Vengeance in Blood (Book 3): Reborn

by Watson, Thomas A.

  Watching Maria take a breath to protest, Mickey stepped over and grabbed her hand. “It isn’t hurting her,” Mickey whispered. “They are the kids’ godparents, so they can do what they want.”

  “When they jump on my back like that, I’m getting a wooden spoon and beating them,” Maria warned, and Mickey just nodded with a grin.

  After everyone had loaded up, Kenneth and Mickey took the lead. When his speedometer hit triple digits, Kenneth grinned, thinking about the movie, Smokey and the Bandit. Only one cop car attempted to chase them in Nebraska, but all four tires went flat before the cop pulled out onto the interstate.

  Chapter Seventeen

  It was midafternoon when they pulled off the road and onto the driveway. Sitting beside Kenneth, Mickey started to relax since they were driving slowly. He had been a cop most of his life and had been in several high-speed pursuits, but the last five hours riding with Kenneth had killed his need to ever drive fast again.

  When Kenneth pulled up to the control box for the gate, Mickey stared at the massive iron gates. “There for a while, I thought we were going to travel back in time,” Mickey chuckled as Kenneth punched in the code and the gates opened up.

  Rolling the window up, Kenneth glanced over at Mickey. “The fastest we went was a hundred and thirty. Would’ve kept it up, but the Range Rover can’t go that fast.”

  As Kenneth pulled through the gates, Mickey nodded. “Yeah, but the only time we slowed down was when we stopped for gas. We just traveled five hundred miles in four hours and change by car.”

  Driving along the winding driveway, Kenneth chuckled. “Just think, I taught both of them how to drive, not too long ago.”

  Suppressing the shiver at that thought, Mickey’s mouth fell open as the trees fell away. The large garage the three had built was standing proudly, and Mickey turned to the boat dock and saw the cigarette boat. “Whoa,” he mumbled and then glanced around, not seeing a house.

  Hearing Mickey’s thoughts, Kenneth parked at the dock and pointed out over the water. “There’s the house.”

  Feeling lightheaded, Mickey gasped and then mumbled in Spanish, seeing the island way offshore with a massive stone mansion. “That’s Besseta’s house?” he finally got out when Kenneth turned the car off. He knew if he could see the house from this distance, it had to be huge.

  “One of them,” Kenneth nodded. “Don’t worry, yours will be bigger.”

  Reaching over, Mickey grabbed Kenneth’s arm, stopping him from getting out. “My kids will get lost in a house that size, much less bigger. Screw that, I’ll get lost,” Mickey panted, then realized just how dense Kenneth’s arm felt. He looked down at his hand gripping Kenneth’s arm rather tight, but he wasn’t even moving the skin. “Damn, you’re solid.”

  Laughing, “I’ll put little maps throughout your house to tell you where you are,” Kenneth assured him as Mickey let his arm go.

  When Mickey got out, he glanced back to see Maria gawking at the island. Hearing his kids, Mickey turned and found all of them running full bore for the boat dock and cheering. “I’m so happy they can swim,” he mumbled and was about to take off, running to catch them.

  A gust of wind blew past and Mickey’s step faltered, seeing Tiffany ‘appear’ in front of the kids. “The water is very deep here, so please wait for us before getting on the boats,” Tiffany told the kids, who all skidded to a stop wondering how Tiffany had beat them to the boat dock.

  “Oh, she can do stuff during the day,” Kenneth mumbled, walking over to the Range Rover and started pulling out the clothes Besseta had bought for the group.

  “Kenneth, it’s a cloudy day,” Besseta told him, walking to the back of the Range Rover. “It is still dangerous, but we’ve been doing this awhile and know just what we can and can’t do. Nobody but you, does shit on a cloudless, bright sunny day.”

  “Kenneth, what is a superhero?” Tiffany asked over the chatter of the kids. Leaning so he could see around the Range Rover, Kenneth saw Tiffany on the dock with the kids around her, asking questions.

  “Tiffany, really,” Kenneth snorted. “As many movies and shows you have watched and you’re asking that question?”

  Maria shook her head as Jack and Jill ran past, heading for the dock. She stepped over to Kenneth and then glanced over at Tiffany on the dock, over fifty yards away. “Kenneth, you need to raise your voice if you want her to hear you,” Maria told him.

  Shaking his head, “No, you won’t believe how good our hearing is,” Kenneth assured her, grabbing another suitcase and then turned to Besseta. “What made Tiffany zip over? I thought we were going to expose the kids slowly?”

  “She didn’t want them to get in trouble for falling in,” Besseta chuckled. “Several of them were thinking about it. Two had already thought of excuses, sorry, but I told her.”

  Stepping back with his arms full, “They wouldn’t have done it but once, that water is cold now,” Kenneth noted as Mickey came over to help.

  “Here we thought you two were staying at homeless shelters after you left,” Mickey laughed as Besseta pressed the fob, closing the rear hatch of the Range Rover.

  “I’ll sleep in a box before that,” Besseta huffed, then patted her leg. “Bonnie, Clyde, let’s go.”

  When they reached the dock, Maria slapped her hands together loudly and all the kids stopped asking questions instantly. “You will not pester Tiffany like that,” Maria snapped at them and the kids all lowered their heads down, pouting.

  “Maria, they weren’t pestering me,” Tiffany whined. “I just didn’t know which question to answer first, and how I should.”

  The kids turned to Maria, poking out their bottom lips. “That doesn’t work with me,” Maria snapped, and the kids dropped their heads looking down. “Your father wore that out long before any of you were born,” Maria informed them, turning to Mickey. “You can speak anytime.”

  With his arms full of luggage, Mickey followed Kenneth past the kids. “Listen to your mother,” Mickey told the kids, and Maria rolled her eyes and started mumbling in Spanish.

  “Come on, guys, get on the boat,” Kenneth called out excitedly to the kids. As one, a smile jumped instantly onto their faces and the five kids took off for the boat. “They have the attention span of one second,” Kenneth chuckled, stepping over and onto the boat. Setting down the luggage, Kenneth helped the kids over.

  When everyone was on the boat, Mickey untied the lines and Kenneth cranked the boat up. All the kids jumped at the deep rumble the engines gave off. “What’s down there?” Little Tiffany asked, pointing at the cabin door.

  “A cabin,” Kenneth grinned and the five took off as he steered the boat toward the island.

  The kids piled inside the cabin as Mickey moved over beside Kenneth. “I’m begging you, don’t give the kids your Wi-Fi password,” Mickey told him. “That is going to take some time to explain.”

  “We won’t,” Kenneth said, raising his eyebrows and glancing over at Tiffany and Besseta.

  “I won’t,” Besseta huffed and Tiffany nodded.

  “Yes, we should make sure all the computers are locked until the kids understand that they can’t talk to anyone they knew,” Tiffany stated. “If someone were to hurt even one of them, I think I would kill everyone within a hundred-mile radius just to prove a point.”

  Hearing the tone that Tiffany was serious, Mickey turned to Kenneth. “Can you just turn the damn Wi-Fi off? I don’t want people for a hundred miles to be killed, just because one of my kids wanted to get on Facebook,” Mickey whispered.

  “She’s exaggerating,” Kenneth chuckled.

  “No, she’s not,” Tiffany snapped.

  “I think our kids are about to be very spoiled,” Maria mumbled as Kenneth pulled into the dock at the island.

  After the boat was tied off, the kids all jumped off and took off toward the house with Bonnie and Clyde chasing them. “Wow,” Mickey mumbled, tilting his head up to look at the massive mansion. “I thought it was big fr
om shore.”

  Besseta started food as Kenneth and Tiffany showed them the rooms upstairs they would use. When they showed them the rest of the house, Mickey leaned over to Maria, “That master bedroom and bathroom is bigger than our house.”

  Following Tiffany and Kenneth as the tour continued, Maria just nodded numbly.

  Besseta told Kenneth that food was ready, and the kids ran for the living room and jumped on the huge U-shaped sectional. “We want to watch TV!” they all cheered, pointing at the massive movie screen.

  Before Maria or Mickey could say otherwise, Besseta was carrying plates of food into the living room setting them on the coffee table.

  Maria sat down at the table and turned to Kenneth. “Kenneth, we don’t need a house this big.”

  “Maria, don’t start,” Kenneth huffed, sitting down. “My wife informed me that you are getting an indoor swimming pool, so the kids can swim whenever they want. Before you ask, it won’t be little because I’m tired of her balling up her fist at me. They will be able to practice high diving in the pool I’m having built.”

  “Whoa,” Mickey moaned while Maria just stared at Kenneth.

  “Hey, I’m not making her mad, so forget asking me to talk to Besseta,” Kenneth sang out and started filling their plates with food.

  “I brought down some blankets,” Besseta said, walking into the kitchen. “The kids said they wanted to sleep on the couch and watch movies.”

  “I want to sleep on the couch and watch movies on that big screen,” Mickey mumbled.

  Before sitting down, Besseta handed Kenneth a notebook and pen. “Thank you,” Kenneth smiled, opening the notebook.

  “You’ve been fretting about writing down what has happened for days,” Besseta said, pulling a chair over and sitting close to Kenneth.

  “Best way I’ve found to organize your thoughts,” Kenneth admitted.

  “True, but I’ve found computers are much better,” Tiffany said. “I’ve filled mountains of paper and scrolls up with notes, and it was hard finding specific things I’d recorded until computers.”

  “I’ll put it in my laptop later,” Kenneth muttered as he wrote.

  Leaning over, Besseta rested her head on Kenneth’s shoulder. “When do you want to leave?”

  “Day after tomorrow,” Kenneth answered. “Can you get a tailor to come out and make some clothes for Mickey and his family?”

  “Kenneth, I can sew,” Maria laughed.

  “Maria, you have to be snotty,” Kenneth told her, and Mickey gave a snort. “Word has to get out that the rich people here have family and they are having a house built.”

  “Just what will my job be?” Mickey asked, watching Kenneth writing.

  “Property management and investment broker for the family that lives here,” Kenneth answered. “That is for both you and Maria. Plus, I want you two to learn how to do IDs like Besseta’s lawyers.”

  Cutting his eyes to Maria, Mickey gave a sigh. “All that is going to take some time.”

  “Order any books and information that you need and Maria, we need to homeschool the kids until we have your house done. After that, we can hire a tutor,” Kenneth told them, flipping to a new page and continuing to write.

  “In time, the kids will be able to go back to a more normal life, right? You know, like playing soccer and baseball?” Maria asked.

  Besseta and Tiffany both took breaths to comment, but Kenneth blew a raspberry as he wrote. “Pfft, yeah. Your kids will be able to do whatever they want, after we get you set up,” Kenneth answered.

  Mickey and Maria both sighed with a smile, then Mickey spoke up. “Kenneth, you said guns hurt them. Can I have one now?”

  “Yes, safe is downstairs-,” Kenneth started and Besseta cut him off.

  “Combination is 49-28-74,” Besseta said and Kenneth just chuckled.

  “Mickey, you must be very careful with the ammo in the gold metal boxes. Each round has mercury in it and I can’t begin to tell you how deadly it is to us. When your house is ready, I’m going to need you to move my special room that I built before I changed,” Kenneth said, turning to a new page.

  Leaning over the table, Tiffany grabbed Mickey’s hand. “He’s not lying about how deadly it is to us so please, be careful with it,” Tiffany warned.

  “Wait till they leave before you get it,” Maria commanded, and Mickey nodded.

  The sound of plates breaking in the living room pulled a blanket of silence in the kitchen. Both Mickey and Maria jumped up and ran to the living room and in the kitchen, they heard all five kids deny any involvement.

  Besseta started to get up to tell Mickey and Maria it was okay, and Kenneth grabbed her hand. “No, let them talk to the kids first,” Kenneth told her. “The kids are really amped up and need to calm down some.”

  “Okay,” Besseta moaned, dropping into her seat.

  “You know, none of them are even slightly scared of us, especially me,” Tiffany noted.

  “And they never will be,” Kenneth told her, going back to writing. “They know you’re a dear friend to us, so that makes you one to them.”

  “Can I go in there now?” Besseta whispered, hearing Maria crank up the volume of her voice.

  “Babe, she’s speaking English. If Maria starts speaking in Spanish, the kids are getting a spanking,” Kenneth told her and flipped to a new page. “Trust me, I’ve known them since each was born.”

  Getting up, Besseta started for the living room. “Well, she’s about to start because the kids are telling her they don’t know how it happened.”

  Tiffany stood up and followed. “I’ll buy some more plates, Besseta.”

  They both disappeared when Maria started shouting in Spanish. “That’s why I always gave the kids plastic plates at the house,” Kenneth chuckled.

  Walking back into the kitchen, Mickey sat back down. “Had to leave before I got a beating.”

  “That’s why I’m in here,” Kenneth said. “I don’t think even Maria is brave enough to spank Besseta or Tiffany.”

  Thinking about that for a few minutes as Besseta and Tiffany talked to Maria in Spanish, well, talked loudly. “I will agree on that,” Mickey nodded.

  ***

  After Mickey, Maria and the kids went to sleep, Tiffany walked outside to see Kenneth and Besseta sitting near the water. “What are you two talking about?”

  “Maliki sent an email asking us to check out an area in Iowa before we go see him,” Besseta snarled as she glared at Kenneth.

  “What’s there?” Tiffany asked, sitting down with them.

  “Werewolves,” Kenneth answered. “That’s the report on the web, but the area is rather large and the Strong Hands have invested some money on the property.”

  “So, you knew about it?” Tiffany asked, and Kenneth nodded.

  “Yeah, he told Maliki and Maliki wants us to check it out!” Besseta snapped. “Kenneth, I don’t like fighting werewolves. We were lucky in L.A. because they didn’t attack as a pack, but I almost lost the mindlock I had on one, and you think there could be a hundred there? Are you crazy?”

  Smiling at Besseta, “I know for a fact, we can outrun them,” Kenneth said, then cut his eyes at Tiffany. “If someone carries Tiffany.”

  Giving a soft chuckle, Tiffany nodded. “Yes, that would be nice, but Kenneth, I have to agree with Besseta. Three against that many isn’t wise and if there are vampires, then we could get in deep trouble.”

  “Guys, I just want to see if this is another lab they set up. Nobody spends four hundred million on supplies for a three-thousand-acre farm,” Kenneth told them.

  “Babe, Maliki has more than three that can go with him, let his ass check it out,” Besseta suggested. “You don’t know how hard it is to get away from werewolves running through forests, we do. L.A. has lots of roads, I knew we could get away if more showed up. That was a huge risk, but worth it. This is bullshit.”

  Patting Besseta’s leg, “Why don’t you just let me go?” Kenneth asked and all of
a sudden, his jaw exploded in pain as he sailed through the air. Crashing to the ground thirty yards away, Kenneth shook his head and felt his jaw sitting crooked. Tensing up, he reached up to straighten it, but his jaw popped back into place before his hands touched his face.

  “Love that part,” he mumbled, looking back and saw Tiffany had her hand extended and Besseta was frozen in mid-stride coming for him. “Knew that wasn’t going to go over well.”

  Getting to his feet, Kenneth walked over holding up his hands. “Babe, I think it’s worth the risk, but only to myself, not you or Tiffany,” Kenneth explained, and Tiffany lowered her hand, freeing Besseta and Kenneth tensed up for another punch.

  “We are one,” Besseta snarled, standing up straight and bowing up. Not even five-foot-tall, Besseta still looked rather menacing. “You go, I go.”

  “Okay, I earned that punch,” Kenneth said, reaching up and rubbing his jaw.

  “Be glad Tiffany stopped me because you were getting more,” Besseta said rather coldly.

  “Sorry,” Kenneth said, stepping over and wrapping his arms around Besseta and looked over at Tiffany. “Thank you.”

  Shaking her head, “I was just stopping her, so I could punch you,” Tiffany said with narrowed eyes. “I’m in this fight for Besseta, you, and Mickey’s family. Anyone that tries to stop me will be sorry.”

  “And that is how chivalry died, with a whooped ass,” Kenneth chuckled.

  Snuggling into Kenneth’s chest, “Better believe it,” Besseta told him. “You okay?”

  “Um, yeah,” Kenneth said, moving his jaw around.

  Letting Kenneth go, Besseta stepped back. “Good, it’s Tiffany’s turn to pop you one.”

  Giving a sigh, Kenneth put his hands behind his back and turned to Tiffany as she walked over, but wasn’t scowling anymore. “I will pass this time, but say something stupid like that again, and I’m breaking all your extremities.”