Page 7 of Daniel Watson
All the while she was trying her best to get words out, she had missed the girl leaving. Damn it all the fuck. What was wrong with people nowadays? Stupid, that was it. They were all stupid.
She didn’t know if the girl was telling the truth or not but thought maybe she was in deeper shit than she’d been before. Her body betrayed her like everyone else had. Beatrice realized that she should have been taking her medication instead of doing what she wanted. Of course there was no way that she was going to admit to that. Wondering where her daughter was—thinking that if she had to suffer, so did she—exhaustion slid over her, and it was too difficult to make herself stay awake.
When she woke again, feeling overwhelmed by memories of her childhood of all things. But with a hard jerk on her arm, she realized that she was still chained like a dog. Looking around while pressing buttons on the call button to get the nurse to come in here and release her, Beatrice turned the television on and off several times and had the volume so loud that it hurt her already pounding head. Finally, someone came into the room to help her.
“Mrs. Miller, what can I do for you? I know that you’re not speaking well, so if you’d just let me ask you questions, with you blinking once for yes and two for no, we’ll see if we can do anything for you.” She blinked twice, not wanting to look like an old fool. “All right, you don’t want to do it that way. I’m going to assume then. You need pain medication, I’m betting. I’ll be right back with something for you.”
Beatrice blinked so many times to tell her that she didn’t want anything like that she felt as if her eyeballs were going to pop right out of her head. By the time the nurse returned, Beatrice was half sick with pain again. Glad for the medications now, she was drifting off when she remembered what it was that she’d wanted. She wanted someone to get the police. It was high time someone taught those bastards who did this to her a lesson.
~*~
“I took July to the airport. She’s not going to return to take care of her mother. She did leave her banking and attorney information with me but she won’t be back. And since the judge gave her power of attorney over her mother because of the heart attack, she said that she was going to live the life that she wished she’d had. I don’t know what that means for the girl, but I wish her luck.” Daniel laughed a little before he continued. “She also signed the paperwork for her mother that gives up any custody of Luke and his sister so that they can be adopted by their sisters. I think they’ll do a great job in keeping him safe.”
“I agree.” They were sitting in the living room, just having a nice rest after the week that they’d had. Cassie had been to the cemetery twice more since arriving but had only been by the grave of her brother once. She found that she could live with that because it was close to where she was now.
Cassie didn’t want to draw attention to the fact that she was there to see him. But with the pictures that someone had taken from her apartment, she had been able to grieve a little more since she’d been here. Having all the people around her was better than she’d ever expected. Family was a good thing, she thought.
“I’d like to speak to you about some things if you’d not mind. I know you’ve been through a great deal…what I mean is, I would…Would you have dinner with me?” The question startled her some, and she didn’t answer him. Or couldn’t, she didn’t know which before he spoke again. “I’ve been thinking about you for a few days now and wondered if you’d like to have dinner with me. Just the two of us.”
“Won’t people see me? I mean, I’m always worried that someone will see me and everyone will be killed.” He said that if she wore her glasses, she looked enough like Sen that she could pass as her sister, too. “I’ve noticed that. I wonder if that was why they picked your house for me to hide out.”
“I volunteered. I found out that you had survived, for which I’m so grateful for that I said you could hide out here. With all the women here and you, you’ve blended in very well.” She asked him about Sen. “What about her?”
“I thought that the two of you were seeing each other.” He smiled at her and told her that they weren’t. “Does Sen know this? I like her and don’t want to step on anyone’s toes right now. I have enough going on at the moment.”
“I’m sure. When we first started out living here together, I was kind of hoping for some companionship with her. But it was too much like…she seems like my sister. Or something like that. The rest of them do as well. Like we’re related in some close way.” Daniel laughed again, telling her how he felt about the other woman. “We get along great. I think it has to do with the fact that we’ve been living in close quarters for so long that we’ve developed into sisters and brothers more than anything romantic.”
“I’m not sure about…I’ve been married before. My husband was killed out of the country. I don’t have any family left.” He smiled and said that he only had family because Caleb had given him one. “Yes, I heard about that too. That you were all conceived during the raping of your mothers. I’m sorry about that. I’m not sure why you’d want to date me, I guess.”
He laughed a little, and she smiled. It was wonderful to catch him off guard like that. And his laughter, like hers, was rusty sounding, even to her own ears. When he put out his hand, she didn’t hesitate to take it with her own.
“I think that you’re beautiful. Smart and fun to be around. I would imagine that you’re still having nightmares about what has happened to you. I know that I would as well. But you’re soldiering through it, as my boss would say. And I’d consider myself a lucky man if you were to go out to dinner with me.” Before she could give it a great deal of thought, she told him that she’d enjoy that. “Great. That’s wonderful. Yes, we’ll have dinner tonight. Unless you have other plans.”
“I don’t, actually. None at all.” She was embarrassed then when he kissed her hand. Cassie wasn’t used to people enjoying her company. She thought that it had a great deal to do with the fact that she never allowed anyone into her life that could feel close. “I don’t have a lot of clothing here. I’ve been borrowing clothing from the others. Their taste is a lot different than what I usually wear, but it’s growing on me.”
“It looks fantastic on you. I’m sure that if you were to ask them, they’re enjoying sharing as well.” She nodded and turned to look at the sliding door that led out onto the decking. “That would be one of my brothers. I forgot that they were coming over to update you on some things that they’d been able to find out.”
It was her that got up to open the door. When Joey Phillips, another brother to Daniel, came through the door, he kissed her on the cheek and smiled. As they made their way to the kitchen, he had some vegetables that were from the greenhouse in town, she was putting them away when Joey started speaking. She stopped him before he could start.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever thought of this before now. But could this house be bugged? I happened to think about that while in the shower this morning. How we just talk freely here.” Joey laughed and asked if Daniel explained to her about his abilities. “No. I mean, are you some kind of wizard or something?”
“I can’t have electronics around me. That’s the reason that I don’t wear a watch or have a cell phone. I can be around landlines and things that are directly plugged in but all the other stuff, it simply turns off when I enter a room. Every day I walk through the house and the bedrooms included just to switch things off if there is anything. Another reason that I keep you close is so that no one can bug you, either. I’ve seen that happen a few times.” She asked him about televisions. “If I’m far enough away from it…most of the reason that I’ve never gotten into the habit of watching it, I have to be too far away to hear or see what is going on. So I’ve never bothered.”
“That’s both brilliant and sad. You can’t watch things that are around. I haven’t been that keen on things on television either but I’ve found a couple of old reruns that I’m enjoying watching. I’m sorry but also happy to know that I’m safer while around you.” She kissed him on the cheek before sitting down with Joey. “What do you have to tell me, kind sir? I know that you work for the Feds. So do I.”
“The president sent a few pictures to me this morning. He wants you to look them over and tell me if you recognize anyone in them.” She took the handful of pictures and started sorting through them as he continued. “I have a weapon for you too. He wants to make sure that whenever you go out and are just here in the house that you’re armed. He also gave permits to carry to the family that Daniel has here. The older ones, at least.”
Cassie put the pictures into two groups. People that she recognized and those that she didn’t. It was sad to her that she knew more of the bad guys than she did regular people. She paused on one particular picture and put it aside to finish up the others. Joey asked her about it.
“I think I know this man but not as someone that was in a wanted poster. These men I know, and while I have seen their records, I do believe that most, if not all, of them are dead.” She handed him the good pile. “These I don’t know at all. Should I?”
“No, you might later when and if you go back to work, but you’ve never had to deal with them. Wilhem told me that you were special forces with your brother. That the two of you were great at working through a hotspot without any issues.” She said that she and Bradley were working for an underground group to get people out of countries that they might have burned bridges with. “Yeah, that’s what he said. You’ve never lost a person nor—” She picked up the picture again.
“It’s the driver. The one that picked Bradley and me up when we were shot. He was the man driving the van that day.” She handed the photo to Daniel. “You were there too. Do you remember his face? It’s the long scar that made me remember him.”
“I never saw anyone but Bradley when we were in the van. Then, after we found out that you were shot, I was too busy with the both of you to look around too much. But if you say it’s him, I trust you. You were in the front seat with him. Did he act odd when you got in?” She closed her eyes, thinking about the chain of events that day.
“He was annoyed that I had gotten the door open. I was thinking when I reached for the door that he was unlocking it for me but he was pushing the button down just as I got the door opened. I didn’t think much of it at the time. He was also armed. The drivers are never armed when they’re driving the getaway vehicle.” It was Daniel who asked her why not. “They didn’t want the driver to do anything else but drive the vehicle when they were picking up. Just to concentrate on getting us away, in this situation, rather than dividing their time between shooting and driving. They figured that there would be enough armed personnel in the car before…he had a Glock in his ankle holster. Also, a knife…it was lying on the dashboard with a towel-like thing over it.”