Killer Cupid (The Redemption Series: Book 1) (31 page)

It was about an hour later when David drove up, still in his fatigues. If looks could kill, George’s stare would’ve dropped him right there. Debbie was in his arms instantly, still holding her carrots. David was full of apologies, but Frederick just shook his head, and George wasn’t hearing them.

The real fun began when Cat returned with the horse. David gave it a quick inspection, mounted the horse, and pulled Debbie on board all before George could say, “How did this ever happen?”

In the blink of an eye they were galloping off into the sunset with Valentine.

Chapter Twenty

Debbie

David and I arrived at the church early for our appointment with the priest and minister for pre-marital counseling. I had no idea what that was all about, but they told my parents we had to do it before they’d agree to perform the ceremony.

We sat in upholstered chairs across from them and refused the tea and cookies they offered. Pastor Evans was the minister in the church I’d grown up in, and he was cordial. After some pleasantries he said, “Often when we are asked to schedule a wedding so quickly, there’s a baby on the way. Is that the case here?”

Before David could respond, I nodded, smiling. “Oh yes! We’re having six babies!”

The pastor and the priest looked stunned, and David began the worst coughing fit he’d had in months.

David

Back at the Bainbridge mansion, David escorted Debbie to a seat on the patio. “I’ve got to speak with Cat, Sweetheart.” He kissed the top of her head, and turned on his heel.

He spotted Cat in the garden, pummeling the soil with a shovel as big as she was. He strode through the grass, and grabbed the shovel.

“Oh!” She jumped and landed on her butt in the dirt. “David.” The fright on her face confused him. She wiped a tear, creating a swirl of mud on her cheek.

His anger rose again and got the better of him. “Nita always tells us you have the gifts of prophecy and discernment. It’s obviously not working well today.” Nausea welling up told him his sarcasm was wrong.

There was a tempest in her eyes and a scowl on her face. She ignored his outstretched hand, his offer to help her up, and instead sat cross-legged in the soft topsoil. So he braced himself with the shovel and knelt in the dirt on one knee. “I’m sorry, Cat. It’s just –”

“Forgive me, David. I was wrong. I meant to encourage Debbie, but it obviously backfired.”

“Backfired is putting it mildly.”

“Yes. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control…”

“I don’t need a Bible lesson today. But perhaps if you used some self control –”

She pounded her fists into the dirt. “Look at the pot calling the kettle –”

“And I don’t need a lecture on self control!” He slammed the shovel into the ground.

She looked at the shovel and then at him, deadpan. He choked back a cough.

Cat’s eyes focused on his. “I did not exhibit self control. I blurted out what was expedient, what I thought would encourage. I took away your joy, your peace. That was not loving or kind, was it? I was not led by the Holy Spirit in this, was I? I was prideful. I was led by my own selfish desires. Forgive my sin.”

David was confounded. “You’ve never sinned in your life.”

Cat rubbed her face with more dirt from her hands. “We all have a sinful nature, David. We all fall short.”

He shook his head. Cat never had a selfish desire in her life. Despite the nausea and her apology, and the dirt all over her face that made him want to laugh, he still couldn’t let her off the hook. “Debbie can’t possibly have six children. It’d kill her.”

“We serve a great God, David. Nothing is impossible with God.”

“You just said you sinned. You didn’t really mean what you told Debbie.”

“Of course I meant it! The fact remains David. Perhaps it was not meant to be revealed, or revealed at this time. But the fact remains.”

He stared her in the eye. “Why would God want Debbie to have six children? Her heart couldn’t take that.”

“God works out everything for our highest good, whether we understand it or not. There is a special plan for each one of his people. Each one of your six children will be here for a reason, just as you are here for a reason.”

“Hmm. So God can put them in a plane one day and drop them out of the sky?”

“David!”

“Well?”

“We live in a broken, sinful world, David. God’s ways are not our ways. How can I possibly know all the thoughts of the God of the universe? I trust God in everything, and with all my heart, and when I do, I know everything will work out for my highest good. That doesn’t mean there will be no pain. But any suffering I endure will be for my ultimate good. One day all tears will be dried.”

“I can’t lose Debbie, and I won’t lose her – that – that way.”

Cat tilted her head. They both knew David was not making his point.

“David, you won’t lose her. That’s why I told her that. So you would be comforted. The Precious Blood of Jesus protects you both. Your weapons and guns and black belts can only do what God allows them to do, ultimately. He gives you breath. He can take it away. A man betrays you. A man attacks you, but God sends his angels to protect you. When you trust and obey, when you seek Him and His Will with all your heart, you will find peace beyond all understanding.”

Glori

Debbie sat on the patio stairs wringing her hands when Cindy, Raphael, Cisco and I showed up. Cin rushed over to her. “Honey, are you okay?”

Debbie only nodded. Our attention went across the lawn to Cat and David yelling at each other in German. It would’ve been kind of funny if I only knew what they were saying. Raphael and Cisco looked amused. I figured it had something to do with their visit to the priest and minister.

It got a little heated, and Cisco headed over, but David got up from the dirt and came toward us with the same scowl that Cat had on her face.

Cisco grabbed him by the arm. “David, what’s going on?” Even though Cisco was just as built and even an inch or so taller, I thought that was a dangerous move on the secret agent.

“Nothing,” was David’s brilliant reply.

Cisco pulled him back, and instead of slugging him, or pulling out his gun, David grinned. Then he spoke up so Cat, and everyone else, could hear. “We’re trusting God with all our heart.”

“Uh-huh.” Cisco let go.

Debbie buried her face in her hands. “Thank you, Father God!” She started to sob. Cin hugged her, and when Debbie’s hands fell, she was smiling through the tears.

It dawned on me. When Debbie woke up in the hospital after her heart attack, she told the pastor she was looking for Cat the Prayer Warrior. I knew she was crazy. But our Cat was Cat the Prayer Warrior. Wow.

She was maybe a hundred pounds soaking wet, but Cat the Prayer Warrior had won over the devil’s agent with only a garden shovel and a Bible.

David proceeded to the patio and picked Debbie up in his arms and kissed her. “Let’s go visit Valentine at the stable,” he said like nothing happened. She beamed up at him, and they left.

Meanwhile, Cisco laughed at Cat sitting in the dirt. “What happened to you, Miss Mudpie?” He threw her over his shoulder, and she laughed like a kid. He drew her shovel out of the ground, and handed it to Raphael. “We really need that gardener now.”

David

It was the Tuesday evening before the wedding. Everyone was already exhausted, and many guests would begin arriving the following day.

Now routinely organizing Paulo’s entire schedule, Joe Harris had arranged for a private dining room at a nearby restaurant to celebrate. Everyone sat down to enjoy appetizers, drinks, and conversation. David excused himself and headed through the lounge to the restroom.

As he came through the door, he recognized Albert Santoro huddled with another man over a whiskey. Scanning the room, David counted seven others he recognized as Santoro’s associates.

Santoro’s eyes met his. “Henning!” He motioned him to the table enthusiastically. David shook his hand, and nodded to his colleague. “Sit down! Hey, Henning, where’ve you been hidin’? I heard you was dead.”

Santoro’s expression invited his friend to excuse himself from the table.

David grinned. “Still alive, Bert. I was on a little business trip.”

Santoro smiled appreciatively. “South America?” David nodded. Santoro looked interested. “You got anything good goin’ on?” He pulled out a cigarette. “Cuz business’s been tough lately, ya know? They got a shitload of guys. I kinda figured you was one of ’em. I was real lucky. I was outta town when the cops started roundin’ everyone up. They never caught up with me, though. So I been keepin’ a pretty low profile, if ya know what I mean.”

David sniffed. “Sure.”

“So how come you’re not with Darla and Sylvie no more? I seen Sylvie at the club a while back. Seemed worried, said she was pretty sure you was dead. Said you ain’t been around since
Christmas
. That true?” Santoro had suspicion in his eyes.

David grinned. “I learned a long time ago, never to tell anyone my business, Bert. Least of all, Sylvie. I’ve only been back a few days. But I’ve been pretty busy. And to tell you the truth, I’m not so sure I’m going back with her.”

“No kiddin’.” Santoro’s jaw dropped. He took a long puff of his cigarette. “Don’t tell me you’re sick of screwin’ her?”

David exhaled a cough, and shrugged. “It’s been well over a year.”

“Really?” His look of incredulity lapsed into a wide grin. “You’re a lucky bastard Henning. So let’s talk some business.”

“I think you might be interested.” David looked at his watch. “Look, meet me out back, in the alley. Ten minutes. You can see for yourself.” As Santoro nodded, David rose from his seat and went to the restroom.

Eduardo followed him in and checked the stalls. “So what’s the deal?”

“I’m meeting him in the alley out back in ten minutes. He’s got at least seven guys with him. There’s no time to get everyone out of the building, so we’ve got to get Santoro and his gang out of here. Call Pearson and meet me out back.”

Nita

I was aggravated Eduardo was gone so long. “He goes to find David, now
he’s
gone.”

Cisco and Raphael sensed there was some trouble. As their discomfort turned to uneasy conversation, we heard gunshots ring out. Screams and panic came from the crowd in the restaurant.

“David!” Debbie bolted from her chair to the front door, the rest of the family on her heels. Restaurant patrons poured onto the sidewalk, shrieking in terror. There were police sirens. I saw four men on the ground, each with a bullet to the head. I knew instantly there was nothing I could do for them.

Police officers waved the crowd back into the building. I told one of them I was an ER physician, and he asked me to stand by. Horrified and crying, Debbie screamed for David. Cindy tried to grab her, and she slipped out of her grip. Raphael caught her, and held her tightly as she became more hysterical. Her parents tried to calm her, to no avail.

Eduardo appeared from around the corner of the building, engrossed in conversation with two police officers. Camera flashes lit up the twilight.

At last David accompanied a scruffy, heavyset little man from the alley. Looking rumpled and bruised, the man loudly spit epithets and threats at “Henning.” With a wry smile David pushed him into a cruiser.

***

I went back into the building and found Raphael and Cisco bracing Debbie in a chair. Cat had her hands on her head, stroking her hair, most likely praying. As the panic began to subside, I could make my voice heard. “Debbie, David and Eduardo are fine. You mustn’t worry.”

Then David was behind me, and he took Debbie in his arms. He directed us to leave by the rear exit. Eduardo stayed behind to oversee whatever it was they needed to do.

David

David drove in silence to the Bainbridge mansion. Debbie used the time to compose herself. This was the second time he’d put her in serious danger, in only a matter of weeks, and panic was eating away at his gut.

He carried her upstairs to her room, and set her on the bed, taking a seat beside her. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry you had to see that. I know it was traumatic for you. But those men were criminals who got what they deserved. Please try not to let this bother you.”

“It’s okay David. You mustn’t worry about me. I know they were bad people. And I know you’re a hero.” She hugged him.

He kissed the top of her head, and cradled her in his arms until she slept. Some hero. His nemesis Z was laughing at him from hell. There was no way to protect Debbie from the harsh realities of his world. But panic wouldn’t do any good for either of them.

And then he realized Cat had seen the attack on them in Carmel. A man betrays you. A man attacks you, but God sends his angels to protect you.