“Kat, it’s one thing talking with the victims, but you are not going after the attackers. That is a job for the police, not a sixteen-year-old girl. You need to promise you won’t go after them, Kat.”
Kat looked Detective Lawless in the eyes and answered immediately. “I won’t go after them. I promise.”
Xavier held eye contact with Kat, “That came too easily. What aren’t you telling me? Are you going to get your karate instructor to go after them instead?” His brow crinkled, “It did sound like you were going to hurt them, not get someone else to. How can you do that if,” he nodded sure he understood, “you’re going to get them to attack you, just like you did with Adam Swanson.”
“I didn’t get him to attack me! He did that all by himself. They all do. I didn’t ask for any of it.”
Dominique put her hand on her daughter’s shoulder. “We need to go back to the gym now. Goodbye, Detective Lawless. We’ll see you later, Gareth.”
Eric drove towards the gym, noticing cars lining the streets four blocks from the gym. “Jeez, this is worse than this morning. I’ll try to drive into the gym’s street and drop you two as close as I can. I’ll park and meet you in the dojo.”
Josh ran into view and started waving at him to pull over.
Eric stopped the car. “Is everything okay?”
“Besides more students than I’ve ever seen in my life, yeah. They all want to see Kat. She should run in with her mum. I can either park your car or go with you while you do.”
Eric smiled at Josh. “Please, run with them. If something goes wrong, and Kat needs help, I know you’ve got her back.”
Josh beamed. “I certainly do.”
Kat reached over from the backseat and touched Eric on the shoulder. “Thanks, Dad. We’ll see you in the dojo.”
Dominique gave Eric a quick peck on the lips. “See you soon,” and jumped out of the car with Kat.
“That’s her!” Five people yelled almost at the same time.
Kat put her hand out in front of her in the same way Damon had that morning.
The crowd fell silent waiting for her to speak.
“You are all welcome to run in with us,” Kat said in a clear yet loud voice.
Damon beamed as he heard the crowd outside the gym start clapping and cheering. “That can only mean Kat’s here.”
Lucas smiled as the last person left the gym. “I’m starving and I’ve only been here half the day. I’ve ordered pizza and subs. We’ll meet at the Chase home,” he turned to Kat, Eric and Dominique who were standing together, Kat cuddling into her mum a little, “If that’s okay with you?”
Kat nodded, still half cuddled into Dominique. “I don’t know if I’m more tired or hungry. Having everyone at home would be fantastic, but don’t think I’m rude if I fall asleep.”
Everyone shook their heads but Damon spoke first, “No one has earned it more than you. Not only did you run all the classes today, you helped Marnie and Shanae and spoke to about a billion people and the press.”
Kat crinkled her nose. “I really don’t like Meredith Wright. I wish she hadn’t joined up. It’d be bad enough with just the other two, being under constant surveillance, but she seems to enjoy making things worse.”
Violet’s black eyes twinkled. “We’ll break the classes up tomorrow. I’ll take the group with the reporters in it and make them sweat like they’ve never sweat before. After a couple of weeks of that, hopefully, they’ll quit.”
Lucas beamed at his niece. “Sounds like a plan.”
Kat finished her last class for Saturday at midday but didn’t stop talking to students till almost one-thirty.
Dominique put her arm around her daughter. “Come on, you must be starving. Dad’s still working. Let’s walk to the car and go out for lunch. We haven’t had just the two of us for ages. Maybe some shopping after if you’re up to it?”
“Sounds wonderful, Mum. Maybe Damon and Violet can come over for dinner after work? We could get Chinese?”
“We’ll invite Connor and Josh also. It’s been a huge week for all of us.”
They invited the four of them on their way out and started walking the three blocks to their car.
“I wonder when we’ll be able to park at the gym again, Mum?”
Dominique shrugged. “We could try arriving when you go for your run in the morning.”
Kat shook her head. “Na, too early. Maybe it will die down soon.”
“Did someone say die?” Two men pulling on balaclavas walked out from behind the sign of one of the industrial estates. Another two men got out of a nineties model Falcon and two more from a white van, all pulling on balaclavas. “Hey, are you two sisters?”
Fuck! Six of them. These have to be the same monsters who hurt Chloe and Olivia and Marnie and Shanae. Why didn’t I feel them? Kat took hold of her mother’s hand as one of the men propped his phone up on the bonnet of the Falcon. “What? You’re filming this?”
“Yeah, we’re gonna put Emily Jones in another coma after she watches her mother die.” He pulled his knife out to wave menacingly at Dominique, but Dominique’s fingernail pierced his eye before he had a good grip on the knife. He yelled out in pain and disbelief.
“Nobody hurts my daughter!” Dominique slammed her palm heel into his nose and her knee into his groin.
He heard someone yell, “Get the knife!” as he fell to the ground and felt something hard hit him in the head and his world turned black.
Dominique jumped up and charged the closest man to her daughter.
“Shit! The mum’s worse than the daughter. Who’s got the knife?”
“I have,” Kat answered as she dodged a punch and stabbed her attacker in the shoulder. “Correction, he has. I’d leave it there if you don’t want to die.”
“Oh, fuck! Let’s get out of here!” The Falcon driver bolted to his car and sped off with the three uninjured men, leaving their buddies at Kat and Dominique’s mercy. The phone fell to the ground as they took off.
Dominique flung her arms around Kat, tears streaming down her face, “Nobody hurts my baby!”
Kat hugged her just as tightly, “Or my mum.” She looked at the man with the knife in his arm who was shivering and trying to slink off without being noticed. “You’re not going to get far. We won’t hurt you any more unless you try to hurt us or someone else. I’ll call an ambulance.”
The man shook his head. “I’ll go to jail.”
Kat nodded. “Yeah, you will, but that beats the hell out of going to the morgue.” She kept one arm around her mum and both eyes on their would-be attackers as she took out her phone.
Connor’s Commodore screeched to a stop. Damon jumped out of the passenger seat, gun in hand, and bolted to Kat and Dominique. “One unconscious. One wishing he were. Are you two ladies okay?”
Kat beamed at Damon. “Mum was fantastic. She took the one on the ground out by herself!”
“Kat scared them off by using their weapon against them!” Dominique looked proudly at her daughter.
Connor joined them. “You were both amazing!”
Kat looked at her phone. “I better call the ambulance.”
Damon’s phone sounded with Brent’s ringtone. “Hello, Brent.” He put it on speaker so everyone could hear.
“I’ve logged a call with triple zero. The police and ambulance should be on their way. The bad guys were filming the attack. Probably why they were wearing balaclavas. It was supposed to be a snuff movie and was streaming live.” Brent chuckled softly. “It certainly wasn’t what they intended. It’s going viral already. I can do my best to take it down, but even I can’t remove it completely. I also think it may be a good thing for our cause.”
Dominique spoke first. “Leave it up. It shows ordinary mums they can defend their children.”
“There is nothing ordinary about you, Dominique, but I agree with you. You are as inspirational as Kat and should be seen. This will do a lot of good.”
Chaos took Alpha’s laptop before
he could throw it against the wall. “Breaking the laptop won’t help.”
Alpha clenched his fists. “Well, breaking her obviously didn’t work. We can see where the girl got it from. Her mother’s a tigress. They fucking worked as a team showing others they can!”
Siren stroked Alpha’s inside thigh, purposely brushing his groin. “Today didn’t go as planned but it still worked. It proved Katerina Chase isn’t as strong as she or the world thought. We need one of her team members to take out the next attacker by himself. I suggest we put Damon Knightly up against the Hooker Killer. Kat’s never won against a killer. Let Damon take the glory on this.”
Chaos grinned and ran his hand up Alpha’s other thigh. “I agree with Siren, and I know just the hooker to grab.”
Alpha grabbed onto the back of Chaos’s head and pulled him in for a kiss, feeling Chaos’s stubble against his cheek. “You know I’m going to have to take you both to calm my temper.”
Chaos bit Alpha’s bottom lip. “What’s new?”
39
Kat looked out the gym’s front window to see the Channel Seven News van driving in. “Fuck. This’ll be more painful than the attack.” She looked at her mum, Damon and Detective Lawless. “I probably shouldn’t have sworn. I just hate dealing with her.”
Dominique’s eyes twinkled. “I can’t stand that fucking cow either.”
Eric chuckled. “I think that’s permission, princess.”
Damon gestured towards the other two news vans driving in. “We should make them interview you together. Those two are more agreeable than Meredith, but so is a brown snake.”
Kat raised an eyebrow as Detective Lawless stopped Meredith a few metres from her. “Katerina Chase is a minor. You will conduct this interview strictly by the book or I will confiscate your recording equipment.”
It looked as though steam would explode from Meredith’s ears. “Yes, Detective. I am more interested in interviewing her mother.” She strutted over to Dominique. “You look so young. You’re not a minor now, but how old were you when you had Kat?”
Dominique sniggered, “You did your homework. I was nineteen and Eric was twenty-one. Young, but certainly not minors.”
Meredith smiled sweetly. “So why just the one?”
Dominique shied away, more intimidated by the reporter than the thugs in the balaclavas. “Um. It just didn’t happen, and I don’t want to go into my private medical business on the news.”
Meredith smirked. “So there is something wrong with you? You and your daughter are abnormal. You’re not like other people, who are likely to get themselves killed if they act like you.”
Dominique stood a little straighter and smiled at her daughter, “Kat, come here.”
The cameramen from channels nine and ten moved in to get a better look at Kat and her mother.
Dominique put her arm around Kat and managed to look at both her and the cameras. “How many people have you talked to in the last few days?”
“Over a thousand, but I’m not sure exactly what number.”
“Would you classify any of them as normal?”
“God no! They’re all different. Most of them have had something bad happen to them. They all have it in them to beat their attackers. They just need training and confidence.”
Meredith shoved her microphone in front of Kat. “Are you telling us with training and confidence they can all beat their attackers?”
“It will give them a much better chance, but nothing’s a sure thing. I’ve certainly got the scars to prove that. What is a sure thing is if Mum and I didn’t fight back today, they could have done anything they wanted to us. They threatened to kill my mum and put me in a coma. Two of them are injured but will live. The other four got away…”
Detective Lawless stepped in and took the microphone from Meredith. “The police are looking for them. If you have any information, please call Crime Stoppers or the police.”
Annalise stepped forward. “May I interview the three of you now, please?”
Meredith glared at Annalise. “I’m not finished!”
Xavier looked at Meredith with cool blue eyes. “Oh yes you are.” He turned to Annalise and smiled. “Certainly, Miss Maitland. Mr Sanders, we’ll be with you next.”
“Thank you, Detective Lawless,” Kat said as she watched the reporters leave.
He smiled at her. “It’s my pleasure, Kat. Just doing my part for our team, and call me Xavier except when we’re in front of the press. Best to keep everything professional in front of them.”
Kat smiled back at him. “Absolutely.” Maybe he’s not too bad to have on our side.
Xavier turned to Damon. “Sorry, Sensei. I know you wanted it to be a group interview, but…”
“It worked well. I doubted Meredith could play with others anyway. You certainly put her in her place, Detective.”
“Xavier.”
Damon smiled. “Damon.”
Violet stepped in between them, prompting Xavier to smile at her. “And I’m Violet. Kat and Dominique were about to go to lunch when all this happened. It’s three twenty-five and they need some food in them. I’m sure tomorrow will be even crazier than it has been. Although Kat isn’t scheduled to teach, they’ll still all be hoping Kat and Dominique are here.” Violet’s eyes blazed at three cars driving in. “Correction. The craziness may have started already.”
Xavier looked at Gareth. “We’ll give the Chase family a police escort out of here.” He turned to Kat, “You need some time to process everything.”
“Thanks, Det…I mean Xavier.” Kat turned to Damon. “Are you still coming for dinner tonight?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. You were both amazing today.”
“Thanks, Day.” Kat turned to the detectives, “Xavier and Gareth, you are both welcome to join us for dinner.”
Gareth grinned. “Thanks, Kitty Kat, but my name’s Pia.”
40
Kat stopped herself from turning off the silent alarm on her watch and going back to sleep. She pushed herself out of bed and pulled on her Knightly Karate singlet and shorts, did her hair, used the bathroom and met Damon, Violet, Connor and Josh as they were running up her drive. “Hey, guys. I didn’t want to get out of bed this morning, but our run will be great.”
Damon smiled, highlighting his dimples as they ran. “I’ve slept pretty well these last few weeks also. The benefits of being rushed off our feet, hey?”
Violet’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure you’ll be okay without me?”
Damon nodded. “Your gym’s almost as busy as ours. They need you back in Sydney. You will be missed, and you have a bedroom anytime you want to visit.”
Violet beamed at her cousin. “Thanks. I’m going to miss you all, but putting some distance between me and the detectives won’t be a bad thing.”
Damon frowned. “Pia hasn’t tried to come onto you again?”
Violet shook her head. “Na. Honestly, I’d be tempted if he did. I wouldn’t, but I’d still be tempted. Xavier is better looking in a traditional way. There’s just something really…sexy about Gareth. Animal magnetism, maybe? What do you think, Kat? Or are they too old for you?”
“They’re probably too old, but I’m not attracted to anyone. I kissed Brady because I hoped he’d do the right thing. He didn’t. I haven’t kissed anyone since and only will if I need to for our cause.”
Damon’s brow furrowed. “That’s understandable but probably not healthy. I’ve only been attracted to one person since Bethany was murdered, and I didn’t act on it.”
This got everyone’s attention. “Who? Do we know her?”
“Her name’s Sky, and I doubt it.”
Violet cocked her head. “Tell us about her, cuz? Where do you know her from? What does she look like?”
“The best looking stranger I’ve ever seen. Practically perfect looking. Long, blonde hair, bright blue eyes, tall, slender and busty. I met her on a case.”
Kat looked at Damon. “But I’ve gone on
all our cases with you except…”
Damon nodded. “Yeah. She works at Black Velvet. Not the type of girl I expected at all, but none of them were really. I’d never do anything about it, and I’m sure she’d turn me down if I did.”
Kat was the only one who didn’t look at him strangely. Violet asked what most of them were wondering, “Are you saying she wasn’t interested in you?”
Damon smiled and shook his head. “She’s the only one who didn’t offer me a freebie. We accepted each other’s beauty, but it was more like we understood what went with it. It certainly has its perks but also its downside.”
“I understand why there’s a downside for you, but I can only see the positives in that profession, cuz.”
“She’s booked out and has a small client base compared to the other girls, but she got treated like a prostitute before she actually became one. It’s got to be so hard to be a girl.”
Violet smiled cheekily. “Lucky, we all know you or we’d start thinking you are one.”
Damon started running faster. “Haha. I think we need to pick up the pace.”
Violet poked her tongue out at him. “Make the short person run.”
They ran into the full car park except for two free ‘staff only’ spots next to Eric’s Outlander and Lucas’s Lexus.
Kat blushed as the people in the queue started clapping, although most of them seemed familiar. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this. I don’t know how celebrities do it,” she said softly.
“Some want fame. You only want it to help others. There’s a huge difference,” Damon replied just as softly.
They stepped inside to have Cadence hurtle herself into their arms, hugging everyone except Josh instantly. She paused in front of Josh for less than a second, “You’re one of us. We hug too,” and threw herself into his arms.
He turned to Connor after she returned to the desk. “She’s as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside. If anyone ever hurts her, I’ll rip their head off.”
Our Cause (Let the Monsters Live in Fear Book 1) Page 31