Part 56
Several days later Maria was finishing a load of laundry, carrying the folded stack of towels and washcloths through the hall when she realized that Michael was no longer napping on the couch where she had left him after lunch. He had been quiet since their conversation over dinner the evening of the funeral and she had thought it best not to push him to talk. He would talk when and if he felt like it and usually he would talk over meals, but after that he would withdraw into himself again.
He wasn't in his bedroom so after placing the towels and washcloths in the linen closet she walked out onto the back deck. She found him slouched down in one of the deck chairs, his bare feet propped up on the railing; his eyes were closed behind his sunglasses and an open, hardcover book pressed against his chest. The sun was shining from the west side of the house since it was early afternoon and she decided that he was safe from sunburn since the it was high enough in the sky that it wasn't going to fall over the deck as it headed for its evening destination.
She went back inside to take a shower and by the time she had done that, stopped in the kitchen to grab a couple of beers, and gone back out to the deck he was awake and reading his book again. She set one of the bottles on the table between them before sitting down and she took a drink of her beer, patiently waiting to see if he would speak.
He had been reading all week but he hadn't bothered to talk about the books, and she knew it was more than one because the covers were different and they changed every other day or so. They had to be good to keep his attention and she would've been happy to check for herself but she had no idea where he was getting the books from. She didn't realize she was leaning so far forward in her chair as she attempted to see the name of the author on the spine of the book until he moved and she nearly fell.
"Barry Holmes," Michael said, tipping the book back towards him so she could see the cover more clearly. "It's the third book in the Countdown to Extinction series."
Maria shook her head, not recognizing the name of the author or the books. "Have you been reading the series long?"
He shrugged. "Since I was 13." His hand slid over the worn cover almost reverently as he stared at something only he could see. "The director at the orphanage had the first few books in the series and he let me read them; he was always tryin' to come up with ways to keep me occupied and outta trouble whether it was readin' or learnin' to restore motorcycles. He was the only person who gave a fuck about me when I was growin' up and I sure as hell didn't make it easy for him." He turned the book over to stare at the cover for several long moments. "I have the entire series of first editions, leather-bound, gold-tipped pages, and all autographed by the author, but…" He held the book out to her and she accepted it, opening the cover and reading the inscription inside.
"It belonged to him?" She glanced back down at the tiny scrawled words before looking back up at him. "Tom?"
Michael nodded. "Yeah, he left them to me in his will… he was killed trying to break up a fight between a couple of guys in the exercise yard at the orphanage."
"Oh, Michael, I'm so sorry," she said quietly. She saw his jaw clench and his fisted hand moved fractionally where it rested on the table and she reached out to cover it. She remained silent when he didn't acknowledge her words beyond a single nod, but she felt his hand relax under hers.
"You like science fiction?" he asked after a while.
"Like science fiction?" she asked with an ironic snort. "Hell, I live science fiction." She carefully held the book out to him. "So, it's sci-fi?"
"Yeah."
"Tell me about it."
"Countdown to Extinction is a story about this legendary race of humans that lived on Earth 40,000 years ago and they're forced to leave the planet because of an ecological cataclysm. So, they find another planet and their race inhabits it for thousands of years, but somethin' happens – not gonna tell you what because I can already see you wanna read the books – but anyway, their species begins to die out and the only chance of survival they have is to return to their home world."
"The world that was in the middle of an ecological cataclysm?" she asked speculatively.
"Um-hmm, and they know they can't just send what's left of their civilization to Earth without first makin' sure that it's ecologically and environmentally stable, so they have to send a scout ship to make the journey first to make sure that the planet in habitable. Only, the ship crashes due to some technical problem and everyone on board is killed."
"Well, the alien ship crash landing on planet Earth seems to be a running theme regardless of universe," Maria said, laughing.
"Anyway…" Michael rolled his eyes. "The ship is retrieved by the authorities and after years of study they slowly begin to repair it. Meanwhile, there's a team workin' to translate the language they discovered onboard the ship and they eventually break the code. The translators learn that the race that sent the ship to Earth were ancient inhabitants of the planet and that they were returning in order to secure a safe living environment for their dying civilization and after a lot of debating and arguments the powers that be decide to allow a mission to take the ship and search for the race."
"You'll have to let me borrow the first book because I wanna read it now," Maria said as she slouched down and propped her feet up on the railing, unconsciously mimicking his pose.
Michael made a sound of agreement before falling silent. He was getting hungry but she was still holding his hand across the table and he knew if he mentioned dinner she would break the contact and go inside. "Hey, when's Gabriel expectin' you back at work?"
"Day after tomorrow." She smiled when his stomach growled and she turned her head to look at him, but her gaze landed on their clasped hands. When had that happened? she wondered, swallowing hard. It felt right… right in a way that nothing else had felt right in so long and that scared her. "I should get dinner started," she said, standing up and letting her fingers trail over his hand.
"I need a fresh beer," Michael said, standing up and following her inside. He was in completely new territory and he had no idea how to act or what to say. Promising Stone that he'd give this thing a shot was one thing, but knowing how to do it was a whole other ball game, he thought.
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Michael was pulling off of the highway to take the exit that would eventually lead them into the quiet neighborhood where Azrael's Sanctuary stood when his phone rang. He leaned forward to grab it out of the cup holder and flipped it open as he lifted it up to his ear.
"Guerin."
Maria watched him as he took the call and it didn't take long before she detected annoyance in his voice. He disconnected the call after several minutes and threw the phone on the dashboard.
"Problem?"
"One of Xavier's secretaries… the old man wants to go over somethin' in my report."
"Today?"
"Yeah, and with it bein' nearly three cross-town traffic's gonna be a bitch." He wasn't happy about being called in but he didn't have a lot of choice when it was Xavier doing the calling. He shook his head as he acknowledged that part of the reason he was pissed was because he had planned to spend the evening at the bar. With Maria. A meeting with the old man could take hours if he was in the right mood.
He pulled up in front of Azrael's Sanctuary, shifting into park as she released her seatbelt and leaned forward to lift her bag up off of the floor.
"Well, I would say enjoy your meeting but I have a feeling you're not looking forward to it, so just get it over with and I'll have a cold beer waiting for you when you get back."
He nodded and waited until she was safely inside before pulling out onto the street and heading into the heart of the city.
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Maria stepped into the bar and stopped to speak to Raphael before continuing inside. It was still early enough that there were only a few people there and she wondered where Gabriel was as she started working. The first hour dragged by and she hoped that Michael had made it to Xavier's office without incident. He hated traffic and he had no tolerance for stupid drivers so with any luck the man would keep him in the meeting until at least some of the early evening rush hour began to ease.
She answered the phone behind the bar, expecting it to be a customer or a vendor and was surprised when the voice belonged to a woman claiming to be Gabriel's friend. After a short conversation she hung up and walked to the front of the bar.
"Hey, Raphael."
"What's up, Maria?"
"A woman named Sharon Sherwood just called; she said Gabriel needs a ride home because he's ready to go and she's having a problem getting his keys away from him."
Raphael glanced at his watch and frowned. "Awful early for Gabriel to be in that shape," he mused. He checked the roster on his desk, mentally going over the few people who were there and deciding that things would be alright if he was gone for about 15 minutes. He dropped the security gate in front of the lockers and set the code using the keypad on the wall. "If anyone wants to leave, just tell 'em to hold tight an' give 'em a drink on the house."
"On the house?" Maria shook her head. "Gabriel will kill both of us for that."
He laughed because he knew she was right. "He'll give us a pass on this one," he assured her. "If the guys wanna leave and come back for their gear later they can do that; I'm gonna set the locks so they can leave but no one can come in until I get back. Sanchez is here so I'll ask him to keep an eye on things."
"Okay."
Maria went into the back after Raphael had left, pulling down several bottles of alcohol to replace a few that were nearly empty. She made the rounds, checking with the guys who were sitting around the bar, making sure they had what they needed before going back to getting things ready for the evening crowd.
The phone behind the bar rang again, drawing her attention and she hurried to answer it. This time it was one of the other waitresses, arriving early for her shift and unable to get inside since the door was locked. She let the other woman know that Raphael would be back shortly and to just wait by the door, but something about her voice alerted Maria that something was wrong.
"Rachel, what's wrong?"
"You have thirty seconds to get outside without a word to anyone or Rachel is gonna be the victim of an accident," a male voice growled into the phone. "I know Sanchez is keepin' an eye on things, Maria, and if you say anything to him and he comes out that door instead of you, you'll be responsible for two dead people."
Maria swallowed hard as she identified the voice. Hawkins.
"The seconds are tickin' away fast."
She didn't stop to think when she heard the muffled scream coming from the woman; she glanced at Sanchez and saw him talking with one of the other men and she walked through the large room and into the foyer.