Page 8 of Invincible
CHAPTER3
Memphis physically cringedwhen they walked out of the airport in Houston.It wasn’t just hot, the humidity was unreasonably brutal.By the time they walked to the rental car, they were both soaked in sweat.Slumping into the passenger seat, Memphis cranked the air conditioning on maximum as Knox slowly worked their way out of the airport.
“How does anyone live here?”Memphis grumbled, staring at the waves of heat rising from the asphalt.“Tennessee can get hot, but nothing like this.The air is so warm, it’s like breathing fire.”
It also didn’t help that he was still pissed about being pulled away from home.Knox never seemed to understand that he couldn’t just find a replacement vet at a moment’s notice.He also hated leaving Thayer, even with the passive-aggressive attitude she had been sporting lately.
“Are you going to pout the entire time?”Knox asked, giving him a scowl.Memphis debated rolling his eyes, but since it had just been pointed out that he was acting like a brat, he decided to save it for later.
When he remained silent, Knox reached over, smacking him on the back of the head.
“Oww,” he said, with a snarl.Knox chuckled as they weaved their way through Houston.Memphis had to admit, even if his older brother was sort of an ass, he still wouldn’t trade him.Of course, he wasn’t going to tell Knox that.
“Did you find a recent address for her?”Memphis asked, referring to their sister.
“I talked to her mom, pretending to be someone from the alumni group in Gladewater.She gave it to me, thinking we were working on a class reunion.I thought we could check in to the hotel, then head over there after dinner.If I remember, she’s rather headstrong, so I didn’t want to give her a warning that we’re coming.Figured the blitz attack approach would work best.”
“Do you know any other way?”Memphis asked with a smirk.
The hotel wasn’t anything special, but as long as it had two decent beds, Memphis was happy.Grabbing a soda out of the machine on the way by, they lugged their bags up the stairs to the second floor.
They had been informed at check-in that there was a free breakfast served in the lobby that they both rolled their eyes at when the clerk wasn’t looking.Finding enough calories to fill a man the size of Knox up would take more than a stale pastry or bowl of cereal.
“I think you should check on Mia, since it’s been a while,” Knox said, throwing his suitcase onto one of the beds.
“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.You’ll stay here?”Memphis asked, placing the unopened soda on the table as he took the only chair in the room.
“You don’t think you’d be better off with water?”Knox had gotten into the habit of shoving a bottle of water at Memphis when he came back from phasing before he could even catch his breath.
“What are you, my mother?I’m fucking melting, the Coke is fine.”Memphis picked up the bag of bracelets he had tossed on the table.Sticking his hand into the bag, he wrapped his hand around them.
“So that’s a yes on the pouting thing?”Memphis heard Knox say as he felt himself drift away.He called the man an asshole, but he wasn’t sure which realm it would come out in.
“Hey.”He heard as Mia crawled over to him.“I was starting to worry you weren’t coming back.”
“How are you doing?”he asked.
“I’m okay, it’s so hot in here.”The oppressive heat was apparent everywhere, from her sunken eyes to the clothes that stuck to her body.He guessed he really should stop whining about the Houston heat even if it did irritate Knox—the real reason he did it.
“It’s going to get worse if you really are heading to Texas.You need to drink as much as you can to stay hydrated.”
“Yes, coach,” she said, making him laugh.“We stopped in the mountains somewhere to change a tire, so they let us out for a few minutes.I thought it was odd that they would go to the trouble of moving the boxes around.But, I did catch the name Unified Instruments on one of the boxes.Do you think that will help?”
“I think that will help a lot.We can give the name to the FBI agent working with us.He should be able to trace the shipment to see where it will go out.Good job, Mia.”
“Anything to get me the hell out of here.I asked around, it seems everyone is from DC.They were all living on the streets or in a shelter, I guess, except for me.Hey,” she said, reaching out trying to touch his forearm.She laughed softly when her hand slid through his arm.“Sorry.I just wanted you to let my dad know I’m okay.Tell him also that I’m sorry.Maybe if I hadn’t been such a brat, none of this would have happened.”
“I’m sorry that this happened, but we are working every minute to find you.Your dad would be really proud if he could see how strong you’re being.Don’t give up hope, Mia.My brother and I have a perfect track record together at rescuing people.”He chose not to tell her that record sat at one so far.
She smiled at him.He hated that he couldn’t take her out of here; all of them out of here.It was like seeing Thayer sitting in that cell in the cellar all over again.
“I’ll keep paying attention to see what else I can learn.Please, don’t wait so long to come back.”He knew that even as tough as she appeared, she was still just a terrified girl underneath.
“Tonight, I’ll check on you.I promise,” he assured her before phasing away.
Waking up back in the hotel room, Memphis found his soda had been replaced by a bottle of water.He took what he said earlier back, having an older brother was a pain in the ass.
“How is she?”Memphis turned toward where he heard the growl emanating from.Stretched out on one of the beds, Knox sat drinking his soda.
