Desert Guardian (24 page)

"Can't
you just use water?"

"We
don't have any water. At least none that doesn't have coyote slobber in it."

He
nodded and blinked his red-rimmed eyes. The frown smoothed from his forehead,
and he appeared to steel himself for what was to come. It seemed that getting
shot wasn't that big of a deal, but having his wound doctored was different. He
probably hated needles, too.

After
a long pause he said, "I'm ready. Go for it."

****

"You're
such a baby," Kelly said.

"Hey,
you weren't the one getting your raw flesh singed with alcohol." Sam
passed a hand across his forehead to keep the sweat from dripping in his eyes.
His thigh throbbed, and he blinked against the stinging residue of the alcohol
wipe. "I only yelled once."

She
rolled her eyes.

"Okay,
twice. Big deal." He watched her unwind a roll of gauze and fold a strip
of it into a neat little pillow. "Kelly, when I feel something, I have to
express it. That's how I am."

She
snorted and gave him a dubious look. "Who are you kidding?"

"Okay,
so I'm not too good at expressing my
emotions
,
but I'm very vocal when it comes to physical stuff."

They
exchanged a meaningful glance then both diverted their attention to something
other than each other. While in the throes of passion yesterday, he'd been
especially vocal. Twice.

Her
soft fingers lingered against his thigh as she pressed the bandage into place. "All
done."

"Thanks."

"Can
you stand?"

He
flexed his leg, which felt stiff but didn't hurt as much now. He pushed forward
in the seat and carefully swung his leg out the open door. His left leg touched
the ground, and he stood, putting experimental pressure on his right. "Crutches
sure would come in handy right now."

Kelly
gazed past him over his shoulder, and he turned to see what she saw. An
enormous tree stood about fifty yards from where they were parked. She trotted
to tree, and after a few minutes of scrounging around the base, she lifted a
long branch and held it high above her head.

"Perfect,"
Sam muttered to himself. What a woman. When she jogged back, her full breasts
jostled beneath the loose shirt, and he smiled.

"As
much as I enjoy seeing you run," he said, accepting the forked branch she
handed to him, "you need to conserve your energy. And you should breath
through your nose—"

"To
conserve moisture. Yeah, I know. Like I told you before, I run through the
desert in Arizona all the time."

"Then
you know how important it is not to get dehydrated."

She
placed her hands on her hips and leveled him with a smirk.

"You
found water?"

"Yup."
She pointed back at the tree. "There's a dry creek bed that trails into
the head of a shallow canyon. There's a lot of bushes there, almost like a
small oasis."

"That
means water." He chucked her lightly on the chin and was reluctant to
bring his hand away. "I'm lucky to have you along."

She
grinned, a light blush adding color her tanned cheeks. "We make a pretty
good team."

A
groan came from inside the Jeep.

"Jake."
Kelly climbed into the back.

Sam
tested his new crutch by limping up behind her. "Is he all right?"

"I
don't know." Concern deepened her voice. "He's really sweating now."
She pulled back the moth-eaten blanket covering him from neck to toe. "I
guess keeping him cool is all we can do until I get us that water."

Sam
thought it should be him trekking for water, but the condition of his leg made
that impossible. He leaned into the Jeep and studied Jake's shivering body,
noticing the dry, pale lips, the blotchy skin, runny nose. The severity of his
withdrawals hadn't peaked, and it would be at least twenty-four hours before
the worst of it was over. He touched Jake's hands—cold and clammy. "I've
dealt with this before. Several of my ex-cultist patients suffered drug
withdrawal."

Jake
moaned again then mumbled, "Kelly?"

"I'm
here, Jake." She smoothed her hand across his forehead.

"I'm
so thirsty. And I ache all over."

"How
can we help him?" she asked Sam.

"Make
him as comfortable as possible. Valium would help ease his symptoms, but I'm
afraid we're fresh out." He wrapped his fingers around Jake's wrist to
count his pulse, which was steady but fast. "Were you able to salvage some
of the spilled water?"

She
retrieved a mostly empty pop bottle from the back of the Jeep. "Not much,
and it's kind of slimy from Cody."

"It'll
do." He laid a damp towel across Jake's forehead and dribbled a few drops
of water into the boy's mouth.

Sam
checked his watch. It was after seven in the morning, leaving them less than
three hours until Star Mother's suicide plan went into effect. Ten o'clock was
the cult's holy hour, their time of worship, both day and night, and their time
of ritual when it came to punishment or reward. He knew they must be preparing
for their trip, celebrating their good fortune as the fantasy starship came
ever closer. His heart sank at the thought that his little girl could be lost
to him forever.
No
. He wouldn't let
that happen.

"We're
running out of time," he told Kelly.

She
grabbed the bottle from him. "Will this hold enough?"

"Better
take both bottles." Leaning on his crutch, he limped to the front of the
Jeep and lifted the hood. The radiator was still hot, so he wadded up his
jacket and used it to twist off the cap. The radiator wasn't completely empty,
but almost. He checked his tape job on the hose. It hadn't held. Probably Kelly's
wild driving had jiggled it loose. Once he had the hose retaped and added water
to the radiator, the engine should run for at least a few more miles.

"Kelly,
how far we are from Star Mother's camp?"

She
shrugged, looking sheepish. "When we left, I was afraid to take the road
for fear of being followed, so I drove around in loops and zigzags to disguise
our trail."

"You
didn't look at the odometer beforehand?"

"No."

When
he saw her wounded expression, he said, "You got us out of there alive,
and that's what counts."

She
nodded. "How far away is the police station?"

He
peered toward the horizon. "A lot farther than we are from the camp. The
station's in town, which is a good twenty miles or more from this part of Devil's
Playground. We wouldn't make it halfway."

"Valya
believes we've gone to the police," she said, sounding worried. "If
she thinks the cops are on their way, they might move up the time of their
suicide."

He
shook his head. "You forget how well I know these people. I know their
habits, their rituals, their obsessive behaviors. It's vital their plan take
place at precisely ten this morning. Her entire life, Valya has been counting
the hours until this day, believing it a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see her 'home
planet.' There's no way in hell she'll change the ritual now."

He
looked inside the Jeep. "Good. Jake's asleep, which is the best thing for
him right now. The withdrawals are bound to get worse."

Sweating
from the desert heat and bare-chested beneath his jacket, Sam didn't dare take
it off and risk a sunburn. He grabbed a pair of binoculars from a case between
the two front seats. His slit pant leg flapping like an unfurled sail, he
hobbled toward an incline leading to a ridge above where they were parked.

"Hey!
Where do you think you're going?"

He
didn't stop walking, or
hobbling
was
more like it. "To see if I can spot the camp from up there." Cody
crawled out from where he'd taken refuge from the sun beneath the jeep and
trotted up behind him.

"You'll
break your neck trying to hike up there on that leg."

Sam
waved her off. He knew what he was doing. "It's not that steep. Get
moving, Kelly. We need water, and we need it now."

"What
about Jake?"

"He's
not going anywhere." Sam felt confident the kid was in no shape to walk
off. "I'll keep an eye on him from up there."

With
Cody in the lead, Sam trudged up the hill, making slow progress as the pain
made walking difficult. He glanced down at his leg now and then to see if had started
bleeding again. His bandage remained clean and white.

The
sun continued its lazy rise, and fingers of early-morning warmth danced across
his back. Close to the top of the ridge, he stopped to look through the
binoculars and spotted Kelly jogging toward the creek bed. Something shimmered
at the base of the canyon. When she arrived at the pool's edge, she looked up at
him and waved.

His
heart gave a jolt as her lithe figure crouched beside the water. He could spend
hours studying each precious movement of her body—the dip of her hips as
she stooped down, the gentle slope of her shoulders, the graceful curve of her
long, slender neck. A feeling of tenderness overwhelmed him. He wanted to go to
her, envelope her in his arms, and ravish her right there in the water, rolling
her naked body in the cool mud as they made love. He savored the fantasy and
wondered if the reality was something he could look forward to. He hoped so.
Kelly was nothing at all like Valya, and he couldn't fathom how he'd ever believed
they could share the same selfish motives when it came to sex.

Though
he would always regret his time in Valya's bed, he would never regret the
result of that union. He had a daughter. How something so precious could come
from something so evil he would never understand. But Lynette was his, and he'd
get her safely away from the monsterous creature who had raised her.

Sam
faced north, in the direction of Star Mother's camp, and there it was. Unable
to judge the precise distance, he knew the camp couldn't be more than a few
miles away. Relief washed over him as he realized they could make it back in
time.

The
cultists roamed outside their tents and trailers. He didn't recognize any faces,
but the fact they were active gave him hope. Though he couldn't see either
generator from where he stood, he knew they were there somewhere getting
prepared for their deadly intent. The first thing he'd do when they arrived
back was shut the generators down before carbon monoxide fumes could kill
everyone in camp.

Facing
east again, he waved down at Kelly, who was returning with the filled bottles.
He swung his arms more furiously above his head and pointed north, toward the
encampment she couldn't see. He resisted the impulse to shout. A loud voice in
the clear desert air might give them away, especially if any sentries were
scouting the area. Kelly waved back and quickened her pace to a run.

He
started down the hill then stopped. A figure staggered in the distance.
Shielding his eyes from the sun's glare, he lifted the binoculars to peer at
whoever was stumbling across the desert. He recognized the filthy white robe
and the young man inside it. Kelly's brother.

"That
crazy son of a bitch." Sam would be damned if the fool wasn't trying to
make it back to the source of his addiction.

He
hurried down the hill, his leg an agonized bundle of nerve endings that
screamed with each step. He used his crutch to keep him steady, but it was only
slowing him down. Dropping to his left hip, he let gravity carry him the rest
of the way across the loose sand, carefully dodging fist-sized rocks as he
went.

Once
at the bottom, he hopped over to the Jeep. The backseat was empty. How could
Jake have had the presence of mind to run off like that? Sam knew the power of
morphine overrode common sense, but the man had barely been conscious. Jake's
craving must be more intense than he'd thought.

Sam
yanked the roll of electrical tape from his spilled toolbox and hustled to the
front of the Jeep, where the hood was still propped open. He hurriedly wrapped
the busted radiator hose.

"What
happened?" Kelly asked, hardly out of breath from her run. "You look
upset."

"Upset?"
What an understatement. "You could say that. Your brother's run off. Now
give me the water."

Appearing
dazed, she handed both bottles over. In a toneless voice of disbelief, she
said, "You told me he wasn't going anywhere."

"I
was wrong." He sniffed the bottle before taking several long gulps, giving
barely a thought to its possible contamination. If he got giardia, he really
didn't care. He had more dire problems to worry about. He poured the rest of
the first bottle into the radiator. "Jake's moving fast, and he's headed
straight for Star Mother's camp."

Jake
was wandering the desert alone? Kelly had to find him. She ran to the driver's
side and jumped in. "How did he know which way to go?"

Sam
hobbled to the passenger side and slid in with a grunt. "If you know which
way's north, it's not hard. He obviously knows where the camp is, just not how
far away."

"How
far?"

"Two,
maybe three miles."

Her
hands trembled as she grasped the key and turned it in the ignition. The engine
sputtered then died. She slapped the steering wheel and tried again. Nothing.

"To
hell with this." She leapt out and slammed the door. Jake was too sick to take
a stroll through the desert alone. The exposure could kill him. She still had
half a liter of water in the second bottle that she had saved just for him. "He
could die out there. We have to find him."

Sam
clambered out of the Jeep. He teetered on one leg before hopping over to take
another look under the hood. "Don't give up so easy."

"I'm
a fast runner, Sam. It'll only take me a few minutes to catch up to him."

He
tugged at the radiator hose. "That's a wide-open desert out there. If you
veered too far one way or the other, you could miss him and get lost yourself."

"I
know which way is north," she said, feeling defensive. This was her
brother. Her problem.

"And
when you find him, what then?" Sam's hands moved over the workings of the
engine, twisting and turning, pushing and thumping. "You planning on
dragging Jake back here? And how long will that take? An hour? Two hours?
Seeing as how it's already after eight-thirty, we don't have that much time."

She
paced beside the Jeep. He was right. Time was slipping away, and Sam's little
girl was at risk. Of course he was desperate to get the Jeep started. How else could
they make it back to camp and put an end to this? But what about Jake? She
couldn't leave him wandering in the desert to die. Feeling defeated, she
stopped pacing and covered her face with her hands.

Sam
limped over to where she stood. "Come here."

He
held his arms open, and she fell against him, folding herself into his broad,
protective chest. She couldn't keep up her façade of forced strength any
longer. "Help me?" she asked, forcing out the words she'd have rather
held back.

He
kissed the top of her head. "Of course I'll help you. And I'll help Jake
and Lynette. And we'll both help the rest of those Star Mother loonies before
their fantasy starship comes to take them away."

She
blinked back tears, hating this weaker side of herself. She lifted her chin and
said, "Okay."

"Okay."
He grinned down at her. "Now let's start her up."

They
returned to the Jeep, only this time Sam slid behind the wheel. He whistled for
Cody, who eagerly hopped in back.

"Are
you sure you can drive?" she asked, giving a pointed look to his mostly
bare leg.

His
lopsided grin tugged at her heart. "You betcha," he said, and turned
the key. The engine sputtered, caught, and Sam eased the Jeep around to head
north.

****

Valya
stared down at her husband's serene face and smoothed a few stray hairs from
his forehead. She smiled, pleased with his silence. Of course he had nothing to
say. He was dead.

"It's
just as well, Von," she told her dead husband, who lay supine on a cot at
the center of the royal tent. An identical cot was set up beside him, but with
a silk pillow instead of a cotton one to ensure Valya's hair didn't get mussed.
"You're preparing the way for the rest of us. I hope you're getting
acquainted with the starship captain, and please don't be rude to him. He's
come a very long way to pick us up and take us home."

She
stepped back to study the body, noting how Von's legs hung over the end of the
cot, almost bending at the knees. The man was a giant, and it was only right
that her husband have an exceptional presence, seeing as how they were both
superior beings on this world. Too bad he'd been incapable of producing
children.

The
Arrow, on the other hand, was especially fertile, and Sam would have made an
extraordinary mate. She should have realized his potential while he was still a
boy, but she'd thought she had plenty of time to groom him for a high position
in Star Mother, a position she would create for him. A lieutenant? A general?
Perhaps even a prince? There had been no way of knowing he'd denounce his
faith. Pity. But minds could be changed. Valya had mastered that ability years
ago, and with the help of her new elixir, she could gain the loyalty and
devotion of almost anyone. All she needed was time. And though her time on this
planet was over, she would have an eternity on the next one.

Where
were the promised police? Valya chuckled and glanced out the screened window of
the tent. If Sam and his girlfriend had made it to the police station, she
seriously doubted they could have convinced anyone that Star Mother was about
to commit mass suicide. The police would be more focused on getting Jake to a
hospital and not some hair-brained story about a religious group with a death
wish. There would be interrogations, reports, phone calls, computer searches....
Based on Valya's experience with such things, by the time any law enforcement found
its way to camp, there would be nothing left but eighty-eight empty human
shells. Valya and her followers would already be comfortably ensconced in a
plush starship headed for their new home on Atria.

She
paced in front of the window and fingered the bloodstained bandage that covered
her forearm. That coyote could have taken her arm off. She should have killed
it, and she would have if Sam hadn't distracted her. She had wanted to kill him
as well, which would have ensured his rightful place at her side when they
arrived on Atria. If it hadn't been for that damn Kelly Bancroft, all would
have turned out perfect for Valya and her daughter, who needed
both
her parents at this critical time.
Ah, well. Best to make the most of it. It was too late to do anything about it
now.

She
adjusted the sling that secured her shoulder, which still throbbed painfully
from that ridiculous little arrow Kelly had shot her with. Remembering last
night's disastrous episode, she ground her teeth in sudden rage then breathed
deeply to calm herself. It would do no good to get upset all over again.

She
turned her attention to the activity going on throughout the camp and studied
the faces of her followers. As they packed their meager belongings, none of
them expressed the excitement they should all be feeling. This puzzled Valya.
These people should be ecstatic over this marvelous opportunity—an
exquisite new life on a utopian planet light years away from this hellish rock
called Earth. She shook her head while watching a woman slump onto a wooden
bench at the center of the camp's courtyard and cry. She should be shedding
tears of joy, but from the expression on the woman's face, she was anything
but
joyful. This image would not reflect
positively on the rest of her followers.

"Jason?"
she called to the sentry posted at the tent's entrance.

"Yes,
Lady Valya?"

She
gestured toward the window. "There's a woman in the courtyard who
appears... unhappy. Please escort her to her tent."

"Right
away." He disappeared into the throng of cultists outside.

"Mommy?"

Valya
spun toward the small voice of her youngest child. "Yes, Lynette?"

The
girl, clothed in a clean and blood-free nightgown, shuffled toward her. She
held a large stuffed bunny in her arms, its white fur powdered with amber
grains of desert sand. She gave Von's cot a wide berth and hugged the tent wall
as she made her way to her mother. Lynette stared at her with gray eyes that
looked so much like her father's that Valya held back a gasp. The child's eyes
were moist with unshed tears.

Valya
crouched in front of her and placed both hands on Lynette's shoulders. "What's
wrong, darling?"

Lynette
jabbed her thumb in the direction of the tent's opening. "Those people
outside are scaring me."

Valya
darted her gaze toward the window then back to her daughter. So much irrational
fear made no sense at all. "There's nothing to be afraid of. We're just
going on a very long trip to a wonderful new home. Aren't you excited?"

The
girl stared at her for a long moment before shaking her head.

Valya
frowned. "Why not?"

"I
don't want to leave without my daddy."

Her
mother sighed. "I'm sorry, Lynette, but it's your father's decision to
stay here."

Looking
guilty, Lynette said, "He told me I could stay here with him if I wanted
to."

"Do
you want to?"

"I
want you to stay, too."

Valya
hugged her. "I know. But you need to understand that I have a
responsibility to all the people who follow Star Mother. It's my duty to take
care of them, and they'll need me in our new home. I can't abandon them just
because you want me to stay. That wouldn't be fair to them, now would it?"

Her
cherubic face looking uncertain, Lynette shook her head.

Valya
straightened and gazed down at her daughter, taking a minute to figure out a
way to lift the child's spirits. If Lynette had been affected by the morose
mood of some of the others, there was a good chance her siblings were feeling
the same. "I tell you what. Let's go through all your toys and clothes and
decide what to bring along. And your brothers and sisters can do the same with
their things. Won't that be fun?"

Lynette's
eyes had lost their teary shimmer, and she shrugged. "I guess so."
Then she cocked her head to one side and asked, "Mommy, how will
everything get up to the starship?"

"Well,
it's like magic," Valya said, unsure of a correct answer, but she believed
the displacement of physical matter through time and space must be possible.
For Star Mother's people, anything was possible. "It all disappears from
here then reappears on the ship."

The
girl scowled up at her. "I don't get it."

So
much like her father. "It's all very scientific and has to do with
molecules and atoms and the like. I'm not a scientist, so I don't have any
better way to explain it to you."

Valya
caught a flash of movement from the corner of her eye. She twisted around to
follow it and saw Consuela Martinez walking hurriedly by the rear exit of the
tent.

"Consuela?"
she called out. "Will you come in here, please?"

The
young woman peeked her head inside the tent. Eyes focused on the floor, she
slowly stepped inside but remained close to the exit as if ready to make a
quick escape.

"Is
there a problem, Consuela?" Valya asked, smelling the woman's fear. It had
a heady scent of sweat and desert heat, and it seemed to be catching all over
camp. "Something I should know?"

Consuela
shook her head. Her gaze darted to Von's body and quickly back to the floor.

"It's
only a shell of the man himself. No need to be frightened of it. He isn't here,
he's up there." Valya pointed skyward then approached the body and laid
her hand on Von's thigh.

Consuela
winced.

Lynette
hugged her stuffed bunny to her chest and drew closer to the tent wall.

"For
pity's sake, Consuela, have you learned nothing from Star Mother's teachings
after all these years?"

The
young woman's eyes grew large, and she edged back a step.

Disgusted
by Consuela's timidity, Valya rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you."
She fluttered a hand at Consuela's neck. "You've hurt yourself enough
already."
 

Consuela's
fingers brushed the scar on the front of her throat.

Valya
should have known better than to try having a conversation with a mute. "Look,
Consuela. I need your help. Take Lynette to the nursery tent and help her go
through her things. Gather the rest of my children and have them do the same."

"But
Mommy," Lynette said in a tearful voice. "I thought
you
were going to help me."

"Sorry,
but I have way too much to do." Valya glanced at the gold watch she'd had
to move from her right wrist to her left. She spoke as much to Consuela as to
Lynette when she added, "It's after nine o'clock, and the ritual begins
promptly at ten. Everyone needs to mentally prepare for our departure, and that
goes for me as well."

She
scooted a child-sized cot out from beneath a table along the wall and propped
it up beside her own cot. She glanced at Lynette, then at Consuela, both of
whom gazed at her in wide-eyed amazement. "What is it?" she asked, as
she smoothed the canvas on the cot.

Consuela
visibly swallowed, and Lynette asked, "Is that for me?"

Valya
smiled. "Of course it's for you. Don't you want to ride next to Mommy?"

Lynette
bobbed her head, her tiny chest heaving as if her breathing had quickened.