Guardian's Hope

by Jacqueline Rhoades

  *****

  They were several blocks away from Hope’s house when Nico suddenly pulled the car to the curb and readjusted the rearview mirror.

  “That foolish woman,” he said with a touch of anger in his voice. “Why would she put herself at risk, walking alone in the dark?”

  Dov looked back through the rear window. “If you’re talking about that chick on the other side of the street, I don’t think you have to worry. She looks big enough to take care of herself.” His next comment was a strangled choke as Nico gripped and twisted the neck of his shirt.

  “Watch how you speak of her.” He released the shirt.

  “Damn, Nico.” Dov straightened his shirt and used his hands to smooth out the wrinkles. “No disrespect. I just meant she’s built like a brick shithouse,” and when Nico snarled, “Help me out here, Col.”

  Col blew out a long suffering sigh and said to Nico. “He means she’s tall and doesn’t look like an easy victim,” and to Dov, “You can’t tell what she’s built like under that ugly old coat.”

  Nico watched silently as Hope walked past the darkened windows of the car. “She has no one to protect her,” he said softly, more to himself than the twins.

  “Who is she, Nico?” Dov asked with quiet concern.

  “She’s a woman I met the other night at Bloodsuckers when I was out looking for you.”

  “Bloodsuckers! Holy Hoochie Mama.” Dov wiggled his eyebrows and grinned. “She sure doesn’t look like Bloodsuckers material. Course, like Col said, can’t tell what she looks like under that coat. So she’s hot, huh?”

  “Her name is Hope and she is a respectable young woman. I found her in a difficult situation at Bloodsuckers, helped her out and saw her home. She remembers nothing. I was merely concerned about the loss of her handbag and shoe. It’s nothing.”

  “Yeah, right. She’s nobody important.” Dov emphasized his point with an elbow to his brother’s ribs. “I may not be the brightest bulb in the chandelier, but I’m throwing enough wattage to see she’s not a ‘nothing’ to you.”

  “I only wished to return her shoe. While it means nothing to me, it may mean a great deal to her.”

  “Sure. Her life’s gonna end ‘cause she lost a cheap shoe. Don’t think so.”

  “You are spoiled, Dov ad Willem. You’ve grown up with money and privilege. You’ve no idea what a difference a cheap pair of shoes can make.”

  “Oh goody, a lecture on poverty from a guy who just spent $120,000 on a forty year old car. Come on, Nico, you spend more on one shirt than all of ours put together.”

  Nico pulled away from the curb and took the next turn. “That’s because I don’t buy them in packages of a dozen at the local big box store. I like fine things and I don’t suppose you’ll turn down the keys to that car should I offer them. Your mission has changed, gentleman. See that she’s safe.”

  He pointed to the figure trudging along two blocks ahead.

  Chapter 5

  “Feeling a little uncomfortable here, bro.” Col looked around the dimly lit bar. The small round tables, surrounded by comfortable leather chairs, were topped with crisp white cloths. Candles glowed in white frosted globes at the center of each. Electric sconces, spaced periodically along the walls, flickered their artificial candlelight against the polished wood panel walls. This was an upper echelon, after business hours, watering hole. Its patrons weren’t young up and comers. These people had already made it.

  “Everyone’s looking at us,” Dov grumbled.

  “No duh, we’re two carp in a koi pond.”

  The twins were dressed, as they usually were, in light blue jeans, white t-shirts and leather jackets. Every guy in the place wore an expensive suit with the silk tie tucked up tight into the collar of a starched, custom made shirt.

  “Nico should have taken this one on himself. He’d fit right in.”

  “Not completely. His hair’s too long and there’s no grey at the temples.”

  A woman in a steel grey business suit walked by and smiled indulgently. Col thought she might reach out and pat them on their heads. Her outfit matched the tone of every other woman in the place; dark suit or dress ending at the knee or slightly below, dark shoes with comfortable but flattering heels, tasteful jewelry, no cleavage. Both twins were disappointed.

  “Don’t get me wrong,” Dov complained as he returned another amused and indulgent smile, “I don’t mind playing secret agent for Nico, but I wouldn’t mind a little scenery that didn’t remind me of Mom.”

  “She doesn’t fit any better than we do.” Col nodded toward the bar where Hope sat, hunched over, nursing a cup of coffee. She wore a long, well-worn denim skirt topped with a navy cardigan big enough to fit one of the twins. Not much of her turtle neck was showing, but he’d take odds that it was as big as the cardigan.

  “Why do you think she dresses like that?”

  “How would I know? Maybe she chooses like we do, whatever’s in the clean pile. Maybe she’s lumpy in places she shouldn’t be. Don’t know, don’t care. What I’d like to know is why Nico’s so interested?” Dov flagged a waitress and ordered another round. “She doesn’t look like his type.”

  “Type? How would you know what type is his? You ever seen him with a woman?”

  “Well no, he doesn’t exactly hang out at the same places we do, does he? But look at him. Everything he owns is sleek and dark; his car, his motorcycle, his clothes. The guy’s smooth. He’s gonna look for a smooth woman. Kinda like that Advisor, Callista, the one that was here last November.”

  “How can you say that? She was a bitch,” Col’s lip curled derisively, “Nico wouldn’t want someone like her.”

  “I meant her looks, not her personality. You got to admit she’s a fine looking woman when her mouth is shut.” Dov indicated Hope with his chin. She’d stopped another couple as they passed her stool, asked her question and held up a card. “She’s showing that picture to everyone who walks by. We should go find out who it is, what she wants.”

  “No, we shouldn’t. Nico said sit tight and watch. Don’t go screwing up our night with the ‘vette by sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

  The after work wind-down was over. As if someone set off a silent alarm, patrons began to check their PDAs, say their farewells and leave in twos and threes. In ten minutes the place was empty.

  Hope didn’t move except to shift her seat far enough to keep one eye on the door and one on the blonde twins in the corner. She felt like the two were watching her, but every time she checked the mirror over the bar, they were talking to each other or looking elsewhere in the room. There was nothing threatening about them and if it weren’t for the beer, they might have been mistaken for a couple of the strong, healthy farm boys that sat in the last pew of her father’s church. She had an odd feeling about them, as if she knew them and could trust them. She smiled at her foolishness. It must be their fresh faced good looks because she’d never seen them before tonight or maybe it was because they looked as out of place as she did.

  She’d come to the city with three hundred dollars, a few words on a scrap of mostly burned paper and as many of her belongings as fit in a picnic basket. If any of her father’s congregation saw her walking along with her basket, they’d think she was on a goodwill mission, bringing a casserole or pie to a member of the church family. It was one of the few things she was allowed to do outside of school hours that brought her any pleasure, so she did it often.

  Arriving at the gas station that served as a bus depot, she’d transferred her belongings to a cloth bag, bought her ticket and boarded the bus fifteen minutes later. It was the longest fifteen minutes of her life.

  She’d chosen the day because her father had left earlier that morning and would be gone for several days on church business, but while she sat on the wooden bench outside the station, she’d been sure he’d come back early and drag her home. But he hadn’t come back early and the bus was on time and she’d been on her own for the first time in
her twenty-seven years.

  Hope and the twins were the only witnesses to the transformation of the bar. The staff sprang into action with practiced efficiency. White tablecloths changed to shiny black, sedate white candle holders to contemporary gold. The bartenders, in white shirts, black vests and bow ties, disappeared into the back and returned wearing silky black shirts with gold chains at their necks. Servers peeled off their conservative outer shirts to reveal the t-shirts underneath; tight fitting satiny black for the men, shiny gold on the women.

  As quickly as the first shift of customers disappeared, the second shift arrived, casually flowing in until the place was full once again. This crowd was similar to the earlier high end crowd with two exceptions. These patrons were ten to fifteen years younger and the women had taken the time to change from business chic to casual chic. Skirts were shorter, heels were higher and necklines dipped dangerously, inviting wandering eyes to explore their plunging depths. The drinks flowed more freely and the conversation became louder.

  Col sat back and watched a cluster of women laughing and gesturing in the center of the room.

  “This assignment just got a whole lot easier.”

  “I think I might order me one of those apple martini things. You think they’d put it in a beer glass? Those skinny stems always break.”

  “That’s because you hold them in your fist instead of your fingers, jackass. Didn’t you learn anything from Mom?”

  “Yeah. She taught me that I was the better looking twin and I should be kind to my less fortunate and much uglier brother.”

  The twins enjoyed the view, laughed and talked and never lost sight of their mission. They watched closely and whenever someone came up to the bar or passed her on the way to the lavatories, she was there, her voice low, her expression polite as she asked them about the picture. Some shook their heads politely. Some held their hands up in a don’t-bother-me gesture and some curled their lip in a kind of disgust as if she were a piece of gum on the bottom of their shoe. Her reaction was always the same; a nod and a whispered thanks for their time. Hours passed.

  “You think she’s about done? She’s talked to everyone in the place and no one new’s come in. Crowd’s thinning. Everyone’s hookin’ up and goin’ home,” Dov sighed wistfully.

  “Don’t even think about it. We’re sticking with her until she’s locked up tight.” Col pointed a finger at his brother’s nose. “And I know what you’re going to say, so don’t say it. I don’t care if she doesn’t need two watchers. You signed on and I’m not…”

  “She’s got company.”

  Hope smiled uncertainly as the man took the seat next to hers, ignoring the other empty stools along the bar. She fingered the picture, ready to ask that all important question, but he spoke first.

  “You come here often?” he asked. He appeared to be in his early thirties and was as well dressed as the rest of the crowd, but seemed to lack the air of confidence she’d witnessed, and envied, in the other patrons.

  “No,” she answered haltingly, “I’ve never been here before.” She held out the picture and asked, as she had so many times before. “Have you seen this woman? Do you know her?”

  “Sorry, no,” he said barely looked at the photo. He licked his lips and glanced at his watch. “This is my first time, too.”

  Which she thought strange because he’d been there all evening, moving from table to table, shaking hands, kissing cheeks, laughing and talking with a familiarity that led her to believe he was a part of this crowd, except for the nervous energy. Even now, his foot was tapping and he repeatedly rubbed his fingers against his thumb. What did he want?

  “Name’s Robert.” He held out his hand.

  “Oh,” she said foolishly and then remembered her manners. “I’m Hope.”

  Dov started to rise from his chair, but Col stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Observe,” he reminded.

  “And protect,” said Dov through gritted teeth. “He’s trying to pick her up.”

  Col snorted, but he didn’t take his eyes off Hope. “You’d sleep with a different woman every night if you could. What’s the difference?”

  Dov was offended. “The difference is that I don’t try to pick someone up ten minutes before closing. I wine ‘em and dine ‘em and show them a good time and then I escort them home and show them a better time. I’m the good guy here.” He pointed his finger at his twin. “And I never, ever make a move on a woman who isn’t looking to be moved upon. So don’t get all saintly, brother mine, ‘cause you’ve done your own share of movin’ and shakin’. You were the one…”

  “I don’t think we have anything to worry about. Shut up and listen.”

  “Tha-thank you for the offer,” Hope said nervously, “But coffee will keep me awake all night and I really need to get home. If you’ll excuse me.” She gathered up her coat and headed for the lady’s room.

  Before she even reached the door, her would be suitor had his cell phone out. His fingers trembled as he punched in the number. “No go. I tried, okay? What the fuck do you want from me? I found her didn’t I? Okay, okay, sorry. I know. I will.” He slipped the phone into his pocket and headed for the door.

  The twins looked at each other in silent agreement.

  “Remember he’s human,” said Col.

  “I won’t hurt him,” Dov grinned, “Much.” And followed Robert out into the street.

  Robert was turned toward the building, trying to light a cigarette against the wind.

  “Those things’ll kill ya,” Dov said as he removed the lit cigarette from Robert’s lips and crushed it in his hand. “Unless I do it first.” He stuffed the loose tobacco and filter into the breast pocket of Robert’s jacket, patted it flat and smiled. “We wouldn’t want to make a mess out here on the street. Let’s you and I take a walk.” He grabbed Robert beneath his armpit, lifted him to his toes and marched him in the opposite direction from which Hope had arrived.

  A wide eyed Robert sputtered something unintelligible, but made no attempt to escape. He started to cry when they turned into the nearest alley where Dov braced him against the wall and lifted him off his feet so they were eye to eye.

  “Oh Bobby, Bobby, Bobby.” Dov shook his head in disappointment. “Will you look at that nose? Either you have really bad allergies or you’ve been stuffing something up there that you shouldn’t.” He suddenly let go of the now terrified man and again shook his head sadly as the man crumpled into a sobbing mass on the ground. “Since you like to stuff bad things up your nose, let’s see what we can do.” He reached down and picked up a shard of wood ripped from a packing crate or skid. “Did you know that you can kill a person just by shoving a stick up their nose? It’s true. Want to try it? Or,” Dov smiled as if the idea had just occurred to him, “You could tell me what I need to know.”

  Two minutes later Dov was jogging down the street with Robert’s cell phone in his hand.

  Col followed Hope at a discreet distance. Twice, she looked back over her shoulder, but he was buried in the shadows and hidden from her view. He thought about using his white light, the ability born in all Guardians to move at lightning speeds or remain invisible to humans, but decided against it. Until you were fully matured in your strength, using white light sapped a tremendous amount of energy; energy you might need a lot sooner than expected. He’d learned that lesson the hard way, hard enough to almost kill him.

  Dov came running up behind him. “Hey look what I got!”

  Hope looked back, saw a man running toward her with his fist raised, squeaked with fright and took off at a dead run.

  Col shook his head. “If brains were money, you’d be flat broke. We’re screwed.”

  “No we’re not. We just run her down.” He stretched to look around his twin at the disappearing Hope. “Although she’s moving pretty fast for a human. White light?”

  “No.” Col pointed across the street. “We cut through and cut her off. She’ll never know we’re there.”

  They jo
gged down a short side street, cut through yards and jumped a fence and ended up where Nico had originally parked. They looked up and down the street, but she was nowhere to be seen.

  “If she was still running, she’d be here by now. She must have figured she lost us and slowed down.”

  “Ah, Col? I think something might be wrong. Robert said he wasn’t trying to hit on her. He was trying to keep her busy until his dealer could get in touch with whoever’s looking for her. He doesn’t know who, but she’s worth a lot of money to someone because the dealer promised to clear his debt if he found her. I got the dealer’s name and the sleazebag’s phone so Nardo can track him. What if the dealer got in touch?”

  “Then we’re fucked.”

  They were running now. White light took them around the corner in time to see a guy pushing something or someone into the open side doors of a dark van. The van began to pull away before the doors were fully closed.

  “This is gonna hurt,” Dov screamed, right before he drove his fist through the driver’s window and grabbed the wheel. Col hauled on the door, using the van’s forward momentum to force it back along its track. The van careened across the road and came to an abrupt stop when it jumped the curb and rammed into a phone pole. The pole tilted precariously across the roof of the van and wires sparked and sizzled as they were pulled from their moorings. Lights flicked on in several of the surrounding homes.

  Col pulled a body from the side door and threw it into the street, then pulled the screaming woman out. She swung a solid fist into his face. It connected with his nose and he felt the blood spurt.

  “Goddammit, woman, we’re friends!” he shouted, but he wasn’t sure she heard him through her panic. He drove his shoulder into her stomach and she buckled over his shoulder as the breath left her. He straightened with her hoisted over his shoulder and began to run.

  Everything was happening too fast. Hope had no idea who any of these people were or what they wanted with her. As her breath came back, she realized she was being carried by one of the twins she’d seen in the bar. The other was pulling himself from the van. He staggered, then righted himself and began to follow. One of her kidnappers, lying in the middle of the road, pulled himself up and reached into his jacket. He pulled out a gun and pointed it at the staggering twin.