“He passed away two years ago, Danny. He was as with it as a thirty-five-year-old man in an eighty-eight-year-old body. He told me never to give up on you; you’d always be alive as long as one of us still believed in you. His last words were of you, ‘the birds of the air, the beasts of the fields, the creatures that swim in the sea.’ He mourned you, Danny boy. He blamed himself. So did I. I thought if you’d trusted me, if you hadn’t run off, you’d still be alive.”
“It wasn’t your fault, Dad. It was mine. I should never have run away. I’m sorry.”
“What kind of bad dream was it, Danny?”
“I was being chased by big black suited soldiers. They caught me, had no faces just black swords that ate my memories until all that was left of me was a faded photograph. Dad, will they come after me again?”
“Both Director Sustain and the Colonel have been arrested, Danny. The President has ordered the Secret Service to protect you the same as Felice. When you’re better, we’ll get you out of here and go out west somewhere where you can recover completely. Then you can decide what you want to do.”
I didn’t answer him. In truth, I had no answer to that question. I had been a track star, I had wanted to go into training for the triathlon and was now reduced to being a paraplegic for the rest of my life. “Will I be able to sit in a wheelchair?” I wasn’t sure how bad the extent of my injuries were.
“I think so, Danny. The therapist can explain it better than I.”
He introduced himself and told me the only person I would hate worse than he was the person who’d put me in the wheelchair and I told him that wouldn’t do me any good as he was dead. We did passive exercises with my legs, nothing strenuous as my bones were still healing. I couldn’t feel his hands on me below the waist. I could see his resting on the carapace. Asked if that line was in me.
“You mean the catheter?”
“Yeah. Is that why don’t feel like I have to pee?”
“Yes, Danny. Shall we try your arms?”
“Why? I can move those.” I could feel the pain creeping back up and my stomach hurt. Looking around the room at all the baskets and flowers, I pointed asking Dad if he could get me something to eat. He brought me a Dove chocolate bar and opened it for me. I chewed, let it melt in my mouth, and felt an odd jolt as someone’s thoughts intruded in my skull.
“Dad!”
“What, Danny? He looked up from watching the therapist’s hands on my calves.
“There’s someone out there who knows about me, Dad. He’s planning to steal me away,” I said in horror.
“Who, Danny? Tell me who?” He bolted up and headed for the door and the agent just outside. It was Mitchell and he came in like a charging rhino.
“I can’t sense him anymore,” I said in dismay. “Dad, you have to get me out of here. They’ll take me away, and I’ll never see you again. Or Felice. I’ll die if they lock me up in that cage!”
“Calm down, Danny. Tell us who. Who did you see?” Mitchell asked.
“I don’t know. He hid his mind from me just now. I caught traces of his thoughts. Curare, a body bag from the morgue. My name. A million dollars. Someone paid him a million dollars to acquire me.”
My blood pressure skyrocketed, an alarm sounded bringing in more personnel and the doctors scolded me for getting upset but my father quickly got them to see why I was so frantic. They decided to move me, bed and all to a private room in the VIP ward where past Presidents stayed when in need of rest or recovering. Every one of the guards were handpicked by Gaines and James, placed there by President Rickover.
“What should we do, Senator?” Gaines asked.
“Are Sustain, and Pierce still in custody?” My Dad asked in a low voice, but I heard him.
Mitchell’s answer made my blood pressure spike again, and I shrieked, loud enough to sound like a girl.
“Danny. Quiet!” My Dad’s voice was sharp and the tone cut through my hysteria as if I was a ten-year-old caught with my hand in his wallet.
“Danny, I won’t let anything happen to you. You’re safe, I promise. Mitchell, called Jake and the President. Find out if I can bring Danny to the White House with his nurses. You’ll be safe there, Danny. Safer there than anywhere else. Call the doctor, see if Danny can be airlifted.”
“Yes, Senator.”
Dad came over to me and calmed me down. I felt so helpless; I couldn’t even lift myself up in bed. “Dad, I can’t get away if he comes for me.”
“We won’t let that happen, Danny,” he promised. The Doctor came in and Dad took him aside warning me not to listen in.
Chapter 34
They drugged me so I wouldn’t move around in the helicopter. I protested, saying I wanted to be able to see what a cool trip in a flight ambulance was, but the Doctor told me I wouldn’t have been able to sit up anyway, it would separate the bones in my spine and pelvis if I moved the wrong way. So I woke up only when I was ensconced in my new room. When I was aware enough to really see, it was a girl’s room with pretty blue flowers, frilly curtains, posters of current heartthrobs. Felice’s room. Her bed was pushed over to make room for mine and my hospital equipment.
She was sitting in a rocker, her legs tucked under her bottom and reading on her Kindle.
“Lisi,” I said wearily. She unfolded, put down her Kindle and came over to me smiling.
“Welcome to the White House, Danny boy. How are you feeling?”
“Okay. Tired. Where is everyone?”
“Checking up on things. Are you hungry? The chef is making your favorite things. Or at least, what I remember of your favorites.”
“Is it breakfast time?”
“Almost dinner.”
“Any chocolate around here?” I couldn’t see the corners of the room, just directly in front of me, wherever my eyes could see without turning my head. “Are you going to take care of me, Felice?”
“Some of it, Danny. Most the nurses will do. Your dad hired them from the hospital so they vetted clean.”
“He escaped. He’s after me, Felice,” I said softly. She took my hand and held it to her lips.
“Danny, he has to go through the entire Secret Service to get to you. And me, he has to get through me, Danny.”
I remembered how well she could shoot. “Danny, can you… do that thing again? In my head?”
I smiled. “Maybe later, Felice. I’m tired now. Think I’ll sleep. Eat, later.”
I dreamed. Wandered in my dreams looking for Daniel but he was gone. Dreamed of my Mom and Uncle Townsley, he came with her and told me they loved me. He told me he was sorry for what happened to me, that it wasn’t what they’d seen was my destiny. I asked if he thought my legs would come back, that I could still feel what it was like to run on two strong legs. Mom cradled me in her arms and rocked me as she’d done when I was little.
“You have a great girl, Danny,” she kissed me. “Let her take care of you.”
“I know, Mom. Dad, too. He still loves you, Mom.”
“I watch over you two always, Danny.”
“Are you the light I saw when I was in the vault, Mom?” I asked snuggling against her chest.
“The light is always in you, Danny. You’re a child of light. Now, Felice is waiting for you. Make her happy. Wake up, Danny. Be happy. I watch over you always and forever.”
Soft kisses woke me and a warm body was lying next to me in my bed. I reached out with my hand and stroked her from her chin to as far as my hand could stretch, felt soft T-shirt and silky pants, her softly rounded belly and hard hipbones. She let me explore and I chuckled, remembering back when my hand cupped a soft breast and been punched for it. Not so now. Her breath quickened and her hands moved, but I couldn’t feel where.
“On your penis,” she murmured, and we were there. Inside her glorious mind and then my own where I could feel her hand on me, stroking, widening as I grew under her touch.
She kissed me. In my head, and for real. Tingles fluttered in my belly and I could feel her own
tidal surge of desire, her nipples hardened, her pulse racing as the wave crescendoed and spilled over, taking me with it. A slow, lingering flush of pleasure that started at the back of my head, and to my toes.
She kissed me on the corner of my eyes and whispered. “Danny, that was intense. I never imagined it could be like that.” She smiled. “Again?” We spent the whole evening lost in pleasure until she cried hunger, slipping out of bed to dress in sweats, promising to return with a feast for a king. She came back with the chef himself pushing a trolley loaded with covered dishes from which enticing smells emanated.
“Hello, young man,” he grinned. “I’ve made you all your favorites. Lasagna, garlic bread, French fries. Black forest cake. Crab cakes, sourdough bread and pound cake.”
My mouth watered and Felice carefully raised the bed up enough so I could eat, but not enough to put any strain on my back. She fed me, little bites in between her own and made a game out of it with the chef egging her on, and before I knew it, I had cleaned my plate.
Thanked the chef with a full belly and asked his name. “Chef Marcel Proust at your service, sir,” he smiled. “For breakfast tomorrow – crepe Suzette’s?”
“Those little pancakes stuffed with goodies?” I asked and he grinned.
“Let me guess, you like chocolate, oui?”
I answered him in French and astonished, he rattled off a whole line of pleased conversation to which I actually responded. “He speaks French! And with a pure Parisian accent!”
“Danny, when did you learn French?” Felice questioned. I shrugged.
“Dunno. I think Daniel spoke French. Rohan spoke Arabic and Farsi.”
“Rohan?”
“Rohan de Chevalier. He was the dude that the Colonel sent to Dubai,” I told them.
“Why?”
I looked at Chef Proust and he smiled, bowed and excused himself, taking the empties with him, but leaving the pound cake.
“Danny, the nurse will be in later to check your incision and toilet you. And then, the therapist will be in to do your exercises. Now, tell me about Rohan.”
“I think Doctor Andrews invented him. He was French from Paris, one of the lesser noble families because the Saudi I was sent to bribe wouldn’t even grant an interview unless one was of the same social status. Rohan brought him a tiercel.”
“A tiercel?”
“A female Peregrine falcon. He was into falconry. The bird was worth fifty K and only a special few with the right permits and clout could purchase one.”
“Why, Danny? Why did the Colonel send you, send this Rohan?”
I hesitated, said slowly, “Felice, that thing we do, where you go into my mind, I can do that to almost anyone. And anything.”
“God, I hope not,” she laughed. “That’s kinky.”
Felice, I said into her mind. I can read your thoughts. No, you’re not crazy, and I’m not talking out loud.
“Danny.” Her mouth hung open.
I can go into Dusty’s mind, or a bird, a cat, even mice. The only thing I haven’t been able to ‘read’ were bugs.
“Fish?” She asked out loud.
“Well, no. Not fish.” Her face darkened as she thought back to all those times when Dusty was with her in the bathroom and her bedroom.
No, Felice, I told her. I never peeped on you when you were…private.
“Can you do lottery numbers, too?”
I laughed. “No, Felice,” I said, switching it off. “All you have to do is hang up a ‘Do Not Enter’ sign in your head, and I won’t go in.”
“Like this?” It was as if she slammed the door in my nose.
I winced. “Yeah.”
“Don’t go in there unless I ask,” she threatened. I nodded, crossed my fingers and swore. She kissed me and let the nurse in who did all those things I couldn’t. She put me to bed and I fell asleep before Felice came back.
Chapter 35
It was nearly Thanksgiving, several weeks after my surgery and my staples and stitches were long gone but not the after effects of what had been major open-heart surgery. I was very weak, depressed from both my physical condition and mental status. You could see my face without the bumps, swellings and bruises. I could see out of both eyes and was astonished how much like my Mom I looked. I couldn’t judge how tall I was anymore but the PT torture people had me working on my upper body trying to build back my strength. I could sit up, bend over, and hurl myself out of bed into a wheelchair. I was tortured by phantom pains down my legs that I howled over during the night, waking up Felice, my nurses and half the White House staff.
Dad had bought me a really cool racing chair, light weight, fire engine red with yellow flames. Even better, he brought over a sleek, well fed Blue Heeler cross he’d found outside our house the day after I’d been kidnapped. I was astonished when I recognized her as the dog that had brought me to the boatyard.
“I adopted her, Danny,” Dad said. “She came to me after I lost you. Skinny, starved and scared but she let me touch her, feed her. Every time I thought about you, she was there. Like she was comforting me.”
“What did you name her?”
“Vange.”
I called her over and she put her head on my lap. I stroked her as she stared into my eyes. Hers were blue and brown, her skull bony under my fingers. I put my hand on her collar and she pulled me forward, chuffed as if it was a game she enjoyed. We went down the corridor and back while Dad watched in delight.
“Someone trained her, Danny. I took her to the vet; she’s about five years old, mostly Heeler and in good health. She’s had all her shots and spayed. Knows a dozen commands. She’s yours.”
“Dad.” I wanted to say thanks but couldn’t seem to get the words out.
“Oh, and Dusty likes her.” He walked alongside me as I pushed my chair along, Vange staying on my right. I had already scoped out the entire White House and even those places most staff weren’t allowed entry.
“Where’s Felice?” he asked.
“School. Finals are coming up for Midterms before Thanksgiving.”
“About Thanksgiving. Jason wants to know if you want to spend it here or at home.” His tone was casual.
I froze instantly. The White House was my cocoon and I was afraid to leave it. “They find the Colonel yet?”
“No,” Dad was terse.
“Any more trace of that dude that wants to take me?”
“You ever ‘hear’ him again?”
“No,” I said shortly. Not for lack of trying.
“Then, I guess we’ll celebrate it here.”
We rounded the corner of the family quarters off limits to all but the First Family and Secret Service. I waved to the agents on duty and the Staff. “Hi, Dantan,” they greeted me with smiles and my Dad with respect. “Senator De Rosier.”
“Mary, Tony, Mr. Kenyon.” He was the White House Butler.
“How are you feeling, Danny?”
“Okay,” I popped a wheelie under the portrait of Thomas Jefferson. President Rickover’s Chief of Staff came out of the Briefing Room and looked harried.
“Senator, just the man I was looking for. Is Friday night at 8 pm okay?”
Dad nodded. “I’ll make sure it’s on.”
“Good,” he said. “Blue, I think. Haircut, too.”
“That’s like pulling teeth,” he rolled his eyes.
“Hey, if you’re saying I need a haircut,” I complained, “try being bald.”
Dad gave me a little cuff on the back of the head but carefully. I’d fractured it when Parker had kicked me in the face. I was surprised my face had healed without scarring but Dad had told me that top Plastic Surgeons had worked on it while I’d been unconscious. I rubbed my eyebrow, teasing Dad about wanting a piercing. This time, he didn’t say anything.
“If you want one, Danny, try an ear.”
“Really? Really, I can pierce an ear?”
“No eyebrow, tongue, nipple or other.”
“Naw, Dad. I’m not into pain,
” I grinned. “I think I’ve had my lifetime share of it.”
“Where are you off to now?”
I turned in a circle and found the ornate Ormolu clock brought over from France by one of the former Presidents. It still kept good time as long as you wound it. “Felice will be home in a few hours. I think I’ll go hang out at the library and check out the books.”
“You have any therapy planned for this afternoon?”
I did, but I’d been dodging the PT people, I didn’t see the point when my legs were never going to come back. Not until I grew a new spine. Literally. “Jake said something about meeting me in the gym for some arm wrestling but I dunno. He cheats,” I laughed to cover up the depression that thinking about it brought me. Sometimes, I could go almost the whole day without thinking about my legs.
“Make sure you’re back by seven. I have a tailor coming to fit you for a suit.”
“What for?” I asked. “I don’t need a suit. I never go anywhere. Besides, I don’t know him. Is he safe?”
“Yes, he’s been my tailor for years. Thanksgiving is coming up, Dantan,” he smiled. “The President will expect you to dress for it. The Press will be there. We’ve kept you out of the media but they’ve been hounding me and the White House Press Corps since your return. Whether you like it or not, you’ve been a headline. All over the Internet, TV and papers.”
I didn’t say anything. The thought of going back out in public frightened me. I wanted to stay inside my safe little bubble surrounded by Secret Service and Security.
“Danny, you’ve got to return to the world. Don’t you want to go to school, college, pick up your life and go on?” he asked gently. “I’m not going to force you, you can stay home as long as you want but the White House isn’t home. Jason has already served one term and is a year into his second so even he has to leave in three more.”
“When he’s caught, Dad.”
“What if he’s not?”
“Not now, Dad. I can’t deal with this now.” I turned the chair around and pushed off leaving him standing in the hallway staring after me. Vange came with me. I found my way to the massive library and the staff on duty held the door open letting Vange and me in. I hesitated, seeing several strangers in the stacks and Mrs. Compton whispered reassurances.
“It’s okay, Dantan. They are graduate students from Senator D’Arcy’s office. Their papers and passes checked out.”
I nodded and she pointed to a table where lay a stack of hardcovers. “The newest Koontz, Tannenbaum, Woods, Connolly and Feist, Dantan. I set them aside for you. Even before the President saw them.”