The man had finally made it deep into the United States. He was tired and confused, but as he walked up the lane to the farm in the river bottom land along the Ohio River, he almost collapsed to see the home locked up and uninhabited. He saw several cattle in the fields, well-tended and fat for market. He saw the next farm and decided. He trekked the most direct route across the field instead of returning to the road and made it to the farmhouse in short order. A woman came to the door at his knock. She was taken aback at his appearance. He was dirty, battered, and bruised.
“I’m sorry. I was looking for Moira James. Can you tell me where I can find her?”
The woman immediately softened. “Well, any friend of Moira’s is a friend of ours. Come in, come in.”
He did and found that Moira had leased her farm to these neighbors and gone to live with a friend in Memphis. He knew he did not have the time or the energy to travel there on his quest for answers. “Do you have a number where she can be reached? I really need to talk to her.”
“Oh sure. Let me get you the phone and the number.”
The woman did and also brought him a cup of coffee and some cookies to complete her hospitality. He took the cookies and coffee greedily, then took the phone she offered and dialed the number. A man answered right away.
He was the epitome of politeness but gave no real information. He agreed to contact his employer to get a message to Mrs. James. And that was all he was going to get. He hung up.
He dropped his head slightly, not sure what to do now.
The woman considered and decided. “Will you excuse me for just a few minutes? I need to talk to my husband.”
The man looked up, not really focused. “Sure, ma’am. Would you like me to leave?”
“No, no. Just sit tight. Have more cookies.”
He smiled despite being bone tired and confused. Some people were just nice. This blew a breath of fresh air into his weary mind.
The woman came back several minutes later followed by a man dressed in tan coveralls. His face was lined and weather beaten, but his eyes were kind. He said, “My wife says you are a friend of Moira’s?”
“Well, actually I am a friend of her…” he hesitated, “…granddaughter’s.” He could no longer say he was a friend of her son’s. Not until he got more answers.
“Kenann? Oh, we love her,” the woman said. “She is such a dear.”
The husband spoke again. “If you don’t mind me saying so, you look a little worse for the wear. Are you down on your luck?”
“You could say that,” he answered and laughed ruefully. “Look, I don’t want to trouble you any further. I will just be going.”
The woman spoke with conviction. “Absolutely not.”
Her husband joined her. “She is right. You are going to stay right here until you get your bearings, son. We don’t turn away people in need. You got that?”
The man was baffled. “Why would you do this?”
The husband grinned. “Well, the good Lord says that if we entertain strangers, we might be entertaining angels without knowing it. And I’d sure hate to turn away an angel of the Most High God now, wouldn’t I?”
* * * *
Kenann looked around. “Where’s Daddy?”
Ann James did not even consider softening the blow. “He’s dead.”
“We were told your plane crashed in the jungles of Borneo.”
“Oh, it did. Well, actually, we were in the Amazon. We had been keeping our location from National Geographic. Ken was killed outright. I was unconscious for a while. Unfortunately, when I regained consciousness, I found Adam going through our things, trying to put together a survival pack. He was always so resourceful.”
“Why do you say unfortunately? Oh, never mind that, why do you have me tied to this bloody chair!?”
“Temper, temper, dear. You know how I hate your displays of emotion. So tedious.”
Kenann glared at her, remembering the years of coldness she had felt from her mother. She had always been too ashamed to speak of it or even acknowledge it. Because somehow it was her fault. Not anymore. The woman before her was a stranger, yet all too familiar. An enemy. Her enemy. “Oh, yes, Mother.” She said the name with contempt. “I would hate to upset you. You are being such a gracious hostess.”
Ann eyed her beneath hooded lids. “Well, well, our little Kenann has grown a backbone.” Her hand struck Kenann’s face with the speed of a cobra. Kenann refused to react. Ann stood as if nothing had happened and continued talking. “You have done quite well for yourself since I sent you off to school. So sorry Daddy and I never visited. Too busy, you know.”
She turned and smiled over her shoulder, still playing the part of sympathetic mother. “But look at you, landing that simply delicious Daniel MacKenzie. However did you manage that?” She did not wait for a response. “And now you are jet setting across Europe with the fashionable set. I am still not sure what it is you are supposed to do for me, though.” She tapped her forefinger against her lips. “Perhaps simply to introduce me to society? That one, powerful person?” She raised an eyebrow at Kenann.
Kenann was not sure what she wanted her to say. She continued to glare and kept her silence.
“Well, as usual, you appear clueless. You always were such a stupid girl. I never knew what Adam saw in you.”
At the mention of her surrogate father, she broke her silence. “What happened to Adam?”
“Oh, once we made it out of that jungle, I contacted my people and they put Adam in a remote prison compound and took me away to recuperate.”
“Prison? But why?”
“As I told you, stupid girl, he was looking through my things. He may have seen something he should not have. He began acting strangely. I couldn’t afford to take that chance.”
“He had just survived a plane crash and I assume buried my father! He was allowed to act strangely. What were you so afraid he would discover?”
Ann continued to pace the room. Kenann used the time to scan her surroundings. It was not an apartment. It appeared to be a house. She heard no city noise. She heard birds, and was that the sound of a tractor?
“Your mother is quite important in her own right.” She appeared to be very pleased to reveal this to Kenann. Proud mother. “I met a very powerful man in Barcelona several years ago, when you were a baby. He opened a world I never knew and introduced me to a life within a life. An underground network of powerful people who guided me along the way and allowed me to feel the intoxication of power—pure power.”
“And Daddy? Was he a part of this, too?”
“Oh my, no. He indulged me in my every whim but he never knew any of this. He also never knew I had taken Pierre as a lover.”
Kenann froze. She whispered, “Pierre?”
Ann smiled. “Yes. He moved on to much greater things, but he always made sure I was taken care of. That I had protectors and mentors to guide me in my development.” Her face took on a sudden look of pain. “But he is dead now. Someone killed him. He died with Katerina. You obviously met her in your travels. I saw how you reacted when you saw Magda.”
Kenann’s mind whirled. Pierre had once been her mother’s lover. And she thought he died when Katerina did. Why? Did the Order keep his debility a secret except only to the top echelon? Also, her mother had been the waitress at the table tonight. The truth hit her. Her mother had been stalking her. Kenann looked at her mother in shock and disgust. To have come from this woman was almost more than she could bear. She wanted Danny Mac. He was her center. Her anchor when she was adrift in her mind and heart. Wait. There was another she could turn to. Oh, Lord Jesus, be with me in your mighty power. Protect me from the Evil One through the power of your name…and protect me from this woman.
Her mother continued to look at her, waiting on a response.
“I had met Katerina, yes,” Kenann finally said. “She was not a nice woman.”
Ann threw back her head and laughed. “Oh, my dear, you have no idea.”
Oh, I think I do, Kenann thought.
Her mother’s eyes suddenly became alert. “Did you meet Pierre then?”
Kenann swallowed. “Perhaps.”
“Oh, my dear, you must have. He and Katerina had become inseparable. I was in Alexandria a week before he died. I was still recuperating and he was the most gentle of lovers.” She looked away, lost in her thoughts.
Kenann’s mind continued to spin with this knowledge. Her mother had been in Alexandria at the same time as herself. She was obviously part of the Order. She almost laughed when she wondered what her mother would think if she knew Pierre considered Kenann the fulfillment of their prophecy. And more importantly, that Danny Mac had crippled him, and then a few months later, she had put the final fatal bullet in the brain of her precious lover.
After Kenann’s prayer, her mind had sharpened and clarified. It was time to get to work. Her spine visibly straightened.
Ann James frowned when she saw the smile that crossed Kenann’s face.