by Maddie Wade
Then she was taken away from him, just like that she was gone. That bastard Hale had tried to get her to talk with his colleagues about that medical trial. She’d been right not to trust him though, and as soon as he’d made her family and friends pay for neglecting her, the Consultant and everyone on The Divine Watchers would be next.
Then he and Paige could be a family, he would treat her like a princess and tell her all about the love he and Claire had shared. But first he had to set tonight’s little performance in place so that he could get near that bitch Lauren, he tittered to himself as he scurried down the corridor, he couldn’t wait to see them all suffer-especially that bastard Preedy.
~~~
Dane left Fortis and headed to meet with Sly at the golf range. Sly was in his usual spot near the end of range with his back to the wall, when Dane arrived. He knew the position was defensive and knew his friend had taken it as naturally as his next breath.
He wondered why it was so hard to be like that around Lauren. Shit he didn’t wonder, he knew! She consumed him, his thoughts his feelings and being away from her wasn’t helping. Dane looked at Sly as he approached, he knew he’d seen him. He watched as Sly adjusted his stance and took a swing that sent the golf ball flying. Sly looked up at him then.
“Hey man, long time no see.” He said giving Dane one of those, half shoulder man hugs.
“Hey, Sly, how long you back for?”
“We’re bugging out end of July so not too long, gonna do my last tour, then I’m done.”
“Good you can come work with me; business is really taking off, what with all these home-grown terror threats. Zack would love to have someone with your training and experience.”
“Yeah maybe I will. So, I got a partial print from the box that was left outside Fortis. I had a friend run it through the data base and it comes back to a Terry Griffiths.”
“Yeah that’s what I thought, but it’s good to confirm it.”
“What’s going on man?” Dane told him everything they knew so far, leaving out his disastrous attempt to protect Lauren.
“Shit, that’s fucked up man. I start a training exercise next week but if you need anything before next Friday, just call.”
“Thanks Sly, I have Tuck and Smithy doing some surveillance for me in Southampton but could you put the rest of your team on stand-by for me, strictly off the books though? In addition, maybe put a call into Jack and see if Eidolon could be on stand-by?”
Sly’s cousin Jack Granger was the team lead for Eidolon, they sometimes helped Fortis out. They were funded by a private organisation that nobody except maybe Jack knew about
“Yeah, sorry I wasn’t around this weekend or I would have done it. As for the rest it’s already done, Jack says he is monitoring the situation, and is on hand for any back up you need. I’ll speak to the rest of guys on the team later, but it won’t be a problem.”
They shook hands, “Stay safe, bro.”
“Yeah you too, man.”
He was nearly to the gate when Sly shouted, “Give my love to Lucy,” and winked. Dane gave him the finger and carried on going. He could hear Sly laughing as he left. Sly had always had a soft spot for Lucy and never missed an opportunity to rib him about it. Dane had been very vocal about his teammates staying away from his baby sister, but in fact, Sly was a top bloke.
He’d always had an uncanny ability to find things out, he was very guarded about how, but there was nothing he couldn’t get info on eventually, Dane suspected it was something to do with Jack. He was also a good man to have your back in any situation and he really hoped he would come work for them after he got his discharge.
~~~
Dane decided to take a drive to see his dad. The investigation had come to a standstill and they were waiting for leads to come back with information. He’d called ahead and his dad was in.
He’d taken to sitting outside Lauren’s flat in his car from midnight until 4am since Nate had been protecting her. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Nate-he did, but he just couldn’t shake the feeling that it was his job to protect her. It wasn’t like he was sleeping anyway. He normally went home as it started to get light and crashed for a few hours before going back into Fortis.
Dane pulled up to the old barn conversion just outside Weobley. The place always looked the same as when he was a child. The rope swing still hung from the massive oak tree in the garden and the wooden den that his dad had built for them when they were kids was still in the corner. It all looked a little worse for wear but he found it comforting that it was still there. Maybe if he got chance this summer he would repaint the den for when his nephew came to stay with his dad. The idea of the next generation playing here made him smile.
Colin Bennet walked out of the side door, towards his son. He was a tall, stocky man, who was still in great physical shape. He still had a full head of hair even if it was all grey, and tan leathery skin from working outside as a carpenter.
Dane looked at the man who had raised him, as he came towards him with a big smile and wondered how he had ever thought his dad was broken. He looked so strong and robust Colin was only an inch shorter than he was but his shoulders were wider, even now.
“Hey son, what brings you out to see me on a weekday?” he said as he hugged him. Colin had always been an affectionate dad and although it embarrassed the hell out of him when he was younger, he appreciated it now. He had thought that one day he would be that kind of dad, but he doubted he would even get the chance now.
Thinking of Lauren made him long for things that he couldn’t have, well not without risk. Was he willing to take the risk? He wasn’t so sure anymore.
“Just, thought I’d come for visit and a chat.” he replied. He didn’t know why he’d sought out his dad now, but he always had in times of inner conflict. His dad had always been there for him with solid advice and patience. Were those the actions of a broken man? Had Dane been unfair to his dad to think that, looking back his dad had only ever been a wonderful father, strict, but kind and he never let them down.
He had even joined the school board of governors so that he could stay very much involved with his kids’ schooling and education. The thought that he had somehow inadvertently wronged his dad upset him.
~~~
Colin looked at his son and didn’t like what he saw. He looked exhausted and very troubled. Dane had always been a good son, oh he’d gotten into a few scrapes with Daniel, but nothing truly awful, just boyhood hijinks. Nevertheless, he looked upset now and Colin hated to see any of his adored kids hurting.
“What’s the real reason?” he asked in a firm but kind voice. Dane had never been able to get something past him.
“Come on, let’s get something cold to drink and you can tell me.” He walked back round the side of the house and into the large kitchen, with his son beside him.
~~~
The room still had the same oak cabinets that Colin had hand built and painstakingly carved all those years ago. His mum’s favourite china was still displayed in the dresser and her cook books still in the bookcase. It made Dane’s heartache. How could you love someone and hate them at the same time? It was strange, but that’s how he felt about his mum.
“How do you do it?” He asked his dad as he turned and faced him “How do you stay surrounded by all of her stuff after everything she did?”
His dad looked shocked and hurt, but then he smiled sadly.
“Is that what this is about? Your mum?”
“I just can’t understand how you can still love her knowing that we weren’t enough for her.”
“Is that what you think? That we weren’t enough?” Colin sat down at the table suddenly looking every one of his 63 years.
“Yes.” Dane ground out, sounding frustrated and angry. “How could we have been? She claimed to love us and yet she effectively killed herself and left us.” He felt his throat close around the last words. He slumped down into the seat at the table.
“Your mother loved
you with everything that she was, you were her life.” Colin said softly. “When we lost Megan, she was beside herself; she blamed herself and couldn’t get over that she hadn’t protected her. I never blamed her and I told her that hundreds of times, but she just couldn’t get over it. All she had ever wanted was to be a mum and she was the best.” Dane nodded his head in agreement. She had been before.
“She was, until we lost Megan,” he murmured.
“She started drinking to dull the pain in the beginning.” Colin explained “But over time it became an addiction. She knew she wasn’t doing right by the rest of you. Lucy come up to her one day, sat on her knee, and begged her not to leave you all, as Megan had. That about broke your mum’s heart. She cried for hours, but in one way, it had been a good thing. It woke her up and she decided to get some help.
The next day she drove to the Doctor’s to get some help with her depression. On the way home, she had the accident.”
Dane looked like he’d seen a ghost. He hadn’t known any of this.
“But she was drunk; wasn’t she?”
“No, she hadn’t had a drop-her blood showed no alcohol. She was just unlucky. Lights from an oncoming vehicle had blinded her and she lost concentration for a fraction of a second. In that, time the wheel clipped some mud on the embankment and flipped her car into a tree.
“Why didn’t I know this?” he asked feeling sick. All his life he thought his mum hadn’t loved them enough to stop drinking and had been selfish, but in fact, that wasn’t the case. She was the loving mother she had always had been. She had chosen them in the end.
As he’d grown up, he’d realised that the drinking couldn’t be controlled and it was grief, but he had never forgiven her for deliberately getting in a car drunk, when she had other children who needed her.
“You were a child. How could I have explained it better? I told you about the accident, but I don’t know where you got the idea that she was drunk.”
“Kids at school told me.” He felt foolish for not asking his dad sooner now, but the other kids had been vile and he had gotten into a fight. His dad had punished him for fighting and he had decided to believe the worst.
Colin pulled his son towards him for a hug.
“I’m so sorry son, I never knew. If had I would have set you straight sooner. I guess this explains why you were always so angry about your mum’s death.”
“But it broke you.” Dane said in a voice clogged with emotion. “I saw you, you were heartbroken.”
“Of course I was, she was the love of my life and yes I was devastated for a while, but I realised I had three children to take care of and that gave me the strength to go on, and make your lives better. I slowly came to terms with everything and it helped me to move on.
Don’t get me wrong, I was still heartbroken and to a degree I always will be, but I don’t regret loving her. We had so many good times together, before and after you kids came along and I wouldn’t trade that for never having known her.”
Dane sat quietly for a while processing everything his father had said.
“I’m sorry. You’re right, looking back now it was only just after she died that you seemed so grief-stricken.” He swallowed to loosen the knot in his throat caused by tears. How had he thought this man was broken, how had he gone through life having it so wrong? He was not overly emotional, oh he had cried in his life, but he was not the type to be open about his emotions, but he was damn near to blubbing like a baby right now.
“So what, or should I say whom, has prompted this?” Dane laughed then and felt the tension ease; he never could sneak one past his old man.
“Her name’s Lauren, we met a few years ago through Daniel and Claire. She was Claire’s best friend.” Colin shook his head.
“Terrible business.”
“Yes. The thing is, the person we think killed Claire is stalking Lauren. I love her, dad and I was so scared and cowardly about my ability to protect her and so frightened of losing her and getting my heart broken, that I pushed her away and I’ve hurt her.”
Dane hung his head in shame.
“Well faint heart never won fair maiden, son. So what you gonna do about it?”
“I’m gonna throw myself on her mercy and beg her to give me another chance,”
he said becoming a animated.
“That’s my boy, so why are you still here, go get her.”
He stood up and hugged his dad tight.
“Thanks dad. You’re the best.”
“Love you, son.”
“Love you too, dad. I gotta go. I’ll call you later.”
“Okay and I want to meet her soon,” he shouted at his son’s retreating form.
“Yeah no problem, just as soon as I get her to forgive me.”
Dane ran to his car, eager to get to Lauren and beg her forgiveness. Clouds had started to turn black, indicating an approaching storm.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The sky had turned a very nasty grey colour with clouds rolling in. Lauren’s mum had always used the saying “It’s black over Bill’s mothers.” She wasn’t sure of the origin of that particular saying, but she remembered most of the sayings her mum had used. Her mother had always been coming out with things like that, it made her smile to remember that.
Everything was so quiet tonight; even the birds had gone quiet, as if they sensed the storm coming. It was early only 7pm but with all the clouds, it was dark and seemed much later.
She heard the first few spots of rain hit the balcony and could hear the thunder in the distance. Rising to close the balcony door, she was stopped by Nate,
“I’ll do it,” he said, motioning for her to sit. He’d been very quiet since they’d returned from Fortis, which wasn’t like him.
“You hungry?” She asked, as the first flash of lightning lit up the room. Lauren stopped and counted five seconds, before the boom of lightning nearly deafened her. That must mean the storm was only a mile away.
“Yeah I could eat,” replied Nate.
“Pizza?” she suggested.
“Sure why not.”
“What do you want on it?”
“Not fussy,” he said distractedly, “whatever you’re having.” Well wasn’t he just Mr. Chatty tonight? She dialled her usual pizza delivery service and ordered a large Texas barbecue with chicken.
“Should be about 30 mins,” she said settling down to watch the storm from the couch. Nate nodded distractedly.
“Sure.”
Lauren loved thunderstorms and always had, even as a child, the flash of the lightning, the sound of the rain pelting the roof and the cosy feeling of being inside safe and warm. When she was a child, she and her mum used to snuggle on the couch and watch them. She loved how the sky changed colour and how wild and untamed it was and yet how safe she felt wrapped in her mum’s arms.
She wondered if she would ever experience that feeling of safety again. She had for a few days with Dane, but then that was gone, too. Maybe things weren’t meant to last for her. She would be okay, she always was, but it was a different thing to be just okay to being happy and fulfilled. Lauren watched as the lightning flashed again lighting up the room around her and pondered what would happen next.
~~~
Twenty minutes later as the storm reached its peak the door buzzed. Lauren jumped up to answer it.
“Hello!” She shouted through the intercom.
“Pizza delivery!”
“Okay, just a sec.” She grabbed her purse of the entry table and was about to open the door, when Nate nudged her aside and grabbed his wallet.
“Stay there, I’ll get it.” Nate approached the door, checking the peephole to see who it was. Satisfied the person with the Presto Pizza jacket on was out there with their pizza, he opened the door.
Nate reached to take the pizza with one hand while handing over money with the other, and as he did; he felt fire burn through his upper thigh. Dropping the pizza to the floor he realised he’d been shot and reached for
his gun, but before he could react the pizza guy stepped forward and shot him again-hitting him in the shoulder.
Nate crumpled to the ground, blood soak his white t-shirt.
He heard Lauren scream, “NO!” She rushed to him, she was about to crouch down to him, when someone grabbed her by the hair, and yanked her up painfully-almost pulling it out by the roots.
Nate struggled to get to Lauren, but the pizza guy had a gun to her temple and an arm around her neck and was now backing away towards the door.
“Don’t be clever. I’ll put a bullet in her,” the man said.
Nate knew that if he made any sudden moves this psycho would shoot her in a heartbeat. His vision was going hazy from blood loss, but he tried to reassure her as he saw the fear in her eyes.
“Don’t worry Chiquita, we’ll find you,” he said confidently. The man tightened his grip on Lauren’s neck putting her into a rear naked chokehold, Stupid prick was gonna kill her with that move. Nate saw her go slack as she started to lose consciousness. She tried to fight, but Nate saw her slump as she went unconscious.
Nate watched with despair as they left, he’d failed her. He tried to twist so that he could reach his phone from out of his back pocket, but pain lanced through his leg and shoulder making him nauseous. Falling on his side he managed to grasp his phone and hit Dane’s number. He needed to get help.
“Hey Nate.” Dane said, sounding relieved.
“Dane… Lauren …. Gone… Griffiths has her, he shot me,” and then he passed out.
~~~
“Nate, Nate fucking answer me.” He shouted through the phone as he pushed the accelerator on the truck up to 80 miles an hour. He quickly called an ambulance and then called Drew and Lucy who were still at Fortis and told them to meet him at Lauren’s ASAP. Ending that call, he then called Sly.
“Hey buddy, twice in one day.”
“Sly, I’m gonna need that help? Nate’s been shot, I’m not sure how bad yet and Griffiths has Lauren.”
