Fourteen
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Monday, 3rd of February
8:16 pm
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Ursula Martins
stretched languidly in the sexual pleasure of anticipation. She hadn’t cared all that much for Ezekiel Rowan when she
and Cheel were all par of the ‘rat pack’ in LA in Fifty-seven, but he was the only one left from their old group
who wasn’t dead or still married. It was a slightly incestuous relationship, since he was one of the few people her
brother Ernie still liked, but since she didn’t favor ‘dark meat’ even though Herb Baer was a widower, Zee
was the ‘last one standing’ so to speak; and his new wealth and success through his security firm simply promised
her the lifestyle she was eager to be become accustomed too!
She pushed aside the paled silver almonds from her remaining portion of baked fish, for they left a slightly bitter
taste in her mouth. She must have bitten into one of them that was old or something. She felt a tightening in her newly revamped
breasts, guessing at the reason for the Indian’s slow return with the next bottle of chilled champagne She was getting
too aroused to want to wait much longer!
A
sour taste rose up in her stomach and she began to feel a little nauseous as he reentered the room with two fresh glasses
and the white froth of expensive Dom Perignon bubbling out of the coal black bottle he held at arm’s
length. She tried to hide the growing sickness and revolt in her stomach as he poured the sparkling wine and tried to seat
himself beside her seductively, since she didn’t want him to think she was rejecting him now that he’d finally
gotten the message! But to no avail. She had to push him back sharply and run to the bathroom.
She knelt beside the chilled porcelain of the toilet trying in vain to empty out the burning liquid churning in her
stomach but the convulsions pushed consciousness far from her and she passed out before she was able to make a large enough
dent in the poison swimming through her blood stream and she died where she lay.
Waiting for her return from what he thought would be but a brief respite to put in her diaphragm since he obviously
caught her off guard, Zee Rowan suddenly felt the aftertaste of the sour, almost bitter almond taste he’d noticed at
dinner and by the time he realized how profoundly ill he truly was, he was trying to reach the phone to call emergency services
at 911 but he collapsed on the floor in writhing attempts to escape the pain and sickness, vomiting blood and bile and he
died before the paramedics could reach the unlocked apartment; summoned by an anonymous woman caller who spoke in a calm and
cultured voice.
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That same day, in a different time zone because of their residence on the privately Pacific Rim island,, Hanna` Oshi used her bronze letter opener to rip a neat line across the scented and perfumed envelope,
expecting to receive an invitation to something from a personal friend, judging by the hand addressed envelope. The boys were
squabbling noisily for her attention but she was so grateful to have them at her and William’s advanced age that her
mother’s heart filtered out everything but the sound of her love. As she blew into the envelope to open it and withdraw
the letter, she unwitting blew up a powder impregnated with a viral pneumonia stolen from a secret biological warfare lab.
Thinking that he could revive her, Weak William tried to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. They died within six days,
to the horror of the local doctor, who had no more than a clinic to treat his wealthy landlords.
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*
Wednesday, 4th of February
9:16 am
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As Amanda straightened
her husband Tray’s tie for a third time since the arrival of the Air Canada flight into was the controlled airspace
was announced, Brother John took a step away from her nervous anger, grateful he didn’t wear ties or have a shirt to
tuck in and pull out as the nervous couple were doing. He found his mind drifting back to the Oak and wild growth on the mountain
they’d left behind at daylight since the beautiful Polynesian woman packed her husband, two children and gear into their
van to drive down to Sea Oaks, when they’d only have to turn around and drive back the same way this morning! She seemed
to need be near her beloved aunt and uncle. Gaby had been offended for the placid white tom cat’s sake when Amanda went
postal every time she left the door open to the room they were using for the baby Hannah.
But it only made him smile sadly as he watched the cigar shaped plane land, knowing how soon her father, Al’s
older adopted brother would soon claim so much of her time and her life that she wouldn’t even make it back to Santa
Cruz., or Dunlap. As much of the energy as they’d all put into rebuilding and refurbishing the mansion and the
outbuildings, it was clear that their little ‘family’ was being pulled apart again, like a cell about to
divide, with half going in one direction to form the new cell, and the other half remaining lined against the wall, as they
were in the glassed-in waiting section, to remain with the initial cell.
It led his thoughts to his mom and Serena. Gaby had been almost broken in spirit as she realized how excite Gabriella
was to go live with her friend Vi and the giant blue parrot because it meant that the plans they’d made to build her
sister’s riding school had proved to be nothing more than wishful thinking, even though they’d run newspaper ads
and gone to horse auctions looking for the gentle stock Serena required for first time riders who wouldn’t have their
own horse, like she had Rowdy. Had the dream been said no too, she wouldn’t have been as crushed. But his Mom, seeing
how profoundly it would effect both sister’s lives, had managed to hide her fear at being abandoned since he’d
be spending so much of his time with Al on the streets with their ‘Boys’ again, for those who weren’t ready
for the counseling and job training Randy Grant could give them once they actually moved to the Retreat to live!
It was so difficult for her to be ‘alone’. With Vi gone, Mother Mary Harriet gone, now Georgiana making
it clear she’d stay in the City since Lonnie had been accepted as a Marine cadet, much against her will. Could
the two Ulrich girls be enough company for her? She insisted so, but he worried. Even with the full time practical nurse,
it wasn’t the same as sharing your memories with a woman who’d lived thought them too. But for their sakes, he
smiled and pretended he was alright with it too...except at quiet moments like these when he couldn’t avoid his thoughts
or his memories.
“ Jez?
I really thought I’d gotten through to Arlo. What if I keep making mistakes
like that again? I should have asked him to come home with me, you know? “ He surrendered
himself to the loving Arms that wrapped themselves around him. And he lost track of time till the overhead announcing of the
disembarkation of passengers from the flight number of the Alaskan Airlines that James Patrick MacKendrie had been riding
on. He wasn’t sure who was more surprised when he saw the burly lumberjack holding a tiny infant in his arms as he slowly
disembarked, himself or Amanda, who assumed it was her father’s child?
“ There ye are Lass. Their fine wee babies. Und again, I’m so sorry fer yer mo’other
and father’s loss! “
Loraine
Devlon’s composure slipped, until she was certain Allen MacKendrie Hoag hadn’t accompanied his friends to the
airport. She tried to shift the weight of the frightened toddler clinging to her neck to the slender, pale form of Damien
Eastman, but like his sire, whom he’d never met, he was quick to avoid any physical touch that wasn’t forced on
him, so she called softly to the uniformed male nurse behind her to take the sleeping infant from the outsized man’s
grasp, using the motion for a quick but surprisingly detailed scan of the crowded building.
Sam had warned her not to bring the pale, frightened ten year old into their lives yet, until he’d
had more time to document that odd rumors he was hearing from unprejudiced sources in the Underworld, but
as a means of publicly distancing herself from him since the death of the Federal Agent when she’d forbidden him too,
in the same manner he’d ‘forbidden’ her to claim this miniature of her beloved twin, she’d invited
Kathleen Turner to come hold an exclusive interview with the first publicity pictures of Weak Willie’s sons! There was
much to do to gain the strength she needed as she watched her husband age and his lieutenants grow restive; waiting for the
old wolf to stumble or fall. If he didn’t soon, she’d take matters into her own hands! Nothing and no one had
been able to deny her what she really wanted yet! He was as old the suits he wore and it was time to throw
them and him out!
As
aware as she was of the multitude of flashbulbs going off around them, although the blonde reporter was no where in sight,
she weighed the favorable publicity against the off chance that some lone wolf might try to harm her, in an effort to ingratiate
himself with the old man. When she offered to give them a lift him in her limousine the burly ex-lumberjack accepted before
John could gracefully refused.
“
Isn’t there some kind of prayer you could say for our new family, Brother John? “
She asked prettily as Matthew saw his uncle for the first time, and ran to him in loud shouts and delight.
Matthew’s face was aglow as he gathered his mother in his arms, smiling happily as he drew the children near
in his heart.
“ I thought you weren’t coming, Matthew? “
She demanded archly, trying to keep her back toward the shoulder held television camera being plugged in for their
approach down the littered cement canyon.
“ Let’s please not quarrel, Mother. Not in front of the children?
“
She
tried to hold herself apart as the stocky ten year in a white linen suit tried to wedge himself between her and his taller
rival. Matt Lovich bent and shook the boy’s hand, remembering
his name and his face from the times he’d met him at the Eastman’s house while he was visiting Ron and Diane.
Damien relented. He was getting lonelier by the minute as he watched how the fragile mites were stealing away the intimacy
he’d anticipated receiving from the tall, lovely matron from he created the forged document on his computer and printed
it out on the kind of stock he assumed the office would use. Until now it had worked. Maybe with a male authority figure he
could manipulate, it wouldn’t matter so much that she was preoccupied with the mewing mites?
“ Isn’t there some sort of prayer. A blessing, maybe? Brother John?
“ He asked so hopefully that the tall, lank man bowed his head, waiting for his spirit to
speak rather than his growing unease at the woman in the expensive traveling suit. He wanted so strongly to warn the happy
young man away from what he was witnessing in his mother’s face but he lacked the courage to push past the boundaries
which Al had chosen to put in place.
“
Father GOD. Protect and guard the children through the coming days as they begin their new life in Your care and under
Your loving guidance. Amen. “
Loraine Devlon’s eyes held a mocking sparkle as she turned to speak to the male nurse carrying the toddler in
his arms, but Brother John refused to give her the satisfaction of knowing how badly it stung and he turned his head toward
the two men who’d linked arms even though the eldest boy refused to let go of his tall uncle’s neck.
As they stood in the strong winter sunlight and had their ankles bit sharply by the cold wind, he was beginning to
reconsider his annoyance at James Patrick for seeing only the woman he remembered from six years ago when a single rifle shot
was heard over the noise of incoming traffic. The sniper’s metal jacketed bullet passed cleanly through the skull of
the young man then struck the spine of the woman standing immediately behind him, staining her jacket with his blood and brain
matter, then nearly spent, ricocheted upward from her spine, piercing her heart. Loraine Devlon fell dead before she knew
the fate of her young nephew standing in front of her!
“
Protect the children, Matthew! “ Brother John screeched in horror
at the stenches of blood and death, pushing the tall man and boy aside before the crying boy could glimpse the terrible aftermath
of the sniper’s deadly accuracy from across the parking lot! The uniformed nurse carrying the tiniest Devlon son instinctively
accepting the protection of the elder. Protecting the baby with his own body as he ran toward the end of the building where
a security guard motioned for them to take cover, his revolver drawn.
While Brother John stood over the fallen woman in shock, trying to absorb the horrific intimacy of the moment, someone
in the crowd screamed and fell back, while others pressed near in morbid and intense interest.
Samuel Lovich pushed his way to the fore of the standing group easily, with Rafael Pitman at his side as he looked
down in a calm his younger companion couldn’t emulate as Rafael stared down in horror at the grotesque posture of the
dead woman and her sightless eyes turned, as if looking at Sam Lovich and him! He wanted to puke, to scream, to do something
that would prove that he was sill alive despite the growing horror of the reality of their
deaths!
Samuel Lovich
stared at the ashen face of the man un the plain brown robe as they stood on the motionless bodies.
“ Let’s go home, Rafe. Our job here is done. “
He said, with pity or remorse altering the color of his eyes or the edge of his voice.
“ Yes, Father. “ Rafael said obediently,
still in shock at his first sight of a dead body, much less one close to his own age, as Damien Eastman’s flaccid body
lay across the dead woman, leaking dark stains down the side of her Chanel suit.
“ Yes, Father. “ He agreed, in a curiously
loud voice, as if he had to speak to be heard over the roar of blood pounding in his ears.
‘Brother’, not ‘Father’ John Carbasian corrected in his thoughts, still too stunned to
accept the reality his mind was attempting to thrust on him as sirens began to wail from somewhere ‘out there’.
Samuel Lovich turned away, allowing the press of newcomers to take his place. He hadn’t gone more than thirty
feet when he was approached by a grim faced agent, Chet Benin and three other, squared shouldered FBI agents. He held up his
worn badge packet to slow and then stop the leisurely retreat of the smiling multimillionaire.
“ You’re under arrest for the murder of Federal Agent Arlo Lassiter, your ex-wife
Loraine Devlon Lovich, and her nephew, Damien Eastman. “
Lovich’s smile deepened, as if in amusement. The tip of his tongue flicked out to wet his lips.
“ You’re kidding, right? How many times have we played out this scene before, Agent
Benin? What kind of proof have you even got? “
“ The best kind, still breathing. “ Chet Benin
said rudely, poking his thumb toward a man bent nearly in half as he stood awkwardly between a squad of well-armed agents
in flack jackets. “ He turned on you the minute we grapped him by the balls! And
we didn’t even have to squeeze before he started squealing ‘state’s evidence!’ and ‘Let’s
make a deal!’ That’s the nature of the beast! This time, you’re going down, Mr. Lovich!
Count on it! “
“
It was self defense. She’s been trying to kill me! Rafael, call my law... “
But as he finished turning around, the handsome youth was no longer at his side. Nor even in sight.
“ Brother John? “ Matt Lovich asked, wishing his
voice and his hands weren’t shaking so hard. “ I’m taking my nephews to my mother’s
house. Dad’s got the number. will you ask him to call me as soon as he can? “
“ Of course, Matt! You know I’ll do anything I can! “
Against his will, Matt looked down at the two bodies now covered with a plastic sheet provided by one of the airlines.
The blood had pooled under the edges and he felt the hard shake of the older man’s hand pull him back from the edge
of faintness.
“ There’s
nothing more you can do for her. I’ll see to it that your mother’s body is properly attended. Take the children
home, they need you now more than ever, Matt! You’re all they have left! “
“ Brother John, I... “
“ Yes, Matt? “
“ Thank you for saying the prayer you just said. To protect the children. “
Then hearing the frightened wail of his name by the small boy in the white linen pants suit he quickened his pace to
take the bay back in his arms, and they quickly disappeared into the crowd.
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Special Agent Chet Benin was reassigned his position as Senior Field Officer in the Washington DC area and moved
there on October the 6th of that year. He sold his apartment in San Francisco, shipped his personal belongings
and memorabilia to the East Coast then moved there with his long time friend and companion Charles Devlon. where he worked
until he retired.
Samuel Lovich died
of natural causes in a minimum security prison on the day after Thanksgiving while awaiting trial on murder charges in that
same year.
And the next year
Brother John yielded to Gaby’s constant endorsement and proposed to Sernea Ulrich on Valentine’s Day. For that’s
the very nature of the beast.
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The End
