Obession by Design (15 page)

“There
he is,” said Merrill.
“Told you a damn tornado wouldn’t keep
the old bastard away.”

But
even the realization that George was okay couldn’t chase away the dark clouds
that had settled over Liane’s heart.

Chapter
Fifteen

Emmett
shook George’s hand and then clapped him on the back. “What’s with the flag?”

“Took it off a ship.
They used these for hurricane
warnings.”

“Excuse
me?”

He
pointed toward a distant rise. “There’s a ship over there. An actual ocean
liner,
all smashed up.
Must have been
swept here by a flood.
That’s where I hid while that twister went by.
Sorry I’m late.”

His
sharp dark gaze swept over the group, stopping when he spotted Liane. “This
must be
Liane
. How are you holding up?”

“I’m
not sure yet.”

George
chuckled. “You’re with the best of the best here, little lady.
Nothing to worry about.
So, are you ready to see this
dagger?”

“Yes,
I am.”

Emmett
was worried about Liane. He’d known this was a bad idea, but he couldn’t have
insisted she stay behind. He knew that would have been worse for her. George’s
bunker was less than half an hour away, and by the time they neared it, clouds
had begun to form again. She watched sky anxiously, and he caught her glancing
toward Connie’s tablet as well.

When
they reached George’s house, it was raining once more, but there was no thunder
or lightning. Inside, the place was warm and toasty. The soft whirring of two
desktop computers filled the air, along with
the swoosh
of an HVAC system similar to the ones they used in the cities underground.

George
motioned to her. “Come over here a second, Liane.”

Emmett
followed, thinking he was going to show her the dagger, but instead he brought
up a website. “This is old,” he said. “Over one hundred years old. It happened
in 2009 in a town that wasn’t too far from here called Murfreesboro. I’d like
you to read the article while I find that dagger for your man here before he
loses his mind.”

George
winked at him, and Emmett shot him a dark look. The man had an uncanny knack
for reading a person’s emotions at first glance, and he always nailed Emmett in
two seconds flat.

Emmett
followed George to another room while the rest of the team made themselves at
home in George’s kitchen. He glanced over his shoulder toward Liane, who was
absorbed in whatever site George had brought up for her. “What is that you
showed her?”

“A story about a preacher who was
caught outside along a parkway in an EF4 tornado in Murfreesboro that went
right over his head, literally, while he clung to a small tree trunk.
No lie. He was injured but lived
through it, and wrote about the experience of looking up as the vortex went
over him, seeing debris dancing at the top. He called it angels doing ballet. I
thought given her background you shared with me, and the slightly gray color of
her skin after having gone through that experience just now, she could use
something inspirational.”

Emmett
had shared Liane’s past with George after telling him she was coming to the
surface with them.

“I’ve
seen so many people die in storms I’ve lost count, and that story is one of the
things that
has
kept me going.”

“She
needs to hear you say that.”

“She
will.” George reached into an armoire and pulled out a drab cloth. He
unwrapped
it to reveal a dagger unlike anything Emmett had
ever seen. This was the real deal. He’d studied enough pictures to know it. “Here
you go, my friend. This is what you came all this way for.”

“It’s
stunning. I can’t believe you have this.”

“Pure
luck, I assure you. Unfortunately, I have no clue where the other pieces are
right now.”

“That’s
all right. This is what she wants.
How much?”

George
chuckled. “I told you how much already. You think by bringing her along you’ll
get it for a bargain?”

Emmett
laughed. The old codger had seen right through that ruse. Money was no object,
especially not where Liane was concerned. Emmett took a small bag out of his
parka pocket and handed it to George. “Here you go, you skunk. All gold coins,
like you asked for.”

George
handed him the wrapped dagger. “And here you are. I hope she enjoys it.”

“So
do
I
.”

Right
now, he hoped more that Liane found some kind of healing peace from this
experience, or it would have been wasted, and might even make things worse for
her. He’d rather lose an arm than inadvertently cause her more pain.

****

Liane
wiped away fresh tears as she read the article. Then she read it again.
Granted, the preacher had lived and his family hadn’t been injured or even in
the direct path of the storm, but when she looked at the photos of the parkway
before and after, including the tree trunk he had wrapped his body around, she
realized the man should have been killed by debris or swept away in the wind.
The fact that he’d survived it with no more than a leg wound and a small scalp
wound was truly a miracle.

The
article included links to similar stories, and she read them all. These stories
weren’t over one hundred years old. They were similar to what she’d gone
through, and some contained even worse tales than hers. That’s what she’d
missed all these years.
Accounts that mirrored hers to give
her a sense of camaraderie, and help her place her own experience in
perspective.
Now she had that.

She
sent the links to every article she could find to her email so she could read
them again at her leisure, and then she turned at the sound of Emmett’s voice.
He held up the dagger, and she ran over to him, smiling.

He
handed it to her and she stared at it in awe. “This is amazing. I don’t know
what to say.”

“Say
you’ll be okay. That’s all I care about.”

“I
will be now.” She turned her gaze toward George. “Thank you.”

His
lopsided grin made her smile. “You are very welcome, little lady.”

They
all turned at the sound of loud laughter coming from George’s kitchen. Emmett
shot George a guilty look. “I’d better get this gang out of here before you
have no food left.” Emmett strolled toward the kitchen while Liane thanked
George again.

“That
pretty smile on your face is all the thanks I need. You know, I lost family
members, too, in storms.
Lots of friends as well.
The
guilt some days for having survived this long consumes me.”

She
swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. “Then why do you keep doing it?”

His
gaze grew hard.
“Because this is my planet and I’ll be damned
if some computer program is going to take it from me.
That’s why we all
do this, Liane. We want our planet back.”

She
nodded several times as understanding and a profound sense of peace finally
settled over her. She’d thought she understood all this but now realized that
she had not. Not until this precise moment in time.

They
were at war with a computer program, and the price they had to pay was the same
as in any war. She didn’t want to cower in fear any longer. She wanted to stand
with them and fight.

The
trip back was uneventful, and Liane took it as a sign that she could survive
anything now. She’d made it out the other side six years ago, and now she’d
gone to the surface and survived that as well. She was a warrior and could
handle anything from this point on.

If
Emmett needed these occasional trips to the surface, she now had the courage to
stay behind and wait for him. He’d proven to her that he knew what he was
doing, and she’d seen firsthand that he didn’t simply charge into the face of a
storm. He was smart about his trips, and he took every possible precaution.

She
would not ask him to be someone other than who he was, because she loved him.
All of him, including the man who needed challenges and adventure in his life.
She was a warrior now, and warriors had courage. She could do this.

****

Three
days after Liane had gone to the surface with Emmett, she was with him in his
office working one evening when he received a call from Blaine. He shot Liane
an anxious glance and she asked him if she should leave, but Blaine had already
seen and heard them both.

“She
needs to stay. She’ll want to hear this.”

Liane
sat down next to Emmett and waited.

“That
little problem you called me about a couple of weeks ago is taken care of.”

Emmett
grinned, and Liane glanced from him to Blaine and back again. “Why do I need to
hear this? What are you two talking about?”

“May
I tell her?” asked Blaine.

Emmett
waved a hand toward him. “Might as well.”

Blaine’s
smile was so wide she wondered if his face hurt. “I had some associates take
care of a certain attorney by the name of Connor Fargo. He will never do to
anyone what he did to you.”

Liane’s
eyes widened. “What do you mean by they took care of him?”

“I
mean he won’t be forcing women into having sex with him again in exchange for
legal help.”

“It’s
probably better you don’t know the details,” said Emmett. “Thanks, Blaine. I
owe you one.”

“Anytime.”
He winked at Liane. “If you get
tired of that guy, give me a call.”

She
chuckled and shook her head as Emmett disconnected the call. Then he pulled her
into a tight embrace. “Don’t be upset with me.”

“I’m
not upset, but I can’t pretend to condone violence.”

“And
I won’t tolerate any man treating you or another woman that way.”

She
pulled away to look into his eyes. “Then you’re truly my prince charming.”

“Except I don’t have a white
horse.”

“
True,
and this isn’t a castle.”

“It’s
pretty damn close though, at least with all the artifacts in it.”

“Very true.
I think I can let you slide on
the horse.
However
, I want to know
what Blaine’s friend did to Connor.”

“Why
do you need to know?”

“I
want to imagine it in my head.”

Emmett
laughed, and the sound washed over her the way a cleansing rain used to do
before they were all forced underground. “All right, but it’s not pretty.”

“Well
I certainly hope not. He doesn’t deserve pretty.”

Emmett
hesitated, but she intended to push this issue. It was important to hear this
so she’d have closure. “They broke into his apartment, dragged him out of it in
the middle of the night, and took him to the town square. You know how quiet
this city is at night? It’s the same in each of them. Then they tied him to a
pole on an elevated platform, and hung a sign on him that listed what he’d
done, without naming names of course. The men were masked, gloved, and are
professionals. There was no DNA left behind, and no way for Connor to ID them.”

Liane
laughed so hard that tears ran down her face. “No one saw them?”

Emmett
shook his head. “Not a soul, or if they did, they didn’t report them.”

“How
did he get free?”

“The
police freed him, but from what Blaine said, he was up there for several hours
before people began to come out of their homes and venture into town. To top it
off, they did this on a Sunday morning so people weren’t up as early as usual and
heading to work. Apparently he soiled himself a couple of times as well before
they found him and freed him.”

“Oh my God.
That is perfect.”

“Are
you satisfied now?”

She
kissed him. “Very. Thank you, my true prince charming.”

A
sexy grin split his face, and she thought he was going to suggest they make
love, but instead he walked over to his desk and opened one of the drawers. “I
was going to save this for the right moment, but it occurs to me that the right
moment is when you accept it.”

She
tilted her head. “Okay. You have me intrigued.”

He
took something out, but she didn’t see what it was because he placed his hand
behind his back. “What else happens in the fairytales besides the white horse
and the castle?”

“Um,
well let’s see … the prince usually slays a dragon or two, and then he begs the
princess to marry him, and they live happily ever after.”

As
she watched
love fill
his eyes her pulse raced. What
was behind his back?
Holy shit…

“I
haven’t slain dragons, but I’d say we’ve both conquered a few demons. Will that
do?”

“Yes,”
she whispered.

“Then
there’s only thing left.” Emmett got down on one knee, and Liane began to cry.
Her breath came out in short gasps as he pulled his hand out from behind his
back to reveal a small box. “I got this on the surface a long time ago on a
whim. It’s very old and very rare. I’m told they only made one. Honestly, before
you came into my life six weeks ago, I was thinking of selling it.”