Little White Lies

One well-spoken word, called over the rush of feet, stopped him.

His tomato red shirt and curly, strawberry hair stood out among the rest. His shoulders drooped as he ambled his way over.

Charley held the container out to him. “Take it.”

He reached with two skinny arms for a box no bigger than his hands. His baby blues looked up at her as one last, ‘I’m sorry,’ passed through his lips. His head tilted from side to side as he kicked specks of dirt on the tile.

Charley rolled her eyes as her earpiece vibrated with suggestions and alternatives she wouldn’t consider-again. “Will you please shut up for a minute?”

“Is that James?” Chase rose on his toes. “Hey, James!” Chase would know his only hope lay with his big brother.

“He’s not going to help you, Chasey. Your chances are up. Pass that mouse to the next in line.” She pointed to the box as she spoke, ignoring her earpiece.

Chase’s head dipped down. “But-”

“And Chase?” She waited for him to return the glance.

His gaze met hers through long lashes, anticipation and possibility alighting his eyes. “Yeah?”

So beautiful. Still so young and innocent. If she didn’t press, she’d give in-like the rest of them did, every time. Like she did, too, except for once, and not for Chase, but Wyatt. Her heart ached even after so long.

This is why I don’t go into schools. She took a deep breath. Steadied herself. “No sneaking him back home. I’ll know.” She tapped her temple. “Hey…” Her voice softened at his frown. “You’ll be hanging with Sophie for a little while. The crew will be gone for a couple days.”

Sophie-an addition Charley welcomed not long after Chase’s arrival. She’d become his nanny, or super-nanny in Charley’s mind, and keeper of all Charley’s secrets.

“Cool! Where ya goin’?” Chase’s infectious smile and his fascination with her job made it that much harder to walk away each time-and for James, Lily and Cael to go with her.

She ruffled his hair. “Can’t tell ya this time.” Perhaps one day, he’ll be a part of it.

His lips squished into a clear ewww as he backed away in one swift move.

“But we’ll come back with stories… and presents.” She added a noncommittal shrug.

His face lit up. None of the four of them would come home empty handed.

“Oh!” She checked her watch. “You’ll be late in exactly… fifteen seconds.”

He raced down the hall and slipped through the door as the bell vibrated again. One quick wave back at her forced another memory to take shape: of a boy who raced to class with Charley’s hand in his. Pain erupted in her heart as if it had happened minutes before.

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.