Wyatt had been restless all evening. His right knee ached warning his battle-sore body that rain was coming. He used his old friend Jack to help ease the pain away but nothing worked. Half a bottle later, he stumbled onto his bed, boots on, knee throbbing.
His phone rang, he fumbled for it in the dark. His hand knocked it to the ground. Wyatt cursed, rolled to his stomach and reached for the evil device. He checked the time and swore again. He woke up to an unknown number and a bad feeling. No phone call after two A.M. was good news.
"Logan," his voice thick with sleep and still burning from whiskey.
Silence greeted him on the other line.
"Hello!?" he tried again.
He pressed the phone against his ear and waited. He thought he heard the sound of feet running. Something rustled over the mic. It forced Wyatt to pull the phone from his ear. He was too tired for this crap.
"Dumbo if this is you, I'm gonna kick your ass, again."
His Army buddies were known for their pranks and Wyatt was reigning champion.
"Wyatt?" her voice was so low he thought he'd imagined it.
"Lucy?"
"I'm so sorry, Wyatt, I made a mistake. A huge mistake," she sobbed.
Wyatt pushed himself back off the bed. The whiskey and sleep made his arms heavy and the room spin. The fear in her voice was a bucket of ice water down his spine. Lucy was scared and crying.
"Where are you? Are you hurt?"
"I thought I had more time," she gave a brittle laugh that ended in a sob. "We should have had more time."
"Lucy you're scaring me. Where are you? I can barely hear you."
"How is it that people that travel in time, never have enough of it? Do you remember when you asked me to have coffee and I said I was too busy? I want that day back."
Wyatt sent a text message to Rufus, Jiya, and Agent Christopher. One of them had to know where she was. The last time he saw her was that morning. He had looked up and she had been standing in the glass conference room, looking down at him. Her arms were tucked tight around her body. Wyatt thought he had seen a tear on her cheek but she'd turned away from him. He'd started to walk toward her but had been stopped by Rufus. She was gone by the time he'd made his way to the room.
Since the discovery of her mom's role in Rittenhouse, Lucy had been distant from the team, from him. He'd tried to give her space, time to process. He'd let her pull away, he didn't tell her that he'd felt her distancing herself or how much he wanted to be with her. Wyatt wanted to be honest with her, with his feelings and take a chance on her. Instead he'd waited.
He had waited for the time to be right. The circumstances to change so that their lives weren't rushing out of control, in different directions. He refused to wait any longer, he just needed to find her first.
"Lucy, Lucy I need you to talk to me. Tell me what's going on? Where are you? I'll come get you." Wyatt was starting to panic and he needed to remain calm so that he'd keep a level head.
"It's already too late. They're going to find me."
"Who Lucy? Who has you? Is it Rittenhouse?" Wyatt jumped to his feet.
He checked his phone and sent another wave of messages. Agent Christopher had sent an agent to Lucy's safe house. Rufus was on his way over to pick him up. Jiya was trying to track the number. The only thing Wyatt needed now was a location.
"Wyatt, I need you to listen to me. I know what they're planning. They want to burn it all down. Rebuild it in their own image. They are going to change the outcome of the Revolution, they're going to kill Paul Revere before he can ride. You have to stop them. Wyatt, please it's your only chance."
"We will stop them just tell me where you are," he pleaded.
"I don't know. It's too dark to see. I should have called you sooner, I'm so sorry." Lucy sniffled, her voice shook with emotion .
"No it's okay. It's okay, just tell me where you are? Please Lucy?"
Wyatt paced the living room, his hand tugged at his hair. Lucy cried into his ear but she wasn't talking. The alcohol haze was gone and only fear remained.
A notice on his phone made him pull back and look at the screen. A text from Agent Christopher; safe house in shambles. Two Agents killed, no sign of Lucy. Do you have a location?
"Lucy, your detail is dead. Tell me what happened? Where'd they take you? How long were you in the car?" He snapped the questions out one after the other.
"I know, they're dead because of me. Wyatt, I tried to fight them, I almost got away. But I didn't see it coming. I wish... Why isn't there more time? I need more time, one more cup of coffee. I hear your voice in my head but I can't make out the words but I know you're smiling."
"Lucy I'm right here. I'm going to get you and we'll do whatever you want."
Lucy's breath hitched, "Wyatt, I can hear them, they're getting closer. Promise me you won't stop, you'll keep going. Promise ME!?" Her voice rose.
A banging came from his apartment door, Wyatt ripped the door open to a bedraggled Rufus. He pointed to the phone and shook his head. Rufus dropped a laptop on the table and started another trace.
"Lucy once you're back, the three of us can take them down. We will stop them."
Wyatt dropped a hand on Rufus' shoulder and shook it. He pointed to the phone and threw up his hand. Rufus shrugged and pointed at the the laptop.
"Tell me what you see? Do you see any buildings? Anything that can help?"
"It's a warehouse. I don't even know what city I'm in. There are no windows, no shipping labels. I did the trick you taught me with the ropes, so that they wouldn't be too tight. I ran but have no idea how to get out all I can do is hide. I shouldn't even be on the phone but I had to talk to you one more time. I'd give anything to see you again."
"Lucy please, you're scaring me."
"Do you ever think about Arkansas?"
"Yeah, I think about that."
"Wyatt, I just-if I don't get the chance to tell you again, I need you-"
A harsh muffled male voice cut her off, "What have you done!?"
"From the tone of your voice, I'm assuming I've screwed up," Lucy mocked.
Wyatt strained to hear the words, his teeth ground together and the phone clenched tight in his hand. He heard a yelp of pain, a crunch of plastic and then nothing. The call was gone, Lucy was gone.
"We're out of time. We have to find her Rufus, have you got anything?"
"Closest I could get is the Oakland warehouse district in the west end. I have no idea which warehouse. It could take days to search all the buildings."
"Find her Rufus, she was saying goodbye and that is not an option for me."
He dialed Agent Christopher.
"What did you find out?" was her sharp reply.
"I was going to ask you the same thing, Ma'am... Lucy had no idea where she was. Rufus says she in the west end of Oakland, in one of the warehouses. I have no other details. Have you got anything?"
"I got a message from a blocked number? It was Carol Preston. She told me that Rittenhouse doesn't have Lucy but they knew where she was. She gave me a location and we are sending a team to check it out."
"Where?"
Rufus and Wyatt rushed to the location. The warehouse was deserted. In one room was a turned over chair, ropes on the arms. A shattered phone was found behind a large shipping crate. A splatter of blood by the a side door, but no one other clues were found. A second phone call from Carol led them to another location.
Wyatt was the last to enter, no one would look him in the eye. Dread made his footsteps heavy.
Wyatt thought he was too young to have lost so much. He only wanted to help people and serve his country. He thought he had been given another chance, a chance to truly be happy again. He'd thought his life, the tragedies he had faced would all start to makes sense. He had found hope again, but in finding his hope he'd lost sight of the universal truth that life wasn't fair. Life didn't care if you were good or bad. It didn't matter if you were young or old and it didn't care how many lives were lost in senseless violence.
Wyatt wondered would Lucy's phone call be the last time he ever spoke to her? How long would he hear her scared voice in his head? How long would it take to lose the soul cushing ache that had barely started to heal after the death of Jessica. But with Lucy, he couldn't fathom the loss.
He stepped into the last room, his head down, shoulders hunched. He had to hold on just a little bit longer, a few more steps. At least this time he would know what happened to her, no agonizing weeks of the unknown, the tireless search for the missing.
The room was dark, only a single flashlight lit the small room. He raised his head.
"Wyatt?!"
"Lucy?"
Her arms wrapped around him and they collapsed to the ground together. Lucy cried against him, her body trembled in his arms. Wyatt kissed her hair, her cheeks, any part of her he could reach. His hands trailed down her body checking she was real. His vision blurred. When Lucy's thumbs brushed against his cheek he realized he was crying too.
Wyatt would never waste another moment with her.