Mallory Rush - [Outlawsand Heroes 02] Read Free Page A

It's your addiction to my coffee."
    "Get outta here!" She gave him a playful shove and he laughed as he sailed out and down.
    Lori took a last, lingering look at the man she felt an unexplainable affinity with. Regretfully she left him, assuring herself that he hadn't moved since before her great-grandmother was born, and surely he wasn't going anywhere before she came back to reclaim him.
    * * *
    As it turned out, they made two trips before exhuming the man from his frozen crypt. The mission was exhausting, exhilarating, a great adventure. One that, Lori guessed, would enrage the scientific community. What she didn't have to guess about was that she and Ryan would be out of a job if the hospital ever discovered that the emergency helicopter had played an important role in their master plan.
    Their last partner in crime was Skip, the pilot, who also took an oath of silence. They couldn't have done it without him and the chopper.
    A whoop of jubilation went up from Lori and Jennifer once the icy weight was deposited in the back of Warren's monster truck. Lori blew kisses to Skip, who departed with an enthusiastic thumbs-up signal.
    As they waited for the others to return, Lori covered the bulk with a length of heavy canvas, stroked it with a protective caress.
    "Now I can breathe again," she said, sighing her relief.
    "The question is, will he breathe again?" Jennifer gave the canvas a neat slap, which Lori didn't much care for.
    "Not likely," she admitted. "The big problem seems to be that when the body's fluids freeze, ice crystals form and damage the cell tissue. There is a chance, though, a really, really slim chance, that if he was frozen almost immediately, the ice crystals wouldn't have had time to form."
    "Hey, I'm impressed. Sounds like you know your stuff."
    Lori snorted at that. "Don't I wish." If she never read another article on cryonics, it would be too soon. Despite her BSRN degree, the technical mumbo jumbo supporting the theory that life could be held suspended by totally mind-boggling means had been daunting. As for the phone call she'd made to the cryonics organization, she'd felt like a fledgling Trekkie talking to Starfleet Command.
    But then there was Dr. Rashid, who had been flattered that she had taken an interest in his research. So flattered, in fact, that he'd asked her out twice so they could pick up their lunchtime conversations over dinner.
    Dire as her need was to learn as much as she could, she'd turned him down both times. The jerk was married.
    "I wonder if he's married," she mused, eyeing the canvas.
    "If he was, he sure ain't now," Jennifer pointed out. She cocked an eyebrow. "Know what, Lori? You seem to be a lot more interested in this guy than in any of the others who've been trying to make time with you since... well, you know."
    It was true, but Lori wasn't about to admit to her romantic fantasies involving the "amazing human Popsicle" as her friends had dubbed him.
    With a mischievous smile, Lori said, "actually, Jenn, if you think about it, he's got some great points in his favor."
    "And just what might those be?"
    "For one thing, he's harmless, and that's a lot more than I can say for some of the studs who hit on us at the Kick and Kaboodle. The only line dancing they're after is the horizontal two-step."
    "You've got that right," Jenn readily agreed.
    "And, he's a hunk."
    Jennifer peeked under the canvas. "Mmmm... definitely yummy." She gave Lori a broad grin. "Actually, toots, I believe you're one hundred and ten percent right. What we have here is no less than the perfect man." With a wink, she said, "the kind of guy who listens and doesn't talk back."

 
     
     
    Chapter 2

     
    The darkness was timeless, a place that was warm, where he floated between dreams and nothingness. Since the dreams were often painted in slashes of violence and rage, the escape he found in that dreamless nook was a welcome thing. It was there that Noble found peace.
    At first he didn't overly appreciate