Chapter 28

You'd think I'd get used to sick minds, but roaming around in Helen Deaver's head made me feel dirty, so as soon as I returned to the safe house, I stripped to take a shower. The meeting, although the Deaver woman didn't realize a meeting had taken place, had been successful. I'd given Dad the names of five members of Melville's coven we didn't know before, and he'd contacted our P.I. firm to start the dossiers on each of them.

What I need, I thought as I toweled my body dry, is some goodness, some of Jason's tender loving care. Expecting to locate him out around the pool, I donned my new bikini and went searching for him.

He was missing.

At first I wasn't concerned. Earlier that day when informed that we intended to stop the dirty-tricks campaigns against the destroyer, Jason had said to Dad and me, "Well, I have one more dirty trick to play, and like it or not, I'm going to finish the job I started. I've figured out how to make even the depreciated real estate in Melville's last business transaction worthless. Contaminated land is expensive to clean up. The EPA has guidelines about cleanup, and the current owner is as responsible as previous owners, so I'm going to turn the real estate into a toxic wasteland, and then anonymously inform the EPA about the contamination. When I get finished, cleanup costs will exceed the fair-market value of the real estate."

He hadn't said when he planned to contaminate Melville's land, or how, but when I couldn't find him, I assumed he was out performing the coup de grce to destroy the one remaining avenue Melville had available to make his last business transaction profitable. I didn't become concerned until I noticed all our tenders at various places around the safe house.

Jason was missing, and wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he was alone! I shivered with dread.

I grabbed Dad and Jerome and took them to the study, the room Dad used as his office.

"Where's Jason?" I asked.

"I don't know," Dad said.

"Somewhere on the grounds, I suspect," Jerome commented.

"Uh-uh, I've looked everywhere, not only visually but with my emotion and thought sensors."

A strange look entered Jerome's face. "Oh, oh," he muttered.

"What?" I demanded.

"Ed Hansen told me Jason asked him to teach him about handguns yesterday, and Ed took him to a firing range. Let's have a talk with Ed."

While Dad and I waited for Jerome to return with Ed, I said, "I'm really worried, Dad. Jason and I kissed and made up this morning, but he was still unhappy with himself. I'm afraid he might feel a need to prove that he can be more valuable to our effort than he's been." Stupid is as stupid does, I thought unkindly, and then berated myself for not giving Jason the benefit of the doubt.

Dad pursed his lips and nodded as Jerome and Ed entered the study

"Jason's at the firing range, Katy," Jerome said, looking relieved. "Ed left him there to check your back door after you finished your meeting with the Deaver woman. Jason said he'd call Ed when he was ready to return to the safe house."

I flipped out my cell phone and dialed Jason's number. "His phone is turned off," I stated and my fear multiplied exponentially. Please, Jason, don't be out there trying to be someone you're not. Please! Please!

"Go get him, Jerome," Dad ordered.

Jerome turned without commenting, pulled Ed along with him, and they left. Fifteen minutes later Dad's cell phone rang. I listened to Dad's thoughts.

Jason was not at the firing range. He'd walked out shortly after Ed left him there alone. What's worse, Jason was armed. Tears stung my eyes. What would he do? Would he try to put himself next to Melville, try to kill the man who murdered his father?

"He's going after Melville, Dad," I said as tears streamed down my cheeks. "If the loveable but dim-witted fool gets himself killed, I'll never forgive him." More accurately, I told myself, I'll never forgive myself. I had made him feel less of a man than he wanted or thought he should be. The endearing dolt had gone out to prove he was a man, a competent, brave man, worthy of my love. Fuck!

Dad dialed his phone. "Jerome, determine Melville's whereabouts. Jason might be... yes... good. Keep in touch." Dad turned to me. "We've kept a loose tail on Melville. Jerome said he'd cover him with a dozen operatives. If Jason shows up Jerome and his men will stop him, will try keep him from putting himself in harm's way."

I worried. We all worried, but especially Sara and I. We took turns playing the blame game until finally Dad put his foot down.

"Enough!" he shouted. "Both of you stop it, and stop it right now. Your unwarranted need to assume the blame for Jason's disappearance is starting to upset me. If you can't stop blaming yourself, which is silly in the extreme, keep your thoughts to yourself. We don't know whether he's in danger, at least in any more danger than the rest of us, or merely performing one more dirty trick to scuttle Melville's business. Katy, Sara, you think Jason intends to go after Melville. Perhaps, but he's just as likely turning Melville's land into a toxic wasteland. The point is, we don't know! We don't know why he left the firing range; we don't know his whereabouts, and except for the fact that he doesn't have a bodyguard with him, we don't know enough to even worry about him yet. So, stop it, dammit!"

"Sorry, Dad," I muttered.

Sara hung her head. Dad rarely raised his voice to her.

"I need help with a decision," Dad continued, his voice much calmer, even solicitous. "Instead of worrying about something out of your control, worry about this. Should we move to a new safe house?"

Good question, I thought. If Melville's thugs have Jason, he'll give up our location, which didn't make him a coward. Dad and Jerome had instructed all of us to sing like canaries if the enemy captured us. "Don't think you're strong enough, any of you, to withstand torture or drugs to protect the rest of us," Dad said. "The rest of us will manage just fine. If captured, your job is to remain alive and unharmed physically, if possible, until you escape or we can mount an operation to liberate you, so within reason, tell your captors what they wants to know." The "within reason" part referred to answering direct questions without volunteering any additional or extraneous information.

Dad continued, "I've curtailed all campaigns, plans and activities except research until Jason's whereabouts surfaces, but I'm reluctant to move to another safe house unless I know for a fact that Melville or his hoodlums have Jason. On the other hand, I'm responsible for the safety of our merry band. Sara, what's your advice? Move or stay?"

She hesitated. Sara wasn't accustomed to being asked her opinion. "Stay until we know more," she said finally, but her answer was tentative. Little Donna's safety was paramount in her mind.

"Katy?" Dad asked.

"I agree, but beef up our security."

Dad pursed his lips and nodded. "All right, but we should also be ready to leave on a moment's notice. Sara, pack for you and Donna. Okay?"

"I'll pack for you, too, honey," Sara said with a smile.

"Thanks. Katy, pack Jason's things as well as your own."

Being busy helped, and I realized the busywork was part of Dad's plan to stop the blame game. It worked. While packing Jason's clothes, one of his shirts caused me to remember how Jason blamed himself for Dr. Rourke's death. It was the shirt he'd been wearing the day she died. He'd been wrong about blaming himself for the doctor's death. He'd had no control over what happened to her, just as I had no control over what might or might not be happening to Jason. I didn't stop worrying about my college boy, but I did stop blaming myself.

I also decided if we were attacked that I wanted to be armed. Jerome and Ed were still out searching for Jason, so I went in search of Nora, finding her out by the pool with Marsha. I realized with all that had happened that I hadn't kept track of the Jerome/Nora/Marsha love triangle.

I stretched out on a chaise lounge next to the two women. They were aroused, whether from merely being with each other or from the conversation they were having before I interrupted them.

I sighed. "You gals are making my pussy cream," I whispered conspiratorially. With a passionate shiver, I added, "You're hot!"

Marsha chuckled. Nora blushed.

"Have you tried Jerome's long one on for size yet?" I asked Nora, but immediately knew the answer from her thoughts. She'd gone to his room last night. "Never mind," I said and laughed. "That good, huh?"

"Yeah, and then some," Nora gushed.

"Does he know about the two of you?" I asked.

"No!" they chorused.

I huffed a laugh, and said, "The plot is sure to thicken."

Marsha laughed with me; Nora blushed some more.

"Any word on Jason?" Nora asked to change the subject.

"No. I'm really worried about him," I said. "I'm also worried our safe house might not be safe anymore. If Jerome were here, I'd ask him, but... well, Nora, do you have an extra handgun I can borrow?"

Marsha gasped and exclaimed, "Waddaya mean? Not safe?"

"Not if the enemy has Jason," Nora said calmly to her lover. She looked at me. "Yes, I have some extra weapons. What about you, Marsha? Do you know how to fire a handgun?"

Marsha swallowed. "No!"

I watched Marsha try to get her fear under control. She seemed to succeed because she suddenly laughed and said, "I'd probably shoot myself in the foot."

"Come with me, Katy," Nora said and rose to her feet.

I followed her to her room and watched her pull a footlocker from her closet. Inside she had quite an array of handguns and other paraphernalia. She pulled out a box and opened it.

"This is a Kimber LAPD Swat Custom II, a.45 locked-breech, semiautomatic, single-action pistol. It has the standard slide stop, magazine catch and safeties in the usual positions, but with two safeties: a thumb catch and a grip safety. Its capacity is seven plus one, for your purposes, say seven. The luminous tritium low-mount sights are good for low-light shooting, something you might need, Katy, and the pistol has a crisp trigger pull of just 4 - pounds."

"That's a lot of gun, Nora. Will it knock me on the ass when I pull the trigger?"

Nora laughed. "The recoil isn't as bad as you might think. Ammo. Let's see, yes, here's a box of Federal Hydra Shok Personal Defense 165 grain JHP. I like this handgun, Katy. The last time I fired it, I put together a grouping of just over two inches on the combat range."

"Fair enough."

She went over the safeties and checked me out on the weapon without using ammo.

"How should I carry it?" I asked.

"A purse would be best. I have leather for it, but... well, your dad might throw a fit if he sees you strutting around in your bikini wearing a.45 in a shoulder holster."

I laughed heartily. "No doubt." She walked with me to my room, where I loaded the pistol without chambering a bullet and dropped it into the purse I used most of the time, reminding myself to take the purse with me, even when I went to the pool.

"Thanks, Nora. I feel better... safer. Well, are you going to share Jerome with Marsha?"

She blushed and then grimaced, but it was a pretty grimace. "I don't know. I've decided to leave any sharing that happens to Jerome."

"Hah! Not likely. It's your decision, not Jerome's."

"Maybe, but he'd need to agree."

"Uh-huh, but he'll follow your lead. He loves you but enjoys sex with Marsha. You love Jerome, but you also enjoy sex with Marsha, and Marsha considers you and Jerome the two best sex partners she's ever had."

"Are you saying I ought to go for it?"

"No, I'm saying the decision is yours."

She raised an eyebrow. "Would you share Jason with another woman?"

"Sure, depending on the woman." I laughed when her eyes widened. "Surprised you, huh?"

"Yeah. Are you bi?"

"I honestly don't know. I've never had sex with a woman, but my best girlfriend back in Phoenix is bi. I've gotta tell ya she tested my willpower to remain faithful to Jason a few times."

The day wore on and wore me down. The sun fell behind the mountains in the distance. The massive peaks loomed dark and foreboding, losing definition, much like my mood, and we still knew nothing about Jason's whereabouts. Jerome was fairly certain Jason hadn't gone anywhere near the Destroyer. As far as Jerome's operatives could see, Melville was being Melville, going about business as usual. Jerome reasoned if Melville or his thugs had captured Jason that Melville wouldn't pass up the opportunity to subject Jason to some serious pain, but Melville hadn't tried to elude the surveillance covering him. "So," Jerome concluded, "Melville and his thugs have not captured Jason."

I agreed with Jerome's assessment. To cover all the bases, Jerome had also dispatched operatives to surveil the properties Jason planned to contaminate.

Nothing.

And "nothing" was turning me into a basket case. Each passing minute I had to fight back panic and fear, and the battle was taking its toll on me. My mind stayed busy creating worst-case scenarios: Jason being tortured by Melville's henchmen because Jason wouldn't give up our location, something Jason wouldn't do under pain of death, contrary to Dad's orders; Jason lying wounded in an alley somewhere, unable to move, in massive pain, and slowly bleeding to death, or worse, already dead. Jason in a hospital... ?

I found Dad with Sara in their room. She didn't look like she was handling Jason's disappearance any better than I.

"Is anyone checking hospitals, Dad?" I asked.

"Yes."

I slumped onto a chair. I should have known Dad would check hospitals. The morgues, too, no doubt, and probably, through our P.I. firm, we had a line into the Denver P.D. and other police departments in the metro area.

With a sigh filled with despair, I dropped my face into my hands, using my elbows on my knees as a fulcrum to hold up my heavy head. I'd changed out of the bikini, and I had my purse with me, a purse noticeably heavier with the.45 inside, heavy enough it pulled one shoulder lower than the other. The weapon reminded me that we could be in serious peril. Torture wouldn't force Jason to give up our location, but force of will was no defense against certain drugs, the reason Dad established the sing-like-a-canary policy. I looked at Sara and asked, "Is it time to change safe houses?"