Bears Repeating (7 page)

The men went silent. Finally Jack said, "It wasn't like that."

"Wasn't it? Are you telling me I woke up to a cold campsite only in my head?"

They both shook their heads. Jena looked at both of them. The men were only here because Don asked them to be. They didn't actually want to be here, to be near her, doing any of this.

"Then I come home, and the news is, pardon the pun, exploding with stories about a plant being bombed! A manufacturing plant we were all heading to!"

Jack started to say something, but Matt shook his head at him and he stopped. They all just stared at each other.
Closure was for suckers, this was even worse than not knowing.

She pulled her legs over the edge and said, "Let me do the courtesy you failed to offer me. Goodbye, gentlemen. I'm going home."

Matt said, "We're going to follow you to shore."

"If you feel the need, you have made it very clear that I can't stop you from doing whatever you want. You will soon see I am perfectly capable of doing this swim."

She slipped into the water and headed for shore. Half expecting them to zoom off with a flourish, she was surprised that they were following her. She almost made it to the break, it was only waist deep, when she heard a shout as she stood. The boat was close as the men jumped into the water and ran towards her. Her instincts let her down again, as she stood her ground. She should have run, instead, she was pulled into Matt's arms.

For a glorious moment, she was wrapped in Matt and Jack's arms as the waves crashed around them. She forgot everything but their strength and warmth and couldn't help but cling to them. Matt pressed a hard kiss to her mouth and Jack bit her neck.

As Jack went to lift her, she came back to herself and said, "Please, you have to let me go."

Matt said, "You are ours. Your body knows."

"It doesn't matter. I'm the master of my body. And I know you're going to leave. Do you want to fuck me on the beach and leave me again? I don't even really know who you are. Do you want me to bend to whatever you want right now so you can just leave me again the moment your little group or whatever you are calls you? That's a slave and I'm not interested."

It shattered her heart all over again to break away from them. She felt their arms grab for her, but she slipped out of their grip and ran toward the shore.

Jack shouted, "Wait, please."

Jena paused, but didn't turn back.

He said, "We're not killers or terrorists. We're special agents under cover. We're trying to prove that they are not legitimate researchers, but that they are experimenting on shifters. That's what we were doing. We hurt no one - I swear it. We completely cleared the facility. No one died."

She just couldn't believe them. She believed they would say whatever they needed right now. Jena just wanted to sink to the ground and wail, but she couldn't let them see her flinch, to give them a place to push against her will. She kept her eyes forward and stared walking. Finally, she glanced back and saw them just standing where she left them. Don was standing on the beach in front of her and as she passed him, he put a hand on her shoulder.

She said, "Don, please, don't stop me. You reassured yourself, I'm okay."

"That's not why..."

"It doesn't matter," Jena said.

"Of course it does."

"No, Don. How long would it be before whatever kind of organization you are calls them away again? Maybe they wouldn't leave me drugged and vulnerable,
again
, but the only thing that future leads to is pain. Please Don, let me walk away before it really will hurt me."

He dropped his hand and nodded. He said, "I'm not moving though."

Jena nodded and kept moving away from the beach. She knew if she stopped, if she even looked back and saw them, she'd never be able to take another step away from them. She could not give that power to anyone. Even if the strange threads that were woven between them tightened around her heart with every step she took. They would take whatever physical thing they wanted from her and leave her an empty husk. Never again.

~ * ~ * ~

Jena threw the last bag into her car and shut the trunk. She dropped her keys at the voice that said, "Guessing it ain't a laundry run?"

She gasped, spun around and said, "Jesus, Don, you almost gave me a heart attack."

"You were just gonna take off without saying anything." His voice was flat, and she just looked at him and lifted one eyebrow. He dropped his eyes and the void between them grew until Jena finally took pity on him and broke the growing silence.

"Don, I know you're just doing your job. But you know I'm not going to run my mouth off to anybody and blow your cover. I just need to get the hell away from everything for a while."

"Run your mouth? You think I'm keeping you under surveillance because you might give away the operation?"

Jena shrugged at him and said, "Don, it's been two weeks, wouldn't the maybe bad guys have come for me already?"

"Maybe bad guys?"

"Hey, all they did was hire a creep. Someone blew up a building. I'm really not sure if you're good or bad. And I don't care. If you were going to try and kill me, you have had plenty of time. And so have they."

Don shook his head and said, "They play a long game. I wish you wouldn't go. Besides, it will make the boys rage."

Her spine straightened and her nostrils flared as she said, "Don, I don't have a mysterious organization paying my bills. I need to work."

Before he could retort, they heard Vera call out, "Jena! Hang on!"

The other woman hustled over, holding out a paper bag. She said, "Your favorite. When you said you had some work coming up, I wanted to make sure I got these to you before you headed out."

Don looked startled and said, "You knew she was going?"

Vera's face went cold and she said, "She and I are friends, unless you want to vet that too?"

Don went bright red. Jena had never seen the man so discomforted. She hugged Vera and said, "Thank you so much! I'm not going far."

"Oh, to the big park?"

Jena didn't want to confirm anything in front of Don, so just smiled and said, "I'll make sure I get a good picture for your wall."

Vera turned to Don, struck a belligerent pose and said, "Are you going to want to approve that too? She brings me pictures back from just about every trip she goes on for my picture wall." Vera turned on her heel and strode back to her house, with the other two left to watch.

Jena finally said, "That went well for you."

Don watched Vera walk away and said to Jena, "I'm handling her about as well as Matt and Jack handled you."

"Give yourself some credit, Don. She's still talking to you."

Before Don could retort, Jena hopped in the car and drove away.

Chapter Eight

Two days later, Jena pulled into her parking spot. She pulled her things into her cottage and plopped in front of the TV. She almost groaned as the first thing that popped on was yet another talking head reporting about the explosion. She leaned over to change the channel when it finally caught her attention.

"As authorities continue to comb the wreckage there are still no casualties reported. At this time, all workers have been accounted for. At this point, it appears there have been no deaths. The plant explosion is still considered of unknown origins, but no indications of outside materials have been found."

Jena sat back, mulling over the news. Not that it mattered, as the heat on their organization died down, Don would go back to work and they would all forget about her. At least she wasn't in love with murderers. 

As she lay on the couch, there was pounding on the door. Vera burst into the house in tears and grabbed her. She pulled Jena outside, then into her cottage. She shoved an envelope into Jena's hands.

"Vera, what is going on?"

"Oh Jena, it's Don, they've taken him."

Jena sank into a chair and said, "I don't understand, who?"

"I don't know who it was. He just swept in last night, grabbed him. Said if I called the police we were both dead."

Jena wrapped her arms around Vera and rocked with her.

"He was very angry you weren't here, that's when he left the note for you."

"Did you read it?"

"No. They said they were watching. I believed them."

"So they know I'm here."

Vera nodded and whispered, "I'm so sorry. I should have just gone..."

"No Vera, you were right." Jena stopped and pulled open the note. It was brief.

Meet on the island in the bay. There is a boat waiting at the dock.

"Okay, Vera, I'm not going to let them hurt Don. Did Don ever give you any 'in case of emergency' instructions or contact information?"

Vera paused and said, "No, I mean, yes, he definitely gave me emergency contact numbers. You know I keep the neighborhood emergency list updated." Vera pulled some papers off the refrigerator, and flipped it to Don's entry. She said, "Yes, a young man, Matt Jack. Strange name, perhaps I copied it wrong."

Jena felt a rush of relief.

Vera looked at her and frowned, "He said our phones where tapped. How will we call them?"

Jena frowned, "Everything I've ever read is about how sophisticated modern surveillance equipment is. Have you noticed anything unusual the last few weeks?"

Vera shook her head, but reached into the drawer and pulled out a pen and paper. She quickly scribbled a note and handed it to Jena. She had to just hope that they weren't in a crazy spy movie and that they weren't reading the note by listening to the vibrations the pen scratches on paper made in the windows.

"Do you still have your dive gear?"

"Yes. In the boat house."

"We don't have much time. I need a wet suit and tank."

Jena hastily sketched out a plan and Vera nodded in agreement. The bad guys might have sophisticated gear, but they apparently hadn't bothered to find out anything about the community and house itself. The two women walked into the pantry and shut the behind them. Vera opened the hidden trap door and the two women eased down into the crawl space. Vera frowned at the dirt then sighed. She muttered under her breath, "Of course I'm wearing my new white suit." They belly crawled to the adjoining trapdoor.
"Really glad you have a duplex."

"Well, I'm just glad Patty never bothered to put a lock or bolt on her trap door. And that she's out of town. You know she'd start screaming if we popped up into her house when she went to get a nip of sherry."

Vera opened the trap door and they both stepped into the other woman's pantry. "Patty has been bragging about finally replacing that terrible little phone of hers. Right before she left, she threw it on the coffee table. Very over dramatic. Her son got her the latest iThing. Not that he ever calls." Vera eased the pantry door open and crawled over to the neighbor’s living room. Jena watched her and tried not to think about Don being in Jason's control. This time she wasn't going to hesitate. No one was ever going to have to worry about him again.

"Jackpot! She never gets rid of anything." Vera hustled back to Jena and said, "Looks like it still connected to the network and it's charged. She never got the chance to shut it off - she's too cheap not to have canceled it, except she got distracted." Vera fiddled with the phone a few moments then handed it to Jena. "I put that number you said was so important in the phone. Can you believe Patty sprung for the crazy expensive waterproof case, but wouldn't just buy a new phone 2 years ago? I'll call those boys from her phone. You just get out to the island. You're sure I shouldn't call the police?"

"Trust me, Vera. I promise I'll tell you everything, but you really, really shouldn't call the police. When this is all over, they'll tell you everything. Then you can decide if you want to call the cops."

Vera gave Jena a quick hug and whispered in her ear, "Good luck."

Jena slipped back under the house and headed to the edge of the house. Her quick peek out showed that no one appeared to be around. Jena eased into the shrubbery and circled behind her target. This was the scariest part, there was no avoiding it. She pulled the baseball cap over her head and hoped the big housecoat she'd thrown over her clothes made her look like one of the other neighbors.

She walked down the path, and slipped into the boat house. She closed the door with a sigh. After a few long minutes, she relaxed slightly, there was no uproar, no movement from the houses. She went to Vera's storage lockers and pulled out her gear. Jena slipped into the wet suit. She'd warned Vera not to expect anything back. She would ditch all of her gear into the ocean in a heartbeat if she had too. Jena just needed enough oxygen to get her well away from land.

Jena geared up and slipped into the water, grateful the weather was cooperating. The flippers made the swim to the island go much faster than her last trek out. She was still exhausted when she dove down through the tunnel into the hidden grotto.

She kicked most of the swim gear off, but kept the wetsuit on. She hoped it would help protect her. She pulled the phone out, relieved that the case really had kept the water out. She realized she had no way to let Vera know she'd made it.