Chapter 14: A New Enemy

Rachel felt numb inside as she looked out the front window and watched the ambulance roll down the street. "Oh god, what can I do?" she whispered to herself. She felt drained of all emotion. It seemed so much had happened and kept happening.

Claire tried to give Rachel some emotional support and draw a measure of comfort for herself. "Right now, all we can do is hope. Jiggs and his crowd have played us all like so many puppets. Please, don't fall apart on us." Claire begged Rachel with her eyes and tried to tell her how sorry she was. She couldn't speak.

Rachel took a deep breath and answered, "Let's take it step at a time." Her face became hard looking. "But I warn you right now, if you do anything to hurt Mark, I'll kill you."

"Yes," Claire agreed. She felt lost and had nothing to guide her in this new situation. Even this house she had always thought of as hers now belonged to her son, Mark.

Rachel turned toward the back door and told her, "Let's get to the hospital and..." She never got to finish her sentence as she heard a car pull up in front of the house.

Will Brand parked on the street and got out of his expensive convertible. "Sorry for the delay," he told them as he walked into the house uninvited, "Between some idiot who tried to use a VW to play chicken with a semi on State Street and an idiot traffic cop who made things worse, I couldn't get here any faster. Now, what's up?"

Claire tried to explain what happened. "Hold it," Will interrupted her. "You're the kid's idiot mother that almost got him killed."

Claire flinched and reverted to her past way of coping with adversity; she went on the offense. She started to verbally attack on Will. He looked at Rachel and ignored her. "I'll..." she stopped. He had turned away from her. All at once, Claire realized how powerless and alone she was. Resentment and anger began to build up inside her.

Will never noticed Claire's face as he turned to Rachel, "It seems you have let something, a whole lot of something happen and never saw fit to notify me. Either Del and I are not only a part of the team, but we run the team, where matters of law are concerned. It's either that or goodbye. Do you understand? Del and I are the ones to make all decisions concerning the law, under your oversight of course.

"Either you agree or we're both out of here. Besides, There are a couple of sweet things due to check in at the Willows next weekend. Del And I want to check them over for birth marks."

Then Claire screamed at him, "Damn you! How dare you to come into my house and ignore me?"

Rachel reminded Claire, "Claire, you forget that this is Mark's house, not yours. "And right now, I am about ready to order you to leave. I am Mark's alter ego. Unless he revokes the papers he signed, I am Mark Hunter so far as any decisions concerning his interests are concerned. Now shut up or leave."

"Yeah, and I'm about to run over your ass," Cole yelled from behind her.

"Cole!" Rachel turned to her angry son. "That's enough talk like that."

"That's the way Mark talks," Cole argued.

"You're not Mark, you're my fourteen year old son and you'll talk the way I tell you to, or else. Understood?"

"Aw man I wish Mark was here." Cole looked ready to rebel against his mother.

Will Brand held up a hand as if directing traffic, "Hold on, all of you. We're getting off the subject. Rachel, do Del and I continue with you or do we head back to the Willows?" It seemed to Rachel he didn't seem to care one way or the other.

Rachel took a deep breath and let it out. "Mark told Margaret she was an idiot about the way their team had been handling things. He said she and her team should have called in the proper authorities, instead of playing detective. He was right.

"Now it looks like I've been guilty of the same sin of stupidity, that of trying to do a job I'm not qualified to do." She looked down at the floor and began to relive her past self-doubts.

"No," the lawyer said, "You and that cute little office manager Gina have done a great job, as long as you stuck to your own areas of expertise."

"Hadn't we better find out how Mark is?" Claire asked.

"Let's go," Cole urged them, as he headed toward the back door.

"Let me go along with you. We have a few things to discuss." The lawyer looked hard at Rachel. "I'm on top of things where the bank is concerned. They have agreed in principle to turn over all the Hunter Manufacturing accounts in toto."

Rachel shook her head. " Wait. I've just learned that none of us are on top of anything. Those accounts are a red herring. My son Cole has discovered at least some of the other bank accounts, where the real money is hidden. Come on, let's head to the hospital; we can't do anything more right now."

Rachel pointed to Claire. "Cole and I are headed to the hospital. You ride with Will. Tell him what you told us about how you were kidnapped and Jiggs' brags..." She and Cole got into the van and drove away from the house. She felt vulnerable. It seemed strange to not have any protection. Will and Claire followed along behind. Claire began to talk.

Mark slowly returned to consciousness. "What?" he looked around as best he could. "What the hell?"

"Easy there Honey, just take it easy." He recognized his mother's voice.

"Where am?" He saw he was in another hospital room. "What the hell are you doing here?" He struggled to sit up and couldn't. He was too weak.

Claire flinched at the raw anger in his voice. She realized that Mark somehow blamed her that he was in a hospital. "Please Mark," she begged him, "You're stuck back in the hospital again. Your heart, well, you seem to have had a heart attack. Well, not exactly a heart attack, but you strained..."

"If you don't know what you're talking about, please shut up." Mark turned his head away from his mother. He didn't want to look at her.

Claire choked back a sob and tried to reach her son with words. "Mark, I'm sorry, just so sorry for everything. You, me, Mike, we were all programmed to act as we did. That damned old son of a bitch just had to play god with us all."

"So? He's dead and you're still polluting the landscape. What the hell are you doing here and where's Rachel?"

The anguish that showed on his mother's face was almost enough to cause Mark to relent just a little. Then he remembered the lonely years when Claire was gone every evening and he was left alone.

Claire tried again, "Please Mark, I'm trying to make amends and I'm failing just like I did as a mother. Please. Oh I'm so sorry."

"Where's Rachel?" he asked again. His mother's seeming turnabout made him uncomfortable.

"She, she's with that lawyer Will Brand. They stopped by the business office to make some sort of arrangements. There were police and everybody seemed excited about something. I don't know. She said she'd come here as soon as she could break free."

Mark relaxed his body and closed his eyes. He felt so tired. "Go away," he whispered. He slept.

Claire looked down at her helpless son. Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Oh god I'm so sorry, so..." She bowed her head and wept.

Rachel swept into the hospital room with two of Gina's guard detail behind her. "Oh Mark, we've done it!" she exclaimed. Gina called me while I was trying to make financial arrangements with that idiot downstairs. She sent these two people over to watch over you.

"Honey, you won't believe what all has happened. Those two horny lawyers tore everyone apart. Jiggs was killed in a shootout with the police. The others have all been arrested or escaped to Mexico. I am queen of the Universe and the Earth is my step stool!"

Then she noticed Mark's eyes were closed and Claire was crying. "What? Mark? What happened?" She took a step toward the bed and screamed, "Mark!"

"Get out of my way, you old bag. I'll run over you if you don't." Cole at a nurse as he steered his wheelchair into the room, took one look and yelled, "Mark!"

The red-faced nurse popped into the room, "Please quiet down in here. You are disturbing this whole wing." She gave Cole a dirty look and began to check Mark's vitals. She removed a small needle from his drip and nodded to herself.

Rachel looked back and forth between Mark and the nurse. "What's wrong with him? Why are his eyes closed? Oh god, what's wrong with Mark?"

"Well, other than a roomful of noisy people who seem determined to wake him up, he's fine." The nurse gave Cole a hard stare.

"But his eyes are closed." Rachel stared at Mark, as if willing his eyes to open.

The nurse's sarcasm got Rachel's attention, "His eyes are closed because he's sleeping. He's sleeping because he was given a sedative drip. I just stopped the sedative. He should awaken in the next hour."

"But what happened to him?" Claire looked at the nurse and begged, "Please, tell us what happened to him. One moment we were talking and the next moment he grabbed at his shoulder and fell to the floor."

"He had a heart episode. For any more information, you'll have to ask his doctor."

"What's everyone yelling about? What happened?" Mark's husky whisper shocked everyone in the room.

"Hey Mark!" Cole yelled. "We got the rest of the bad guys."

"You people all leave the room right now." The nurse made shooing gestures with her hands. She pressed the call button pinned to Mark's pillow.

"Cole, go to the waiting area at the end of the hall," Rachel ordered, then added, "We'll be right behind you.

"Okay, but you make sure Mark's okay. Okay?" He led the way.

"Okay," Rachel laughed. She was thankful she had something to laugh about.

She turned to the two bodyguards, "Please go wait in the Van. You know where it's parked." One nodded and they left.

"He has to get better," Claire whispered. "Oh please let him get better."

Rachel looked at her and said, "You seem to have had a change of attitude."

Claire turned to Rachel in anger, "Getting kidnapped after spending time in jail with the garbage of humanity tends to make you reassess your values. Of course, it also helps if you get raped by six men over and over."

"Uh yes," Rachel answered. "However that's your problem. You brought it all on yourself when you tried to steal Mark's inheritance."

"Damn you!" Claire grabbed Rachel's shoulder and stopped her. "That bunch at Hunter Wood claimed to have proof that my queer ex-husband was all set to steal Mark's inheritance. They convinced me and I convinced Claude that Mark was all set to sign everything over to that simpering fool to get back at me. They even showed me letters he was supposed to have written."