Adventure to Destiny: The Unity Objective Series

by Sandra Golden

  “I’m listening.”

  “The pink Unity diary was stolen from me; I believe it was returned to the girl, what’s her name?”

  “Helaina Unity,” Jack responded.

  “Get it back.”

  “I don’t know if it is here.”

  “Find it; I believe it will answer a lot of questions. Better yet bring me the girl.”

  “You want me to kidnap a teen- age girl?”

  Jack’s heart was beating fast now, this was it! He was finally going to get that no good bastard! He would get his revenge after all.

  “Kidnapping is such a harsh word; let’s just say we will borrow her for a while.”

  “Kidnapping is kidnapping, and where do you want me to take her, your office in Washington or your home?

  “I know of an empty house, take her to this address.”

  Webster gave Jack the address of Ms. Christopher’s old home. If she wasn’t going to come back, he might as well use the house for his own purpose.

  “When you get there give me a call.”

  “Sure boss, I expect that I will be well rewarded for this job?” Jack asked Webster, trying to keep him on the phone as long as possible.

  “I pay you enough, besides you are getting a double pay day, Unity is also paying you, remember?”

  Webster was always a tight fisted tightwad when it came to paying those who worked for him.

  “I want double, or I won’t do it.” Jack was baiting him; he needed more on the recorder for later.

  “Alright! I need this.” Webster continued, “Bring me the girl, and I will give you a hundred thousand dollar bonus, you can keep your job, both of them. You might come across something on that island, which can be useful to me in the future.”

  “When do you want this done?”

  “As soon as possible, talk to you when you get to the house,” said Senator Webster as he pushed the button to disconnect the phone.

  Jack hung up the phone. He knew what he must do, he smiled to himself. He would need help on this mission. But first he took the pages he had torn carefully from the dream diary, put them in an envelope, addressed it, and put it in the mail. Jack then started making all the necessary phone calls. Soon he could go home. That thought made him smile as he put his plan together in his head, then he quickly got to work.

  Jennifer was now talking to William, telling him what Helaina had told her earlier.

  “I’m worried, do you think it was just a dream, or do you think that she actually feels she is in danger? Could it be possible that she is developing the ability to see what is to come, or the future?” Jennifer piled question after question on to William, not giving him a chance to speak.

  “Jenny, my love, take a breath so I can answer some of your questions. Calm down, our little Helaina is just fine.”

  “I don’t know, she told me she felt the dream in her heart, like she did with the other dream stories. I don’t know what that means exactly, but I know her dream stories in her little pink diaries are as true as there are stars’ in the sky.”

  “Yes dear, her stories of what “has been,” are true. Now it is the “What can be’s,” we have to worry about. We are going to watch, and listen to her, learn what she can do. But right now I think we should take this seriously, I will have a Watcher with her at all times.”

  He was trying to ease his wife fears, with a little extra security, even though he believed that everyone on the island was safe.

  “She wants to go to the grand opening of that new clothing store in town. I did promise her.”

  “You go and keep your promise, which is always important. Now go get ready, I will have a Watcher with you in five minutes. Mason is working in the garage. I will go give him this new assignment. Besides he is sweet on Sophia, he would love to spend more time with her. Don’t worry; remember we have always taken care of our own.”

  “Yes we do! And are you playing match maker?” Jennifer laughed.

  “Well, you can see they would be the perfect couple.”

  “You go from CEO to being a match maker, and you are perfect at both,” Jennifer teased her husband.

  “Go get ready for your shopping trip; I will go talk to Mason.”

  “Yes Dear.” Jennifer kissed her husband, then went back to the kitchen.

  Williams’s phone rang; he looked to see who it was, before speaking he listened to the caller for a minute.

  “I understand.” He listened again for a few seconds. “I understand, give me an hour, and I will meet you.” Then he hung up and went to talk to Mason.

  The ladies did go into town, and had their day of shopping, with Mason tagging along with them. He watched for anything bizarre, looking for unknowns, such as people who weren’t supposed to be there, but he didn't see anything unusual. The ladies made a day of it, after going to the grand opening of the new store, they went to have their nails and hair done. Mason stayed outside waiting patiently, drinking a cool strawberry milk shake that he had gotten next door at Wendy’s. When they finished they decided to have lunch at the tea room. Of course, they had to have lunch looking as good as they did, they told him. Minding their manners they did invite Mason to join them, which, he gracefully accepted. Besides he didn’t mind being surrounded by such beautiful ladies. They, of course, had an ulterior motive which he learned of later, when they got to the shopping market.

  First stop, the meat market; Mason swore they bought a hundred pounds of beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. Then as they were leaving Sophia remember that they didn’t get any bacon and sausage, so they had to go back in, getting five pounds of each. They handed him all the packages. The next stop, which was just next door, was the farmers market. Being that it was summer there was a great offering variety of fresh vegetables, and fruit. Lucky for Mason they provided shopping carts, because he was loaded down already. The three women deposited the meat into one for him, then he followed the women around, all three pushing empty carts. First they piled two, ten pound bags of potatoes, another ten pounds of sweet potatoes, and onions, and two big bags of tomatoes, and three heads each of lettuce, cabbage and celery, completely filling up the first basket, which belonged to Sophia. Helaina’s basket was then filled with two watermelons, 20 grape fruits, grapes, fresh peaches, cherries, and pears. This was followed by ten pounds each of apples and oranges, then 8 very large pineapples. As an afterthought a bag of squash and two bags of carrots were thrown on top, along with 6 bunches of dried garlic. He kept thinking that he should have followed them with a large truck. He was wondering how he would fit everything into the trunk of the car, which right now only held all their purchases from the clothing store. They paid for the fresh produce, then decided that they needed to stop into the grocery store which was half a block away, for some milk, coffee and eggs. Before the three of them started walking away from Mason, leaving him with the three very full shopping carts to load into the car, he stopped them. Wanting to keep Helaina close he made a suggestion.

  “Helaina can you help me unpack these carts and load them into the car while your grandmother and Sophia run in for a few things. I think I need some help with all of this stuff, I will reward you with a chocolate milk shake when we’re done.”

  “I think that would be a great idea,” Jennifer said, realizing that he should stay close to her granddaughter. “Tell you what, you two go and load up the car, Sophia and I will meet you at Wendy’s, then we all can have a milkshake.”

  “That sounds good to me. Can I get one of those apple pies? No! Two of them, so I can take one to J.R. It’s one of his favorites.”

  “Sure, now help me with these bags please, then we can relax with our treat. I need a break from all this shopping.”

  Mason took one cart, pushing it in front of him, while he pulled a second behind him. Helaina took another and off to the car they went. It took ten minutes to load everything in, it was a really tight fit, then they went to Wendy’s for that promised treat. Mason and Helaina were there for ten m
inutes when Sophia and Jennifer arrived, pushing yet a fifth cart, with at least six more grocery sacks.

  “I thought you ladies were only going for milk and eggs?” he protested.

  “We got those, then we remembered we needed some more tea, and flour, sugar…” The list went on, but Mason didn’t pay much attention to it.

  “How are we going to get that back to the house?” he asked.

  “We can hold a few of the bags,” suggested Helaina.

  “There are already four bags for you to hold in the back seat.”

  They sat back to enjoy their milk shakes and thought about the problem of the overstuffed car.

  “I know what we can do. You all go home, and I can walk home. I want to stop at the Roberts to meet the twins anyway,” said Helaina

  The three adults froze for a second, knowing that the girl wasn’t to be left without her Watcher. The three ladies where trying to think of a solution, and distraction, but the silence of the three adults made Helaina feel a bit uneasy.

  “Did I say something wrong?” Helaina wanted to know.

  “No, I need to stop at a friend’s,” said Jennifer. “You know what I need for you to do? I need for you to go back to the house with Sophia and help put away all this food, since Sophia doesn’t drive Mason will go with you. Then you can give your granddad a fashion show with all those new clothes you got.”

  Helaina though about this for a second. “I guess I can go see the twins tomorrow with J.R.”

  “I got an idea! Why don’t you bake some cookies or maybe a cake this afternoon? You can take it with you tomorrow. That would be extremely nice of you and a nice welcome for the twins.”

  “Okay, but how will you get home?”

  “Young lady I am not in a wheel chair, my legs work just fine. You know I take a 5 mile walk on the beach every day. I didn’t get my walking in this morning, and we didn't get much exercise when we took our cruise so I could use a bit of exercise. Now you go with Mason and Sophia, and tell your granddad I will be home in about two hours.”

  “Alright, think I will make peanut butter cookies.”

  “Great! The three of you head home, I will follow shortly. Sophia don’t forget to freeze some of that fresh fruit when you get the chance.”

  “Sure will, you have a nice walk.”

  Mason gave Jennifer a silent “Thank you” over Helaina’s head. He had to admit Jennifer Unity was a fast thinker, she helped him avoid losing sight of Helaina, which wouldn’t be a good thing to do right now. Whatever assignment or job he was given, Mason always gave it one hundred percent. That included watching the young ones. His motto, “Always be on the ready.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  THE STORY CHAMBER

  While the women spent the day away from the house, the men in the family spent the afternoon washing and waxing William's antique car collection. William even let J.R do oil changes on six of them, then for fun they went on a little drive. Remembering that all fifteen-year-old boys are anxious to start driving, and that J.R was no different, William decide he would give J.R a little taste of the road. William pulled the 1966 Ford Copra from the garage, this car was bought new when his son David was born, it was one of his favorites. He got out of the low riding car after he pulled it out of the garage and stood next to it.

  “How would you like to drive today?”

  He knew that was a stupid question, for what fifteen-year-old boy wouldn’t want to drive such a sporty car.

  J.R had to ask anyway to make sure he heard his great-uncle right.

  “Really?” J.R held his breath for the answer.

  “Sure, come on, get in, we will go for a drive but don’t tell your mom, she will have my head on a plate if she knew I let you drive a sports car.”

  “Okay, I promise.”

  William threw him the keys, and they both got into the car.

  J.R started it up like a pro, stepped on the clutch, put it in gear and off they went. J.R drove that car like he had done it a million times before. He obeyed all the traffic signs, and the speed limits, he yielded to bicycles and pedestrians, he even stopped and let a dog run across the street, as it was chasing after a cat.

  “Has your Dad been giving you private lessons?” William asked the young driver.

  “No, I’ve been watching Mom and Dad all my life, and when I was looking in the owner’s manual to see what size filter the car needed, I found that book. You know the one, the one you have to study to get your driver’s license, so I took a few minutes and read it.”

  “Really now?”

  “Yep. Can I drive to town; I want to drive by Mark’s house to show off.”

  “No! That’s not a good idea. You’re Grandma and Helaina might see you, and then tell your mom, we will both be in trouble.”

  “Then can we drive ...”

  Before he could finish the sentence William interrupted him, “We can take the road that goes around the whole island, then be back home before the women get back from their shopping trip.”

  “Oh! Alright.” J.R stubbornly agreed with that plan.

  The two had fun driving on the outer road of the island. They passed a Sheriff; lucky for them he was taking a nap in the shade and didn’t see J.R speed past doing 80. He would surely have gotten a ticket if the Sheriff was awake, then his parents would without doubt learn of his misdeeds with granddad.

  They just made it, with only three minutes to spare, before they saw Mason driving back with Helaina and Sophia. They had just pulled the car back into the garage and gotten out when Mason pulled up in front of the house. Lucky for them there was not a scratch on the car, or its passengers, evidence that could be used to convict them. J.R thought it was cool that he and Granddad had a secret; it made him feel rather grown up.

  The next hour was spent putting away groceries, then watching Helaina show off her new clothes. They had bought some for J.R also, but he didn’t like doing fashion shows, that was for girls, but he and his granddad smiled politely until the show was over, and they could escape for a nice swim in the pool. They invited Helaina but she and Sophia wanted to make cookies. Lucky for them, Jennifer got home just in time to help with the baking.

  The family grilled some nice thick top sirloin steaks, which they bought that day, for dinner. While they were eating, William thought that maybe tonight would be a good night to tell the kids the story of where they had come from.

  “Before you two disappear to play those video games, or challenge me to a game of pool, I think that it is time you hear a story.”

  “I like stories, are they like my dream stories?” Helaina said as she slipped a juicy grape to Peanut who was sitting contently in her shirt pocket. It had gotten dark, so it was now time for Peanut to be awake.

  “Yes, they are in fact.”

  “Do you have pictures?” J.R wanted to know.

  “I have something better than pictures.”

  “Family movies, great! Do I really have to see my sister’s piano recital again?” Helaina asked sounding disappointed.

  “No, both of you help your grandma take the dishes inside and put them in the dishwasher. Then come upstairs to the den, there’s a story I want you to hear.”

  Both kids got up, and collected the dishes on trays and walked to the house to do their chore.

  “Sweetheart do you think they are ready?”

  “I think they have been ready for quite a while now, they’re smart, sensitive, and I believe they will understand.”

  “If you think this is the best time, then it is the best time! I love seeing, and hearing the story again myself. Every time I get sentimental, remembering when my granddad told me and my sister.”

  “Then see you in ten minutes, I will go prepare the Story Chamber.”

  Soon Jennifer, J.R, and Helaina joined William in his second-floor den, settling on the couch. Little Peanut, attached to her leash so she wouldn't go exploring on her own, was busy jumping from one person to another, letting each person give
her the attention she demanded. When she was tired of this Peanut settled on Helaina's shoulder, and tangled herself in Helaina’s’ soft curls. From there she watched what was happening in the room. J.R and Helaina watched as William opened up a secret panel on the wall. He took out what looked like a big crystal, it looked to be about six feet tall, about four feet around, and it looked like it was one solid mass. It stood on a square, oak base. They watched quietly; except the two teenagers were having a private conversation in their heads.

  “That sure doesn’t look like a big screen TV,” J.R observed.

  “No, it looks like a crystal statue. It’s pretty.”

  “It’s not! I think it is a machine of some sort.”

  “Really! Why would you think that? It has no…”

  “Okay I think we are ready,” William said interrupting their silent conversation.

  Unknown to the family a dark figure stood watch, just below them, standing in the garden and leaning on an oak tree waiting. He was just waiting for the house to go dark. He got out a cigarette, put it between his lips, but not lighting it, for he was trying to give up the dirty habit. Safely inside the house William began the story.

  “This is a Story Chamber, inside it holds the story of the beginning. The chamber was passed down through generations, each new generation adding to the story. One day, it will come to one of you.”

  “Granddad that looks like a tanning bed standing up,” laughed the kids, who had spoken in unison.

  “That it does, but watch what it reveals!”

  William didn’t have to open a panel or fiddle with any controls because there were no buttons or levers. William simply took his right hand, spread his fingers wide, then waved his hand across the Story Chamber. Immediately the story began. An unknown male, with a deep soothing voice began the story. The Story Chamber came to life, lighting up as thousands of colors swirled around like a tornado, coming together at the bottom, then the color particles came together and formed a picture. As the picture grew the tornado became shorter and shorter until it was gone and the picture was revealed entirely. The story began and William sat down next to his wife to listen.