EMIT (THE EMIT SAGA) (43 page)

“Lily, tell him to come over. We can all hang out at my house tonight.”

I glanced at Daniel and he nodded. “Everything will be okay,” he whispered in my ear.

When we got to the apartment, Daniel offered to walk Amber. That was good, because I was never leaving the apartment until this nightmare ended.

Mom went upstairs and came back down with a small bag.

“Please feed Amber. She gets antibiotics twice a day after meals for the infection.
”

“She’ll just eat the pill?” I asked.

“No, after she finishes eating, wrap the pill in American cheese or cream cheese.”

“Okay. Is there food home or should I order a pizza?”

“Whatever you want, but there’s a lot of chicken left from last night and there’s fresh corn. Don’t remove the husks. Put the corn in the microwave for four minutes.”

“Okay, I will.” I looked over at Lily
and she wasn’t looking very good.

“Bye girls. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” Mom kissed both of us goodbye.

Lily collapsed on the couch and stared at me in disbelief, finally saying, “This is really scary. I have to tell my parents. I can’t keep this from them.”

“Everything will be
okay.” I tried to calm her down, but it wasn’t working.

“What if Daniel is wrong and they’re in danger? If anything happens to them I’ll never forgive myself.”

“You can’t tell them. It’s complicated.”

“I’ll talk to Daniel when he gets back and I’ll decide then,” Lily stated firmly. I’d never seen Lily that upset, but then she’d never been abducted before either.

When Daniel returned, I took Amber into the kitchen to feed her and left them in the living room to talk. Honestly, I’d heard enough and just wanted to escape from it all. After Amber ate, I give her the medicine and I set the table for four. In case Chad was eating with us, we’d be ready. I put the chicken in the oven to warm up and started the corn. Preparing the meal made me feel like it was a normal night, but I knew it wasn’t. No matter, I would enjoy this moment of fake bliss and have dinner with my boyfriend. As I turned to get the glasses, Lily and Daniel entered the kitchen.

“I told Daniel that I will give them time to find these men, but if anything happens to my parents the deal is off.”

Daniel went to the beeping microwave oven and removed the corn.

“What happened to the guy who grabbed me? Where is he?” I asked Daniel.

He didn’t look up from buttering the corn. “He’s being interrogated.”

Obviously, he’d had enough of this topic too or he didn’t want to talk in front of Lily. I saw him reach for something in the fruit bowl on the counter.

I asked Lily if Chad was eating with us. She texted him and when we didn’t get an answer, we started eating without him. Chad showed up when we were eating ice cream.

As Lily told Chad what happened, he was shocked. “Did they get arrested?” he asked.

“We don’t know,” answered Daniel. “We left for the hospital.”

Lily’s phone rang and she went to pick it up. “It’s my dad,” she mouthed, as she walked into the other room. I walked to the dishwasher and started loading the plates.

Lily rushed back in saying, “We have a problem. My dad is calling the police station.”

“Why is that a problem?” asked Chad curiously. Lily looked at me for help.

“Lily was afraid that her dad would sue the guys who pulled the prank,” I answered.

“Why’s that a problem? Those guys terrorized you,” Chad asked, looking at Lily.

“I don’t know.” She shrugged her shoulders, not knowing what to say.

“Those guys should get punished or fined. You could have gotten hurt,” Chad insisted.

“I’d rather forget it ever happened. I don’t want to relive it over and over again.” With a frown, Lily walked towards the living room, saying, “Let’s watch a movie.”

Before I could follow her, Mom called to see if we were okay and to tell me that Dad was doing fine. I told her that Daniel and Chad were over. Remembering abou
t my appointment, I said, “I’m seeing the orthopedist tomorrow at one. Should I go alone?”

“No, I’m coming with you. We’ll talk in the morning. Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out.”

“Are we still going to London?” I asked feeling terrible that I was thinking about our vacation, while Dad was in the hospital.

“We’ll know tomorrow. Take care of Amber. Love you.”

Daniel had heard my end of the call and put his arms around me in a bear hug. We joined Lily and Chad in the living room. I threw my shoes off to get comfortable and sat on the floor against the couch

“What does everybody want to watch?” Lily asked.

“I don’t care, but nothing scary. I’ve been having nightmares all week.”

“How about a comedy? We need to laugh,” suggested Lily. While she surfed On Demand, Daniel went into the kitchen to take a phone call.

I went to get some water and as I got near to the kitchen, I could hear that Daniel’s voice sounded upset. When I walked in, he hung up.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

He shut the kitchen doors and picked up a disc from the bowl to show me. “This tracker that was in Amber is from the future and it’s not being made here yet.”

“So EMIT did put it in her,” I said angrily.

“No, that’s the problem. Everyone in EMIT is adamant that we had nothing to do with it. James is investigating and we have to find out who did this.”

I just couldn’t talk about this anymore. “I’m sorry, but
I need to lie down. Please come upstairs with me.”

Daniel said sure and followed me out, but he was preoccupied texting

“Lily, we’re going upstairs. You guys watch whatever you want.”

“Okay…” she said, but she looked concerned.

Daniel had been in my bedroom before, but not with me. While I sat on the bed, Daniel looked at the photos on my wall.

“Come sit with me?” I asked.

“I don’t think it’s such a good idea,” he said.

“Why
?” I smiled.

“Because you might misbehave,” he teased.

“I don’t have the strength and I’m physically and mentally drained,” I joked. “Did you forget I almost got abducted, Lily did get abducted and my dad’s in the hospital?”

“I was just kidding.
I know you had a horrible day. I wish I could make it all go away, but James won’t let me,” Daniel said, as he got on the bed and put his arm around me.

“Yay, I won,” I said laughing and then realized what he said. “Wait, you asked James if you could change today?”

“Yeah, but he said no. I feel really responsible, but he said we can’t waste trips.”

“You did everything you could.”

“No, I should’ve walked right next to you and not let you get so far in front.”

“Let’s forget about it. I don’t want to think about today.”

We started to kiss. Everything disappeared but us. I was lost in Daniel.

He
caressed my back and asked, “Penny for your thoughts?”

That question brought me back and I asked, “
Will everything going to be okay?”

Daniel stroked my cheek and kissed my lips. “Yes.” After another kiss, he added, “I hope so.” I sh
ut my eyes and nuzzled into him. I tried to get those images of today to disappear.

Something was shaking me and when I opened my eyes, I found Lily sitting on the bed.

“Paige! Wake up. Amber needs to be walked. Chad’s gone and I’m afraid to do it alone.”

Daniel opened his eyes and
was temporarily confused. “I’ll take care of Amber. I’ll be right back.”

“Lily, how did you stay awake after the day you had?” I asked sitting up.

“I wanted to spend time with Chad and the movie was funny.”

“I’m glad you had a good end
to this horrible day.”

“Do you want me to sleep in the guest room?” she asked with a smirk.

“Lily, nothing happened, we just fell asleep. Well, we kissed. Stop making those faces, it’s annoying.”

Returning just as I said that, Daniel asked, “What’s annoying?”

“Lily,” I explained.

Daniel said, “Okay. I won’t ask.”

“It wasn’t anything important, I assure you,” Lily said. “What’s going to happen when my dad calls the police station?”

Daniel thought a minute then said, “They’ll probably tell him that there’s no report of the incident and they don’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Then what?” I asked.

“He’ll probably want to talk to James.”

“I don’t understand. Why did we say it was a prank?” I wondered.

“We
had to explain it away as a one-time problem not as a continuous one or your parents would panic. If they knew of the NSA involvement and the ongoing threat to you, they’d be terrified.” That was true. Daniel yawned. “Paige, I better get going.”

“No, please stay,” I begged
and looked over at Lily for help.

“Please stay. After what happened today,
I’d feel so much better,” Lily said.

Looking at each of us, it was obvious that Daniel was torn. “Okay,” he said, watching my p
leased expression. “I’ll stay in the guest room.”

“No stay with me, it’ll be fine.”

Daniel was about to say no but changed his mind. “Fine, do you have an extra toothbrush?”

I nodded and told him where to look in the bathroom. I closed my eyes and fell asleep while he was still in the bathroom.



As the morning light streamed
in, I looked over at beautiful Daniel sleeping in my bed.

When I heard a
noise in the hallway, I presumed it was Lily. My bedroom door opened and Mom was standing there at first smiling and then she saw Daniel.

“Come into my room, now,”
she said through clenched teeth and walked out. She slammed the door so hard that Daniel woke up.

H
e sat up and looked concerned. “Damn, I forgot to set my alarm. Was that your mom?”

I sighed and nodded yes. “I think I’m dead.”

Daniel laughed while he put his shoes on. “I better go. I knew not to stay, but I couldn’t say no after what you went through yesterday.” He kissed and hugged me. “I hope your parents won’t hate me. It makes dating difficult.”

I said, “She’ll calm down eventuall
y. Why didn’t the agents warn you?”

“I have no idea, m
ost likely to teach me a lesson for always turning off my equipment.”

Daniel went downstairs and
I went across the hall. She was sitting on her bed fuming. “Mom, nothing happened. As you saw, we were fully clothed.”

“Why did he stay over?” she asked seething.

“I begged him to stay because Lily and I were scared to be alone.”

Lily came in and said, “Aunt Lena, I asked him to stay, too.”

Seeing Lily pacified her and she said calmly, “You should’ve asked me. I’m not sure I would’ve said yes, maybe if he slept in the guestroom. I thought you knew better. Since you two were traumatized yesterday, I’ll let it slide, but know that Daniel is never allowed up here again. Do I make myself clear?”

“
Yes, but nothing happened. Pretend he was a girl sleeping over.”

“
He’s not a girl, so stop with the wise comments.”

“Blame me, don’t blame him. I begge
d him to stay.” I stormed out in a huff.

Lily followed me out and said, “
Calm down. She’s just worried about you …and your dad.”

“It
’s just dumb. We just slept.”

“I have to take a shower,” Lily said and left. I knew she thought I was overreacting since she always said that whenever I got upset.

“Fine, I’ll be in the kitchen.”

I made tea and waited for her and wondered if I should walk her to work.

When she came in to the kitchen, I said, “Don’t go to work today.”

Lily looked nervous
. “I have to go. Pierce will meet me in the lobby and take me by car.”

“Good. I don’t think I can handle a repeat of yesterday,” I said, exhaling with relief.

“Me either. My mom is freaking out. She wanted me to take the day off and come home, but I’m working on a project that has to be finished today. It’ll keep my mind busy.”

I walked Lily to the door and hugged her tightly. “Call me when you’re in your building.” I was worried. Yesterday, we had security and those goons got to us, so they could do it again.

Mom appeared after Lily left and seemed more peaceful, or was pretending to be.

“I’m running to the hospital. I’ll leave you the address for the doctor’s in case
you have to meet me there. Although, I hope to be back with your dad and we’ll go together,” she said, as she wrote the address on piece of paper. Mom looked exhausted.