by Ciana Stone
“She was too strong for me until we were captured.”
“Captured?”
“Yes. Us and a man she loved. A Mossad agent. He died to try to save us, but it didn’t work. Sadie let me come out when he was dying. She ordered me to save him, but he was already gone by then. Still, she wouldn’t give up—she wanted me to bring him back.
“I tried, but I couldn’t, and it weakened us to the point that we almost died. She knew we were too weak to survive more torture or questioning. We’d break for sure. So, we created Catherine.”
“Catherine Mermet.” Deacon said.
“Yes, just like the tea roses you’d bring me when you came home. She was brand new, so she didn’t know anything except we were in an awful place and were scared. We didn’t let her know anything else, not even that we existed. She didn’t find that out until we’d escaped, made it back to the States and then were locked up by the CIA.”
“Locked up?” Wiley asked. “Why?”
“Because Sadie has information they want, and she won’t give it to them. When they try to forcibly extract it, she shoves Catherine into the foreground and Catherine’s so confused she doesn’t know if she’s coming or going half the time.”
“Do you know what the information is?” Deacon asked.
“No, but I think I know how to find it. There’s just one problem.”
“And that is?”
“I have to kill Sadie and I can’t do it alone.”
“Tell us what to do.” Wiley said without hesitation.
She smiled at him and then at her father. “You have to kill me.”
“Excuse me?” Deacon blurted.
“You heard me, but we can’t talk about it now. Sadie’s waking up.” She looked at Etta. “I need to get out of here before they find out I’m here.”
“They?” Wiley asked.
“The CIA.”
“Oh, you’re afraid your name on a chart will raise a flag.”
“Or that Mason James will tell them.”
“Mason?” Deacon asked. “Why would Mason tell them?”
“He’s the one who told them I was here in the first place. He and Sadie were partners at one time. I think he was programmed.”
Deacon looked at Etta. “What do you think?”
“I agree with her. And yes, Trina, I’ll get your release signed and have you out of here today.”
“You can come home with me,” Deacon offered.
“No. I’ll be going with Brody.”
Deacon looked at Brody and it was clear that he wasn’t happy. “And if I object?”
“You don’t have that right.” Trina said, earning a sharp look from Deacon. “And don’t give me that look. It might have worked when I was five, but I’m not five anymore. I make my own decisions and I’ll be staying with Brody, so if you have a problem with that, it’s your problem, not mine.”
“Bam,” Wiley said and chuckled when Deacon gave him a hateful look. “Come on, bro, you should be proud as hell. She grew up to be strong and smart, with a heart as big as the sky and the courage to stand on her own.”
Deacon relented and even smiled. “There is that.”
“Yep.” Wiley gave Trina a wink. “I’ll be seeing you Trina Rose.”
“You know that for a fact,” she said in reply. “Now everyone scoot. I want to talk with Brody. And Etta, please get me out of here fast.”
“I’m going to take care of that right now.”
As everyone else left the room, Mathias stepped over to the bed. “If you need me, call.”
“I can never repay what you did for me,” Trina reached to take his hand. “Without your help—your strength, I couldn’t have helped Brody. I’m forever in your debt.”
“You’re in no debt to me, Trina Rose. You took away my pain and you saved my friend. I will forever be your friend.”
“I feel the same. Thank you, Mathias.”
He smiled, gave a nod to Brody and left. Then Trina turned to face Brody. “I have questions and I need honest answers.”
“Only way I know so shoot.”
“Are you truly healed?”
“I am.”
“So, you can still be a SEAL?”
“Sure. Well, I mean I guess so, but the tests show that at one time my back was broken, so it’s enough to keep me off active duty.”
Tears flooded her eyes. “Oh God, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry Brody. I failed you. I− “
“Don’t you do that, Red. You saved my life. Do you think I’m going to bemoan my fate for one red hot second? I could be dead, or paralyzed for life, but instead, I’m whole and mobile and able to have a long life—and it’s all thanks to you.”
“But being a SEAL is everything to you. Can you be happy if you can’t be on active duty.”
“It’s not everything and yes I can.”
“Are you sure?”
“Cross my heart.”
“Then there’s one other thing. I guess you already know that I love you. But I need to know. How do you feel about me?”
“How can you even ask? You had me at hello, Red.”
She shook her head. “I know you probably don’t mean it as such, but that sounds like a line you use to avoid speaking the truth. Just tell me flat out. If you don’t feel the same, I’ll learn to deal with it, but please just tell me.”
“I love you, Katrina Rose Johns.”
“My name is technically Sadie Rockler.”
“Not for long. I think we should see about getting it changed back.”
“To Katrina Rose Johns?”
“I was thinking more like Katrina Rose Judge.”
Her eyes rounded and then her mouth opened, but no sound emerged. “Wow, is that a really bad sign?” he asked.
“Are you serious?”
“Hell yeah. I told you, I love you, Red and nearly dying taught me something important. We shouldn’t waste any of our moments. Everyone is too important, and I don’t want to spend any more of mine without you by my side, so will you marry me.”
“Brody—I—how can you ask that? We haven’t known each other very long and I have all these—personalities and issues and baggage and−“
“And you saved my life and when you did I saw you, Red. I really saw you. Not just what’s on the outside but the real you and God help me but I’m so crazy about you I can’t stand the thought of being without you. So please, say yes. For me. Say yes.”
“Yes, please, oh God yes.” She flung herself at him and he hugged her tightly.
For the first time in his life, Brody finally knew what it meant to be in love and damn if he didn’t like it.
“Now there’s just one thing we must do,” she said against his shoulder.
“And that would be?”
“Work out the details of my plan.”
“You mean the one where we kill you?”
“Yep.”
Brody shook his head and hugged her tighter. “Later, Red. Right now, let’s take a break and just celebrate life.”
“Oh, I intend to. Just as soon as we get home.”
Brody grinned. Yep, being in love was damn grand. Even if the woman he loved did have three personalities, only one of whom loved him and two of which they had to figure a way to kill.
Chapter Eighteen
Three months ago if someone had told him that he was going to fall in love he would have joked that he fell in love at least once a week. Today, he was a man who was sincerely, madly in love.
As luck would have it, the woman who won his heart was about as far from normal as a person could be, but was, without question the one for him. Every time Trina looked at him he felt something swell inside him, filling the space he’d not known was empty until now.
She didn’t know it yet, but he was going to take care of her and that included getting the CIA to back off and making her other two personalities go away.
He parked near Deacon’s office at the center and got out of his car. Just then, Deacon pulled up in h
is truck. Wiley was in the passenger seat.
“Just the men I wanted to see.” Brody said as he got out of his car.
“About?” Deacon asked.
“Red,” he said and grimaced. “Sorry, I mean Trina.”
“What about her?”
“Do you really want to do this standing out here?”
“Do we need privacy for this conversation?
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Then come inside.” Deacon gestured.
Brody followed, but after two steps stopped and looked back at Wiley who had not moved. “I need to talk to both of you.”
“Now I know the shit is gonna get deep.” Wiley commented and started toward them.
Once they were in Deacon’s office, Brody spoke up again. “I wanted to speak with you before she does.”
“About what?” Deacon asked.
“A plan to get rid of Sadie.”
“The extra personality?”
“Yeah. Her and Catherine.”
“Your tone of voice tells me you don’t like her plan.”
“No, I don’t. I think it’s too risky. She wants us to set up an altercation in which one of you will shoot her.”
“Oh hell no.” Wiley immediately barked.
“I don’t mean for real. She thinks if she’s wearing a vest or if you use rubber bullets and if someone is nearby to render her unconscious, Sadie will believe they are dying and leave.”
“That won’t work.” Wiley said.
“Why not?”
“Because Sadie didn’t leave when Trina almost killed herself saving you.”
“Well, maybe she didn’t believe they were truly dying.”
“Maybe, but I still say the plan is crap. Deac?”
“I have to agree.” Deacon looked from Wiley to Brody. “Too much could go wrong and even a rubber bullet can do a hell of a lot of damage if it doesn’t hit dead on target. No, I think there has to be another way.”
“I agree.” Brody said.
“Then why did you bother to tell us?” Wiley asked.
“So, you’d be prepared to say no when she asks and because I hoped it would make my plan sound a little better.”
“And your plan is?” Deacon asked.
Brody grinned. “It goes like this…”
*****
If someone was to ask, Trina would say that the last week had been the best of her life. She was crazy in love with Brody, had good friends like Mathias, Etta and JJ and had reconnected with her Dad and her Uncle Wiley.
Her Dad’s new wife, Mica, was amazing and Trina already loved her. It was a little strange for her Dad to be married to someone so young, but age didn’t matter to her. The fact that he was happy was what mattered.
There was only one dark cloud on her happy sky and that was how to finally deal with Sadie, Mason and the CIA.
She had put off dealing with it since she’d been released from the hospital, but this morning when Brody left to go meet with Deacon and see if the offer of a training position was still open, she’d told him to let Etta know that she was ready to move forward and wanted to meet with her and Deacon about the plan she’d come up with.
He asked if she was one hundred percent sure and she said yes. Not that she was. Sure, that is.
If she failed, then there was a good chance Sadie would win and she’d find herself the one trapped in the darkness forever. Trina couldn’t even let herself consider that possibility. She finally had something to live for and she’d be damned if she would let anyone take it from her.
A knock at the front door had her hurrying to answer. She opened the door but didn’t see anyone, so she pushed the screen door open and stepped out. At the very moment she caught sight of something in the right side of her periphery, she felt a sharp sting in the side of her neck.
Two seconds later, a wave of dizziness washed over her and then everything went black.
When Trina woke, she was lying on the sofa in the house and her Uncle Wiley was seated in the chair adjacent to the couch. “Hey, there Little Bit, you okay? Last thing I expected was to find you passed out on the front porch swing.”
Trina sat and looked around. “What happened?”
Wiley shrugged. “Like I said, when I walked up you were passed out on the porch.”
“Someone knocked on the door. I opened it and stepped outside and—" She jumped up. “Something stabbed me in the neck.”
Trina ran to the bathroom. “Wiley?” She screamed as she looked at her reflection. All ideas about her plan fled. Now there was only fear.
He ran in and she turned to face him. “Look.”
“What am I looking at? Two stitches are all I see. Did you get those in the hospital?”
“No. Someone—someone put something in me.”
“Why would someone do that?”
“To bug, track or kill me. Oh God, Wiley. They know where I am and they’re planning on killing me.”
“Hold on, hold on. What makes you say that?”
“Just look at where the incision is. One small blast would destroy the carotid artery and I’d bleed out in a minute.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“No, but I’m scared I am. The CIA uses stuff like this. Just to be safe, take me over to Sanctuary and I’ll get Etta to have the doctor do an x-ray.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
They went out and got into his truck.
“I still don’t know why the CIA would want to kill you.”
Trina looked over at him. “I don’t think they want to, it’s more a matter of either they get the information they want, or they kill me to make sure no one else ever gets it.”
“What could be that important?”
“I don’t know.”
“But Sadie does?”
“I think so.”
“Then ask her.”
“Fat lot of good that will do. She wants me dead.”
“But if you die, so does she.”
“Well, the kind of dead she wants is me locked in the dark and her in control and let me tell you that can be worse than death.”
“Isn’t there a way you can work something out with her?”
“No, I don’t see how. Try to understand. It’s a little like having multiple people in one body. She and I aren’t alike at all, and her experiences aren’t mine, like mine aren’t hers.”
“That’s screwed up, Little Bit.”
“Tell me about it.”
“And all this came into being because of what that man did to you?”
“Honestly, I think maybe I leaned toward it all along. Sadie was part of me before him. When Dad left, and you left, she was there, but she just whispered to me, telling me everything would be okay, and we didn’t need anyone. I had her and she would always be there for me.”
“Didn’t that scare you?”
“Everything scared me, Wiley. I lost my Dad and you and mom turned into a mean woman who spent all her time smoking and drinking and screwing strange men.”
“I’m so sorry. I swear to God that if I’d known—“
“I know, and I don’t blame you. Or Dad. It was just the hand of cards I was dealt. But now… now I need to fight for my life. If Sadie would give me the info, I’d give it to the CIA and cut a deal, but she won’t.”
“Well, maybe Etta will have a suggestion. And we’ll find a way. I promise.”
“That’s what Brody said.”
“You’re crazy about him, aren’t you?”
“I love him.”
“Well, I guess that pretty much says it all, doesn’t it?”
“It does for me but…”
“But what?”
“I have to get this out, so forgive me in advance. I’m scared.”
Wiley reached over to place his hand on her shoulder. “Nothing wrong with admitting it, baby girl. Just make sure you don’t give in to it. Remember what I told you when you were afraid to try to ride your bike without the training wheels?”
“Hooyah.”
Trina’s smile morphed into a grin at that word. “I have missed you so much, Uncle Wiley.”
“Not half as much as I missed you.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Did you ever get married?”
“Nope.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Not entirely sure. After your mom—well, I was a little screwed up for a while. I never meant to hurt your Dad. I know how lame that sounds. And maybe it is. Maybe I was fooling myself.
“She had a way of twisting me—either around her finger or into knots and damn if I wouldn’t have done anything for that woman.”
“Mom had that effect on men. At least for a while, until they realized that she didn’t really care about them—just how much money they had and whether they’d give it to her, so she could buy alcohol or drugs. But God was she beautiful. I remember sitting on her bed while she’d get all dolled up for a date and I think “wow, my mom looks like a movie-star.” She was so gorgeous.”
“She sure was. You look a lot like her.”
“I guess that makes it kind of painful for you and Dad, doesn’t it? Having me around is like a visual reminder of the worst time of your life.”
“Not all of it was bad. You came into our lives and you were worth all of it and more.”
Trina nodded and dug for the courage to ask the question she’d always been afraid of. “Is Deacon really my Dad, or are you?”
The way Wiley’s gaze jerked to her and the way his hand tightened on the steering wheel didn’t go unnoticed. “Well?”
“I don’t know, Little Bit. You were born seven months after they were married.”
“And were you sleeping with her before they were married?”
It took him a few seconds before he answered. “Yes.”
“So, you could be my Dad?”
“Yes. But does it matter?”
“I don’t know. But it seems that this ability I have comes from you. Deacon is empathic but you’re more like me. So, it would make perfect sense for you to be my father.”
