Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Union Station, one hour later…

AS WE APPROACHED the train, two uniformed Amtrak porters pulled out a portable ramp and lined it up with the door of the car. "Need help with your husband, ma'am?" one of them asked.

Kira waved them off. "No worries," she said. "He's lighter than he looks."

She tipped me back in the wheelchair and rolled me right up the ramp and into the aisle of the sleeper car. When we got to our compartment, she slid the heavy door open. Then, just in case anybody was looking, she stuck her arms under mine and hoisted me from the wheelchair to the compartment seat—like the aged invalid I was pretending to be. She folded the chair and stashed it to the side, then slid the door closed with a loud thump. She closed the blinds.

I let out a little breath of relief. We made it. By two minutes.

As soon as we settled into our roomette, an automated voice crackled through the PA system. "The Lake Shore Limited. Stopping at South Bend, Elkhart, Waterloo, Bryan, Toledo, Sandusky, Elyria Cleveland, Erie, Buffalo Depew Station, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Schenectady, Albany-Rensselaer… and New York."

I slumped back on the seat. Jesus. Twenty-one hours from Chicago to Penn Station. An entire night and day. I looked at Kira. "Is there anywhere we're not stopping?"

No reaction.

I tried a different tack. "What's in New York?" I'd asked the same thing back in the salon when I saw Denise booking the tickets. I got the same reply.

"Wrong question."

Kira said that a lot. I'd gotten used to it during my training. It meant I wasn't going to get a straight answer. Most often, no answer at all.

The makeup and spirit gum were starting to irritate my face, and the fake whiskers were driving me crazy. "Can we at least wash this crap off now?" I asked.

Kira started folding the beds down—two narrow berths, one above the other, like offset bunks. "Savor your old age," she said. "It's good practice."

Kira climbed onto the top bunk as the train rolled out of the station. I could see her pulling off her clothes under the covers. I settled into the pod below and did the same. Then I stretched out, or tried to. When I put my head on the pillow, my feet almost hit the wall.

I watched the lights of the station blink by as the train started to roll. My folded-up wheelchair rattled against the wall. I realized that I hadn't been on a train trip for years, not since my expedition to Egypt my junior summer. What everybody says about the rhythm of the rails is true. I don't care where you are in the world—a moving train is one big cradle.

I had a lot more questions for Kira, but I felt myself drifting off to sleep.

I tried to fight it.

I lost.

My eyes blinked open again somewhere in Ohio. It was about four in the morning. The train was rolling through fields and past small towns. For long stretches, the only light came from barns and farmhouses.

My ears had finally recovered. I could hear the creak of the bunk above me every time Kira flipped over. I went to scratch my forehead and felt deep furrows above my eyebrows. I remembered that I was now a very senior citizen, with wrinkles to match. Even my hands were crinkled and spotty. Very thorough, Denise.

What the hell were we doing here, I asked myself. I knew what we were escaping from, but what were we heading into? And why New York? Did Kira have more contacts there? More secrets? Another damn loft?

I stared out into the dark and thought back…

It had been eighteen months since Kira Sunlight walked into my life. Like a wrecking ball. Up to then, I'd been Brandt Savage, PhD, professor of anthropology at the University of Chicago. Tenured and content. Teaching, writing, research, academic conferences—that was my whole life. A little boring and predictable, maybe, but safe and secure.

Then Kira found me.

Against my will, she turned me into a new man. Thanks to her, I'm two inches taller and four times stronger. I'm down to 9 percent body fat, and my hair is as thick as a teenager's. My skin is tough enough to deflect a small-caliber bullet. Also, I now know lots of ways to kill people.

I didn't ask for any of it. I wasn't given a choice in the matter. The whole training process was torture for me. Then, a year ago, Kira dragged me on a mission that nearly got us both killed. After that, I was done. I just walked away—back to my old life. I never expected to see Kira Sunlight again.

And I didn't.

Until yesterday afternoon.

That's when I realized I was in love with her.