Bunny Elder Adventure Series: Four Complete Novels: Hollow, Vain Pursuits, Seadrift, ...and Something Blue

by J. B. Hawker

  Even now, Bunny hated to think about that day.

  After being attacked, imprisoned and threatened with death by fire, the two had been miraculously rescued.

  Bunny’s injuries were only superficial, but Max hadn’t been so lucky.

  Their near-death experience had inspired Bunny to resolve to set aside her principals and go away with Max, under any conditions, as long as they could be together.

  When she had finally been allowed to see him and share her decision with him, he had blamed her for his injuries, laughed at her offer and sent her away, devastated.

  Although later she had realized it was a blessing he had prevented her from turning away from her faith, Bunny still felt the pain of rejection.

  “No. I don’t. I don’t remember that, at all,” Max replied.

  He was puzzled.

  Max knew Bunny wouldn’t lie to him, but if what she said was true, why had she only come to see him once and never gotten in touch again? He spoke the question aloud, without thinking.

  “Oh, Max. I didn’t come back again because when you sent me away you told me you never wanted to see me again.”

  “That’s ridiculous! Why would I do that?”

  “You seemed to blame me for your injuries and everything that had happened. When I told you I had changed my mind and was willing to go away with you, in spite of the way you feel about my faith, you mocked me and said not to bother making a ‘grand sacrifice.’ You said you couldn’t wait to get away from Clark’s Hallow, me and everything reminding you of me.”

  She said the words last very softly, with tears in her voice.

  “I did?”

  Max felt sick to his stomach. He knew what she said must be the truth.

  He remembered having a very similar dream in the days following their rescue.

  The combination of his concussion and pain medications had made it all seem unreal.

  “Bunny, we need to talk. That’s why I followed you here from the harbor. After what you’ve just said, I need to speak with you more urgently than ever. Where can we go?”

  “My sister and I are flying home tomorrow morning, Max,” Taffy interposed.

  “This has already been a very long day. Bunny insisted on making this one last tourist stop, you know how bossy she can be, but now she’s seen her precious roof garden we are returning to our hotel for an early night.”

  Taffy always claimed not to be aware of her impact on men. Even so, Max’s lifelong immunity to her charms had always rankled.

  “Well, you have to eat dinner somewhere, don’t you? There are good restaurants all around the plaza. We could walk to the covered pavilion nearby and get a couple of tables.”

  He spoke while smiling at Bunny, then turned to address her sister.

  “You don’t mind sitting by yourself while Bunny and I catch up, do you, Linda?”

  “I prefer to be called ‘Taffy’ these days, thank you. And, of course I don’t want to eat dinner sitting all alone in a foreign country!”

  “Taffy? Where did you come up with that silly moniker? Oh, never mind. Come on, Bunny. If Linda won’t cooperate, we can at least move over to that bench by the wall. We really need to talk.”

  “Taffy, you don’t mind staying over here while Max and I have a little chat, do you? I promise we won’t be very long. Then we can all have a nice dinner together to cap off our visit to Italy. Wouldn’t you like that?”

  Taffy gazed off toward Vesuvius, like one volcano contemplating another, determinedly ignoring her sister.

  There would be ructions later, Bunny was sure.

  When they were settled on the stone bench Max took Bunny’s hands and held them while trying to frame his words. He wanted to get this right.

  “What did you want to talk about, Max?”

  “I had something on my mind when I came up here, but after hearing how I mistreated you in the hospital, the first thing I want to say is how sorry I am. I wasn’t in my right mind, obviously. Can you forgive me?”

  “Of course, I do. You were badly injured. I shouldn’t have taken what you were saying seriously, or at least I should have given you another chance when you were more yourself. The misunderstanding is as much my fault as yours, maybe more. But, it was for the best, after all.”

  “What do you mean, for the best?”

  “If you had accepted my offer to turn my back on my beliefs and live with you under those circumstances, it would never have worked out. I would have been consumed by guilt and we would have made each other miserable.”

  “I’m not so sure about that, Bunny. But, you have opened the topic I really wanted to ask you about.”

  Banks paused, took a deep breath and plunged ahead, “Why, Bunny? What makes an intelligent person like you fall for all the religious smoke and mirrors?”

  “Oh Max, you didn’t come here just to attack my faith again, did you? You were never that cruel.”

  “No, trust me, that is not what I mean to do. I really want to know why you choose to believe the way you do. Why do you have such blind faith in something you can never prove?”

  “It isn’t faith that is blind, Max. It’s romantic love refusing to see the flaws in the beloved. But you’re right about it being a choice to believe. It’s a leap of faith. I choose to believe because I cannot accept a life with no meaning. All of creation is so ordered, so intricate and so carefully balanced there is no way it came about by some sort of cosmic accident. It takes much more blind faith to believe in Darwin’s theory than to believe there was an intelligent creator. Did you know our DNA even fits all the scientific definitions of a language? How could that evolve through random mutation?”

  “So maybe it was aliens, or something, who got things started, it doesn’t mean we need to let a book of fairy tales rule our lives, does it?”

  “Don’t be silly. And even ‘aliens’ would need to be created, wouldn’t they? No, I let that book guide me because it shows me God, our creator, has a plan for my life. It is full of wonderful wisdom for me here and now and the promise of a life of peace and love in eternity.”

  “But, Bunny, what if you give up all the fun in this life and that’s all there is? What if you are wrong? No Heaven and no Hell? Your leap of faith seems like a leap off this roof; high hopes ending in a devastating impact with reality.”

  “If I trust God’s word, accept Jesus as my savior, and follow as much of God’s wisdom as I’m able, then I will have the blessings it brings me right here on earth. If, when I die, I discover I was wrong, where will I be? Nowhere. What will I have lost? Just a few temporary pleasures, often involving more risk than reward. I’ll be no worse off than any non-believer. But, on the other hand, if the Bible is true and I choose to reject God’s word and live as I please, what will I find when I die? An eternity spent knowing the agony of separation from all-encompassing love and peace.”

  “So, you are a believer just because you like the odds better? That doesn’t seem very spiritual.”

  “You know me, Max. I’ve always been a bit of a pragmatist. Maybe you could call me an optimistic pragmatist. The logical weighing of what I have to lose certainly played a part in my decision to believe. After that came the blessings and affirmations. I believe, now, because I must believe. It makes my life endurable and gives me purpose.”

  “Don’t you ever have doubts?”

  “You shouldn’t have to ask that. You, of all people, know how frequently I fail to live up to God’s standards and how often I second-guess myself. But, even in my darkest hours when doubts and temptations nibble away at me, I am able to say to God, ‘I believe. Please help me overcome my unbelief.’ I came to faith through logic, but I stay out of necessity.”

  Just then, Taffy interrupted them saying, “Come on, you two. I’m getting cold. I want to go eat and get back to the hotel.”

  Before getting up, Max shook his head.

  “I think you may have made your decision without doing enough research, Bunny. You should walk on th
e wild side for a bit before you decide it isn’t worth the risk.”

  “That is so funny, Max. You have no idea what my life was like after you walked out on our marriage, do you?"

  “What do you mean?”

  “When you left, I was a mess. I tried everything I could think of to dull the pain, including some things I’d rather not remember. I became way too familiar with the taste of secondhand beer and cigarettes, for one thing, and the sound of a motorcycle coming up the road was my cue to get ready to hop on the back and ride away with some leather-clad outlaw wannabe. I was out of control and frightened.”

  “I thank God one day the mother of a friend invited me to come to choir practice with her...you know how I’ve always loved to sing...and I went. I had such a good time I even joined that choir. I half expected I would be thrown out of the church, at first, because of the life I was living. But, sitting in church week after week hearing the messages, being lovingly accepted by the congregation and singing songs straight from the Scriptures eventually got through to me. When I made my choice to turn my life around, it was most definitely an informed decision, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  “You’ve given me a lot to think about, Bunny. I’m not sure I’m convinced, but I’m going to consider what you’ve said.”

  Bunny was a little stiff from sitting on the cold stone.

  When she stumbled getting up, Max steadied her with a hug.

  “That’s enough of that you two! Come on, let’s go,” Taffy urged.

  When they walked toward the stairs to leave, each was lost in thought.

  No one noticed the rough looking group of men near the arbor blocking their exit.

  Chapter 13

  See how numerous are my enemies and how fiercely they hate me!

  Psalm 25:19

  As Taffy tried to avoid the knot of men blocking the way and enter the covered walkway, the impetuous Roberto grabbed her and threw her around, growling, “Give us the statue!”

  Taffy screamed and tried to break free.

  Seeing her struggle, Max drove his fist into Roberto’s ugly face, surprising the brute into letting her go.

  Since the stairs were now blocked by the ruffians, Max grabbed the sisters by their arms and pulled them along toward another exit on the far side of the garden.

  Lucca shouted to his men to catch and hold the fugitives, then turned on Roberto in a rage, “Parma’s instructions were clear, you oaf! We were to watch them, nothing more.”

  He cuffed the big man on the head and trotted after the others.

  Max and the sisters were cornered against a retaining wall on the far side of the garden overlooking the back of the palace.

  They were obviously outmatched, but the encircling men merely looked on with menace. They did not attack, but it was clear they were not going to allow the trio to leave.

  “What’s this all about? What do you want with us?” Max demanded, as Lucca jogged up.

  “Good evening. You will be pleased to remain quietly. No more punching or running, eh?”

  “Who are you? What do you want with us?” Max repeated.

  “We merely want the return of the stolen statue and a bit of information. Give us what we want and no harm will come to any of you,” Lucca replied, with feigned sincerity.

  “What are you talking about? We haven’t stolen anything and we obviously aren’t carrying any statue. Now, leave us alone. We are American citizens here on vacation. You must have us confused with some other folks.”

  “Oh, there is no mistake, I assure you. Perhaps, signor, you are not part of this, but these women know what I say is true.”

  Bunny finally overcame her shock at what was happening and spoke.

  “We most certainly do not know anything of the kind! We don’t know you and we do not know what you are talking about. Let us go, right now, or we will call the police.”

  “La polizia, eh? I doubt that. You don’t want them involved any more than we do. Drop the act and tell us who sent you.”

  “Lucca, scusi!” Roberto interrupted in a very loud whisper.

  “Remember what Parma said. The interrogation must wait for the capo.”

  “Ah yes, thank you, Roberto.”

  Turning back to his captives he growled, “But we will not wait here. It is much too public and there is a definite chill in the air. You will come with us, now, and we will make you comfortable in a more private location.”

  Roberto moved to grab Taffy again to get the group moving.

  Just then, Taffy, who had propped her bag against the retaining wall, bent to pick it up.

  Acting upon reflex when the thug touched her, she reared back quickly, somehow managing to knock him off his feet and over the low wall.

  With a wild cry he fell to the pavement.

  His scream ended abruptly with a crunch of bones and the splat of his bulk impacting the concrete.

  Max urged the women to take advantage of this distraction to run back across the rooftop to the other stairway.

  They managed to slip behind a small vine-covered supply shed before Lucca and his remaining men recovered from the unexpected death of their comrade.

  “Spread out! They are on this roof somewhere, they cannot have gotten far.”

  Crouched down in their hiding place, Max and the women were gasping for breath and nearly paralyzed with fear.

  What in the world was happening?

  Bunny whispered to her sister, “How did you learn to do that! It wasn’t yoga, was it?”

  “It was an accident! I was just getting my purse!” Taffy hissed.

  “Shhh, you two. The men will be on us any second,” Max admonished the women.

  He needed to think of some way to get them out of this mess, but his mind was blank.

  Maybe Bunny’s invisible sugar daddy in the clouds would like to step in with a miracle about now.

  He thought he could hear her murmuring a prayer under her breath. He would gladly join her if he thought it would do any good.

  “Oh, hell! God if you are real, then how about some help here?” Max breathed.

  “Max, look! All the men are over to the right by the arbor stairs. If we keep this shed between us and them, we might be able to get away.”

  It seemed to be worth a try, so the three began creeping back toward the other side of the garden.

  Inching along to avoid attracting attention was excruciating.

  Bunny wanted to run as she’d never run before. Her leg muscles were twitching and jumping, so it was all she could do to keep from fleeing at top speed.

  The trio had traversed over half the way to the exit stairs when Taffy’s bag bumped against a plant stand sending a pot crashing to the pavement.

  There was a shout of “Ci sono! Ottieni loro!” followed by a popping sound and something whizzed by Bunny’s shoulder, hitting a nearby bag of compost and sending powdered manure into the air.

  Bunny gasped, breathing in a fertile lungful, and dashed toward the stairs, coughing and spitting as she fled, with Max and Taffy at her heels.

  The trio lurched down the stairs, clinging to the railing to keep from crashing to the bottom in a heap.

  About halfway down, Bunny came to a sudden stop. Max and Taffy dominoed into her and pushed her down another few steps before noticing the reason for her abrupt halt.

  Two grim-faced muscle-bound gangsters climbed up the stairs after finding Roberto’s crumpled body on the pavement.

  Guns drawn, they began to herd the three frightened fugitives backward up the steps, where Lucca and the others now stood grimly awaiting them.

  

  Don Antonio walked slowly across the large empty warehouse near the airport. He could see his nephew, Felice, waiting in the former manager’s office near the back of the space.

  Men stood watch at the entrances and windows.

  Felice looked up and saw his uncle approaching.

  “Zio! We have the women. Lucca is bringing them
here, now. He acquired them, and their accomplice, on the roof garden of the Royal Palace.”

  “Ah, the accomplice. Good. We are closer to the source of our troubles.”

  “There was an incident, Uncle. The man with these women killed Roberto while trying to escape.”

  “So, I was correct. We are dealing with a dangerous element. I have made discreet inquiries of the Sicilians and also the family in Calabria. They seem to have no knowledge of the theft of these icons. The word comes back to me there is still too much fear of the supposed powers of these little images. Such fools!”

  “Then who are these people working for, Zio?”

  “I believe we shall know the answer to that very soon,” he replied as an SUV with darkened windows pulled into the warehouse.

  Bunny had been this frightened only once before in her life. Max had been with her then, too.

  Back in Clark’s Hallow, when they were being held hostage by a mentally unbalanced killer, Max was seriously injured at the very outset of the ordeal, leaving Bunny feeling it was up to her to get them out of their situation.

  Today, Max had taken charge and tried to defend them all and Bunny saw him as her hero and strong protector just like when they were young.

  In spite of the precariousness of their current position, she couldn’t suppress a surge of renewed affection for him.

  The gangsters had not bothered to blindfold their captives during the drive to this huge empty building.

  She had seen the small airstrip nearby and felt certain she could identify, not only the location, but their captors, as well.

  Bunny knew this was not a good omen for her survival, and Max and Taffy were in the same leaky boat.

  She had been silently praying without ceasing from the moment of the attack, but wondered if perhaps God was getting tired of listening to her whine and of plucking her out of such tight spots.

  She couldn’t imagine what made people want to try to kill her.

  Bunny had always considered herself to be fairly innocuous and inconspicuous. She’d even toyed from time to time with the possibility the camouflage of middle-age was rendering her invisible.