One Thousand Years to Forever (9 page)

She listened some more. The more
she heard, the madder she got. “You could have told me you felt I
was being threatened... ” She listened some more. She wanted to
punch Colum, too.

“
So maybe my car breaking down was
all because of this? Maybe they did that to my car?” She was
angrier than she had been in a long time. Usually, she and John
would have a few fights a year. It had been over nine years since
she had had a chance to get this upset, and it was all bottled
up.

“
Well, I want to talk to those
men, and don’t tell me that’s impossible. You call your men and
tell them I want to see those jerks, who have obviously been
trailing me all day. I want to not only punch the other one, but I
want to ask them a few questions... ”

She had heard smooth talking, but
this was taking the cake. “No Colum, I am not letting you take care
of it... entirely. Let me speak to those men or whatever you and I
have started will be over!”

That got the answer she wanted.
“Thank you.”

* * * * * * *

Cormac saw his son coming back in,
a smile playing on his lips. “What happened?”

Colum sat down, feeling the eyes of
the Council on him. He took a deep breath. “It would appear we have
some terrorists among us. Two were actually following Katherine and
the two girls around the mall. They are about to get a taste of a
mother’s wrath.”

One older gentleman leaned forward.
“What do you mean?” A gleam shone in his eyes.

“
Well, let me explain...
”

Katherine punched the same man
again. Now he had a bloodied nose, and a swollen right eye. “I may
not know torture tactics like you, but I am sure I could figure out
some and be quite imaginative.”

The man just sat there. He could
feel her hatred. To them, she was just another job, an
assignment... but in her eyes, they represented the men who had
killed her husband. This man wasn’t stupid. If it had been him, he
would be doing the same thing, especially if it involved his
family. He hoped he could see his family again, but somehow he
doubted it.

“
Why were you following us? You
scared my girls, you’ve traumatized them... you bastards!”
Katherine could see she was getting through to one of them, but the
other, she could feel his hatred. The animosity was seeping from
his pores. She felt it in waves. That made her all the more mad.
She hauled off and kicked the second one, square in the balls. His
head went down and she kicked him in the face. She kept kicking and
punching until one of Colum’s men pulled her off.

She was crying, swearing and beyond
reason. She was hitting the smaller of Travis’s nephews as he tried
to hold her. He knew he could be in trouble for holding her back.
The other one got on the phone.

* * * * * * *

Colum answered his phone. About to
excuse himself, he saw his father put his hand up, telling him to
stay and take the call there.

“
Yes?”

“
Sir, I don’t think she will be in
any shape to drive back. She wants to kill these men and I’m afraid
that in her condition, she may go off the road.”

Colum knew from the past that
Katherine had a temper. At one time she had been a warrior also.
“Can you keep her separated from those men till I can get
there?”

“
Yes, Sir, but the only way we can
contain her, for even a little time, is if you take the
copter.”

“
My plan already. We will be
leaving within ten minutes. My ETA is forty minutes.”

Colum hung up and looked at the
group. “Our future Queen is wanting to take care of things
herself.”

“
What happened?” His father
asked.

Colum started to walk towards the
door. “Let’s just put it this way, once Katherine got going she was
ready to kill the both of those men with her bare hands. Had our
men not been there she would have and she’s giving them a hard time
now... I know only too well.”

One man laughed. “If she is
anything like she was at Clontarf she is going to be a mighty
Queen, but you need to change her so we don’t loose her
again.”

“
I know... I have been told that
twice already today.”

* * * * * * *

Katherine sat with a cup of
Starbucks coffee in her hand. She was slowly calming down, no
longer shaking with the anger that had consumed her, filling her
with blind rage. She now sat waiting for Colum to arrive. His two
henchmen had the two spies in the Humvee. She had talked to the men
who worked for Colum and they had said, “Don’t go anywhere, as
Colum will not be happy with us if something happens to
you.”

So she sat. But then her blood
started to boil again. She thought about how convenient it had been
that her car had broken down. Now, why would it happen then of all
times? Well, he had a lot of explaining to do, if he thought she
was a push over or a lady in distress... he had another thing
coming. She had never been one to back away from a challenge or
danger. Working with EMS in the city, she had gone to her fair
share of scary calls. And hadn’t she been right there searching and
digging along with the men of her husband’s crew to locate her
husband and others who were trapped that fateful day? Colum was
going to find out just whom he had boxed into the corner... because
that’s just how she felt and she wasn’t going to be boxed or
coddled.

She craned her neck out the Rover’s
window to get a glimpse of the helicopter that she could hear
coming. Sure enough, there was a black copter, with green marking,
coming in for a landing. She got out.

“
Stay,” she said to the
girls.

She stood and waited while the
blades of the helicopter slowed and then stopped spinning. The
doors opened up and out climbed Colum from the pilot’s seat. Travis
his butler, climbed out of the passenger’s side. He then turned and
grabbed a bag from the back seat. It looked like a doctor’s bag
from forty years ago. She turned her attention back to Colum who
had turned and was now walking towards her.

She felt his eyes on her. She
couldn’t detect their color yet. She knew that told a lot about how
he was feeling, what his temperament was like. She knew that from
just the short time she’d spent with him: whether he was relaxed,
excited or aroused. She knew at least once he had been aroused when
he had kissed her and his eyes had turned a deep violet. As he got
closer his eyes at first looked brown, but then she saw they
actually were going from reddish brown back to a dark purple. She
didn’t understand that, but right now was not the time to figure
that out.

She would wait for him to speak
first.

“
Katherine how... ”

Katherine couldn’t hold it in any
longer. She needed to vent and here was her chance.

She hit his chest with first her
fist then started pointing into his hard, sculptured chest with her
finger. She continued to pound on him. With either her fist or her
finger. She was going to make sure her point got across one way or
another.

“
How dare you...
who do you think you are? I know it’s you or someone who works for
you that made my car break down
but
for the life of me I can’t figure out why. And do
you think I am a meek little woman who... ” She kept hitting his
chest for emphasis. She could feel the rage starting to ebb, which
was probably good because she was starting to feel stupid for
taking it out on him. She knew he was just trying to protect
her.

Colum just stood there while
Katherine hit his chest. She kept it up for a few minutes. Saying
half sentences and then she finally collapsed into his arms. He let
his arms wrap around her and hold her as he rubbed the small of her
back.

“
You have every right to be mad at
me. I can explain everything... But after, if then you feel you
don’t want to see me... I will honor that wish, but please, hear me
out.”

He felt her go still, trying to
calm her sobs and finally after a sniffle she looked up at him. Her
eyes were red and swollen, tears still coursed down her cheek but
she was a bit calmer. “I will listen and I know whatever was done
was done to protect me and my kids, but please, in the future can
you please just let me in on your plans?”

Colum caught a tear from the tip of
her nose with his index finger. After catching it, he saw Katherine
watch him intently as he licked it off the tip of his finger. He
saw Katherine watch him, intent on his tongue. “Keep that
thought... but for now how about Travis drives the girls back in
the Rover?”

Katherine shook her head. “Normally
I would think that is fine but Olivia is pretty shaken
up.”

Colum smiled. “I have a way out of
that.” They watched as Travis approached the girls. He was talking
to the girls and then the girls came up excitedly as if nothing had
happened.

“
Mom isn’t this great, Travis here
is going to drive us back so you can take the copter with Colum...
Shopping was so cool today, Mom... ” She looked up in the sky. “Oh
Mom, Colum, look snowflakes!” She and Olivia danced around trying
to catch them on their tongues.

Katherine looked at the girls and
then at Colum. “What just happened? Sally acts like she never saw
what happened, I don’t understand this, unless she is fooling
around?” She called her daughter. “Hey Sally, how do you feel? Do
you remember what just happened?”

Sally came up, pulling her friend
behind her. “Of course Mom, we got the best deals because Colum
came and told us where to get all the deals on jeans... ” She
jumped up and hugged Colum. “Thanks again Colum, you’re great.”
Then she whispered in his ear. “And I know my mom likes you,
too.”

That brought a smile to his face.
Katherine just stood there with her mouth hanging open.

The girls went to get into the
Rover. The other men made sure their two wayward terror suspects
were secure. Colum wrapped an arm around Katherine.

“
I’ll explain when we are up in
the air.”

Katherine shook her head. She let
herself be led to the helicopter. She buckled up and then was
handed a headset.

Colum climbed in put on his
headset. He glanced over at Katherine. “Can you hear me
OK?”

Katherine shook her head. She
watched as Colum got ahold of the cord attached to her headset and
plugged it in. He smiled at her.

“
Can you hear me now?”

She nodded her head. “Yes. I take
it that it will be noisy?”

“
Just a little bit. But we aren’t
going to be up long enough for it to matter.”

He set the controls and cleared
for take off from the Jet Port.

“
How long will it take,
Colum?”

Colum quickly glanced over to
Katherine. “Twenty-five, maybe thirty minutes. We have a wind
picking up and with the snow starting it will slow us a bit. If we
don’t get going now we will be grounded soon.”

Katherine watched as they hovered.
She waved to the girls who were hanging out the Rover’s windows,
smiling like nothing had just happened and this was just any other
day. She had the good sense to wait till they were flying steady
and then she turned to Colum.

“
So tell me what just happened?
Not only what Travis did to the girls to make them forget or act
like they had never seen what just happened but who are those men
and why were your men there?”

Colum reached over and took one of
her hands. He gently rubbed her knuckles, making circles with his
thumb.

Katherine glanced down at her hand,
Colum’s fingers and his massaging her hand, sending sparks all
through her body. It felt like a pinball was ricocheting throughout
her body. She felt a heat starting to spread and move into areas
that hadn’t heated up in years. She shifted in her seat and started
to squirm. Then she thought of what happened and she could feel
herself getting angry again. She was a mess. First, she was
aroused, then she was angry.

“
Those men are the result of your
funeral tirade. They are not the first though... and I am sure they
won’t be the last. It appears that whomever you pissed off, now
wants to eliminate you. Once you get on a list of theirs, only
death takes you off. I am going to make sure that they get no where
near you.”

“
Death! But who are they? Are they
really terrorists? And how... Oh, what about the girls? Also, why
did they act so odd after Travis talked to them?”

Colum tried not to smile too much.
“Travis used an age old practice that you can see in Star Wars. In
the movie the Jedi use it to change someone’s thoughts. It’s a form
of hypnosis and is harmless and really it was the best thing to do
in this situation with your daughter and her friend. Your car, yes,
while we were having breakfast, I had one of my men make sure it
wouldn’t start. My Rover is like a tank, just like all my vehicles.
I saw another man the other evening and he was
dispatched.”

Katherine couldn’t believe what
she was hearing. She felt like she was in the middle of a spy
movie. “Dispatched? How?”