Once, and For All

by Kendra G. Johnson

  He finally made it to the common area of the terminal. He sat again, realizing he had not made arrangements to meet anyone and was too tired to think of what to do. He became aware of someone standing in front of him. He looked up, seeing a strong, striking young man. Dark hair and piercing light eyes looking at him and through him.

  “Adam Johnson?”

  Adam tried to stand and faltered. Danny Mac steadied him by his elbow then stepped back.

  “Thank you. Yes, I am Adam Johnson. And dare I say you are the husband of young Kenann?”

  “I am.” His voice had yet to lose its edge. Adam was gratified to see the protectiveness in this man. This man would fight for Kenann and be her champion. Adam couldn’t be more pleased.

  “Any word on her or where Ann has taken her?”

  “None.” Danny Mac considered, and deciding, he growled, “Did you have anything to do with Kenann’s disappearance?”

  Adam respected his intensity and the question. He looked him squarely. “No, son, I did not.”

  Danny Mac let out breath he was not aware he was holding. He had seen the truth in his eyes. “Okay, okay.” He dropped his head. When he looked up, his eyes pierced Adam. “Then let’s go get her back.”

  * * * *

  Kenann had finally been untied and allowed to relieve herself. She intently observed her surroundings. She was right. They were in a small villa in the Italian countryside. She was followed by a brawny guard. She took that as a compliment. She continued to wear the evening gown from the party and struggled getting the straps untangled in the back after pulling the dress up. Danny Mac had been the last person to untangle them for her. Thoughts of him made her heart clench. She knew he would be frantic. But knowing he was surrounded by those who loved him, not to mention those who had the skills and resources to help him find her, eased her mind.

  She returned to the room where her mother sat waiting. She looked up when Kenann entered and Kenann thought she looked like a bird of prey. She had always thought her mother beautiful, but now she saw only a calculating and wicked enemy.

  “Sit down, Kenann. Must you slouch?”

  Kenann felt the familiar shame spread over her. She was never good enough, pretty enough, or smart enough. All the positive affirmations and grounding exercises she had done over the years melted away under that withering glare. She took it as a child because it was her mother and the one who had all the power. Kenann refused to let this woman do this to her for one more second.

  Kenann knew it was useless to respond or fight back. She planned to sit back and see what her mother would divulge about her agenda. She was waiting to see how that ceremony in the jungle all those years ago played into her current situation.

  “So, dear, tell your mother what you have really been up to.”

  Kenann was immediately on alert while making every effort to remain passive or disinterested. “You appear to already know everything about me. What part do you want to know?”

  “Something tells me there is more here than meets the eye. How did you meet Daniel McKenzie? And how did you get him to marry you? You must know you are far surpassed by him.”

  Despite her earlier resolve, Kenann felt her old insecurities starting to rise in her heart. She hurried to divert her thoughts. “It’s no secret, Mother. He and I were neighbors in a house converted into two apartments. As for why he wanted to marry me, you will have to ask him.”

  “Mark my words, I will determine your secrets. It was revealed to me recently that you are the key to my destiny and power, and I will tolerate no surprises. You weren’t worth much to me as a child, but it appears you are going to redeem yourself. Where did you meet Katerina?”

  Kenann remembered her instructions to keep her story as close to the truth without revealing the wrong things. “Danny Mac and I met her on a trip we took together before we were married.”

  “Before you were married? You naughty girl!”

  “If it matters to you, we were travelling in a group.”

  “Always the perfect little girl, aren’t you? Your grandmother certainly had her influence.”

  “Granny loved me.” The simple statement hung in the air between them.

  After a few moments, Ann stood. “Someone needed to.” And she walked from the room.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  While Mrs. Gage attended to Adam’s needs, Moira went in search of Danny Mac. She found him standing on his room’s balcony. She stood beside him, saying nothing.

  “Moira, I can’t stand this. She’s been in danger before, but I’ve always been with her.” He turned his head to look at her.

  Her heart broke with the look of anguish in his eyes. She had no words. She simply covered his hand on the rail with her own. They stood together looking out over the lights of Venice, praying for their girl.

  * * * *

  Jake opened the door at the knock. Angelo stood before him with his head bent. He didn’t move but said, “I need more help than you can give me.”

  * * * *

  Kenann liked to think she felt the prayers she knew were coming from those who loved her. She fought the confusion and fear that threatened to overwhelm her. She had to constantly remind herself she was not that child who feared her mother while longing for her affection. She was a wife of an amazing man who would die for her. She had a whole troupe of people who were right now fighting to find her. She was not inadequate or unacceptable. She was loved by God and deemed—no, a redeemed—child of God and full of grace. And right now, she was an agent of the US government.

  That thought made her smile. She was a secret agent. She almost laughed out loud. She would get out of this. And she and Danny Mac would be together again. That knowledge gave her the courage she needed to face her mother. The enemy.

  * * * *

  Angelo had come to ask Jake to baptize him. He had given it serious thought and had been reading the scriptures Danny Mac had provided during their last Bible study together. He wanted Jake to do it because Jake had been his confessor and knew the secret he carried in his heart. God help him, he wanted his best friend’s wife. He prayed that divine power could redeem him from his own personal hell and show him the way.

  After hearing Angelo’s confession of faith, they made their way to the bathroom in Jake’s suite. He filled the large tub sufficiently to immerse Angelo. He reminded him it symbolized the death, burial, and resurrection, and by faith, it accomplished the remission of his sins. Angelo declined to tell anyone else. With Kenann missing, he did not want to distract from finding her, but he had not wanted to wait another minute. He needed God’s grace and power, and he needed it now.

  * * * *

  “What do you want from me, Mother?” Kenann couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of her voice.

  “If I knew that we would be on with it.”

  “So you took me on a whim? You are clueless? Wonderful!” Kenann braced for the blow, but Ann appeared too distracted to react to Kenan’s baiting. She pressed on. “So who are you working with?” Kenann tried another tack. “If I know more, I might be able to figure this out.”

  Ann appeared to consider and decide. “I have, shall we say, controllers. Pierre set me up years ago, when you were a small child. Some of the people are a little strange for my taste, but the payoff is worth it to put up with the oddballs.”

  “Oddball how?”

  “Some of them like the pageantry of power—rituals and the like.”

  Before she could stop herself, Kenann asked, “Like blood oaths with a little girl and a man in a goat head mask?”

  Ann visibly jerked to attention. “You remember that?”

  “I didn’t until recently.”

  “This proves you are part of this plan.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, you remembered that sacrifice at virtually the same time I received word that I needed to find you.”

  “Why?”

  Ann leapt to her feet and began pacing. “I don’t know!”


  Kenann was becoming confused. “Mother, this makes no sense. Why did someone tell you to find me?”

  Ann stopped and looked out the window with her back to Kenann. “All they said was that you were the key and I needed to bring you in. These people are all about prophecies and secret knowledge. Pierre talked a lot about those things.”

  “What did Pierre tell you?”

  This seemed to calm Ann. She returned to her seat and appeared to be remembering something, a smile playing across her lips. “He told me I was special. I would draw together powerful people who would bring about significant change. He said that I was the beginning of the change.”

  “Change?”

  “For the Order.”

  “Are you a member of the Order?”

  Ann looked at her now. Kenann prayed she had not overplayed her hand.

  Ann continued to look at her, then said, “There are levels in the Order. I work for them. I am not a member. What do you know of the Order?”

  “Only what you have said.”

  Ann continued to pin her with her eyes.

  Kenann did not move a muscle. She suddenly knew what she needed to do and went back to what she did best—playacting. “Mother, I have not been completely honest with you.”

  This had Ann’s attention.

  “When I remembered the ceremony in the jungle that night, I also saw other things.”

  Ann was fairly vibrating with this news. She leaned forward off the edge of her seat, willing Kenann to continue. Kenann realized she now had leverage. She was thinking fast and all the while praying for wisdom.

  “There is more to this than you realize.”

  “What? Tell me everything you know.” Ann’s thirst for power was completely naked in her eyes.

  “You have said several times you did not understand how I could attract someone like Danny Mac. There is a reason. He is part of the plan.”

  “For me?”

  “For all of us.” Kenann knew she had her now. She could tell her anything and Ann’s desire would cloud any judgement she might have had.

  “What do we need to do? Does Daniel need to come here?”

  “In due time.” She needed to think, to plan, to pray.

  “What do you mean? If he is part of the plan for me, we must bring him here!”

  “When the time is right.” Kenann took a perverse pleasure in knowing the tables had turned. “First of all, I will need a shower and a fresh set of clothes. I haven’t eaten in a while, either.” She had to fight the smile when Ann jumped up to do her bidding. It was a test and Ann showed herself to be completely under Kenann’s direction. She willed herself to remain calm and pretend to be the confident woman of power that she was portraying. She leaned back and stretched her arms across the back of the couch as Ann hurried to do her bidding.

  Okay, Lord, what next? Kenann prayed.

  Ann quickly returned with a tray of food and drink to offer to Kenann. “Does this suit you?”

  “It will do.” Kenann made herself take a bite of the brioche. “Now, after I have showered and changed, we will contact Danny Mac and tell him that the plan is a go. He will be in charge of the next phase.”

  Ann seemed to regain some of her edge. “You knew of this plan all along?”

  “We knew something was coming. We just didn’t know where and with whom. I had to be sure you were the right person before I revealed myself.”

  This seemed to mollify Ann, who clasped her hands and waited for Kenann to continue.

  “These important people you were told about,” Kenann added, deciding to spin the story to hook Ann even further, “are in actuality the group I am now traveling with.”

  “What? They are all a part of this. For me?”

  “Yes.”

  Ann preened and laughed hysterically. She was overwhelmed with the sense that she was the object of such power. Kenann feared her mother might be losing touch with reality. She was stunned as she watched her total lust for power and knew she was looking into one of the faces of evil.

  * * * *

  Kenann made her wait and stew. When she finally acquiesced, Ann hurriedly dialed the number to the hotel. No one answered in their room, so she called back and asked for Mrs. Gage’s room. She imagined they were in a perpetual council of war.

  Bridget answered. Kenann used every ounce of control to keep her voice steady. “Nita, is Danny Mac there? It’s time for us to enact the plan.” She gave subtle emphasis to the last words to put her on alert.

  Bridget understood immediately. “Okay, Kenann. I understand. I will get Danny Mac.”

  Danny Mac stumbled to the phone when Nita whispered to him, “It’s Kenann.”

  He grabbed the phone and uttered in a strangled voice, “Kenann?”

  “Hello, dearest man, how are you?” Danny Mac was alert to Kenann playing a role.

  He tried to keep his voice calm. “How are you? Are you okay?”

  “I’m okay. I’m fine. Remember the plan we talked about?”

  He immediately knew he needed to play along. “Yes.”

  “I need you to come to me.”

  He almost dropped to his knees. “Anytime, anywhere, anyway I can.” His voice trailed off, overcome with emotion.

  She heard the desperation in his voice and almost succumbed to her own longing. She took a deep breath and gave him the directions to the villa her mother had provided. She gave him the instructions to come alone as well. He agreed and said he would start immediately.

  He signed off. “I love you, baby.”

  She could no longer control the catch in her voice. “I love you, Danny Mac.”

  * * * *

  No one said a word as Danny Mac replaced the receiver and turned to them. He looked like he had aged five years. But then a grin began to spread across his handsome face.

  “Somehow that crazy, wonderful, glorious girl of mine has managed to turn this around and has gained control.” He laughed despite himself. “She gave me directions to the villa where her mother has taken her. She said I am to come alone.” He raised his hand to squelch the protests. “Hey, she has done just fine so far. We have to trust her on this.”

  “It probably wouldn’t be good to go in wired, but at least keep your phone open on a call to us. The sound quality will be poor but it will be something,” Andy offered.

  Carter said, “How do you know you are not walking into a trap?”

  Danny Mac replied, “She mentioned the plan. Which tells me she has spun something that has her mother convinced to work with us. If it was a trap, Kenann would have given me some sort of signal.”

  Mrs. Gage asked, “Where is the villa?”

  Danny Mac repeated the directions.

  Mrs. Gage smiled. “How convenient. My villa is less than a mile away.”

  Carter rolled his eyes. “Of course.”

  Everyone laughed for the first time in many hours.

  * * * *

  Danny Mac ran up the steps to the house and did not wait for someone to open the door. He burst into the foyer, calling Kenann’s name. She ran to him from the room to his right. She tried to maintain the aloof demeanor she had adopted with her mother, but when she heard him calling for her, she ran to him with abandon. She leapt into his arms and reveled in everything that was him. He spun her in a circle, celebrating the feel of having her in his arms again.

  He set her on her feet and, holding her at arm’s length, examined every inch of her, running his hands over her face and arms. He noticed the bruising high on her cheekbone and turned with a murderous glare as her mother entered the foyer.

  Ann willed herself not to react. “Hello, my son-in-law.”

  “You took my wife from me.” The sheer force of his venom spoken quietly had her stepping back.

  She was not a woman easily intimidated, but the force of this man’s strength put her on high alert. She waited.

  Danny Mac whispered, “And you put your hands on her.”

  Kenann touched his arm
ever so slightly. He understood she wanted restraint, but could not stop himself.

  “I know I have to tolerate you, but I don’t have to like it. You are a snake.” God help him, he felt nothing but hatred for this woman. “You did not handle with care the woman I love more than my own life. I will not forget that.”

  Ann considered this. She respected his hutzpah, but she could not let him gain the upper hand. She would dominate this beautiful specimen of a man. Like a wild stallion, she would conquer and subdue him. “You and I will come to terms. All in good time. All in good time.” She nodded to the large man standing in the foyer. “Pat him down and take his phone.”

  Danny Mac had one arm around Kenann and the other in his pocket. He hurriedly switched off the connection to Andy on his phone. The man stood before Danny Mac and motioned for him to move away from Kenann. Danny Mac stared daggers at this man but stepped aside, holding his arms out. He submitted to the pat down and the confiscation of his phone.

  Ann knew she needed time to regroup. “Take them to their rooms.” The man moved to the stairs and looked over his shoulder to see if they were following. Danny Mac broke eye contact with Ann and gently took Kenann’s arm, leading her up the stairs. He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed it. This infuriated Ann in ways she did not understand. She made it her determined passion to conquer this man and make him her own.