In fact, the only reason they sent a messenger here to request a doctor was because she and her partner had beaten so many of his men so badly. The camp medic was overwhelmed.” She gestured to Kael’s head wound. “I assume that was you.”
“Kael killed two of them,” Anna said. “They seemed pretty angry about the fight he and Elin put up.”
“Yes, I got that. Trey seemed concerned about keeping Elin separated from his men.”
Kael released a shaky sigh. “How long ago did you see her?”
“Three days ago.”
“And she was okay?” Anna asked.
“Physically, she was healthy. I noticed the healing injuries I mentioned earlier, but other than that there was just the black eye—”
Kael stiffened. “A black eye? What else?”
Kate gave Kael a look of tender sympathy. “Nothing, really. I asked her if she was injured in any other way, and she told me she wasn’t.”
“How did she seem?” Anna asked.
Kate’s mouth twitched into a smile. “Mad as hell. I think they were a little intimidated by her, honestly. I could tell she was trying hard to rein in her anger.”
“The last time she saw Kael, he was unconscious and bleeding on the ground,” Anna said. “I’m sure she’s very upset.”
“How do these men treat their women prisoners?” Kael asked, eyes glued to the tabletop. “Their breeders,”
she said in a contemptuous voice.
“From what I could tell, relatively well. But to be honest with you, I just don’t know. They’ve never summoned me before this year. They’ve camped just outside of town for almost five years, but until now they’ve mostly left us alone.”
“Mostly?” Anna asked.
“The first year, they marched right into the center of town. Tried to recruit some of the young women who lived here. When the girls refused, the men just…took them.” Kate cast ashamed eyes down to the table.
“Some of the men in town, my husband Walter included, went after them. All but one came back after a week or so, bruised and battered. I had to amputate a leg and an arm. These men—Procreationists, they told us—beat them to within an inch of their lives, but didn’t finish them off. They let them come back and show us what would happen if we resisted.”
“They don’t believe in killing,” Kael whispered.
Kate gave Kael a sad smile. “Right. The second year, they came to town to re-supply. And that’s all they’ve asked since then. Once a year, around October, they camp outside town and ask us for supplies. We give them whatever they need. I guess we hope that’s all they’ll take.”
Kael looked around. “You say you have a husband?”
“Yes,” Kate answered. “But Walter’s away for a few days. Perhaps you’ll get a chance to meet him later.”
Kael returned to the topic at hand. “How many men did you see when you were there?”
Kate’s warm brown eyes flashed with worry. “Almost fifty, all told. When I was out there on Monday, there were only about thirty of them. A second contingent was out ‘recruiting,’ Trey called it. They’re expecting them back this weekend. He said they’re planning to leave for Philadelphia as soon as the other contingent returns.”
Kael sighed. “So we’ve got maybe two days to come up with a plan and rescue Elin before their force nearly doubles.”
Kate reached across the table and placed a gentle hand on Kael’s arm. “Young man, I’ll tell you where to find them. I’ll tell you everything I know, everything I saw. God knows, I don’t like those men anymore than you do. But I have to tell you, just for my own conscience…I don’t know how the three of you, especially looking as worn-down as you do, are ever going to pull off what six men tried and failed to do just a few years ago. Trey had fewer men then, and I’m certain they weren’t as well-trained.”
“I don’t know how, either, but we will,” Kael said. “We don’t have any choice.”
Anna gave Kael a serious nod. “We will.” She gazed at Matt, who tipped his head in agreement. “Please, Kate,” Anna said as she took the older woman’s hand. “Tell us everything you know.”
Chapter Eighteen
When Anna woke up in Dr. Kate Woodard’s guest bedroom, it was with the fuzzy remnants of another dream of Elin still lingering in her mind. Visions of red hair and pale skin refused to leave her, and Anna retreated under the fluffy down comforter and closed her eyes against the pleasure and pain of it all.
“Wake up, sleepyhead.” Kael sat down on the mattress beside her. “Kate is making us breakfast.”
Anna inhaled deeply, grinning as she caught a whiff of the delicious smells coming from downstairs.
Something about it tickled at her memories of her mother and big family breakfasts before the sickness had come.
“You talked me into it.” Anna giggled as Kael pulled the comforter from her body and exposed her naked skin.
“Kate also wanted me to let you know that you’re welcome to use the shower.” Kael traced her fingers over the swell of Anna’s breast. “I highly recommend it. I feel like a new man.”
Anna studied Kael carefully. Her eyes, dim and red-rimmed with exhaustion only the day before, were bright and clear. The ugly scalp wound was looking better. All in all, it appeared as though new life had been breathed into Kael.
And all from one decent night’s sleep. Imagine what a good breakfast could do. Anna curled her fingers around the back of Kael’s neck and drew her into a soft kiss. Maybe we will have a fighting chance, after all.
Kael pulled back and murmured, “We’re heading for their camp as soon as we eat. Kate has already given me directions.”
“What’s the plan?”
“At first, we watch. We watch and wait for our opportunity.”
“What if one doesn’t present itself?” Anna whispered. It was her greatest fear. What if there’s no way to do this without getting ourselves killed?
“That’s not an option. There’s always an opportunity. Some are just more desirable than others.” She ran her hand over Anna’s belly, then her bare side. “I’ve got Zep downstairs eating. He’ll stay with Kate while we’re gone today.”
“Okay.” Anna sat up, and the comforter fell around her waist. “I’ll go take that shower now.” She looked over her shoulder as she retreated into the bathroom, and blushed at the way Kael’s eyes followed her naked progress. In the shower a few minutes later, she thought of Elin.
“I loved being inside of you last night.”
Anna turned her head at the sound of Elin’s soft, throaty voice and gave her lover a shy smile. Kael was out fishing while they spent a lazy morning in bed. “Yeah?”
Elin curled even closer into Anna’s naked body. “It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever felt.” She must have looked doubtful at that, because Elin said, “Really, sweetheart. I could feel your heartbeat around my fingers. It was incredible.”
Anna blushed. “It was. I never thought it would feel that good, I guess.”
“I thought it might feel that good being inside a woman.” At Anna’s quizzical look, she explained, “That was the first time for me, too, you know.”
Anna’s mouth dropped open in sudden understanding. Kael would never have allowed that privilege. “Oh. I suppose it would have been.”
“And it was perfect.” Elin planted a gentle kiss on Anna’s mouth and murmured, “Like you.”
Tears stung Anna’s eyes. “It was perfect. I felt so close to you. I never wanted you to leave.”
Elin nipped at Anna’s earlobe. Whispering, she promised, “I never will.”
Anna turned off the shower and dried her tears. They needed to get Elin back.
Anna carried her baseball bat, though she hoped she wouldn’t need it before the three of them had a chance to observe and to plan. The unloaded handgun that Kael had taken from the crazy old man in Owensboro was tucked into the waist of her blue jeans, pressed against her back. That was a last resort, something for when
she had no other choices.
I definitely hope I won’t need that.
Kael walked in front, sword strapped to her back. Outside of Kate’s house, they had debated taking her bow and arrows, but had finally decided that if they got into a situation during this reconnaissance mission that required a weapon, a sword would probably be more useful. Carrying both could hinder their stealth. In her pocket, Kael had a hand-drawn sketch that Kate had prepared from memory, detailing the layout of tents and sentries.
Matt walked next to Anna. He had his hunting knife strapped to his belt, and he carried a wooden bat similar to Anna’s. Neither Kael nor Anna was comfortable allowing him to face possible danger without something more than such a close-range weapon as a knife.
Anna struggled with her guilt over letting such a young kid risk his life for their cause. She gave him a brief, sidelong glance, covertly studying his face. He had been quiet since Anna’s confession the day before, but she hadn’t sensed any animosity. Instead, he seemed introspective. Anna wondered what was going on behind his blue eyes.
“Matt?”
The boy turned his head. “Yeah?” He kept his voice low, though they were more than a mile from the Procreationist camp.
“I’m just wondering how you’re feeling about all this. What we’re doing.”
Matt shrugged. “Nervous, a little. Anxious, really. I guess I don’t know what to expect.”
“Are you sorry you ever offered to help?” Anna kept her voice light, but she was worried. She needed to know.
Matt shook his head without hesitation. “No. These guys have no right to just take women like that.
Someone has to stand up to them.”
“It’s going to be dangerous.”
“I always knew that.”
“And your feelings about me?” Anna asked. “After what I told you about yesterday? We haven’t had much of a chance to talk since then.”
“I know.” Matt stared at the ground. “I guess I’m not sure what to say.”
“That’s okay. You don’t have to say anything.”
“I’m not judging you. Or Kael, or Elin. You love him. And you love her. Nobody has a right to judge that.” He glanced over at her with a shy smile. “Just as long as they love you, too, with all of their hearts.”
Anna’s lips twitched at Matt’s protectiveness and the bit of a lingering crush she could hear in his voice.
“You really are a good guy, Matt. You know that?”
Matt blushed. “Just remember to tell that to any pretty girls you meet.”
“Will do.”
They fell silent after that, observant as they drew nearer to the Procreationist camp. Anna kept her senses alert, unwilling to be surprised. She heard the quiet crunching of Matt’s feet on the leaves; she could hear the buzzing of insects in the vegetation around them. From Kael, she heard nothing. Her lover moved in the forest as though she were a ghost.
Kael stopped and waited for Anna to catch up. “Quiet,” she breathed in Anna’s ear. “I think we’re within a half mile of their camp. Tell Matt to follow close behind me.”
Anna’s stomach churned. Please, she prayed to a God she didn’t believe in. Let a plan become clear to us.
Kael led them to the Procreationist camp like she had been walking there every day for a month. No missteps, no hesitation, she just took Matt and Anna to a hill overlooking the camp, and they concealed themselves behind a cluster of trees about twenty yards above the site. Immediately below, a small river, lined with trees, ran along the bottom of the ridge they occupied. Spread out beyond the trees was a ring of tents with a group of smaller tents placed in the center. According to Kate, the men held their female prisoners in those center tents.
Anna crouched next to Kael, and Matt hunkered down to her right. The camp was teeming with men. A dozen or so tossed around a football some distance away from the tents. Four more stood at various positions around the perimeter, presumably standing guard. Another three men sat talking next to one of the tents closest to them, and while Anna couldn’t make out their words, she could tell by the grins on their faces that they were feeling pretty good about life.
Anna followed Kael’s line of sight, taking in a figure emerging from a blue tent at the far side of camp.
“That’s Trey,” she told Kael. “He’s the one who told the others not to finish you off.” The one who hit Elin.
She didn’t dare say it out loud. Turning to Matt, she said, “The blond over there? That’s Trey, the guy I was telling you about.”
“Looks like he’s got something on his mind,” Matt remarked.
Trey walked to a prisoner tent, then put his hands on his hips and looked up at the sky. “Dan, Randy, come over here,” he shouted and two men hurried from a stand of trees on the far side.
One man was young and well-built, clean-shaven, maybe a couple of years older than Matt. The other was shorter than his companion, with ginger-colored hair. After some discussion, the ginger-haired man, addressed by Trey as “Dan,” turned to his young partner and gripped his shoulder with his hand. With that, Trey drew away and returned to his tent. Anna memorized its location before resuming her surveillance of the two men instructed by Trey, eager to see what they would do next.
Dan bent and scratched at the front of a little red tent, then he unzipped the door and said something to the occupants inside. A minute later, two young women stepped out into the open and regarded the men warily. Dan spoke, and Anna could tell from the body language of the women that they didn’t like what they were hearing. But they followed the two men away from their tent all the same.
The four figures moved around a line of trees to Anna’s left and took a path down to the narrow river that ran along the bottom of the rocky wall, twenty yards below. The women walked with bent heads and heavy feet, as though being led to their execution.
When they reached the water, ginger-haired Dan gave some instructions and both women stepped backwards, the fear on their faces unmistakable even from Anna’s vantage point. The stockier of them, a blonde, said something that made their captor frown. Anna wished she could hear them. She snuck a quick look at Kael. Her lover’s face was dark. I wonder which tent Elin is in.
Anna let her eyes stray to the cluster of center tents, straining for some sign of movement inside any of them. She was desperate for a glimpse of red hair, for the sight of pale skin, for anything that would confirm that Elin was imprisoned at this place. Matt’s sharply indrawn breath drew her attention back to the river, where the blonde woman had stripped off her T-shirt to reveal a dingy white bra. She hesitated for a moment, then unhooked the bra and tossed it to the ground, folding her arms over her chest.
“At least turn around, you fucking perverts!” she shouted and snaked one arm around her friend’s waist.
“Can’t you see she’s upset?”
Kael growled in the back of her throat. Anna put a hand on her shoulder, trying to calm her seething anger.
Her own stomach churned. The only thing that kept her from vomiting in the dirt was the unfaltering dignity of the blonde. Her friend, a lanky brunette, looked how Anna felt inside.
The ginger-haired man reached out to touch the brunette’s arm but the blonde woman intercepted him, slapping him away. The man frowned, but with a curt nod, he retreated and half-turned away from his prisoners. He then grabbed his partner’s arm and encouraged him to stop looking directly at the women as they completed undressing.
Anna leaned forward and murmured in Kael’s ear, “I don’t like this.”
Kael shook her head. “Neither do I.”
The women eased into the river, naked, and began washing with hurried, nervous motions. Dan kept his eyes mostly averted, paying only enough attention to ensure that his prisoners weren’t going to make a run for freedom. But his partner, Randy, snuck surreptitious glances, looking away every time the angry blonde met his eyes.
When they were finished, the men let them get dressed, then led them back
to their tent. The blonde kept her arm around the brunette the entire time and stared down the men who leered and called out to them.
And so it went. The men led pair after pair of women to the river, forcing them to undress and bathe. Dan seemed respectful, given the circumstances, and none of the women were touched or threatened, but Anna’s gut refused to unclench. She was on edge the entire time. Every single one of the women looked terrified.
By the time they got to the last tent, a small green one at the far edge of the inner tents, Anna’s stomach was in knots. If Elin wasn’t in that one, she was going to lose it. Her heart pounded as the ginger-haired man held the tent flap open, and when Elin emerged, neither Anna nor Kael could stop their whisper-soft noises of relief. She still wore the blue jeans and pale yellow T-shirt she had been wearing the day she was taken, and she looked dirty, as if she hadn’t been allowed to clean up since.
Matt leaned in. “That’s Elin, right?” When Anna nodded, he whispered, “Why do you think she’s wearing handcuffs? None of the others were.”
Next to Anna, Kael’s whole body trembled. “Because they’re scared. And they should be.”
The men seemed to be having a problem, peering into the tent and gesticulating, plainly frustrated.
Finally Elin spoke to whoever was in the tent, and a tiny, thin arm appeared around the flap. Kael’s trembling grew uncontrollable as a dark-haired girl, perhaps nine or ten years old, emerged from the tent.
She ran to Elin’s side and wrapped suntanned arms around her waist.
Dan grabbed Elin’s upper arm and practically dragged her along behind him. He treated her far more roughly than he had any of the other women. The girl clung to Elin’s middle, jogging to keep up, and staring around with huge, terrified eyes.
Anna flinched when a shaggy-haired man left the football game underway at the edge of the camp and loped toward the men and their prisoners. There was something familiar about him. When he glanced back at the football field, and Anna had a decent view of his face, she gasped.
Brian. Running toward Elin was the man who had threatened to strike her with a steel baton because she had hit him during the attack. Anna whimpered at her sudden realization.
The Three Page 25
