Protecting the Enemy (22 page)

She was tempted to call the other hypnotist that Reid deemed less competent just to get it over with. Now that her appointment was in the morning she was glad she’d listened to Reid and waited. The last thing she needed was another freak getting inside her head.

“Do you think we should get a plant?” Reid walked up beside her as she gazed out the window at the cars below.

“A plant?” She turned to him confused.

He leaned with his palm against the wall. “Yes or a pet maybe.”

“What has gotten into you?”

“Don’t normal couples have houseplants or pets?”

She laughed. “Since when are we a normal couple?”

“I think we could be. We could start with a fish or bird. Maybe work our way up to a cat.”

“Hmm, I think we’d better start with the plant. Just to be safe.”

“So let’s go buy one.”

“Now?”

“Why not?”

She shrugged. “Let’s go buy a plant.”

***

Julianna left Reid in the waiting room as walked into the hypnotists’ office with sweaty palms.

A man that couldn’t have been much older than Reid smiled when she entered the room. “I’m Doctor Albright, make yourself comfortable.” His voice was soothing and firm.

The vinyl chaise sat in front of a bookcase filled with thick hardback books. A chair with a small round end table set a few feet away from the chaise. She took a seat and leaned back into the oversized chair feeling like a child. The doctor had told her that her memory loss was her brain’s way of protecting her from memories to painful for her to deal with at the time. What if she still couldn’t deal with them?

Fear threatened to make her stand up and walk back out of the room. Did she really need to know about her life before the explosion? The lost feeling she’d felt for so long reminded her that, yes, she did. She had to be brave. Reid promised he would protect her for the rest of their lives and she believed him.

“You have to relax or this won’t be successful.”

She wiped her hands on her pants and lowered her tensed shoulders.

“Close your eyes, Julianna. Breathe in, breathe out. Feel yourself relaxing into the chair, until you can’t decipher your body from the chair itself.”

She nodded and took a deep breath, letting her body sink further into the chaise. It was comfortable, thick foam almost like her old mattress had been.

“Think back to the very first memory you have. Slip out of the present and let your body float to the past. Nothing to fear, you are only observing from a distance. Nothing can hurt you. Now tell me what do you remember?”

Julianna opened her mind. She was in the peach hospital room feeling lost and scared. Tubes were inside her nose, an IV needle taped to her arm. “I’m in the hospital. I just woke up, but I don’t know how I got there. It’s cold. I’m scared.”

“Keep your body floating, Julianna. Stay relaxed. Go deeper. Remember what made you end up in that hospital room.”

She turned her head and walked past her hospital bed, past her pain. Fire. Heat. Blood. She shivered at the mess. She was trapped—something had fallen on her. Her head turned. A bloody lifeless face stared back at her. A familiar face. She screamed causing smoke to fill her lungs. And then all went dark. “The explosion. I remember.”

“Tell me about what happened before the explosion. Float deeper into your mind. Remember.”

She pushed deeper. “I arrived at the warehouse to get my instructions. Boss wasn’t there, but he was always there. Something was wrong. I looked around. Had I gotten the address wrong? The warehouse should have been empty. It wasn’t. Large wooden crates were stacked up in the corner. The air smelled foul causing me to dry heave. I rushed to get out, but the doors caught fire, then the crates exploded. I fell back and hit my head. Something had me pinned down. When I turned my head, I saw that the something was my worst foster mother’s dead body.”

“That’s enough for today, Julianna. Float back to the present. Listen to my voice—it should get louder as you come back.”

Julianna gasped and opened her eyes. Her face was wet with tears. “I remember! I remember everything.”

***

Reid sat outside the room having second thoughts. What if this therapist made Julianna worse? What if it somehow made him lose her all over again? The door opened and Julianna rushed over to him and hugged him tight. He wrapped his arms around her.

She hugged him. “I remembered.”

His heart skipped a beat. “You did?”

“Yes. I know who I am. The bad and the good, all of it.” She kissed his lips.

“Do you remember us?”

She nodded. “Yes.”

He tried to keep the skepticism from showing on his face. “When I proposed?”

She smiled and touched his cheek. “It was a beautiful evening. We were on a sailboat in the harbor. The same boat you took me to on our first date. Twice.” She paused to laugh. “You told me to turn around. You fastened a gold necklace around me. When I looked down and touched the diamond ring on the necklace, you asked me to marry you. I said yes. And I was happy.”

He felt a weight lift from his shoulders. His hands cupped her face. “Welcome back.”

She laughed. “Thanks, but I have to tell you something. Well, two things actually. Do you want to go out to the car?”

Reid nodded and took her hand. They walked out of the building and got into Reid’s Jag. He turned the heat up, then placed his hand over hers. “What is it?”

“The first thing is that I had sex with another man while we were engaged.” She frowned. “Only I didn’t know we were engaged, because I couldn’t remember. So I’m sorry and if it is any constellation, he wasn’t so great and it only happened that one time.”

“Hmm, I don’t like it.” He touched the tip of her nose. “But I guess I can forgive you just this once.”

She let out a breath and nodded. “The second thing is something I never told you before, about my childhood.”

“Okay.”

“None of my foster parents loved me. I was used to it. But one woman I lived with, when I was ten, she was the worst one of them all. She was compulsively clean and if I messed up anything in her house, moved one item out of its place, she would make me scrub a rough brick wall with a wet sponge she’d cut into tiny pieces, until my fingers bled.

“I hated her. One time she’d gone too far. She punished me when I hadn’t even done anything wrong. Enough was enough, so I swallowed my fear. I stole change out of her purse and took a bus to the police station. I showed them my bloody fingers and told them what she’d been doing, how she’d been punishing me. A nice young officer removed me from her care and arrested her. It was then that I decided I wanted to become a cop, to help innocent people and to lock bad ones away.”

“God, Julianna. I wish I would have known you then. I would have protected you.”

“The explosion was even more traumatic for me than we realized. That same woman that I just told you about, her dead body was the last thing I saw before I blacked out in the warehouse. Boss must have found out what she’d done and shoved her in there with me. Maybe in his own sick way, he thought he’d served her justice. I think since I thought I was going to die and lose you and that her face would be the last I’d see, it caused me to forget. To lose my memory. It was my way of coping.”

He pulled her close to him and stroked her soft check. “I’m so sorry you had to go through all that and that you thought you were alone.”

“I want you to know that even though I remember, I am still who I am now. Memories or not, I’m different.”

“Jewels, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She kissed him. He could feel her pouring her soul into the action. When their lips parted she looked into his eyes. “I want to go away, make a fresh start with you.”

Reid stood up and held out his hand. “I thought you’d never ask.”

She smiled and took his hand. “Are you ready to leave Baltimore and ETE 7 behind us forever?”

“Yes, but there is one thing I must do first.” He couldn’t leave his brother forever without saying goodbye.

***

Reid had to tell Noah that he’d made a difference in his life. Without Noah’s guidance he could have turned into someone like Boss or Senator Grant. Julianna walked beside him, until they reached the front rows of pews.

Reid bent over to whisper in her ear. “Wait here. I won’t be long.”

She nodded and sat down. He walked toward the back of the church where Noah emerged from the corridor.

“I thought I’d never see you again.” His foster brother stood at the same height as Reid. Except for Noah’s crooked nose and priest attire, the men’s features were similar. A lot of kids had thought that they’d been biological brothers.

“Hello, brother.” Reid shook his hand.

Noah greeted him with a nod. “When you took your bag, I figured that was the last I’d see of you.”

“Are you disappointed?” Reid couldn’t help, but smirk.

Noah kept a straight face, but showed concern in his eyes. “That depends. What’s going on?”

“I guess you could say I quit my previous job for love.”

“Love is a good thing.” Noah looked over to Julianna and smiled. “Does it have something to do with that pretty woman sitting over there?”

“It does. I love her, Noah.”

“I see. So when you quit your job, did that bring more danger to your life or lessen it?”

Noah knew more about Reid’s career choice than he’d let on. Reid rubbed his face. “More, but that’s all over now. I didn’t come to ask you for anything.” He placed a hand on Noah’s shoulder. “I came to tell you that you will always be my brother and to say goodbye.”

“You are finally on a righteous path and now you’ve come to say goodbye? Why?”

“I need to start my life over someplace fresh. It’s time for a change.”

“So is this goodbye for now or goodbye forever?”

“I don’t know.”

“I see. Thank you for coming to see me before you start anew. I will pray for you and your new life.” He looked over at Julianna and nodded with a small smile. “You’re always welcome in this church.”

Reid hugged Noah. “Thank you. For everything.”

Noah pulled him into a hug.

Julianna stood up as Reid walked back toward her. He blinked the tears out of his eyes.

Julianna looked back at Noah. “Did it go okay?”

He didn’t turn around. He didn’t have to. It was time to move forward. “Yes. Ready to go?”

She put her hand in his. “Yes, I’ve never been more ready.”

They walked outside into the frosty air. Reid opened the car door for Julianna. He rushed around to the driver’s side and got in. “Where are we going to go?”

“I’d like to live close to my grandma. She’s an amazing woman. Also,
Connecticut is beautiful and felt like home.”

“I figured you choose someplace like
New York or Chicago, but I can totally see us in Connecticut. Two former assassins starting a respectable quiet life, letting someone else punish the bad guys from now on. ” He put his hand over hers and squeezed.

She smiled, because she could picture it too. “Sounds great to me.”

“I look forward to meeting your grandma.”

“Just make sure you call her Viv.”

Reid laughed. “I’ll remember that.”

Chapter 21

J
ulianna and Reid stood on either side of their favorite hacker. A lot had happened since she’d first stepped into Weasel’s place. The kid had become like a little brother to her and family was important.

She placed her hand on Weasel’s arm. “We have a proposal for you.”

He eyed them. “That’s a word I haven’t heard from you two before.”

Reid glanced at Julianna. “We’ve left the uh, CIA. We’re going to start a private security firm in
Connecticut. There will be a lot less danger and no secretive missions.”

His mouth dropped. “I knew it! I knew you guys were with the CIA!”

Julianna ruffled Weasel’s hair. “Come with us to Connecticut. We would like to hire you as our Tech Supervisor. You’ll get to use your skills legally, and earn a decent salary. Enough you’ll be able to afford an entire house and not just a basement. We may even let you carry a gun.”

“I’m flattered, but I don’t know.” He looked from Julianna to Reid and then back to Julianna. “Not sure I’m ready for that. My mom would kill me if I moved out of state.”

Reid slapped his back. “So tell her you want her to move east, too. Come on, you know you’ll miss us once we’re gone.”

He crossed his arms and shrugged. “You’re never gone for long.”

Reid shook his head. “This time we won’t be back. So if you want to come, you’d better… last chance.”

Weasel sighed. “When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow.” Reid grinned. “That way none of us has time to change our minds.”

He nodded. “Bam. Okay, I think the Weas can handle that.”