Mother of Darkwaters: Book one of the Vessel series (69 page)

   “Not in this lifetime. I actually
want
to be a doctor.”

   “A doctor who drugs her patients up so she can take advantage of them?”

   Gale laughs at Julianna’s remark. Alexandria looks at her bff.

   “What are you laughing at? You’re the one who wanted to play doll house with your patient. That’s like some weird mortician fetish thing.”

   “You helped,” Gale reminds while placing a band aid over the wound left behind by the needle. Julianna’s hand begins swirling with black dots. Gale stares at the unusual scene.

   “Sorry, I forgot,” Gale says while forcing her eyes upward.

   “It’s okay.”

   Gale pats Julianna on the shoulder, “We start back to school in the fall.”

   Julianna nods.

   “What your lovely doctor wannabe is trying to say,” Alexandria chimes in, “Is that we won’t be around to save the day. Try not to get yourself killed while we’re gone.”

   Julianna pulls her covers off and sits up on the edge of the bed.

   “I won’t,” she answers, “And thank you both for everything.”     

   Alexandria points at her gown, “Your wardrobe kills. Sexy
and
tasteful.”

   Julianna blushes, “Expensive.”

   “I bet. I don’t remember seeing anything like that at the stores I can shop at,” Alexandria admits.

   “Don’t listen to her,” Gale counters while packing up their supplies, “Alex spends more money on her clothes than she has finances. You can believe that. I’ve never even seen her step foot inside of a wholesale store.”

   “Sure I have,” Alexandria rebuttals her friend’s claim while helping out with the packing, “They have great choices on toilet paper.”

    Julianna laughs. Gale gives her an amused look.

    “You guys can come over on Saturdays and go swimming if you like,” Julianna decides to give them an open invitation.

   “Done,” Alexandria quickly answers.

   Gale rolls her eyes playfully.

   “You can bring some friends with you,” Julianna continues, “But they
must
be trustworthy.”

   “I might bring my boyfriend along, if that’s okay?”, Alexandria answers, “He knows not to piss me off. If he steps out of line, he doesn’t get the va-jay-jay.”

   Julianna blushes again.  

   “That’s disgusting,” Gale puts her two cents in, “No one here wants to hear about your nasty fungus trap.”

   Julianna laughs.

   “See how mean she is?”, Alexandria’s voice makes her sound like the helpless victim.

   “Does he have any brothers?”

   Alexandria shakes her head, “Sorry.”

   “It’s okay, just thought I’d ask.”

   Gale turns and faces her best friend. She places her right hand on her hip while holding her left out towards Julianna – palm upward.

   “Well
my
boyfriend doesn’t have just one brother. He has
two
of them,” Gale gloats. She follows up by poking her tongue out at Alexandria.

   Alexandria looks at Julianna, “See what I mean? She’s just plain evil.”

   Gale looks over at Julianna, “I’ll see what I can do.”

   “What time do you want us here?”

   Julianna looks at Alexandria, “Any time after nine in the morning is fine. But you need to call me by Wednesday to let me know how many of you are coming – in case someone needs to stay the night or something. Upstairs has to be off limits unless you guys are alone.”

   “You don’t have to worry about that with Alex,” Gale says, “She’d never trade a pool for a book.”

   “Mean I tell you,” Alexandria counters halfheartedly, “Just cruel and mean.” The skinny woman immediately notices a troubled look on Julianna’s face instead of the expected smile she was looking for.

   “What’s the matter?”

   “Um… I need complete secrecy,” Julianna confesses, “No one can know…”

   “Oh, don’t worry about that,” Alexandria quickly interrupts, “No one knows anything. Not our boyfriends. Not our parents. No one, but Network. And as far as the library’s concerned, I’m not even sure the Network understands just how large it is. They never mentioned it in our training, anyway.”

   Julianna looks at Gale.

   “She’s right,” Gale supports her friend’s claim, “The Network made it sound like it was made up of a few stone tablets. I was more than a little surprised when I first seen it.”

   “Yeah it’s large,” Julianna admits, “A
lot
of reading.”

   “Your secret’s always safe with us,” Alexandria reconfirms, “Besides, we’re not trying to take a trip to the roach motel anytime soon.”

   “You got that right,” Gale agrees.

   “I would never hurt you guys.”

   “Not you,” Gale clarifies, “Network. They take oath breaking very seriously.”

   Julianna nods. She doesn’t know everything about the Network. But the limited knowledge gained while in the hospital has helped to place the organization into a much clearer perspective. Granted, she already had learned some small things from her grandfather, Frank. They consisted of the Network’s inner-workings and information concerning the bloodline’s wealth. But until her trip to the hospital, Julianna hadn’t learned that much about the membership side of the Network. She was born into it, not invited.

   Her first personal contact was through Frank while she was at the hospital. He helped her to get into touch with someone he, himself, trusted without question. The first characteristic she noticed about this man was that he acted just like Charles Stevens, the security guard. Mindless, emotionless, robotic cyborgs – that is how she categorizes their behavior. But the one thing she does like is their easy access to all sorts of cool stuff. Stuff like guns that she has only seen in video games.

   During her brief stay at the hospital – after her outburst – Julianna approached Frank with the idea of her intentions concerning her father. Of course Frank attempted to talk her out of it. But whenever she reminded him about the incident concerning Matt’s date night, her grandfather quickly came around.

   Frank made the decision to have her trained. It took some fancy speech on his part, but he finally got her grams on board with the idea. However, he left out the whole
she needs to learn how to handle herself because she is going to kill her daddy
part. But that’s neither here nor there.

   Each night while staying at the hotel where teenagers slowly die inside, Gale and Alexandria would loop the feed to her room. Frank and Charles would then sneak her out of the hospital through the underground passageway. Martha said it had to be this way to keep up the facade of her medical treatment. It was the only way she would agree to the two hours of firearm’s training over at the Network’s training facility.

   The Network is a lot of things. It is a living, breathing entity completely separate from the bloodline; yet, its very purpose is symbiotic in nature. The Network’s very foundation is based upon the bloodline and the needs of the family. Any questionable actions by the family, however, such as Julianna’s recent suicide attempt, could in essence bring about turmoil and uncertainty within the various ranks of the Network. This is why her grams had been so emphatic about keeping up the appearance of her treatment among the majority of personnel involved in her case.

   Dr. Shelby is one such person. He is high-ranking within the Network, and any negative rumors among the higher ups could spell trouble for the family. The doctor would be risking his very life in doing so, but as Frank has pointed out to Julianna, people are just people. And people make mistakes.

   But all of this is the political side of the Network. Julianna could care-a-less about this stuff. As far as she is concerned, it’s just a branch off of the scene she had to endure at her birthday party. She is more interested in the security and military side of things. This is where all of the cool toys come from – toys like her .09 mm Beretta.

   Her assigned trainer was initially against her choice in weapon. He said it was too much gun for a beginner, but Julianna got the feeling it was more of a sexist response. She didn’t have to counter the man though. Her grandfather quickly jumped in with that scary warning look he can sometimes muster up on his face. The shaken trainer just nodded and accepted Frank’s silent ultimatum without any fight. She hasn’t been able to prove anything, but from what little she has witnessed, Julianna believes her grandfather can be quite vicious when the need arises. Furthermore, it is an obvious fact that the Network understands the man’s potential for damaging violence. They are eager to disengage when Frank Dermott gives them the choice.

   The weapon’s training she has been receiving has been a rush of an experience. The feel of the gun within her hand is weighted with the power it holds by a single squeeze of the trigger. The power yielded is like nothing she has ever known before. It is the power to change someone’s mind in an instant – the power over life and death. But this is just a small piece of the puzzle.

   Until she shot it for the first time, Julianna had no idea that a part of her had always been missing. Her .09 mm Beretta is like a twin sister separated from her at birth, but now reunited. In fact, Julianna has been tossing around the idea of adding a third sibling to the long lost reunion – a matching Beretta. But like her grandfather has told her, she must first learn how to shoot with her right hand. And this is proving to be more difficult than she had imagined.

   Even with the difficulties she is having with adding a second weapon hand, this side of the security part of the Network is kind of fun. However, there is an intrusive side her grandfather has just recently made her aware of. It’s not really meant to be seen in this light, but Julianna can’t wrap her mind around it in a positive way. She has her own security team. They have been assigned to her since her birth. Yet, she has never met any of them. She doesn’t know who they are. And they know
everything
about her. If that isn’t intrusive, then what is?

   These men and women are everywhere. They are dressed in business suits, street clothes, and employee clothing. Basically, whatever needs to be worn for the job is worn. If she were to visit an enormous doll house, these people would dress up like dolls in order to keep a closer eye on her. The thought is ridiculous to Julianna…and intrusive.

   Until her grandfather pointed them out, Julianna had no real grasp of how deep the Network is rooted. The Network runs deep, really deep. In most cases, they have legitimate jobs to support the reasons for being where they are. They hold positions in such places as high government within the respective country they are assigned. These positions allow them more freedom. But more than that, these kinds of positions gives them power.

   In Julianna’s case, her security team is mainly comprised of law enforcement. There is FBI, CIA, state patrol, and local police. Each has their own role. And unless she does something that would require an intervention, they remain hidden. Point and case, Julianna found out that the female officer investigating her supposed rape was actually one of her security team. The woman is a genuine detective. There is nothing fake about her job. But she is sworn to the Network. More importantly, she is assigned to Julianna as long as Julianna resides in Louisiana. If Julianna moves within the state, the woman would then be reassigned to the county she moves to.

   Knowing someone has her back is not at all what bothers her. What eats at her, is the knowledge that someone is always watching, is always there, and could be seeing something private. If that is the reality, then wouldn’t they be documenting her alone time and reporting back to their superiors of how long it took? Julianna cringes at the very idea of something so intrusive. Even though her grams has made every effort to assure her that it isn’t as bad as she makes it out to be, Julianna has a hard time believing otherwise.

   As a general rule, her team is supposed to give her as much personal space as possible while still maintaining control over her well-being. But therein lays the problem. There is no such thing.

   It doesn’t matter that no one is assigned to the bloodline unless they are the best of the best. Sure, they must earn the right. This means that anyone assigned to Julianna is an expert marksman, fluent in hand-to-hand combat, and can utilize the weapons needed for any given situation. But this is not what Julianna questions. It is the idea of some sicko pervert watching her through a hidden nanny cam while she takes a shower. She is utterly disgusted by such a notion and can’t seem to shake off the creep factor.

   Thankfully, her grandfather understands her dilemma. In fact, he made a point of telling her about the choice clause. It is a clause which allows her to handpick her own team. First off, they must be from the Network. Secondly, they are required to be the equivalent or better of the man or woman in whom they would be replacing. And finally, she would be required to guarantee five years of permanency to each of the new transfers. This is an area in which Julianna, most definitely, will be exploring in the near future. Only three rules to gain her freedom and privacy: Must be from the Network, no downgrading, and she must guarantee job security.

   “Sounds easy enough.”

   “What sounds easy enough?”

   Julianna shakes her head and looks at Alexandria.

   “You okay?”, Gale questions. “You spaced off on us for quite a while – completely unresponsive.”

   Julianna looks over at Gale standing to her right, “I did?”

   “Yep, you did,” Alexandria confirms, “It was like watching someone about to go completely psycho.”

   Julianna glances back over to Alexandria. She grins. She can’t help, but to like the athletically built woman. The nurse has a way of lightening up the heaviest of awkward moments.

   “Sorry, I was just thinking is all. Have a lot on my mind.”

   “Don’t worry about it. We all have those days.”

   “Can I ask you something personal?”

   Alexandria shrugs her shoulder, “I dunno. Can you?”