Chapter 24

Anticipating a working luncheon, Marsha put some sandwiches and other goodies in front of Donna as soon as the little girl returned to the safe house. Dad had told Marsha she could help us a lot if she'd entertain Donna when we had our meetings, so as soon as Donna finished eating, Marsha planned to play with her in the backyard while the group ate lunch and discussed our strategic moves against the Destroyer.

I noticed Donna was picking at her food, so I sat next to her. "You're upset, huh?"

She nodded, a tiny little nod. She was frightened, and it took me a minute to uncover the reason for her fear. "My goodness, did your daddy really tell you if you ever told anyone he spanked you that he'd whip you with his belt and lock you in a dark room for two whole days without food or water?"

She nodded again, and tears welled in her eyes.

Marsha gasped. Dad frowned. No one else was in the kitchen.

"I won't let him do anything like that to you, sweet thing," Dad said and sat on the other side of her and cradled her little shoulder with his large arm. "Do you believe me?"

"Uh-huh."

"You did the right thing to tell Dr. Logan what your daddy did to you, and none of us here will ever let your daddy do any of those things to you ever again," Dad added.

"Did he ever lock you in a dark room?" Marsha asked.

She nodded. "Once, for a long time, a whole day I think."

That's why she insisted on a light being left on in her bedroom at night, Marsha thought. Sick fucker. He ought to be the one locked up in the dark... for the rest of his miserable life.

"Never again, sweet thing," Dad said with feeling. "Your daddy will never yell at you, spank you, or lock you up in the dark, or any other bad thing ever again. That's a promise from me to you."

"A pinky promise?" I asked Dad.

"Yes."

"What's a pinky promise?" Donna asked.

Dad held up his little finger. "This is your pinky finger. Hold yours up, too. Good. Now, curl your pinky around mine. Perfect. I pinky promise that your daddy will never hurt you again, sweet thing."

"Is a pinky promise better than a cross-your-heart promise?" Donna asked.

"It sure is," I said. "A pinky promise is the strongest promise possible. Dad made a lot of pinky promises to me when I was a little girl, and he never broke one of them. Hold up your pinky again." I curled my little finger around hers. "I hereby make a pinky promise that I will never let your daddy hurt you again."

Quick to see what we were doing, Marsha wiped her hands on her apron and made the same promise. Jason entered the kitchen and got in on the action. Then Jerome and Nora did some pinky promising, too.

"Eat up, sweet thing. You're safe now. Never forget we all love you to pieces. Okay?" Dad said and gave her a hug.

"'kay."

The pinky promises did the trick. She ate everything on the plate and asked for more.

"We fucked up," Dad said, which shocked me a little. He usually didn't bandy about the "F" word so cavalierly.

"How?" Jerome asked after he swallowed. We all sat around the dining room table for our working lunch.

"We didn't anticipate Melville's reaction to our interviews with the nurses and nannies. If Katy hadn't listened to Melville's plans for them, he could have harmed Rogers or Sackett, and we'd still be at square one regarding the custody lawsuit."

"Are you suggesting we shouldn't have conducted the interviews?" Jason asked.

"Not at all, but we should have anticipated a reaction. We need to anticipate a counter move for everything we do. We didn't sit down and say, 'Okay, we'll interview all the nurses and nannies. What can Melville do to nullify our efforts?'"

Jason nodded. "I see what you mean. On the transcript, we discovered that Melville wants the name of the person who gave the buyers the correct financial statements for the automotive parts division. He plans to blackball him from getting other work in the city."

"That's his stated counter," Dad said. "What else could he do?"

"He could have his thugs break his legs, or worse," Jerome said.

Dad shook his head. "No, that wouldn't give him anything but satisfaction. He wanted to stop the nurses and nannies from saying anything against him so he wouldn't lose the new custody battle. He's ruthless and certainly not above hurting someone for mere personal satisfaction, but so far his counter moves have all been designed to forestall or stop any negative effect or enhance any positive effect relative to the achievement of his goals. Breaking the accountant's legs does neither for him."

"Wouldn't turning the accountant, like the CIA turns spies, enhance his position?" I asked.

Dad agreed with me, but he waited to respond until Jason said something.

"Yeah, he could agree to pay the accountant to spy on me, the same person I'm paying for information. Make him a double," Jason said with a grin. Good thinking, Katy, he added as a thought. "Should I stop using the accountant?"

"Did he get fired?"

"No, but probably because Melville's man hasn't figured out who gave the buyers the correct financials yet."

"I agree," Dad said. "Katy's example is a good one, but in this instance, I think Melville will do just what he announced. He'll fire the man and try to blackball him. Why?"

"Because the damage is already done," Jason said, "and with the trouble his thugs caused him at Marsha's house last night, he'll be more cautious about using them without good purpose."

"Excellent, Jason," Dad said. My dad sure did know how to motivate my lover. I chuckled. I did, too.

"We have a strong position," Dad continued. "Our strength lies in the fact that we can't be found. This evening when Melville goes home, his electrical power will be restored, but he'll be without gas, water, and cable TV. In addition, today he'll be presented with the slam-dunk Marsha gave us with her deposition. Smoke will billow out of his ears, and he'll soon figure out that you're involved, Sara. How will he react to our moves beyond another tirade?"

"What I did wasn't a big deal," Sara said. "He can have everything turned back on in a day or two."

"Ah, your wrong, Sara," Nora said. "He had you under his thumb, but suddenly his slave has revolted. Six weeks ago, you were ready to do yourself in. Now you're fighting back. It's a very big deal indeed."

"Nora's right, Sis," Jason said. "He has to come after you. You're humiliating him, something he can't abide."

"So he'll react," Dad said. "How?" When everyone remained silent, Dad added, "Where are we weak?"

I read Dad's mind, and his answer terrified me. Would anyone else see his silently stated vision?

"Jerome," Dad said, "you're an expert. Where are we weak?"

Our tender swallowed. "Sara and Jason's family."

"Fuck!" Jason exclaimed. "Mom! Maxie! The boys! Fuck!" He pushed his chair back and jumped up, knocking the chair to the floor.

"Sit down, Jason," Dad said. "Sit down and calm down."

"But..."

"We're planning, Jason. You're mother, sister and her boys are not under attack at this moment. Let's figure out what we should do to insure their safety." While Jason righted his chair and took his seat, Dad turned to Jerome and asked, "Any suggestions?"

"Tell them to get out of Dodge, as you say, Dr. Owen, and put some pros like Nora and me with them. Be careful when you warn them. We now know Melville uses listening devices just like we do. That's why we decided not to wire his offices for sound last night. Jason, Sara, I'd be surprised if your mother and sister's homes aren't crammed full of listening devices already."

Another bit of information I missed last night, I thought. Some troubled emotions were coming my way, even stronger than Jason's a few seconds ago. I glanced toward Sara. Unlike Jason's, Sara's reactions weren't overt. She held her feelings inside, tried not to let them show. Guilt and fear were crushing her. She felt responsible. She'd already ruined Jason's summer, and he was in trouble with the law, not to mention she believed her ex-husband would kill her brother given the opportunity. Now, she realized her mother and sister and her sister's husband and children were also in serious peril, and she was having a difficult time coping with the emotions pushing her like excessive g-forces into the chair. She seemed to be crawling into herself.

I was about to intervene, but Dad, bless his understanding, loveable heart, beat me to the punch.

"You're blaming yourself, aren't you, Sara?" Dad said and took her hand in his. She always managed to sit to his right at a dining table.

"Yeah, because I'm at fault," she replied and tried to smile, but failed miserably. Tears gathered in her eyes.

"Hogwash!" Jason exclaimed harshly. "The only person at fault is that worthless ex-husband of yours!"

My lover's intent was praiseworthy. His execution sucked.

"Precisely," Sara said. "My ex-husband. I married the snake. I brought all this down on our heads." She turned to my father. "You've got to help my mother and sister, David."

"No. We'll help your mother and sister, we includes you, Sara. You're not at fault." He huffed a laugh. "Now if Katy had married the man with her ability to read minds and emotions, then she'd be at fault. You don't have her gifts. You had no way of knowing just how vile your ex-husband is, so get off the maudlin blame-game train. It's going nowhere fast. I'm not impressed with your self-induced guilt because you're not guilty. Jason was correct. Melville is the villain, not you." I noticed Dad gave Sara's hand an affectionate squeeze. "Keep your eye on the prize - little Donna's well being and future. Okay?"

"'kay," she said and smiled. The room didn't brighten, but most of the fear and guilt pushing here into a depression moments before must have stayed on the blame-game train when she hopped off because the gloom and doom inside her brightened considerably.

"Our future, too," Dad added.

This time, Sara's wide smile brightened the room like a noon-time sun.

Dad turned to Jerome. "You're the pro. Set it up so we can speak with Mrs. Watson and Maxie and her husband without alerting Melville to our intent."

Jerome nodded.

"They're both stubborn as mules," Jason said. "Proud, too. Like Marsha last night, they might not take our advice and get out of Dodge."

"Then we'll make sure they're protected as much as possible where they are," Dad said. While he spoke, he glanced at me.

Jason and Sara's mother and sister were only part of the vision his words gave me that listed our weak points. Did he want me to bring up the remaining weakness we needed to discuss? I hoped otherwise. It had the potential of becoming a bone of contention between Jason and me, but Dad was correct. Jason's activities needed to be curtailed.

"We have two other personnel weak points," Nora stated.

Two? Dad had only offered me one - Jason.

"Tell us about them, Nora," Dad said.

"Jason and you, Dr. Owen," Nora said.

Dad smiled. "Go on."

"You both leave the safe house to do your thing, but you rarely take either Jerome or me with you, and neither of you have availed yourself of Twigs' services. You say we're strong because we can't be found. Baloney! If I were Melville - and let me assure you, Melville has professionals working for him just as capable as Jerome and I. Where was I? Oh, yes, as I was saying, if I were Melville and knowing you were in the Denver area, I'd find you in a day or two."

"How?" Dad asked.

"Points of contact. Melville has documents in hand from your law firms. I'd stake out those law firms."

"Melville doesn't know I'm involved," Dad said, playing the devil's advocate. His thoughts told me Nora was correct.

Sara said, "You could be wrong, David. Back in Phoenix, Katy suggested Gary would check with Jane and Terry's parents and make the connection between Jason and Katy. If he knows about Katy, he won't leave you out of the mix. He'll be looking for a strong, male figure leading the effort against him. It's the way he thinks. Because you and Katy have disappeared like Jason and I, you'll be considered the prime candidate in Gary's mind for the leadership position. No offense, Jason, but he'll discount you as that leader."

Jason wasn't offended. He appreciated Dad for assuming control of our merry band. Jason said, "Sara's right, Dr. Owen. Remember the money trail we left in Phoenix? And don't forget, you and Katy went shopping with us."

"To play it safe, you should assume Melville knows about you, Dr. Owen," Jerome stated. He turned to Jason. "He certainly knows about you." Then he focused his attention on the entire group. "Make one more assumption, one that could become fatal considering the ruthlessness of the man we're dealing with. Instead of taking you, Dr. Owen, or you, Jason, assume that his men follow one of you back to the safe house, at which point our main strength becomes our largest weakness."