None of that mattered. His pulse raced as the memories surged; all the laughter and passion, the tears and quiet moments they had shared together. The recollections careened and collided in his mind like an afternoon traffic accident. He blinked tears away as he shamelessly stared.
“Cynthia…” He pulled the door handle. Nothing happened. “What the hell? Cynthia!” He jerked at the handle. “Why won’t this thing open?”
Nathan laid a firm hand on his arm. “Get a hold of yourself, for God’s sake. You said you wanted to see her, not make a complete ass out of yourself in front of her fiancé.”
Michael winced as his teeth clicked together. “Her—” He watched helplessly as Cynthia was escorted by the mystery man to the doorway of the cozy townhouse. She took a quick glance behind, almost as if she could sense Michael’s presence through the black-tinted glass of the Range Rover. He placed his hand against the rain-streaked surface.
See me. Just see me, baby. Come on.
The door shut, sealing him off as effectively as his cell in the AIT.
Nathan leaned back. “Fiancé. You can say it. She’s engaged, Michael. To Dr. Wayne Crestor. He was her therapist, helping her cope with your high profile arrest and the news of you being a possible mass murderer. Apparently the therapy connected beyond the sessions. Whirlwind romance, with the good doctor falling hard, apparently. He proposed last week in front of family and friends.”
“Family and friends? I’m her family. How could she do this? It hasn’t even been a year and she’s already moved on?” Michael pounded his fist against the padded leather armrest. “I want to see her, Nathan. We had a deal.”
Nathan’s expression hardened. “The deal was you get a chance to see her. You just did.”
“What? That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
Nathan massaged his brow and gave Michael a sidelong glance. “I’m a bit disappointed in you, Michael. Did you really think things were going to fall in place like some romance movie? What, you were going to dash out in the rain and watch as your true love disregarded her well-meaning but boring perfect man to run back into the arms of her disgraced but faithful loser?”
Michael glowered. “That’s not what I—”
Nathan shook his head. “Snap back to reality. Your old girlfriend is engaged to a man who checks out as genuinely caring and supportive, not just to her but also to her newborn daughter. You’re a man with a noose around your neck, someone who can wreck their lives beyond comprehension. There’s something you still have to do, remember? Chimera won’t let you get within a visible mile of Cynthia until you do what you promised. Don’t forget who you’re dealing with. Chimera isn’t just the House, they’re the whole damn casino. They have all the cards, and they have all the chips. We only get to play what we have our hand. And right now that means doing what they want. And if by some miraculous stroke of luck we get dealt a solid hand, then we get a chance to cash out. Only then. Understand?”
Michael stared at the townhouse. Only a doorway separated him from reuniting with Cynthia. He wanted to shatter the glass, scream at the top of his lungs. He’d dreamed of the moment, played it over and over in his mind. He was within a few feet of reaching her. A dozen steps, maybe.
It may as well have been a thousand miles.
He exhaled a shuddering breath. “You’re right. Damn it, you’re right. What could I say? I don’t know what she’s been through. I don’t even know if she wants to see me.” His teeth bit into his bottom lip, drawing blood. “If she even cares about me anymore.”
“You can find out.” Nathan’s voice was unexpectantly sympathetic. “You can get that chance. But take care of one thing at a time. You make it back alive, you’ll have all the time in the world to mend fences.”
“Make it back alive.” Michael snorted a laugh. “Yeah, should be simple.”
Nathan’s eyes crinkled in amusement. “You think you’re a fool to go? We’ll be fools together, my man. Whatever happens, I’ll be right beside you.”
Michael shook his head in weary resignation. “If you have a death wish, you’ll be in the right place. When do we leave?”
Nathan pressed the intercom button again. “Niles. To the airport.”
“Very good, sir.”
Michael stared at Nathan as the vehicle glided back onto the street again. “What, we’re leaving now? Don’t we need to pack or something?”
“Everything was packed two weeks ago. Chimera is very good at preemptive planning. All we need to do is show up.”
“Well, can you at least tell me where we’re going?”
“Miami.”
“What? There’s an Aberration in South Beach? You gotta be kidding me.”
“No. It’s just the jump-off point.” Nathan’s gaze grew distant. “The Aberration in somewhere deep in the Bermuda Triangle.”
Michael felt as if skeletal fingers brushed the nape of his neck. “Where all those planes and ships just disappear?”
“Most of that is urban legend. But yes, bizarre instances have occurred in the region. Unexplained phenomena. And now this.” Nathan’s smile was grim.
“We have front row seats for the great unknown.”
Chapter 6: Icarus Syndrome
Nathan couldn’t help but feel guilty over his part in convincing Michael to come along. He glanced over at him. Michael was slumped in his seat, a silent and depressed companion after the ordeal. He was resigned to his fate because of the improbable chance he’d see Cynthia again. It was that kind of emotional obliviousness that made Nathan avoid relationships at all costs. The messy, tangled attachment robbed people of their intellects and reduced them to mindless, overemotional halfwits.
At least that was what he told himself on the plane trip to Miami. It was better than admitting he had been snared just as easily by the same sentimental line of reasoning. When Sid Damon casually related he was placing Elena on the front lines of the Aberration infiltration, Nathan shouldn’t have cared. She was a spy, someone who reported on his every move to her superiors.
Can’t blame her for doing her job. And you didn’t have to be an ass and bring her father into it.
He felt a stab of regret. He recalled the pain and anger in her eyes when he casually insulted her terrorist father. He’d become so used to verbal fencing that he hadn’t thought about the personal sting of such a personal attack.
You apologized. That should be it. You don’t owe her anything.
But he had taken the flight all the same, on Damon’s word that Elena would be held back, placed with him and Michael instead of on the infiltration team. Nonstop via a Chimera private jet from San Francisco to Miami with Michael, Damon, and Alexander Blackwell himself, along with the regular crew of nameless aides that accompanied Blackwell. It had been a mostly silent flight with Michael in a depressed stupor, Damon sleeping, and Blackwell constantly in conference with his diabolical subordinates. The Chimera elite treated Michael and Nathan like a pair of spare luggage bags, only with more disregard.
Nathan was left trying to ignore the distractingly grimy smudge outside the window and avoiding thoughts of a certain Elena Ruiz. He couldn’t think of a single reason why he had let Damon twist his arm like that. It wasn’t like Elena was his type. She was too tomboyish for his taste, and they certainly didn’t have anything in common. It really didn’t make sense for him to be bothered by any asinine feelings of attraction to her.