Page 55 of The Fix
“Yes.” The man named Rex reached into his back pocket, brought out a wallet, opened it, and handed Cyrus a card.
Cyrus took it and read it over.Rex Lowe.It was an employee ID. “You work for the NSA?”
“I do. They didn’t send me, but I hope knowing who I am makes you feel safe enough to come with me now.”
This man, Rex, had saved him from the nose picker. But having proof that he was who he said he was helped even more, and the fact that he worked for the NSA seemed good too. But what really made his breath come easier was the other card Cyrus saw in his wallet. He pointed to it, and Rex plucked that one out.
It was a benefits card. “You were in the army?” Cyrus asked.
“I was,” Rex said. “That card is old, but yes, I was an army man.”
“My dad was too,” Cyrus said.
Rex smiled, and it seemed kind of sad, like maybe he already knew Cyrus’s dad was dead. He watched as Rex put the cards back in his wallet and returned it to his pocket.
Cyrus had learned how to read people by looking in their eyes, and he did that now. His dad had told him you could tell a lot that way. This man, Rex, had the same seriousness that Mr. Abdullah had, and he had the same niceness as his dad. And they’d both been soldiers.Good guys.“I’ll come with you,” Cyrus said.
“Thank you,” Rex said back. And then Cyrus followed Rex away from the canyon, through the trees, until he could hear the sound of traffic in the distance.
What he hadn’t yet told this man named Rex Lowe, this soldier, was that he couldn’t take him home, because Cyrus didn’t have one of those anymore.
He was no longer behind bars, but he didn’t know if he’d ever truly be safe again.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Cami paced on the porch, her hands shaking as she picked up her phone again, swearing softly when she saw that Rex still hadn’t texted her back. Or called.
What the hell is happening?
She glanced at the laptop on the small table under the overhang and noted that the room where Cyrus had been kept was still empty, door propped open, the small pool of blood drying on the floor where the man had fallen.
The sound of tires on gravel met her ears, and she rushed to the edge of the porch, her heart slamming as she watched Rex’s car round the bend. With a gasp, she practically flew down the short set of steps and went rushing to where he pulled to a stop.
“What happ—” A small sob interrupted her words when she saw the child in the back seat and, for a moment, she felt like she might faint with relief. She put her hand on the car to steady herself as Rex got out. Cami pushed off the vehicle and went racing around the front, throwing herself into Rex’s arms with a sob. He caught her, bringing his palm to the back of her head as the first tears fell. “Thank you, thank you, oh thank you,” she chanted. “The man—”
“Dead.”
Dead. Okay. Okay.She’d hear the details later.
Rex set her down, and then he turned and opened the back door. Cami stepped forward, swiping at her tears, working to control heremotion as the little boy they’d watched on the screen for the last few terrifying days emerged from the vehicle.
Her little boy. Cyrus. In the flesh. She wanted so badly to reach out and touch him, but she held herself back. She’d only met him once before, but she loved him. To him, however, she was a stranger.
She couldn’t tear her eyes away. He was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. Perfect in every way. “Cyrus,” Rex said, stepping up beside her, “this is Cami. We’ve been trying to find you.”
Cyrus’s mouth opened to form an O of surprise. He blinked as if Cami might be a dream that he expected to dissipate. “I know you,” he finally said, his tone as bewildered as his expression. “You’re my mother.”
She drew back slightly and swallowed before glancing at Rex, as though he might be able to explain the shock of this moment. But he looked as perplexed as both she and Cyrus. Cami went down on one knee in front of the little boy. “How do you know that?”
“My mom—my adopted mom—had a picture of you from the newspapers. She didn’t tell me who you were, but I knew.” He brought a finger to his face. “You and me, we have the same eyes.”
She pulled in a breath. They did. They did have the same eyes. Even the hazel color was exact. Not quite green, but not brown either. She knew they’d change in the light, and depending on what he wore. They were her mother’s—Cyrus’s grandmother’s—eyes, too, and it was one of the ways Cami had known he was hers, even over a laptop screen.
But how his adopted mother had her name, she didn’t know. A closed adoption was supposed to maintain the privacy of both the biological and adoptive parents. Then again,Camihad seen information she wasn’t supposed to see, so perhaps the other woman had too. She supposed it was possible she’d even been given Cami’s name. Cami reminded herself that the agency she’d gone through had apparently broken more than one rule.
“I looked your name up on the internet,” Cyrus said. “I tried to find your phone number, but I didn’t know how. I watched the show about what happened to you.”
Oh.The show that had painted her as both a victim and a hero, or so she’d gathered by the comments of those who’d watched it. The show that had aired even though neither she nor her father had participated or given an interview or even a statement. The show that, despite its gruesome content as her very real torment was made available for the world to see, gained millions of views.
