Chapter 43
Thea
“How long is this going to take me to remember?” I ask, bouncing my leg on my uncomfortable swivel chair. I can barely reach the footrest, so crossing my legs is out of the question. And if I lean too far forward I risk falling on my face. Whoever invented this chair must have been seven feet tall.
Andi places a beaker on a scale. “Hopefully soon,” she lies. She’s appeasing me because she knows how scared I am, and I love her for it.
She goes back to her computer and inputs some numbers.
“Andi, did I bring the formula here a week ago?” I ask. When I got here, the building looked familiar, and memories were bursting at the seams. Nothing has come yet.
Andi chews on the end of her pencil as she studies the numbers on the screen. “If you did, you didn’t give it to me.”
I can’t believe I’d come here and not stop and talk to Andi. She was as mad about what they did to my dad as I was.
I drum my fingers on the stainless steel worktop beside me. It’s littered with papers and files, beakers and flutes of unknown substances. The child in me is tempted to pour one flask into another to see what will happen.
“Don’t do it,” Andi says, without taking her eyes from the screen. “Don’t even think about it.”
“I wasn’t.” At least not anymore. I stand; this is taking too long. I need to talk to Gavin. I grab my purse from the table, knocking papers everywhere in the process. I scoop them up and skim the words, but it’s like trying to read another language. “…anticholinergics block the acetylcholines…”
Utter nonsense.
“Thanks.” Andi takes the papers from me and shoves them haphazardly into her desk drawer.
I raise a brow. “Did you need that stuff?”
“Nah. It was from an old project.” She stops and looks at me. “Are you going somewhere?”
“I’m going to talk to Gavin. I’ll come back down when I’m done, and maybe it will be ready?”
“I need fifteen minutes tops. Unless you want me to come with you?”
I take a deep breath. “Thank you, but no. I’ve got this.”
She swallows, nodding. She’s nervous for me. That does little to boost my confidence as I head for the elevator.
What if this doesn’t work? Maybe Gavin and I already talked, and he gave me instructions on what to do next. Maybe I tried to sell it to Lifeline Laboratories for more money? How am I supposed to consider all my options when I can’t remember any of them?
The ding of the elevator breaks me from my trance, and I blink, my knees buckling slightly as I force myself to step out.
The sixth floor is different from the fourth. It’s wide open and airy, the windows showcasing the view from every direction. Five large, glass-walled offices line the far wall, cubicles fill the middle.
My gaze jumps to the corner office, as if from memory. Gavin seems to sense my presence, and his head turns slowly in my direction. His jaw goes slack, and then his eyes narrow into slits. Seems he remembers our last encounter. That makes exactly one of us.
He storms out of his office, and I stride toward him, matching his intensity. But my steps falter when I register the men following him—two giant bodyguards with matching skull tattoos flank him on each side. Why would Gavin need bodyguards?
“What are you doing here?” Gavin hisses when he’s less than five feet.
I worried he’d ask something like this, so I came up with just the thing to say.
“You know exactly what I’m doing here.” The bodyguards box me in, like I’m the prey and they are the hunters. I refuse to back down. I am not in the wrong here.
“How dare you come back.”
So, it did end badly, as expected. I keep the direction I’m going. “You gave me no other choice.”
“I gave you no other choice?” He laughs, but it’s devoid of mirth. “That’s rich. You came in here, throwing out accusations, and now you’re acting like I’m the bad guy.”
Throwing around accusations? What kind? I’m about to ask when he grabs my arm. “Leave this office immediately.”
“Let go of me.” I try to step out of his grasp, but one of the men grabs my other arm.
“You are not welcome in my building,” Gavin barks. The elevator seems to open at his command, and I’m hauled inside. “Landon, make sure she leaves.” Gavin stomps away from me and my new bodyguard.
I should have brought Pierce. He would have fixed this mess, just like he fixes everything.
The man taps the button for the parking garage and stands awkwardly beside me. At least he released my arm.
I’ll have to come back with Pierce to get some answers, but maybe all isn’t lost. If Landon was here last week, maybe he can give me a clue as to what happened.
“I like the skull,” I say, glancing at the tattoo on his arm that is even gorier up close. “I have one just like it.”
He arches a disbelieving eyebrow. “Where?”
“Uh…” I swallow and make a circular motion around my stomach. “Had to hide it from my mom.”
His fists are clenched at his side but there’s the barest hint of a smile evident in the twitch of his lips. Connection established.
I scrunch my nose, studying him. “Do I know you? I feel like I know you.”
“Maybe we got our matching tattoos together.” He smirks.
“Unfortunately, the only company I had for this bad boy was a sleeve of Oreos and a bottle of booze.” I keep going because we are almost to the parking garage and I’ve learned nothing yet.
“See, I took a hit to the head and forgot some things, but you look so familiar. Did I meet you last week when I came here?”
“Yes, and I’m tired of throwing you out,” he says. “So please don’t return.”
“Thanks for jogging my memory.” I rock backward on my heels. “Did I happen to give anything to Gavin?”
He turns on me, his giant frame making me feel small. “What do you want?”
A shiver races down my spine at the threat in his words. This is a man who could kill me.
“Just a nap. You’re so kind to walk me to my car so I can go home and do that. Thanks for walking me out.” The elevator doors open into the garage, and I rush out. He thankfully stays put, and the elevator closes behind me.
I drop my self-confident act. Stupid. This was stupid. I didn’t get any answers. I didn’t solve any problems. I should have waited until I remembered everything. Now I’ve made the situation worse. I’ve failed my dad, again.
I fight back tears as I speedwalk to my car, needing to get as far from here as possible.
“Thea, wait!”
I stop at the sound of Andi’s voice and the tap of her shoes echoing off the cement. She chases after me, her red hair flying out of her bun, her glasses askew, and a flask in her hand. “I’ve got something for you to try.”
I watch the flask, the way the nearly translucent liquid tilts and sways with her movement.
My glass did that on the plane.
There was terrible turbulence, and I was worried it would spill on me, but it didn’t. I drank the whole thing. It tasted like lime.
“Thea?”
I blink, bringing myself out of the memory.
I look up at Andi’s face. Something is wrong.
“Sorry, I just…” I swallow, unable to finish my thought. My brain is still trying to process the memory as Andi describes the contents of the bottle. I can’t focus on a word she says. Memories are returning.
“It’s basically like an energy drink for your brain to get it to run faster than the forgetting pill.” Andi’s words break through my brain and I blink, focusing on her. What did she just say?
“Forgetting pill?”
Andi’s eyes widen, and her lips part.
The Forgetting Pill—the street name for Amnexia. She knew more about it than she let on. Because she…
“You.” I stagger back a step, the memory hitting me like a weight in the chest. “You tried to take the formula from me.”
“I—”
“Where is it?” Pain grips my throat, devouring my soul. My heart feels like it’s been run over with a rake. “Did you give it to them? To Gavin?”
She reaches for me, but I stumble, tripping over my feet to get away from her. One step, two… I can’t stop. This woman we considered family betrayed us.
“Thea, let me explain.”
“Explain how you exploited my family?” My words come out haggard and desperate. “Where is the formula? Give me the drive.”
Her bottom lip trembles. “You never gave it to me.”
“Good.” A lump forms in my throat.
“Miss Meyers?”
I startle at the jarring sound. Turning slightly, I see a tall man I’ve never met before. My mind is reeling, trying to remember and forget at the same time.
“That’s me,” I barely get the words out.
“I’m Special Agent Cole Dutton with the CIA.” He holds a badge long enough for me to confirm the truth of it.
Did Gavin send the CIA after me? He couldn’t have, but Pierce could have. I knew he’d be mad that I left without him this morning.
“Pierce Abernathy is in some trouble. I’m here to take you to him.” Agent Dutton explains gently, like I’m a fragile child.
My spinning world comes to an abrupt halt. “What’s wrong, what happened?” Did he go looking for me? Did someone find him? Did someone break into my house and hurt my family?
“I’ll explain on the way, miss.” He motions behind him to an idling car. How long has that been there?
I head for the open door of the car that will take me far from Andi, the betrayer.
“Thea, don’t—” Andi’s words are cut off as the door shuts me inside. I fight my tears, but I have to look at her one last time to show her how much she hurt me. I turn my head toward the window.
That’s when I see Cole pick Andi up and throw her flailing body over his shoulder.
What the…?
I reach for the door handle, but it’s locked. Andi is screaming at me, and I try to scream back, but it’s no use. There’s a weird smell in the vehicle. I’m sleepy…
Another memory fights for life, but I don’t have any left to give it.