Joseph hoisted me up as if I was Diesel and threw me into the trailer, and the impact of the sheet metal was enough to drive the air out of me. Again. A second later there was the sickening groan of the doors closing.
I thought about moving, but the pain was overwhelming. And then I heard something impossible—the rumble of the truck’s engine—and then an answering rumble that could only be the reefer. Instantly, I felt the breeze of cold air on my skin. Summoning every last bit of effort, I rolled onto my stomach and dragged myself toward the front of the trailer. Each inch was a mile, each motion an exercise in self-determination and pain.
Halfway there, doors reopened, and Joseph jumped in, shutting the doors the best he could behind him.
Fear galvanized me, and I tried to roll. He leaped and pinned me to the corrugated metal of the trailer floor. I could feel his hot breath on my ear, his heavy weight across my body, and I knew, this was it—he was some kind of weird sex maniac, a pervert—and right now, he was going to take what he wanted.
And judging by the hunger that was suddenly pouring out of my whole body, I just might let him.
I was turned on.
I was disgusted.
“You need to listen to me. There isn’t a lot of time, and although I’ve got the reefer and the engine running to give us some sound cover, they could get here at any second. What happened last time—I’m sorry about that. I’m so, so sorry about all of this. You have to understand, I didn’t have any choice.”
Tense, my nerves exposed and pulsing, I waited. I knew what was going to come next—he was going to rip of my clothes, right here and now, and he would . . . the shock of that thought was like a cannon blast. I felt my soul cry out, angry and hurt, trapped behind a wall of a lust that wasn’t my own.
“Are you listening to me?”
I didn’t respond. I wasn’t going to give him that validation.
He sighed. “Sorry, I kind of forgot.” Instantly, the fog that had clouded my mind abated, and with it went the hunger that had filled my body. “Is that better?”
Holy crap. He really was . . . was what? Sexually brainwashing me? Was there a word for that?
“Listen . . . he thinks . . . he thinks you’re the Lily, you know that right? I mean, that’s what he told me—that’s why he gave me this assignment, to figure out if my powers worked on you. To control you. I didn’t know where he was going to go with it, what he was planning. . ."
Joseph sobbed on top of me, his breath heavy and shuddering in my ear. “They’ve got ears everywhere in this compound, even on this truck—they monitored the whole thing, to make sure I went through with it, in the cab. I’m sorry for bringing you back here, but it was the only way I could think of to keep them from overhearing.”
The pressure holding me down suddenly lessened. With his weight—and warmth—off of me, I sucked in a deep gasp of frigid air and scrambled onto my feet. “How could you—”
His eyes suddenly shot open wide, and he held a finger up to his mouth. “They’ll hear you.”
For the first time, I didn’t see him as sexy—not even remotely. For that, at least, I was grateful. “Please,” he mouthed, waggling his fingers at me. “Come closer.”
I approached him cautiously. The amount of fear this man obviously had of the Cronus was both stomach-turning and bladder-emptying—and maybe just a little funny. Whatever the big cheese had done to him, it had fucked him up good.
“Listen—”
I could barely hear his murmur over the drone of the engine that filtered in through the cracked doors, but the single sliver of sunlight fell upon his face well enough that I could almost read his lips, and between the two, I pieced his words together.
“We don’t have a lot of time. The Cronus, he told us he thought that you were the Lily. But I think . . . I think that maybe you’re the Lighthouse.”
I could just barely remember what Buckner had told me about the prophecy. “That’s the Lily’s mama, right? That has a kid with the Scorpion?” I snorted. It didn’t look like I was having kids any time soon. “What makes you think that?”
“Think about it. You’re not really in a position to bring down the Order. You’ve got no knowledge, no training. You’re like a babe wandering through the woods. But your kid? Raised with the Order, trained the right way—who knows what your kid could do?”
“My imaginary kid. That I don’t have, and probably am not going to have for a long time.”
He licked his lips. “Unless . . . unless one of us is the Scorpion. I don’t think it’s any mistake that Josh is supposed to be your new fight trainer—he’s the Cronus’s son. At first, I thought he was just going to kill you.”
I sputtered. “But isn’t that forbidden by the Order? All of that ‘honor’ crap?”
He shrugged. “None of us can afford to let the Order die, either. Hell, the world can’t afford it. The Cronus is trying to figure out which one of us is the Scorpion. And I think that’s why I was ordered to use my ability on you.”
I threw up in my mouth a little. “You’re going to try to get me pregnant.”
He ran a hand through the hair on top of his head, tugging it into straight furrows. “I don’t know. But you’re in a lot of danger. If you’re the Lily, he’s got to kill you. And if you’re the Lighthouse, he’s either got to kill you or keep you as a prisoner, make sure your child is born, and then kill it. And even though I could be the Scorpion, I can’t kill you, and I can’t kill my child, and I can’t see either of you get killed, either.”
I snorted. “Like I’d have a baby with you. We’ve never even had sex, and I doubt I’d want to.” Your crazy “ability” aside.
Joseph gave me a mournful look, and my stomach fell.
“I had to do it . . . you don’t understand. I didn’t know what they wanted . . . I just thought—”
“You raped me?”
His eyes fell open wide. “No, no—not that far! They just wanted to see if the control worked! We didn’t go that far!”
I shuddered with relief.
“But . . . I’m supposed to right now. And tonight . . . I’m supposed to come visit you. . ."
“You won’t, will you?” My voice was a hoarse whisper, and I could feel a shivering deep in my belly.
“No. I can’t do that. I really like you—and even if I didn’t. . ." He closed his eyes. “I have a plan. We’ve got to run away, and now—”
There was a creaking groan, and the doors of the trailer swung open wide. I blinked in the sudden sunlight, trying to move my face out of the way of its blinding assault.
“Well, well, well—what do we have here?” I’d know that voice anywhere. It was Josh. Josh, who had seemed so damn nice at the diner.
Rhonda was right. I really had no ability to tell the good men from the bad men. In my defense, who thinks, oh yeah, this guy is probably the son of that creepy Cronus guy and may be involved in an evil plot to kill me?
Exactly. Nobody.
I realized that I was screwed here. I mean, there was no way to explain why were in the trailer—except . . .
I froze as the plan took shape, but only for a second. After all, Joseph did say that he really liked me. I would just have to hope he went along with it.
I turned to him, trying to reassure him with my eyes, and climbed onto his lap. I took care to make my movements as wanton and sensual as I could—a tall order for a generally shy person who has just been told the person she is climbing all over half-raped her.
He didn’t move.
My skin crawled, but I kept at it. I pressed my lips into his, sighing as seductively as I could, and rubbed my hand on his thigh. When he didn’t move—to draw me in or push me away—I forced my tongue into his mouth.
I felt his halting response, his resolve melting as my other hand wove its way through his hair. His lips parted ever so slightly, and then I felt this tongue too, the soft organ stroking mine. In different, less life-or-death circumstances, it would have been one of the
best kisses I ever had.
I ground myself into his lap, and he moaned. Instantly, I felt his influence rise like a cresting wave and fill me with so much arousal my skin tingled.
“Hey, cut that out!” Josh’s voice had suddenly gone high and angry. “You need to—”
Joseph’s wave of influence intensified, charging me further with his sexual energy. I tried to pull back, but it was too late, I had pushed myself past the point of no return. His hands trailed over my sides, skimming my back and breasts. My brain grew foggy, my sense of awareness faded—
And then there was a tight pressure on my chest as someone grabbed the back of my collar and rudely yanked me through the air.
No! I want it. You can’t take it away!
I scratched the air. I could hear myself mewl, the animal noises from my throat sounds no human should ever make.
A man shook me, his voice gruff and angry. “Wake up, kiddo, wake up!”
Like a door creaking open, my brain started to unfog, and I identified him. Of all of the people in the world I wanted to see me like a cat in heat, Buckner wasn’t one of them. “I—I’m sorry.” There was no way to explain—not in front of Josh.
“No time for that, kiddo. We got an outbreak of glitches—a big one. We’re sending teams to three different locations. Your familiar is already in the truck. Let’s go—now.”
Josh threw his skinny arm out in front of me. “No, you can’t take her! The Cronus wants—”
Bucker gave Josh a stare that made my knees go weak. I could feel my hands creeping up to cover my face, as if of their own accord.
“Listen, boy, I’ve known the Cronus since we were both children. If he has a problem with this, he can take it up with me after we get done saving the world.”
The punch came out of nowhere. My eyes barely registered Josh’s fist before I saw Buckner’s reaction—he stepped forward, intercepting the haymaker. In a swift movement Shawn would have been proud of, he grabbed the fist and turned it, hard. The younger man fell to the floor with a porcine squeal.
“Back in my day, little boys knew better than to disrespect your elders. Your father and I can talk about that, too.”
Chapter Twenty
The sky had darkened to the near-black of a bubbler’s fur, and I was glad, because I knew now what I had to do.
I couldn’t stay here with the Order. That much was obvious—I had gone from Apprentice to prisoner. The only two men that I trusted at all, Buckner and Shawn, were either mostly or completely absent. Joseph had mind-raped me as a trial run for the Cronus’s evil scheme, and Josh was the Cronus’s son. Even if he had seemed like a nice guy before, his behavior before I had been removed from the trailer had sealed the deal on my opinion of him.
And seriously, he had taken a punch at Buckner. Shit was already weird and getting weirder, and I had to get away.
My plan, like most of my plans, was not the most elegant. I’d wait until the glitch hunt was going strong and the men were focused on baiting, and then I’d bolt. It was risky, but the darkness helped some, and if the situation as dangerous as Buckner had said, then they weren’t going to be focusing on me. Even if they noticed me running, I might get a good lead on them and find somewhere to stash myself. They wouldn’t be able to take off after me.
Do you really think you could evade them like that?
I shook my head. It didn’t matter. Short of getting shot, there wasn’t a whole lot they could do to me that they either hadn’t done—or that they weren’t already planning to do. No matter what, I wasn’t going to let them take me back to that room, and not just because I’d be subject to the insane whims of Josh and Joseph. By now, Josh had probably told the Cronus what Buckner had done, and I guessed the punishment was going to come down strong on everybody.
“Thanks for grabbing Diesel.”
Buckner chuckled, a warm, sweet sound that ended in a smoker’s cough. For the first time, I wondered how many more years he had in him.
I would have thought Malone had had more.
“Well, he’s going to have to stay in the truck. I mean—it would be a risk—the glitches would take him as easily as one of us. And to be honest, this outbreak makes me nervous—there were two reports at our location, one for three creatures, and another for four, although judging from the recording, the second agent was drunk as a skunk when he called it in. So there’s that.”
“Ah.” I ruffled the fur behind Diesel’s ears and tried to listen, but I couldn’t fight the realization that kept hitting me in the gut. This had to be goodbye. There’d be no way to slip away and get back here, grab the dog, and run off without Buckner noticing. The idea of leaving him behind squeezed my heart so hard, I thought I might throw up.
“Look kiddo, I need to tell you something—” Buckner leaned on the horn as an idiot in a sports car zipped in front of the truck. The driver’s rear brake-lights lit up as he slowed just in time make an exit. The entire truck groaned in angry protest, the acrid scent of our burning brakes filling the air.
The sports car’s driver had the audacity to honk once as he barreled down the exit ramp. Most probably, he wasn’t even aware of how close he had come to having thirty tons run right the hell over him.
“Idiot!” Buckner scowled, his anger rare from what I knew of him. He was normally a pretty composed guy, as long as Janice wasn’t watching. “Listen, I need to tell you, I’m sorry.”
I tensed so hard my chest hurt. Buckner was the one person I had any trust at all left in, and the only one who hadn’t betrayed me—or so I had thought, up until this moment. “For what?”
He sighed heavily and shifted gears. “I promised to keep you safe. I think you’re still safe, unless Joseph hurt you, but I don’t know how long I can keep that promise. There are some strange forces at work. I’m not even sure what I broke up back there on the driving range, but I know it isn’t good, and that when we get back to the compound—this whole thing might be taken out of my hands, and I won’t be able to protect you.”
He shook his head and fished a cigarette out of his pocket. “Josh is the Cronus’s son. I don’t know why he’s here, or what the Cronus wants with you, although I have my guess—and that guess leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I may have made a promise to the Order, but I made a promise to you, too. And it seems like out of the two of you, you’re the one that most needs me to keep my promise. So this is what I’m going to say. There’s going to be a lot of distractions out there, a lot of things going on. Nobody is going to be paying that much attention to you. When you get your opening, you run. Get as far away as you can, hide off the map.”
I didn’t know what to say.
He stuck his hand back in his shirt pocket, as if to pull out another cigarette. When he turned his palm over, he held a thick stack of folded bills, bound with a rubber band. “There’s about five thousand dollars cash in here. Whatever you do, stay away from any place that could I.D. you. Don’t use a credit card, unless it’s stolen, and I’m sure you can understand the risks there. Remember, you’re officially dead, but the Order has eyes and ears everywhere. If it’s ever safe enough to come back, I’ll let you know. I’ll put up a message on the bulletin board on every truck stop I pass—especially the ones on I-80. You’ll know it when you see it, but I wouldn’t count on it happening soon. There are some strange things brewing, kiddo, and I don’t know what it means for the Order, but I mean to see it through.”
My eyes filled with tears, guilt wracking me like a bad fever. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”
“Don’t be. I don’t blame you. I’d be as confused as a bag of horses if I was you. Just keep your head on straight, and don’t trust anybody, like I told you, and you’ll be fine. Remember—look for your chance, and when you get it, don’t look back.”
We slowed in front of a lot that was crowded with trucks. I glanced around, taking in the long, squat building composed of flat planes and a myriad of signs, and the large, clear grassy area, out of place on the side
of the highway and yet common. I knew where we were. It was a government rest area, and from the clean surfaces and the well-manicured lawn, it was one of the nicer ones.
“How am I going to escape from here?” There was literally nowhere to go. Was I going to run out into the highway, hoping that someone would slow and pick me up?
“That’s easy. You’re going to take my truck.”
I reeled, my hands coming up instinctively. “What? No—I can’t.” A driver’s love for his truck was like an unbreakable bond. The truck was a partner, the thing you depended the most on and home—especially a truck like this. The two of them obviously had history with each other.
“Of course you can. Sweetheart, we are literally five miles from Iowa-80, the world’s largest truck stop. You’re familiar with it, right?”
I nodded. “I’ve only gone through it once, though. When I was in training with . . . my old trainer.” The lump in my throat made it hard to swallow. I had almost said “Jeff.”
“Once is all you need. You pull this truck in there, dump it, and run inside. From there, you can figure it out—get someone to take you, hide out in the shower, do whatever it takes. There are so many places to hide in a place like that that if you’re just smart about it, you won’t have any problems. And come morning, the entire lot of them is going to roll out of there—so maybe you lift the corner of the tarp on a flatbed and stow away, and you’ll be all right. Just remember to stay hidden till then, ‘cause once the Cronus gets word that you’re gone, he’s going to send a whole team after you.” He gave me a smile, the kind of smile you give to a child, to an old lover, to a good friend. The kind of smile that’s full of love. “We’re out of time. We have to go. I know this sounds hard, but for now, try to focus on what we’re doing here with the glitches. Keep an eye out for your exit, but keep your mind in the game, because it would be a shame if you died when you were trying to make a break for it.”
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