Claimed Read Free Page B

he slid Chiana’s pants down her hip far enough to rub a place with an alcohol swab and plunge the long needle in.
    She reacted with a sharp cry and, thirty seconds later, a string of curse words that would have impressed a sailor.
    “Damn, Doc, you trying to kill me or cure me?”
    Chiana’s slurred words were the first she’d spoken since Wil had climbed into the car. He took that for a good sign. Warning her so she wouldn’t go on the offense, he slipped his hand beneath her shirt to touch her heated skin.
    “Gonna cost you to feel me up.”
    Her words were stronger, much to Wil’s relief. Her labored breathing gradually returned to normal, and her skin cooled to a more normal temperature. The storm had passed while he waited for her to recover. As if in celebration, the sun came out.
     
    Chiana straightened in her seat.
    “What was that stuff?” she asked, rubbing the injection site. “I thought you were sticking a garden hose all the way to my hip bone.
    “Plan B.” Wil started the engine and pulled onto the highway.
    “Be careful with my baby,” Chiana cautioned. “I don’t ordinarily let men touch her, you know.”
    Wil offered a small smile. “I don’t ordinarily get a chance to drive a car like this. I’m more of a small import man.”
    “Whatever turns you on.”
    She studied the scientist as they rolled toward whatever destination he had in mind. People talked about trusting someone with their life, but she did with Wil. She’d met him at age thirteen. He’d been just starting the research that would plunge him into a world few people knew existed. He looked much the same now as then, with a little graying at the temples and a few crow’s feet, as much the result of worry as age.
    She still didn’t know how her mother found Wil. She hadn’t known for a long time what the “hormone” shots were that he developed especially for her. She did know that without him, her life would have come crashing down long ago.
    “Uh, mind telling me where we’re headed?” she asked as he slowed and turned the Mustang onto a pair of ruts. “I’m pretty sure this isn’t the back way to your house.”
    “We’re going somewhere safer.”
    “Wow.” Chiana looked at him in surprise. She didn’t think any safer place existed than Wil’s lab on the third floor of his house, with its state of the art security system, video monitoring system and network of motion detectors. He was so paranoid she sometimes joked he had poison gas jets built into the woodwork. If he didn’t think that was secure enough, she was in a whole lot more trouble than she thought.
    She was brimming with questions which remained unasked as they jolted down the narrow lane. Wil gripped the steering wheel like a Sunday driver in freeway traffic, leaning forward to peer through the windshield. Chiana kept her eyes on the woody overgrowth on both sides of them. She didn’t want to see what dangers to the Mustang’s undercarriage lay ahead.
    “We’re here.” Relief was palpable in Wil’s voice as he slowed the Mustang and parked beside a weather-beaten building. The recent rain had added a sheen to the worn wood siding, and accented the remaining letters on a sign hanging haphazardly in front of it. Chiana squinted, trying to make out what it once said.
    “Refuse of the Internal Oil?” she guessed.
    “Refuge of the Eternal Soul,” Wil corrected.
    “It’s a church?”
    “Used to be. It’s a safe house now.”
    Chiana studied the building. “You always take me to the finest places.”
    Wil gave her a small smile as he swung the car door open.
    “Only the best for you, my dear.”
    By the time she got out, he was walking through the high grass toward the back of the building. Chiana followed and found Wil studying a back door. He reached out and tried the knob below the grimy glass window. It was locked.
    “Look around,” he said. “Maybe there’s a key hidden somewhere.”
    “And maybe monkeys will fly out of