Super Born: Seduction of Being (39 page)

When she began to follow me down the stairway
off the rooftop, I stopped and held her back with my hand. “You’re
my little secret from Jones. Let me see what he has to say before I
bring you in.”

She nodded. “Being anonymous works for me. I’ll
wait here.”

I started down the stairs, then stopped, and
turned back toward her. She knew I wanted more of her; her face
became stern, and she pointed down the stairs. “Go!”

Chapter
3
3

The Crash…

Dr. Jones answered the door in Penn
State pajamas and slippers. Obviously, I had awoken him, yet he
appeared glad to see me. “Come in, my friend. So late, you must
have news of the B.I.B.”
Late?
We must have been flying a lot longer than I’d
thought.

I suggested that he had better sit for this
one. We proceeded to his tiny living room, and, after clearing
stacks of papers, sat on outdated chairs. My silent drama and
windblown over-orgasmed appearance must have made him wonder what
had happened to me.

“
What is it that can’t wait until
tomorrow?” he asked. “Somebody beat the crap out of
you?”

I told him the story of Rebecca coming to my
apartment, all the men and vehicles tailing me, and then the attack
by the recently deceased Carmine Camino and his men. I filled him
in on Rebecca’s powers over machines and her ability to vaporize
men. Then I explained that I had sent her into hiding, and I was
now laying low. The entire time, he listened attentively and
nodded. His dark little eyes began to glow from the thoughts
swirling in his head.

“
Where is Rebecca now? We must
protect her from Jennifer…and the B.I.B.—do you know her
whereabouts?”

“
Rebecca’s in a little B&B up in
the mountains.”

“
What little B.I.B. in the
mountains? What is the B.I.B. doing up in the mountains? I was
asking you about Rebecca. They are together now?”

“
No, Rebecca’s at a B&B. The
B&B is in the mountains.”

“
Yes, I understand. What are they
doing there together?

“
No, no. I sent Rebecca to a bed and
breakfast.”

“
Yes, I understand. So how did the
B.I.B. find her?”

“
She didn’t,” I said, becoming
irritated.

“
Let’s start at the beginning,”
Jones said, sensing the lack of communication. “You sent Rebecca to
a bed and breakfast to hide, yes?”

“
Correct.”

“
This bed and breakfast is in the
mountains?” he asked.

“
Yes.”

“
Was the B.I.B. already there?”
asked Jones, forking left.

“
No, it was just Rebecca at the
B&B!”

“
Together?”

“
No! I don’t know where the B.I.B.
is. Rebecca is alone at the bed and breakfast.”

“
They don’t serve lunch or
dinner?”

I lowered my head, took a breath, and
explained, while I pointed my finger with each word. “It’s a bed
and breakfast, and has nothing to do with the B.I.B. I don’t know
their menu, but Rebecca is there and safe.”

“
Alone! You sent her there alone?”
he said, full of emotion.

I lowered my eyes to the floor. “I’m useless,
Doc. I proved I couldn’t protect her already. That’s why I came
here. I was hoping you could help.”

He got up and started to pace. “Yes, and it is
a good thing you did, my friend…I have contacts with the security
people at the university…and I have contacts in the government. We
will get protection for her. We cannot let Jennifer Lowe go around
eliminating all her competition. We must protect Rebecca and the
B.I.B. before we try to deal with that bitch!” He paced by the
window, then turned back to me. “What about the B.I.B.? Do you have
any idea where in the mountains she is? We must protect her
too.”

I paused, first trying to decide if it was
worth the effort to explain again that the B.I.B. wasn’t in the
mountains at all, and that I didn’t know where she was—trying to
look believable as I answered, knowing full well the B.I.B. was on
the roof. Despite all my practice at it, I wasn’t a good liar, so I
lowered by eyes. “No, I have no idea where she could
be.”

Jones closed in on me slowly. “Then what the
hell are you doing here, my friend? Why aren’t you hiding with
Rebecca? Why aren’t you safe, with everyone else up in the
mountains?”

I shook my head. “I just thought I should be
here, see this thing through.”

“
Very honorable…very honorable,
indeed,” he said, but I knew he could tell I was lying. He grabbed
a pad of paper. “Write down the name and address of the bed and
breakfast, and the phone number, if you have it. I can have men
there by morning. She will be safe.”

I wrote down the address, then pulled out my
mobile phone and looked up the number to the B&B. When I was
done, Jones grabbed my phone. “No more of this. They will trace
your phone.” He walked to the desk, put down my phone, and returned
with another mobile phone and charger he had taken from a drawer.
“This is your phone now. We can communicate safely. Jennifer will
never be able to trace this.”

I took the phone and nodded a
thank-you.

“
What about money? Are you okay
there?” Jones asked.

“
I gave Rebecca everything I could
get to before they hit us.”

Jones threw me two piles of banded
bills, and for the first time I wondered,
Why does he always have so much cash on hand?
“No credit cards, no touching your bank accounts,
no checks, don’t go near your apartment—nothing until we have
Jennifer under control. Understand?”

I nodded sheepishly. “Getting her under control
won’t be easy.”

Jones’ eyes glowed. He held up a finger. “Oh, I
have plans. I have big plans, you can be believing this,” he
said.

“
Plans? What sort of plans?...Not
another High definition Anal stimulator I hope.”

“
No, of course not. Think bigger.
Think much bigger. Relax, everything is coming together. The plan
is working.”

“
I hope you’re right,” I said,
getting up to leave.

Jones came up to me, put an arm around my
shoulder, and escorted me to the door. “Don’t you be worrying. This
is all good news. We are nearing the end. I will call you when we
have Rebecca safe and secure. Let us hope the B.I.B. is safe in the
mountains as well. Perhaps the B.I.B. will find the same B&B.
But, for now, my friend, you are the bait. We must find her, to
keep her safe.”

I thanked him, but the conversation had heavily
dampened my beer buzz and B.I.B. high. Concerned about the
situation with Rebecca and Jennifer, yet slowly regaining my
excitement to be back with the B.I.B. and the flight home, I
returned to the roof. But Allie wasn’t in the stairway or on the
roof anymore. I searched for her, then waited for her, then
searched again. She was gone. I was alone again.

My trip down the stairway from the rooftop was
incredibly slow as I paused constantly and took small steps, unable
to believe she had left. What was I, some sort of “one-night fly”?
Then I worried that something had happened to her. From there, I
began to worry about what was going to happen to me. Where would I
go? The trip from such an incredible high to this messed-up feeling
was quick and devastating.

I pushed open the door of Jones’s apartment
building and stepped out into the night. Compared to the image of
I’d had flying with Allie, this vantage of Scranton was…not so
good. Without knowing who was after me, I didn’t want to be in the
streets for long, so I ambled down the street to a fleabag motel.
No one would know me there, and I was sure cash payment would be
eagerly accepted.

I didn’t know it then, but my major question at
that point would have been answered if I had just looked up at
Jones’s apartment. On the ledge outside his window, the B.I.B.
stood, or should I say hung or floated. She had listened to our
entire conversation and remained still, listening to Jones though
his open window.

After getting my room key from a nearly
toothless man, I bought a soda and went up a flight to my lavish
room. The ice bucket looked nasty, so I unwrapped a glass and
proceeded to the ice machine, mournfully humming down the hall, and
filled the glass. I returned to my room, locked the door, and
crashed onto the board-like bed, my head full of troubles and
uncertainty.

My beer high was turning into a hangover. My
balls felt like raisins, my fluids gone as if vacuumed away.
Despite my worries, I dropped off to sleep before I even had time
to turn on the TV, while my icy soda bubbled and fizzed, dying a
slow death beside the bed, untouched.

Chapter 34

…
And the Burn

To say I slept late would be to
minimize
late.
It
was well into the afternoon when I awoke, refreshed and totally
oblivious to the events of the night before or my current
predicament. I felt a smile on my face. My little man was refreshed
too, and greeted me with an eager,
How
ya doing
?

I showered to the sound of groaning pipes and
pissing water pressure, cut myself twice with the high-quality
razor supplied free by the fleabag, and left in search of
food.

For some reason, I was freakin’ starving.
Luckily for me there was a small diner nearby. It may have been my
hunger, but every morsel I ordered tasted just great. I ate like a
starving man; no, wait, I was a starving man. I was attacking some
burgers and fries after putting down a breakfast plate of eggs,
bacon, and toast when Jones’s phone rang, and all my good feelings
came crashing down. “Hello?” I said, disguising my voice a bit, for
who knows what reason.

“
My friend, I have bad news, oh so
bad,” Jones said in panic.

I paused, not ready for bad news, and grunted a
response.

“
When the security men reached the
B&B, they did not find Rebecca. Her room was disturbed, and she
was gone. The operators of the B&B said she left with two men
in a dark SUV.”

I swallowed hard, but was relieved that the
news was not about Allie. “Is that it?”

“
No, there was a note. It is
addressed to you, my friend, and reads:
If
you want to ever see Rebecca again, you will meet me on top of the
Bank Towers Building at ten o’clock tonight. Bring with you the
B.I.B. and no one else. Bring anyone else, and I cannot guarantee
your safety.
And she signs it,
Your friend Jennifer,
the
sarcastic bitch!”

I sighed and suddenly the taste of all the food
I’d had eaten…not so good.

“
My friend, can you do this? Can you
bring the B.I.B.? Should we risk her for Rebecca? This is a
puzzlement…I can contact the security people…”

“
No!” I said. “No offense, but your
security people suck. You didn’t see those mobsters dissolve like I
did. And that was Rebecca; who knows what Jennifer can do.” I was
remembering the pen she had melted, and imagining it being me
melting slowly into the tabletop.

“
Then what to do? What to do?” he
asked in near panic. “You are going to meet her, right?”

“
I’ll call you back,” I said. I
turned off the phone, tossed it on the table, and brushed back my
hair with both hands, ending with my elbows on the
table.

The image of Rebecca scared and afraid sent a
dagger sliding into me. A second dagger followed when I was
confronted by the fact that she was depending on me to keep her
safe. Having been the one who sent her to the B&B in the first
place planted a third dagger directly in my heart.

“
What to do, indeed.”

It was my waitress’ lucky day, as I threw down
twice the amount of my bill on the table and left. It was easy to
throw around Jones’s money. But then I went back and retrieved a
five. Heck, I hadn’t completely changed.

On the way back to my room, I spotted a place
to buy some clothes and toiletries before returning to lick my
wounds in my luxury hotel room, feeling useless yet
responsible.

When I opened the door, I dropped my bags with
my eyes downcast, just like my thoughts. But then the rollercoaster
took another turn.

The B.I.B. was sitting on the bed, her back to
the headboard. “How’s the room service here?” she asked.

My heart leapt to life and a smile high-jumped
onto my face. In a second, I was bouncing onto the bed like a
six-year-old. “Where did you go last night? I looked everywhere.
And why didn’t you join me later?”

She shook her head, and said, “Even a woman
with superpowers needs a little rest…I do have a daughter, you
know.” Then she stared at her feet and added, in a quiet tone,
“Flying with you wore me out…in a good way.”

“
I thought you were gone,” I
saidThen I sat next to her against the headboard. My quiet gave me
away.

“
What is it? What happened? You look
like someone punched you in the gut.”