Chapter 27

The next morning, the plot thickened all right, but not as expected. Melville surprised us yet again. Shortly after the second vehicle change to bring Dr. Rourke to meet Sara and Donna, Melville's patience must have run out because what happened next shocked all of us.

Three cargo vans converged on the vehicle carrying two of Jerome's operatives and Dr. Rourke. Without warning, the bad guys jumped from the vans and opened fire, using automatic weapons. Surprise and overwhelming force dictated the outcome.

We lost. Big time.

When the gun smoke cleared, Dr. Rourke and our operatives lay dead, riddled with bullets. Jerome determined later that over three hundred rounds struck the vehicle, many of them piercing the bodies within. Our guys didn't get a shot off in defense.

I'd cursed Dr. Rourke's intractable attitude regarding the paranormal but appreciated her professional skills, so her untimely death saddened me greatly. Jason's reaction to her death stunned me. I was with him when he was told what happened. His body stiffened, and his fists clenched so tightly his fingernails dug into his palms breaking the skin. I had to disrupt my sensation connection with him to stop the pain. Tears welled in his eyes and overflowed. I tried to put my arms around him, but he pushed me away.

"You didn't like her," he said, his voice a cold monotone. "I did." He turned and walked away from me. "Sara will need me," he added without turning back.

I stood in shock, rooted to the floor, barely able to breathe, certainly unable to speak, to call him back to me. That Jason could treat me so coldly when I only wanted to console him, devastated me.

I wasn't as devastated as Sara, though. She was even more inconsolable than Jason. She wept uncontrollably, curled up into a tight ball and rocked back and forth. Her eyes lost their focus. She didn't appear to sense the world around her. I tried to connect with her thoughts but couldn't, and I could only stay connected with her emotionally for a split-second. The dark place her emotions occupied terrified me so much I feared if I remained connected to her that I might join her and never find my way back.

Jason was holding her. With a tear-stained face, he looked up at Dad and said. "I've seen her like this before. She might not pull herself out of wherever she's gone without medical intervention."

"She has to," Dad said. "If she doesn't, we've lost. If she's admitted into a hospital, she'll be arrested, and little Donna will be returned to her father. That's why Melville did what he did, why he killed three innocents. He's counting on her mental instability. Otherwise, what he did makes no sense."

Dad bent to help Sara to her feet, but Jason held her tightly.

"Let her go, Jason."

"No! She's my sister! Family! I'm the head of my family now!"

"Jason, you can't help her. You're too emotionally involved. Do you remember how you were when you first arrived in Denver? You were emotionally detached enough to think clearly. What happened this morning shattered your objectivity. You can't help Sara now. I can. Let go."

Some of what Dad said must have gotten through because Jason helped Dad pull Sara to her feet.

"What are you going to do?" Jason asked.

"A modified intervention," Dad stated. He picked Sara up in his arms, carried her to the master bedroom and laid her gently on the bed. "Katy, stay with me. I might need your gifts. Also when I'm ready, I'll want you to bring little Donna here."

"No!" Jason shouted. "She can't see her mother like this. I won't allow it!"

"Jason, I love your sister and her daughter. It is my fondest hope that when we accomplish what must be done here in Denver that Sara will become my wife, which will make Donna my daughter. Do you honestly believe I don't have Sara and Donna's best interest at heart?"

Dr. Rourke's death and Sara's extreme reaction to the news had seemingly removed Jason's ability to think rationally. I could fathom no other reason for his behavior.

"Answer me, Jason," Dad said calmly.

"I know you mean well, but..."

"Leave us now, Jason."

"No!"

"If I must, I'll have Jerome and Ed remove you. I'd rather not take such drastic actions, but I will."

"Let me stay. Please."

Dad shook his head. "No. You'd fight whatever steps I would take to save your sister." When Jason didn't walk away, Dad shouted, "Leave now!" Jason's refusal to listen to reason infuriated my father.

"Please, Jason," I said. "Do what Dad says." I stepped toward him, intending to turn him and guide him from the room.

Tears filled his eyes and overflowed again, and before I could reach him, he turned and walked away. I tuned in with his thoughts.

This is wrong. I'm the head of the family now. I should... she'll become so depressed that... maybe Dr. Owen... what am I going to do?

I closed the bedroom door, and Jason's disjointed thoughts stopped their assault on my mind. His emotions were just as confused, so I also flipped the switch that connected me with him emotionally. When I turned back, Dad was lying on the bed, holding Sara in his arms.

"Did she understand what just happened?" Dad asked me. "Did she hear what I said, what Jason said?"

I connected with her thoughts.

My fault! her mind screamed. I killed her! Me!

"Ask her, Dad."

"Sara, can you hear me? Sara!"

More self-flagellation. "Tell her your name, Dad."

"Sara, it's David! David! Can you hear me?"

David ?

"She heard you, Dad."

"It's David, Sara! Talk to me!"

I killed her! I killed her! ... David?

"She believes she killed Dr. Rourke. In her mind, she keeps screaming, 'I killed her!' But, she's said your name as a question twice."

"It's David, Sara. Talk to me! You need to talk to me. What about Donna, Sara?"

"David. Donna."

"Concentrate on Donna," I said.

"What about Donna? What about your little girl? Your daughter? Do you love Donna?"

I killed... little girl. Donna. My daughter. My little girl.

"Donna loves you, Sara. Come back for her. Come back for me."

Donna. I... daughter .

"Now you, Dad. Use your name."

"Come back for me, Sara, for David."

David. Love. Donna.

"She's hearing you, Dad. Use names. Use love. Use your love, Donna's love. Pull out all the stops, but mean what you say, because you'll need to live with whatever you say."

"Sara! Sara, it's David. David loves you, Sara. Donna, your daughter, loves you. Donna needs you, Sara. Donna needs you. I need you. David needs you. Talk to me. Talk to David."

She stopped rocking, stopped her agitated movements, and her body went limp.

David.

Sara's eyes, which had been open, unfocused and staring straight ahead, slowly closed. Her breathing deepened.

"Connect with her emotionally now, Katy."

I flipped a mental switch. The terrifying dark place was gone.

"She's asleep, Dad."

"That's what I thought. Go get Donna."

"Are you sure?"

"Hell no! But..."

"Donna," Sara muttered and opened her eyes. Dad pushed her tear-stained hair from her face and kissed her cheek. Her eyes closed again.

I hurried away. Sara needed her little girl.

As I moved through the master bedroom door, Jason grabbed me. "What's happening?"

I didn't like the wild look in his eyes. "Sara needs to see Donna now." I twisted my arm from his grasp and hurried down the hall to Sara's room. She wasn't there. I found her in the great room with Marsha and Nora.

"Donna, my dad and your mom would like to see you. Okay?"

"'kay." She hopped up off the sofa and took my hand.

Jason barred the door to the master bedroom.

"Get out of the way, Jason," I said. I felt Donna cringing from him. She sensed his fear... his anger.

"No. I won't..."

Dad opened the door. "Hi, sweet thing," Dad said when he saw Donna holding my hand. Dad's voice calmed the little girl. "Come on in. Your mommy is sleeping right now, but when she wakes up, she'll want to see you first thing. Okay?" He held out his hand for her.

"No..." Jason started to say.

Dad glared at Jason, and then moved to the side, pushing Jason a little, putting himself between Jason and the door, leaving an open path into the bedroom.

Take her in the room, Dad told me silently. I hurried the little girl past Dad and Jason. When Donna saw her mother sleeping, she skipped ahead of me, and climbed up on the bed, finally cuddling up next to her.

"Yep, she's asleep," Donna whispered with her tiny voice. I wanted to hug the little girl until she squealed.

Dad closed the door and moved to the bed. He stretched out next to Sara, pulling Donna up over his hip.

"Sara, it's David. I'm here with Donna. Wake up, Sara."

David. Donna.

"She's asleep, Mr. David," Donna said.

"Uh-huh, but she needs to wake up. Will you help me wake her up?"

Donna nodded and grinned. "Tickle her. Sometimes, she tickles me to wake me up."

"Like this?" Dad asked and wiggled his fingers along Sara's ribs. "Tickle, tickle, tickle."

Donna giggled. "Yeah."

"You tickle her," Dad said.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle," Donna intoned with her cheerful voice.

Sara squirmed.

Donna?

"Again, sweet thing," Dad said.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle."

"Donna?" Sara muttered out loud.

"Wake up, Mommy," Donna said.

Sara's eyes opened, and the room lit up when she smiled at her little girl.

"We tickled you, Mommy," Donna said. "And you waked up."

"I sure did, baby girl," Sara said.

"Welcome back," Dad gushed. "We lost you there for a while."

Sara frowned and tears filled her eyes.

"You have to stay with us, sweetheart," Dad said. "We missed you."

"He ki..." With Donna in front of her, she couldn't say what she wanted to say. The massive guilt she was experiencing struck me, staggered me. I switched off her emotions.

"Yes he did," Dad said, agreeing with her. "He did it. Not you. Got it?"

"But..."

"No buts. You did what he wanted you to do. You can't let him have that kind of hold on you, Sara. You're needed too much now. Donna needs you. I need you. You can't do what he wants you to do, not ever again. He did what he did because he figured you'd crawl into yourself, that you'd need to be hospitalized to bring you back. He'll win, Sara, if you let that happen. He'll win, and you'll lose, and the little girl who tickled you so you could wake up loses even more. Got it?"

"Yeah. I've got it. You tickled me, huh?" Sara said with a deep-dimpled grin.

Donna giggled. "Uh-huh."

"Well, I'm gonna tickle you."

I left when the three of them got into a tickling, giggling match.

"What... ?" Jason asked.

"They're tickling each other," I said and walked away from him. I had some serious thinking to do.

I heard his footsteps behind me, and then his hand grasped my upper arm. Without turning, I said, "Take your hand off me." When he didn't release me, I spun to him, tearing my arm from his hand. "No thanks to you, you're sister is fine now. My father saved her. He used love to accomplish in ten minutes what therapists couldn't get done in two weeks. I'll tell you the same thing you told your mother when she wouldn't go to Sara. Do you remember what you said to her? I do. You told her you loved her, but you didn't like her very much right then. Well, I don't like you very much right now, either, bubba. I don't want you to touch me. I don't want you to speak with me, and I sure as hell don't want you in the same bed with me, so move your things out of our room. Head of the family! Hah! That's a laugh!"

I turned and stomped away. When my chin started to quiver, I stopped stomping and ran. I ran to our room, locked the door and cried my eyes out.

Two days later, Dad said, "You need to cut Jason some slack, cupcake."

"Why?"

"Because grief and fear often create strange behavior."

"Yeah, they do. I know what happened. He lost it, and when I tried to help him, comfort him, he rejected me, coldly and with malice. Then he defied you, tried to be something he isn't, probably something he can never be - the head of a family. He hurt me, Dad. When he gets frightened, he blames me, twists his fear around and lays it at my feet as if it were my doing. He did it the first time I broke up with him when he let fear turn his normally good instincts into crap. He did it again when Dr. Rourke threatened to quit on him during my first trip to Denver, and he did it once again a few days ago, and he was downright cruel about it. I gave him three strikes, Dad, and he struck out. I want to see this thing through. I want to help you and Sara and little Donna, or I'd be on the next flight home."

"He's very sorry, full of remorse."

"He should be." Tears stung my eyes. "Let's finish this as soon as we can, Dad. You said Melville needed to die by his own hand or be killed by his assassins or other Satanists. He'll never kill himself, so forget that route. That leaves his security team and the other members of his sick coven. Starting today, let's dig out the names of every coven member we can find, and then create a scenario that will turn the coven against him so much that they'll use their own security team to take him down, and then let's go home."