Chapter Thirteen.
Rain
All I wished was to leave work, but the weather seemed determined to thwart me. The rain was literally coming down in sheets. Annoyed, I stared out of the building, knowing I’d parked on the other side of the parking lot. Racing across that in this downpour meant I’d be soaked within seconds.
“That looks like hell, and even if we got to the cars, we can’t drive in it,” one of my team said from behind.
“Not disagreeing there, Ed. I’m hoping it will lighten up a bit.”
“Well, I’m returning to the lab. There was a culture I had my eye on,” Ed stated and walked away.
I sighed and waited. Damn it, I wanted to leave. Allegra was supposed to be coming for dinner, and I didn’t want to be late. Ten minutes ticked by before the weather eased, and I dashed out.
I climbed into my car, soaking wet and pissed off. Pitting the heaters on full blast, I started the engine and drove off.
Allegra was waiting with Shotgun and the twins.
◆◆◆
“What the fuck happened?” Shotgun demanded as I entered the house, dripping water.
“What do you think?” I snarled, and Shotgun laughed.
“Go dry off; I’ve got dinner covered.”
I eyed him suspiciously. Shotgun could cook and was a damn good cook, but he was also lazy. He was quite happy to order takeaway, and I wanted Allegra to have a homemade meal. I was startled when Darcy wandered towards me with sauce all around her mouth.
“What on earth?”
“Kid likes barbecue.”
“Shotgun, tell me you cooked!” I nearly shouted.
“Babe, we’ve got ribs, chicken, corn on the cob, fries, and baby potatoes, and Allegra made slaw and a side salad. Is that okay?”
“Yes,” I grumbled and headed upstairs to dry off.
“Yuk,” Darcy stated, and I turned to see her pointing at the puddle I’d left. Her nose scrunched up. “Weewee.”
“No, I didn’t piss myself!” I exclaimed just as Allegra came out. She paused by the doorway, looking startled.
“Er, did I miss something?”
“Weewee,” Darcy insisted, gesturing again.
“That’s rain, not wee,” I replied.
Darcy’s frown descended, and then she shrieked and burst into tears. Allegra rushed forward as Shotgun scooped her up.
“What?” Shotgun demanded, confused.
Darcy began babbling so fast that none of us could understand her. We caught my name, then the word ‘gone’. Allegra worked it out.
“Oh my God, I’m going to kill them,” she gasped and burst into laughter.
“Who?” Shotgun asked, rubbing Darcy’s back as she hiccupped. Wade appeared to be chewing on a corn on the cob, completely unconcerned.
“Two secs,” Allegra muttered and sent a text to someone. A short while later, her phone pinged, and Allegra chuckled again. “Damn, I knew it!” she exclaimed.
“What?” I demanded.
“Thatch and Gramps watched The Wizard of Oz, with Judy Garland, and the water melted the witch. You said that’s Rain.” Allegra laughed. It took me a few moments before I gasped and began to laugh.
“Oh no, Darcy thinks I’m melting!”
“And you’re dripping water everywhere, which makes it worse. Go and dry off,” Shotgun ordered, amused as Darcy ducked her sticky face into his throat.
“Yeah, ten minutes. By the way, Wade’s eating something if you weren’t aware.” I pointed out and ran upstairs.
“Wade! How the hell did you get that!” Allegra exclaimed, and I laughed. It was chaos, which went completely against my structured, routine life, but I loved it.
Allegra
I kept sneaking glances at Rain and laughing. Every so often, Darcy would reach over and jab him to make sure he wasn’t disappearing.
“Who’d have thought the Wizard of Oz would be a child’s nightmare?” Rain chuckled.
I laughed as I dished up Wade’s dinner, although he’d eaten three ribs, a scoop of slaw and two corn on the cobs already.
“He eats like his father,” Rain accused, and Shotgun chuckled again. I glanced at Shotgun’s laden plate compared to Rain’s and shook my head.
“How are you going to work this? One called Dad and another Daddy?” I asked.
“Not something I thought about,” Rain replied thoughtfully.
“Dad,” Shotgun claimed immediately, and Rain scowled.
“Papa? Pop? Cool dude?” Rain mused.
“Pa,” Wade said with a nod.
“We have a winner!” I cried and threw my hands in the air. “Dad and Pa. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Darcy clapped her little chubby hands together, thinking we were celebrating something, and Wade took a huge bite of a rib. The kids were filthy, but it didn’t matter. Clothes washed up easily enough.
“Did you bring a clean change?” Shotgun asked.
“Yes. That’s the first thing I’ve learned since becoming a mother again. Keep at least three sets of clothes around. The twins are like dirt magnets,” I said.
“How’s work?” I asked Rain.
He frowned. “They’ve upped security, and it’s tighter there than it was. There are a lot of worried people. Two more houses have been turned over. Somebody’s definitely looking for something.”
“You’re working on a major project,” Shotgun said. That hadn’t been a question, and Rain nodded.
“Yeah, it will be worth a lot of revenue, but it’s also a threat to some current profit-making medicines out there,” Rain replied.
“Oh. I guess that means they’d want to destroy the formula so they can continue charging through the nose?” I figured.
“Bingo. It’s happened before in other labs. ENS is tight, a decent company to be employed by. They take their employees’ safety seriously. Unlike those other fuckers I used to work for. They let Matthews work there knowing what a pig he is.” Rain seethed.
Who was Matthews?
He added without being prompted, “Sorry. Matthews was my old boss. Loved taking credit for other people’s ideas.
He was also a homophobic, racist bastard and a bully.
Crude, rude, loud, and obnoxious. Matthews made life a living hell.
I was damn relieved when ENS Pharmaceuticals offered me a lifeline. ”
“Wow. When was this?” I asked.
“Just before we all got together, around three years ago,” Rain replied. I nodded. Interesting.
“ENS has a great work environment. Corporate has security for the team and is taking this threat seriously.”
“Is the danger real?” I inquired, worried. “You’re a scientist.”
Shotgun and Rain exchanged a serious glance before looking at the kids.
“Okay, kiddos. Let’s put a film on,” I suggested.
Rain nodded, got up, and found a cartoon to watch. We cleaned the twins with a wet wipe as best we could, tucked them up on the couch, and returned to the kitchen to clear up.
“Thalia is my eldest sister. This dates back to when Thalia was searching for us. I was the last to be located. My ex-girlfriend had hit a loan shark and done a bunk. Asshole came after me, and I refused to pay. He was there when Thalia arrived. The loan shark wanted the formula I was working on; it was worth millions, if not more. Shit happened, and Thalia sacrificed her freedom to help me escape. She was captured.”
Rain sucked in a deep breath and stared out of the window, and I braced. He was about to say something disturbing.
“Thalia was tortured, her finger cut off, and her nipple and breast mutilated. The psycho holding her literally beat her to death. She wasn’t breathing when we found her. Thalia underwent months of surgery before having her breast removed and a reconstruction done.” Shotgun finished.
Horrified, I stared at them both. “This is a serious threat.”
“Yes, I think so. ENS do as well. Scientists being kidnapped is happening more frequently. We’re worth millions, even billions, to some asshole,” Rain replied.
“I wouldn’t have thought it a high-risk profession,” I muttered.
“No one does. But with the knowledge we hold, we can be invaluable.”
“And nobody knows what this person wants?”
“I’ve a rough idea. I’d mentioned a couple of ideas I wanted to chase, and Matthews knew. If he told someone, or a member of my team innocently alluded to something, that could have made us targets.”
“Rain, you need more protection!” I exclaimed, and Rain laughed.
“I’m okay, Allegra.”
“For now.”
“We’ve alerted Dylan Hawthorne, and he’s hooking our home security system up to his systems. That means we’ve got Hellfire and Hawthorne’s watching us.”
“Hawthorne’s?”
“A specialist PI company. This type of situation is right up their alley. If it comes to it, they’ll provide Rain with a bodyguard. That’s what they do, and if they can’t, the Fallen Warriors MC is also into private security. I can have Rain covered by someone within an hour or two,” Shotgun said.
“Are Darcy and Wade at risk?” I inquired fearfully.
“No. Because they’ll never be out of our sight,” Shotgun reassured me.
“Okay.”
“Just like that?” Rain asked.
“What do you want me to say? I’m trying to build a friendship between us that might become the basis of something else. I either accept your word and trust you, or we’re doomed before we begin,” I replied.
“Something else?” Shotgun demanded, picking up on those words.
“I’m open to anything. Life’s too short. Hell, I’m a wonderful example of that.” A smile crossed my lips. “Hey, check me out, not even four weeks old and adulting.”
Shotgun and Rain stared at me in disbelief.
“Too soon?” I asked. Both laughed when they realised I’d been joking. Tough crowd.
“How do we do this?” Shotgun demanded.
“The usual way of getting to know each other, I’d suggest spending time together,” I replied.
“Now she’s being a smartass. We’ll take it at your pace,” Shotgun said, and I nodded. That was fine with me.
Rain
My spine straightened a little, and my hands shook as I saw the police cars and crowds standing outside the building the next day. Heading over to where Dr Paulson stood with some of my team, I was alarmed to see several of the women crying.
“What’s happened?” I demanded, heart racing.
“Ed was attacked last night,” Sophie, another researcher, replied.
“What?” I exclaimed in horror. “How badly is he hurt? How did they get in?”
“Dressed as security. Ed’s badly hurt; he caught the man in the lab and confronted him, and the guy assaulted Ed. He also fled with some samples,” Paulson explained.