Talons (36 page)

Vivvie was glad the fieldtrip was over.
She had a dull ache in her lower back all day. Lydia seemed nervous
as they loaded the children back onto the bus. They were planning
the fieldtrip to the aquarium for weeks. Eli reluctantly allowed it
to proceed.

Vivvie was aware traffic in and out of
the compound was restricted. All who could were forced to call in
sick to their jobs, quit, or maintain whatever excuse during the
lockdown. Nobody went in or out of the compound that wasn’t
authorized.

Vivvie was sitting in the rear seat,
distracted by her thoughts when she noticed the child in front of
her. She frowned for the child didn’t look familiar to her. Looking
around, she noticed three more that didn’t either.

Doing a quick headcount assured her
they had six more children than they came with. Thinking of the
worried parents within the aquarium made her rise to address it
when Lydia got on the bus.

Something in the schoolteacher’s face
alerted Vivvie something was very wrong. Lydia leaned down and
spoke to one of the mysterious children, smiling and acting like
she knew the child. Vivvie fought her rising panic, knowing Eli
suspected a traitor in their midst.

These children were like them, she knew
from their scent, but not a part of the compound’s thirty-four
student school. That could only mean one thing. They didn’t belong
on the yellow bus making its way back to the compound for milk and
cookies.

Lydia came to sit with her and seemed
undisturbed by the six extra children, alerting Vivvie that she
must have known they left the aquarium with more than they came
with.

“
I’m glad this day is over!”
Lydia declared with a sigh as she sat beside her. “I appreciate you
coming with us today Vivvie, even though you’re so close to giving
birth.”

“
No problem, whatever I can
do to help,” Vivvie said, trying to keep her tone even.

Lydia gazed up to the front anxiously
where their driver sat, pulling the bus doors shut and navigating
through the parking lot. The aquarium lot was packed with buses.
The delay seemed to make her edgy.

Vivvie could see the woman’s
nervousness as the bus made its way back to the interstate. The
children’s happy chatter drowned out the frantic beating of her
heart. She had to get word to Eli to warn him. She took her cell
phone out of her purse.

Lydia smiled as she noticed the action,
her dark eyes glowing. “Tell your husband I appreciate him allowing
the fieldtrip today. The kids don’t get out much and this was so
looked forward to. I’m so glad you pushed it for us, Vivvie. He
would have never allowed it if not for you.”

Vivvie swore silently, knowing the
schoolteacher used her for just such a purpose now. She texted Eli
and he didn’t reply. Hastily, Vivvie texted Jericho, knowing Eli
sometimes left his phone on its charger. She warned them not to let
the school bus enter the service entrance and that Lydia was the
traitor. That could only mean the attack was imminent.

“
I’ll tell him. He will be
happy the kids had fun,” Vivvie said and forced a smile, waiting
for a text from either man.

Lydia looked forward as the bus got
onto the interstate. The pretty blonde was Dean’s half sister, she
knew. She forced herself to remain calm. The dull ache in her lower
back reminded her she needed to relax.

Eli and Jericho hadn’t texted her back.
She chewed on her lower lip to fight the fear worming its way
through her. Lydia’s gift was similar to her brother’s. She had
Gideon’s genes as well as some of Jericho’s.

For that, Vivvie fought to remain calm.
Lydia glanced at her during the trip.

“
Vivvie, are you ok? You
feeling alright?” she said with false concern that didn’t meet
those dark eyes and never had.

She grimaced and patted her abdomen.
“I’ll be glad when I have these kids. They have been pretty active
today. It’s nothing.”

Lydia seemed satisfied with her
response and they sat in companionable silence. Vivvie was fighting
the urge to scream as the yellow school bus turned onto the
mountain road, knowing she hadn’t received a text back from Jericho
or Eli.

They made it nearly a mile when Vivvie
got the text from Eli. Her eyes displayed little emotion as she
read it. Lydia paid her little mind.

“
He said he got the kids a
special treat for when they get back,” Vivvie said as she put the
phone in her purse.

Lydia smiled and sat back as the bus
made the slow trek up the mountain road. Her expression looked
serene, but Vivvie could see how rigid she was. She knew to display
any of her emotions right now would alert Lydia she was on to her.
She began to slow her breathing and force a calm she didn’t
feel.

“
You look like your due any
day, Vivvie,” Lydia commented as she gazed at her sidelong. “How
much longer before we have a new leader?”

“
Jericho said it could be
any minute yesterday,” Vivvie replied and allowed a bit of her fear
to come forth in her emotions.

Lydia sensed it immediately. “You will
be fine. First litters are always the hardest. I can’t tell you how
much I worried during my own.”

“
Really? I didn’t know you
had any kids,” Vivvie said and resolved to keep the woman talking
to distract her.

Lydia’s expression was tight. “Eli
fathered my three girls. You really must get around to meeting all
his children now, Vivvie.”

Vivvie fought the wave of anger to know
Lydia betrayed Eli like this. She forced a smile.

“
Yes, well, he has not
gotten around to making the introductions to all his kids yet.
Thank you for telling me.”

Lydia shrugged, her dark eyes
glimmering with some unknown emotion in them. “I’m not surprised he
overlooked it. They were all girls, and none had his precious
gift!”

Vivvie sensed the bitter undercurrent
in Lydia’s statement behind her laughing tone.

“
Yes, well he does love all
of his children, even so.”

“
A pity he never saw fit to
acknowledge them in years.”

Vivvie sensed that was the reason for
Lydia’s defection and struggled to find some reasonable excuse for
Eli’s obvious lapse. Lydia smiled tightly.

“
Don’t make excuses for him,
Vivvie,” she said softly. “I know being our leader keeps him
awfully busy. The girls miss him. You know how it is with girls and
their fathers.”

“
This is awkward,” Vivvie
said with a smile she was far from feeling. “I don’t think I’ll
ever get used to some things, my husband having so many children
among you all is only one of them. I’ll speak to him about getting
to see his kids more.”

Lydia appeared grateful but her eyes
were filled with anger. “I would really appreciate that,
Vivvie.”

~~~~

Eli fought the wave of fear he felt to
know his wife was on the school bus headed back to the compound.
The fieldtrip was used to infiltrate them, using children working
for Ryken to carry out his plan.

Vivvie claimed six of the children on
the bus didn’t belong. That could only mean Ryken used them for
some other purpose. He called up top on the walkie talkie to let
the men know to be alert and notify him when the bus was sighted.
His nerves were raw, knowing he made a drastic error in giving into
Vivvie now.

Lydia used her to get his agreement for
the trip to the aquarium against his first instincts. Now his wife
and many of his other children were in danger. Three of his kids
besides the unborn were on that bus, making him tense to know such
helplessness.

His daughters with Lydia came to mind,
wondering at their guilt in this. They were all adults now with
children of their own. He dismissed them having any knowledge of
their mother’s activities. All three seemed content in their lives
and he saw them regularly.

No, this was pure Lydia at work. His
daughter’s mother had issues with his lack of interest in seeing
her anymore now that he was married. Vivvie was his life now. The
thought of being with another didn’t appeal to him. Lydia obviously
took his rebuff to heart. In all fairness, it was his wedding day
when she threw herself at him the last time.

Eli now suspected his former lover came
to him just to get information that day. He was in the conference
room just getting off the phone with Ty. The only land line in the
compound was there. He refused her advances and Lydia began to cry.
He left her there to get control of her emotions. That was when she
called Mara. Eli was furious, but he was so distracted by the
wedding he’d not read Lydia’s thoughts. He just wanted to get away
from her, not wanting her scent upon him before he went to the
church.

Lydia avoided him since. He believed
she was embarrassed, when all along she cleverly hid her thoughts
from him. She used Vivvie working at the school as her go between
to get permission for the field trip, just so she wouldn’t have to
look into his eyes. One look and he would have known of her
deceit.

Eli walked back to the service elevator
where Gideon and Jericho waited for him.

“
The bus is probably rigged
with explosives, Eli,” Gideon said gravely, his orange eyes glowing
with fury. “We don’t dare let it in. What do you propose we
do?”

“
We need to get my wife and
all those kids off that bus, and now!” Eli snapped, furious to know
Ryken would do such a thing, hitting them all where it hurt,
striking against their youngest and most vulnerable. The bombs
wired to the bus would take out the service elevator and cut off
one exit, everyone aboard blown to bits. The regeneration would
take too long for any to survive the blast before Ryken came in to
finish them off.

The six children Ryken sent in would do
the rest, taking out their only other avenue of escape, and cut off
their communications to the warriors above. He didn’t dare open the
service elevator to the bus now.

“
We have ten minutes, Eli,”
Gideon said warningly. “Ryken might have a detonator. If we try to
stop the bus, he could blow it anyway.”

“
I know, let me think,” Eli
said and wrestled with the fear he felt inside. Those aboard would
survive the explosion and heal, but his unborn children wouldn’t.
They were linked to Vivvie’s current soul until they were born. It
was the onetime they were at their most vulnerable, when in the
womb. If the mother lost one of her souls during pregnancy, the
child she carried would die. There was no coming back from
it.

“
I’m going up!” Eli snarled
when he could think of nothing else to do.

“
You can’t help them by
making yourself a target, Eli,” Jericho said harshly. “If Ryken
blows up that bus, our future leader dies with it! If you go
running out there to save Vivvie now, he has you as well! It’s
exactly what he wants!”

“
I refuse to sit here and
wait! We don’t have time for this!” Eli yelled
furiously.

“
I have an idea,” Jericho
said and smiled cunningly. “I think I can figure out how to slow
the bus down without drawing too much attention to it.”

Eli glared at Jericho. “Get Vivvie off
that bus, Jericho! Go! Hurry!”

Gideon glared at Jericho as he got in
his supped up gold Chevelle and started it up, revving the 350
small block engine. He revved it a bit too long for the general’s
composure. The guards opened the service doors to the elevator and
he drove inside. Eli gnashed his teeth as he watched Jericho
disappear as the doors shut.

“
Eli, he’s good at coming up
with these unique distractions of his at the last minute,” Gideon
said dryly. “Remember when he went down in the middle of the road
and played dead? Getting those hunters to pull over and have a look
at him bought you the time you needed.”

Eli recalled it, thankful for Jericho’s
quick thinking at the time. He was caught by the hind quarters in
one of the hunter’s steel traps. Jericho’s ruse gave him enough
time to gnaw through his own leg to get to freedom. It took a week
for the leg to grow back, but he retained the soul he would have
lost had they succeeded in checking their traps that day. He could
only hope whatever wily effort Jericho came up with now was enough
to stop the bus without causing suspicion.

“
Isn’t that Jericho’s car up
ahead?” Vivvie asked as she looked ahead, her heart skipping a beat
to see the hood of the gold Chevelle up on the side of the road.
Jericho was bent over, under the hood, looking at something with a
disgusted expression.

Lydia frowned as she stood up, seeing
the elder’s car was broke down on the side of the road a quarter
mile up. She smiled nervously and chuckled.

“
You would think he would
give up on that old relic and get a new car by now,” she said and
called out to the driver to keep going.

“
Wait!” Vivvie said in
determination. “Let’s just stop and see if he needs help. We can’t
just leave him on the side of the road.”

“
Vivvie, the children are
tired and hungry,” Lydia said tightly. “We need to get
back.”