Tiger Moths (26 page)

“Why do you always sound like you are negotiating a contract? Okay, that’s fine. I’ll have the tickets waiting for you. See you soon, love you.”

Dale cradled the receiver without saying good-bye. “Say Gracie, I have a surprise for you. How would you like to go see Johnny Clark in concert tonight at the stadium?”

“Yes!” She put both hands in the air like she had just scored a touchdown.

Laura looked inquiringly at Dale, but said nothing. Yet Dale knew her thoughts.
Sure hope that was not Jason.

It was warm for an October night, and the stadium was packed. Dale and company found a decent parking place and went to get tickets. The crowd was unbelievable; maybe thirty thousand or so packed Neyland Stadium. It was as loud and exciting as any football game that had ever been played there.

It took some doing, but they finally made it to their front row seats as the last front band finished up. Within minutes the announcer came and gave the crowd what they came for.

“And now, Volunteer fans, here’s one of your own, JOHNNY CLARK.”

The crowd was crazy, the noise deafening, and the fireworks spectacular. Gracie stood up in her chair waving her glow sticks for all she was worth. She had insisted on buying them, because it was a tradition now to buy glow sticks if you were going to a Johnny Clark concert.

Johnny hit the stage, waved to the crowd in the back row, and sang “Smoky Sunset.” It was a sure crowd favorite here in Knoxville. Everyone, especially Gracie, sang along.

It was not until the third song, a slower tune, that Johnny looked at the front row and saw them. His face lit up like the earlier fireworks. He waved and walked to the end of the stage to reach down and shake their hands, but dozens of other hands intercepted him. He looked straight at Dale, moved his head toward backstage, and gave a wink. She felt her heart race.

During an instrumental portion of the song he appeared to talk to someone offstage; and, in no time, a messenger came to Dale and handed her an envelope. She opened it to find three backstage passes. Gracie looked at her and just gave her a thumbs-up signal. It was way too loud to talk.

Dale caught Jason standing side-stage staring at her. It was an eerie exchange and she quickly diverted her eyes.
I wish I didn’t even have to see you again, Jason, but it was part of our deal. It will be over quickly and then I’ll get to talk with Johnny again.

The show ended after two solid hours of fantastic music. Dale, Laura, and Gracie made their way to the back. Laura and Gracie made it all the way to Johnny, but Dale wasn’t so lucky.

“Now it’s your turn to live up to your end of the bargain, Dale. Come on, let’s you and I find some privacy.” Jason gripped her arm firmly and half dragged her to a small, empty room. He was determined to have his time with her.

“Jason, stop, you are hurting my arm!” She momentarily regained her freedom. “This is no way to start a conversation.”

“Who said we were going to talk?” He grabbed both of her arms and pulled her toward him. He kissed her roughly on the mouth and threw her to the floor, straddling her. He leaned down to kiss her again. This time he was even more forceful, almost violent.

Fear welled up in her as she kicked and tried to bite him, but failed. He threw his hand over her mouth before she could scream, and stared at her. It was a look unlike any she had ever seen, wild and crazed. Her eyes widened with the realization that she was staring evil directly in the face.
God, please protect me. I need Your guardian angel.

“I’ve waited all these years for you, and now you just want to throw me away like I mean nothing to you. I tracked you down in Guam, you know. That’s right; it wasn’t some cosmic coincidence that we were there.”

Dale gasped. “But you said it proved we were meant to be together – our meeting like that.”

“Yes, I did. And you bought it just like I knew you would. I know you so well, Dale. I know how you think and I know what you want. I know what kind of woman you are. You use people and then you forget about them. And I know I lost years longing for you. I would have done anything for you, and then I saw you with that Johnny. What could you possibly see in that poor, dumb kid? I made him, Dale. He’d be pumping gas somewhere without me. And I could have made you something special too, but turns out you are dumber than he is. I want you and I am going to have you. This time, for once, I am going to call the shots, not you. I’m taking you away from here, and no one else will ever have you again.”

He stuffed her mouth with a handkerchief from his pocket and tied her hands behind her back. He stood, never taking his eyes off of her. Picking her up, he began pulling her toward the back door. She was hopelessly trapped in a place no one likely knew existed. There was no way anyone would hear her muffled screams. Tears welled up in her eyes. There was no escape.
Please, God, help me. Stop him, please God.

“Are you praying right now, Dale?” Jason sneered. “Well it won’t do you any good. God will never forgive you for what you did to me, and neither will I. God knows how badly you treated me. What a hypocrite you are! Go ahead and pray; it won’t be heard or answered.”

“Johnny, look, I have glow sticks again, just like in Guam. Want to see what I can do with them?”

“Sure, Gracie, let’s see what you can do.”

Gracie moved the sticks through the air in an attempt to spell J.O.H.N.N.Y., but it was hard to see what she was doing in the bright light. Laura stepped in to explain. “Oh, it’s a story Dale and her dad were telling us about Myrtle Beach and meeting some little boy in the campsite back when Dale was Gracie’s age and…”

“And telling him one day his name would be in lights,” Johnny finished Laura’s sentence.

“Yes, how did you know? She must have told you that story before.”

“No, Laura, I lived it. I was that boy! She called me Jack then, because my initials were JAC – Johnny Allen Clark!”

They stared at each other like they had just seen Martians. Neither one of them could believe what had just happened.

“You are JAC?” Laura was speechless, probably a first for her.

“Laura, where’s Dale? I have to tell her! I knew in my heart way back then that I would see her again. She is the one who gave me that spark for my dream.”

“Well, she walked in right behind us, but she told me on the way over here tonight that she had some kind of meeting with Jason.”

“Jason! No way! I have to find her! He’s bad news, Laura, more than you know. He had me beat up in Guam!” Johnny was on his feet.

“Beat up?” Laura’s voice trailed behind him.

He quickly picked his way through the crowd, but found neither of them. He searched the hall and saw a door at the end. Racing to it, he threw it open, and saw Jason pushing a bound and gagged Dale toward a rear entrance. Dale fought him as best she could but, when Jason saw Johnny, he shoved her to the floor. Her head hit the concrete hard. Johnny leaped across the room and knocked Jason away from Dale. But Jason quickly recovered and gave Johnny a right cross that nailed him.

Johnny lay motionless just a few feet from Dale. She got to her feet and started toward Johnny, dislodging the gag in the process. Blood flowed freely from the gash on her head and ran into her left eye. Dale cried for him to stop, but Jason slapped her across the face again, sending her to the floor. Like a madman, he went over to Johnny, who still lay stunned on the ground.

“I made you and now I’m going to destroy you, you ungrateful little boy.”

He lifted Johnny up by the collar into a sitting position and cocked his arm, but something stopped him. He looked behind him.

“Hi there, Jason; remember me? You will after this.”

Big Ben shattered Jason’s jaw and knocked him out cold with one effortless punch. Laura shielded Gracie from what was going on, and walked her back to the front. She pulled a security guard over and explained what had just happened.

Within minutes, the paramedics arrived and began evaluating both of the victims. Johnny looked up and saw Dale staring at him from across the room. He smiled a little and she smiled back. I have finally found the one.

“Dale, I just want you to know…” He swallowed back the pain that shot through his head.

“What is it, Johnny?”

Before he could finish, the paramedic ordered him to be quiet so that he could continue his evaluation. “Sir, we think you may have a concussion. We need to get you to the hospital for x-rays and a complete exam. Don’t worry; your lady friend will be transported in another ambulance. You can talk then.”

Johnny nodded his head and whispered, “Make sure you take good care of her.”

The entrance to the hospital emergency room was crawling with reporters and photographers. It did not take long for word to get out that Johnny Clark had been involved in a serious attack following his concert. After two hours of waiting, the press still was not able to report on Johnny’s condition or what really happened.

Dale had been examined and released pretty quickly after receiving seven stitches to her wounded head. Now she alternated between sitting and pacing, as she waited for word on Johnny’s condition.

Big Ben had driven Gracie and Laura to the hospital directly behind the ambulance. They sat with Dale, trying unsuccessfully to calm her. All of them silently said prayers for the man that meant so much to them.

Inside the examining room, the attending physician finally finished his exam. The x-rays were clear and Johnny responded very well to all of the neurological tests. Johnny wasted little time when he was cleared for release.

Grabbing his shirt, he pulled it over his head as he walked to the door. Opening it, he said a quick “thank you” to the doctor. All he wanted now was to find Dale and make sure she was okay. He was desperate to see her and to tell her who he really was.

He entered the waiting room and saw Dale first. Despite all of the recent drama, she looked radiant to him. She looked up and met his eyes.

“Johnny!” she said.

She ran to him and met him halfway across the room. He embraced her tenderly. Sweeping back her hair, he stared into her deep green eyes.

“Hey there. Are you okay?”

“Yes. I am now. And you?”

“Fit and ready to go.”

Ben, Laura and Gracie joined them. Gracie spoke first. “Johnny, you need to do a better job of keeping bad people away from your shows.”

Johnny laughed and said, “You are absolutely right, Gracie. We will work on that. But just so you will know, the police said they are going to lock the man that did all of this up for a long time. Okay? You feel safe don’t you?”

“Okay Johnny. I always feel safe with all of you around.”

“Good. Now I’ve got something very important to tell your Aunt Dale.”

He looked back at Dale and continued. “I’ve been trying to tell you this for hours. I’m JAC!”

“You are JAC?” She looked at Laura quizzically.

“Myrtle Beach, glow sticks JAC,” Laura helped.

“You are JAC! Oh, Johnny, all those years ago, I wanted so much to save you and now it was you who saved me.”

“No, God has saved us both. But, Dale, you gave me the courage to hold on to my dream. For all my life I have held on to your words and now…”

“And now, you made it all the way!”

“Yep, just not as a football player.”

“Nor I as a pilot.”

“Just call us gavels and glow sticks.”

Dale laughed. “I like the sound of that. I guess God had better plans for us than we ever dreamed possible.”

Gracie chimed in, “Gavels and glow sticks sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“Kid’s pretty smart. What you say we give that a try?” He leaned forward; she covered the remaining distance as their lips met.

“See, Johnny, I told you that once the clouds passed there would be that one shining star for you. We all just gotta have faith, not in ourselves, but in our Lord and Savior. So dude, I got first dibs on best man at the wedding,” Big Ben growled and smiled at the same time.