Guarding Light (35 page)

   Thinking about giving him a good morning kiss, with a huge smile on her face Catlyn rounded the corner, entering the kitchen. She came to a dead stop as her eyes took in the unbelievable sight before her. Jack, wearing a t-shirt and pajama bottoms, with an outstretched hand and a wide smile was shaking hands with her worst nightmare. J.T. Dark.

   Her shocked gasp had the men turning their heads towards her. Jack's eyes turned hard as he swore. J.T. regarded her with dead, blue-ice eyes. Almost simultaneously all three moved. Catlyn turned and ran down the hall, remembering the patio doors at the end of the very long hallway. She heard her name shouted. But, she didn't stop for anything, not even the terror that flooded her body, not the anguish that hammered her. How could she have been so wrong? Again? Jack's betrayal in the hospital 25 years ago seemed like a minor slight compared to this, the ultimate betrayal.

   Her legs pumped fast as her past and present began to blur together in her mind. She ran from Jack and J.T. as she had ran from J.T. that long ago day. The patio doors loomed ahead. Chancing a glance behind her, she saw Jack almost upon her. Not daring to stop to open the doors, Catlyn crossed her arms in front of her face and picked up speed and momentum, flinging herself at the glass of the patio doors.

   The sound of tinkling glass accompanied her frantic flailing as she crashed through the door. She rolled to the ground not able to keep on her feet with so much momentum. Knowing Jack was not far behind her, as soon as her back hit the ground, she did a shotgun kip to her feet. She came face to face with a scowling Jack. She threw one-two punches without hesitation. He blocked the one to his trachea but not his jaw. The one to his jaw barely fazed him. Catlyn blocked when he went to grab her. Sending her fist once again to his face, following immediately with the back of the same fist to the opposite side of his face, then she gave a no-holds-barred kick to his scrotum.

   Harshly, Jack sucked in air and went back several feet. Catlyn turned and ran full out. She passed the pool headed for the small wooded area that bordered his huge back yard. Catlyn knew once she got through the woods there was a road on the other side, not a well-traveled road, but a road nonetheless.

   About a hundred yards from the woods, she was struck from behind and felt herself going down. Again her present mimicked her past. Jack tackled her just as J.T. had done. Catlyn braced herself for the jarring pain of being tackled. J.T.'s tackle had been excruciating. Surprisingly, Jack's tackle was painless.

   She fought against his restraining arms as they struggled and tumbled along the ground. Jack maneuvered his way in front of her as they struggled to their knees. Catlyn tried to get her arms out of Jack's grasp so she could throw punches, hits, anything. But his hold was like iron, making her realize just how much Jack had been suppressing his strength when dealing with her previously.

   Catlyn's heart stopped when she looked over Jack's shoulder and saw J.T. advancing towards them. Her panic overtook her training, her tears began to fall. Taking her eyes off J.T. she looked into Jack's eyes. They were hard, unfeeling. Catlyn was losing her forceful grip on Jack's forearms. She couldn't fight Jack alone and she definitely wouldn't be able to fight both men. Her eyes probed Jack's. "Why?" She screamed as Jack pulled his arms free of her tenuous hold. "Why are you doing this?"

   Heart slamming against her ribcage, Catlyn tried to crawl away from Jack. Still on his knees he pulled her down to the grass. She rolled, trying to get space between them. Jack stepped behind her as she made it back to her knees.

   Stark terror engulfed her as she saw J.T. getting closer. Jack's arm slipped around and under her neck. Catlyn screamed as she felt pressure. "Noooooo!"

****

   Jack looked towards the kitchen entrance when he heard a strangled gasp. When Catlyn's bright smile crumble into disillusionment he knew he made a huge mistake in postponing his talk with her about his J.T. Dark investigation and all that he learned. She took off down the hall. Jack followed, shouting her name. "Catlyn wait!"

   Jack forgot how fast she could be. Before he could catch her she was crashing through the glass. Ignoring the broken glass, Jack hopped over it to close the gap between them. He landed right in front of her and her fist. He blocked a hit to his throat but couldn't stop the one to his jaw. He made a grab for her but she blocked and punched him. He didn't stop her, thinking she would realize his restraint.

   Shit! She kicked him in his balls! Jack knew he'd overestimated Catlyn's ability to process anything right now. She was functioning on pure survival mode. Jack was stunned and more than a little hurt she thought he was going to harm her. How could she think that after everything that had happened between them last night?

   He had to catch her. Ignoring the pain to his nuts he took off after her. She was gaining distance from him. Jack made a flying tackle at her, bringing her down. To protect her he turned their bodies in midair, ensuring his body was on the bottom and taking the brunt of the force as they slammed into the ground.

   Still in fight mode, she scrambled away instantly. Jack caught her arms so she couldn't throw anymore fists at him. They weren't exactly love taps she was giving him. She fought him like a wildcat. She gripped his arms too, trying to prevent him from getting a more stable hold on her.

   Jack felt like a bully. But when he tried to convey his harmlessness towards her with his eyes, he felt more than a bully, he felt like an evil, child molester or something equally monster-like. As she looked over his shoulder at J.T., the look of horror, fear and betrayal defied description. Jack swore he could feel her pain.

   He couldn't stand her terror for one second longer, Jack slipped behind her as she got back on her knees. Quickly and efficiently, he applied the sleeper hold, putting her out in seconds. The very millisecond he felt her body go limp, Jack released the pressure and caught her up in his arms. He stood, holding her close to his chest.

   "What the bloody hell is going on? Why did you do that to her? Why did she run like a bat out of hell?" J.T. demanded confused. "And, why are you guys wet?"

   Jack began walking back to the house, carrying his precious cargo as he answered J.T. "Catlyn thinks we wish her harm. It is why she ran. I gave chase to calm her down. I put her out because I was dying a little inside every second I had to witness her fear and also to stop her fear."

   Jack carefully angled around the broken glass as he entered through the broken patio door. He was so thankful the temporary glass was in place rather than the expensive shatter-proof glass he had on back order. No telling what kind of damage she could have inflicted upon herself if it hadn't been the temporary glass.

   He made his way to the sofa in the living room. Gently he laid her down and pulled the blanket thrown across the back of the sofa across her prone body. He went to the phone on a nearby end table and dialed a number he just recently committed to memory. His call was answered in the middle of the first ring. Without any preamble he said curtly. "Come to 220 S. Seneca. It's a dead end road on the North edge of the city. And, bring your gun." He hung up.

   "What the bloody hell is that about? And, you still haven't explained why you're wet."

   Jack turned to J.T. "I am wet because when we were struggling on the ground out there, Catlyn looked up and saw you coming towards us."

   "So," J.T. shrugged his confusion.

   "Because of my tackling her, Catlyn was on top of me when she saw you."

   Again J.T. shrugged. "So?"

   "So, you're her walking, talking nightmare and you literally scared the piss out of her!"

   J.T. looked at the woman lying on the sofa. "Oh, God, don't tell me…"

   Jack gave a heartfelt sigh, "That's right J.T." Jack amended when the blue eyes flashed at him, "That's right
Jason
Catlyn was one of your brother's victims when she was a 15 year old girl."

****

   Catlyn was sleeping comfortably on Jack's bed. She came awake slowly. Her body ached from head to toe. Slowly her eyes opened. Brown clashed with green. At first she started to smile, seeing Jack sitting in a chair next to the bed. But, suddenly, her memory swamped her. J.T. was here. J.T. was here with Jack, shaking Jack's hand, smiling with Jack.

   She inelegantly scrambled off the bed. Speed was more important than finesse. Jack stood and went towards the doorway, blocking and stopping her flight. Catlyn backed up, shaking her head in denial. She was brought up short by the wall opposite the doorway.

   "Kitten—"

   "Don't fucking call me that!" Catlyn hysterically screamed, "You sick, twisted piece of scum!" Catlyn's eyes scanned the room for another way out. She calculated the distance to the bathroom door. Jack seeing her glance towards the bathroom door moved to the halfway point between the bathroom and doorway of the bedroom, anticipating her plan to flee. Knowing she would never be able to outrun him or out maneuver him, she cried harder. "I will never let you guys touch me. Whatever you have planned, I will not make it easy for you. You'll have to rape my dead body."

   Jack's eyes sparked angrily. "Oh, sweetheart, I don't have to rape you. I spent most of last night fucking every orifice you have." His chest heaved as he took a menacing step towards her. "And, you loved every minute of it, lost count how many times you came and begged me for it."

   His words totally flayed her raw. In both physical and emotional pain, Catlyn simply crumpled to the floor along the wall. Jack had used the same words J.T. had used just before he had violated her.
'Fuck every orifice'
. God, she was stupid. She can't believe she fell for the green eyes, sexy smile and boy next door charm. Now it was going to possibly cost her her life, if not worse. Because, Catlyn would rather die, than be raped again, especially not by the man she thought she had fallen in love.

****

   Jack stood in his bedroom feeling stupid, useless and emasculated. He can't believe he let his anger get the best of him. He can't believe he had thrown their wonderful lovemaking and Catlyn's incredible responsiveness to him in her face, belittling their magical night with a few uncaring words said in the heat of anger. But,
how
could she possibly think for one second he wished her harm? Shit, he'd die for her if the need arose.

   He knew, regardless of what she said about her healing, that Catlyn suffered from PTSD. He'd seen it enough over the years with his fellow brothers who served. Hell, even he had suffered from it when he first returned to the states. Unlike Catlyn, Jack was treated for his PTSD and had a successful end. An essential part of the healing had to do with some form of closure. Catlyn never got that. She never got justice. She never got to confront her attacker.

   He also knew that coming face to face with your rapist in you lover's home after making love with that lover all night was more than enough to send anyone over the edge, especially not knowing where your lover stood. Jack also acknowledged his lack of sensitivity in handling the situation. He needed to explain things to Catlyn make her understand about J.T. His colossal FUBAR moment had been when he decided to wait to tell Catlyn everything about his investigation. If he had told her and been completely honest with her like they had promised each other, they'd still be cuddling and making googoo eyes instead of her on the floor crying gut wrenching sobs in defeat while he stood several feet away feeling low, slow, dumb and numb.

   Where the hell was—

   "Hey, chief, what's with the strange call? Yo, Gard, what's the frigging deal?"

   Jack looked at Catlyn as soon as he heard the voice on the steps. Catlyn came to her feet, hope filling her eyes. "Mack?!"

   Mackenzie came into the room. "Hey, Cat, nice digs. What is with—"

   "Mack!" Catlyn screamed.

   Jack watched Mackenzie take in Catlyn's extremely disheveled appearance, wildly tangled hair, mussed t-shirt, face ravaged with tears, snot running down her nose, various cuts and bruises all along her arms and legs, blood on one of her feet.

   In swift motions that almost appeared as one, Mackenzie drew her weapon from her hip and pulled one from an ankle holster. She took careful aim at Jack while tossing the smaller weapon to Catlyn who caught it in mid-air. She never even took her eyes off Jack as she tossed the gun.

   "Hands in the air chief!" Mackenzie demanded.

   It was an amazing thing to watch. The strong bond and friendship between the two women was so ingrained, Mackenzie knew instinctively what actions she should take just from the tone of Catlyn's voice. She didn't know what was going on, yet she trusted her friend and knew what her friend needed. Even as he stared down the barrel of two guns he could appreciate the symmetry in which the ladies worked.

   He wanted that with Catlyn. He wanted Catlyn to know what he was thinking just from one word or a tone. He wanted her to never doubt his loyalty and love for her. And he was going to get that with Catlyn. He was determined, even as he raised his hands in the air.

   "Talk to me, Cat." Mackenzie said, keeping her gun steadily pointed. "Are you alright?"

   "H-he's here, Mack. I saw him. Jack was laughing with him in the kitchen." In stark contrast to Mackenzie's sure aim, Catlyn's hands shook visibly and hard, making her aim skewed at best.

   Mackenzie's eyes darkened in pure rage. She obviously knew who
he
was without further explanation. "Where is he now, Cat?"

   "I-I d-don't know? He was here. I swear."

   "I believe you." Mackenzie spoke softly but with threat, pulling cuffs from behind her. "Ok, chief, nice and slow, on your knees."

   Moving slowly towards him, Mackenzie checked to make sure Catlyn had her gun aimed before holstering hers, gripping Jack's wrists tightly in the cuffs, securing his hands behind him.