Loki's Gambit, page 129
part #1 of I Bring the Fire Series
Her hand tightens on the shift knob. Oddly, she feels more uncomfortable than when she thought he was dating.
Laying his hand on hers again, Bohdi says, “Well?”
“I don’t know … ” she starts to say.
Pulling away, he puts a hand over his heart and sniffs dramatically. “What? You’re turning down my pretend proposal?”
Amy finds herself laughing, despite her lack of sleep, Fenrir, and Steve. “We haven’t known each other that long,” she says. And since their return not at all … not that it should matter with a pretend proposal, but …
Bohdi snorts.
Amy lets out an exasperated sigh and turns back to the road. “How about you just be my pretend boyfriend for now?”
Looking sideways, he catches her eye and grins. “I guess I can accept that.”
A few minutes later they’re in the neuroscience department, walking toward Katherine’s lab. They’re nearly there when Amy glances outside. It’s not even 7:30 in the morning yet, and there is something else her too-tired, sleepy brain forgot. Turning to Bohdi she says, “I know why you’re with me but why are you here with me? In fact, why am I here? Now? This early? Why am I not calling to give an apology, like a normal, sane human being?”
Bohdi snickers. “I’d never insult the pretend love of my life, who enjoys chopping up trolls, by calling her normal.” Amy’s mouth drops remembering their meeting in her lab before their last adventure. And then she almost smiles at the memory. That had been an interesting dissection. From the opposite end of the hall comes Katherine’s voice. “Amy?”
Spinning on her heels, Amy turns to her friend. Katherine is wearing her lab coat. Her brown hair is tied up in a neat bun, and her brown eyes peer at her from behind wire-rimmed glasses.
“Hi,” Amy says.
Closing the gap between them, Katherine smiles and then covers her mouth to hide a yawn. “What are you doing here so early?
Amy takes a deep breath, “We were just in the neighborhood because …” The hamster on the wheel in her brain abruptly decides to hop off. “Because …”
Bohdi puts a hand out. “Because I’m thinking about going to school here. She was showing me around. Hi, I’m Bohdi, you’ve probably heard a lot about me. We’ve been dating for a few months now.” He throws his other arm around Amy’s shoulders.
A furrow forms on Katherine’s brow. She takes Bohdi’s hand but looks at Amy. The furrow on her brow becomes a little deeper. “It’s really early …”
Releasing Katherine’s hand, Bohdi shrugs. “We woke up early.”
The implications of that make Amy raise an eyebrow at her pretend boyfriend. But he’s focused on Katherine. He begins talking again, way too fast. “You know the news with Steve … Director Rogers … our boss … well, we couldn’t get back to sleep anyway. To take our mind off things, we thought we’d stop by before work.” He shrugs. “Life goes on after all … ”
Amy nudges him with an elbow, trying to shush his babbling.
Fortunately, Katherine’s no longer scowling. “Oh, you’re with the FBI, too,” she says.
Bohdi nods and Amy says, “And since we were here I wanted to say sorry for leaving so quickly last night.”
“Oh,” Katherine says, slipping her hands into the pocket of her lab coat. “It’s alright. What happened?”
“Her dog was hit by a car,” says Bohdi.
Putting a hand to her mouth, Katherine says, “Oh, no, Fenrir.” A timer goes off in her pocket. Wincing, she looks back down the hall the way she came. “I have some things in a centrifuge I need to check on. Do you want to come with me to my lab?”
“Sure,” says Amy.
Turning, Katherine guides them down the hall to a metal fire door. To Amy’s dismay, there is a fingerprint scanner beside it. Putting her thumb on the scanner, Katherine looks back at them a little apologetically. “Kind of crazy security here. But at least I’m not at some facility out in the desert somewhere … like I was for the last month and a half! James was getting tired of being a single parent.”
Amy’s barely listening. Her heart is falling as she looks at the lock. Will Bohdi have to hack into a central system somewhere to open it?
The door clicks, Katherine turns the knob and says, “Come on in.”
Amy follows Katherine into the lab with Bohdi a few steps behind. Katherine goes over to a centrifuge, presses a button, lifts a lid, and pulls out a test tube. Appearing satisfied with what she sees, she puts the tube down, turns back and says, “You said Fenrir had been hit by a car. How is she?”
Amy bows her head. “Well, not so great … but it’s okay … ” Bohdi sniffs slightly. “I’m so sorry,” Katherine says, apparently seeing through Amy’s lie.
“It will be okay.” Trying to appear cheerful, Amy lifts her head and looks around. “Wow, this is a really great space you have here.” There are rows of lab benches with white cabinets and sleek black counters. On the counters are microscopes, computers and other lab equipment. Above those are neat shelves with smartly arranged sparkling test tubes, books, and other small supplies. Past the lab benches is a slightly-ajar door, through which Amy can see the sliver of a window and a bookshelf. It’s probably Katherine’s office.
“Yep,” says Katherine. “It is great. And it even comes with post docs. But they won’t be here for a little bit.”
“Oh,” says Amy, her breath catching on what she sees in the corners of the lab. “Are those security cameras?”
Katherine groans. “They’re supposed to be, but they’re not working. The tech is supposed to come later this afternoon.”
Amy swallows. Oh, no. “Wow,” she manages to say instead. She looks around a little more. What looks like a three-foot-by-three-foot safe set into the wall catches her eye. “You have a safe?” It comes out a squeak. She looks over at Bohdi to see if he’s taking notes. He’s peering down at his cellphone. She scowls.
Katherine waves a hand. “Yes, all the security is a little ridiculous,” says Katherine going over to the safe. Amy follows, but Bohdi seems interested in something off to the side.
Giving Amy a proud smile, Katherine says, “It’s where we keep the big discovery.” She quickly presses a bunch of numbers into a keypad, but her hand is out of Amy’s line of vision. She swallows. Maybe it is under some central control and can be hacked, too?
Opening the safe, Katherine pulls out a standard 240 slot test tube rack, completely filled with neatly stoppered tubes. “Isolated protein samples,” says Katherine. “We’re almost ready to begin tests on mice.”
Amy bites her lip. The contents inside each are clear. They could be anything. But they’re not. They’re proteins derived from stem cells in petri dishes—stem cells that were stolen from Eisa. “Mmmmm …” Amy manages to say.
Katherine slides the rack back into the safe and closes the door. Amy lifts her eyes and sees Bohdi scanning the room. Maybe she needs to buy him time to check out the manufacturer of the safe?
“So,” she says. “You never told me about Lucas …”
“Oh,” says Katherine, waving her toward the back. “Come into my office. I can show you pictures!”
Amy follows her, but Bohdi lags behind. “I think I’ll just look around,” he says.
“Go ahead,” says Katherine, much too quickly. Amy looks sharply to her friend, but Katherine doesn’t meet her eyes. As she enters the office, Amy sees pictures of a cute, chubby little toddler neatly framed and placed in strategic locations on the desk and bookshelves. He has brown eyes and brown hair and looks like a de-aged version of Katherine and her husband, James.
“He’s adorable,” Amy says, picking up one of the photos.
“Thanks,” says Katherine. And then is silent.
Amy lifts her eyes to see Katherine biting her lip. Shoving her hands into the pockets of her lab coat, Katherine says a little nervously, “We almost named him Loki.”
Amy almost drops the picture.
Katherine swallows. “But with the way things are … we didn’t want him to be bullied … we hope that Lucas is close enough.”
For a moment, Amy can say nothing. And then she squeaks out, “Close enough?”
Katherine nods. “Well, it was Loki’s magic that helped us get pregnant … wasn’t it?”
Amy can only stare for a moment. She remembers the night over two years ago when Katherine and James met Loki. Last night, when they’d talked about Loki at the reception, she’d thought Katherine didn’t know the Loki she and James had met was the real Loki. “You knew … it was really him?” And they still talked to her … even though the man she brought to their night out was widely believed to have destroyed half a city.
Katherine nods. “He seemed so nice. James thought he was the one for you … we didn’t expect … you couldn’t have known that he would do what he did.”
Amy’s jaw falls. And then she remembers the night she, Katherine, James and Loki had been together. Katherine had just found out she couldn’t conceive, and Loki had suggested they all get drunk on his dime. They promptly took him up on his offer.
Wringing her hands, Katherine says, “When we left that night, Loki said to James, ‘may your aim be true,’ and then later that night we … ” she waves her hand. “It was only once. And it worked. No doctors, no meds, no in vitro. It was a miracle. We thought we owed Loki something … since he is our guardian angel.” She winces. “Or something … ” Bowing she slips her hands into her pockets. “I hope he won’t be mad that we slightly modified his name.”
Amy looks down at the picture. Loki’s magic wasn’t creation. It was chaos. Of course he’d gotten Amy pregnant while she was on the pill. Her lips tighten.
Taking a deep breath Amy says, “I’m sure … he’d be honored.” She looks up at Katherine. “But don’t worry, he’s dead.”
Katherine’s shoulders fall. “Oh. I… ”
From the doorway, Bohdi says, “Amy, I think we should go.”
His voice makes both Amy and Katherine start. Amy wonders how long he’d been there.
Putting the picture down, Amy says, “Oh, yes, right.”
“I’ll show you out,” says Katherine, passing Bohdi and heading into the lab. “And maybe we can get together sometime?” her friend adds.
“Yes, of course,” says Amy, stopping in the doorway between the office and the lab and looking up at Bohdi.
Smiling down at her, he says, “After you.”
Amy steps into the lab, following her friend. A few steps later and Bohdi is at her side, running his hands through his bangs.
When they are alone in the hallway outside the lab, Bohdi puts a hand on Amy’s arm, drawing her to a stop.
“How many of those test tubes do you need?” he asks.
“Only about three,” Amy says.
Bohdi lets out a long breath, looks upward and says, “Thank you.” His gaze meets Amy’s. “I thought I’d have to steal them all and this would be hard.”
Amy feels herself perk up. “You can hack into a mainframe somewhere to open the door and the safe?”
Bohdi blinks and gives her a funny sort of half smile. “Yes, I could do that … but it would be easier if we just go back in there right now and I open the safe with the code.”
Amy blinks. “You memorized the code?”
He pulls back slightly. “I’m not a Vulcan, Amy … I typed it into my phone.”
Amy looks back to the door. “But how do we get back in the lab …”
“We knock and tell Katherine you forgot your keys?”
“That might work,” Amy says, patting her pocket. Her eyes widen with alarm. “Where are my keys?”
“Under the computer in the office,” says Bohdi.
Amy’s jaw drops, and she looks back in the direction of the lab. “How?”
“I picked your pocket as you were leaving and slid them under there.”
Amy looks up at him fast. “You picked my pocket?”
Shaking his head, Bohdi tsks. “Yes, and frankly, I’m a little disappointed by how easy it was.”
Amy narrows her eyes at him, but can’t bite back her smile. Grabbing his arm, she pulls him back down the hall. “Come on, let’s get back in there before the post docs arrive.”
Twenty minutes later, Amy and Bohdi are back in the hallway, Katherine waving cheerfully behind them from the lab door. Amy waves her keys at her.
As soon as the door shuts, Amy says, “Did you get them?”
“Yes,” he whispers. They are both silent until they exit the building, but then Bohdi pulls out four test tubes. “One for luck,” he says, and then slips them quickly back into his pocket.
Amy bites her lip. “I wonder how long until they notice …” Will Katherine get in trouble? She rubs her temple. Will she and Bohdi get in trouble? The sun is bright and cheery, but she can’t help but feel a sense of foreboding.
Bohdi tilts his head. “I don’t know much about this stuff … but I took them from the back and replaced them with test tubes filled with water.”
Amy almost laughs in relief. She looks up at Bohdi. He’s silhouetted by the sunlight. In shadow his skin looks darker than normal, his hair very black. She has a moment of deja vu. “Pretend boyfriend, you think of everything,” she says. “How can I ever repay you?”
Bohdi turns and beams at her. His teeth are very white against his dark skin. He might waggle his eyebrows; it’s hard to tell with his face in shadow and the sun so bright behind him. “I can think of some ways,” he says.
Amy snickers. “I think you’ll have to pretend.”
Bohdi groans. But he doesn’t stop smiling.
Chapter Four
Bohdi walks west with Amy on Polk Street on the north side of the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois’ Medical School. It’s early evening, and the sidewalk is bathed in long shadows. It’s still crowded, though, and Amy and Bohdi have to weave through groups of scrub-suited med students as they walk along.
The University of Chicago, where Katherine works, oozed planning and wealth, like the “Little Ivy League” school it is. The University of Illinois is a state school and it looks cobbled together. Split in half by the Little Italy neighborhood, the campus spreads out over several miles. The buildings are a mix of old, new, and bad 1970s architecture. It is, however, closer to the city’s downtown.
“Why doesn’t Katherine work here?” Bohdi muses aloud.
Swinging her keys in one hand, Amy says, “Probably because she’s working on secret government stuff, and the U.S. government has a longer history with the University of Chicago?”
Bohdi feels the peculiar sort of elation he does when he remembers something. “The Manhattan Project!” The development of the first nuclear bomb; some of it happened at the University of Chicago.
“Yep,” says Amy. She looks over at him. “How was your nap?”
“Good,” Bohdi says.
After they left Katherine’s lab they’d gone to work where Amy had checked on the baku kits, and then back to Amy’s and Beatrice’s place to check on Fenrir. Amy had said she needed James’ lab without students or post docs in it, so it was better to wait until evening anyway. Bohdi had passed out on Beatrice’s couch. The couch had been comfortable, and the house had smelled like the cheese blintzes Beatrice had cheerfully whipped up for Amy, and more grudgingly, for him. He scowls and rubs the back of his neck. “But waking up to your grandmother standing over me with her umbrella in one hand and a broom in the other was even more frightening than waking up to flying zombies.” He shudders, remembering the adze on Nornheim.
Amy winces. “Yeah, sorry about that. She is a little over-protective.”
Bohdi’s lips purse at the understatement. Even though Bohdi had promised to stick with Amy—and not to take her to any foreign realms—it had taken Amy half an hour to convince Beatrice that her grandmother would be most helpful looking after Fenrir. The two women seemed to take it as a foregone conclusion that Bohdi wouldn’t be the ideal candidate for dog care.
Bohdi is relieved; he’d probably accidentally kill the little dog. He’s also sad. His head droops thinking of the little dog back at Amy’s place, Mr. Squeakers snuggled up beside her. Bohdi has always liked Fenrir, She is probably the ugliest dog he’s ever seen, furry in some places, bare in others, tailless, and with a ratlike snout. Still Fenrir likes him, and that counts for a lot. She was barely eating when they left. She wasn’t crying, but her ears didn’t perk up when Bohdi said hello ... And she wore little dog diapers, because it hurt too much for her to move. Bohdi didn’t know they had those for dogs. Earlier this morning, Bohdi had felt a brief surge of elation after stealing the protein samples … but Fenrir’s condition made him think of Steve and all that he was going through that Bohdi couldn’t see: the pain, humiliation, and everything Steve would be too proud to complain about. It makes him sick to his stomach, and frankly, a little weepy.
Slipping his hands into his pocket he wraps his hand around the test tubes. “Do we have to be here? Can’t we just inject this stuff into Steve’s arm and—”
“No,” Amy shakes her head. “It has to cross the blood brain barrier and needs the virus as a carrier to do that.”
Bohdi drops his eyes to the pavement and tries to relax. This will work, no matter what Amy says—because it has to.
He’s vaguely aware of a guy’s voice saying, “Nice car.” There is the sound of car brakes, and then a door slams, and another guy says, “Nice driver.”
The tone of that statement makes Bohdi’s head pop up like a dog that’s seen a squirrel. Internally, he scolds himself at the predictability of it … and then he sees who the guy was referring to. Stepping around a fire red Aston Martin coupe is a woman with long legs, caramel skin, and wavy black hair. Her face is perfectly made up. She’s wearing a fitted hot pink coat over a black pencil skirt, and very high, high heels. Even if he didn’t know her, she’d have his attention.
His skin heats. And not in the predictable manner. His hand leaves the test tubes and goes to his knife. Internally he curses Beatrice. She’d been so worried about Amy coming to the university at night but she hadn’t let Bohdi borrow her gun. Something about Bohdi being “too unstable.”
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