Chapter 67

I

“What?!” Christine said as soon she got over the shock of the question that Jacob had just asked her.

“Would you resume your life with Todd if he asked you to come home?”

“We...we had an agreement that if he didn’t hear from me in a year, that he’d have the marriage annulled,” said Christine; “Why would he want me back after I basically abandoned him?”

“Because he still loves you, perhaps?” Jacob said. “Perhaps, he didn’t have the heart to go through with the annulment because he hoped you’d come home to him someday?”

“That’s...that’s insane, Jacob!” Christine exclaimed; “How do you know this? Or are you just speculating?”

“Christine,” Jacob said sofly, taking her hand, “it’s not speculation. I’ve talked to Todd. He still loves you. He never got the annulment. He wants a chance to win you again.”

“But we agreed... how could he go back on that?”

“He loves you, that’s how. He never wanted you to leave,” Jacob said. “I can’t possess someone who so obviously belongs to someone else.”

“I DON’T BELONG TO ANYONE!” Christine said, defiantly; “I’m my own woman, no matter what Todd, or you, or anyone says.”

“Christine, please listen,” Jacob said; “You know how I feel about you. I know how you feel about me. I’m not going to make you choose. That’s something that you’ll have to decide on your own. All I can tell you is that Todd still cares deeply for you, even after ten years. I, too, care deeply for you, but Todd had you first. If you decided that you wanted to give Todd another chance, I won’t stand in your way.”

“Jacob, I...” Christine began, but couldn’t finish. She did love Todd all these years. She thought she was protecting him from anyone who came looking for her. However, she realized that she loved Jacob, too. She thought it was insane, falling for a man old enough to be her father, when Todd was just a couple of years older than she.


Before she knew it, Jacob had taken her into his arms and held her. She started to cry. She was so confused. She could hear Jacob’s reassuring voice in her ear, telling her it was okay to be unsure; that he loved her; he loved her enough to let her go if need be.

He led her inside, their drinks forgotten. They went to the bedroom they shared and lay down. Jacob held her as she cried against him. He was almost sorry to have brought the subject up. She was unhappy and it was his fault. He never meant to hurt this incredible woman who walked into his life by chance.  

Ah, Christine, he said to her in his thoughts, please don’t cry or be sad. I’m so sorry I hurt you. I love you, my beautiful, brave healer, but you are not mine to have. I will always protect you, even if you don’t choose me.

Soon, Christine was asleep, and Jacob was not that far behind. As he surrendered to the darkness, he heard another voice, a very familiar voice say, Jacob, do the right thing.

“Christine?” he mumbled as sleep overtook him.  

===

Jeremiah showed up unannounced at Nik’s house three days after they all returned home from Washington. After going back to Nik’s office, he said,

“You’ll never guess what I got from a courier about half an hour ago.”

“You’re right,” Nik said, grinning; “I’ll never guess. Just tell me what you got.”

“Lawrence Carr’s autopsy report from the coroner in McLean, Virginia.”

“Was it the guy in the bathtub?” asked Nik.

“No, it wasn’t,” Jeremiah said; “but someone tried real hard to make us believe it was.”

“But you said you had Carr’s autopsy report,” said Nik.

“I do,” said Jeremiah; “he died last year under mysterious circumstances. Found what was left of him in the Great Dismal Swamp near Norfolk.”

“Then who was the horror we saw in the bathtub in Carr’s house?”

“That’s what they don’t know,” Jeremiah said; “They’re still testing to identify the poor soul. All they know is that the body was that of a female, not a male.”

“Wouldn’t we have seen tell tale signs of that, though? Like the fact that she had tits? Or that there were no external genitalia?”

“Who ever killed her mutilated the corpse so badly that you couldn’t tell if it were Aunt Jemima or Uncle Ben.”

“Lovely,” Nik said disgustedly; “So we have a executed female with mutilated corpse, and one dead former government employee who may not have been in his right mind. Who could have ordered or performed such gruesome acts?”

“That’s what the McLean Police and the Feebees want to know,” said Jeremiah. “And we have no idea. A.R.M. took down their web page, disconnected all their communications equipment, and stole off into the night, by the looks of it. But I still don’t trust them as far as I could throw you across this room.”

“Are we going to know who the woman was?”

“I’ve asked to be informed, but they can’t promise me anything,” Jeremiah said; “If it’s a government employee, that information is classified. Not even a FOIA request will get me her ID.”

“Should we be concerned, and should I tell Sandy and Danica to watch their backs?” asked Nik.

“We should tell Sandy and Danica only if they are in immediate danger,” Jeremiah suggested; “DeepCon is watching Tash’s house, so the girls and the twins are protected for now.”

“What about when Sandy moves in with Alex? Will she still be protected then?”

“That’s something we should take up with Darren when he and Natasha return from their cruise,” Jeremiah said. “Because at the moment, I have no fucking idea what we should do.”

===

II

“Bryan, have you lost what’s left of your God damned mind?!” Richards practically shouted at Costner. “You chatted up the Donovan girl and got her phone number?”

“She has no idea I’m following her, Cobain, so calm the fuck down, will ya?” Bryan said. “I’m going to call her and ask her out. If she says yes, then I can still watch her and she never has to know. She’s damn fine to look at, and is smarter than anything.”

“I don’t think that’s what the bosses had in mind, Bryan,” Richards said; “But I really don’t care how you do it, no harm should come to that girl. Got that?”

“Yeah, I got it. What are you so worried about?” asked Bryan. “They never said we couldn’t make personal contact with the subjects.”

“Dude, I know that you’re just trying to do your job,” Richards said; “You’re good at what you do, but why did you have to make contact with Miss Donovan? Is she that gorgeous?”

“Yes, she’s that gorgeous,” Bryan said. “She smart, alert, and when she says she has to be somewhere, she leaves.”

“A bit on the independent side, isn’t she?”

“I never wanted a girl to cling to me, Coby,” Bryan replied; “Danica Donovan is sure of herself without being cocky or bitchy about it. Very much like a Mainer.”

“A what?”

“A Mainer,” said Bryan; “She’s from Maine, still has the slight Mainer accent to go along with her independent streak.”

Richards pulled up the information the pair had on Danica. “Let’s see...” he said; “Danica Antonia Donovan. DOB 5 December 2016; Birthplace: Chicagoland Medical Clinic, Illinois. Parents: Joseph and Tracy Kay; Sister: Kendria Antonia, born 3 October 2018. Sister’s headed to Harvard soon. Some kind of brainiac to be sure.”

“She mentioned she had a sister,” Bryan said; “No brothers. And ‘cousins-by-chance’.”

“What the fuck is a cousin-by-chance?

“Danica explained that her father and his older brother were orphaned when they were young, and went to live with a couple who had taken in a couple other children during the Occupation, and they considered themselves siblings,” said Bryan;  “So their kids are ‘cousins-by-chance’.”

“Says here that she’s related to Jeremiah Donovan, the journalist,” Richards said; “That must be her father’s older brother.”

“Pictures of the brothers part of that file?” asked Bryan.

“Think so,” Richards said, plunking down on the touch screen tablet. “Ah, here we go. Jeremiah is older. Here’s a picture of them as teenagers with two other people. The two they considered their siblings?”

Bryan looked at the screen. “Dude, you know who that chick is, right?”

Richards looked at the screen, saying, “Yeah, that’s Julia Terranova. The blonde guy must be Nikolai San Marco.”

“San Marco is Sandrina’s father,” said Bryan; “Natasha Vincent’s biological brother.”

“Ahh, so that’s how they’re all related,” Richards said. “By chance. I get it now.”

Finally, Bryan thought.

“Why don’t you give the Donovan girl a call, Bryan,” Richards said; “Since you went to all that trouble to chat her up and all.”

Bryan rolled his eyes, thinking, Coby make up your damn mind; are you mad or not?

===

Miri couldn’t believe that the following morning, she and her mother would be on their way to Northwestern to get her settled in her dorm and go to Freshman Orientation. She couldn’t wait to meet her new roommate.

She had packed, and re-packed, and re-re-re-packed everything she wanted to take with her. If it wasn’t in the box, then she didn’t need it. The box was now in the back of her mother’s All Purpose Utility Vehicle (APUV), a Chevy Tulsa her father had bought shortly before his death.

It was also Friday the 13th, though Miri didn’t believe in the bad luck that date still conjured up amongst people. It was her day. The first day of her independence from her family, to take her first tentative steps as an adult.

Miri loved her family, and would do anything for them. But even her baby sister Rachel knew it was time for Miri to be a grown-up.

The phone call from John wishing her good luck with college meant a lot to her. He said he’d try to visit when he was anywhere close to the area. That made Miri smile. She liked John Crossley more than a little bit. It was too bad he lived closer to her grandparents than to her.

She flopped down on the bed, suddenly exhausted. She was excited, nervous, anxious... and by the time her mother came to get her for dinner, she was asleep.

===

III

The phone rang and Danica looked over at it. It was a local DC number she didn’t recognize. It had to be that Bryan Costner she met at the sandwich shop a few days before.

She answered the call, saying, “Hello?”

“Danica Donovan please.”

“This is she,” Danica said; “May I ask what this call is in reference to?”

“You may,” Bryan said, “It’s Bryan Costner. We met at Brownies and Baguettes earlier in the week.”

Danica smiled. “I remember.”

“You said that I could call you.”

“I did,” said Danica; “I’m actually glad to hear from you. I wanted to apologize for being so brusque the other day when I left. I had an appointment that I could not be late for.”

“I understand, Danica,” Bryan said. “I hope that I could see you again. I feel like we were just getting to know each other before you left to keep your appointment.”

“I’d like that, Bryan,” Danica said, catching a glimpse out of the corner of her eye at Vixen and Nikolai. They were trying very hard not to laugh. Danica retreated into the kitchen for privacy.

“Would tonight be too soon?” he asked.

“I’m free tonight, actually,” Danica said; “My cousin is helping her fiance move his things into an apartment they’re renting, but she should be here shortly.”

Just then, Sandrina and Alex walked into the living room, and saw the twins trying not to laugh at Danica’s conversation. “What’s so damn funny, you two?” she asked.

“Danica’s talking to some guy who’s asking her out,” Vixen said. Of her and her brother, Vixen was the only one composed enough to talk.

“And that’s funny?” asked Alex.

“Yeah, because Danica is so picky about guys,” Vixen said before she lost it.

Nikky followed suit, letting out great guffaws of laughter. It reminded Sandrina of her father’s laugh.

Back in the kitchen on the phone, Danica said, “My cousin, Sandy is here, and the twins are laughing at something. Probably me.”

“Why would they be laughing at you?” asked Bryan.

“Because I’m kind of, um, picky about who I let take me out. Men look at me and think I’m some hot piece of ass,” Danica said; “I’ve slapped a few down for being forward. My parents taught both me and my sister better than that.”

“I’m glad you’re giving me a chance, then,” Bryan said. “I don’t think you’ll have to slap me down. I was taught manners.”

“Then we’ll get along just fine,” Danica said, smiling. She could hear Bryan sigh over the phone.

They soon ended their call with plans to meet at the sandwich shop, then decide from there where they wanted to go. Danica then ended the call.

“Okay you two,” she yelled into the living room before walking into it; “enough with the funny stuff. I’m going out with the guy, tonight, and you’re going to like it. Ya got me?”

Vixen and Nikky just looked at each other and started laughing all over again. Sandrina rolled her eyes, Danica turned and went upstairs, and Alex just stood there, not sure whether to be confused or amused.

===

“So, did she say yes?” asked Richards.

“Of course she did,” Bryan said; “And you’re not going to follow us, understood?”

“I can’t, Bry, you know that. I have to watch the house while you’re out having fun,” Richards said. “By the way, what are you going to be doing?”

“Not sure yet,” Bryan said; “Dinner and a movie, dinner and a walk around the Reflecting Pool, dinner and ‘fill in the blank’.”

“Better have some serious dough-rei-me, if you know what I mean.”


“Don’t worry about that, Coby,” Bryan said; “You just keep your eye on the house while I’m gone.”

But Bryan couldn’t wait to see Danica. There was something about her he really liked, and he wanted to see if he could see it again.

Bryan’s first marriage was a disaster. He’d married his high school sweetheart, and the marriage lasted barely a year. Connie left him for a man who didn’t work for the government doing things he couldn’t talk about. No kids, fortunately, but Bryan really wanted a family. Maybe things not working out with Connie was a blessing in disguise.

He worried that Danica was too intelligent for him. He never finished college, instead was recruited by CIA in his junior year. Nearly eight years later, he was part of DeepCon. He wanted out, because he couldn’t live like a spy anymore. He was 30 years old. He wanted to settle down in a boring desk job, get married again and have a family.

Was Danica the girl he waited for? Bryan wanted to hope so, but he didn’t want a repeat of his marriage, or of the one serious relationship he had since his marriage ended. That girl just walked out on him one day and never looked back. That was four years ago.

Danica’s age concerned him a little, but she wasn’t like other 18 year old girls. He was more concerned that she would think he was too old for her.

He didn’t know that she knew who he was the day he walked into Brownies and Baguettes. He didn’t know about her special gift, the one that none of her cousins had. She would have questions about him that he couldn’t answer.

When he got over his shock, he wouldn’t be able to get her out of his mind. He didn’t know that yet, either. She would be his ticket to another life.

Neither of them knew that.

===

IV

Danica was getting ready to meet Bryan. She didn’t dress up as a rule, her aunt’s wedding being the one exception to that rule. So no one should have been surprised when she came downstairs wearing a light blouse and khaki slacks with sandals. But for some reason, Sandrina was.

“You’re wearing that?” she asked her cousin. “You aren’t going to dress up and knock his socks off?”

“I don’t even know what we’re doing beyond meeting at the sandwich place, Sandy,” Danica said. “This is safe, casual, and unless he’s in a tux, I’m not going to worry about it.”

“She looks fine, Sandy,” Alex said; “I seem to remember a certain blonde girl wearing distressed jeans on our first date.”

“Alex, considering our first date was at the gun range, that was the appropriate attire,” Sandrina said teasingly.

“What a boring date that must have been,” Nikky said; “I’m just a kid and I could think of better places to go other than the gun range.”

“Oh, it wasn’t boring, Nikky,” Alex said; “Not when you have Sandy to look at.”

“Whatever...” Nikky said, heading up the stairs to his room.

“Boys...” Vixen said; “They just don’t get it.”

“Really?” Danica said. “I don’t have any brothers, so I don’t know.”

“Danica, if I could see you in the kitchen a sec,” Sandrina said.

Once they were in the kitchen, Sandrina said, “You are going to take protection with you, right?”

“Sandy, if you’re asking if I’ll have a weapon, then yes,” said Danica; “Anything else is nunya, okay?”

Sandrina laughed. “How’s it feel to have all that thrown back at you?”

“Touche’, Sandy,” Danica said. “I’ve got to get going. I said I’d meet Bryan at 7:30, and it’s nearly 7 now.”

As Danica headed out the back door to the garage, Sandrina thought, I hope you don’t have to use that weapon tonight, cousin. I’d much rather hear that you got laid instead.

===

Danica pulled up to Brownies and Baguettes about five minutes before she was due to meet Bryan. He was already there, waiting for her.

“I figured you’d be on time,” he said, smiling.

“It’s one of my bad habits,” Danica said, returning the smile; “One that I’m not planning to break.”

She locked the car door and headed inside with Bryan. “We can eat here if you want, or we can go elsewhere,” said Bryan.

“I don’t mind eating here,” she said. “They have great sandwiches. The baked goods are just like you’d do it yourself. And the lemonade is fresh squeezed.”

“How did you find this place?” asked Bryan; “It is kind of tucked away from the tourist areas.”

“Aunt Natasha highly recommends this place to everyone,” Danica said; “If she doesn’t bring in a lot of their business, I’d be very surprised.”

They ordered their sandwiches, a brownie for Danica and a blueberry muffin for Bryan; and both got the lemonade. Bryan paid for their meal and they went back to a quiet area to talk about their plans for the evening.

“We could go see a movie,” Bryan said; “if that’s what you wanted to do.”

“There’s really nothing I want to see, honestly,” Danica said; “Nothing’s original anymore.”

“True,” said Bryan, “but we can’t stay here all night either, so what’s one thing in town you’ve always wanted to see?”

“I’ve been to all the memorials more than once,” Danica said, thinking. “Same with the White House. I just saw the President at my aunt’s wedding. We could go hang out in the Marketplace after it gets a little cooler. I like to people watch there.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” said Bryan; “We could compare notes.”

They talked and ate until just before the sandwich shop closed at 9:30pm, then they headed in their separate cars to the Marketplace. It was officially closed by that time, but the tables and chairs that patrons sat in at the various eateries had not been taken in, so they sat at one table and watched people file through on their way to other places in the area.

And they talked more about themselves. Bryan told Danica how old he was (30) and that he’d been married before (no kids), and he noticed she didn’t seem to flinch at either of those statements.

“That usually makes people uncomfortable,” Bryan said; “That I’ve been married before.”

“So?” asked Danica; “You have a past. Don’t we all?”

“My being 12 years older than you doesn’t set off alarms?”

“Why should it?” said Danica; “My mother is older than my father. He was 17 when I was born, Mom was 21. It’s not a big deal unless you make it one.”

Bryan thought that Danica had a point. Why am I making such a big deal of this? he asked himself.

Danica then said, “Can I ask you something, Bryan?”

“Sure. Fire away.”

Danica looked him straight in the eye and asked, “Why the hell have you been following me?”

Bryan felt all the color drain from his face.

===