Page 32 of The Fix

Cami woke up just as the plane touched down at San Francisco International Airport, shaking away the cobwebs of the dream she’d been having.

She’d seen her mother. She’d been repeating the words she’d said before she’d died.

Do of ... Where had that phrase been going?

Cami had wondered a million times. The loud overhead ding brought her further from the fog, and reality filtered in slowly as the aircraft bumped to a stop along the runway.

They were in Northern California to get ahead of the curve in the effort to locate—and rescue—her son, who’d been kidnapped for unknown reasons.

She let that astonishing truth settle point by point, the absolute shock of it bringing her quickly to the here and now.

Something amazing met her nose, the scent of man and some eucalyptus deodorant mingling in the air around her. As she lifted her head, she came to another reality. She was currently drooling on Rex Lowe’s shoulder. She sat up fully, wincing at the painful twinge in her neck.

“Sorry about that,” she murmured, bending her head from side to side.

“I’m glad you slept,” Rex said, his low, masculine voice rolling over her nerve endings and tightening her already-sore muscles.

She was too. Despite her current discombobulation and awareness of Rex’s closeness, she felt light-years better, and her brain felt clear once again. Or it was beginning to, at least.

The plane came to a slow stop, idling at the gate as Cami got her bearings and ensured all her items hadn’t shifted so far away that she couldn’t locate them.

“How is he?” she asked, nodding to the closed computer on his lap.

The fact that she had been instructed not to log on to the site on more than one device had worked out fine when she was in her apartment, but not so much on the road.

Still, as long as the laptop was charged, it was small enough to travel with.

Thankfully she hadn’t logged on to some desktop computer with no anticipation of what they were doing right now.

“He’s sleeping,” Rex said. “I hated to look away at all. I’ll open it back up the minute we’re off the plane.”

“Thanks for keeping watch. Anything to report on?” The ding overhead indicated the seat belt sign was off, and passengers began standing and collecting their baggage from the overhead bins.

“No, the last five hours didn’t offer much, fortunately and unfortunately.” She understood what he meant about the fortunate part. If something had happened that indicated his whereabouts, they couldn’t have done anything from thirty thousand feet in the air.

They stood when it was their turn, and Rex gathered their travel bags and they deplaned, walking into the crowded corridors of SFO.

Rex opened the laptop and used his arm as a makeshift shelf as they moved toward the airport exit.

No one looked at him twice, either too rushed or unfazed by the seeming level of screen obsession.

It took them less than forty-five minutes to take a shuttle to the car rental agency, collect the SUV Rex had reserved online, and pull out of the lot, headed for the Pacific Coast Highway.

They had talked about staying in San Francisco—after all, the city had plenty of coastline.

But a cabin in the woods near the ocean was much more likely to be somewhere outside the city than within its borders.

Their goal was simply to be as close to the likeliest place as possible, so that when and if they figured out Cyrus’s exact whereabouts, they’d be in a position to help him.

Cami already felt a smidge calmer now that they’d touched down in the state where he was.

Cami stretched, again twisting her neck to work out the last of the sleep kink.

She glanced at the laptop they’d situated on the console between them and noticed that Cyrus was just waking up.

The little boy stretched in a similar way as she’d just done, and her heart gave a sharp squeeze.

She knew what it was to wake up afraid, and she longed to comfort him with everything in her, to tell him everything would be okay.

Only, she could not guarantee that, especially from the other side of a screen.

“I forgot to ask how your work took the news that you’d be gone for a few days,” Rex said, breaking her from her memories of her own victimization.

“They were surprised but supportive.” She’d only told them a personal situation had come up and she had to deal with it, and then she’d gotten off the phone quickly. “They’ll be fine. We don’t have anything out of the ordinary going on this week. And they can call if they need me.”

“How’d you end up in the butterfly business anyway?” he asked, glancing over at her with a smile.

“It was something my sister, Elle, and I used to do together when we were kids. Our mom showed us how to identify a butterfly egg on a leaf. They’re tiny and hard to find.

We’d search for hours and were usually successful.

Then we’d put them in jars with lots of leaves and watch the process as it became a caterpillar and then a butterfly.

” Cami smiled even as her heart ached. She loved talking about them, though, and appreciated any opportunity to do so.

It felt like her stories and her words were the only things keeping them alive now.

Her father spoke of them occasionally, she supposed, but it also had to pose somewhat of a conflict in the last few years since he’d met Gigi to talk about his dead wife and daughter too much and cause his new wife to feel like she lived in the shadow of his past. “Anyway, Elle called them flutterflies when she was little.”

“Ah,” Rex said. “So that’s where the name comes from.”

“Yes. After their murders, I ... obviously struggled. For many reasons. I gave up my son and that was ... well ...”

“Grief compounded.”

She looked over at him, and he met her eyes.

She saw the empathy there, and it was a balm to her heart in a way nothing else could be.

“Yes. I didn’t think I’d ever move past all the loss.

And in some ways, I haven’t, but that’s okay, I think.

That’s expected, as long as it doesn’t rule over my life. ”

“You’re strong, Cami. Stronger than some of the combat vets I’ve met.” He gave her a small, teasing smile, but there was also honesty in it, and again, it brought her solace.

“College had always been the plan,” she said.

“But I decided not to go that route. I felt too out of touch with my peers. Too ... separate to sit in a classroom, or stand around at a party, or even try to make small talk. So, I took a job working at a nursery in town and loved it. Being outdoors and working with living things brought me peace. And then one day, I noticed a butterfly egg on the back of a butterfly bush, and my mind started spinning. I began wondering if I could make a business out of the beautiful memories I had of that part of my childhood. I researched other businesses like it, and ... well, long story short, I got a loan from my dad, bought a piece of land, and worked twelve-hour days for three years until it was established.”

“And you love it?”

“I do. It’s hard work, and it’ll likely never make me rich, but I have a handful of loyal employees, and I get to be a part of celebrations and events every single day and ... yes, I love it.”

“You should be proud.”

“Thanks, Rex. I appreciate that. And you too. You should be proud of what you’ve done with your life.

Especially ... especially after the injustice you suffered.

” Her cheeks felt hot. She still felt so damn ashamed when she thought of the part she’d played in that injustice.

“I meant it when I said I see you as a hero.”

He met her eyes and gave her a solemn nod. “I’m going to do everything I can to live up to that praise as far as he’s concerned. You have my word on that,” he said as he tipped his chin toward the computer screen, where Cyrus was sitting up in what had become his usual position on the bed.

Cami reached over and put her hand on his, where it was sitting on his thigh.

She felt the tremble of electricity that passed from her skin to his, sending a flush through her body.

And if the way he tensed was any indication, he’d felt it too.

She lifted her hand and brought it away and then leaned in toward the computer, pretending she was getting a closer look, when she was really taking a moment to catch her breath.

“Will you tell me more about what you do?” Cami asked.

“You work for the military, but in their cyber warfare department?”

He was quiet for a beat. He obviously knew by her question that she’d done a brief Google search on him.

It’d been exceptionally brief, actually.

She’d only wanted to verify that he did indeed work for the army in some cyber capacity like his T-shirt indicated, before rushing to his house and begging for his help.

“I used to. I work for the NSA now in a position that’s not listed anywhere online.

They recruited me about five years ago from the army, where I was working in cyber intelligence. ”

“Cyber intelligence. And that’s what you still do, but for the NSA?”

“Basically, yes.”

“What does that mean exactly?”

He shot her a quick smile. “In a nutshell, I collect and analyze data that gives insight into the intentions of foreign governments.”

She thought for a moment. When she’d first gone to him for help, she’d asked him if he hacked computers. He’d said something along the lines of “close enough,” and she was pretty sure she could assume that when he “collected data,” that data wasn’t always readily available or freely given.

“Do you like it?”

“I do. It utilizes my talents. I feel ... purposeful and well placed.”