by Sharon Sala
Sixteen
While ruffled feathers and hot tempers were settling among Charlie and the agents at the cabin, the confetti that had fallen on the girls was causing something of a stir within the compound. The girls were still giggling and picking it out of each other’s hair as they entered the dining hall. Normally, they entered in silence and ate their meals the same way, so their giggles were surprising enough to raise eyebrows among the rest of the diners.
The only other people who were aware it had happened were the two Archangels who’d been a distance behind them, but when Thomas turned around and saw the girls still excited as they sat down, and poking around in each other’s hair, he frowned.
“What’s going on here?” he demanded.
“Something fell out of the sky on them,” one of the Archangels said. “It looked like glitter.”
Thomas frowned. “Glitter fell on them?”
“It was in the air and drifted down on their heads,” he explained.
“And you saw this?” Thomas asked.
“I saw it in the air above their heads and then it fell in their hair,” he repeated.
“Let me see!” Thomas demanded and went from girl to girl, poking through their hair and seeing the same bits of gold and silver confetti.
When he got to Jordan, he jammed his fingers straight into the thick dark length and right into the cut on the back of her head before he remembered she’d been injured there.
“Ow! That hurts!” Jordan cried and covered the back of her head with both hands.
“Sorry,” Thomas said. “I forgot you’re injured.”
The casual way he said it, like it really wasn’t a thing to be concerned about, not only hurt her feelings but made her mad. And because she was supposed to stay seated, she defied the rules again and stood, making him look at her face.
“I look like this and you forgot? You call yourselves Archangels, but you’re all devils to me. You think being psychic makes you too special for rules and laws. It’s glitter. It blew in our hair. We had nothing to do with it.”
“Sit down and be quiet,” Thomas said and yanked her by the arm.
Her head was still throbbing where he’d poked her, and when she let go of it, there was blood on the palm of her hand.
She shoved her hand in his face.
“You made that cut on the back of my head start bleeding again.” And then her voice broke. “Why can’t you people just leave me alone?”
She dropped back onto the bench, her shoulders slumped in a moment of complete defeat.
Thomas sighed. Even if she was a pain in the ass, he guessed she was scared, especially since her father was no longer on the premises. “I’m sincerely sorry,” Thomas said. “I did not intend to hurt you.”
“You pulled my hair,” Katie said.
“You pulled mine, too,” Randi said.
“It hurt when you poked my head, but I was afraid to tell you,” Barbie whispered.
Thomas frowned, then turned around and walked out of the dining hall to report the incident to the Master.
Jordan Bien was not only a problem for Fourth Dimension, but she was influencing the other girls enough that they were beginning to defy the rules, too.
* * *
Aaron was on his way out of his residence when he saw Archangel Thomas coming toward him, and he could tell by the look on his face that he was troubled.
Aaron stopped. Clasping his hands together in a gesture of what was meant to be tranquility, he rested them on the curve of his belly.
“Master, there was an incident involving the Sprites,” Thomas said, approaching.
Aaron frowned. “How so?”
“They arrived in the dining hall with some kind of shiny confetti in their hair. They said it fell out of the sky. I didn’t believe them until one of my helpers verified he’d seen it falling, too.”
“Were they harmed?” Aaron asked.
Thomas sighed. “Not by the confetti, but I looked at every girl’s hair to verify the substance, and I guess I was too rough with Jordan Bien. I caused her head to start bleeding again.”
Aaron frowned. All that did was remind everyone he was the one who’d caused the initial wound.
“How did she react?” Aaron asked.
“In pain, defiant, and then somewhat defeated. But some of the other girls then complained I’d been too rough with them, too, claiming I’d pulled their hair. Jordan is a bad influence on the girls. This is the second time they’ve stood up for her.”
Aaron frowned. “I’ll check the security cameras. In the meantime, please send someone to get me some samples. There should be evidence of it on the ground where they were walking. And in the future, try not to antagonize that girl. Without her father in residence, I believe she will eventually calm down.”
“Yes, Master,” Thomas said and hastened to obey the orders.
Instead of going to lunch, Aaron went back to look at the security footage. His houseman met him at the door.
“Master, is something wrong?”
“I need to check the security cameras. Please ask one of the cooks to send my meal to the house.”
“Yes, Master,” Robert said.
Confident his orders would be carried out, Aaron headed for the security center. He unlocked the door and went straight to the bank of computer screens, one for each camera on the premises, and went to the screen overlooking the Sprites’ dormitory. He rewound it to the time line as the girls were first emerging. He was watching their faces for signs of some kind of deceit but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Just the usual, quiet demeanor he expected from them.
It took a couple of seconds for him to see something glittering in the air above their heads, but he couldn’t tell where it had come from. Even though he rewound the footage a few more times to specifically watch the sky instead of the girls, all he saw were a couple of birds flying past the camera. There was nothing out of the ordinary to explain what had happened.
Satisfied that it was something that had been blown in by the wind, he moved to a hidden camera he’d had installed in the Sprites’ shower and rewound the recording to this morning. Since he’d taken a vow of celibacy to serve as Master, he often satisfied his sexual lusts by viewing the nubile young bodies all soapy and wet. He was considering it again, when he heard Robert call out that his food had arrived. Regretting the missed opportunity for an orgasm, he settled for a meal instead and quickly left the room, locking the door behind him as Robert appeared in the hall, carrying a tray.
“I’ll eat my meal on the back verandah, and I’d like a glass of iced tea to go with it,” Aaron said.
Robert carried the tray through the house and placed it outside as ordered.
Aaron followed, his mouth watering from the aroma of meatloaf and vegetables. He unfolded a large cloth napkin and draped it across his lap, then lowered his head and blessed his food before taking the first bite. As always, he savored the texture of what was in his mouth as much as he did the taste of the spices that seasoned it. A bite of meatloaf, then the velvet texture of mashed potatoes, followed by the slight crunch of buttered carrots—for Aaron, each was a delight on its own. He’d never associated the concept of his carnal appetite as a mirror trait to his appetite for food. They were just part of who he was.
Robert emerged from the house with an ice-filled glass and a pitcher of cold sweet tea and set them down on the table.
Aaron waved him away. “I’ll pour, and thank you, Robert. That will be all. Go along to the dining hall and enjoy your lunch. And tell cook the food is delicious.”
Robert smiled. “Yes, Master, I will.”
* * *
Jud had been watching the panorama of the geography below the chopper for some time now, wondering where he was being taken to meet Charlie Dodge. But when he began recognizing the old highway that ran through Sh
awnee Gap, he was surprised. The chopper appeared to be following it like a map.
A few moments later he saw a black SUV in the highway ahead, and when the chopper began to lower altitude, he realized they were going to land.
“Why are we landing here?” Jud asked.
“The trees... There’s no place else to drop you off,” the agent said.
“Oh. Right. Are you going to remove the cuffs?”
“That’s for the others to decide,” he replied.
Jud’s stomach did a little flip-flop as the chopper’s descent turned into a sudden drop, and moments later, they were down.
He was fumbling with the seat belt when the door slid open, revealing two armed men in camo. The agent beside him released the seat belt, freeing him for the men to pull him out of the chopper.
“My bag!” Jud cried.
Someone tossed it out of the chopper. One of the men grabbed it midair and then they rushed him into their vehicle.
The windows were dark, and as they put him into the back seat and were buckling him in, the chopper lifted off and quickly flew out of sight.
* * *
Hank went upstairs to let Charlie know they’d picked Bien up and were on their way there. But when he knocked on Charlie’s door, he didn’t answer. He didn’t want to confront Wyrick again, but he was given no choice and knocked on hers, instead.
When Charlie opened the door, he could see Wyrick at work near the window.
“Just wanted to let you know they picked Bien up. It won’t take much over an hour for them to get here.”
Charlie nodded. “We’ll need that satellite photo you have of the compound.”
“Right. I’ll pull it,” Hank said. “We made sandwiches. Thought you might want something to eat.”
“We’ll be down in a bit,” Charlie said and closed the door.
Hank sighed, then turned around and went back downstairs. He hated the hard feelings hanging between them but felt justified in everything he’d said and done.
Charlie was just as bothered by the tension between them, but his allegiance was to Wyrick and the girl they’d come to rescue. The last time he’d been this antsy, they’d been looking for a little boy. Lost kids didn’t sit well with Charlie.
Wyrick had linked a second computer to her laptop and was using both of them to dig through the security setup at Fourth Dimension. She was looking for ways to shut it down without triggering an alarm, and to disable the electric fencing surrounding the compound. She’d overheard Hank Raines talking to the other agents about getting some men over the walls at the back of the compound before the main force came in through the gate, and she needed to make sure everything was offline before that happened. Hopefully, Jud Bien would be able to answer some of the questions. Otherwise, it was likely to be a long night.
She was so focused on what she was doing that she didn’t even hear the knock on her door until Charlie got up to answer it. She heard Hank Raines’s voice, then something about Jud Bien, then sandwiches. When Charlie shut the door, she stood up.
“They invited us to eat?”
“Unless you’d rather have one of the MREs we brought,” he said.
“Shut your mouth,” Wyrick said, which made Charlie grin.
“I’m going back to my room to wash up,” Charlie said. “I’ll meet you downstairs...unless you don’t want to go back into enemy territory unescorted.”
Her snort of disgust made him chuckle.
“I have real enemies in my life,” Wyrick said. “The only problem the bunch downstairs has is too much testosterone.”
Charlie knew she was right. As soon as he got in his room, he tried to call Tara to let her know they’d picked up her ex. But when she didn’t answer, he sent her a text instead.
A few minutes later, he walked into the kitchen and noticed Wyrick had changed from the dark T-shirt she’d been wearing to a white tank top. He sighed. She’d pulled out the big guns her own way by making them see her in a whole new light. That dragon tattoo where her breasts used to be was an in-your-face statement impossible to miss. And the fact that they could easily see the beast coiled around her body, as well, made it better.
Wyrick heard him coming. She knew the measured stride of his steps like she knew her own heartbeat. And she knew he’d get why she’d changed shirts. She just didn’t want to look at him and see empathy, so she kept building her sandwich, making sure there was mustard on both pieces of bread before she added any cold cuts.
Willis looked up, then offered Charlie a beer.
Charlie took it, nodding his thanks, and then moved to the island where everything was laid out. He caught the men staring at Wyrick more than once as he was fixing his plate, and by the time he carried it into the other room and sat down at the table with them, he knew she’d made her point. Their behavior toward her had shifted from treating her as an outsider to all-out admiration for the badass she was, and she was silently basking in it.
Right now they were all in a holding pattern, waiting for search warrants and arrest warrants. Identifying the children being kept there had been the break they needed to legally get in. But it was the safety issue that concerned them most. There wasn’t an agent in the entire division of the FBI who didn’t remember Waco, Texas, and the disaster with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. No one wanted another debacle like that to happen.
Most of them were through with eating and were beginning to clean up when Hank Raines’s phone signaled a text.
He checked it, then looked up.
“We have Jud Bien. They should be here within the next ten minutes to fifteen minutes.”
Wyrick got up from the table and carried her things into the kitchen, dumping paper plates and cups. She then headed down the hall to the bathroom to wash the smell of mustard off her hands.
Charlie took his things to the trash, and then walked to the windows at the front of the main room to watch for their arrival. He was braced for the next step in their quest to get Jordan Bien home.
Wyrick had just turned off the water in the bathroom and was drying her hands when she realized she was hearing footsteps overhead. It took a few moments for her to realize someone was in her room and she knew it wasn’t Charlie.
The plane! They were still determined to get their hands on it, to examine the material she’d used that made it virtually invisible in flight.
She slipped out and quietly moved up the stairs. Just as she reached the top landing, she saw Willis come out of her room carrying the box, then go down the hall to another room and slip inside.
She waited, motionless. Wonder how long it’s going to take him to realize he’s been had?
A few seconds passed, and then all of a sudden he came flying out of his room and darted back into her room.
Wyrick took off toward her room, then stopped a few yards short and waited, her hands on her hips, her feet apart.
Seconds later, Willis emerged and then stopped.
“Uh, I was—”
“I guess my underwear didn’t fit?”
A dark flush spread up his neck onto his face.
“So when the Feds don’t get what they want, they just steal it? Is that how it works now?” she asked.
“I follow orders,” Willis said.
“Well, here are some new ones,” Wyrick said, jabbing her finger sharply into his chest. “Don’t fuck with my stuff again unless you want Charlie Dodge in your face. And you can pass that along to the boys in the band.”
Willis didn’t have an argument that would hold water. He didn’t take orders from civilians, but she’d just caught him trying to steal her property. What bugged him most was that she’d expected it and set a trap they fell for. There was a lot beneath the surface of this woman besides that crazy dragon tattoo, that was for sure. He didn’t answer her but walked past her without arguing.
/> She went into her bedroom and locked the door, then dumped her clothes out on the box, got her bag from the closet and switched everything back to the way it originally was, then took the box with the plane into Charlie’s room and put it in his closet.
Downstairs, Charlie heard the sound of running feet and turned. He saw Willis’s face and the haste with which he was descending and wondered what was going on. Then a couple of minutes later, Wyrick came sauntering down the stairs.
He raised an eyebrow.
She shook her head.
He let it go—for now.
“Here they come,” Hank said.
Charlie looked out the window as a black SUV pulled up to the house. He recognized the men in camo who got out, and then saw Jud Bien emerge from the back seat in cuffs.
He walked out onto the porch, making no attempt to hide his disgust. The agents unlocked the cuffs, and Charlie took Jud by the arm and walked him inside.
“Thank you for helping,” Jud said.
Charlie glared. “I’m not helping you. I’m helping Tara get her daughter back. And just so you know, we already know what Fourth Dimension is about. We know all of it, so don’t lie about anything. What we need from you is the layout inside the compound. How the security system is set up, and the daily routine. We also need to know where the married couples live, and their routines, as well. Understand?”
“Yes, yes, I understand,” Jud said.
Wyrick slid into a chair across the table from Jud and opened her laptop.
The others sat down around the table, blocking him in on both sides.
But Charlie couldn’t bring himself to sit at the same table with a monster, so he paced as he began to talk.
“I saw your daughter’s face in a picture today. What the hell happened to her?”
Jud dropped his head. “She’s been defiant ever since we arrived, and—”
“What did you expect?” Charlie asked. “You gave her up to a gene pool so you could fuck someone else’s little girl, without a care for who drew her for a bride! I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, but your blatant disregard for your own daughter’s welfare is unbelievable. That cult is illegal, unnatural and obscene. Are you the one who hit her?”
