Once In Awhile Read online

  Andy shrugged and grinning, pointed to Danny Mac. “He’s gone soft in his old age.”

  Danny Mac reached out to grasp Angelo’s hand. Angelo slowly put his hand in Danny Mac’s and squeezed. Danny Mac returned the pressure.

  “One who was once my enemy, is now my friend.”

  Angelo replied, “I will never forget this, Danny. Never.”

  “Just keep searching for truth, my friend. That’s all I ask.”

  “I will. I will.” He took the train ticket from Andy with a new passport bearing the name of David Saul along with the Bible inscribed by Danny Mac. He walked away from them slowly. He looked back over his shoulder and smiled the smile of his youth. Danny Mac thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen next to Kenann when she laughs.

  “We’re taking a big chance, my friend.” Andy had held some reservations about helping Angelo get away. His job would probably be on the line, but he had learned a long time ago to trust Danny Mac’s instincts. He wasn’t planning to quit now.

  “Life is all about chances, Andy. And we just gave that man a second one.”

  Danny Mac had heard from Angelo aka David that week. He was going to have to get used to calling him by his new name. He was doing well in Brussels. He had gotten a job at a firm that manufactured electronic equipment and had a small flat along the Seine. He had also reached out to some Christians about whom Danny Mac had told him. David thanked him again for his trust in him and for saving his life. Danny Mac chided him that their conversations were going to get pretty boring if they didn’t find something else to talk about. David laughed and told him to always know that gratitude would be in his heart even if he did not speak of it. Danny Mac assured him he would hold him in his heart as well.

  All was right with the world, so why was he still so edgy. Something was off but for the life of him he couldn’t put his finger on it. Maybe he would call Andy and see if something was up with their efforts to round up the Society. It was a pretty monumental task being undertaken by the CIA, Interpol and Mossad. Considering that this Society claimed to have been in existence since the dawn of civilization and instrumental in the rise and fall of all major powers from Babylon to Rome to Hitler, it should be making front page news. But not one ripple had been leaked. That itself told him how serious this situation had been taken.

  As they were clearing away the breakfast dishes, the phone rang. Danny Mac sat down the stack of plates he was carrying and answered it. The voice on the other end whined across the line.

  “Daniel, it has come to my attention that the young lady living with you in that house is now your betrothed.”

  “Good morning, Mrs. Pettigrew. How are you feeling?”

  “Don’t try to change the subject, young man. Are you, or are you not, living in sin?”

  “No, ma’am, I am not.”

  “Who is to say what goes on behind those closed doors?”

  “I am.”

  Mrs. Pettigrew paused, not knowing how to counter that simple statement without outright calling him a liar. She was not prepared to do that, but she was also not prepared to let it go either.

  “Well, young man, mark my word. This will lead to no good.”

  “I appreciate your concern, Mrs. Pettigrew. I pray that everything behind your door is in good order. You have a really good day.”

  She harrumphed and hung up.

  Kenann followed him into the kitchen with the last of the dishes.

  “What was that about?”

  “Mrs. Pettigrew doing what she does best.”

  “Which is?”

  “Meddling.”

  “Was it about us?”

  Danny Mac looked at her and thought about being evasive, but her eyes always compelled him.

  “Yes.”

  “I wondered how long it would be before people began talking about us living here together.”

  “We are not living together, Kenann.”

  “You know what I mean. People are bound to wonder.”

  “People need to learn to trust each other a little bit and give the benefit of the doubt before they become judge and jury.”

  “Maybe I should move out.”

  “No!” Danny Mac nearly shouted. Kenann came to him and touched her hand to his cheek.

  “Danny Mac, what’s the matter?”

  “I don’t want you away from me. I want to be able to get to you in a hurry if you need me.”

  She framed his face with her hands. “Danny Mac, I am fine. We are fine. Please don’t worry.”

  Danny Mac pulled Kenann into his arms and thanked God for this woman who had stolen his heart. He tipped her head up and bent slowly toward her lips. Her eyes widened in surprise.

  He whispered. “Last night made me hungry for more.”

  “If Mrs. Pettigrew heard that she would . . .”

  He stopped her words, making the kiss count. Kenann’s fingers curled in Danny Mac’s shirt to hold herself upright. He raised his head at last.

  “Wow.” Kenann sighed.

  Danny Mac grinned. “Who do you want to listen to? Mrs. Pettigrew or me?

  “Depends. Is she a good kisser?

  Danny Mac shoved her head back with the palm of his hand. “Oh man, now that’s in my head. Thanks.”

  Kenann cracked up. She began sparring with him and punched him in the stomach. “Oh, come on, tough guy. Can’t take it?”

  Danny Mac got a predatory look in his eye. Kenann knew that look and ran away screaming. Blade was watching TV in the living room but jumped up to join in the fun when she ran through the room with Danny Mac in hot pursuit. They ended up running around the yard and falling in a heap of laughter. Kenann was satisfied to see the lines of worry had left his face.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Kenann had yet to go back to work. She had just gotten a job as a therapist at a local counseling center, when she was abducted with Danny Mac. Her boss had been apprised of the situation and had covered for her while she was gone. She met with him upon her return and he asked her to take some more time before she came back to work. She was not sure that was a good idea, but he was insistent and placed her on paid medical leave. He told her he owned the company and he would do what he liked.

  She felt fine most days, then out of the blue she would weird out on herself. If she told anyone that she was seeing things, she would not be going back to work. Unless, it was to have one of them commit her to the psych unit.

  Her training had taught her the effects of extreme stress on the mind, but she could not reconcile that with what she was experiencing. Danny Mac was having his own delayed stress reaction, but she was hallucinating. She had no intention of telling anyone that.

  No, she would handle this. One way or the other.

  * * *

  She was awakened by her name. No, not her name. Inanna. Had she dreamed it? She lay there for a moment as she allowed her racing heart to settle a bit. She sat up still listening in the dark for more direction. Direction? Where did that come from? The voice had come from inside her room. She sat her feet on the floor and headed out of her bedroom. She slipped down the spiral stairs that connected to her galley kitchen and breakfast nook below. She was drawn outside into the moonlit night. A privacy fence framed the sides of their back yard with a wooded area creating the back boundary. The moon had turned the shadows blue, and she wanted to go there. The woods looked so inviting. She needed to be in those woods. She was vaguely aware of the damp grass beneath her feet. She saw the shadow man at the edge of the tree line and knew that was where she needed to go.

  Suddenly a large yellow dog blocked her path. She stopped, and they made eye contact. The animal turned directly in front of her and planting its feet firmly, bared its teeth. The man started moving toward her. The dog went wild - leaping, growling, barking, all the while keeping itself between Kenann and the threat from the woods. The shadow man saw a light come on at the back door and slipped back into the night.

  Kenann fell to the
ground. The dog ran after the shadow man. The good man would keep Kenann safe now.

  * * *

  Danny Mac’s heart stopped when he saw Kenann’s crumpled form lying in the wet grass at the tree line. He ran to her and kept calling her name as he pulled her into his arms. He was relieved to see her breath turning to vapor as she exhaled, but she did not open her eyes. He lifted her limp form and hurried back to the house. He brought her to his couch and wrapped her in the blanket lying on the back of the couch.

  As he rubbed her hands and arms, her eyelids fluttered open.

  “Danny Mac?”

  “How do you feel? Do you hurt anywhere?

  “No. What are you doing?”

  “I found you lying in the back yard.”

  She looked toward the front window and saw it was dark. “What time is it?”

  “It’s three am. What were you doing out there?”

  “I don’t know.” She sat up pulling the blanket close around her. “I must have been sleep walking.”

  “If that dog barking and growling hadn’t woken me up, it is hard to say how long you would have lain out there. You are staying here tonight.”

  “Danny.” She tried to protest.

  “No. That is final. Now take off that nightgown. It is wet.”

  She eyed him askance. He turned around until he heard the sodden material hit the floor.

  “Here, lay down. Is that blanket warm enough?” Without waiting for an answer, he pulled the afghan from the back of the couch.

  “Yes, Danny Mac, quit fussing over me.”

  “Shut up.” But he softened this with a smile.

  He pulled the ottoman in front of his arm chair and stretched out.

  Her eyes were closed but she said after a few minutes. “I can’t sleep with you staring at me.”

  “Too bad. You’re lucky I don’t put a bell around your neck.”

  She slit her eyes open and glared at him.

  “Good night, Kenann.”

  “Good night, Danny Mac.” She smiled and turned over to drown out the sound of his concern.

  * * *

  Judy dropped her suitcase in the middle of the floor and went to her answering machine. Her time at home with her parents had been healing. She sorted through the various messages, disappointed that the one she wanted was not there. She couldn’t blame him. She certainly had not given him any reason to pursue her since the end of the summer ordeal. Besides, Andy was a very busy man working for the CIA. He also had a way with women, so he had probably moved on from whatever flirtatious feelings he had felt for her this summer. She sighed and walked toward her kitchen to get something to drink. It was then she spied the envelope lying on the floor. She had overlooked it when she came in, but someone had obviously slipped it through an old dog door in her back door.

  She bent to pick it up not recognizing the handwriting but could not stop her heart from beating faster as she opened it and pulled out the single sheet of paper within. She sat down at the table as she read.

  Dear Judy,

  I am no good at this. So please do not hold my fumbling attempts against me. I know you needed time and I wanted to give it to you. I found out from Kenann that you were getting in soon from your parents and I couldn’t stand not contacting you any longer. I am staying in town until I hear from you. How pathetic is this sounding to you? Because this is sounding very pathetic to me. I can’t help it. I need you to tell me if we have a chance or if I need to take my pathetic self off somewhere to brood like Heathcliff. I am at the Carlisle. It is not the moors, but I am calling your name across the mighty Mississippi.

  Andrew

  She laughed and clutched the paper to her chest. A plan began forming in her mind.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Kenann walked backward leading Danny Mac by the hand admonishing him to keep his eyes closed. She glanced over her shoulder to get her bearings and bounced his face off a tree. He brought his hand up to massage his cheek but was faithful to not open his eyes.

  “Sorry about that!” Kenann giggled. “Here, let me turn around and you put your hands on my shoulders.”

  A few minutes later she stopped him. She guided him to sit down on a fallen tree. She got him situated and sat beside him.

  “Okay, you can open your eyes now.”

  Danny Mac slowly brought his eyes into focus. He was still for a few minutes and Kenann began to fear she had miscalculated. Finally, he turned to her and said, “It’s perfect.”

  She smiled in return. “It is, isn’t it?”

  They both surveyed their surroundings and could feel themselves begin to relax. They had traversed a narrow trail down from the dirt road after she parked her car in the grass. Beneath the canopy of the trees the sun dappled the ground, offering up shades of green and shimmering yellow. Across the path was a flat grassy area perfect for a blanket and picnic basket with a sloping bank leading to a small stream. Their view from the log was of a rocky waterfall spilling over into a deep pool, surrounded by ferns and vegetation. The stream continued its journey into the Mississippi river glistening off in the distance through the trees. It was a secluded spot that made one feel secure from that outside world with all its danger and sadness.

  “How on earth did you find this place?”

  “Oh, I just came upon it in my wanderings last week.”

  “And just why are you wandering?”

  “Have you ever felt like you were coming out of your skin? Or the walls were closing in?”

  He merely nodded waiting on her to continue.

  “Well, I was having one of those days and voila, I found this place.”

  “Kenann, we haven’t talked much about what happened. Maybe we need to.”

  “What is there to say?”

  “I know you are a good counselor, but you are a lousy one to yourself. Of course, there are things to say. For goodness sake, you killed someone.

  “So, did you.”

  “Unfortunately for me, it was not the first time. I don’t necessarily want to think about it anymore than you do but we need to. It is haunting your dreams. Every time I think about how close you and Blade came to getting hurt or killed, my heart stops. And I dream too.”

  “You never said anything.”

  “Well, I am saying it now.”

  Kenann sighed deeply. “I feel like I am losing my mind. Nothing seems normal to me. That’s why I think we should wait before we make anything final between us.”

  “Are you having doubts?”

  “No, but I am not sure about anything else. And I am afraid that is not a good foundation to start on.”

  He refused to respond to this line of thinking and chose to ignore it. “Why do you feel like you are losing your mind?”

  “Don’t you? I jump at shadows. I see shadows where there are none.”

  “Kenann are you sure you have no memory of what took you into the back yard last night?”

  She saw the look of fear and concern in his eyes and couldn’t tell him the truth. She knew it was more than simple sleep walking. Something was happening to her and she didn’t know what it was. How could she tell him she found herself responding to voices in her head? Things she knew were not from her. She would be fine and then out of the blue, it seemed, she was gone. She would come back to herself later and feel drained and exhausted. She saw the hideous face from her dreams and shuddered.

  “Cold?”

  “No.” She finished laying out their picnic blanket. He stretched out across from her and grabbed a pepperoni roll.

  “I love these things. Did you make them?”

  “Yep, believe it or not. It’s a West Virginia staple.”

  “See, you can cook.”

  “In a pinch.” She laughed and opened a can of Coke and passed to him.

  “Kenann, what is going on with you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Don’t play dumb. You are troubled and keeping something from me. What is it?”

  “You
said it yourself, we have been through a lot. That’s all it is.” Her thoughts warred within her. If she was going to marry him, she knew she had to trust him. But about this … could she?

  Danny Mac watched her face and the emotions emerging across it. He would let it go for now.

  “Let’s finish our lunch and enjoy the peace and quiet for a bit. I have to go to the hospital this afternoon and then do some studying for class tonight.”

  “I wish I could go back to work. But Mr. Kesselring is adamant. Do you think he knows something I don’t?”

  “I don’t know about that, but I do think you need to talk to someone. If it is not me, and that’s okay,” he interrupted her before she could protest. “You do need to talk to someone.”

  Kenann considered this for a few minutes and conceded. “I suppose you’re right. But who?”

  “That is more your department, honey.”

  It came to Kenann at that moment. Granny. Why had she not thought of her before? Granny knows her better than any person alive. She will know what to do. This brought a sense of relief and she smiled at Danny Mac. He smiled back.

  “We will get through this, babe,” he said.

  “Yes, we will.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Andy paced back and forth in his hotel room. He purposely did not let Danny Mac know he was in town. If Judy was going to reject him, he wanted to lick his wounds in private. This waiting was intolerable. Had she received his letter? What would she do? Maybe he should just go back to DC today and forget it. The feelings he thought he had felt from her were probably only wishful thinking anyway. He flopped into the chair and sat sulking by the window, when a knock came at the door. He leapt to his feet and was at the door in seconds. He stopped and made himself take a deep breath. He was embarrassed to see his hand tremble as he reached for the handle.

  His smile turned to puzzlement when he was met by a delivery man who held out a clip board to him.

  “Sign here, please.”

  “I didn’t order anything.”

  “Are you Andrew O’Hanlon?” Andy nodded.

  “Says here you did.”

  “Who is it from?”