Chapter 72

I

Alex was shocked at what Sandrina told him when he arrived back at the house to take his fiancee back to their apartment.

“There are people watching this house and you and Danica invited them over?” he asked, unbelieving.

It was all made a lot clearer to him after Danica and Sandrina explained to him what happened on board the cruise ship where Natasha and Darren were honeymooning, and the information that their aunt found out about DeepCon.

“Holy shit!” Alex said; “These two guys have no idea how much danger they’re in? They think they’re working for the government, and they’re not?”

“Not that Aunt Tash was able to find out, Alex,” Sandrina said; “She said that she thought that the whole DeepCon thing was a Occupationist plot to overthrow the current government and return to the illegal regime that ruled during our childhoods! Apparently, Bryan and his friend are considered Undesirables, and under that government...”

“Undesirables were imprisoned, tortured, and killed... all for things they could not help!” Alex said. “My family was declared Undesirable, too, because we aided those who wished to escape from the Occuaptionist prison system. My grandfather was murdered because of them!”

“So, you see where we’re coming from, then?” asked Danica.

“Yes,” Alex said; “Tell me what you know about this Bryan Costner character, Danica.”

“He’s mixed like I am, and that automatically condemns him under the Occupationist form of government,” Danica said; “He told me that his partner, Cobain Richards, has Jewish blood, though he himself is not a Jew. Cobain himself didn’t know it until just a few years ago. When his mother died, she told him and his siblings that their grandmother was Jewish. The grandmother had died at the hands of the Occupationists.”

“The Occuaptionists are scum,” Alex spat out; “They ruled by intimidation and fear. You have no idea how happy I was to hear that the President for Life and her ‘Committee’ were either dead or in prison.”

“Our Aunt Julia killed Carl Parks and Lane Sizemore,” Sandrina said; “We were all little kids at the time.”

“I wasn’t much older than that,” Alex said; “But I’d heard the stories my family told. When the Interim government was getting off the ground, we got the day off from school when Christine Collins-Ross was sworn in.”

“We were like two, two and a half,” Danica said; “You did know Sandy and I have the same birthday, right?”

Alex laughed. “Born in the same hosptial hours apart,” he said; “Yes, Sandy did tell me that.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door. “That’s probably Bryan and Cobain now,” Danica said; “We have much to discuss.”

“Indeed,” agreed Alex as Danica went to answer the door.

===

“You get that list of names?” Darren asked the Assistant Director over his secure phone. He had promised Natasha to leave it behind while they were on their honeymoon, but he didn’t. Natasha was almost glad that he didn’t listen to her.

“Yes, Darren,” the man said; “All of these individuals will be protected once they are off the ship. There are orders for our shooters to kill anyone who threatens them. They will be reunited with their families.”

“Very good,” Darren said; “To think that I have Natasha to thank for that. It was her keen eye and attention to detail that broke this wide open.”

“Maybe she should come back to work for us,” the Assistant Director said.

“She’ll say no,” Darren said; “And I won’t let her. As long as I’m Director, my wife will not be working for any government agency. Not while her twins are still minors.”

“They’re your responsibility now,” the AD said. “Those kids mean a lot to Natasha, and therefore, to you as well.”

“This is true, and I will protect all of them with my last breath if need be,” Darren said.

The Assistant Director laughed, “It was about time she made an honest man of you, Dixon!”

“How could I not be around her?” Darren asked before changing the subject back to what they had been talking about. “I want to make sure that a woman named Mariah Gadsden gets anything she needs from us. She’s a close friend of Natasha’s and she wants to help Mariah anyway she can.”

“I take it that Mariah was the name she took when she joined DeepCon,” the AD said.

“Yes,” Darren said; “Her given name is Kyle Lee Sears. She’s from Sevier, Tennessee. She has a husband, Greg Faust, and two children.”

“I’ll look into her background and see what we can do,” said the AD; “Anything particular I should know about her?”

“She’s a trained sniper. Trained by the one and only Morbus the Sickness himself,” Darren said.

“Ahh, then she knows her way around a gun and could defend herself if necessary.”

Darren discussed other pressing business with his Assistant, then closed out the call. Natasha laid on the bed on her back. She was staring at the ceiling.

“What’s wrong, Tash?” he asked.

“I wish I had been wrong, just this once,” she said.

“What on earth for?” asked Darren; “You may have saved Kylee’s life because you recognized her specific characteristics.”

“I’d give anything that Kylee wouldn’t have to have been put in this position,” said Natasha. “I’d have done the same for the other ladies I was in BlackOps with.”

“I know, Tash,” Darren said as he sat next to his wife on the bed.

“Darren, I’m usually very tough, but this has me rethinking a lot of things,” Natasha said; “Not about you, or the kids, or Sandy and Danica, but about choices I’d made throughout life.”

“The first part of your life, you had no say in,” Darren said; “When you decided to have a say, you did what you thought was best for you at the time. I understand that, and admire that about you.”

“I worry about Danica and Sandy though,” she said; “Sandy is my niece by blood. If anything happened to her because of all this, Nik and Katie would never forgive me, and I would never forgive myself. As for Danica, I love her and her family as if they were blood. Tracy is a lot like me, tough as nails. I mean, she went through a lot before she and Joe even got married.”

Placing his hand on Natasha’s, Darren said, “You are extremely fortunate to have the family you have, be they blood or ‘by chance’. You’re all very close, even with the geographical distances between you. A lot of people would kill for that kind of closeness, including me.”

“We’re married now, Darren,” Natasha said; “You’re part of it whether you like it or not!” And she laughed her warm, vibrant laugh, and rewarded him with her knowing smile. He always knew how to get her out of the doldrums.

She snuggled up against him on the bed. Together, they would get through this. Then they would fight the unseen enemy trying to spoil their happiness.

===

II

“Tell us what you know about DeepCon’s plans for you,” Sandrina asked Bryan and Cobain when they were seated in the living room.

The two men just looked at each other as if to say, how much do we tell them? Cobain then said,

“We’ve heard that there are plans to eliminate all DeepCon associates. Those considered Undesirable would be first.”

“Undesirable as defined by the Occupationists, you mean?” asked Alex.

“Yes,” Cobain said; “Because Bryan is mixed and I’m considered a Jew, we’d be among the first to be ‘exterminated’.”

“When would this happen?” asked Danica; Bryan noticed that when she was stressed, she balled up her fists, digging her nails into the palms of her hands.

“We have no idea,” Cobain continued; “As soon as tomorrow, or as late as a year from now. I was hesitant to come here with Bryan because I didn’t know what your association with them might be, if any.”

“Right now, we’re not ‘associated’ with anyone,” Sandrina said; “Danica and I are college students; Alex just transfered up here from North Carolina with the Army Reserve so he could continue his education. Nikolai and Vixen are starting high school soon.”

“Are you going to need a way to break from DeepCon before they carry out and plans to eliminate anyone?” asked Alex.

“We could go rogue,” Bryan said; “but that would make us targets. They’d be looking for us and anyone we’re associated with.”

“I suppose we could just continue as we have been, but then turn on anyone trying to kill us,” Cobain said.

“We’d have your backs in that case,” Alex said; “and I’m sure that something could be done to protect you from them in the future. Sandy, could we talk to your aunt about this?”

“She’d be the point of contact since she is the one who figured out what was going on,” Sandrina said. “Not how I’d like to spend my honeymoon, but it is what it is. Thing is, she and Darren won’t be back for two more weeks. Until then, we’re on our own.”

“We’ll have to work together, then,” Danica said, still clenching and unclenching her fists. “We have to come up with a plan, and for that, we’ll need the twins in on it.”

“Agreed,” Sandrina said; “They’re upstairs. I’ll go get them and we can make plans from there.”

Sandrina took her leave to get the twins, and the men and Danica just looked at each other. Bryan then said to her softly, “Danica, open your hands.”

She did as she was told, and she had managed to break the skin of the palm of her right hand. It was bleeding slightly. She looked at him with a look of pure terror. Neither Alex nor Cobain caught on.

“There’s no need to be afraid,” Bryan said; “As long as I’m here, I will watch over you.”

“Bryan, I don’t want anything to happen to you or Cobain,” Danica said.

“Nothing will happen once we start working together,” Bryan said; “Just remember who you are and what you can do. Use your gift for all its worth.”

Danica leaned in against Bryan shoulder and he put his arm around her. He couldn’t help but feel her trembling.

He kissed the top of her head, thinking, even tough girls get scared. I will be here for you, Danica. You have my word.

===

III

Julia looked over at Rachel and Aaliyah, thinking, what am I going to do with you two?

They were chattering like monkeys about their lessons, their training, and their plans to go roller blading that afternoon while Uncle Nik took Jaime to Belvidere to see her horses.

I would have loved to have a sister or a cousin close to my age when I was nine, Julia thought. Someone to do fun things with and be a normal child.

There was nothing normal about Julia’s childhood.

As if her adulthood was any more normal.

The dream she had had earlier in the day still troubled her. Keys were missing and she had no idea what happened to them; three weeks of her life was missing and she had no idea what happened during that time.

Jack was dead. Yep, Julia thought sarcastically, my life is soooo normal.

Julia knew she had to push on with life with these unanswered questions. She wondered about Miri up at Northwestern, but figured that no news was good news. At least her roommate was a nice girl and they seemed to have something in common other than the roles their various relatives played during the Occupation.

“Mom, can Liyah and I go roller blading now?” asked Rachel.

Julia looked at her youngest child, this tiny spitfire who reminded her of herself at that age. Roller blading? she thought. I don’t even know how to roller skate!

“Yeah, Rachel, you and Aaliyah can roller blade at the side of the house, but when Uncle Nik and Jaime come back you have to come inside,” she said.

“When’s that going to be, Aunt Jules?” asked Aaliyah as she checked her watch.

“No more than a couple of hours,” Julia said. “If anything weird goes on outside, come in immediately. Use your training to assess the situation.”

“Okay, Mom!” said Rachel as she and Aaliyah grabbed their roller blades and headed out the side door.

With Jaime in Belvidere, Zach hanging out with Peter and Danny, and Rachel and Aaliyah out at the side of the house, Julia decided to give Kimber a call.

As she dialed her sister’s number, she thought, I remember being on bedrest while I was pregnant. Kimber must be bored out of her mind!

===

Andrew James Duncan was certainly very active that afternoon. He was making it difficult for his mother to get a nap.

He wasn’t due for another three months, but he certainly reminded Kimber that he was indeed in there, waiting and growing.

“C’mon Drew, let mama get a little shut eye,” Kimber sighed. The baby had been active a lot in the last few days, ever since Kimber went for her sonogram a week before.

“He’s certainly moving around a lot in there,” the technician told her and Jamey; “I’d say you’re going to have your hands full with this little guy.”

He was healthy and appeared to be developing normally, so his parents had nothing to worry about there.

It was the constant movement that always seemed to happen right before Kimber wanted to do anything involving sleep. Like right that very instant when Kimber was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open.

Kimber managed to fall asleep anyway, so she didn’t hear the phone ringing in Jamey’s office down the hall.

Later, Jamey came to tell Kimber that her sister Julia was on the phone, and upon finding Kimber sleeping, told Julia,

“She’s sleeping right now, Julia. The baby’s been keeping her up with his constant moving around, and it looks like Kimber finally gave into the urge to sleep. Oh, okay. I’ll tell her you called. Thanks for checking up on her. She thinks everyone’s forgotten her though Niki and your folks have called at least twice a week.”

Jamey ended the call and looked over at Kimber. He sat on the bed gently so as to not wake her.

“Poor tired Kimber,” he said softly; “it will be all over soon and Drew will be here, and he’ll be a joy. I can’t wait to meet him!”

He then lay down on the bed with Kimber and he, too, was soon asleep.

===

IV

Rachel and Aaliyah were racing each other up and down the long driveway at the side of the house. They were laughing and giggling and having a great time being nine year old girls. They had no idea that they were being watched.

And not by Rachel’s mother, either.

Or any other member of their extended family.

The stranger watched as the girls were skating, making mental notes to use at a later date. They weren’t there to do the girls harm. It was a fact finding mission.

They paid more attention to the tall biracial girl, who was more physically developed than the tiny redheaded girl she was with.

The redhead they should have been more concerned with, but that wasn’t why the stranger was there.

Only nine more years before you will be ready, they thought. Then I’ll make you mine.

Observing the girls taking off their roller blades and putting on their shoes, they noticed that the redhead looked up suddenly. She scanned the horizon and rubbed her bare arms as if she were chilled.

“Liyah, there’s something not right out here,” Rachel said.

“I felt it too, Rach,” Aaliyah said; “We should go in and tell your mom.”

“What if it’s nothing?”

“Then it’s nothing,” Aaliyah said; “Dad always says better safe than sorry. But you’re usually right about these things.”

The stranger stayed where they were until the girls went inside the house. Damn, they thought, they know I’m out here. But they haven’t seen me, just felt my presence.

They worried that the redhead’s mother will send out the three legged yellow dog to come sniffing around. So while there was no one outside, they made their getaway.

But their presence would still be noted.

===

Julia grabbed Tripod and went outside after the girls came in and told her that something wasn’t right outside.

Tripod started to whine and pull at the short leash that Julia had him on.

“Is there something out here that’s caught your nose, Tripod?” Julia asked.

Tripod broke free of Julia’s grasp and went into the woods. Julia followed with her gun drawn in case there was someone out there that shouldn’t be out there.

She followed the dog deep into the woods where he stopped suddenly and sniffed the ground. He whined and growled, seemingly bothered by a small patch of mud.

“What is it, Tripod?” asked Julia. “What is it about that spot of mud?”

The dog continued to growl at it, then took off deeper into the woods. Julia recognized that he was following a trail and followed close behind him.

Soon, they were on the far side of the property, where Julia observed someone getting into a dark colored car. She made note of the plates, thinking, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a car with Regional plates...

Tripod growled louder, but then stopped suddenly as the presence he had been tracking seemingly disappeared.

“Let’s go back to the house, boy, okay?” Julia said, grabbing the leash and leading the dog back through the woods. As they passed the spot where the small patch of mud was, Tripod growled again. Julia marked it with a colored flag so that she could come out when Nik returned from Belvidere with Jaime to gather a sample.

God, I hope someone isn’t stalking Rachel and Aaliyah, Julia thought. Because then they’ll have to deal with me, and I won’t be too happy. Don’t piss off the mother of a nine year old girl, because this mom will blow your life away.

I’d love to be a normal, boring mom with a regular boring government job, Julia thought; but that’s not my lot in life.

She then took Tripod back to the house to tell the girls they could come out of the panic room now.

===

Niki and Drake decided one afternoon after returning from Washington, DC, to tell her parents about their wedding in February.

“We really owe it to them to let them in on the secret,” Niki had said at the time. “Dad’s going to be disappointed that he didn’t get to walk me down the aisle, but we can fix that.”

“We could have a ceremony later, after you’ve been in remission for a bit,” Drake had agreed.

For once, Niki had gotten some good news about her cancer. It was, for the time being, in remission, but she was hesitant to get her hopes up too much. She’d seen some of her friends at the hospital do that, then become disappointed when they had to get more chemotherapy. One girl she knew, about Niki’s age, had died when her treatment failed. The funeral was hard for her to bear. She knew she couldn’t put Drake and her parents through that kind of anguish, so she wanted to be absolutely sure that she’d not slip out of remission before she said anything to her family. However, her parents at least needed to know about her and Drake getting married. She had a feeling that her mother suspected something.

And Niki wanted with all her heart to meet her nephew when he arrived in October. Kimber was miserable on bedrest, and Niki being in Texas didn’t help. She had sent her twin a box of books, some puzzles and crosswords, and a recipe for latkes that Jamey could follow. Kimber had told her that she had an intense craving for the damn things, and she couldn’t get to the Jewish part of Chicago to get them for herself.

Drake had called David and Jordan to invite them to dinner at a place of their choosing. The older Draimans decided to surprise Niki and Drake with their choice, and David had already surprised Drake by insisting on paying for the meal. “You’re taking care of my little girl,” David had said; “the least we could do is pay for dinner.”

“Niki,” Drake said now, “I think your dad thinks we’re going to tell him and your mother that you’re in remission.”

“Not yet,” Niki said. “Let’s tell them we got married first, then tell them I’m in remission for the time being. I know they’ll keep our secret if we ask them to.”

“Your mother can’t keep a secret to save her life, Niki!” Drake said, laughing. “She’ll have to tell someone!”

“She kept the fact that Julia’s father was still alive after everyone thought he had died a secret for years!” Niki said; “But if she knows what’s good for her health, she’ll not stress out over it too much. I worry that one day, Dad’s going to call and tell me Mom’s had a stroke or something. She’s on so many kinds of medication for her hypertension it’s not funny. She’s outlived all her brothers except Uncle Matt. Somehow, he was spared that curse.”

“Didn’t he have cancer at one point?” asked Drake.

“No, that was Uncle Luke.”

“Oh...” was all Drake said as he dressed for the night out with his inlaws.

Niki looked incredible to him, though. She was still a little too thin for his liking, but she was still the girl he fell in love with when she was 17. She wore a halter dress with a colorful shawl he’d had sent from Australia for her 19th birthday.

“Suppose we could stand your folks up, Niki?”

Niki looked at him and laughed. “We invited them to dinner, silly! It would be poor manners to not show up just because you’re in one of your moods!”

“I suppose not,” Drake mused as he slipped on his suit jacket. He wore no tie. He hated them as much as his father in law did.

“Shall we go shock the parents?” asked Niki.

“Yes, we shall... and hope they understand why we kept it a secret.”

Niki winked and said, “They’ll understand, Drake.”

===

David and Jordan arrived at the restaurant, one they had been to on many occasions, before their daughter and Drake. They decided to be seated at their table and wait there.

“I’ll bet you anything that she’s gone into remission,” David said as he ordered appetizers.

“Is that special enough to invite us to dinner?” asked Jordan.

“If it were me, hell yeah it’s a great reason!” David said.

“I think they got married,” said Jordan.

“And what makes you think that?”

“I don’t know, just something that a mother suspects about her daughter.”

“Well we didn’t know that Kimber was pregnant until she showed us the sonogram photos,” David said; “You thought that she and Jamey had gotten married, too, if I recall.”

“But she lives in Chicago, David,” Jordan said. “Niki is right here.”

“True, true,” said David, spotting Niki and Drake in the foyer and waved them over. “Jordan, let them tell us whatever it is they’ve brought us out here to tell us, okay?”

“David...” Jordan began.

“I mean it, Jordan. Don’t guess. It might not be what you think.”

Jordan just sighed as Niki and Drake made their way to the table. Jordan looked at Niki and thought she looked better than she had in months. Maybe David’s right, maybe it is that she’s in remission, thought Jordan.

The younger couple sat down and the four of them began talking. All through dinner, David wanted to say, okay kids, what is it? But he held his tongue. Jordan was actually very calm and not ready to burst at the seams with questions. Hmmm, David thought, maybe that new medication is working for her.

Finally, Niki said, “You’re probably wondering why we asked you to dinner.”

“The thought did cross our minds,” Jordan said, smiling pleasantly.

“Well, kids...what is it?” David finally asked, exasperated.

Neither David nor Jordan saw Niki put her hand under the table during their talk, so when she held out her left hand to her parents, both David and Jordan were in a state of shock.

“We got married!” Niki said. Drake just grinned.

David and Jordan looked at each other, then at the kids, then at each other again before exclaiming in unison,

“You did what?!”

===