by Christina OW
“DJ, that’s still not funny!” Tasha coughed.
“Great job, buddy,” Damien was so relieved he didn’t care if he got arrested as an accessory. He didn’t know the process of getting her back to herself once she’d woken from one of her fainting spells with no memory. He kissed Tasha’s temple. It was still warm. “DJ, she’s still a bit warm.”
He worried his little lip. He didn’t know what to do either. This was too much of a weight on his little shoulders and he’d borne enough of the weight making sure his mother was okay. It was Damien’s turn.
“It’s okay, son. Why don’t you go with Paloma and get your momma some cold water with ice?”
He stared warily at Damien. He was scared of leaving his mother for even a second. They’d left her alone in the cabin and this happened. This was Damien’s fault. He never should have left her. He promised to take care of them both and he’d failed a month into their new lives.
“It’s okay, buddy. Paloma is—”
“I know who she is,” he cut Damien off with a surly voice. “I know who they all are—Kevin, Paloma, Richard, Doran and Gwen. Their work numbers, private numbers, numbers of their next of kin and where they live. Momma says the best defense is information. If I ever got into trouble, I knew who to call and where to go. They would protect me.” A single tear rolled down his cheek. “She was wrong and Momma is never wrong. Does this mean—”
“DJ, water with ice,” Damien ordered. He couldn’t take the kids disillusion. In his eyes, every one his mother had told him he could trust had betrayed him. He was now questioning his mother and that would only confuse him more.
“Ow, my head,” Tasha moaned. She went to raise her hand, but Damien kept them down. No need to worsen the pain by moving.
DJ kissed Tasha’s temple and whispered, “You were wrong this time, Momma. I’ll be right back.” He turned away and walked to Paloma, took her hand in his and pulled her to walk with him.
“What about me?” Dale blurted out. “What did she say about me?”
DJ stopped and turned to Dale. “She was wrong about you too, Uncle Dale. You are no hero.”
The room was silent as they all watched DJ and Paloma leave. Tasha tried to sit up straighter, but Damien just reclined her. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“You sent our son off with one of them, where do you think?” she tried to fight him off but he held her still.
“Good to see you’re coming around, but let’s not tempt fate. Stay still.” She huffed, her eyes narrowed at him. Damien chuckled, “You shouldn’t be turning me on in a crowded room, honey.”
“Damien!” she admonished.
He smiled raggedly at her, “Oh that’s even worse.” He leaned down to kiss her, but she turned her head.
“Would you please be serious! If you haven’t notice I’m cuffed—don’t you dare say it!”
Damien laughed harder, “If pissing you off keeps you awake, I’ll do it all day.”
Tasha sighed, rolling her lower lip into her mouth, “Has DJ always known about your cousins? Actually, how long has he known all these people? I wasn’t very lucid, but I did hear some of what he said.”
She was asking questions Damien wanted to and apparently she was the only who could provide the answers. Answers she didn’t remember. He’d have to wait for Elaine and Mike.
“Why don’t we wait for your sister before we even attempt discussing something that may end with you blacking out?”
She nodded, “Okay but could you get these cuffs removed. I seriously can’t feel my left fingers.”
“They are that tight? Is it—” his breath got caught in his throat when he saw her swollen hand and both wrists were chafed red. “What the hell!” he growled, glaring at Dale, “Why not cut off her hands while you were at it? Give me the bloody key!”
“She’s a criminal,” Dale answered blandly.
“If I ask again, it will be with my fists!”
“Damien, calm down. We can’t both get arrested, for DJ’s sake.” Tasha spoke.
“Key, now!”
“Here, let me,” Doran spoke next to them.
Tasha pulled away from his reach, “No offense, but I would rather Damien do it.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
“I still would rather Damien do it.” She insisted. With a nod Doran handed Damien the key.
“Make sure to give it back,” Dale interjected.
Damien took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. Dale was really getting on his last nerve. Gently he opened the cuff around her right hand. She winced slightly, drawing her hand to her chest now that it was free. He just couldn’t get over how red they were and they probably hurt to get back normal circulation.
“This may hurt a lot more,” he warned.
She nodded, her lips in her mouth. He felt her go rigid as if bracing herself. As gently as he could, he opened the left cuff. She turned her face into his shoulder and screamed. It came out muffled, but he felt the intensity. He cupped the back of her head and held her there, rocking her gently.
“I’m so sorry. We’ll get some ice on it, get you some pain killers and it will be okay.”
“She may need an x-ray.” Kevin, the youngest in Dale’s team, stepped forward and reached for her hand, pausing and looking at Damien as if asking for permission.
“Babe, he’s going to take a look at your wrist—”
She pulled her face away from his shoulder, “Who, Dale? He’ll break it just for kicks!”
“Not Dale. Kevin.”
She stared at Kevin suspiciously, “Aren’t you too young to be in the death squad?”
He snorted, “Contrary to what you were led to believe, we don’t usually harm suspects.”
“Just occasionally?” she asked smartly. Damien had to bite the insides of his cheeks to keep from laughing.
Undeterred, Kevin pressed, “May I?”
“Thanks but no thanks. Damien will look at it.”
“Babe, medicine isn’t one of the fields I enjoy studying. Kevin, on the other hand, could leave here and walk into an ER. No problem.”
She sighed, “Let me guess, he’s one of you.”
Damien chuckled, “Yes, he’s one of us.”
“And Elaine said your species was rare. You sure you know what you are doing?”
Kevin nodded with a smile, “Yes and by the way, we are human, just smarter than most.”
Tasha gave her hand up to Kevin. She winced each time he pressed down on the swelling. After a few minutes she said, “Mind telling DJ that?”
“Tell him what?”
“That just because he’s the smartest kid in his school, teachers included, doesn’t mean that he was beamed down from outer space. He’s having a difficult time fitting in—well, he was until his teacher decided to make him her assistant,” she chuckled. “If he keeps handing out candy for each right question in all his classes, he’ll bankrupt us both!”
Damien pressed his lips to her temple when she winced again, “Why didn’t he tell me he was having a hard time. I would have helped.”
Tasha’s eyebrows both went up, then she turned to Kevin. “Kevin, how was school for you?”
“Lonely, but I managed.”
She turned back to Damien, “That’s why I asked him. You had two cousins who had your back, DJ is alone in school. Sometimes I feel so guilty dropping him off every morning but the kid loves school and he needs to learn how to be social.”
“Have you thought of private school?”
“Damien?” Tasha said, passing off the question.
Considering where they were, he was amazed how they were talking about DJ’s school life and getting advice from one of the people who wanted to see VS behind bars for life.
“I’ll think about it, but better to hear what DJ wants.”
“How old is he?”
Damien couldn’t help the smile that commanded his face, “Five, with an IQ of one hundred and fifty-five, three points below mine.”
“Ten below mine,” Kevin added with a smug smile that made Tasha laugh. “But, you still need to have that wrist checked by a real doctor. You might have a fracture.”
The door swung open and DJ came running in, “Momma, are you okay?”
Tasha hugged him close with her less injured hand, “I’m perfect now that you are here. Hey, I’ve got a surprise for you.”
Damien shook his head at the skeptic look on DJ’s face. He took the ice pack Paloma held out to him as she placed the glass of water down on the table. He thanked her and held the ice pack to Ellsa’s swollen wrist. His son was a ‘seeing is believing’ kind of kid. Damien couldn’t wait until he started to learn physics and technology, his fields of study and academic love. They were already having a lot of fun with mathematics.
“What’s that?”
“I found someone smarter than you, even smarter than your daddy!” she said with a bit of wonder in her voice.
DJ scowled, “No one is smarter than Daddy!”
He might as well have shouted blasphemy. Damien smiled with pride at how vehemently his son defended him. “Sorry kiddo. I’m just as shocked as you. Kevin here has an IQ of one-sixty five.”
His mouth dropped open, “No way!”
“Yes way!” Tasha echoed with the same amazed tone, “I bet he can tell you a lot of stuff too.”
Again with the suspicious gaze. “But he can’t be trusted.”
Tasha pinched his nose. “You’re asking him to teach you something new. You’re not confessing where you hide your stash of candy to him. And yes, I know.”
“Momma!” he yelled accusingly, “you spied on me!”
A challenging brow went up, “Prove it.”
Damien watched the exchange with amusement. It’s like they’d forgotten everyone else in the room.
“I can teach you how to,” Kevin offered.
“You can?”
“Sure. You’ll even know why everyone says moms have eyes in the back of their heads.”
It was like dangling a carrot. DJ was already hooked. He turned to face them as if to make sure it was alright.
“Go ahead kiddo. Make sure he gives you a copy of the FBI handbook too,” Damien looked up at Kevin. “Thanks, Kevin. Don’t teach him everything; let him figure some things out like a real detective.”
“So cool!” DJ jumped up and down, the earlier tension forgotten.
“You want to leave your backpack behind?” Tasha asked.
“Nope,” he responded quickly, taking Kevin’s hand and pulling on it incessantly.
The moment they disappeared through the door, Tasha sighed heavily and Damien knew she had been putting on a show for DJ. It was getting harder not to love this woman.
“Okay, let’s get to the reason I was arrested. Dale, why don’t you tell me since you fractured my wrist over it.”
Dale shifted his gaze between Damien and Tasha and Damien silently begged he wouldn’t say a word. He would rather wait on Elaine before Tasha was interrogated, just in case she ended up blacking out.
Dale sighed, running his hand over his face, “Maybe you should see a doctor first. I’d like to speak to my cousin in the meantime.”
She shook her head, “No dice. I’m going with him so you’re going to have to wait for that talk.”
“Tasha—”
“No,” she said adamantly, cutting him off. “I may not have had a choice with Kevin because DJ needed to get out of here, but it will be a cold day in hell before I let you leave me alone with any of them.” She stared warily at Doran. “Especially him. He wants to get into my head.”
Damien nodded. She was in a strange place with people she didn’t know or trust. Her reluctance was understandable.
A knock came from the door and a man peeked his head in. “Someone call for a doctor?”
That was strange. They were just talking about one and Damien hadn’t seen anyone move or handle their cell phone.
“Kevin probably called him,” Dale answered his unspoken question but made his suspicion worse when he asked, “Are you new here? I’ve never seen you before?”
The man smiled, walking into the room, a medical bag in his hand. “Yes sir. I’m Doctor Stewart’s assistant.”
“Hi, I’m the one you’re here to see, not Robocop over there,” Tasha spoke, sitting up on Damien’s lap.
Damien smothered a smile, but the medical assistant didn’t hide his mirth, earning a glare from Dale.
“Just do your job and leave,” Dale gnashed out.
“Yes sir.” The assistant knelt down in front of Tasha and whistled, “What did you do?”
“Not sure yet, but I’m about to find out,” Tasha answered.
“This is going to hurt.”
“Tell me something I don’t already know.”
Damien winced each time she winced in pain as her wrists were doctored. When it was over, he breathed a sigh of relief and glared at Dale when Tasha collapsed against him.
“There, all done, though I would recommend an x-ray.”
Damien nodded, “I’ll see to it but why don’t you give her something for the pain.”
The assistant nodded, “Sure.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a syringe. An already half filled syringe.
“What’s in that?”
“Pain meds,” he answered, pushing Tasha’s sleeve up her arm.
“What kind of pain meds?”
The assistant ignored him, raising the syringe to her arm. Something wasn’t right. That suspicion was only confirmed when Elaine appeared out of nowhere and pressed the barrel of her gun against the assistant’s head.
“Long time no see. Now put that down before I plug you.”
The assistant chuckled, “Good to see you again—what name are you going by today? It doesn’t matter. Vladimir is very disappointed in you.”
“He’ll get over it once he’s dead. I won’t ask you to put that down again.”
“You don’t have a choice but to let me do this. If I don’t inject her everyone in this room is dead.”
The room fell silent, no one moved from where they stood, not even to draw their guns which was weird, considering Elaine, someone they didn’t know had one pressed against someone else’s head.
Tasha hadn’t made a sound either. Damien turned his head to stare at Tasha’s against his shoulder. Her eyes were closed and she was breathing deeply as if she was asleep. And right beside her was Mike—her something more than just a bodyguard or friend.
“She’ll be out for a while,” Mike said in a way of an explanation.
Damien wanted to ask why, but he stayed silent. Time for explanations came later when someone wasn’t threatening the woman he loved with a syringe.
“I’ll risk it. Now, don’t make me ask you again because—”
The assistant moved fast, disarming Elaine and holding the gun to her. But that advantage didn’t last long when Elaine knocked it out of his hand, twisted that same arm behind his back, gripped his chin with her free hand and jerked his head until a loud snap echoed in the room. The assistant fell heavily on the floor. Dead. And the guns were finally drawn.
“You want to explain that?” Dale demanded harshly.
Elaine crouched down and searched the assistant’s pockets, “Not particularly, no. Either way it doesn’t concern you.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t concern us?” Richard asked more calmly.
Elaine stood, holding a phone and another device in her hand. “Mike.”
“Got it.” Mike took the device, leaned down, grabbed the body and threw it over his shoulder and walked out of the room like there was nothing strange about what he was doing.
Elaine dropped the phone to the floor and crushed it under her booted foot, “I go away one month and you manage to turn everything upside down.”
Damien ignored that. “He does know there are hundreds of agents out there, right?”
“And yet no one will see him leave.” She crossed her arms over
her chest, “Care to explain how you were caught?”
Damien shifted Tasha to lie across his lap, her head under his chin, “Actually, she was caught.”
“I know, I was there, but you were spotted way before that. How would Dale here know to arrest her when you weren’t there?”
Damien stared at his cousin who stared back with no remorse. “I knew you wouldn’t let her go.”
Damien bit down hard on his jaw. “So how did you find me?”
“Security cameras.”
“Really?” The skepticism echoed in Elaine’s voice. “Homeland security knew you borrowed their satellite?” She leaned to the side and smiled, “Audrey, it’s nice to meet you. Face to face I mean.”
Audrey paled and Dale shifted to block Elaine’s view of her, raising his gun higher. “You don’t look at her. You don’t even speak to her!”
Elaine shrugged and then turned to Damien, “Come on, we’re leaving. Where’s brainiac?”
“You are not going anywhere. You just killed someone in front of us.”
The look Elaine gave Dale chilled Damien to the bone. They needed to leave before his cousin’s neck got snapped like a twig too. “Elaine, let’s just go.”
“What about DJ? Are you going to leave him behind?” Dale taunted, “Doesn’t matter. Social Services must have him by now.”
Damien stood, Tasha in his arms, “Dale, that’s not funny.”
“Who said I’m joking? She’s going to jail and you will be too as an accessory. DJ will stay with social services until we find his real parents.”
Damien clenched his jaw and prayed for patience, “We’ll see what Ellie has to say to that. In fact, I should call her right now and ask her.”
Dale’s eyes narrowed dangerously, “Don’t involve her in this!”
“Why? She has a right to know her husband is about to put her nephew in a group home.”
“Well, she’ll find out soon enough,” Elaine offered, “I called her on my way here. It didn’t seem fair to leave her out of the reunion and I had a feeling you would be difficult.”
“Don’t you…”
