Athena Force: Books 1-6

by Justine Davis, Amy J. Fetzer, Katherine Garbera, Meredith Fletcher, Catherine Mann

  “Everything is gone,” Rebecca repeated. She plowed the fingers of one hand through her long, gray-streaked hair. “I can’t believe it. This has never happened before.”

  The academy’s computer banks had been wiped. Not a single bit of information remained. Nothing.

  “How soon can you have the backup files?” Kayla hadn’t found anything of note yet in her review of the files, but the fact that they’d been wiped indicated there was something to find. She would be working this case full-time now, which would help in her search for clues as to how the egg-mining incident came about. But she needed those files.

  “Monday if we’re lucky.”

  Since Athena Academy was still covered under the government’s umbrella of unofficial projects, there would be backup files. But like everything else it took time to get anything from the government. Calls had to be made, paperwork completed. A royal pain for the vice principal, who no doubt felt overwhelmed as it was.

  Rebecca took a deep breath and visibly grappled for calm. “I’ll let you know the minute they’re downloaded.” She searched Kayla’s eyes. “Do you have anything yet on who did this? Is it possible that the two incidents could be connected?”

  Kayla shook her head. “It’s too early to tell. We don’t have anything yet.” She didn’t mention the wine or the lack of forced entry at Christine’s bungalow. At this point even Rebecca was a suspect. Being promoted to principal would be a big step up for her. Every imaginable motive had to be eliminated.

  “Please keep me informed.” She looked around her office as if she didn’t know where to begin or what should be done next. “I’ve got a million things to do.”

  “I’ll get out of your way then.” Kayla managed a weary smile. She didn’t really believe Rebecca Claussen was capable of attempted murder, but it was way too early to rule anyone out. Even mild-mannered science teachers-turned-vice principals.

  “Just one other thing,” Kayla said, remembering the other crucial information she’d needed. “Can you give me the telephone numbers and addresses of any family members or friends Betsy Stone has listed in her personnel file? Also,” Kayla tacked on as an afterthought, “I need to know if you hear from Betsy Stone.”

  Rebecca obliged without protest or inquiry. The latter surprised Kayla, but it shouldn’t have. Nobody wanted to be under suspicion. If Kayla was focused on Betsy, maybe she wouldn’t drag Rebecca into the scrutiny.

  Kayla took the info and left the administration building. She wasn’t usually so cynical, but this was getting to her. Rainy was dead. Christine was hanging on by a thread. What the hell was going on here? She surveyed the buildings that made up the Athena Academy. It had once been a mental health clinic and dry-out spa for the rich and famous. Who’d have thought all these years later, after massive renovations and being blessed with such a worthy cause, that insanity would still be thriving somewhere deep within those walls.

  She had to get to the bottom of this, find the one who had started it, and put a stop to the evil once and for all. Athena Academy would not be safe until she did. Not for her daughter, not for anyone.

  Kayla climbed into her Jeep and sat there for a while. The sun had climbed to the midmorning mark. Her vehicle faced east. Maybe that was a sign that she needed to consider all she’d learned so far. After all, east was the traditional Navajo thinking direction.

  And she definitely needed to do some serious thinking.

  While Rainy was a student at Athena, she’d had what those in charge believed to be an appendicitis attack. But that was a calculated deception. In reality she had been transferred to a hospital in Phoenix where a Dr. Henry Reagan, the prime suspect, had harvested Rainy’s eggs, damaging her ovaries.

  Ads had been placed in a tabloid soliciting surrogates. They now knew that at least one woman, Cleo Patra, a Vegas showgirl, had responded to that ad and been implanted with a fertilized egg. Justin Cohen’s sister was believed to have responded to the ad as well, and later died in childbirth. Betsy Stone had been her nurse.

  Cleo Patra had successfully delivered her baby but someone had stolen the child. Cleo insisted that a Nurse Stone had assisted Dr. Reagan. She claimed to have seen her on several occasions. Kayla had no proof that Betsy was guilty of anything. Betsy insisted she had worked for Reagan to supplement her salary and had never seen anything strange going on in the office. But after Christine’s confession that she had caught Dr. Carl Bradford searching through the files, and that she’d later caught Bradford and Stone together, Kayla had even more reason to believe Nurse Stone was guilty to some degree in this sinister plan. Unless she, too, had been Bradford’s pawn.

  And now the nurse had seemingly disappeared.

  Somehow Rainy had connected all the scattered dots. She had learned at least part of what Kayla and the Cassandras now knew. That knowledge had gotten her killed. Had put them all in danger in one way or another during the past few months.

  But it wasn’t going away. Now that they knew the truth, intuition warned Kayla that they wouldn’t be allowed to live with that knowledge any more than Rainy had been.

  Rainy was dead. Someone had attempted to kill Christine. What if Nurse Stone was already out of the picture as well?

  Kayla had to find her.

  Kayla picked up her daughter from school. It was the last day until after the new year.

  “Can we do the tree?” Jazz asked the moment her bottom landed in the passenger seat. “All my friends already have their trees decorated.”

  Of course they did. Kayla was always the last one to get around to the decorating thing.

  “Sure.” Kayla pulled out onto the street. “You know your dad is coming for dinner this evening.”

  “Yep.” Jazz made a face that said she hated to ask but intended to just the same, “Is it okay if you don’t wear your gun for dinner?”

  Kayla frowned. If her weapon had ever bothered her daughter before she’d never mentioned it. More proof that things were changing.

  “I guess that’d be okay,” Kayla relented. What the heck? It wasn’t like she wore the thing 24/7. Shooting Mike most likely wouldn’t be necessary. Yet.

  “Did you cook?”

  Kayla glanced across the seat. If her daughter’s eyes hadn’t been as round as saucers and her voice hadn’t sounded so incredulous, Kayla might have let the remark pass.

  “What’s that supposed to mean, young lady?”

  Jazz bit down on her lower lip, in an effort to hold back the giggles, no doubt. “Maybe we should go out.”

  Kayla yanked one of her long braids. “Not necessary,” she shot back. “Lu Wan’s is delivering our dinner.”

  Her daughter’s face lit up. “I love Lu Wan’s!”

  The truth was, she and Jazz both loved anything oriental when it came to cuisine. So did Mike, she’d recalled. Though Kayla was far from happy about this arrangement, she had to do the right thing. Tonight might as well be tolerable.

  With more than two hours to spare before the food and the father arrived, she and Jazz picked up a tree at a local lot and did the decorating thing. Kayla watched her daughter and her heart filled with gladness. How had she been so lucky? She couldn’t help thinking of Rainy and how she’d wanted a child so badly. She’d had the terrific husband but no child. Kayla, conversely, had the terrific kid but no husband.

  Life could be so ironic.

  With the thought of Rainy’s husband came Peter Hadden’s assertion that Marshall Carrington was somehow involved in smuggling. She wouldn’t believe that. Rainy would have known. Or would she?

  The memory of her discussion with David Gracelyn joined the rest of the worries whirling around in her head. If Rainy was unhappy with Marshall would she have bothered to pay attention to what he’d been up to recently?

  That was something Kayla would simply never know.

  She thought of Christine Evans and Nurse Betsy Stone, both women she had known for years. Respected figures at Athena Academy. Both with secrets. One hanging on to
life by a thread, one nowhere to be found.

  Her gaze settled on her daughter once more. Though her entire family was quite modern, they still kept close to their hearts many Navajo traditions, such as enjoying the simpler things and the love of family. Other than her misstep that last year of school at Athena, attendance there had made a tremendous impact on her life. A very good impact. She was stronger and was a better person for her time there.

  But Rainy was dead.

  Then and there Kayla made the decision that had been weighing so heavily on her heart. She would send her daughter to Athena Academy—but only if she solved this old evil that still loomed over the school like a dark cloud.

  Finding that truth was more than a matter of her job, more, even, than a matter of the promise…it was her quest. She must succeed in this quest to ensure her daughter’s future.

  For the first time in a long time Kayla felt at peace with what lay before her.

  The doorbell rang just then, and a whole new layer of tension and trepidation wrapped around her.

  Mike was here.

  Jazz was about to spend her first evening with her father.

  Jazz opened the door and Mike towered in the threshold. He wore his Air Force uniform, for Jazz’s benefit, Kayla suspected. He wanted to impress his daughter.

  “For you.” He held out a large bouquet of lovely cut flowers in Kayla’s direction.

  Uncertain what to say, she accepted the sweet-scented peace offering.

  “And for you.” He pulled a smaller, similar bouquet from behind his back and offered it to Jazz. “Pretty flowers for a pretty lady.”

  So it began.

  Mike laid on the charm and Jazz soaked it up like a sponge. Dinner arrived a few minutes later and they ate. Mike told an amazing assortment of military stories and Jazz loved every moment of it.

  Kayla tried hard not to resent how much her daughter appeared to enjoy her father’s company, but she just couldn’t help herself. It was so unfair. All this time she’d managed without him, and now he was here, as big as life and stealing the show. She felt like an actress who’d won the role of a lifetime only to have it jerked out from under her at the last moment by a devious understudy.

  But he was here. He was Jazz’s father. To pray that he would go away would be both unfair and unkind on a basic level. She couldn’t do that to her daughter.

  Jazz was a bright child. As jealous as it made Kayla to watch her revel in her father’s attention, Jazz knew who had been there for her all these years.

  Suddenly Kayla realized what really bothered her about Mike’s presence. She’d gotten over him long ago. She really wasn’t afraid of him, not really. What she was afraid of was being second-best in her daughter’s eyes.

  Jazz looked toward her at that moment, as if Kayla had somehow telegraphed that last thought. She smiled widely, appreciatively.

  She loved her mother. She appreciated Kayla’s tolerance of the situation. It was all there in those big hazel eyes.

  Kayla didn’t have to worry about being second-best to Mike Bridges.

  By ten Kayla had gotten pretty comfortable with Mike’s presence. Her tension had softened and she decided she could tolerate an occasional visit. Thinking beyond that was more than she could deal with, so she didn’t.

  When Mike had said good-night to Jazz, Kayla walked him to his shiny red SUV.

  “So you’re heading for Nevada tomorrow?” She’d heard him tell Jazz that he had to be back on the base this weekend, but she needed to confirm it.

  “That’s right. I’ll be in touch with you about Christmas.”

  Kayla tamped down the irritation that wanted to surface. “Just keep in mind that Christmas day is spent with my family.”

  He nodded. “I’ll work around it.” He opened the driver’s side door of his vehicle. “You’ve got my number.”

  Then he was gone.

  Kayla stood there in the darkness and watched his taillights fade in the distance.

  Jazz had told him about the church play next Sunday, the day after Christmas. He’d likely show up for that if he could get the leave time.

  Again she tried hard not to resent his participation, but it wasn’t easy by any stretch of the imagination.

  A sound whispered across her auditory senses.

  She turned slowly and stared into the inky blackness of her backyard. The thick cluster of trees blocked out any light from the star-filled night.

  Wishing she hadn’t given in to her daughter’s request that she not wear her gun at dinner, Kayla backed into the shadows at the side of the driveway. Slowly, noiselessly, she maneuvered her way toward the rear of the house.

  The tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood at full attention and goose bumps skittered across her skin like tiny pearls spilling across the floor.

  For months she’d been seized by this overwhelming sensation of being watched. She’d even considered that Mike might have someone watching her, trying to gather evidence. But he’d been here tonight. Why would he have had someone keeping an eye on her tonight? Then she’d wondered if it was Hadden, but that didn’t appear likely at this point.

  Another sound raked across her senses. Closer. Maybe half a dozen yards from the corner of the house.

  The idea that Christine Evans had been shot in her own home just last night didn’t deter Kayla from moving in that direction. She didn’t like being stalked, for any reason. If this was some ambitious private investigator Mike had hired, he was about to find out what it was like to two-step with a real cop.

  If it was Christine’s shooter, well, since she was unarmed Kayla would have to improvise.

  A thud on the other side of the privacy fence that separated Kayla’s yard from the neighbor’s behind her had her racing in that direction.

  She scaled the dog-eared wood fence in two seconds flat. The neighboring yard was empty but the gate swung back and forth on its hinges on the street side of the property. Kayla headed in that direction but took a good look first left then right before bursting through the gate. She was unarmed after all.

  Nothing.

  Whoever had been in her yard was gone now.

  A car engine started somewhere in the distance. Brake lights flickered briefly as the vehicle zoomed through an intersection.

  Black. Two doors. She couldn’t make out the license plate. Just like the cemetery.

  Kayla skirted her neighbor’s yard rather than barreling back through it. Back in her house she found Jazz engrossed in her favorite computer game.

  “I don’t have to go to bed now, do I?”

  The plea in her eyes won any battle Kayla might have hoped to launch before she uttered the first protest.

  What the heck? It was Christmas vacation.

  She hadn’t completely forgotten what it was like to be a kid.

  “One more hour,” Kayla qualified.

  “Thanks!” Jazz gave her a big hug. She looked up at her mom then. “And thanks for not freaking out about…Dad.”

  Dad. God, that would take some getting used to.

  “I’m a highly trained officer of the law,” Kayla informed her, hoping to conceal her real feelings with humor, “I don’t freak out.”

  Jazz gave her one of those yeah-right looks. “I gotta get back to my game.”

  Kayla propped her shoulder against the bedroom door frame and watched her daughter kick some cyber butt. She wondered if Jazz would want to go into law enforcement like her mom. Or maybe the legal side of things. Or even forensics. There was investigative reporting, the military or even private investigations.

  All Athena graduates had their choice of futures. Her daughter would have that too.

  Kayla would not fail her.

  She had a promise to keep, to Rainy as well as her daughter.

  Chapter 9

  Monday morning brought a call from Rebecca Claussen.

  The backup files for Athena were in. The download had completed at 9:30, just half an hour ago.

  Kayla
stared through the glass wall of Christine Evans’s room in ICU. Christine lay in the bed with half a dozen lines snaking out from her toward the machines that monitored her fragile hold on life. She remained in stable condition. The doctor had made his rounds and insisted that her condition looked quite good, the prognosis more favorable with each passing hour.

  But she wasn’t out of the woods yet.

  Things could still go either way.

  At Kayla’s prompting the sheriff had elicited the help of Youngtown’s police chief. Between the sheriff’s department and Youngtown’s finest, a guard stood posted outside Christine’s door 24/7.

  Comfortable with Christine’s care and security, Kayla headed for Athena Academy. She wanted to get into those files as quickly as possible.

  The weekend had turned out pretty well considering.

  Dinner with Mike had gone better than she’d anticipated. Jazz’s grown-up attitude continued to amaze Kayla. She had to keep reminding herself that her daughter was only eleven…okay, she’d be twelve in a few weeks. But still, that was so damn young. How had she gotten so smart in such a short time?

  She’d been cordial to her father, attentive. She hadn’t overreacted or withdrawn. The whole concept amazed Kayla. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected but it wasn’t that. She had worried that Mike’s transition into their lives would be disruptive, problematic. The ease with which he waltzed into the situation felt almost surreal.

  Her grandmother had always said that when something appeared too good to be true it usually was. Trepidation trickled through Kayla. She hoped, for Jazz’s sake, that her grandmother’s wisdom wouldn’t prove accurate this time.

  Sunday dinner with her folks had gone smoothly as well. Mary had taken it upon herself to inform the family about Mike since Kayla had been tied up with the investigation into Christine’s shooting. Thank God for big sisters.

  Kayla’s mother and father actually considered Mike’s involvement in Jazz’s life to be a pleasant surprise. Wow. Kayla still had trouble swallowing the overwhelming acceptance. Maybe she was the only one who’d had trouble coming to terms with this new twist. But then, her folks didn’t know everything. She hadn’t told them about Mike’s recent troubles with the Air Force. Maybe she should have.