Desert Guardian (21 page)

Meaning
he didn't want Sam interfering with their suicide plans. Fat chance. His child's
life was at stake, and so were all the other brainwashed cultists with a
misguided allegiance to Star Mother and her bitch-queen, Valya.

Mischief
churning in his soul, Sam grinned up at Von and said, "Deal."

True
to his word, Von untied Sam, but that was all. He refused to retrieve Sam's
Glock from the camp's arsenal, but that didn't matter. Once Cody found him, Sam
would have his revolver, a more rugged gun even if it didn't hold as many shots
as the automatic. If all went well, he wouldn't need to shoot it at all.

He
hunkered down beneath one of the trailers and peered out from behind a bald
tire, bits of rubber flaking from its dried sidewalls. The camp was eerily
quiet compared to an hour ago. He assumed that after he'd been "captured,"
all camp dwellers had returned to their comfy cots and were now dreaming of
their impending trip to the stars.

The
prison trailer was less than a hundred yards away, and Sam felt its pull like a
nail to a magnet. He desperately wanted to see Kelly, to wrap his arms around
her and tell her how sorry he was, that he'd been a fool for saying all the
stupid things he'd said and never meant. She might not forgive him right away,
but he vowed to convince her no matter how long it took.

Four
galloping feet trod up behind him. "Cody!" he whispered. "Come
here, boy!" The coyote wagged his tail and licked Sam's face. Sam glanced
around to see if anyone had seen them and spotted the bottom half of a child's
nightgown coming his way. The gown's hem dragged along the sandy ground as its
wearer scrambled beneath the trailer to join him.

"Here's
your handkerchief," Lynette said, handing him the crumpled square of white
cloth. "When I held it out to Cody, he came right to me."

"That's
because he's smart," Sam said, pride filling his chest as he took notice
of his daughter's bravery. Most children her age would have been scared to
death of a strange dog, much less a coyote. But not Lynette.

He
studied his child, his heart heavy with regret for not knowing about her sooner.
Maybe if he'd returned to Star Mother a couple of years earlier, he could have
spirited her away before it came to this. But even if he had returned, he
wouldn't have recognized her for who she was, and Valya sure as hell wouldn't
have admitted Lynette was his. Now look at the poor child in a tattered,
hand-me-down nightgown, so thin and pale from not getting enough to eat as well
as improper medical care. His heart unexpectedly swelled with love for his
little girl.

In
her childishly shrill voice, she whispered, "I got your jacket, too, but
it's too heavy for me to carry. I put it in the van you hid in before."

She'd
seen him hiding in the van? She really was sharp. A lot smarter than the
drugged lemmings she'd been forced to live with.

"Thanks,
sweetheart." Sam gazed at her sadly and considered the best way to say he
had to take her away from her mother. The truth would be tough, but it didn't
feel right to trick her. As smart as she was, trickery wouldn't work anyway.

"Lynette,
honey," he began. "Do you know what today is?"

She
frowned up at him and said, "It's the day we leave Earth for our new home
on Atria."

This
would be harder than he thought. There wasn't enough time to convince her that
Star Mother's plan was a deception, but the truth would reveal itself soon
enough. "Lynette, I want you to come live with me."

"Okay."

As
simple as that? "You realize your mother won't be coming with us, don't
you?"

"Why
not?" she asked. "Mommy talks about you all the time. She said now
that you found us, the three of us can be a family."

A
family? Hardly. But it wouldn't be wise at this point to let on about his
hostility toward her mother. "That's something you and I can talk about
another time. Right now, your mother is set on taking this trip, and I'm not. I'm
staying behind, and I'd like you to stay with me."

Confusion
registered in the girl's eyes before they turned sad with understanding. "You
don't love Mommy, do you?"

Relief
tempered the sadness that squeezed his heart. He shook his head no.

Lynette
sighed. "But I do. And Mommy needs me." She patted Cody's head then
reached out to run her soft, pudgy fingers along Sam's whiskered cheek. "Goodbye,
Daddy," she said, and scurried out from beneath the trailer before Sam
could catch her.

"Lynette!"
he called out in a hoarse whisper. She ignored him and ran for the nursery
tent. Within seconds, she was gone.

He
blew out a defeated breath. Cody nuzzled his hand, and he scratched him
distractedly behind the ears. "She doesn't make it easy, does she?"
Lucky for him he was an experienced kidnapper, and though the thought of
kidnapping his own child made his skin crawl, it couldn't be helped. It was
either that or let his little girl die, and that wasn't an option.

"One
thing at a time," he whispered to Cody while unclipping the fanny pack
from around the coyote's neck. He withdrew his revolver and stuck it in the
waistband of his jeans. The extra ammunition and pocketknife he stuffed in his
pockets.

He
wondered what kind of shape Kelly was in now. She'd sounded completely wigged
out when he'd spoken to her earlier, but Von had just told him she managed to
shake the effects of Valya's drug. He wasn't sure he should believe him. No
matter. His main concern at this point was getting Kelly, Jake, and Lynette the
hell out before dawn.

The
generators' motors hummed, none the worse for his efforts at sabotage. Just his
luck. He had a high-powered rifle in a locked compartment beneath the backseat
of his Jeep, and he'd get a bead on the generators as soon as he had the chance.
The end of Star Mother was in sight, and Sam's skin prickled with anticipation
of disbanding the cult and setting free its brainwashed slaves.

The
sun would be up in less than two hours, so he had to work fast. With Cody by
his side, he crouched low and darted to the prison trailer. He tried the door.
Locked. He had expected as much.

He
tugged the pocketknife from his jeans and wedged the blade between the metal
door and its flimsy frame until it popped loose.

"Stay
here," he told Cody, and shouldered his way inside. The door swung in with
a creak of rusted hinges.

The
rancid smell hit him like an explosion, and he reeled back, catching hold of
the door frame before he could fall backward down the steps. He grabbed a
corner of his T-shirt and pulled it up to cover his nose and mouth. The
darkness inside was total, not a shadow anywhere, and he blinked while
adjusting his eyes. His voice muffled, he whispered, "Kelly?"

Someone
pounced on his back and a sharp pain stabbed his right shoulder.
 
His assailant pulled out the blade, and
he whirled around before he could be stabbed again. His attacker slid from his
back to the floor. Sam cocked a fist to slam it into the face of whoever had
impaled him then froze when he saw the pair of bright blue eyes gazing up at
him, their expression pleading.

"Kelly?"

She
jumped to her feet and hugged him, her chest heaving with strangled sobs. Her
voice shaking, she whispered, "Sam, I-I'm sorry. I didn't know…it was…you.
I thought it…was one of them."

Her
body trembled, and he hugged her to him and ran his hand over her tangled hair as
he whispered softly in her ear, "It's okay. You're safe now." He
pulled them both deeper into the trailer, letting the darkness swallow them
from sight before he toed the door closed. He breathed through his mouth to
keep from smelling the sewer stench that brought back too many childhood
memories.

"Oh,
Sam," Kelly said, breathless. "I didn't think you'd come. I thought
for sure you'd given up on me, that you were still angry about the money. I
promise I'll find a way to pay you back—"

"Forget
about the money," he said stiffly, shame making his words brittle. "You
being here is my fault. I should have apologized for calling you a..." He
couldn't say it. The feel of the word in his mouth made him sick to his
stomach. "I didn't mean it, Kelly. I don't care about the money, never
did. I'm sorry."

She
melted in his arms, her body molding to his. "God, it's been awful in
here. I thought for sure I'd lost my mind. The voice from the radio—"

"It
was Von," Sam told her, and stepped over to the humming black box. He
grabbed its chord and yanked hard, freeing it from its power source. "He
disguises it by using a synthesizer. I caught onto him fast when I was a kid
locked up in here for misbehaving." He paused to study her reaction, but
he couldn't see much in the dark, just the shine of her tear-filled eyes. "Anyway,
Von helped me escape just now. He'll do almost anything to get me away from his
precious Valya." The jealous idiot.

Kelly
leaned away from him to stare up into his face. "Escape? You mean you were
caught?"

He
groaned. "It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later. Right now, I've
got to get you and Jake out of this trailer before Von changes his mind. Where's
your brother?"

"Leaning
against the wall over there. He has a fever."

"He's
going through withdrawals." Sam knelt beside Jake and touched two fingers
to his neck, checking his pulse. "Weak, but steady."

"I
don't understand," Kelly said.

"Valya
adjusted her
magic elixir
to include
liquid morphine. It guarantees her followers remain dependent."

She
gasped. "Jake's hooked?"

He
nodded. "They all are." He grabbed Jake by the arms and hauled him
slowly to his feet, wincing at the pressure on the small stab wound Kelly had
made between his shoulder blades.

Once
he had Jake standing, he said, "Take it easy, buddy." He flung Jake's
arm around his neck and led him to the door, the younger man's feet dragging
behind him with each step.

"How
will we ever get him out of here in that condition?"

"I
have an idea." Sam peered through the partially opened doorway to make
sure no one waited outside. They were alone. "I'll help you get Jake to an
old van parked beneath some mesquite trees behind the camp. I'll hike up to the
ridge and get my Jeep then drive down pick to you both up."

"But
won't the Jeep's engine alert the camp?" she asked.

"Probably.
That's why we'll have to move fast. You'll need to sit behind the wheel while I
run into the nursery tent to grab my daughter."

She
paused before letting out a long, relieved sigh. "I'm so glad you found
her."

"She
found me." He frowned, confused. "You know about Lynette?"

"Only
by accident. I happened to see her with a group of other children and thought
she looked too much like you not to be yours. When I confronted Valya, she
confirmed it."

He
stopped to consider what Valya might have done to Kelly. "Did she hurt
you?"

She
gazed down at her feet. "I'll be fine. Consuela cleaned me up
afterward—"

"Cleaned
what up?" He noticed for the first time the bands of gauze wrapped around
Kelly's torso. "Turn around."

"It
doesn't hurt now—"

He
spun her around to check her back. After opening the door a crack to let in some
starlight, he lifted what remained of the tattered shirt. He stared at the
thin, rust-colored lines showing through the bandage. The stains crisscrossed
from her shoulders to the small of her back. "Valya did this?"

"Her
sentry did." Kelly's croaked whisper spoke volumes more than the three
words she’d just said. She had obviously been tortured, interrogated
relentlessly, which was Valya's way.

Sam
ground his teeth. To think Lynette was being raised by that monster. And here
was Kelly, beaten and bruised, only because she wasn't a devout little cultist
like the rest of Valya's sheep. Or more accurately, because Kelly was involved
with
him
. His throat tightened when
he swallowed, a red haze of rage clouding his vision. If he'd had any doubts
before, they were gone now, and his resolve to put an end to Valya's cruelty
was bolstered ten-fold.

"Let's
go." He hoisted Jake over his shoulder, surprised at how light he was. Had
he been starved as well as drugged? Prisoners of war received better treatment.

To
Kelly, he said, "Stay low, keep to the camp's perimeter, and never walk
out into the open."

Jake
bounced against Sam's shoulder as he ran toward the edge of camp. They emerged
beyond the curved line of tents and camper trailers. Jake groaned now and then
but was otherwise silent, his body having gone completely limp. Sam glanced
behind him every few steps to make sure Kelly stayed close. He was pleased to
see Cody dutifully take up the rear.

Once
at the blue van parked a hundred yards or so behind the nursery tent, Sam laid
Jake down on one of the long seats inside. He retrieved the jacket Lynette had
shoved beneath the driver's seat. After donning his coat, he clasped Kelly by
the shoulders and peered into her face. Her honey-colored skin was streaked
with dried tears, her cheeks and chin smudged with filth. Her full lips were
swelled with a bloody bruise made by someone's fist. His anger heated up
another degree. "Kelly, I..."