Page 1 of Special Agent Jennie

Chapter One

Just because she had a piece of paper proving her suspicion, did that give Lisa the right to barge into his life and turn it upside down?

Bloody right it did. Lisa Sarnoski bit her lip until she tasted blood. Bat-shit crazy might describe her decision, but she didn’t care. Forcing a meeting with the man who’d destroyed her mother’s life could be called desperate. Destroyed hers too if one wanted to be cynically honest.

She’d lived all her young years watching Jennie, her mom, bring up the behavior of this particular man to prove that her expectations from the men she met nowadays weren’t too high.

She’d hold up their behavior against the one love of her life who’d mattered – though today Lisa had her suspicions that she hated his guts – and it was no surprise that everyone else came in second. According to Jennie’s few shared reminiscences, her young hero could do no wrong. Teenage crushes – thank goodness she’d stayed away from them herself.

Like her Baba would say when Jennie could be heard crying for her dream lover… “Dat man, he ruin every-ting! Young love. Bah!”

She’d grown up hearing the pain Jennie never got over, seeing it stamped on her mother’s face, and glowing in her sad eyes, and yet she’d also seen her mom carry on, making her chosen career her life, and woe betide any man who thought they could step in and demand more than friendship or a quick fling.

Now, she’d finally get to see the bastard who’d destroyed her chance of having a normal family upbringing… her father. The man who didn’t even know she existed.

Steeling herself, she went up the few rickety stairs to the door of the dilapidated older home in front of her and knocked hard. Listening, she heard heavy footsteps approach and in seconds the door flung open. A tall, well-built man stood there, his brown hair a mass of thickness that surrounded an angry face, dark eyes shadowed by thick eyebrows, and a mouth wide and well-shaped. That same mouth looked angry as did his whole attitude.

“Yeah?”

Okay, this wasn’t going as well as Lisa had hoped. But having started, she played her part. Attitude in every inch of her own tall body, she posed.

Again, he demanded. “What’sup?” His words ran together as if he rushed to get them out.

She hid her fear and answered totally unlike she’d planned. This stranger didn’t deserve her sugarcoating the issue. “I never dreamed I’d get to do this, but here goes. Hi, daddy-kins. Although implausible because of your shitty attitude, it seems I’m your daughter.”

Kane Lambert glared with derision; his voice unwieldy. “Piss off.”

She grinned; her disgust covered by audacity. Before he could slam the door, she shoved a piece of paper into the room beyond him.

Poof! With the light gone from inside the house, darkness surrounded Lisa. Her knees gave out and she lowered her shaking body against the porch post crouching down rather than falling.

Waiting for what she hoped would be the inevitable rematch, she bolstered her strength. “Hmmm… that went well.” Whispering low, she joked, a family trait when things became hard.

***

How the hell could something like this happen? Jesus, couldn’t he get one break? Spying the paper that whacko had shoved into his room, curiosity overwhelming, Kane lifted it to see a DNA paternity test and read at the bottom where the legal form showed he was indeed 99.98% a father.

Son of a bitch!

He staggered to the window, yanked back the broken blinds, and saw a dark shape hunkered down on the porch. Of all the days for this to happen, God had to have a macabre sense of the ridiculous for this to be the chosen night. He’d taken months to set up this meeting and now it could all be ruined by some weirdo chick claiming to be his daughter.

He lifted the paper again and spotted another name. Seeing it in print almost put him on his knees. Jennie Sarnoski. A flame exploded in his stomach, his hardened heart shattered, and his eyes teared. If one person in the world could claim he’d fathered an unknown child, it would be her.

Holy Lord Jesus. A daughter. His girl.

Rushing to the door, he opened it with care, wanting to put his fist through it first when he thought of his earlier behavior. “Look, tonight’s not a good time for me, sweetheart. Can we meet later, tomorrow, whenever you want?”

“Sure, so you can take off, and I’ll be forced to put in more months of following the ghost. No.” The girl stood with a fluid motion one might expect from a dancer. She approached, her eyes never leaving his. “Let’s discuss it now.” She pushed past the man and entered the dump.

***

From the few minutes she had to take in her surroundings, Lisa felt disgust rise up, burning her insides. The dude lived like some lazy drifter who couldn’t care less about his setting, no pictures, shit all over the place including empty beer cans and pizza leftovers. It even smelled like one would expect an unkept house to smell – part mold, part dirt, and old food odors all vying to be the strongest.

“Look, I can’t explain this now, but I need you to disappear. I have some company coming over soon, folks you won’t want or need to meet. They can’t know anything about my personal life. I mean it, kid. Leave.”

“Not gonna happen. This isn’t only about what you need. We have to talk. By the way, my name isn’t kid, it’s Lisa.”

“Chrissakes, fine. Lisa. Please… you need to go now.” His favorite word appeared again, and it still didn’t affect her decision. What he needed wasn’t as important to her as what she wanted.

Suddenly a car door slamming could be heard coming from the driveway beside the house. Male voices sounded loud.

Catching her unaware, Kane grabbed Lisa’s arm and shoved her into a back room. At the door, he barked, “Don’t come out. These men are not nice, and I don’t want them to see I have company. I mean it.” He closed the door just in time.

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