by Alec Peche
“We’ll have you try beer at a different time and yes it’s a very different taste from wine,” Ariana said. “The wine you’re drinking is a Barbera, a sweet red wine. When you first start drinking wine, start with sweet and drink your way toward dry wines. They all have nuances that give them unique flavors. We’ll give you a wine lesson later - grapes, fruit juices, oak barrels, cold or hot climates - it all makes a difference.”
“Okay. I will say you drink this differently. It’s a swallow at a time rather than how I might drink a soda or water. I can’t see chugging it. I guess it’s like hot coffee that you have to sip.”
They sat chilling with their wine for a while, each in their own thoughts. Finally, Damian leaned forward, and said, “Let’s go down to the lab.”
He finished his wine and set his glass on the breakfast nook surface before heading downstairs to his lab and the ladies copied his actions.
Once they got down there, he explained the set-up which was the same as the previous call to James Spinnaker. Hermione’s face would be a distorted picture of herself from two years ago. Once they established that her real parents were on the call, then Damian would do a reveal so they could see their real daughter and then he didn’t know what was going to happen.
Damian checked his watch for the tenth time and noted they had two more minutes before the call and his mind was drawing a blank over what to say. Ariana must be having the same problem as she also seemed mute.
Hermione broke the silence with, “Are you two dating?”
Damian said, “What!”
As Ariana simultaneously said, “huh?”
Both adults looked like deer caught in the headlights, but before they had no time to fabricate an answer as the phone rang.
Ariana and Hermione paled, so Damian gave them a quick hug before answering the phone.
Damian answered the video call after everyone was in their place. Hermione was out of range of the screen while her hologram was in the air next to Damian. As the other end of the video call came into focus, there was a man sitting at a table with no one else in view of the screen.
Damian said, “You are not Mr. Sherwood.”
The man replied, “Hannah Sherwood is next to you but she looks a little off.”
Suddenly a woman lunged into the screen and said “What's wrong with Hannah? Hannah?”
Damian waved Hermione over, clicking off the hologram and bringing her into the call.
Hermione had heard the voice and said, “Mom is that you?” with breathless excitement.
Suddenly, Hermione’s father entered the screen to look into the camera, while Hermione said, “Dad?”
Ariana joined Hermione to look at her parents.
“Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood are you in a safe place? Are you being held hostage? Is there anything we can do for you?”
“This is U.S. Marshal Thomas Kinnear,” and he held his badge close to the camera so they could read it. “Who are you and what are you doing with Hannah Sherwood? Why did she look different at the start of this call?”
“I’m Damian Green, and this is Ariana Knowles. We’ve been caring for the Sherwood's daughter since about a week after they were kidnapped from their home. I live on an island in the Bay, and Hannah lives with Ariana in the city of Belvedere. She attends high school there.”
They could all see Hannah’s mother crying in the background.
Suddenly the teenager said, “I have a new name and identity, and Damian and Ariana have kept me safe from the bad people who are after you. We also changed my appearance so I wouldn't look like I used to – my hair is different, and I wear glasses that have clear lens. We changed my appearance because they've come after me too. My name is now Hermione Knowles, I’m Ariana’s long-lost niece or something.”
“Back-up. What do you mean men have been after you?” the agent asked.
Damian said, “Let me give you a quick summary of the last year or so. Hermione escaped from her parents' house and went to the marina in hopes of getting on the family boat, but the boat wasn’t there, and she was so exhausted she fell asleep in my skiff at the marina and awoke when I approached my island. I called my friend Ariana as I was unequipped to take care of a teenage girl.
“I verified Hannah's story by visiting your house, and so we gave her the choice of calling the police so she could enter the foster care system or being raised by us until you folks reappeared.”
Jason Sherwood said, “Thank you Damian and Ariana. Hannah looks in good health and happy. You say she's been attending school?”
“Yes, and,” Damian said before Hermione cut him off.
“Daddy I'm going to high school near Ariana's home, and I've played water polo, I was on the swim team and now I'm the soccer goalkeeper. I also have good grades, and I hope to work at Damian's company this summer, and I went to Fantasialand two weeks ago!”
Damian watched the parents melting down with both joy that their child was happy and safe and sadness that they had missed some of her milestones.
“Where is this call originating from?” asked Kinnear.
“My island in the Bay. I believe your call is coming from the Justice Center in San Francisco, correct?”
“How do you know that?”
“I'm a scientist and inventor, so I have my phone system bouncing off satellites around the world whereas my technology shows that your call is from an IP address in the Superior Court building. May I presume that Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood are in protective custody by the United States Marshals Service and that you're protecting them from a pharmaceutical billionaire intent on killing the family?”
“I think we need to end this call, now that we have verified the existence of Hannah Sherwood so we can research who you are,” Kinnear said.
There were anguished moans from Hermione's parents as they both tried to block the agent from ending the call.
Damian understood the agent's angst, so he said, “Look, go ahead and have your department research Ariana and myself, but I think we need another call once you know we're good people. The child deserves to talk with her parents,” Damian urged.
Kinnear nodded and said, “I'll set up a follow-up call once we investigate you people.”
And just like that, Hermione's parents disappeared from the screen.
Chapter 28
“Well sweetie, I don't think you're going to be reunited with your parents soon. I wouldn't be surprised if we have some U.S. Marshals personally visiting us over the next few days,” Ariana said.
“Yeah, I was thinking I'd make it easy for them by giving them our names and addresses, but I don't like using that SFPD email account, so I think I'll wait for them to contact us,” Damian said.
“My parents look different. I think they must have had their appearance changed just like I did, but I am so excited to see that they are still alive! I was so convinced they were dead last year when I escaped our old house. I mean they looked dead when I watched them dragged out in bags on the video monitor in my safe room. Why was there a marshal on the phone call? What do they have to do with my parents?”
“The Marshals Service usually guards key witnesses in important court cases. When the government was trying to bring down the mafia, and key witnesses were killed at the beginning, they found they had to keep them in protective custody so they would be alive to testify. I think the Marshals Service has been around for a few hundred years,” Damian said.
“So what do I do next? Should I go to school on Monday? Do you think they'll meet us in person?”
“We really don't know,” Ariana said. “If I were them I would secretly watch the three of us for a while. You may have a choice to make later - live with your parents in protective custody and be home-schooled, or stay here and communicate with your parents by phone.”
“Really? You think I will get a choice?”
“You're old enough to make choices, so if I were your parents, I'd let you make the decision if they determine that you're happy and safe stayin
g with me. I assume the Marshals Service after they take a look at the history of us protecting you, would rather you stay with us than them. They don't want responsibility for another person, especially one that won't testify in court. They just need to make sure that whomever your parents are testifying against can't get to you to influence them by holding you hostage.”
Hermione thought for a little bit about Damian and Ariana's words. She loved her parents, but her world would be cut-off if she went with them into seclusion. No more soccer, or swimming, or water polo. Her entry into college might be affected by a home-schooled record, but then again not. She'd have no friends her own age, and she wouldn't learn to drive a boat or car or get a summer job at Damian's business. She'd have to give up her entire life to live with her parents. She loved living with Ariana and Damian, and they did as good a job and probably better at protecting her than the Marshals did as she had the freedom to play and travel.
“I love my parents, but if I'm a given a choice, I'd rather stay with you guys. I have so much freedom here to attend school, play sports, visit Fantasialand, get a summer job. Is it expensive to take care of me? Maybe I can get a job sooner so I can help with my costs.”
At that last sentence, Damian and Ariana closed in on Hermione and said, “Sweetie, we have plenty of money, and you're not a burden. We are enjoying being fake parents and cheering you on. If you decide after you talk with the Marshals and your parents some more, that you want to continue living with me until they leave custody, you can do that. That might be one of the questions you ask the Marshals – if you join your parents in protection, how many years are you talking about? Certainly, they would need to protect you up to a trial and perhaps for a few years after. I don't really know how that works.”
“Hermione, we've always wanted the best for you, and it's your decision, but I think you'll have a better life living with Ariana and I. You would likely be safer with the Marshals as they keep you under lock and key and I suppose someone could go after you at school, or at a sleepover, but I think we covered your tracks.”
Hermione let out a loud yawn and said, “Boy am I tired. I didn't get much sleep at the slumber party, then I used a lot of energy operating the water cannons, and finally seeing my parents for the first time in almost a year! It's been a pretty cool day.”
With that, she got another hug, and Damian said, “I think we're all tired after the busy day. Do you want dinner here, at Ariana's, or take-out from somewhere?”
Hermione let out another jaw-cracking yawn and said, “Let's go home, and I'll help Ariana make spaghetti, and Damian you can do garlic bread.”
Soon, Damian had everyone loaded on his boat, Miguel laying down on the floor of the boat while he navigated in the dark across the bay. It was a clear night, and the three of them admired the beauty of the San Francisco skyline lit up. Soon they were back at Ariana's house, and they all helped with dinner preparations.
“I'd open another bottle of Chianti to go with the spaghetti, but we had enough wine earlier, and we don't want the Marshals to find a house full of drunks when they arrive,” Damian said.
“Yeah, water or tea for us,” Ariana agreed.
“Do you think mom and dad get wine when they're in protection?”
“I have no idea, and I hope never to find out, but you can ask them on your next call,” Ariana said.
Hermione beamed and said, “Yeah, there's going to be a next call.”
“We don't know when you'll get that call, but I would expect that it will take them a few days to a week for them to check us out. At least your parents, I think were reassured that you're doing well under our wings. I would expect that several agents will check out Ariana and I. If they're smart, they'll investigate how you're doing at school as that's a reflection of well we treat you at home.”
Hermione nodded thinking about Damian's and Ariana's words, “That seems like the fair and smart thing to do. I guess you two could be related somehow to this drug cartel and you threatened me to get me to say good things about you on camera.”
“Exactly sweetie,” Ariana said adding noodles to boiling water for their pasta. “Look at how many have already tried to kidnap you. I don't know if we know the full scope of who your parents antagonized. That yacht that chased us down on Damian's island appears to be different from the Malaysian pharmaceutical drug king that was after you last year, or maybe they're all related through a far east alliance. Regardless I think we'll have to await an explanation from the Marshals to understand the full situation and the danger you and your parents are in.”
Damian had put a loaf of french bread in the oven sprinkled with butter and herbs and was now working on a salad. Now that they had time to relax, he found he was starving. He was also more optimistic that he and Ariana would continue to have this wonderful teenager in their lives. What parent looking at the home life that he and Ariana provided would want their child to give that up to live in protected isolation with them? Sure if the child were an infant or otherwise young enough that only the mother would do, you would leave the child with them, but not in the case of the active teenager. They would just have to wait and see what the week brought.
“When's your next soccer game?” Damian asked.
“Wednesday. Are you coming?”
“Of course. I was thinking we might record parts of the game for your parents.”
Damian watched the first tears form in this stoic teenager's eyes. She hadn't had a tear the entire time they were fighting off the evil men from the yacht, and yet here she was tearing up over the thought of her parents watching her in a game.
She had her head down as though she was praying while she got herself under control, and then she asked, “Could you just record the entire game? Sometimes the ball moves so fast that it's hard to turn the camera off and on.”
“Sure I could record the whole game,” Damian said. “Your parents could always forward through the boring stuff to just watch when you're in action. If your teammates are doing well, then you could take a nap because most of the action is at the other goal line.”
“I might get a lot of action this week as we're playing the best team in our division.”
“Okay, well we'll film the whole game, but don't get hurt diving through the air as that might bring a quick end to our guardianship of you,” Ariana urged as she began placing bowls of food on her table. “Let's eat and change the subject. How was your sleep-over at Megan's house? Did anyone give you any grief about not being on one before now?”
“I never admitted it was my first sleep-over. I just followed whatever Jenna did and no one seemed to notice that I was having a weird experience. Mostly we gossiped about people in high school or on TV. Actually, I gave everyone a different opinion of one girl on my soccer team. Megan didn't like her, because she thought she was stuck up, but really she's just quiet and listens a lot, so I felt pretty good about coming to Whitney's defense in her absence. I even said we should invite her for the next sleep-over. Oh, and I volunteered to host it here.”
“Seriously?” Ariana asked. “I'm scared to be around five hormone driven teenage girls.”
“Don't look at me,” Damian said with a smile. “Your posse is not coming to my island. I'm dumping this all on Ariana.” Looking at her, he said, “Good luck with that.”
“Wimp!” Ariana exclaimed.
“You bet. I'm not strong enough to serve as a referee for teenage girls,” Damian agreed.
“You guys are funny. My friends aren't that bad. We were asleep by just after the Tonight Show ended. They had Ariana Grande, on and we wanted to watch it.”
“Seriously, you can't have a sleepover at my island. There isn't room, there aren't enough bathrooms or showers, It's too far for your friends to go. Sometime I might be willing to teach your gang to fish, but that's it.”
“How about the water cannons? Operating those cannons is like a video game for my generation.”
“No.”
“Alrighty t
hen, I think I'll do a little reading then head to bed. It's been a long day, and it was so good to see my parents again. I'll sleep better knowing they're in good hands. And you two can discuss me without me listening,” Hermione said as she stood up putting her dish in the sink before heading to her room.
“Sweet dreams sweetie,” Ariana smiled at the teenager. “Good job today.”
“Just don't tell your classmates that you want to be a water cannon operator when you grow up, okay?”
Hermione returned to the table and fist-bumped Damian and ran her fingers across her lips as though they were zipped tight.
She left the room with Ariana and Damian smiling at her as Ariana called out, “She's such a ham.”
They waited until her door closed, then Ariana said, “Let's go out to my fire pit and enjoy the cool night. I have some blankets we can take out with us.”
He nodded and followed her, settling into a chair so that he was facing the bay and she could see inside her house. Ariana wrapped herself in a blanket and stared across the fire at Damian.
“What a day! If I were to describe it to someone else no one would believe me.”
“Even for me, it was a pretty far-fetched day starting with waking up next to you. We'll have to circle back to that once we're on solid ground with Hermione and her parents.”
“Yeah, now is the not the time to be answering Hermione's question about whether we're dating.”
“Do you think the Marshals Service will be here tomorrow inspecting our homes?” Ariana asked.
“I don't know the division of labor in that service. I would think they want to do deep background checks on us and maybe those kinds of people don't work weekends. If I were them, I would collect data on us and check on Hermione through the school. If they check the police departments for action at our two houses, then they'll get an earful that might take time sorting through. They may not know that the SFPD has people in custody related to some Asian Big Pharma company. Imagine their surprise when they find out how well we've protected Hermione. We probably could do a decent job protecting her parents, but I'm not attached to them like I am their daughter.”
