Polar Opposites (In Aeternum Book 4) (23 page)

* * * *

Chicago, Illinois

Bailey rolled out of bed and ambled to the window. Peeling open the curtains, she stared out over the waters of Lake Michigan. She had endured a much shorter flight from Seattle to Chicago than it would have been to Chile.

She leaned her shoulder against the cool glass and closed her eyes.
Was I foolish to just walk away from Ivan? I could have stayed to talk about what happened.

She shook her head and turned from the window, padding back to her bed. With a grunt, she flopped back down on her queen-sized mattress. There was no point in getting up right now. Exhaustion owned her body and she found no reason to fight it. She shuffled around until she was under the blankets.

Ivan.

She did her best to push him from her thoughts as she waited for the lurking sleep to claim her. It didn’t work—he was in her dreams and when she woke, she was coming around her fingers as they thrust in and out of her pussy.

A leisurely shower and a nice brunch at her favorite place went a long way in making her feel all the more human. Her relaxing day took a turn for the worse when she opened the door to her apartment that evening, planning to get some dinner, only to find McNeal standing there. She blinked a few times when out from behind him peered none other than Lynn.

“Aren’t you going to let us in?” His question was more of an order.

Bailey stepped back and allowed them in, wondering just how much his decision was going to affect her life from that moment forward.

Chapter Eighteen

Ivan sat at the end of the dock and dangled his feet in the water. Bailey had just left him. Packed her bag and left. His flight back to Chile didn’t leave until this evening and right now, he wasn’t sure he was going to be on it.

“Are you okay?”

Jaydee settled down beside him, her own feet slipping beneath the wet surface.

“Peachy.”

“I’ve known you for a long time, Ivan. What can I do to help?”

“You’ve changed, Jaydee, you know that? Before you wouldn’t have asked.”

“That’s not true. I always have cared for you and Lexy. It’s the rest of the world I am learning to have cares for. And I don’t believe it is pragmatic to discuss me when you are the one hurting.”

“What makes you think I’m hurting?” He splashed his feet around.

“Because I’m not an idiot. And Bailey isn’t here. Gio says she received a call that took her away.”

“She’s a busy woman.” He ground his jaw and tried not to replay last night’s events in his head
another
time.

“I’m sure she is. But all of us have ties to Theta Corps. Gio and I fly them places at times. You work for their research and development department. I’m not sure exactly what Bailey does, but she’s part of them. Calls happen.”

“Then why are you asking?”

“If that had been her reason for leaving you wouldn’t be moping about as if you’d lost your best friend.”

“I did lose my best friend, Jaydee.” He looked at her. “I avoided you because I was a wimp and didn’t want to face the fact I had lost you. Much less to the man who won you.”

“We’ve always been friends, Ivan. Nothing will change that. And no matter what you were feeling, that is nothing compared to how this Bailey makes you feel. Why are you fighting it?”

“I’m not.” He rested his head against the dock post. “I’ve accepted it. I’m in love with her. I want to be with her all the time.”

“So what is her reason for leaving so abruptly?”

“I’m an ass.”

“Of course you are.” She lifted her legs and waved them about before submerging them again. “That’s not new, nor does it tell me why she left.”

“Bitch,” he said playfully.

Jaydee’s smile reminded him yet again how she’d managed to find herself and her place in this world. Something he’d not done yet.

“I was jealous of her talking to Valentino.”

“To what end? Were you fearful she would try to seduce him?”

“Not at all. I didn’t want him getting her into something that may put her in danger.”

Jaydee looked at him. “Theta Corps.”

He shrugged. “Like I said, I was an ass.”

“What does she do?”

“She’s an assassin.”

“Like Valentino?”

“No, he does more than killing. That’s her primary.”

“Is she a cold person?”

“Not at all, quite the opposite. She has this knack for keeping the two separate. I don’t know how she does it.”

“And how did you meet her?”

Ivan told her the story of the adventure in Madagascar. Jaydee listened without more than a few interruptions.

“So her secondary is retrieval then?”

“According to her, I was the first one she’d done. Since then she’s gone after one more. Some man they wanted back here in the States. I don’t know who for, she doesn’t tell me those things.”

“You were thinking that Valentino was trying to recruit her for something else?”

“That’s the problem, Jaydee. I wasn’t thinking. Period.”

“It happens.”

They sat in silence for a while until Gio called down to her, informing her of a phone call.

“Go after her, Ivan. Don’t let her get away. I saw how you looked when she’s near. I know that look and the feeling it creates. It’s the one Gio brings me. Trust me when I say it opens a whole new world to have that love in your life.”

“I’m a scientist, not a fighter pilot.”

“You are. Now, I will go see what this call is about then I’ll take you to the airport so you can get home to her.”

“Thanks, Jaydee.”

“Lexy and I have discussed it. We think you need to be married like us.” She hopped to her feet and walked away.

He followed at a much more leisurely pace. It didn’t take him long to get his stuff in order and he was ready when she was. After a farewell to the children and Gio, the two of them piled into the convertible and drove away.

The ride up to Seattle was done in Russian with a lot of laughter. When she dropped him off, he gave her a big hug.

“I’m going to miss you.”

“Don’t be such a stranger this time. And bring her back. I like her.”

“You got it. Drive safe, sweetie, and thanks for the ride.” He shouldered his bag and jogged inside Sea-Tac.

Once he made it through to his gate, he pulled out his phone and dialed Bailey. The phone rang and rang without an answer.
This could mean two things. She’s truly pissed at me or she honestly can’t get to the phone.

Ivan looked over notes on some of the projects they were working on in the lab as he waited for his flight to board. Once on the plane, he settled in and closed his eyes, wanting to catch some sleep before he had to change jets for the final leg of the journey home.

After some turbulence and delays, he found himself walking out of the airport in Santiago de Chile. He slid his shades on and waved for a cab. Directions given, he rested his head on the seat and closed his eyes. Sleep—he wanted and needed some sleep.

At his apartment, he took care of that most pressing need. Then he did some shopping and finally made his way to Bailey’s place. He stood outside her door and knocked.

No answer.

“Bailey? Come on, open up.” He knocked again. Still nothing.

He stood there and called her cellphone. He couldn’t hear it ringing through the door.

“Maybe she’s out on a job.” Disappointed, he left her building and headed back through the crowd to his place.

He wanted to talk and make sure her anger with him for his stupidity didn’t fester and grow. Ivan checked back twice more that day and called a few more times. Still nothing, either at her place or on the phone. And he grew frustrated. More and more with each passing moment.

Before he went to bed that night, he tried her phone, one last time.

“Hello?”

He blinked, honestly not having expected an answer. “Bailey?”

“What do you need, Ivan?”

“Where are you?” His heart beat steadier now that he was talking to her.

“In my place.”

“I was there three times today and you never answered the door. I’m coming over so we can do this face to face.”

“I’m not there.”

“You just said you were at your place.”

“And we both know I have more than one. Was there something you needed?”

“Yes, I wanted to apologize.”

“Accepted.” Loud noise erupted in the background. “I have to go. I’ll see you when I get back there.”

She was gone. Just like that. There one minute, gone the next.

Ivan drummed his fingers on the table and tried to figure out what he was going to do. His phone rang again. Answering quickly in the hopes it was Bailey, he never checked the caller ID.

“Yes?”

“Dr Vinokourov? This is Chrissy. There’s been an interesting development. Could you come down here at your earliest convenience?”

“You’re still there now? It’s late, Chrissy.”

“I know, but we’ve been working some long hours.”

“I’ll be right there.” He hung up and went to change into something more suited for lab work rather than just his boxers.

* * * *

“You’ve been here for three days, McNeal. Don’t you think you should be telling me what’s going on? And what your plan is for Lynn?”

Lynn currently slept in the spare bedroom and Bailey sat out in the living room with her boss.

“I took her with me.”

“That much, McNeal, is obvious even to me. You took her from the facility and brought her to my apartment. I’m sure there’s a good reason for that somewhere and to tell you the truth, I’d really like to hear it.”

“You know you’d told me that something was off to you there?”

She nodded and curled her legs under her on the sofa. “Yes. Something strange.”

“You were right. The one who’s running that place, Dr Treymous, has kind of decided that she had test subjects right there for her to work on.”

Bailey leaned forward. “Test subjects?”

“Apparently, that woman is working on something to control humans.”

“Control humans? That’s vague. Control how? For what purpose?”

“I didn’t get all the particulars but from what I saw, she’s experimenting with a technique called optogenetics.”

She shrugged. “You’re going to have to explain what that is in non-smart-person talk.”

“It’s a technology which enables those in charge to control genetically modified neurons with a brief pulse of light.”

“How were they genetically modifying them?”

“Each time she would ‘freak out’ and they medicated her, this woman was messing with her.”

“I’m still not sure how she was doing this.”

“Me either. I was hoping Ivan would be here so I could ask him.”

“Why don’t you call him?”

“You do it, he may be more inclined to answer you without asking a lot of other questions I don’t know the answers to.”

She reached for her cell and called him, leaving it on speaker.

“Hello?”

His warm voice washed over her and she wished that she was alone in her place to play with herself as she listened to him. Right now, however, she had to keep her focus and not let on how he made her feel. Especially not with McNeal in the room.

“Ivan? Bailey. I have a question for you.”

“Hey, baby. Hang on a minute. I’ll be right back, Chrissy. Keep that up.” She heard a door close. “Okay, what can I do for you? Are you home yet?”

McNeal watched her with a curious expression but she ignored that. It was the ‘baby’ that had snagged his attention, she knew it.

“Nope, not there. What do you know about something called optogenetics, if anything?”

“Optogenetics? Using light to control the brain. You have genetically modified neurons, meaning it’s coded—the gene inserted into the hippocampal neuron—for a light-sensitive protein. This is supposed to enable someone to use light to control the neurons. It’s focused on the hippocampus because that’s known to have a role in learning and memory. From what I remember, they wanted to be able to activate a memory on demand. This has also opened more insights into some brain disorders like schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, anxiety, depression, et cetera.”

Bailey and McNeal shared a look. “What would be the purpose of such a clinical application?”

“Depends on who is doing it. You could trigger memories that induce panic in someone, or ones that bring a calming memory. I suppose you could also trigger a mindless rage, depending on what you’re training it for. Can I ask why you’re curious? They claim there’s no reason to worry about implanted memories or mind control but, given what Theta Corps has done with some things, I wouldn’t agree with that. The right scientist and doctors could easily have that technology.”

This isn’t good.
“You remember the woman I went to see in Adast?”

“Yes, Lynn.”

“They’ve been doing something like that to her. Is there a cure?”

“That’s not my area of expertise but I would be of the mind, if you weren’t stimulating a portion of the neurons involved with the memory, she wouldn’t be affected. Unless, of course, they had put in a wireless device they could activate from afar.”

“Thanks, Ivan.”

“Are we going to talk, Bailey?”

“Yes. Let me deal with this and I’ll be back soon.”

“Take care.” He hung up.

“Do you think she’s crazy enough to have been doing that?” Bailey slid her phone to the side and focused back on McNeal.

“You met her. Would you put it past her?”

“Not at all.”

“Me either.” He scratched the side of his neck. “I need to have her brain scanned to see if there is anything in there like a wireless device.”

“You think she’s going to go for that? Given what she’s been going through in Adast and before?”

“I rescued her. I was supposed to have put her in a place where she would remain safe. Instead I put her with a sadistic woman who’s been doing who knows what to her.”

“You can’t blame yourself. I don’t think anyone at Theta knew what she was doing.”

“They do now. I just sent a text to the head of the organization. If after we talk I ultimately hear back to let it go, I’ll handle her on my own.”