“I got it,” Ariel shoved Kat against Jason. “You two get the hell out of here. That’s a direct order. Go before someone recognizes you. We’ll take care of David.”
David stood the rest of the way and stumbled several steps. Ariel and Lauren reached out to help him. He moaned then collapsed onto the ground. He crawled toward the bridge wall and leaned his back against it. Lauren kneeled beside him while Ariel stood and grabbed Kat and Jason’s arms. She shoved them toward the tree line with an amazing amount of strength. They fell backward and landed painfully.
They froze in place when Lauren screamed out. They scrambled up and ran toward them. The three teammates looking over the edge made Kat’s heart sink, and when she gripped the wall and looked over the edge she saw nothing, which gave her a shred of hope. The drop was a scary distance below, with water rushing at an alarming rate, fast enough to have taken David’s body in its grip and sweep it away with the currents.
“He said he needed to vomit,” Lauren whispered. “I just helped him up; I don’t know what happened...” She looked at Kat. “But he fell forward and I didn’t have a good hold on him…”
“It’s okay,” Kat squeezed your hand. “We’ll find him; come on—”
Ariel grabbed Kat’s right hand with her left and screamed out in agony. Kat, Jason, and Lauren frantically gathered her and sat her on the ground and surrounded her. Ariel screamed again, her face beaded with sweat.
“My hand, there’s something wrong with my hand,” Ariel wheezed.
“It’s okay,” Kat wiped the sweat from her brow. “Tell us what’s wrong; give us your symptoms.”
Ariel screamed and held her right hand in front of her, a bright light illuminating her hand. Kat’s heart sank. She knew that light. She had seen it the day she had completed her unity ceremony. And that it was shining brightest over Ariel’s right ring finger alarmed her tremendously.
The light flashed brightly then was gone. Ariel sat upright. She shrugged Kat’s hand off of her and held her right hand in front of her. David’s family crest, which had been etched onto Ariel’s finger the day they were united, was gone.
“His life signal stopped,” Jason whispered.
“Jason and Kat, leave, now.” Ariel said after a long moment of staring at her hand. “Wyatt and Lauren, gather all the humans,” Ariel stood. “You two get the hell out of here.” She shoved Kat again, “Now!”
Jason grabbed Kat’s arm and pulled her with him as he jogged back into the woods. The gathering crowd was enough to finally shake him out of his shock. The last thing they needed was to get photographed in Colombia, an explanation for that hard to come by.
“Pull it together, babe,” Jason held Kat’s face in his hands. “Kat, stop crying, take a deep breath.”
“Is he dead?” Kat sobbed.
“Pull it together, we have to teleport.”
“Okay,” she wiped her face then lied. “I’m okay.”
“Just keep it together, wait until we get home,” he kissed her briefly.
“I will,” Kat sniffled. She couldn’t let anyone know that she was mourning David’s loss. He was the man whom she always saw as a big brother, his laid-back personality always a ray of sunshine. And it was gone forever.
She felt the familiar vibration of teleporting. She opened her eyes to find that Jason had teleported them to the small communication center he had used during training. His equipment was still on. He punched several buttons so that on one screen he picked up their team’s life signals and used a satellite to focus on their exact location.
Lauren and Wyatt had just rounded up the last of the humans. Then they opened fire. Kat squeezed her eyes shut but the image was burned into her memory forever. And the knowledge of knowing that every human would be executed made her heart heavier.
“Don’t look,” Jason ripped her earpiece off, and then pulled her against him so that she wasn’t facing the monitors.
“They didn’t have to kill them,” Kat whispered. The look of fear on the small children’s faces haunting her. And their screams were still resonating in her head even though Jason had disconnected her earpiece.
“Please, calm down,” he repeated several times against her hair. “It’s time. They’re ready to start cleanup. Kat, I need you to get through this for me,” he wiped her face then grabbed a bottle of water and poured some onto a paper towel. “Are you good? We’ve got a few more minutes, babe. Wyatt and Lauren are on morgue detail. And Ariel is staying behind to find David, Kat?”
“I’m good,” she wiped her face with the towel but fresh tears replaced them.
Jason studied her for a second then responded to a command someone shouted into his earpieces. Kat rinsed her face again and sat down to focus on her breathing. By the time everyone was ready, she was too. Jason sent the team to Ariel’s house to begin their debriefing.
“Okay, here we go. Are you ready?” He asked.
She nodded and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn’t immediately open her eyes when they got there. She took several deep breaths then opened them when she had better control over her emotions. She walked beside Jason and they entered the briefing room. They took their seats, and she managed to remain cool and detached the entire time.
Elder Jay didn’t even go over their training session. He went over detail after detail of what happened in the moments leading up to their excursion and then went over minute-by-minute details with Ariel. Council entered the teleconference midway and listened in on the discussion. Then Wyatt provided a detailed report on the golden poison dart frog that he had captured on the bridge. It had, more than likely, crawled into David’s bag while they had been training.
She and Jason bid farewell to everyone and teleported to the house. She walked to their bedroom and started undressing. Jason disappeared into the bathroom and emerged in boxers and a t-shirt. He knelt beside her and helped her out of her boots, then lifted her into his arms. He carried her to the bed and she snuggled against him. And after crying for what seemed like hours, she finally fell into a deep sleep.
Chapter Thirteen Then Comes Marriage…
“We’re up next, Kit Kat.” Brian held his hand out toward her.
“I’m ready,” she smiled and placed her hand into his and squeezed it.
“Are you sure?” He tried to make it sound like a joke as he adjusted her veil, but the tears brimming in his eyes made her know otherwise.
“Yeah, Daddy,” she leaned over and kissed his cheek. “You promised you wouldn’t cry.”
“Yeah, but I’m a lawyer so I’m supposed to be a good liar—”
“You’re a judge,” she smiled. “And the last time I checked, honorable was somewhere in that job description.”
“True.” He chuckled as the wedding planner helped adjust her train.
“So no more crying. You’re gaining a son, not losing a daughter,” she kissed his cheek just before they pulled the doors open.
“Here we go,” he whispered.
The room was packed to the brim; Vanessa had told her that all two hundred and fifty guests had shown up for the occasion. Not that Kat cared because the second the doors were pulled open, the only person she saw was Jason. He looked amazing in his tuxedo, and his smile was breathtaking. When they reached the altar, Kat took her eyes off of Jason long enough to look at the pastor.
“Who gives this bride to this man?”
“Her mother and I do,” Brian turned toward her and lifted her veil then placed a kiss on her cheek.
“I love you, Daddy,” she whispered.
He kissed her hand after he lifted it off of his arm then handed it to Jason. The pastor began the ceremony as Brian took his seat, and Vanessa reached for her bouquet. She returned Lauren’s smile and was shocked to see Ariel smiling as well. She nodded at her and admired how lovely the three ladies looked in their gowns, a more beautiful bridal party surely hard to come by. She looked up at Jason and smiled.
The ceremony flew by and before she knew it, Wyatt handed Jason her w
edding bands. Jason had gotten her matching diamond-studded eternity bands so he could place one on either side of her engagement ring. They were stunning. He turned to face her and said his vows to her. Then Vanessa handed Kat his wedding band and she repeated everything the pastor said. She slid the ring onto his finger and got the oddest sensation in her stomach. Something about seeing the platinum band there made her even giddier than she had been when she walked down the aisle.
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the pastor smiled. “Jason, you may kiss your lovely bride.”
When he kissed her, everyone applauded. Kat leaned back to smile at him. Their moment had been just as perfect as she had imagined it would be. Vanessa handed her the bouquet and they walked down the aisle together, the smiles on their faces genuine as they made it to the doors. Then the wedding planner escorted them to the room that had been set up for photographs. Kat posed for what seemed like a billion pictures with her bridal party and immediate family members.
Then the room was cleared out by the secret service so that the president and first lady could be ushered in for photos. Their son, Jeff, at Senator McCarthy’s request, had taken David’s place as usher and had livened up the bachelor party and other events leading up to the wedding just as David would have.
Then the planner whisked her up to her room so she could change into her second dress. It was another exquisite gown that Vanessa had helped design for the reception. Lauren brought her a bottle of water as the make-up team finished touching up her make-up. Afterward, the make-up team moved on to her bridesmaids. Ariel was looking uncomfortable in the spotlight but Lauren was chipper as ever.
“Hey,” Vanessa sat next to her. “You look beautiful!”
“Only because you helped design it,” Kat added with a smile. “Do you have your speech all set?”
“Yeah,” Vanessa smiled. She had been the ultimate maid of honor, and had taken her role very seriously. Kat was grateful for everything that she had done, especially because she knew it was Vanessa’s way of making amends.
“And it’s not gonna make me cry, right?” Kat asked.
“Nope, it’s all about you swinging on that pole in Vegas when we did your bachelorette party—”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“No.” She laughed. “I’m teasing. And I hope it doesn’t make you cry. I did try to make sure it was light and sweet. And Jeremy helped me make it funny.”
“Good,” she looked up when the planner called her name. “This woman had to be a marine drill sergeant in a past life,” she whispered just before the planner got to them and hauled her away.
“Mrs. McCarthy,” Jason whispered by her ear when they made it downstairs and were put in line to enter the ballroom. “May I be the first to say that you look exquisite in your gown?”
“Thank you. And you look amazing,” she whispered.
“What’s that smile all about?”
“I just really love the way Mrs. McCarthy sounds.”
“You do realize that you’ve been a McCarthy all this time.” He laughed.
“Yeah,” she nodded. “But not like this. Now it’s official—”
“Hang on,” the planner said grabbing onto Jason’s arm. They stepped away from the doors so they would stay out of view as the bridal party entered. The DJ introduced the couples as they entered the ballroom. When they closed the door after Vanessa and Wyatt stepped through the threshold, Kat’s stomach had another of those odd sensations when Jason leaned over and kissed her cheek.
They entered the room smiling and waved to their parents as the D.J. introduced them and announced their first dance. Jason led her to the center of the dance floor and pulled her into his embrace just as their song started to play. Despite being nervous about their dance with so many people watching, once she was in his arms she didn’t see anything but him. She couldn’t help but laugh when he improvised the painstakingly rehearsed waltz by twirling, then kissing her when the song ended.
She danced with Brian, who was still a sentimental mess. Then she danced with Eric, who was trying to act as sentimental as Brian but was failing miserably. Dinner was served and the planner rushed them so that Wyatt then Vanessa could make their toasts. They cut the cake and got a good laugh out of Jason taking her garter belt off.
She nearly fell off the steps when her heel caught in her hem to toss her bouquet, but Jason was there to steady her. Kat was sure she had never laughed so hard in her life when the women went into a frenzy fighting over the bouquet, each of them wanting to be the girl that danced with Jeff, who had been the lucky recipient of her garter belt.
After the lights were dimmed, and the D.J. raised the volume on the music, Kat was sure she would get to enjoy a few minutes of her night with her husband. The thought made her smile, but she had no such luck because there were people she had to meet and thank, so she and Jason made their way around the room and danced with several guests. Then the floor was cleared so she could dance with the president and Jason could dance with the first lady, the invited media blinding them with the camera flashes.
Just when she got done kissing the president’s cheek and thanking him for attending, the planner swept her up to the room for her third dress change. She had to bite her tongue when the hair and make-up girls ran into the room but sat quietly as they primped and fussed over her. When she got downstairs, they shoved a champagne flute into her hand as they guided her to the front of the room, a huge projector screen lowered so they could watch the countdown at Time Square.
Streamers and confetti rained down on them as they welcomed in the New Year. She and Jason wished everyone a Happy New Year and took a moment to dance before the wedding planner started ushering everyone off of the dance floor.
“If everyone can gather around the dance floor,” the D.J. announced. “Our bride and groom will be heading off to sunny Mexico, and we want to send them off with a warm and enthusiastic farewell!”
The planner signaled them to make their way across the room but Kat stopped after taking a step and turned to find her mother. She ran and gave her a big hug, and then she hugged Brian, and whispered that she loved him. She took Jason’s hand and they waved as they exited the hotel, a swarm of media waiting to take pictures, so they stopped and kissed just before getting into the limousine.
“Great wedding,” Elder Jay said as they slid into the limousine, his presence alarming them and causing them to flinch. “You two did amazingly well. Council and I were worried you two wouldn’t pull it off.” He handed Kat a blue booklet. “I’m glad you didn’t disappoint us.”
“Thank you, sir,” Kat flipped it open.
“You think they bought it?” Jason lowered the window and leaned his head against the seat. His smile was gone.
“I really felt like they taught us to overdo some of that,” Kat studied Jason, concern overshadowing her need to act disconnected from the situation.
“No,” Elder Jay assured them. “It was spot on and the way you worked the senate and the president was amazing. We’ll have you in office within a decade if you keep up with all that sweet-talking. They love you.”
“Good, I’ll be answering to Mr. President in no time.” Jason poured himself a glass of water than leaned over to read Kat’s brief.
“This mission is for Katarina only,” Elder Jay informed Jason when he looked up and saw him reading over her shoulder. “I can’t help but get the impression that Eric has yet to inform you that you were never supposed to be on a team, let alone going out on missions.” Jason leaned away from Kat and looked out the window. Kat, too scared to look up at Elder Jay, dared a glance at Jason. “The only reason you were assigned to a team was because we are so outnumbered, but you’re too important. Once we find someone to replace you then you’ll never do field work again.”
“Of course, sir,” Jason said. “And why is that again?”
Kat’s heartbeat accelerated wildly when Elder Jay stared at Jason for a long moment. She flinched when Elder Jay
moved his hand into his jacket pocket.
“Because you’re our star player,” he reached into his jacket and pulled his cell phone out. Kat nearly fainted with relief and took the opportunity to glare at Jason for being stupid enough to question an Elder. “You’re family obligation and the plan we have in place for you as president far outweighs mission capability.”
“Is my uniform here, sir?” Kat interrupted just before Jason could respond. The energy coming off of Jason scared her enough to be rude, especially if it meant making sure he didn’t say something to provoke Elder Jay to kill him on the spot.
“I’m sure it was delivered to your room at Andrew’s. Do you have any other questions for me regarding the mission?” He looked up from his phone, his eyebrow rose, which was probably in response to her abruptness.
“No, sir, it seems pretty straight-forward.” She whispered and looked away.
“Okay. Jason, make sure you get some rest on the flight to Mexico and good luck on your mission, Katarina.”
Elder Jay disappeared and she gripped Jason’s hand. Her body tensed when the surge of energy flowed up her arm. When the initial shock passed, she rested her cheek against his arm and tried to steady her breathing. He looked at her for a moment then kissed her forehead.
“I can’t do this anymore,” he whispered.
“We don’t have a choice.” She sighed. “Jason, I can’t believe you just had the nerve to talk to Elder Jay that way, he could have killed you.”
“I know. I just couldn’t help it. I’m so tired of living this way, Kat. And I really think that we do have an option,” when he grabbed her face with both of his hands, an electrical shock ran through her body, and reached her toes. “Sorry,” he pulled away from her.
“Don’t,” she grabbed his hands and pulled him closer. “It’s okay,” she placed his hands on her face again, the electricity sparking her powers.
“This is definitely not how I had our wedding night planned,” he sat back and pulled her closer to him so that her head was resting on his shoulder.
“At least we get to spend the week in Mexico.”
Sleeper Cells Page 20
