CHAPTER FOUR

June, 2044

Nearly six months after the death of his grandfather, Winter Donovan was still consumed with a desire for revenge. This had his parents worried. Joe was convinced that Winter was going to do something based on emotion and not on his training.

They had talked to him on several occasions about this, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears. Winter was stubborn and headstrong, and his parents recognized that when he was still a little boy.

When an opportunity to visit his sister Danica in Washington, DC came up, Joe suggested that Winter take advantage of the invitation. "You'll get to know your new niece, and Briana will probably drag you to her soccer games," Joe said.

"But Wyatt wanted me to help him with some of his art projects, Dad," Winter protested.

"Wyatt does most of his painting alone in his room, Winter. He says he thinks better when he's left alone," said Joe.

"I think he meant when he showed them in that show in July," Winter said; "Since I can drive and can transport his stuff to Bangor for him."

"Oh, I can do that, Winter,"  Joe said; "You go to Washington and have a good time. Maybe Danica will put you to work in the shop since Vixen left for spook training last week. Nikky probably wants another guy around to shoot the bull with anyway."

Winter had to admit that was a good idea, and he hadn't seen Nikky since Christmas. It might even be fun.

===

Jaime felt something she hadn't felt since she and Jared married three years before.

That she was being watched. Again.

Oh come on, she thought to herself as she put her daughter Serenity down for a nap, I thought this was over and done with.

She pulled the light blanket up over her 13 month old daughter and turned on her night light.

Serenity was a surprise pregnancy. Jaime had been on birth control because she and Jared were in grad school and didn't plan on having babies right away. Then she found out that she was expecting and decided that this was the way to go. Jaime was able to keep up with her Vet School studies, and the following year, would take the state veterinary exam.

Veterinary school was paid for, thanks to her mother's companion Jack Coltrane. When he died when Jaime was 13, he provided the funds for her schooling in his will. There were even enough funds so that Jaime wouldn't have to work during her schooling if she didn't want to. She did, and did so until Serenity arrived, but for the last year, she was a full time mom and a full time student.

Jaime was always amazed when she looked at her daughter. Serenity inherited the Summers red hair, and looked a lot like the Terranova side of her grandmother's family. She had Jared's hazel eyes and almost no freckles. Her parents fell instantly in love with their little ginger princess.

Serenity was trying to talk, and said some real words from time to time.  Her first real words were "Mama", Dada" and "Nonna". Jaime was happy with that.

But this being watched thing? Jaime thought that was uncalled for, especially since she had no idea who would be watching her. Now that she had a child, Jaime was even more concerned. It wasn't just about her anymore. Nor was it about her and Jared. It was about Serenity's safety. Jaime wanted her daughter to have a comfortable, stress free life to just be a little girl with parents who adored her, and an extended family who cherished her very existance.

Jaime decided that she would get to the bottom of this nonsense. Find out who had been following her, why they were following her, and take them out if need be. It wasn't for her peace of mind. It was for Serenity.

The person who had been following her since she was 13 years old had other plans for her, and could care less what Jaime thought. Jaime would find out in one of the worst ways possible.

Jaime didn't realize it, but she was in real danger. And there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.

===

Late June, 2044

Winter had been in Washington, DC, for about a week, going to his niece's soccer matches, playing with Kendra, who was almost six months old; and working at It's Your Day Wedding Planners helping his cousin Nikky with all the grunt work. Winter liked  hanging out with Nikky, but found the work a little boring. It was a complete one-eighty from working on the Danica Antonia.  And he had no trouble telling Nikky so.

"Well, you certainly have the muscles to do that kind of work," Nikky said, "and I know that this isn't anything like lobster fishing. You do a good job at it. Maybe I should do a summer on your dad's boat."

"No offense, Nik, but you'd last about half a day on the boat," Winter said.

"None taken, Winter," Nikky said; "I'm a strong guy, but I'd probably have to be doing that my whole life to be even half as good as you are. You're built like a fuckin' tank. I know my limits, and that would probably exceed them. I'll stick to handling weapons and the occasional boxes of flowers that come through here. I have other plans for my life. I don't intend to be working at It's Your Day forever."

"What do you want to do?" Winter asked.

"I'm trying to get work doing what I studied in college, and that was economics," Nikky said. "I want to start my own business like Danica and Sandy did. But I want to get the basics down first. My academic background suggests that I'd be a good businessman. I've been doing the books for It's Your Day for about a year now with Danica's help. We make some serious coin here."

"I'll bet," Winter said. "People get married every day!"

"This is true, and Danica and Sandy fill that need by taking the arranging out of the hands of the bride and/or her family and do it themselves. Some brides, especially here in DC, just don't have the time or patience to do it. And Sandy knows that, like my twin sister, I'm going to want to do my own thing at some point."

"I have no idea what I want to do after high school," Winter said. "Part of me wants to stay on the boat and help Dad out, especially since Grandpa Frank is gone; and part of me wants to go to college and study something."

"What's your passion?"

Winter didn't even have to think about it. "My passion is to find the bastards who want my father and my family dead and send them straight to hell."

===

"Dad, is Mom going to be okay?" Mary Grace Peters asked her father, Chris.

"Mom's pretty tough, MG," Chris Peters said, "so I think she'll be just fine. Just a setback from the surgery to fix her shoulder. It happens sometimes."

"So I shouldn't call Jessikah and have her come home?" Mary Grace asked.

"I've called your sister and gave her an update," Chris said; "If she's needed here, I'll call her. She's doing important work for Jere Donovan's Presidential campaign."

"Dad, I know that," Mary Grace said, slightly annoyed. She hated that her parents seemed to be keeping things from her. Like how sick her mother really was. She was certain that they told her twin sister Jessikah a whole hell of a lot more than they told her.

Chris saw the change in his younger daughter's demeanor. She still thinks we think she's stupid, he thought. She's got freakin degrees in biology and chemistry. She graduated Summa Cum Laude! She's hardly stupid!

If he thought about it, if he had said anything about Rebekah's shoulder injury, it would have probably been his anger that her surgeons prescribed an opiate for the pain, knowing Rebekah's past drug abuse. That's what put her back in the hospital after surgery, not a complication from the surgery itself. Rebekah had a bad reaction to the medicine, recognized it as such, and checked herself into rehab before it became a full blown addiction. Something, Chris realized, that Mary Grace would know had he not kept the entire truth from both her and Jessikah.

"MG, Mom's going to be fine, and you know as much as Jessikah knows," Chris said.

Mary Grace only sighed. She knew her father was lying, but why, she had no idea.

===

"Mmm, Ms. Massengill, you'll be a fine specimen to practice on," he said as he followed the tall, dark haired woman from the MARC station to the commuter parking lot. "You're the same size, shape, and height as my pet. And when I'm done practicing on you, I'll make sure you'll never squeal. Your poor children will be without a mother and your husband's family will have to take them in. Poor, poor Jessikah Massengill..."

He watched as the woman got into her car and drove out of the parking lot to her home in Arlington, where her young children waited for her. He knew she was a single parent, her husband dying during a military exercise in the Middle East just two years before. Her children would have no first hand knowledge of their father. No memories of him would be in their minds.

And if he played his cards right, they wouldn't remember their mother, either.

His thoughts turned, as they always did, to the redhead he fancied. He knew that she and Jessikah were cousins. He was waiting for just the right moment to put his plans in motion. He knew it would take a while.

Meanwhile,  there was another waiting for him in the barn on his ranch in the Virginia countryside. He was almost done with her, as her usefulness to him had just about played out. When she was as used up as she could get, he would make sure no one ever knew about their little games.

She would join the others, with families who will forever wonder what happened to their daughters.

===

Serenity Walters decided that today was the day she was going to show Mommy and Daddy she could walk. She'd been practicing in her bedroom when she should have been taking a nap. Mommy and Daddy didn't know she figured out how to get out of her crib.

Today was the day.

"Mama..." she said, getting her mother's attention. Jaime was surprised to see her little ginger princess standing up in the middle of the living room.

"Looks like someone is getting ready to walk, Mama," Jared said as he came into the room.

"Serenity, come to Mama," Jaime said.

Serenity squealled happily, then took a first tentative step. Then a second; and a third.

Jaime sat on the floor, waiting for Serenity to make it all the way to her lap.

Serenity would take three or four steps, stop, then take more. Soon, she was just a couple of steps away from her mother's lap.

"C'mon Serenity," Jared said from behind his wife; "You can do it, princess."

With a great squeal, Serenity took the final steps and collapsed into her mother's lap laughing.

"Wow, Serenity!" Jaime said; "What a big girl you are! That deserves a cookie, doesn't it, Daddy?"

"Sure does!" Jared said.

Serenity knew about cookies. Cookies were good things to eat. She got back up on her feet and followed Daddy into the kitchen with her mother right behind her.

Soon she was sitting on her booster seat, her sippy cup of milk on the table, and two cookies on a little plate.

She held up one cookie and said, "Cookie!" before she devoured it.

Her parents sat at the table with her, watching her enjoy her cookies. Later, Jaime would call Nonna Julia and tell her that Serenity could walk.

===

Julia wasn't sure about the whole idea of writing a book about her life.

She wondered what she could say that hadn't already been written about, gossipped about, speculated about. And there were definitely some things she'd never mention in a book about her life.

That she was the dreaded SpineSplitter from the Occupation that ended when she was 19 years old.

That her oldest daughter was fathered by man other than her husband.

That to this day, she could pick up a weapon and kill an enemy without remorse, then go back to her patients at the hospital trying to save their lives.

The number of people who wanted to write Julia's story, and the stories of her brothers and sisters in arms, would stretch around the perimeter of her property several times.

Each time she was asked, her answer was a resounding "NO!" There was no way in hell that she would allow someone else to write a book about her life. If her story was going to get told, she, and only she, would be the one to tell it.

But at 44 years old, she wasn't sure if it was time to tell it. Julia often thought that she'd take her secrets to the grave with her.

I wish people would give it a rest, Julia thought as she left the house to go to the hospital and work her usual twelve hour shift. Rachel was the only one of her children still at home, and she could take care of anything that came up at the house.

All four-feet-eleven inches of her.

That girl is going to cause Cole Nichols some major league headaches, Julia thought.

The idea that they were going to get married didn't sit well with her. Julia thought they were both too young.

"Said she who got married at 17," Julia said aloud.

Julia Summers knew that Rachel was not an ordinary 18 year old; and Cole Nichols knew it, too. Cole's mother, Nico, was okay with the idea. She knew what kind of man her son was. He could handle marriage, college, and Rachel's prowess with weaponry. Plus they were in love and mature enough to see their way to a happy life together.

Not many 18 year olds could say that, Julia thought. She then sighed.

When did my children grow up? she said to herself.

===

"Winter, think about what you're saying!" Nikky said, shocked by Winter's statement; "In order to get that kind of revenge, you need more training, you need to keep your emotions in check, and you're not doing that. That will get you killed!"

Winter only looked at Nikky, nearly seven years older than him, and knew he was right.

"What do I do?" he asked. "I don't want to cause my family any more grief."

"First, you need to get your ass in college," Nikky said; "find something you want to do for the rest of your life, and study the shit out of it. Then, if you still want to be trained to be the best sniper out there, my mom has tons of contacts in the spook community. That's how Vixen got into spook school. Now you're just too young. You're good, if what your sister says is so, but you're only 16 fucking years old. Take the time to be a kid. This isn't the Occupation, Winter. When the time is right, after the people who killed your grandfather have forgotten about him, then go after them hard. I'll back you up, but now, you have to decide on what to do from here. You're an intelligent kid. Go to college and get the education your intellect craves."

"I do kinda want to study oceanography, like my dad did," Winter said; "Even my grandfather said I should, because of all the questions I asked Dad when I was a little kid. Maybe see if there's a way to keep our livelihood alive, because we have to go further and further out to find lobsters. Once they're gone, they're gone."

"Maybe Marine Biology and Oceanography would get that done for you," Nikky said. "You'll probably take over from your dad one day, and if there's no lobsters because the waters are overfished, then your family's business will go under. I can see that from an economic standpoint."

Winter nodded. "You have some good points there, Nik. Thanks for the pep talk. I think I needed to hear that from someone other than my parents."

Nikky patted his cousin on the back and said, "Glad to be of help, Winter."

===