Deadly Expectations (88 page)

I yawned and put her gently into Paul’s arms then I fell asleep watching him watch her in the armchair.

Chapter 62

Camille was a week old when Colonel Iverson arrived unofficially, simply requesting her company for a couple of hours.
 
He had a few small gifts for her and took turns with Paul, Ray, and I passing her back and forth at the table so nobody’s food got cold holding her too long.
 
After dinner he held her on the sofa in the common room for nearly an hour and a half.
  
She was awake for most of it and quite content.
 
I’d taken her once to feed her but otherwise he’d claimed her for the duration of his visit.
 
Eventually though he passed her to Paul.

“Your daughter is delightful Paul,” he said, “but I must apologize.
 
I need to speak with Anna regarding a couple of things.”

I knew exactly what.
 
He had reports to complete about what happened to Denis and my involvement with eliminating Damian Howard.
 
I would be happy to have all that behind me.

“I understand,” I told him.
 
“I have a couple of things for you Sig.”

After excusing myself I made another trip down the road to the cabin we were staying in while the top floor was being renovated and dug my pack out of the bottom of the closet.
 
Rice’s notebook and the knife were still in it.

The Colonel waited in the hall for me.
 
Paul stood nearby with Camille.
 
He would know what the Colonel wanted and would find it hard not being with me.
 
He knew more than anyone how hard that last day had been.

“Sig,” I said quietly so Paul could hear but not the others still in the common room.
 
“I’ve quit … omitting things from my husband.”

He looked at Paul for a long moment, thinking.

“Congratulations Captain, I’ve just upgraded your security clearance to match your wife’s.”

Paul looked puzzled and I bit my lip to keep a straight face.
 
This wasn’t any type of military security clearance.
 
It was family.
 
He passed Camille to Ray and we went down the hall.

Paul and I sat on the bed and Sig pulled up a chair.

“What is said in here tonight won’t be brought up again.
 
Even amongst yourselves.
 
Paul, you just listen.
 
She doesn’t know any more than what we say here today.
 
Understand?”

We both nodded.

“What do you have for me Anna?” he asked.

First I pulled out a towel and
unwrapped
the knife.
 
Still stained with Damian’s blood.

“I think it should go back where it came from,” I told him and glanced at Paul.
 
He raised his eyebrows briefly but he didn’t comment.
 
Sig just nodded.
 
I wrapped the knife back up and he put it on the chair beside him.
 
Then I reached in my bag and pulled out the little notebook.
 
The Colonel’s face showed surprise.
 
Surprise and relief.

“Where did you get this?” he asked, accepting it with both hands.

“I …” then I paused.

“He’ll answer to you if he breathes a word,” he said.

I moved closer to Paul and took his hand.
 
He’d be learning a lot about what I had been up to over the next while.
 
A lot more than he ever suspected was going on.

“In the wreckage … I picked up the same thing I picked up from you.
 
And from Rice.
 
Dodging me when I focused on it.
 
Finding me when I tried to tune it out.
 
I’d always been alone in that place in my dreams.
 
Just me and the dead.
 
Sensing I wasn’t alone was unnerving.
 
I hoped it was Damian … labour was so far along.”

I didn’t look at Paul.

“I was able to follow what I was picking up to a bank of seats still attached to a piece of the plane.
 
There were two people in the front three and two in the back three.
 
Usually I just make sure they’re the right four and move along but when I got close I heard it.
 
Button.
 
My mind flooded with the images I’d picked up from Rice the first time.
 
It was him in one of the front seats.
 
In the arms of a blonde woman.
 
Were they traveling together?”

The Colonel shook his head.

“Always thought they were,” I said.
 
“There was a burnt overcoat covering his legs.
 
When I took it off I saw his legs were gone.
 
Like mine were … like I told you about before.
 
The smell … I remembered it.
 
His pants had pockets on the thighs.
 
Buttoned shut.
 
I pulled the book out and saw your initials on it so I took it because I didn’t think his family would know what to do with it when they finally got his things back and I knew it’s yours.”

“Rice wasn’t on that plane, Anna,” the Colonel said.
 
“His body wasn’t in the wreckage.
 
The only man I brought home was Denis.”

I shrugged.

“I don’t think we were in the real wreckage anyway.
 
Nothing was ever consumed by the fire.
 
Paul’s cell phone had no signal … even after what must have been a couple of hours in the wreckage I was the only living thing there until I ran into Damian.
 
No rescue workers … nobody but me.
 
Like Pilot’s corn field.
 
Frozen somehow.
 
Did you find Damian?”

“No,” the Colonel said.

“Then he’s resting in that eternally burning wreckage we were in.”

“So Damian is dead?”

“Yes.”

He nodded then he opened the little notebook and browsed through it for a while.
 
Paul and I listened nervously down the hall for Camille.
 
The tiny print gave way to blank pages only a third of the way through so he closed it and stretched the elastic string back around it before tucking it away into his inside pocket.

“What happened with Denis when Damian’s men came?” he asked when he finally spoke.

Knowing the question was coming didn’t make it any easier to answer.
 
I was wiping my eyes before I even started talking and Paul tightened his hold on me.

“I was in my back room when I sensed them in the kitchen.
 
I counted four and I knew I was in trouble.
 
But then I heard Denis shouting … must have seen them and he came down.
 
I went to the other room for my knife but I was so slow.
 
One of them was down but he was bleeding already … dripping fast on the carpet.
 
I took one and he got another but by then the blood was running from him.
 
We both got the last one at the same time.

“His legs were failing and I tried to help him down but there was no way I could have gotten myself on the floor much less anyone else so really it was him making sure I landed softly.
 
He showed me where I was hurt.
 
He told me to tie them up tight and call Ray.

“His blood was pooling around my knees already.
 
He couldn’t hold his head up so I put my arms around it and held him to me.
 
He said he never really liked the dying part but it wasn’t too bad.
 
I blamed myself for being so big and slow.
 
If I was faster he would have been okay.
 
I think he knew what I was feeling.
 
He said I was a good little fighter.
 
He’d see me on the other side.
 
Then he was gone.”

The Colonel got me a couple of tissues from the table beside the bed so I could wipe my eyes and gave me a minute.
 
Paul pressed his face in my hair and ran his hand softly over my shoulder.

“No concern for himself?” he asked.

“He didn’t hesitate to step in when I was in trouble.
 
His last minute was spent making sure I would be okay.
 
My wounds and my conscience.”

“Do you know what I do for the family Anna?”

I shook my head.

“I’m a matchmaker of sorts.
 
I don’t put the names on the dance cards but I do decide who gets one.
 
For the most part.
 
I placed Rice here to observe Denis.
 
To earn his first mate a man must prove himself worthy through his actions toward the mate of another.
 
I had to remove Rice early because his projections bothered you.
 
We know what they meant now but then they were assaulting you.
 
By the time Rice was able to control them you and Denis were away so Rice took his book intending to try and find you.
 
We never saw him again.

“Based on what is in Rice’s book and what you have told me I have no doubt that a mate for Denis is long overdue.
 
I don’t have any say in who he would get and it will still be up to him to make it work with her.”

He looked at Paul and me.

“Your son will have someone waiting for him on the other side.”

Chapter 63

My father and Alina arrived the day Paul was at
Arlington
for the service for Denis.
 
Paul’s helicopter arrived about the same time I’d given up hope they would make it back that day.
 
He apologized to my father for his deception at my house in the fall.
 
My father found it strange that Paul would be sorry for something I had obviously put him up to.

After a quick reheated dinner Ray volunteered to show them to their cabins and the three of them left together, Ray carrying Alina’s suitcase from the car.
 
Paul and I watched them go from the window.
 
First they dropped Alina off at her cabin then Ray took my father down to his.
 

“Paul,” I sighed.
 
“I … did something when I broke his line from him.
 
I don’t know if it was bad … it just came to me that I could and I did it.
 
At least I think I did it.”

“What did you do Anna?”

He didn’t look happy with me.

“The piece of his line I cut off … the part that goes into the future.
 
The part he never touched.
 
I took it … I used it to bind one of Pilot’s gifts to me so I could keep it.
 
It became part of mine.
 
It was selfish, I know.
 
But I don’t want to start over knowing nothing again.
 
I kept my ability to read to help everyone rebuild.”

“May I?” he asked as he put his right hand over my chest.

I nodded.

“I don’t feel anything,” I whispered.

His brow creased as he tested it.

“It’s really secure,” he said finally.
 
“You did that yourself?”