Page 58 of Tangled Threats on the Nomad Highway
He disconnected and looked up, finding eachof the men studying their own phones. “Noah is Zipline’sstepbrother.”
“Fuck.” Bane clipped out the word. “How thehell was this on my doorstep and I never knew it?”
“It’s hard to find something you don’t knowto look for.” He couldn’t absolve Bane of the guilt creasing hisface any more than Einstein could offset his own culpability.Don’t mean I won’t try. He’s more use to us if he’s less focusedon the coulda-woulda, and more on the now.“You know where helives? I bet Zipline’s confident that connection is buried, sinceMarian was working there. If you’d known, you’d have vetoed thejob, no matter how she argued. Am I right?”
“I’ve got his number.”
Einstein reached out and halted Bane’saction, stopping him from dialing. “No, man. I’ve met Noah. IfZipline is there, ifScaris there and you call, there’s noway Noah will be able to hide his reactions to any questions youmight have. Even if you wake Noah from a deep sleep, you can betScar’d hear the call.” Squaring up his shoulders, he stood tall andlooked at the men surrounding him. The forced inactivity had gratedagainst every nerve in his body. Not knowing had been paralyzing.But this was a good lead, a clear direction. “We’ve got our target.I’m rolling right the fuck now. Noah lives just a couple of blocksfrom the shop. Marian had to pick up something from him once and Itook her there.”
Moving on instinct, he pushed past Bane andran down the wooden stairs two at a time, hitting the ground fullstride as he aimed towards his bike. Ignoring the legal call for ahelmet in Florida, Einstein didn’t take the time to put his on,leaving it fastened to the lock on the rear of the frame. Once outon the country road, he looked in his mirrors to see threeheadlights gaining ground on him and twisted the throttleviciously. The bike leapt underneath him, roaring as he rode intothe last piece of night, an edge of light showing along the farhorizon.
Please God, keep her safe for me. Shedeserves to know this is real.
When he found her—because he couldn’t standto think about a possible future where that didn’t happen—he’d tellher, first thing. The truth this time.
I think I could love you.
No decision in his life had ever felt soright.
Chapter Fifteen
Marian
The bed underneath her was so soft it feltlike she was resting on clouds. She sighed and rolled left, thenright, giggling. There was a sharp niggling in her mind, but sheignored it to float on the clouds. “Thees nized.” That set her togiggling again, because what she’d meant to say was “this is sonice,” but it had come out garbled. “Gargd.” More giggling.Something stopped her rolling, and she blinked up to see Jimleaning over her, the expression of concern a weird overlay of thesmile on his face.
“Baby, love you so much.” His words werestrangely out of sync with his mouth, and she tried to focus onreading his lips. “Marian, be still. You’re going to fall off thebed.”
“No not.” She sighed. “Love too.” It wasexhausting to compare what she was trying to say with what actuallyescaped her mouth, so she decided talking was overrated. Pushing upon one elbow, she lifted a hand to touch his face like she’d alwayswanted, but misjudged the distance, and her fingers whipped past,rising to the ceiling. “Uh-oh.” Her fingers fluttered like birds’wings, and she watched them try to take flight. “Losin’ mah grip.”The pun had her giggling so hard it triggered a coughing fit, andshe doubled over, hiding her mouth against her knees as she hungover the edge of the cloud-covered bed. “Das bad.”
“What did you give her?”
The angry voice shouting near her ear wasfamiliar but wasn’t Jim’s. Marian would know his voice in a crowd,be able to pick his face and physique out in a lineup of hundreds.The hand that landed on her shoulder to tug her back onto themattress wasn’t his either.
She opened her eyes a tiny slit, guardingagainst the brightness surrounding her. A man stood next to thebed, and he wasn’t Jim. Then he looked down at her, and she sawJim’s face again, but that weird overlay was back. His lips wereoffset, landing where his cheek should be, and his eyes morphed asshe stared at him. His sandy brown hair was disheveled, as if she’dalready been running her fingers through the top part.
“Jim?” This time she wasn’t certain her owneyes weren’t deceiving her and wasn’t surprised when his misshapenhead swung back and forth negatively. “Who are you?” She joltedaway, scrambling to gain purchase in the clouds. Her heels dug inand shot her to the far corner, where she looked down to find herflying fingers clutching at normal sheets. “Where am I?”
“Marian, it’s Noah.”
She watched in horror as his single eyerolled wildly in its socket as it traversed the width of his head,disappearing around the other side. “Ga no. No no. No oh ah.”
“Yeah, Noah.” The eyeless being seemedimpervious to her panic, lowering to sit on the edge of the bed. Itsmiled, lips parting to show her sharpened teeth, worse than anyterror clown in a horror movie. “I’m your friend.”
Marian hung her head, unable to look it inthe face any longer. “No no no. No no. No oh ah. Das bad. Bad badbad.” She darted a glance up and screamed. Teeth that should beinside the dark maw were now drifting aimlessly across its face.Her back hit something solid, and she could retreat no farther. “Nooh ah.”
“The hell did you dose her with, Walter?”Angry voice was back, so unlike Jim’s, she didn’t know how shecould have mistaken it before. “This is like the worst bad tripI’ve ever seen.”
“Special K. She should still be knocked onher ass. Doesn’t matter. Either way, it’ll be out of her system ina while.”
“How long until she’s past the worst ofthese symptoms?”
“Another few hours maybe? I don’t know.”
Marian shrieked when the clouds underneathher shifted, throwing her against that hard surface again.
“Her heart’s pounding so hard I can see itin her throat. In another few hours, she could be dead.”
“No no. No die. Nooooo.”
