“You were brilliant. My turn. We should all work on this together.” Connor started on his first.
Damon put his hand on Kat’s shoulder. “I’m so proud of you.”
Damon pulled up outside the Church family’s three storey home.
Kat raised an eyebrow. “I can see Pia’s perspective. My family’s nowhere near as rich as this. It’s a similar size to Sheridan’s home. Hers is close to the hospital where her parents work, though. I’d be more impressed if this house was closer to the beach. Although, it is only three blocks.”
Damon shook his head. “Two sides of their home are pure glass, and they have an outdoor area on the roof. This house was built for the view. So was my Dad’s, but his isn’t a showpiece like this. I’ll have to take you there. It’s comfy.”
“I haven’t even been to your place yet. What’s it like?”
“Empty. I just bought it for somewhere to sleep. It’s a two-bedroom unit type thing in a group of four. It has a garage. That was important. I would’ve got a one bedroom, but they didn’t have any. Two is probably better for resale value.”
“I’m sorry. It must be hard living alone.”
Damon shook his head. “I usually don’t finish work till late and am up early. I’m barely there.”
Kat put her hand on his arm. “You should come over more on Saturday and Sunday nights. The gym isn’t open then. We can train or just hang out.”
“I’d like that. We should go in.”
Avery’s mum, a stunning blonde in designer clothes and eyes rimmed with red, opened the door. “Thank you so much for coming, Kat. Please, come in.” She turned to Damon as though she just realised he was there. “Um, would you like a drink or something while you wait? I think Avery was hoping to see Kat by herself.”
Damon smiled, unintentionally showing his dimples and was pleasantly surprised when Mrs Church didn’t seem to notice. “I’m not staying. I’ll pick up Kat when she’s ready.” He turned to Kat. “Let me know.”
Kat gave him a quick hug. “Will do, Sensei. Thanks.”
“Avery’s room is this way, Kat. It’s so kind of you to come. You’ve helped her already but…”
Avery came down the marble staircase, her pale blonde hair covering half her face. “I’m still a mess. We all are.”
“We can’t let him win. We need to make you you again.” Kat walked up the stairs and hugged her. “We’ll do this together, hey?”
Avery hugged Kat tightly. “Okay.”
Avery’s dad, at least twenty years older than her mum, stepped out of his study. “Kat, thanks for coming. Was that Damon Knightly? I need to talk with him. Is he still here?”
“We parked across the road. He shouldn’t be far,” Kat answered.
Damon was walking to the beach when he heard that he was needed and turned around to see Avery’s dad bolting for his car. When he saw Damon wasn’t there, he started looking frantically both ways.
Damon whistled loudly, and they started running towards each other.
Avery’s dad was out of breath when they met, but forced himself to say, “I need to speak with you in private, please, Special Agent Knightly.”
“Of course. I think I know what this is about. We are looking for that fucking monster who did this.”
Mr Church shook his head. “I don’t want him arrested. I want him in the ground. I’ll pay anything.”
Damon lowered his voice and rested his hand near his mouth. “I’m not a hired killer, but I do intend to kill him.”
Mr Church tilted his head and squinted as though he were trying to see inside Damon. “You’ll kill him, but you won’t take money.”
“I could easily kill him for vengeance, but it’s actually to stop him from doing it again if that makes sense.”
Mr Church stared at Damon and after a while nodded slowly. “It does, except for the part that you won’t accept money. Can I please help somehow? I feel so useless.”
“I’d like to say that no one else will do this sort of thing, but this world is full of fucked up creatures hell-bent on hurting others. Kat will help the victims, and I’ll kill the fucking monsters. I’m sure we’ll need help at some stage.”
Mr Church put his hands up and smiled. “I’ve got influence and money – anything you need.”
Kat and Avery sat on the white leather couch in Avery’s bedroom looking out at the waves. “Dad wants to hire bodyguards. Mum wants to get me a puppy that will grow into my guard dog. She won’t get a full grown dog because she wouldn’t trust him. I’m their only child. I know they just want to protect me. I think they feel they let me down. They feel guilty for me being hurt, and I feel guilty for being hurt.”
Kat touched Avery’s arm. “I’m my parents’ only child too. The guilt thing is horrible. When I first started getting better and wasn’t so sorry for myself, I wondered if the bastards responsible felt guilt for what they did to me and Courtney.”
“Do you think they do?”
“I have no idea. I don’t think the arsehole who hurt you and Sheridan does or he wouldn’t have done it twice. We think he did it for power.”
“He’s jealous. He kept calling me a rich, stuck up C-word. I didn’t like that word before he called me it. Now, it’s so much worse.” Tears poured down Avery’s cheeks. “He said I’d been handed everything on a platter and I was a fucking little princess. That I had it easy and had never had to earn anything. He said I’d never consider a real man or let a real man inside me, then he…”
Kat put her arms around Avery. “We’ll find him, and we’ll stop him.”
“How?”
“We need to find out what he looks like and…”
“I could try drawing him. Dad calls art my fluff subject, but I love it. I’m not great at faces, but I can try.”
Kat sat up straighter. “That would really help. Did you see him before it happened?”
“I don’t think so. He was wearing jeans and a hoodie. I didn’t think much of it as it’s still chilly in the morning. I’ll never forget his face now, but before he just kinda looked like everyone else. Brown hair, brown eyes, not hot, not ugly, not short, not tall, not fat but not buff or anything. I didn’t see any tats either. You or Damon would be easy to describe, but I’ll try to draw him.”
“Would you prefer to draw him while I’m here or another time? Not at night. That will probably just give you bad dreams.”
“I get loads of them already. I don’t need any more. Is it okay if I draw him tomorrow morning? I’d much rather spend time with you now and maybe learn some self-defence.”
“Absolutely. Would you like to learn some self-defence now?”
“Yes, please. We’ve got a big room downstairs near the pool that would be perfect. I’d love to go for a swim with you when I’m allowed. The surgeon says I’ve got to keep chlorine off my face for a while.”
Kat felt so bad for her and wasn’t sure exactly what to say. She looked at the huge four poster bed in the middle of the room. “I love your bed.”
“Maybe we can have a sleepover soon?” Avery bit her bottom lip, nervous Kat would say no.
“Next Saturday night would be great!”
23
Kat checked her phone as she sat down for lunch at the gym with Damon and Connor. “There’s a text from Avery. She said she can’t get the face right but it’s similar. She’s been working on it for two days. It’d be so hard.” She showed Damon and Connor the photo of the drawing.
“Even if it were spot on, he could almost be anyone. Being similar, I doubt we can use it,” Damon said, looking at Kat’s phone. “It would’ve been heartbreaking trying to draw him, so don’t tell her that, please.”
Connor nodded sadly. “Maybe show it to Sheridan. See if she recognises him. It may be closer than Avery thinks.”
“I will, thanks. She’ll be coming in this afternoon. The crowds still freak her out, but she hasn’t got long left at school before her exams. She was going to repeat the year instead, but
I’ve talked her into giving it a go and repeating if she doesn’t get the score she needs. She doesn’t want to be given special consideration. I think she deserves it, though. So do her parents.”
“She definitely deserves special consideration. I’d say she should have the year off and try again next year except she seems determined to be a plastic surgeon now,” Damon said, and took a bite of his chicken salad roll.
Kat smiled. “She’s always wanted to be a doctor but didn’t know what she wanted to specialise in until now. The plastic surgery’s really helped her. She wants to help others like her. She wants to mostly work with people who have been attacked or had accidents.”
Damon touched Kat on her right upper arm. “You do that to people. You make them want to help the world instead of giving up on it. I had almost given up when I met you.”
Kat pointed to the support sleeve on her left arm. “I would’ve died if it wasn’t for the two of you. We all help each other.”
Connor touched her left arm. “We certainly do. I haven’t had a near-death experience, but I’m so much better off with you both in my life. We’re doing good here.”
Kat smiled again. “You did what we didn’t think was possible. Josh is turning into a really good person. That’s on you, Sensei Connor.”
Connor shook his head. “He had it in him. I just needed to bring it out.”
“We need to find out who has it in them and who hasn’t,” Kat said after finishing her mouthful.
Damon put his hands up. “You two are so much better than me at that. I just want to maim, kill, destroy. I’m not much of a talker.”
“But you let me talk with Josh. That would’ve been hard for an alpha military man. How do you take orders? Or is special ops different?” Connor asked.
“I’m given a mission or objective. How I do it is mostly up to me.”
Kat’s phone beeped with Brent’s message tone. “I’m running facial recognition software through Vic Roads against Avery’s sketch. I’ll send you the likely matches and get you to ask Avery and Sheridan.”
“Thank you!” Kat replied and filled in Damon and Connor.
Avery’s dad answered the door, his wife and daughter not far behind him. “Thanks for coming, Kat. I see you got a lift with your parents and not Special Agent Knightly.” He turned to Kat’s parents. “I’m Tony Church. This is my wife, Kari, and our daughter, Avery. Please, come in.”
“Lovely to meet you all. I’m Dominique and this is my husband, Eric.”
Eric’s green eyes twinkled but he stopped himself from saying a dad joke. “Sensei Damon’s at work. We haven’t found the guy but have a few hundred licence photos to look at. If we can match him, we’ll let Damon and Gareth know.”
Tony shook his head. “Just Damon.”
Eric’s eyes became serious. “I used to feel the same way. Still do actually.”
Tony nodded. “Come into my office and join me for a scotch. I’m sure we could both do with a drink?”
Eric glanced at the Outlander. “One or two won’t hurt me.”
Tony shook his head. “We’ll get you an Uber or you can stay the night. We have plenty of room and would love the company. I’d say let your wife drive, but Kari’s bound to offer her a drink too. When Sheridan arrives, her parents are welcome to join us.”
Eric looked at Dominique and smiled. “We’ll see how we go, but will either catch an Uber or stay.”
Dominique bit her bottom lip. “Kat’s never stayed this far away from home since she was attacked…”
“Stay!” Kari almost shouted. “You’ve all been so good helping us, and when Kat agreed to stay, we didn’t think of the distance. It must be scary for you.”
Dominique looked at Eric who smiled and then at Kat. “I’d love you both to stay if you’d like.”
Tony didn’t wait for Kat’s parents to answer. “It’s settled then. You’ll stay. We have plenty of spare toothbrushes and toiletries. Kari loved to entertain, but we prefer to keep our circle small now. Are you the same?”
“It was too small until we met Sensei Damon,” Eric answered. “Now we choose wisely. People we understand and who can understand us, like you.”
Tony smiled and nodded. “That’s what we want too.”
The doorbell stopped them from leaving the room.
Kat looked at Kari. “I should probably go to the door with you, Mrs Church, so Sheridan feels comfortable.”
“That’s so kind of you, Kat. Please call me Kari.” Kari opened the door and let Kat greet Sheridan and her parents.
“Hey, Sheridan. You look great.” Kat hugged her. “Sheridan, Julia and Richard Grace this is Avery, Kari and Tony Church.”
“Lovely to meet you.”
Kari looked from Sheridan to Avery and spoke a little sooner than she probably should. “Avery’s a little taller with longer hair. Your hair and eye colour are different. Why did he pick you two? What have you got in common? We need to stop this from happening again. Are you an only child too, Sheridan?”
Sheridan shook her head. “I’ve got an older brother, Elijah, who lives at home and is studying to be a doctor. I’m seventeen and in year twelve. I wanted to be a doctor and choose my specialty later. Now I want to specialise in plastic surgery.”
Avery smiled. “That’s so cool! That would really help people like us.”
Sheridan nodded enthusiastically. “That’s why I want to do it.”
“I’m sixteen. I’m in year eleven and was planning on doing a business degree and working with Dad. I love art, but it’s more of a hobby. I’m not sure what I’ll do now. We don’t seem to have too much in common besides going to good schools.”
Kat was just wondering if she should text Sensei Damon or Brent when they both texted her.
“I’m listening and logging the details,” Brent texted.
“It could be a crime of opportunity. He seems to despise rich girls. Maybe any rich girl would do if she was an easy target,” Damon texted. “How did they get to school? Were they both alone? Would it reduce numbers if we get them to walk to school in groups?”
“How did you both get to school?” Kat asked as though she were reading off her phone, then turned her attention to the girls. “I’m guessing you were both alone when he attacked you?”
They both nodded and Sheridan spoke first. “That question came on text. Who was it?” She looked around the room. “Is there a spy-cam in here?”
Damon’s message tone sounded again. “Tell them the truth, especially about the distress alarm and tracking device. Brent’s already got some earrings for them. They aren’t listening devices like yours, but we have a spare if one wants one. The other will need to wait.”
“Shouldn’t I have a spare just in case?”
“You do. I’m not including that one. It’s not a spare. It’s your backup. Tell them how the earrings work and recommend they get some. I don’t think they need listening devices.”
“You should probably all listen to this,” Kat said looking around the room. “That was Sensei Damon.”
Tony grinned and made a little punching gesture. “I knew it! I’d so love him to be my head of security.”
Kat smiled and pointed to her earrings. “My earrings have a listening and tracking device. If I push the edges together an alarm goes off in Sensei Damon’s and Mum and Dad’s phones as well as a few other people. The listening and tracking device are on all the time. Sensei Damon listens to pretty much everything I say especially when he feels I may be in danger.”
“That explains why he turned around and whistled when I was looking for him. He knew. I thought he just sensed it. That earbud isn’t for music, is it?” Tony asked.
“It may’ve started that way, but since I got the earrings he listens to me all the time unless I ask him not to. Our tech guru has made earrings with the tracking device and alarm for Sheridan and Avery. They don’t need to listen to everything you say. We don’t think you’re in danger, but the earrings will keep you sa
fe. You just press the edges together and an alarm asking for help will go off. The tracking device will let us know where you are if something goes wrong. That’s why I have them. We knew I was in danger when Adam was after me. If they could hear everything he said, they’d know when I may need help. As soon as Adam turned up at College, Sensei Damon knew and jumped in his car. The tracking device was in case he kidnapped me or something.”
Avery looked at Kat with big, blue eyes. “Did Sensei Damon hear everything I told you?”
Kat nodded. “I know you were confiding in me. Please don’t feel it was a breach of confidence. We just want to catch the scumbag who hurt you. You’re more likely to talk freely with me than to the police. I do want to help you. I also want to stop him from hurting others.”
“I feel weird that a man heard everything. I don’t like it. I thought I was just talking with you,” Avery said, backing away from Kat a little.
“Look, princess,” Tony tried. “They did it for your own good.”
Damon’s message tone stopped Avery from arguing.
“Sensei Damon wants you to look at a few photos and articles. Can we put them on the big screen, please? That way everyone can see,” Kat said after reading her phone.
“Of course,” Tony said, expecting it to be something relevant to his daughter’s case.
Kat connected to the flat screen by Bluetooth. “Sensei Damon has been through hell. He hasn’t been attacked in the same way as we have, but believe me, he gets it.” Kat brought up a photo of Damon with a beautiful, dark-haired girl. He had her hand in his. They were showing off a diamond engagement ring. “This is his fiancée, Bethany.” Kat scrolled to the next photo. It was an article, “Militia troops decimate hospital.” Kat’s eyes filled with tears. “Bethany was a midwife. He watched her being shot in the head as he tried to stop a monster from killing a baby.” She brought up the photo of Damon’s bullet wounds and articles about the war hero taking out most of the militia troop by himself. “I’ve watched someone I love die too. Damon and I understand each other. I trust him with everything I say. I’m allowed to ask for the listening device to be turned off and even know how to turn it off myself. I haven’t turned it off yet and mostly forget it’s even there. I trust everyone who’s listening and have nothing to hide. Some of it may hurt them, but some may help them. I don’t want you to get me to turn it off when we’re talking about that monster who hurt you. I want to find him.” Kat looked at her parents. “You’re probably not going to like this part and I doubt Sensei Damon will either, but when I dress up as his next victim, I don’t want Damon to kill him unless he thinks my life’s in danger. I want to hurt him so much that he’s too scared to go after another girl. I want him to live in fear. I want him to feel the same terror he’s made us feel.”
Our Cause (Let the Monsters Live in Fear Book 1) Page 17
