CHAPTER 16

            She couldn't get that ridiculous smile off of her face. She would try to be sober but a smile would come back and she would start giggling.  She felt like a school girl after her first date, so happy she couldn't help bubbling. All she could seem to do was sit there and smile. She could still feel Jason’s tender caresses. His lips, his tongue, his strong hands, giving her pleasures beyond what her mind could conceive.  Her Thoughts couldn’t seem to go beyond that and she really didn’t want it to.

Jana sat before the make-up mirror, in her bathroom, in the penthouse.  She still felt a warm glow from the night before with Jason.  It had been such a magical night; like long ago, when they were first married.  Even thought he was now a different person, he still showed the attention and tenderness of Michael.  She felt just as much at one and in tune with him as she had before.

Not wanting to pull herself away from her memories of the night before, she sat and stared at herself in the mirror.  But after awhile the reality of the situation returned.  Even though she had found her Michael, she still hadn't solved the mystery of Victoria, and she knew that until she did she and Jason could never have a proper life together. She still longed for the green landscape and enticing smell of the dogwoods. She wanted to let her family back in Missouri know of her discoveries but she wasn’t quite ready for that.

Pulling herself away from the mirror, she dragged herself into the bedroom and sat down at the desk.  It was hard for her to believe that just three weeks ago she had awakened as Victoria so alone and frightened.  Now most of her dilemma had been solved, but she knew that she still had a lot of work to do.

Sliding out of her silky peignoir, she headed for the closet.  She wanted something casual but in hopes that she might see Jason, she decided sexy casual would be in order. She dawned a long satiny house dress that zipped up the front and resolved that most of the day would be spent working in the library.

Feeling comfortable in the penthouse once again, she was glad the whole ordeal with Charles and Suzanne was over.  She felt safe with Jake over in the servants quarters and relieved that she wouldn't have to watch her every move. She realized that the penthouse was a big place and she was going to have to get help to take care of it.

Pulling out the address book she called Martha VanHollan.

"Hello."  An unfamiliar voice came on the line.

"Could I speak to Mrs. VanHollan, please.  This is Victoria Davenport calling."

"Just a moment, please."  The voice at the other end said.

While waiting for Martha to come on the line, Jana thumbed through the address book again.  There were still a lot of people she had yet to cross paths with.  Noticing the coded notations on the pages again she thought to herself  that they must correspond with the code in the book "Last Run".  What fun it was going to be deciphering these notations and finding out what Victoria thought about all these people.

"Hello, Victoria?"  Martha said with relieved excitement in her voice.

"Hi, Martha"

"Well, tell me all the gory details.  I've heard about it in the news.  Is it true?"

"I don't know what you have heard, but yes there was some excitement here over the last couple of days."

"They reported that some PI tried to kidnap you and Jake saved you by killing him and then Charles locked you in the safe and you were in there for hours and how awful for you it must have been.  Was it dark in there?  Were you sacred?"

"Yes. I was scared, but I did have a light."

"I just can't believe that of Charles.  He always seemed so harmless."

"Yes, I know what you mean.  I was very surprised too. Anyway, Martha, Suzanne went out the door with Charles and I'm going to need another maid.  Do you have any ideas where I can get one?"

"Well....let me see....I'm not sure where you could get such a dream as Suzanne was.  You know, I had always wondered why she was working as a maid.  I guess we both know now."

"Yeah, she was working for a lot higher stakes than a maids wages."

"The only thing I can suggest is that you contact the 'Household Personnel Pool'.  They seem to have pretty good people."

"Thanks, Martha."

"Listen, honey.  We need to get together soon and discuss all that has happened to you."

"Sure, but it will have to wait until I finish some important business I'm working on."

"I take it your memory has come back in full force, then."

"Oh, I still have a few lapses but in general it's better."

"Well, take care of yourself and give Jake a big bonus for work above and beyond the call of duty."

"I sure will.  Bye now."

"Bye"

That was a good idea that Martha had.  She had thanked Jake profusely but a monetary reward would probably be in order.  Perhaps some of the jewels or gold coins that Charles was trying to take off with.  No, she had plenty of money in plenty of accounts and she would give him a good bonus.

It was time to hit the library so she got up and strolled downstairs.  While traveling past the fountain she felt a twinge of hunger pangs so she headed for the kitchen to see what she could find.

Seated at the breakfast nook was Jake drinking a cup of coffee.

"Hi, Jake."

"Hello, Mrs. Davenport.  Would you like some coffee?"

"I sure would, but you just sit there, I can get it." She said as she headed for the pot.  Pouring herself a cup she went over to the refrigerator and looked inside.  "Not much here, is there?"

"I don't think Suzanne's heart was in her job toward the end."  Jake said with a grin.

Jana smiled and said.  "I guess not.  Well, there's some bread here I guess I'll just have some toast.  Would you like some?"

"No, thank you.   Coffee is usually just my breakfast."

As Jana sat down across from Jake with her toast she said, "We're going to half to have some help around here. I'm going to call Personnel Pool today and see about getting someone."

"That's good.  You wouldn't want to eat my cooking."  He said.

"That's okay, your very valuable in other areas."  She said with a grateful smile.  "Anyway, there will probably be ladies coming for interviews.  I just wanted to let you know."

"Sure, I'll listen for the intercom."

Jana having finished her toast said "bye" to Jake and went into the library.  She didn't need to worry about Jake seeing the safe open now since he knew about it, so she didn't bother to lock the door.

Opening up the shelves and then the safe, she marveled at how easily the safe swung open.  But then fear gripped her, as she suddenly flashed back on the horror she had gone through the day before and she couldn't step into the safe. There had to be a way to keep the safe from closing and locking while I'm in there, she thought.

Looking over the door and mechanism, she decided to slide one of the boxes over against the door to hold it open.  But it still didn't take much of a push on the heavy well balanced door to cause it to move.  She went back over to the desk and took out the telephone book.  She dialed and waited impatiently as she heard the phone ringing on the other end.

"Click! Security Lock and Safe, Marlene speaking."

"This is Victoria Davenport. Would it be possible ..........."  After a lengthy explanation, two trips over to the safe door for the make and model numbers, and being put on hold a number of times, Jana finally arranged to have someone come over that afternoon and install a mechanism to open the safe from the inside.  Next, she called 'Household Personnel Pool' and arranged for some interviews of prospective maids.

After building her own personal barricade to hold the door more securely open, she hesitantly entered the safe.  The light came on as she stepped inside and she realized that it was still a mess from Charles' ransacking.  And the computer was still out of commission.  Jason would know who could fix it, she thought, and besides, she wanted to hear the strengthening comfort of his voice.  The longer she existed in this nightmarish world, the more unreal it seemed, but she knew that, out of all this chaos, Jason's and her love would see her through.

Returning to the phone she quickly dialed his number.  When he was finally on the line he said.  "I'm glad to know that you're all right.  Whenever you're out of my sight, I find myself worrying about you most of the time."

Jana liked the concern he had for her, it reminded her of Michael and his attentiveness, but she said, "You have better things to do with your time than worry about me, I'll be just fine although I do miss being with you."

"I miss you too.  I've never felt this way about anyone before.  It's almost as though we've been together for years, even though I know it's only been a few days."

"I know how you feel.  I guess this is what they call love at first sight."

"Well....I don't know if I could call it love at first sight after that toe stomping I got."  He joked.

"Darling....you know very well that you deserved that toe stomping."

"No I didn't!  How was I to know that you weren't a gold digger like all the rest of the hordes of women that constantly hound me for attention."

"Don't you think you're going a little overboard with the hordes of women."

"Well....maybe a little bit."

"I would say a lot."

"Okay....Okay maybe there aren't hordes."

"All I have to say, my darling, is that I’m surprised that there aren’t hordes of women since I know how wonderful you are."

"Yes, you are wonderful."

"Jason, you're the one who's wonderful."  She said, laughing a little.

"I know you are."

"Okay....okay.  You win."  She giggled.

"If you were here in my arms, I would show you exactly how wonderful I think you are."

"You don't know how much I wish I was there in your arms ..."

"Oh yes I do." He said in the middle of her words. Why don’t you…”

Hating herself for changing the subject, she interrupted what she anticipated to be a glorious proposition that she wouldn’t have the willpower to refuse, "But, I have a lot of work to do here.  Speaking of which, one of the reasons I called you was to find out who I could call to get my computer fixed."

"I've already taken care of that.  In fact, I was going to call you to let you know that someone would be showing up there.  I wasn't about to miss out on the chance of receiving another one of your loving notes."  He said.

Answering with a very sexy voice, Jana said.  "Your letters make me want to forget everything else and spend the rest of my life in your arms."

Jason answered very quietly with. "If only we could." And then brightly.  "But we have to make the best of what we can have.  When can I see you again?"

"I have a lot of work to do tonight.  How about tomorrow night?"

"My darling, I don't know if I can stand it that long, but I will try.

"I know how you feel, darling, but we still have to continue with our work."

"I know....I know, but I love you and miss you so much."

"I love you too, and miss you too.  Maybe soon we will be able to be together all the time."

"Yes....maybe.  I want to just shower you with affection."  He said.

There was a silence.  Each knew that they should say goodbye, but didn't want to let go.

"Well....My darling."  Jana finally said.  "As much as I hate to I guess I should get back to work."

"Yes.  Me too."  J.D. answered.  "I love you."

"I love you, too.  Very, very much."  She added.  "Good- bye for now."

"Good-bye."

Jana replaced the receiver in its cradle, her hand lingered there, as she wanted to savor for just a few moments longer the tender conversation.  Jana loved his words and the sound of his voice, but she couldn't help thinking, what about Them.  They couldn't possibly want to keep two people apart who loved each other so much.  If it were up to her, she thought, she would tell Them to get lost.  But Jason was so emphatic about the fact that what They say goes, so she knew that she would have to abide by his wishes.

She couldn't help but compare Michael to Jason.  They both were tender and attentive and they both showed their love openly and giving, but Jason wanted to do and give everything to her.  Maybe it was just that Michael didn't have that much to give.  They didn't have a whole lot and even romantic things cost money.  She honestly could say that she loved both equally.  She had loved the rugged, simple ways about Michael, but she loved the secure, polished ways about Jason.  She came to the conclusion that Jason wasn't necessarily better, he was just different.  Anyway, she had her Michael back and it didn't really matter whether he was polished or rugged, as longs as he still loved her and showed that love through his loving, tender ways.

Knowing that she could sit and daydream about Jason all day, she forced herself back to the problems at hand.  Since she couldn't do anything with the computer she decided to decode the book.  She stepped back into the safe to get the book and key.  The safe was still a mess but she decided she would wait until the locksmith had done his job before she spent any length of time there.  At least she didn't have to worry about the jewelry and coins since they had been put back in their drawers last night before they had left.

Quickly grabbing the book and key she headed for the desk.  She sat down and pulled out a large pad of yellow paper, this was going to be a time consuming job.  Guiding the key with her left hand she wrote with her right.  She was surprised when the first part of it said:  "The Terragon Task Force".  She figured this must be some kind of code name or something; like the FBI or CIA give their operations.

It took her all day and part of the evening to decode the whole book.  She had been interrupted a couple of times when the computer repairman came to fix the computer.  When the locksmith came to make the changes to the safe, Jana didn't want to put up with the noise so she put the information she was working on in the desk and had Jake keep an eye on the locksmith as she grabbed a bite to eat.  Jason had called a couple of times trying to get her to see him, but she had to be strong and keep at her work if she was going to finally solve the mystery of Victoria.  The only other interruption she had was in the late afternoon when Jake informed her that a woman had called about the maid's job and that she would be by in the morning.

Now she was finally leaning back in her chair, her back sore from having been bent over the desk most of the day. She got up and paced back and forth in front of the desk, so, now she had most of the story.  The book had contained all the instructions for Victoria to set up the whole operation. It had told her where to get her penthouse; how and where to install the safe; all about the computer.  There was even a section about Charles and what role he was to play in the whole scenario.  The book had alerted her as to why the wall wouldn't open in the nursing home, it seems that if anyone else is in the hallway the door won't open.  Just about everything was in the book except what she wanted to know most:  Who They were.

She had understood everything except the last six letters; they were jibberish.  She had checked it twice to see if she had made a mistake in directing the key, but it came out the same the second time, Xenous.  What could that possibly mean?  Maybe it was a code word.

Sighing heavily she entered the safe.  The book gave her all the information about setting up the operation now she needed to find out what current information was on the computer.  Turning it on the request for the code word came up immediately.  She entered "starlight" and the menu came on the screen.  Reading the list she found:  Headquarters, Davenport Management Company, and Electronic Mail.  Pushing the enter key for "headquarters"; a message requesting the code word came on the screen.  Thinking, why not try, she entered the word from the book, Xenous.  The screen went black and then the message, "Please state request" appeared.  Jana sat and stared at it for a moment.  She was tempted to type in "Who are you?" but decided that wouldn't be too wise.  Consulting the instruction book again, she pushed the esc key and the previous menu appeared.  Going into "Davenport Management Company" she found a new menu.  Listed was: Payroll, Property, Business, Messages, Accounting and Money Transfers.  Thinking payroll would be a fun one to look at Jana pressed the enter key and a list of names appeared.  She only knew a few like:  Charles, Suzanne and Jake.  Then there was Paul the lawyer and another lawyer named Jerry Wise.  She pushed the appropriate keys and Charles' file came up.  So, Charles was getting a million dollars spending money, not bad.  She followed the instructions in the book and changed his salary to zero.  She then did the same with Suzanne.  Then she went into Jake's and thinking it would be a nice surprise she gave him a nice raise.  This sure was fun, she thought.

Playing around with this a little longer she decided she had better get back to business.  Going back to the menu she knew that "Property" and "Business" would probably be the same as what she had in her printout, so she went on to the "Messages".  This seemed to be a compilation of all the messages that were sent back and forth within and outside the Management Company.  Feeling overwhelmed with all the information she quickly went on to "Accounting".  On the screen before her was another menu and when she went into the individual items she found her whole operation spelled out in figures.  Not knowing exactly how to read this yet she went on to "Money Transfers".  This was just a form that was filled out by her when they needed money transferred into their accounts.

She “esc”ed back to the original menu and entered into "E-Mail".  There were many more messages from R.A. and as soon as she went into the first one she realized that it was Richard Anderson, the person who ran her Management Company.  Reading through all of them she now knew why Paul and he had been so urgent about her getting down to business.  Some of the questions she couldn't possibly answer right now but at least she could transfer the money they needed.  She got up from the computer and went over to the drawer with the passbooks.  Pulling out a few of them she entered the information needed to transfer the money.  She then deducted the amounts from the books with a pencil nearby, wanting to be as orderly as possible.

Her watch read two-thirty in the morning and just before she headed for bed she read another message that had been put on the E-Mail by Jason. The message told of Jason’s desire for her and how obsessed he had become in the short time that they had actually been together. His words were warm and tender with a poetic flavor that impassioned her very soul.

*     *    *

Jana stretched luxuriously in the waterbed.  She was still delighted by the patterns that danced across the ceiling from the sun.  And the blue sky with white puffy clouds above her, as she looked up through the skylight, took her breath away.  She felt good.  Everything was going so well.  She felt an ache for Jason, but knowing that she would be with him again soon made it much easier.

Enjoying the soft folds of the waterbed she laid there planning out her strategy for the day.  The appointment with the prospective maid was at eleven o'clock and she knew that she wouldn't be able to go out to the nursing home until at night.  She wondered They would respond to her when They hadn't responded to Jason.  She also wondered what kind of summons They sent, that Jason had been talking about.

Getting out of bed, she finally decided that she should concentrate on learning as much about her operation as she could.  So, she was going to print out the financial information she had seen last night and try and figure it all out.

Jana had been sitting hunched over the desk working on a particularly hard financial statement when Jake announced that the prospective maid was here for her interview.  She had decided ahead of time that whoever showed up was going to have a complete dossier done on them before they stepped into her home as a maid.  Telling Jake to show the person into the family room she quickly put the financial pages into the safe and locked it.

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Beginning     Chapter 17

Copyright 1990 by Anita and David Mathews