Chapter 11

Douglas stared across the room at Trevor Madison in silence for several of what had to be the longest minutes of his life, and he’d been in firefights with bullets flying inches past his head. Those minutes stretched into hours, where you thought your life would end any second and you’d give anything for the horror around you to simply end.

But he stood here in the back office of his family’s business and he could swear these were the longest damn minutes in his twenty-seven years on earth. His gaze flicked from Trevor to Chloe and back, and he did that a couple of times before he could get his eyeballs to stop ping ponging between them.

“You’re serious; you’re not pulling my leg?”

“Nope. Want to see it again?” Trevor asked him straight faced.

Douglas licked his lips, looked down at the computer, and nodded slowly.

“Chloe?” Trevor gestured at the computer.

“Ug, God this is so ridiculous. When did we become a sideshow act?” She stepped up and tapped the corner of the laptop. It popped off.

Douglas stared at it as his mother fiddled with it until she gave up. He nodded at Trevor and watched as he walked over and touched the computer. It whirred to life. “Damn, that is some amazing s**t.” He looked up at the two of them where they stood side by side.

Chloe rolled her eyes at him. “Right. Amazing.”

“I’m serious. Wish I could do that.”

She snorted. “No. You don’t.”

“Why? It’s pretty cool. The military would love to have you around. You could shut the enemy down in seconds with a simple touch. Less bloodshed that way.” He grinned at her, the grin faded when he saw her pale, the blood draining from her face as she turned to look at Trevor in horror. Trevor reached for her, pulling her against his body, wrapping her in his arms, and holding her tightly. Douglas frowned, wondering what he’d said to upset her.

He heard Trevor murmuring to her. “It’s all right; I won’t let them hurt you. It’s me they want, they don’t even know about what you can do.”

“But if they find out, what if they find out Trevor? They won’t let me go!” she sobbed out.

Beside him, his mother stood, taking over as she usually did. She may be a tiny little thing, but she could command attention with a single word if need be. Or a look when the situation needed it. “All right that’s enough. Trevor, do you still want a job?”

Trevor lifted his head from where he bent over Chloe, talking softly to her, to stare at Ava. “What? You still want me here. The FBI is looking for us; we’ll be a danger to you and your family!”

Douglas watched his mother shake her head firmly. “We have always helped those who have needed it and right now you need it. It is obvious that the FBI wants you to use your power in some way that is of benefit to them. Isn’t that always what the government does? My family will do what it can to shield you, for as long as we can. That is what is right.” She glared around the room at the lot of them as if she expected a disagreement from someone. No one disagreed, as if anyone would, Douglas thought with a grin.

Trevor smiled at her. “Thank you very much. We both appreciate it.”

Ava smiled back at him before turning to Douglas. “Show them to one of the employee cabins and get them settled. I’ll let your father know what’s going on. And Douglas, behave.”

“Don’t I always, Mother. And Mom, stop calling me Douglas.” Across the room, Billy laughed loudly. He sent the other man a grin as he led Trevor and Chloe through the backdoor. He heard Dawg admonishing his mother about the name thing as the door slammed shut behind them.

“Do we call you Doug instead of Douglas?” Chloe asked him as he led them down the path toward their new home.

“Nope. I don’t go by my given name, because I’m not real fond of the name Douglas. You call me Snafu or Snaf. Either works.”

She giggled. “You’re kidding, right?”

He stopped and turned to her, his looked deadly serious. “No.”

“Oh, um, okay. Snafu it is then. How does one come by that kind of nick name, exactly?”

“You remember what I said in the office, about the jokes the guy in my unit was making about how things always went to hell?”

They both nodded.

“Well, it usually did. Every damn time. Seemed as if we had a whole lot of luck on our missions, all of it bad. If it could go wrong, it did. But, only if I was there. So the guys started calling me snafu. Situation normal all fucked up. Because that was the normal MO when I was there.” He ended with a shrug and turned away to continue down the path.

Chloe jogged forward to walk by his side. “You don’t seem at all upset by the name, why is that?”

He frowned down at her. “Why would I be?”

She seemed confused by his question. “Weren’t they angry because everything was always messed up when you were around? Isn’t that why they gave you the nick name.”

He understood her confusion now. Perhaps at first the guys had been upset, but he’d proved his worth, proved that despite the bad luck, his being there wasn’t a total loss. “Maybe at first they weren’t pleased with my presence. After a few missions, they figured out that the discomfort they had to suffer through, the bad luck caused by whatever the fates threw at us because of me was somehow worth it. Because, I’m one hell of a shot and I can find my way out of anyplace, anytime, anywhere, even if it’s a concrete room with no doors and no windows. I think they figured the s**t luck was a trade off for my skills.”

“Interesting way to look at things, I suppose. I certainly wish I could look at my curse the way you look at things,” she told him with a sad little sigh.

He chuckled. “Curse? Honey, you’ve got one hell of a unique gift there. Every one of us other mortals here on Earth, we are so wrapped up in technology; we can’t see what we’re missing. You, you have the opportunity to show everyone, even if it’s only for a moment in their lives, what it’s like to look up from that screen that they’ve been glued to and take a look at the beauty around us.”

She looked up at him in awe. “I’ve never thought of it that way. I’ve only ever thought of all the things that I’ve missed out on. Everything that I’d never get to do or see for myself.” 

“All it takes is a different perspective, besides with wonder boy over there it looks like once you deactivate something he can pop it right back on, so no harm, no foul. Right?” He jogged lightly up the steps to their cabin and inserted the key into the lock, turned it and opened the door. When he turned back, Chloe was turned partially away, staring back at Trevor where he stood down the trail with the dog, lobbing sticks for the mutt to chase after.

Douglas watched her silently. She had a tiny smile on her face and a faraway look. Despite the fact that Trevor had said that the two had only just met, it was obvious they were already well on their way to falling in love. The looks they sent one another when they thought no one else was looking were telling. He heaved a sigh and turned away, love was for the foolish and stupid. It made you weak and inevitably, it got you killed, or worse it killed you slowly if the one you loved were to be taken from you. Worse yet, was when it turned you cold and dead inside if it were to betray you. There was a brief flicker of a grimace as he thought of his brother.

He shook off the memories, the feelings of grief over what his brother refused to both discuss and get past in order to get on with his life.

“Come on you two, come take a look at your new home!” he called out to Chloe and Trevor.

He waited while they walked over, Slate trailing behind them, and came up the steps to the small porch, and stood beside him. Chloe smiled and looked around the porch.

“It’s so pretty here. And peaceful as well. It reminds me a lot of my home up on Mt. Charleston.”

He watched them head inside, turned, and stared around for a moment. She had a point, it was pretty and peaceful, and it had been a long while since he’d stopped to enjoy that peace. A long, long while. Life had become much too hectic and he had become too jaded and cynical a man to believe in peace. He blew out a breath as he realized how innocent Chloe was. Damn, if the FBI got their hands on her they would destroy that innocence.

He glanced in through the door and watched as she flitted around the room, touching things and smiling at Trevor. Laughing as he touched the TV to fix it after she’d touched it. Her face lit with joy as he held his hand over hers so that she could use the remote control to channel surf. They were the flip side of a coin, complimenting one another. Counteracting one another’s powers. Alone they were one thing, but together an entirely different entity.

Douglas’ jaw clenched tightly. No one had the right to kill innocence like that, to wipe out the pure sweet child-like joy he saw in her eyes over something as simple as being able to use a TV remote.

Quietly, he placed the cabin key on the small table inside the door, pulled the door shut, and walked away from the cabin. He lifted his phone from his pocket and made a call. The phone rang twice before it was picked up.

“Speak to me little brother?”

“How soon can you get your butt home big brother?”

“You sound like you need backup yesterday. What’s brewing?”

Douglas stepped off the trail into the trees, walking deeper into the cover of the woods before he spoke. “I need your help protecting something. I need that help before I even made this call.”

“My butt is out of bed and I’m packing, consider me there.”

He could hear the sound of Kirk moving around, sure that his brother was doing exactly as he’d said. He wouldn’t ask questions, he would simply pack and get home, whether the Marine’s doctors discharged him or not. “Thanks Kirk. I ever tell you that you’re the best big brother ever?”

A chuckle drifted across the line, closing the miles that separated them. “Whoever she is, she must be damned pretty to make you so protective. Hope she’s worth it little brother.”

He heard the tightness in his brother’s voice, the emotion he tried in vain to hide, and he hated it. “She is, but she isn’t mine. She’s worth keeping alive though.”

“Damn, you got it that bad?” Kirk questioned.

It was Doug’s turn to chuckle. “I’m not in love with her; just trust me, when you meet her you’ll understand. It isn’t something I can explain over the phone.”

“I’ll be there.”

The line disconnected. Douglas shoved the phone back into his pocket. He prayed that he was doing the right thing. Kirkland could be cold, almost emotionless, but he was a damn good Marine sniper. One of the best. His instincts for sensing approaching danger were phenomenal. It was the reason Doug had called him.

He would do what he could to protect the couple that now resided in that cabin. He knew his mother, she already considered them a part of the family. And so did he and they all would do whatever they could to protect family.