Designed to Love (21 page)

After what seems like an eternity, Claire
finally pulls the item out of the box and studies it curiously
before holding it up for the rest of us to see.

"A children's bible?" Alisha questions
Bernie, one brow raised as she bites her lower lip. Brandon says,
"Cool," and chuckles. Claire accepts the unexpected gift as
gracefully as she did all the others, giving Bernie a hug, and
lightly kissing her on the cheek.

"I know your parents had certain religious
beliefs Claire, and I wanted to make sure you had an opportunity to
explore the theories they believed in as well," Bernie says
smiling, as Claire climbs on her lap and they flip through some of
the pages together.

When they're done, Bernie clears her throat
and motions for Claire to put the book under the tree.

"I am assuming that Alisha shared with you
that I am here to share some news with you," she says pausing to
look at Claire.

"She knows," Jason says quietly, and Claire
nods.

"All right, well then I'll get straight to
the point. For some time I've had suspicions as to the manner in
which everyone close to you seems to disappear," she says,
deliberately pausing to give each of us time to prepare for her big
reveal.

The word disappears versus dies, flashes in
my mind like a beacon beckoning me to an unexpected
destination.

I catch Michael fidgeting nervously out of
the corner of my eye, and am surprised when Elizabeth gives him an
annoyed look. Brandon is seated next to them on the couch absently
twisting a toy Rubik's cube puzzle, in no way attempting to solve
it.

With each passing second, my mind flips
between hope and despair, and when she stalls a fraction of a
second too long, I spring to my feet, unable to stand the suspense
any longer.

"Damn it Bernie, just say it! Was it her or
not!" I enunciate each word slowly, clenching my teeth together to
avoid screaming.

She starts to speak, but her words are
drowned out by the loud cry of a voice as familiar to me as my own,
"GET DOWN NOW!"

RONAN

My body obeys instantly without questioning
the command or the person behind it. My mind subconsciously
separates giving me an immediate aerial view of the scene below
which seems to unfold in slow motion. Alisha knocks Jason to the
ground. She then launches herself on top of Claire, shielding her
body with her own. Brandon reaches out and swipes Elizabeth and
Michael off the couch. They all land in a crumpled heap on the
floor. Burke and I simultaneously dive towards Bernie. I reach her
first, yanking her by her arm out of the chair, just as the sliding
glass door behind her head explodes into hundreds of shards of
glass.

"Sniper! Get away from the windows," Alisha
screams. A command not easily obeyed with an entire wall of windows
facing the river and forest beyond.

She is already crawling on all fours behind
Claire. The two of them look like chimpanzees as they scamper
around the furniture towards the kitchen.

A bleeding, semiconscious Bernie moans
beside me and I ponder as to whether or not I should drag her over
the glass covered floor staying low to the ground or pick her up
and carry her to safety. Burke takes the decision out of my hands,
quickly scooping her in his arms and standing to carry her out. As
he turns towards the kitchen, a second shot is fired and he
stumbles forward, dropping Bernie, before falling on top of her.
I'm not sure how, but I know he's dead almost immediately and a cry
of anguish escapes my lips.

"Turn off the lights!
Close the shades! Stay down! Find the sniper!"
A list of
orders by Alisha is being telepathically broadcasted to the rest of
us. The room goes pitch black and as my eyes adjust, I can see the
draperies already moving across the sliding door, while the blinds
snap shut one by one. For a six-year-old, Claire has an uncanny
ability to stay focused during a crisis situation and she uses her
telekinetic gifts to promptly carry out Alisha's orders.

"Ronan, find that
sniper!"
Alisha hollers so loudly that my mind scrambles
chaotically, rendering me temporarily disabled to activate a remote
traveling event. It isn't until I feel Claire's energy sweep across
my brain that I am able to organize my thoughts enough to release
the part of my brain that disconnects to travel from my body.

"Claire, you go right
and I'll go left,"
I declare, once we are outside,
headed for the forest. Like invisible spirits, we comb the tops of
the trees looking for any signs of human life. The further I reach
with my mind the hazier the objects below me become. Eventually, I
am forced to pull back, leaving the rest of the search up to
Claire, cursing myself for causing my own weakened state of
mind.

***

I return to the Freeman estate and hover
over what is now a bloody crime scene. Burke's body has been rolled
off of Bernie and crimson red blood is pooling above his shoulders.
His skin is pasty white, and his emerald green eyes are wide open,
reminding me of aisle five in the build-a-baby store of past
dreams. Elizabeth is kneeling beside him, sobbing, while Michael
stands over them seemingly more interested in Jason's and Ali's
attempt to save Bernie, than in comforting Liz. Brandon picks up a
kitchen chair and throws it against the fireplace, adding to the
debris of glass scattered on the floor. Nobody in the room even
acknowledges his outburst. After fully settling into my physical
body, I slowly pick myself up, grab a throw blanket from the couch
and kneeling beside Liz, spread it over Burke's body, brushing my
hands over his cold eyelids before draping the blanket over his
face. She sobs even harder, throwing her arms around my neck and I
gently lift her up and lead her away, followed by an awkward
Michael who must've just realized that he should be the one
providing solace to her.

Claire is like a hound dog on the hunt,
relentlessly scouring the forest for any signs of the killer. Her
physical body in the kitchen is completely motionless, indicating
that she is fully concentrating on the effort.

Bernie's injuries are not life threatening,
the worst being where the first bullet grazed the side of her head,
and a concussion. There is no doubt in anyone's mind that the
bullets were meant for her. Jason says it will be a few hours
before she is awake and until then we are left wondering who, why,
and when the attacker will return to finish the job.

After a brief discussion, Brandon and I
transport Burke's body to the basement, carefully placing it on the
cold slab of concrete.

"Brandon, could you give me a minute," I ask
not taking my eyes off Burke's motionless body.

"Sure," he murmurs, patting me on the
shoulder as he walks away.

"God why?" I groan, burying my head in my
hands. I've known Burke longer then anyone. He's like a brother to
me and I can't imagine not having him around. First it was my
parents, then Cat, and now him. I just can't make sense of any of
it. My grief is incomprehensible and I hang my head and sob.

Leaving Burke's body behind in the cold dark
basement is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I have
no choice. There's nowhere to take him without the entire police
department showing up at the estate. An assassination attempt of a
high ranking government official needed to be handled at the
federal level anyway. We would wait for Bernie to wake up before
contacting anyone. When I finally return upstairs, Jason and Alisha
are trying to comfort a distraught Claire.

"There was nothing you could do Claire. He
was dead the minute the bullet hit his head," Alisha says, rocking
her gently in her arms.

***

Michael and Jason are having trouble
navigating around the pitch dark house, but with feline DNA, the
rest of us have no problem. Even with the shades drawn, a sniper
can see shadows in a lit room, so we congregate in the only room
without windows, the fourth floor theatre room. Bernie weakly
protests when I scoop her in my arms and carry her up the three
flights of stairs. She can't weight much more than a hundred pounds
soaking wet. She's still groggy from the medication, but with each
passing minute, her face begins to change as the realization of the
recent events comes back to her. I lay her down on the couch, but
she quickly sits up, her eyes darting anxiously around the
room.

"Where's Burke?" she demands.

I'm too numb to answer but Elizabeth begins
crying softly, and Brandon cusses under his breath. Finally,
Bernie's face contorts and she moans loudly, bringing her hand to
her mouth.

"Is Burke...?" she asks, tears already
pooling in her gray-blue eyes.

"The bullet hit him in the head, there was
nothing we could do," Jason replies softly.

Seeing Bernie cry is like seeing your father
cry for the first time. It's unexpected and it makes me
uncomfortable. She's someone that you just presume will remain
poised and controlled regardless of the circumstance. She clearly
thinks the same thing, because she quickly regains her composure,
brushing the tears away with the back of her hand and struggling to
sit up straight.

We all silently wait for her to speak, to
finish what she was about to tell us before the shooting.

"The crash of that aircraft was not
accidental—we found residue of an explosive device. The DNA result
on the body found at the crash site was not that of Cat," she
finally discloses, answering the number one question on my
mind.

My heart takes off like a jackhammer,
thumping in my chest so powerfully, that my whole body quivers. The
anguish of losing Burke slowly gives way to the hope of finding
Cat. It's one of the most bittersweet moments of my life and I
struggle with the opposing emotions until Elizabeth kisses me on
the cheek and says, "We're happy too, Ronan," giving me permission
to bury my sadness for the moment.

"She's not dead," I murmur breathlessly. No
one reacts.

"She's not dead," I say even louder, looking
around the room, for confirmation. When I still don't get a
reaction, I jump to my feet, grabbing Alisha, the closest to me, by
the shoulders. "Ali, do you hear me? She's not dead!" I yell,
shaking her shoulders and gazing deep into her eyes, daring her to
dispute me.

She fights back a smile, and murmurs "Maybe
not, but don't get your hopes up Ronan, we don't..."

I ignore her warnings. It doesn't matter
what she thinks, I know in my heart that she's alive and I proceed
to go around the room declaring my belief.

"Brandon, she's alive."

He smiles sadly, pats me on the back saying,
"Burke would be happy for you, too."

Claire just giggles and I look up to find
her crouched on the top shelf of the entertainment center. Her tear
stained face, now with a wide grin, says it all.

"I think she's alive too, Ronan. Let's find
her and bring her home," she says launching herself across the room
and landing in my arms. "By the way, just so you know, you're
turning white again," she whispers in my ear.

Laughing and crying at the same time, I pull
her close. "You're damn right we're going to find her, Squirt," I
say, flinging her high in the air, then watching her do a twist and
somersault before landing gracefully on her feet, in the center of
the room.

I barely register Michael exiting the room,
until the door closes quietly behind him. I catch Alisha and Jason
exchanging uneasy glances, but don't dwell on it. There's nothing
anyone could say or do to steal my joy in this moment.

"Ahem," Bernie clears her throat, ordering
me to sit down.

"Ronan, I'm not saying that she's alive or
dead. All I know is that the person piloting the aircraft that she
was supposed to be in was not her. If she is alive, she's likely in
a lot of danger."

Proving me wrong, her words temporarily
steal my joy, and in defense, I blurt out, "Cat was the one who
warned us of the shooter."

It feels good to say it out loud. I know the
others heard her too, so I get irritated when they don't
immediately agree with me.

"Ali, Liz, Brandon, was that not Cat's voice
warning you to get down?" I challenge.

When they don't readily answer, Claire
shouts, "Yes!" and begins twirling around the room chanting, "Cat
is alive and we're going to find her."

"What do you mean by Cat warned you? She's
communicating with you telepathically? When did this start and why
hasn't anyone told me?" Bernie drills us sternly.

Alisha gives me a steely look and mentally
criticizes me for leaking this news to Bernie. Judging by Claire's
suddenly sullen look, she must have scolded her as well.

"Look Bernie, all of this has come about in
the last week and we didn't know what to think. We were just trying
to get Ronan home before he got into more trouble. Really, we were
planning on telling you," Ali says smoothly.

Bernie sighs, suddenly looking very wary.
"I'm almost certain that someone tried to kill me today because
they didn't want me passing this information to you."

"They didn't want you to tell us that Cat
wasn't in the plane that crashed?" Alisha asks, puzzled.

"It's like I suspected all along. They
wanted you to think she was dead, just like they wanted you to
believe other family members were dead. Maybe they know about your
gifts and didn't want you searching or maybe they didn't want the
FBI involved. It's hard to say."

"But even we didn't know the extent of our
gifts until a few months ago, and my parents disappeared almost two
years ago. If your theory is correct, then whoever took them had to
have worked very closely with Dr. Kappel. They, must have known
what we would eventually be capable of," Alisha points out.