Instinctual (19 page)

“Come on. Let’s follow them and see where they’re going,” Jake insisted, not waiting for Kate. She, of course, had no option but to go with him if she was to somehow get her father to sense her presence. What would happen when and if he even sensed her, would remain to be seen. How would she let him know where her body was?

Chapter Thirty-Four

It was 3 a.m. It had been a long night. In fact it had been a long couple of days for Robert. If the trip over hadn’t sapped him of all his energy, the stress of his daughter mysteriously vanishing and unreachable had him drained to his limit. He needed to recharge with a few hours’ sleep and then resume the search the next morning. He wouldn’t be able to think clearly and function if he didn’t try and get some shut-eye. As much as he considered it to be wasting time that could be spent looking for Kate, he knew when he was at the end of his tether. He needed to get his head back in the game.

He hadn’t spoken to Jenny since he’d landed in Rome. He’d broken his promise to call her. She would be anxious to hear how Kate was and furious at him for breaking his word. What would he tell her? That he’d been too busy working on the case to have visited his daughter yet? Hell. He didn’t know. He knew he just needed to get some sleep so he could think clearer tomorrow. Technically it was tomorrow. The sun would be coming up in a couple of hours. He’d better high-tail it to bed before he collapsed from exhaustion.

After sending The Gladiator to his bed-sit, Robert decided to crash at Kate’s house. His bags were there and it seemed like too much effort to lug them through town to the accommodation that Gary had booked.

Once inside he locked the front door from the inside and headed up the stairs to the living room.

He’d sleep on the sofa. Just in case Kate came home. He tried to remain hopeful that she’d return as he pushed down the seeds of doubt that were growing larger with each passing hour that she didn’t return. His cop instincts were screaming at him that all was not well so he was damn well listening to them. They’d never led him astray yet.

A shower would have been nice but he was too beat. It would have to wait until morning. He could barely keep his eyes open.

Sitting down on the couch, he dug his cell out and tried one last time to reach her.

“Come on, Katie. Pick up, damn it!” The line rang four times and then seemed to connect. He sat straighter, amazed that he’d been able to get through.

“Hello, Kate? It’s Dad. Kate, where are you? Can you hear me?”

The static on the other end had him remove the phone from his ear and hold it out a little, still listening to see if his daughter would reply.

“Kate? Are you there? We seem to have a bad line. If you can hear me you need to come home. I’m at your apartment. I’m here on some business and have been waiting to see you. Not sure where you are and I’m starting to get worried. Call me. I love you, Katie.”

He waited for a reply and when none came, with a morbid heaviness, he threw his cell on the fluffy floor rug at his feet and stretched out on the couch with his knees scrunched up so he would fit.

Where are you, darling? Maybe I’m just an over-protective father worrying about nothing but I can’t shake this feeling that you’re in grave danger. I feel so helpless. You need to come home. I’d die if anything happened to you.

These were the last coherent thoughts to zip across his consciousness before sleep took him hard.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Kate and Jake followed Robert and The Gladiator back to Kate’s apartment and watched with detached curiosity as the two men parted ways.

Kate saw her door shut and heard the click of the lock.

Panicked she looked at Jake. “Oh no! He’s locked us out! Now what?”

Jake turned with a half smile on his face and a twinkle in his ethereal eyes. “We go through.”

“What? What do you mean, through? He’s locked the door, remember?”

“I mean, we go through the door. Literally, through!”

“Oh so now you’re telling me that we can walk through walls? Ha. You’re just too funny, Jake. Or maybe you’re just plain old crazy.” She’d forgotten that she’d already done it twice—straight after her fall and when she had returned to her apartment to discover her father’s bags in her lounge room. Technically they didn’t count though because she hadn’t even known she was doing it.

“You don’t believe me?” He was grinning like a Cheshire cat now, almost gloating.

“What’s so funny, ‘Mr. I can walk through walls and teleport,’ show off.”

Jake laughed fully, entertained by Kate’s lack of belief. The sound of it stroked her insides like melodic, heavenly bells. She loved the sound of his laugh and hadn’t heard it in such a long time. Her entire body thrummed to the same frequency as the sensational tone of his laughter. It became infectious and soon Kate was stifling her own urge to let loose and giggle along with him.

It took a moment for Jake to compose himself before he spoke. “Kate. You underestimate your ability as a ghost. Please. Allow me to demonstrate.” He arched his arm towards the door in question and then took a bow.

Kate smirked. She’d humor him and then laugh when he banged his head on the door. She stood aside and motioned with one hand for Jake to take center stage and show her how it was done.

Turning towards the door, Jake closed his eyes and focused. Kate barely had time to blink and he’d disappeared. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she wouldn’t have believed it. He was gone! He’d done it!

Her eyebrows rose considerably and her jaw dropped. When he re-appeared before her seconds later, she was still gaping.

“Okay. Now I really do feel like I’m in an episode of the
Twilight Zone
. That was freaky!”

“All ghosts can do it. How do you think you got inside after your fall?”

“That was different, Jake. I didn’t try to do anything. It just happened and I don’t like referring to myself as a ghost. Technically I’m not dead yet.”

“You know what I mean. You are still a person but with… enhanced capabilities.”

“Hmmm. And what other enhanced capabilities do I possess? Besides teleporting and walking through walls.” It all just sounded so incredible. The stuff dreams were made of.

“I’m not sure ye—”

Jakes voice was cut short when Kate’s cell pealed out into the now quiet night. She warily looked at Jake before fishing it out of her pocket and looking at the screen.

“Shit! It’s my Dad. What am I supposed to do?”

“Well, I guess you could try answering it.”

Her hand was shaking as she pressed the button with the small green telephone on it. “Hello? Dad?”

Static.

“Hello? Damn!”

More static.

Jake mumbled “White noise.”

“What?” Kate asked as she ended the call and put her cell back into her pocket.

“White noise. That’s what your father is hearing and it’s what you’re hearing. It’s the interference that your energy is creating. Kind of like your frequency is disturbing the phone’s frequency. Or something like that, anyway.”

“So basically you’re telling me that we’re fucked! Is that it, Jake? Huh? We’re screwed because we can’t connect with anyone alive.” The most frustrating part for Kate was standing below her father who she hadn’t seen for three years, not able to speak to him via phone or in person. She was so close and yet so far away. Kate’s scowl didn’t go unnoticed.

“Look. I know things seem impossible right now but we’ll figure it out. I promise. Rather than stand out here until the sun comes up I think we should go upstairs and wait for your dad to wake up. You need to try zapping him like you did down at the Piazza. Plus, we need to talk.”

Wasn’t that the truth? There were so many things they needed to lay on the table. She truly wanted to believe that everything would be okay but she just didn’t have a clue how that would happen. Jake had always been an optimist, staying positive in any situation. Whether it was entirely for her benefit she couldn’t be sure, but it was nice to hear the words of positivity even if she couldn’t bring herself to believe them.

“Okay. Let’s get this done. Follow me. Don’t think about it, just do it,” Jake offered as he walked through Kate’s front door and disappeared again.

She did think about it. How could she not? She was about to walk through a wall, damn it! How could Jake be so flippant about it? It was hard enough coming to terms with being out of her body, not knowing whether she would ever go back to it. She wanted to go back to her normal, boring routine. Work. Eat. Sleep. She could handle all that. But this?

“Will you come on, already, or am I going to have to come get you?” Kate couldn’t tell if Jake was joking or not.

“Keep your shirt on! I’m coming! I think I’m owed a minute or two before I attempt to walk through a Goddam wall!” She was feeling a little on edge. This was something that went way beyond her comfort zone. Did she really have a choice, though? Either way, with or without Jake, she was going to have to do it if she wanted back into her villa.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” grumbled Kate, before she closed her eyes and took a step towards the door and then another.

A weird heavy sensation filled her for an instant before it vanished. She stood for a moment, eyes still closed, wondering what she would see. Would she be stuck in the door? Wouldn’t that be freaky and what would happen if she had to stay like that?

It was eerily quiet. No sound at all, making her a little alarmed that she hadn’t pulled it off. She hadn’t realized that she was biting her lip hard when she opened her eyes very slowly, eyebrows scrunched together. Jake stood expectantly near the stairwell with a huge grin on his face.

“Welcome to the other side, Kate.” He held out his hand for her to take but she just stood with her eyes wide open, trying to adjust to what had happened.

Jake walked over and put his hand on the small of her back and led her to the stairs and then up as Kate remained quietly, shocked.

Upon reaching the top of the stairs they discovered her dad sprawled out on the couch, one leg dangling down onto the floor. He was sound asleep and gently snoring.

Kate walked over to him and dropped to her knees, reaching for his hand that rested upon his chest. As contact was made, she felt a mild shock and watched as her hand glowed. Her fingers became nearly invisible, leaving a white energetic aura as their outline. She looked up at Jake, who had an expression of incredulity on his face.

Kate’s father’s hand felt warm to her touch as she watched him sleep. He stirred momentarily, mumbling something incoherent before drifting back into deep slumber.

She wanted to stay like that for as long as possible, savoring her dad’s presence, even if it was one-sided. She loved her dad more than anything and suddenly was overcome with homesickness. Seeing her father before her made her realize just how much she missed her family and how important they were to her. Not having seen them for so long was extremely hard and brought with it a certain amount of guilt. Was she being selfish living so far away? They weren’t getting any younger, and with Kate being the only child, it must be so hard for them.

Her dad stirred again and rolled onto his side with his face towards the back of the couch, causing Kate to lose contact with his hand.

Jake walked over and touched her shoulder. “Come on. It’s not working. Until we think of something else, we can’t do much. Let’s talk.” Jake knew they were on borrowed time but didn’t know what else to do. It was frustrating the hell out of him as he gripped his neck.

Once in her bedroom she settled on the bed with her back against the wall, knees drawn up with her arms pulled tight around her legs.

Jake sat just far enough away so that Kate could relax a little. It was too hard to think when he was in her personal space. As it was, having him in her room again when last time they’d shared something that still made her feel giddy, brought with it a certain amount of danger. Something clenched between her legs that shouldn’t have and she turned her head away to try and pull herself together.

She tried not to think of the kiss that still clung to her like ivy.

“Start talking, Jake. From the beginning. I want it all.”

There was an exaggerated pause before Jake started. “You know how I was always on to your dad about getting me into the police force?’

“Mmm.” She knew that better than anyone. She’d had to listen to him talk about it non-stop and bug her father about it every time they got together. His obsession had nearly driven them all insane.

“He had been working on busting a crime syndicate based in Italy but operating in the United States for years. He had been struggling to move forward with it and was looking at ways to infiltrate The Organization without them knowing so he could gather the vital information he needed to bust it wide open.”

“Okay. But how did you factor in to all that?” She hadn’t known the ins and outs of any cases her dad had worked on. He kept that part of his job private. She could only guess, for their protection.

“Your dad contacted me and made me an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

Kate stiffened, still not looking at Jake. “What sort of an offer?”

“He knew how important it was for me to get into the force, and since all the good men and soldiers were fighting the war in Iraq, he asked me if I’d be interested in undergoing twelve months of intensive training in order to infiltrate this ‘Organization’ that he so desperately wanted to crack.”

“Wait! My dad actually offered you a job that was so incredibly dangerous? Why would he do that? He cared about you, Jake.” Kate couldn’t understand her father’s logic at getting Jake involved with a criminal organization and putting his life at risk. And why was he so hell bent on bringing down The Organization? What was she missing?

“I didn’t have to say yes, Kate. He ran it by me and warned me of the risks but he said if I wanted to fast track my way into a career with the force and be involved with something monumental,
then that was my opportunity. You know how much it meant to me and how much I’ve always wanted to make a difference in the world. That was my opportunity. My one shot at helping to rid the world of scum and help your dad out at the same time. He pulled a few strings and got me in.”

Kate was dumbfounded. How could her father even ask that of Jake? Didn’t he realize that it would tear them apart? And for Jake to accept the offer, knowing he’d have to leave. Maybe he just hadn’t cared about her as much as she thought he had.

“In order to keep you safe, I had to leave and was ordered not to tell you anything about it. It killed me, Kate. To walk away like that without an explanation. I’m so sorry.”

“Why? Why did you do it?” There were so many whys but that one seemed the most important.

“There was a part of myself missing and I knew that if I didn’t at least try to help your father, I would spend my whole life regretting it. It’s hard for me to explain. It was something I had to do for me.”

Kate tried to get her head around it. Even knowing the reason behind his sudden departure, she felt angry. Angry that he hadn’t thought enough about her to stay. It had been his choice. Even more so, she was angry that she’d been kept in the dark, even if it had been for her own good.

“You said to me you didn’t have a choice when you left. In actual fact you did, Jake. You had a choice all along. You chose to go.”

As if reading her mind, Jake spoke softly. “Baby, I know it’s hard for you to comprehend how I was able to leave. Looking back now at the outcome, I would have done things differently. I thought I had good reason back then. Not only did I want to make myself and my mom proud, I wanted to make your father proud. He was the dad I never had. I looked up to him and still do. He’s an amazing man and at the time I thought that having his respect would form a solid foundation for when I married you.”

Kate’s head spun around so she was looking at Jake for the first time since he’d starting talking. “Marry me?”

“Yes. I was never going to do that job forever. It was just long enough to gain enough information to bring The Organization to its knees and to earn some big dollars for our future. At first I thought it would only be a twelve month stint, but then it dragged on and on until finally it ended just over a week ago.”

Jake had been going to marry her? How could he have expected to marry her when he’d walked out without saying a word? How could he have possibly expected to show up out of the blue and ask her to marry him? To expect her to say yes?