gray eyes looked troubled as she said, “But I cannot betray confidentiality with any projects.” She placed her hand on Amanda’s back. “And hey, this is confidential too, me getting you into Wayne’s office, that is.” She laughed. “After all you work for our competitor.”

She knew something. Amanda felt it in her bones, but kept silent as they walked over to Wayne’s office.

“Stay however long you need to.” Ginny indicated to the door handle. “Just turn the lock okay?” She hugged her and said, “Take care Amanda, and tell the kids I said hello. Please be careful, okay?”

“Thank you. For everything, I really owe you one.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, just lock it up after you are done,” Ginny said lightly. “I’m coming back in a few hours to work on some other stuff, so I can make sure you buttoned up everything after you leave.” Smiling, Ginny touched her arm. “Let’s get together for lunch soon, okay?”

“Okay.” Amanda nodded. “Thanks again, Ginny.”

“Just take care, Amanda. I hope you find the bastards that did that to Wayne. He was a son of a bitch, but he didn’t deserve that. No one does.” She opened the door and left.

Finally alone, Amanda softly closed and locked the office door and then examined his files in his drawers. From the document’s specs, it looked like he was researching microwaves with the intent of developing a cloaking technology. After studying the material, Amanda knew that that couldn’t actually disguise anything because microwaves can’t actually deflect visible light. But it looked like Wayne’s research involved fashioning a material with different sized holes based on an algorithm which fools microwave beams into
not
registering the presence of an opaque object placed at the center of the material.

Amanda had just begun this research at Verdant. She’d been handed a new study ironically after Wayne’s death.

Was that a coincidence? She wasn’t sure, but, she wouldn’t have gone the same route as her ex-husband to approach invisibility. Instead she would have used her knowledge and blatant intrigue of metamaterials to approach the invisibility quest, never microwaves.

Wayne knew better. He was a brilliant scientist who delved much deeper than she ever did in quantum physics. Especially after she had her children, her focus was diverted from her love of science to the little perfect beings she held in her arms. The new lives she and Wayne made together were much more exhilarating to study than anything she loved before.

She grinned remembering her swift change in her life’s goals. Her two young infants held the answers to life on earth, displacing the allure the scientific community once held.

So why did Wayne entertain these absurd methods? She fleetingly wondered if any data was left on his Mac computer sitting so boldly on his desk. Wanting to be thorough, she pulled open the last drawer, the only one she hadn’t looked through yet. It was located at the very bottom on the right hand side. The instant her fingers tugged the cabinet open, vivid colors sprang up at her. Photographs.

Oh
my
. . .

There were a ton of photos and they were all of her and Wayne with their children. A hard knot of regret formed in her stomach.

Did Wayne really love
and
miss us?

Then why didn’t he come after us? A wave of fury rolled over her.

Wayne.

You stupid, stupid man.

Her face immediately got hot as she screamed at her ex-husband in her head.

Wayne! You absolute jerk, you! We could’ve had a great life. But your stupid male ego overtook your life. It killed you.

Sniffing her now runny nose, her vision blurred as she blindly looked at the pictures.

But, she couldn’t look at the photos,
yet
. Re-focusing, she ignored the pictures turned up at her in the drawer and directed her attention to his computer. Time was running out.

Since she’d exhausted any paper evidence, it was time to look at his computer. She was actually surprised his Apple wasn’t confiscated for evidence. Pressing her fingers behind the monitor, she searched around for the
on
button. As soon as her fingers depressed the knob, the big monitor lit up. Wayne’s name popped up on the screen, but was password protected.

Crap!
The column blinked smugly at her. Amanda tipped her head back and clucked her tongue . . . What would her ex-husband use as a password? She typed in various physics terms hoping that would open his computer to her, but no. She tried a name she knew wouldn’t work, but her fingers ran over the keys anyway.

AMANDA.

Boom.
The screen morphed into Wayne’s research files. She was in. Her jaw dropped.

“Hello Dr. Harris.” The screen blinked at her.

Instead of the elation at getting into Wayne’s computer files, she felt like she was slapped across her face. Why was her name his password? She shook all the questions she had floating through her brain aside and instead cruised around his files. A lot more notes, findings, and research into metamaterials.

Aha!
So he did know better.

After reading his files, she realized she needed to take the data home. Grabbing her purse off his desk, she fumbled for her keys. On her key ring she’d always carried extra Swivel USB Drives, because on more occasions than she cared to admit, when she needed one, she never had one. So, after one embarrassing moment of losing important data, she always had extras on her car key chain. Her eyes darted to Wayne’s desk drawer that held all of the family photos.

No. Now was time to focus and gather information. She pushed in the drive to copy Wayne’s information and notes. When the lights bleeped, evidence that the USB was being loaded, she finally looked down at the pictures.

Reaching down, she grabbed a handful of photos. They were pictures of the kids at Halloween. Nickel was five-years-old and Sammie was three. Wayne found a Captain James T. Kirk outfit for Nick and of course, Nickel despised it. She smiled as she remembered how Nickel really wanted to be Spiderman, but Wayne just loved the Captain Kirk outfit, so Nick went as the captain of the Starship Enterprise just to make his father happy. Sammie grinned back from the photos dressed up as Little Bo Peep. They both looked so adorable. Her fingers touched their images of so long ago and she saw one of all four of them. A neighbor must’ve taken it. She and Wayne were smiling while the kids had chocolate smeared on their faces. Amanda silently cursed the God above at her ex-husband’s obtuseness and swiped away at the tears that filled her eyes.

Too much time had passed. She had to focus. Get Wayne’s notes and get out of here. Amanda popped out the USB drive and stuck it in her purse. Grabbing the family photos, she pushed them inside her purse along the side, so they would stay as straight as possible. After she grabbed the folders that had Wayne’s notes, she sat absolutely still at the desk.

Never again.
She shook her head.

She would never love again. Look at where it got her.

Time to go home she thought sullenly as she pushed herself out of Wayne’s comfortable desk chair. Looking around the office, she tidied up any papers she accidently messed up so when Ginny came back later, she would find a neat office. Looking around one last time, she hoped everything looked good and reached for the door. Unlocking the doorknob, she eased it open and stepped into the hallway.

And crashed right into Dr. Terrence Montgomery.

Crap.

Chapter 9

D
r. Montgomery grabbed onto her elbows to steady her and stopped dead in his tracks.

“Why, Amanda?” His eyes widened in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Hi, Terrence.” Amanda backed up slightly so his hands that were wrapped around her arms fell away. “I just came in to see Ginny.” Amanda frowned and looked around. It was hard to make eye contact when telling a little white lie.

Yeah, the little white angel jabbed her with her pitchfork.

Focusing on the wall behind him, she tried to convince herself it wasn’t really an out-in-out lie, because she did see Ginny. And for some reason, she didn’t want to tell him that she was in her ex-husband’s office. She was following her intuition and didn’t Ryder say that was a good thing?

His gaze travelled over her face. “It is nice to see you.” He lowered his eyes to take in her figure. “My, my, you are looking good.” Terrence gestured with his left arm, bringing his right up around her waist in a casual gesture. “Come on into my office, Amanda.”

Her spine immediately stiffened.
Ooh
,
he is such a creep
. She clasped the file folder that held Wayne’s precious notes tightly to her chest.

He looked at her with that disturbing smile of his and all she wanted to do was leave. Fast. How could she gracefully get out of this situation?

“
El Dr. Montgomery! ¿Dónde se encuentra
,” a heavily accented voice barked out behind them both around the corner.

Now that definitely spooked her. That sounded just like the guy that almost choked her to death last night. With her heart thumping, she slowly turned her head in the direction of the voice, fully expecting to see the same man that broke into her house. Her head buzzed anxiously, but she couldn’t see anything since the question came from down the hallway. She had to get out of here.

Right now. Time to go.

“Christ. What does he want now?” Terrence muttered under his breath looking in the direction of his office, then turned back to look at her. “Give me just a moment, Amanda.”

“Terrence, I was just on my way out.” Amanda edged out of his loose hold. “Let’s get together maybe in a few days?” Her heart pounded in triplicate at the sound of heavy footsteps bearing down on them from around the corridor. And that heavily accented Spanish voice that boomed from the hallway scared the life out of her.
“El profesor! ¿Qué están hacienda.”

Oh Crap
. “Really Terrence, I’ll see you later, I really have to go.” She turned away and headed in the opposite direction of his office.

“I’ll call you, Amanda?” Terrence said behind her.

“Doctooooor?”
Amanda heard as she walked away. The pulse in her throat slammed against her neck. Looking wildly around, all she saw were doors. Frantically, she pulled at the various doorknobs at her right, but they wouldn’t budge. Snaking her hand out randomly at all she came across, her stomach heaved in and out as she continued turning the doorknobs. Her head pounded with fear as she grabbed one of the last brass knobs. Jerking it to the right, she gasped in surprise when it turned easily.

Oh, Thank God!

She tumbled inside and carefully closed the door, backing up until her rear end bumped up against the back of the closet.

“¿Qué están hacienda.
” Someone said right outside the door and she froze. The familiar accent filtered through her head. She knew a little Spanish to decipher what was being said.
What are you doing?

“I was speaking with a friend of mine . . .” Terrence said then trailed off sounding confused, “I don’t know where she went.”

Amanda held her breath, almost positive that the man outside the door was the one that had broken into her house last night.

Scared to breathe in case they heard her, she widened her eyes staring down the outline of the storage room door. Her heart drummed with fear that they’d open the door and find her crouched in the dark storeroom. And then what would she do? She sank down to the floor, stuck for a while until she could figure out what to do.

Hushed male baritone voices drifted by the door and her nape tingled. How was she doing on time? Could she safely stay here awhile and not be missed? She groaned because she knew it would be Ryder who’d notice she wasn’t around.

Crap!

Crouching, she cradled her head in her hands thinking over the next few days. On Monday, Mom and Dad were arriving to take the kids back with them and she had the final therapy appointment at the gym. Tuesday her kids would drive back up to Fort Collins and the Dinner Dance at Jeffrey’s club was in the evening.

At least she’d be able wear the brace unnoticed because all the women were expected to wear floor-length dresses. Her friend Kelsey had a few formals and she’d arranged to come by with four of her favorite dresses for Amanda to try on Sunday. Kelsey was around the same build as Amanda, maybe even smaller, but she mentioned bringing a blue, black, white and green dress; all floor length and according to Kelsey, they were stunning.

Uh oh, today was Sunday.

When did she get so absent-minded? She hoped she didn’t miss Kelsey. Tilting her head she noticed that there was absolutely no sound. Silence. Everyone must have left.

Good.
It should be safe to leave. Amanda stood up, ready to get out of here and get home.

Without warning, the door violently jerked open and a large body came at her. It happened so fast, she didn’t even have time to utter a sound and was smashed up even harder against the back of the wall.

“I oughta . . .” Ryder whispered menacingly into her ear.

“Oomph,” Amanda puffed out as his familiar hard body pressed against hers. Instantly her shoulders sagged with relief.

She breathed in his masculine scent and the alarm that rose up in her quickly morphed into excitement.

I really am one sick puppy.

Her arms circled his neck and she buried her head in his shoulder with relief; she was so happy to see him.

Until she realized she was busted for leaving the house.

His large form caged her against the closet wall before edging his torso in between her legs plastering her spread eagle.

Even though her body immediately responded, she rolled her eyes at her position.

God, I really am.
What ever happened to my new found mantra of I am woman, hear me growl?

Just having him pressed against her with his breath tickling her ear, made her heart flutter like crazy. Yep, she was certifiable.

“You could have gotten yourself killed,” Ryder bent down and breathed in her ear. “You little hellion. Don’t ever take off like that again or there will be consequences.”

“Oh yeah?” Her
chutzpah
was back.

Amanda yanked both of her hands back and pressed her palms up against his chest; it was like pushing against a cement wall. “Like what?” She sneered at him because now she was mad. He scared the living daylights out of her when he barged in like that. She’d almost had a heart attack, for cripes sakes!

Her breasts smashed up against his hard body and she was unbelievably excited. A thrill raced through her limbs and she drew in a ragged breath.

“Like this.” His voice rumbled in her ear before he pulled her even closer and kissed her. Hard.

Trembling with desire that she felt for this man, she clutched his head with both hands and gave it to him right back.

Kissing Ryder Stevenson was like being strapped in to the wildest rollercoaster she’d ever been on. Her head swirled in the clouds, while her stomach flipped as they tasted each other over and over again. Time stood still and she wasn’t sure how long they made out in the dark closet.

“Amanda,” Ryder groaned. “Damn it, woman. You scared the hell out of me.” He broke away and looked down at her. “We have to get the out of here.” He slowly lowered her down.

Sighing, she dug her nails into his biceps and held on, because he felt so right. So safe.

“Where are the kids?” She just realized that he wouldn’t leave them alone, but when she’d gone downstairs earlier, he wasn’t there . . . So where had he been?

“Downstairs in the cruiser. I tapped a buddy of mine to lend a hand.”

“What?” Amanda straightened up fast. “They’re downstairs?” Pushing away from him she walked to the door. “While we are in this . . .” She rubbed her forehead. “This . . . closet making-out for c
ripes sake
?” She was absolutely mortified; beyond embarrassment. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?”

“Because.” Ryder strode up beside her and placed his hand on her back. “You scared the shit out of me and I wasn’t thinking.”

“Oh, Ryder,” she moaned a little louder. They had both been talking in heated whispers up until this point.

“
Shush
, we still have to keep it down and low. Hell, I’m really not all sure what’s going down here, yet.”

She nodded and pursed her lips together.

“I saw two other goons, I’m pretty sure they’re related to the man that paid a visit to your house last night,” he whispered in her ear. “They walked back in an office around the corner, and I came in as soon as I could. I’ll see if we can go.”

Ryder cracked open the door and peeked out, before easing out into the corridor. Motioning with his fingers, he urged her to follow.

With her heart pounding, she tiptoed out of the closet until Ryder grabbed her hand and they flew across the hallway.

He pulled open a metal door and walked rapidly down the stairs.

Grabbing onto the metal railing Amanda pulled her brows down in concentration and fast-walked it down the cement stairs. Walking up stairs was not as difficult for her as walking down a set of stairs. And having to hurry was really not good. Somehow her left toe got caught on the stair tread and she lurched forward. She gasped and clung tighter to the bannister.

“I got you.” Ryder put his arm around her waist. Now Amanda sailed down the staircase, not even sure her feet touched the steps because he was carrying her.

After another set of stairs, Ryder let out a breath. “We’re in the clear, now.” He set her down on the landing that angled in the corner that hooked up to yet another set of treads. The stairs were built like a huge layered L-shape encompassing each floor.

Spreading his feet, he narrowed his eyes as if preparing for battle. “Just why in the hell did you take off like that, Amanda?”

His teeth clenched so hard, a muscle ticked alongside his jawline.

This was going to be tricky. She sucked in a deep breath and huffed out, “Hey, I did go looking for you after my shower.”

“Woman, so help me―”

She held up her hand to stop him from spouting out some unsavory words. “Shouldn’t we discuss this later?” She arched a brow as she grabbed his arm that was crossed over on his chest, but he wouldn’t budge an inch. “Don’t we need to get going because there are some bad guys a few floors up?” God forbid if the scary bad guys found them arguing on the stairs.

“There is no discussion.” He stood firm. “You will not take off by yourself,
again
. Give me an affirmative.” His nostrils flared. “Because we are not going anywhere until that fact is clear.”

She glared at him. Whatever happened to her earlier mantra, I am woman hear me howl? Amanda mumbled, “Roar.”
So much for my daring nature.
After unclenching her teeth, she nodded. “Yes, sir.” He could be so infuriating. Lifting her chin up in one last semblance of dignity she saluted him.

Ryder shook his head and smirked before he grabbed her hand firmly and tugged her down that last tread of stairs. “Let’s go.”

Ooh that man!

Amanda stuck her tongue out at his wide back until they padded down one more landing to a bright blue door exit door.

Before Ryder pushed on the steel bar to get outside, he turned to her.

Drat
. Her tongue was still out and she’d intensified her expression and half closed her eyes.

“You may want to put that away unless you want to use it, honey.” The sides of his mouth curved up.

For cripes sakes, she’d not acted like this since she was two-years-old. What was the matter with her?

“You wish,” she snorted and looked straight ahead. Her face heated up because she had no idea what possessed her to say that.

Ryder stood there grinning and didn’t move. So she did the only thing a grown woman would do in this instance. She lashed out at him.

“Are you waiting for Christmas or what?” “She spoke in low heated words.

Leaning to the right he extended his arm and opened the door, finally. Amanda brushed past him into the glaring sunlight of the Sunday afternoon.

“Or what,” he whispered in her ear when she walked past.

His breath tickled the side of her face. She turned her head toward him and their eyes locked. He was still wearing that cocky grin.
Ooh.
She scowled at him.

He snaked his arm around her and guided her out the exit door. “Over here.” Ryder took her around the side of the building to a dark blue Crown Victoria with tinted windows and opened the rear car door.

“Mom!” Sammie squealed.

“Get in, Amanda. I’ll go around the other side,” Ryder said.

Following orders, she scooted in and put her arm around her daughter. “I’m okay, sweetie.”

Ryder closed the door and appeared on the other side of Sammie in the back seat.

“Amanda, this is Detective Jeremy Coolman.”

The dark-haired driver nodded. “Ma’am.”

She nodded back. “Nice to meet you, Detec―” But stopped mid-sentence when she noticed her son sitting in the passenger seat fiddling with all of the buttons and knobs.

“Nickel Constantine what are you doing up there?”

“Hey, Mom,” Nick turned his head in the midst of turning a black button. “This is just so epic.” He flashed her a big grin. “This computer has an insurmountable conjecture feature in any number of situations.

“Well, I’m glad you are having a good time, dear.” She craned her head up to see what he was talking about.

“Man, too cool.” Nick hunkered down to study the intricate panel again. “Forget Duke and physics, Mom, I want to be in law enforcement.”

“Okay, dear.” Amanda looked over at Ryder and grimaced.

He shrugged. “Sammie tells me your parents are coming to visit soon?”