She blew a kiss Chase would not see, returned to James’s voice with an even more firm resolve. “I’m on my way.” She stomped back to the exit, paying little attention to the curious hallway stragglers watching her converse with herself. “No, we won’t talk about this when I arrive because there is nothing to discuss. I just won’t do it.”


***

Charley blew through the metal doors, her only barrier to the outside, and launched herself into the afternoon sunshine.

James knew better than to send her off to a school, alone, in the middle of the day with a mouse and to throw a crazy-ass assignment her way. She’d already labeled it a trifecta of terrible. Adding the need to rid herself of memories, yet again, burned more and hadn’t helped improve her mood.

Why did he ask me to do this?

Out in the open, away from the sounds and stimulation of her past, she let her thoughts wander. Clean-shaven, nearly-black hair, crisp green eyes, and soft lips floated through her mind.

Wyatt.

Behind the cover of dark shades, tears pricked the back of her eyes as pictures flooded her mind. There’d never, ever, been a possibility they’d be erased.

He probably still hated her. It’s been sixteen years, Charley. Get a grip! She tucked her thoughts back into their recesses, instead, turned her attention back to James’s most recent assignment request.

“I’m not going to do it,” she said into the mouthpiece.

He chuckled.

She held in the scream, figuring to let it out in the middle of a school parking lot might give her more attention than she deserved.

“You’re needed, Charley.” Notwithstanding his confidence in her, she would refuse on principle.

She’d trained to be, acted as, or worked as a physician, electrical engineer, molecular biologist, neuroscientist, and attorney, among countless others. She held advanced graduate degrees from Harvard, Duke, Texas A &M, Berkeley and one or two more. The new assignment made no sense.

“Dammit, James! The President himself couldn’t convince me to take this one.” Charley hissed into the sky, relieving a moment of tension. “I choose the assignments. Me. Remember?”

James laughed in her ear, further ruining her attempts at relaxation. The oversized black sedan sent fury through Charley.

Her body shivered despite the warmth under the sun. “You didn’t tell me I’d have company.”

Wheels rolled, gravel crunched. It stopped behind her vehicle, blocking her in.

“Sorry. That’s why you were sent with Pops,” James said.

Such an affectionate name for a completely icky creature.

Two black suits in dark sunglasses emerged, positioned at each side of the car, their hands clasped at their crotches.

“Seriously? Why do they wear shades when the windows are completely tinted? And, hands at their boy parts?”

“It looks really cool. Great way to meet the ladies.” James’s come-on voice, infused with sultry indifference, incited a small laugh from Charley.

She imagined he wiggled his eyebrows, too. “That’s totally lame, you know?” Meandering, she slowed her pace until she stopped.

“Keep moving, Charley.”

How does he know I stopped? “James! C’mon!” She stomped a foot on the ground. “This one is not for me. You don’t need a brain!”

“Yes, we do. It’s a short project. Get in, get done. Your body will work very nicely.”

Her thick hair warmed under the sun’s rays. She kept it long out of habit, had left it black since the day she’d given Wyatt up. A redhead when she met James, blonde with Lily, wild when she connected with Cael, and gold in the period she considered her previous life-with Wyatt.

Her breath hitched. Ten feet away, she planted her feet. “I’m not going with you.”

They stayed fixed at the car, waiting in a stance she knew they’d learned early in the academy.

“Sorry, Charley.” Cael cleared his throat with an audible cough. “Your presence has been, well, requested.” His lips, the only part of his body which registered movement, raised in a slight smirk. She didn’t even see the motion of his chest with his intake of breath.

Charley grimaced at Cael in work mode. Of course they’d send him to get her. That doesn’t mean I have to accept it.

“Go with ’em Charley,” James said. “We’ll meet you there.”

When she’d been sent to Russia, the project had been marked urgent. Her trip to Brazil: life or death. Texas, Africa and China came to her with the same deep need.

One hand on her hip, she tilted her sunglasses down her nose. “By whose definition are we calling this one a necessity?” The government didn’t know when to quit.

“Can’t say,” Cael said.

Charley shook her head, let her hair fall across her face. “Of course you can’t. James couldn’t. No one can tell me who’s calling the shots, yet they want me.” She waved her hands in the air. “Never mind.” She cut herself short and finished the distance to the car.


***

Cael held the door wide. As she slipped into the back seat, she clung to the frame. “This doesn’t mean I agree, just that I’ll let you drive me. Then we can waste time fighting about it.”

“Of course.” Cael nodded.

Two door slams later, the engine purred, and the car exited the school’s lot. On the highway, tires rolled to a smooth cadence. Lulled, Charley let herself fall into a memory from so long ago, she with her three friends in the back of a limo-fun the only rule.

Rarely did they have a driver. Cael as a passenger meant whoever called for her held power and authority.

A change of lanes jostled her. “Why does everyone except me know who’s called this meeting?” She peeked with one eye.

Neither man turned around.

“Some things are best left unsaid,” Cael said. “For now, the team is needed. And that means you.”

The team. She, Lily, James and Cael. An unstoppable team. The guys-the brawn, as she referred to them-balanced her mind. She often admitted James’s logic matched hers, and Cael’s capability for manipulation reached well beyond her own.

“I thought I was the one who knew everything, though?” Charley spoke without punch. Under normal circumstances, she would have been the one in the know-called for missions, adventures, projects, whatever, thanks in most part to her shape-shifting ability but also for her mind.

Cael remained mute.

She gave up. Deep breath in-out-in-out, and one muscle at a time, she unfurled the tension she’d built up in herself. She folded her arms across her chest, let her hands rest against her body and relaxed.

Alone in her thoughts, she considered the possibilities: someone famous, political, a foreign dignitary, or a family member to any of the same. Her mental list blanked on her, with no particular person standing out. That she did not know did not bode well and ratcheted up her nerves again.

Tree-lined roads flew past as they moved from highway to countryside. If they’d turned left, they’d head downtown. The opposite direction and they’d end up near Turner Point where the girl Wyatt knew as Mira disappeared but never left. A surge of memory-fueled adrenaline rushed through her.

Think happy thoughts, Charley.

She smiled as the images of her town passed through her mind. Suburban to the point of excessive. A railroad stop with a rich history. The trains had run since the nineteenth century and continued, blowing their horns as they passed, adding noise and disrupting traffic. She loved the contrast it held to her work-stressful and fast mixed with heritage and timeliness. Some days Charley hated the departure from small town to large. On others, her excitement got the better of her.

Trees grew more sparse, the buildings more dense as they drove on. She ignored the car as it slowed, but the sharp squeal of metal against metal took her attention. The gate before them began to move. At only a foot every couple seconds, she had time to process her location and gawk at the house to which they’d driven. Charley leaned forward-elbows on the seat in front.

Home. House. Whatever they called it, Charley termed it ‘huge’. The house on Turner Point had been hers for at least half her life. Although small in comparison to the one before her, many thought it grandiose.

The statuesque Queen Anne Victorian held its position with regal elegance. Three stories towered in the center, encircled by a wrought-iron fence. Traditional gables and ornate flourishes accented the exterior-adding to the feel royalty once lived within its walls. Charley could stand outside and marvel for hours if left on her own.

The circular drive brought them to the home’s base in short measure. Behind them, James’s car followed.

“Who’s here?” It had unnerved her for far too long to be deliberately kept out.

What they’d asked her to do-to be-would not be difficult. If it required education, skill or stamina, she’d educate herself or acquire the ability. With Lily’s help, she’d look the part.

The question of why bothered her most.

James and Lily flanked her within seconds.

“You guys made good time.” Charley crossed her arms, stood with her feet shoulder width apart. “But I’m still royally pissed you won’t tell me who’s called us.”

A creak preceded a lazy, enchanted swing of a white-washed panel door.

As its angle widened, the group waited.

From within, a man stepped. Under his weight, the porch groaned.

Charley gasped. Her body swayed.

James caught her before she hit the concrete but not before she understood.

There could be no mistake.

Wyatt.


***

“Just give her a second,” Lily said.

“I told you she’d probably pass out.” James’s voice carried to Charley.