Solomon's Sieve (43 page)

Glen pointed at the coffee service. Looking between Raif and Mercy, he asked if he could get them anything.

“Black. No sugar,” said Raif.

Glen looked at Mercy. “Water. Please.”

While Glen was busy with his volunteer mission of filling beverage requests, Rev decided to get the party started.

“This is not a formal procedure, just co-workers eager to hear what happened. It goes without saying that we’re very happy and relieved to have you back, but frankly, your sudden appearance in the middle of the night is, if not a miracle, at least a mystery.” Glen took his seat again after delivering drinks. “I’m going to ask you to simply tell us how you came to be here. If we have questions, we’ll try to save them until the end, but make no promises. Sir Nightsong. Dr Renaux. You have the floor.”

Raif cleared his throat. “I was the one taking a turn inside the burial chamber with Dr. Renaux when the quake occurred. Professor Yanov had left to retrieve documents at Dr. Renaux’s request. So we were the only two.” He glanced at Mercy, almost like he was asking for confirmation. “When I realized what was happening, I saw that the cavern was collapsing between the exit and our location. The only possibility of survival was to go deeper into the mountain. So I grabbed Dr. Renaux and we ran for it.

“We lost our footing a few times when the ground heaved under us. One of those resulted in a scrape on Dr. Renaux’s leg, but it wasn’t deep. That was the only injury we sustained, other than the minor bruises and soreness that you might expect from repeated falls.

“When it was over, we stopped to let our minds catch up to what had happened and outline our options.”

Raif told the rest of the story with surprisingly vivid detail, leaving out any mention of interaction between the two of them. Mercy could tell that he must have performed the activity of debriefing many times because he did it with such obvious ease.

At one point she was horrified to realize she was nodding off. The combination of still being tired, knowing that she was safe and secure, and the comfort of listening to Raif’s voice was lulling her to sleep like a lullaby. She jerked up when her head started to droop toward her chest.

“Are we putting you to sleep, Dr. Renaux?” Rev sounded amused.

“I’m sorry. I…”

Raif cut her off. “When we’re sitting here in this nice clean climate controlled room with a nice breakfast under our belts, perhaps my telling doesn’t adequately convey what she’s been through. Of course she’s tired. She should be upstairs sleeping right now.”

Rev was studying Raif with interest. “No offense was intended.” He turned his gaze on Mercy. “Would you like to be excused, Dr. Renaux? Sir Catch will escort you to your room if this is too much too soon.”

“No,” she said simply and quietly. Raif leaned over and whispered something in her ear. “No… sir.” She looked at Glen. “Is the coffee option still open? All the way? Cream and three sugars.”

Raif smiled at that and committed it to memory. Glen quickly and expertly prepared a cup of coffee to her specifications and set it down in front of her.

“Dr. Renaux,” Rev addressed her again. “Do you have anything you’d like to add?”

She looked at Raif and suddenly found tears filling her eyes. It surprised her more than anyone. Worse, it seemed her throat had closed up and she was finding it hard to talk. He looked at her with worry and was squeezing her hand harder. She remembered Raif telling her that something similar happened to him on the plane when she’d made an overture.

She held up her index finger to indicate that she needed a minute to pull herself together. All the men except for Raif looked away, thinking they would spare her embarrassment. After a few minutes the stream of tears slowed and she was able to speak in broken sentences. Glen, who was considerate to a fault, gathered up the paper napkins on the coffee service tray and laid them in front of Mercy. She immediately grabbed one and used it like a tissue.

“I just want to say that…” She pressed her lips together tightly to try to contain the turbulent emotion, but to her dismay her body was out of her control. She was overcome with waves of feeling that had to be released and could only find release in tears. “I was sure we were going to die.”

She looked over and smiled at Raif through her tears. Everybody in the room knew that they were witnessing two miracles. The first was being in the presence of a couple who had escaped certain entombment, against all odds. The second was being in the presence of a couple who had fallen in love, against all odds.

“But Raif… Raif joked about dying, a lot. But the whole time he acted like we were lucky to be alive.”

A look passed between Torn and Gun that said, “Who is she talking about?”

“And we are. Lucky to be alive. All because of him. There’s no one else like him.”

Farnsworth was silently crying at that point. Glen might have been resisting the urge.

“No doubt that’s true,” Rev said, recalling every word he, in both incarnations, had ever thought or said about the members of Z Team. The fact that it turned out that one of the miscreants saved his soon-to-be-stepdaughter’s life only underscored the fact that life is strange. “Anybody else have questions?”

“Aye. Ask ‘em where they spent the night last night.”

Raif practically lunged at Torn thinking he would rip the shit eating skin from the fucker’s face. Torn would normally open his arms in a smarmy challenge, but he really wasn’t in good enough physical shape, after his own ordeal, to be goading his partner into an MMA match. So when he saw Raif coming for him, he didn’t cower, but his eyes did flare as he braced for a world of pain.

Fortunately for Torn, Gunnar was sitting between them and tackled Raif to the ground. “Rafael! Stop! He’s hurt. On the D.L.” That made Raif still. “He’s hurt,” Gun repeated. “You’ll have to take it out of his hide after he’s had a chance to mend.”

Farnsworth looked at Rev. “Does this sort of thing happen often?”

Rev shook his head. “Only with this bunch. Thorn. In. My. Side.”

“Okay. Get off me,” Raif said. He stood up and got in Torn’s face. “Apologize to her.”

“Why?” Torn said.

“You tried to embarrass her.”

Torn looked at Mercy sheepishly. “Sorry. You know I like you.” He winked at Mercy and Raif lunged for him.

“Fucker!”

It took both Gun and Glen to get him to the ground that time. The only thing that restored order was Mercy leaning over Raif, as he was on his back, pinned down by two of his team mates. She said, “You know I don’t care who knows that I was sleeping in your bed last night. You’re my guy and I want everybody to know it.”

At that all the straining and tension left Raif. He went still on the floor, completely relaxed. Glen and Gun eased up.

“You good?” Gun asked.

Raif nodded and smiled. “I’m good. I’m her guy.” He looked toward Torn. “But you better control that loud-mouthed moron because the next thing he says is going to put him in traction.”

Gun turned to Torn. “You got that, loud-mouthed moron?”

“Aye. ‘Tis no much fun here anyway. I’m ready for a pre-lunch whiskey.”

As they were filing out of the room, Glen was saying, “You’re not having any whiskey until you turn over those pain pills.”

The four who were left in the room stared at each other for a minute. Finally, Raif leaned toward Mercy. “Would you like to hear what she has to say?”

Mercy took a long time to answer, staring at Farnsworth the whole time. At length, she nodded.

“Would you like us to leave the two of you alone?”

She shook her head immediately. Raif looked at Farnsworth as if to say, “Well. Here’s your chance. It’s now or never.”

Slowly Farnsworth got up, walked the length of the room, and sat down on Mercy’s other side. With a quiet calm she said, “I’d like to tell you the story if that’s alright.”

Mercy studied the woman’s face for a few seconds and nodded.

Farnsworth began by saying, “My name is Susan Farnsworth. I also work for The Order, which is how I was able to find you.”

She went on to relay the entire story. How young she’d been when her parents made the decision for her. How they and the adoption staff had persuaded her with the argument that she had no way to raise a child and that a couple of means who wanted a baby would be the best thing, they would dote and spoil and overeducate.

“
In a perfect world.” Mercy found her voice. “That’s what’s supposed to happen in a perfect world. My adoptive parents were killed in a car accident when I was still a baby. I was raised by a widowed grandmother who didn’t want me and could barely stand the sight of me. The relationship was neglectful at best and abusive at worst.”

Farnsworth let out an almost inaudible whimper.

Mercy pressed on. “Why now? Why did you decide to look for me now?”

“They said the records would be closed to protect the adoptive parents and you. They insisted that it would be the best thing for you to be left alone and said that, if you wanted to find me when you were an adult, you would. The former Sovereign convinced me that I would never be at peace until I looked for you.”

Mercy’s eyes went to Rev. “And you’re in a relationship?”

Rev blinked once slowly. He wasn’t accustomed to being addressed in that tone by people who worked for him. He took a deep breath and remembered that it was a peculiarly unique circumstance. “She’s my fiancée.”

Raif’s gaze jerked between Rev and Farnsworth, but he kept quiet, wisely enough.

Farnsworth spoke to Mercy again. “I wish things had been different for you. Gods know I wanted things to be different for you. I’d change the past if I could. Believe me.

“I know it’s a lot to take in. I’m not asking for more or less than you have to give, than you
want
to give. Whether or not you want to be my daughter, I am your mother. You can do whatever you want with that information. But I have love I want to give you. I hope that, after you’ve had a chance to think about it, you might want to explore that. Lunch maybe?”

Mercy responded with a derisive laugh. “Lunch?” She almost sneered before getting up and walking out of the room.

Raif looked at Farnsworth with sympathy. “Sorry,” he said, before following after Mercy.

When the two of them were alone, Rev said, “Well. That went better than I expected.”

Farnsworth looked at him like he was crazy.

Mercy went back to bed. She was too agitated to go to sleep immediately. When Raif crawled in and spooned behind her, she relaxed into his warmth and the security of his embrace. She slept, but had fitful dreams and woke just before the sun was setting. The bed was empty.

She caught her reflection in the mirror as she walked into the bathroom. Crying and then going to sleep right after didn’t result in her best look. She murmured something about Quasimodo and turned on the shower. As the hot water ran over her body, slowly relaxing more of the tension of the past day, she replayed what Farnsworth had said over and over. She tried to picture herself in the same situation, which was hard to do since she’d never had a teenage love affair or parents who wielded almost absolute power over her.

The suggestion of lunch seemed ridiculous at the time, but after giving it some thought, she was beginning to wonder what it would hurt.

She’d blamed Farnsworth for not trying to find her, but Mercy hadn’t taken any steps to try to look for her parents either. She didn’t have a way of doing that as a child under her grandmother’s care, but she certainly could have initiated a search as an adult. Why hadn’t she? Because she was too busy? Because she was afraid of what she’d find?

She had to admit it took a certain amount of courage for the woman to look for her. There was something to be said for that. As she was drying off, she heard the suite door close and smiled.

Raif knocked softly on the door. She opened it a crack.

“Can I come in?” he grinned.

“What’s in it for me?”

“Open up and I’ll show you.”

She laughed and flung the door open. He had her gathered into his arms and was deepening a hello kiss when she felt him tug at the towel wrapped around her. Every intimate encounter with Raif, no matter how brief, brought a new range of sensual response. She learned that being completely naked with a man who was completely dressed was titillating.

He tightened his hands around her waist and lifted. Her legs automatically wound around him as he began walking them toward the bed. He laid her on the bed as carefully as if she was made of glass and sat up on his knees, still between her legs, while he pulled his shirt over his head and undid his jeans. He was commando, which was the dichotomy she was coming to expect with Raif. On the one hand, she wasn’t sure she wanted to commit to a guy who didn’t wear underwear. On the other hand, she thought there was something wild and feral about it that was exciting.

“What?” he asked. She shook her head. “Nothing doing. Tell me.” She shook her head. “Tell me now!” He started tickling.

“Okay. I was just thinking about your lack of, um, underwear.”