Gabriel (12 page)

“
Hello. You do, ah, that’s good. Hang on, Sam. I’m going to put you
on speaker. No, it’s just Calla, Gabriel, and myself. No, I haven’t forgotten
everything you taught me.”

Robert pulled the phone from
his ear, pressed the speaker button and placed the phone on the desk while
sitting in his chair. Calla bounced her legs up and down. This was the moment
of truth. If Sam couldn’t help her she was afraid she might be stuck as a
half-breed forever. Gabriel reached over and placed his palm on her knee. She
glanced over at him to find him smiling. A sense of peace came over her.

“
You’re on speaker,” Robert said.

“
Calla, Gabriel, I’m Sam, a friend of Robert’s. He has filled me in
on everything. I looked at the pictures of the slides he sent me, and I’ve seen
something similar once before.”

“
Where?” Calla asked.

“
New Mexico.”

Robert was silent for a
moment. “I worked there, but I never saw anything like that, I would’ve
remembered seeing those genetic mutations.”

“
It was a secret government project. The ones who worked on it were
eventually moved to a secure secret location. The scientists who went to work
on this project were basically erased from civilization,” Sam said.

“
So if that’s true how are we going to find someone to help us?”

Sam’s laugh echoed through
the speaker. “Even a retired Black Ops agent still has connections. I thought
you of all people would know that.”

“
I do. So then after all this bragging I know you found someone.
Who is it?”

“
Dr. Maree Weiss, and you’re in luck. She lives a few miles from
your summer home.”

“
That name doesn’t sound familiar to me,” Robert said.

“
It wouldn’t. Even if you knew her from New Mexico, this is not the
name she had back then. When they retired, the scientists were given new
identities and a false background so they could re-enter civilization.”

“
You got to love the government.”

“
Hey now, you’re a retired government man yourself.”

“
I know, I know.”

“
I’ll text you her address and phone number. I would suggest that
you guys drive up there and talk to her. She probably won’t talk to you over
the phone.”

“
Thanks, Sam.”

“
Anytime.”

“
Sam! Are you still there?”

“
Yeah.”

“
I was wondering if you could send a package to my place.”

“
With the all the extras?”

“
Yeah, you better send the works. I don’t know exactly what we’re
dealing with, but I’d rather be over-prepared than under-prepared.”

“
I’ll have it there by tomorrow.”

The line went dead. Calla
closed the phone, and within a minute a text came through. It was Dr. Maree
Weiss’s address. Calla read the information, and hope began to run through her
veins. Dr. Weiss was close. Really close.

Chapter Eight

Robert packaged the slides
and vials. He placed everything into a foam cooler with the papers wrapped in
plastic resting at the bottom.

He picked up the cooler. “Are
you guys ready to go?”

Gabriel and Calla nodded.

They left the hospital and
headed toward the car.

“
Are you sure your truck will be okay here for the weekend?” Calla
asked, getting into the backseat.

Robert and Gabriel both sat
down and closed their doors.

“
I park in the physician parking lot. It’ll be fine,” Robert said.

“
Must be nice to park out of the weather,” Calla said.

“
It is.” Robert turned toward Gabriel. “Have you ever been to
Traverse City before?”

“
No.”

“
Do you know where we’re going?”

“
Maybe,” Gabriel said, and then pulled out of the parking lot.

****

It had been a long couple of
days, and a hot shower was exactly what Calla needed. She unbuttoned her
blouse, letting it slip down her arms and onto the floor. Next came her jeans,
sliding one leg out at a time until they rested next to her shirt. She reached
and turned on the water. She grasped between her bosoms that over flowed the lace
cups and unsnapped the front of her bra, her peaks getting harder as the satin
caressed across each bud before her bra joined her other clothing. Her fingers
circled a nipple, alternating between pinching the peak and massaging it. Her
juices soaked the silken crotch of her panties, while her core begged for
release. She slid a finger over the band of her panties, and the silk brushed
across her soft skin before landing on top of the pile at her feet.

Calla stepped into the
shower. The hot water pelted her skin, raising the hair on her arms. Steam
filled her lungs, and her muscles started to relax, but the ache between her
legs only intensified. She reached for the loofah, squirted some soap on it,
and began to lather her body. She rubbed the sponge across her breasts, down
her abdomen, and stopped at the junction between her thighs. Her clit was so
engorged it was almost painful. She gave it a gentle stroke and whimpered. She
needed release. The loofah fell to the floor, and her hand took over,
separating the folds.

A cool breeze brought her to
a halt. She peeked around the shower curtain, and there stood Gabriel wearing
nothing but a hard-on. He didn’t speak as he stepped inside the shower behind
her. He pressed his erection against her ass.

Without thought, Calla arched
her back and pressed tighter against his sculpted abdomen. Gabriel wrapped his
hands around her hair and tugged her head back. Their eyes met, his filled with
desire that sent electricity humming through her already charged body, and all
she could do was give a slight a nod. He placed his free hand around her hip,
bent her over, and pulled her closer. Her palms pushed against the cool tile
while he tilted her hips upward as his erection bobbed at her opening, she
pushed against it. Gabriel released her hair, grabbed her other hip and slid
himself inside.

Calla moaned. Gabriel pulled out
slowly, and then pounded into her, over and over until Calla went over the edge
crying in ecstasy.

****

The sound of the car door
jarred Calla out of her dream. She glanced up, and Gabriel stood with her door
open.

“
You fell asleep.”

Calla glanced down, and her
back was arched like a cat in heat, she raised her arms, and pulled the best
fake yawn out she could muster. “Yeah, I guess I did.”

Gabriel gave her a knowing
grin, and she searched his face, curious to know what exactly that grin was
for.
Surely he wasn’t there.
She
raised a brow, and then quickly sat up straighter.
No, he couldn’t have been there, could he?

“
That position did not look very comfortable.”

“
Ah, yeah, it was fine.” She unclipped her seatbelt and got out as
fast as she could.

Her cheeks burned. If it was
anyone but Gabriel she may have collapsed from sheer embarrassment. He didn’t
seem to know, and this was one time she was glad he didn’t understand all the
human customs.

Calla and Gabriel joined
Robert, who waited for them. They had decided they would stop by Dr. Weiss’s
place before heading over to Robert’s house. They needed to convince her to
help them.

They walked down a
cobblestone path to the door. Calla clasped the knocker and tapped against the
metal. She listened for footsteps, but there wasn’t a sound. She used the
knocker again, but no answer. Gabriel moved her over and banged on the wood.
Calla placed her ear closer to the door, and she could hear a woman’s voice
inside, humming. She motioned for Gabriel to knock again. She put her ear near
the door again, as she heard footsteps approaching.

Calla backed away from the
door and glanced over at Robert and Gabriel. “Do something so you don’t look so
intimidating!”

Gabriel moved away from the
door and stood on the pathway. Robert placed his hands in his pockets and
started to whistle, moving his head from left to right slowly. Calla shook her
head. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I meant. The whole whistling and head bobbing
looks really natural.”

The door opened, and a short,
slightly overweight woman, with pale blue eyes and graying hair pinned in a
bun, answered the door.

“
Hello?”

“
Are you Dr. Maree Weiss?”

The older woman pulled her cardigan
tight and nodded.

“
Dr. Weiss, I’m Calla Stevens, and I need your help.”

Maree stayed inside the glass
door, and Calla moved to the side so she could get a better look at the two
men. The last thing she wanted was for Maree to feel threatened. Calla turned
and motioned behind her. “This is Gabriel and Dr. Robert Williams.”

Maree gasped and clutched her
chest, opening the door and stepping onto the porch. She walked up to Robert.
“Is that really you?”

“
Maree Ann Mason?” Robert asked, his face turning ashen. “You’re
Dr. Maree Weiss?”

Calla watched as Maree
wrapped her arms around Robert, who remained motionless, his face getting
whiter by the moment.

Maree released her grip,
stepped back, chuckled and placed her palm on his cheek. “I haven’t been called
that in almost forty years.”

Calla and Gabriel glanced at
each other, and she shrugged her shoulders. Obviously they knew each other, but
Calla wasn’t sure how.

She cleared her throat.

“
Oh, sorry,” Robert said, but didn’t take his eyes off Maree.

“
I take it you know each other,” Calla said.

They both nodded, but
continued to gaze into each other’s eyes.

Robert stroked her cheek. She
turned her head and placed a kiss on his palm.

“
I never thought I’d see you again.” Robert’s color started to
return, and he pulled her into an embrace. “You haven’t changed much at all.
You’re still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”

Maree pulled away this time,
swatting playfully at Robert. “And you still have a way with words. Look at
me—I’m blushing like a schoolgirl.”

“
I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” Robert said.

Maree turned away. “I didn’t
think you wanted to see me again.”

“
I’m not the one who left. You left and never even said good-bye. I
looked for you, used every tool at my disposal, but it was like you disappeared
off the face of the earth.”

A wary look entered Maree’s
gaze. “Robert … you were supposed to meet me at the facility, remember? You
accepted the assignment. They said you accepted so we could be together. It was
supposed to be a package deal, and it’s the only reason I accepted it in the
first place.”

 
“
I don’t know
what you’re talking about. I never agreed to go to that facility. I mean they
asked me, but I said no because I wanted to be with you.”

Maree turned to face Robert.
“They told me you were coming. They told me you accepted the position. They
told me you knew I had accepted the position. It was all hush-hush, so they
said we couldn’t talk about it. That we would see each other once we reached
the facility.”

Tears rolled down her cheeks,
and Robert pulled her close. “I don’t know who ‘they’ are, but I said no from
the beginning. I never mentioned it to you because … well, for one it was
classified, and I had already said no. And I was planning on asking you to be
my wife. I wanted to start a family with you, so a top secret assignment didn’t
fit into my plans.”

“
I hated you for doing that to me. And now to know...”

She started sobbing softly.
Robert clutched her tightly against him. She looked back into his eyes. “But
there was no way I could hate you, no matter what you did to me. After the
bitterness passed, I felt only sorrow that it couldn’t have been more, that we
couldn’t...”

She wiped at her eyes.
“That’s why I came up here. I knew this place was your home. There was a piece
of me that even wished I’d see you here, walking a dog, or getting your mail.
But I was afraid also. My biggest fear was that I would see you at the grocery
store with your wife.”

Calla thought she’d leave and
give them their privacy, but it was so sad and beautiful at the same time, she
couldn’t help but watch.