The radio sputtered, then a deep, modulated voice spoke through the white noise. "Hail, acolyte."
Kelly froze. It was them, the ETs. They'd come back.
Wait a minute. ETs? Ridiculous. How could she have believed something so stupid, even when heavily dosed with hallucinogens? But Jake believed it because she heard him whimper. Given enough time with the cult's conditioning, she'd be affected the same way. Thank God her wits had returned.
"Have you thought any more about your new life in the utopian world that awaits you?" asked the voice from the radio, its deep tones mechanically altered to disguise the speaker.
She considered the question and decided to play along. "Yes," she said, probing the handcuffs' lock with the opened safety pin.
"That pleases us. We need strong, healthy women like you. The trip will take several light years, and we're hoping your Essence will bear us many Star Mother children along the way."
Oh, puh-leese! The synthesized voice was like something from a bad fifties scifi movie. "I can hardly wait," she said, her teeth clenched in concentration.
"You sound distracted."
"I'm listening." The cuffs released with a satisfying snick.
"Do not fear the transmigration. We promise all will go well. Are you afraid?"
No, because whoever this was had completely lost his mind. "Yes, I'm afraid," she lied. "There's no pain?" She worked the safety pin into her other handcuff.
"You and your brother will be well cared for. We have nothing but love for our human friends. You will come to no harm."
Yeah, right. Killing the ones you love made about as much sense as poisoning an old woman because she was no longer useful. Sam's poor mother. How had either of them survived with these maniacs all those years? Kelly was surprised Sam hadn't lost his mind after being raised by these people.
The second handcuff clicked open. She rubbed her wrists and flexed her fingers, which had gone stiff.
"What was that sound?" asked the radio voice.
A twinge of panic made her stomach clench. "Sound? Oh, the handcuffs. They're tight so I was trying to massage the circulation back into my wrists."
"We could send in a sentry—"
"No!" She took a calming breath and added, "No, I'm okay."
"Your bonds are for your own protection. It's not our intention to harm you."
Just to kill me. She crawled over to Jake, who continued to whimper. She saw him better now, and he huddled in the corner, rocking back and forth with his knees drawn to his chest. When she ran her hand along the pronounced pearls of his spine, she was amazed at how much weight he'd lost since their father had kicked him out. His body shook as if with fever. When she touched his forehead, she found he was burning up. She had to get him out, and fast.
Kelly slid the opened safety pin into the lock on Jake's cuffs and popped them open. Once free, he began a low, keening sound.
"Your brother sounds ill."
She scurried back to her spot at the other end of the trailer and put on her shoes without socks. She stuffed one sock in her jeans pocket.
"You must understand your brother had to be punished for betraying his Star Mother family. He failed to convince you to join us of your own free will. Atria is your true home. We're pleased to have you with us now."
Kelly ignored the voice and returned to Jake. His keening grew louder, and she was afraid he might say something that would alert those at other end of the radio. So she stuffed her sock in his mouth to keep him quiet. He was too weak to protest and simply sagged against her, the heat of his fevered skin making her sweat more than she already was.
She breathed through her mouth to keep from smelling the horrendous odor of his soiled robe. Holding him close, she remembered having to change Jake's diaper when he was a baby. Taking care of him now wasn't all that different.
Kelly dragged Jake with her to the trailer door. She felt for the door handle, searching for the lock. There was a latch but no lock that she could identify without light to see by. They were trapped until someone opened the door from the outside.
"Acolyte Kelly? Why are you silent?"
"I'm worried about my brother," she said truthfully. "He's very sick. I know we'll both be dead soon, but for the short time he has left, can't you at least make him feel better?"
There was a pause before the voice answered, "We will do what we can."
Kelly gripped the nail file, hoping a sentry would come through the door. When he did, she would be ready.
****
Sam twisted his wrists within the tight loops of rope. If he tugged hard enough, maybe his hands would slip through. So far, he'd only succeeded in giving himself one hell of a rope burn.
He cringed, knowing Valya would be back any second with a drink to make him "feel better." And where the hell was Von? Thinking about the white giant made him remember how their relationship hadn't always been adversarial.
When Sam and his mother had first joined Star Mother, Von had been kind to him. He had tried to fill the gap Sam's father had left when he'd passed away two years before. Thinking back, Von had been key in convincing Sam that Star Mother was a real omniscient being, that their religion was both valid and vital, and that someday soon they would all travel together on the tail of a comet to a magical new home light years away. But as Sam matured and reached his teen years, he'd quickly sprouted to the height of a grown man. His body had filled out with muscle, and the features of his face had taken on a sharper, more masculine appearance. He was told he'd become quite handsome for a boy his age, though it had meant nothing to him but annoyance when the girls in camp wouldn't leave him alone. That's when Valya had noticed him and when the trouble between he and Von had first begun.
Valya had started paying more attention to him, assigning him special projects that required him to be with her for long periods of time, mostly at night. When she started touching him in ways that made him uncomfortable, he rebelled. He stopped showing up for his assignments, stole food from the kitchen tent, and played tricks on the sentries to get them in trouble.
None of this had gotten past Von, who had stopped playing the father figure as soon as Sam reached his fourteenth birthday. Their relationship had deteriorated from then on, mainly because the old man was jealous of Valya's affection for a teenage boy.
"Need some help?" came a baritone voice from the tent's doorway.
His thoughts abruptly yanked from past to present, Sam was unsurprised by the big man's visit. "What do you want, Von?" he asked dryly. "Or are you just getting off on watching me struggle?"
A lazy grin spread across the giant's face. "It does give me a certain satisfaction, but how do you know I haven't come to set you free?"
Sam snorted. "Yeah. And the moon really is made of cheese. Or perhaps I should say Atria is."
Von's lips straightened to a serious line, and he stepped closer, kneeling beside Sam. In a quiet voice, he said, "Look. The last thing I want is for you to join us on our trip. As much as I'd like to kill you right now, I'd rather leave you behind to suffer with the rest of the humans on this pathetic planet."
Of course Von would believe Star Mother's nonsense about a starship riding the comet's tail. After all, he'd been the one to teach Sam all about it. This struck him as absurdly funny, and he laughed out loud.
Von slipped a hunting knife from a sheath at his waist. He leaned forward and touched the slender point to the soft flesh beneath Sam's chin. "You dare mock me when I offer to save your pitiful life?"
Sam narrowed his eyes, refusing to show fear. Sarcasm, however, was fine. "Of course not. How very noble of you, Von."
Von scowled and withdrew the knife. "Noble, hell. I'm a jealous fool who refuses to share Valya with you."
Von had no need to worry. Even if all the lunacy about a starship were true, Valya was the last woman in the universe Sam wanted to spend light years with.
He felt a jolt of hope. "What about Kelly?"
The big man sighed. "I'd ha
te for Star Mother to lose her. She's a strong woman, and she somehow eluded the effects of Valya's elixir. I know. I just finished talking to her."
Sam nodded. He knew it had always been Von's voice that reverberated through the prison trailer's phony radio. He himself had been subjected to Von's attempt at mind-bending hypnosis countless times in the past. "I need her, Von. I need her as badly as you need Valya."
Von stood and paced the floor. "Tell you what. If I release you, you'll have to rescue Kelly and Jake without my help." He stopped pacing to tower over Sam, his expression grim. In a bass voice that would chill the blood of anyone who heard it, he added, "Then I want you the hell away from us, and don't come back."
Meaning he didn't want Sam interfering with their suicide plans. Fat chance. His child's life was at stake, and so were all the other brainwashed cultists with a misguided allegiance to Star Mother and her bitch-queen, Valya.
Mischief churning in his soul, Sam grinned up at Von and said, "Deal."
Chapter Twelve
True to his word, Von untied Sam, but that was all. He refused to retrieve Sam's Glock from the camp's arsenal, but that didn't matter. Once Cody found him, Sam would have his revolver, a more rugged gun even if it didn't hold as many shots as the automatic. If all went well, he wouldn't need to shoot it at all.
He hunkered down beneath one of the trailers and peered out from behind a bald tire, bits of rubber flaking from its dried sidewalls. The camp was eerily quiet compared to an hour ago. He assumed that after he'd been "captured," all camp dwellers had returned to their comfy cots and were now dreaming of their impending trip to the stars.
The prison trailer was less than a hundred yards away, and Sam felt its pull like a nail to a magnet. He desperately wanted to see Kelly, to wrap his arms around her and tell her how sorry he was, that he'd been a fool for saying all the stupid things he'd said and never meant. She might not forgive him right away, but he vowed to convince her no matter how long it took.
Four galloping feet trod up behind him. "Cody!" he whispered. "Come here, boy!" The coyote wagged his tail and licked Sam's face. Sam glanced around to see if anyone had seen them and spotted the bottom half of a child's nightgown coming his way. The gown's hem dragged along the sandy ground as its wearer scrambled beneath the trailer to join him.
"Here's your handkerchief," Lynette said, handing him the crumpled square of white cloth. "When I held it out to Cody, he came right to me."
"That's because he's smart," Sam said, pride filling his chest as he took notice of his daughter's bravery. Most children her age would have been scared to death of a strange dog, much less a coyote. But not Lynette.
He studied his child, his heart heavy with regret for not knowing about her sooner. Maybe if he'd returned to Star Mother a couple of years earlier, he could have spirited her away before it came to this. But even if he had returned, he wouldn't have recognized her for who she was, and Valya sure as hell wouldn't have admitted Lynette was his. Now look at the poor child in a tattered, hand-me-down nightgown, so thin and pale from not getting enough to eat as well as improper medical care. His heart unexpectedly swelled with love for his little girl.
In her childishly shrill voice, she whispered, "I got your jacket, too, but it's too heavy for me to carry. I put it in the van you hid in before."
She'd seen him hiding in the van? She really was sharp. A lot smarter than the drugged lemmings she'd been forced to live with.
"Thanks, sweetheart." Sam gazed at her sadly and considered the best way to say he had to take her away from her mother. The truth would be tough, but it didn't feel right to trick her. As smart as she was, trickery wouldn't work anyway.
"Lynette, honey," he began. "Do you know what today is?"
She frowned up at him and said, "It's the day we leave Earth for our new home on Atria."
This would be harder than he thought. There wasn't enough time to convince her that Star Mother's plan was a deception, but the truth would reveal itself soon enough. "Lynette, I want you to come live with me."
"Okay."
As simple as that? "You realize your mother won't be coming with us, don't you?"
"Why not?" she asked. "Mommy talks about you all the time. She said now that you found us, the three of us can be a family."
A family? Hardly. But it wouldn't be wise at this point to let on about his hostility toward her mother. "That's something you and I can talk about another time. Right now, your mother is set on taking this trip, and I'm not. I'm staying behind, and I'd like you to stay with me."
Confusion registered in the girl's eyes before they turned sad with understanding. "You don't love Mommy, do you?"
Relief tempered the sadness that squeezed his heart. He shook his head no.
Lynette sighed. "But I do. And Mommy needs me." She patted Cody's head then reached out to run her soft, pudgy fingers along Sam's whiskered cheek. "Goodbye, Daddy," she said, and scurried out from beneath the trailer before Sam could catch her.
"Lynette!" he called out in a hoarse whisper. She ignored him and ran for the nursery tent. Within seconds, she was gone.
He blew out a defeated breath. Cody nuzzled his hand, and he scratched him distractedly behind the ears. "She doesn't make it easy, does she?" Lucky for him he was an experienced kidnapper, and though the thought of kidnapping his own child made his skin crawl, it couldn't be helped. It was either that or let his little girl die, and that wasn't an option.
"One thing at a time," he whispered to Cody while unclipping the fanny pack from around the coyote's neck. He withdrew his revolver and stuck it in the waistband of his jeans. The extra ammunition and pocketknife he stuffed in his pockets.
He wondered what kind of shape Kelly was in now. She'd sounded completely wigged out when he'd spoken to her earlier, but Von had just told him she managed to shake the effects of Valya's drug. He wasn't sure he should believe him. No matter. His main concern at this point was getting Kelly, Jake, and Lynette the hell out before dawn.
The generators' motors hummed, none the worse for his efforts at sabotage. Just his luck. He had a high-powered rifle in a locked compartment beneath the backseat of his Jeep, and he'd get a bead on the generators as soon as he had the chance. The end of Star Mother was in sight, and Sam's skin prickled with anticipation of disbanding the cult and setting free its brainwashed slaves.
The sun would be up in less than two hours, so he had to work fast. With Cody by his side, he crouched low and darted to the prison trailer. He tried the door. Locked. He had expected as much.
He tugged the pocketknife from his jeans and wedged the blade between the metal door and its flimsy frame until it popped loose.
"Stay here," he told Cody, and shouldered his way inside. The door swung in with a creak of rusted hinges.
The rancid smell hit him like an explosion, and he reeled back, catching hold of the door frame before he could fall backward down the steps. He grabbed a corner of his T-shirt and pulled it up to cover his nose and mouth. The darkness inside was total, not a shadow anywhere, and he blinked while adjusting his eyes. His voice muffled, he whispered, "Kelly?"
Someone pounced on his back and a sharp pain stabbed his right shoulder. His assailant pulled out the blade, and he whirled around before he could be stabbed again. His attacker slid from his back to the floor. Sam cocked a fist to slam it into the face of whoever had impaled him then froze when he saw the pair of bright blue eyes gazing up at him, their expression pleading.
"Kelly?"
She jumped to her feet and hugged him, her chest heaving with strangled sobs. Her voice shaking, she whispered, "Sam, I-I'm sorry. I didn't know…it was…you. I thought it…was one of them."
Her body trembled, and he hugged her to him and ran his hand over her tangled hair as he whispered softly in her ear, "It's okay. You're safe now." He pulled them both deeper into the trailer, letting the darkness swallow them from sight before he toed the door closed. He breathed through his mouth to keep from smelling
the sewer stench that brought back too many childhood memories.
"Oh, Sam," Kelly said, breathless. "I didn't think you'd come. I thought for sure you'd given up on me, that you were still angry about the money. I promise I'll find a way to pay you back—"
"Forget about the money," he said stiffly, shame making his words brittle. "You being here is my fault. I should have apologized for calling you a..." He couldn't say it. The feel of the word in his mouth made him sick to his stomach. "I didn't mean it, Kelly. I don't care about the money, never did. I'm sorry."
She melted in his arms, her body molding to his. "God, it's been awful in here. I thought for sure I'd lost my mind. The voice from the radio—"
"It was Von," Sam told her, and stepped over to the humming black box. He grabbed its chord and yanked hard, freeing it from its power source. "He disguises it by using a synthesizer. I caught onto him fast when I was a kid locked up in here for misbehaving." He paused to study her reaction, but he couldn't see much in the dark, just the shine of her tear-filled eyes. "Anyway, Von helped me escape just now. He'll do almost anything to get me away from his precious Valya." The jealous idiot.
Kelly leaned away from him to stare up into his face. "Escape? You mean you were caught?"
He groaned. "It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later. Right now, I've got to get you and Jake out of this trailer before Von changes his mind. Where's your brother?"
"Leaning against the wall over there. He has a fever."
"He's going through withdrawals." Sam knelt beside Jake and touched two fingers to his neck, checking his pulse. "Weak, but steady."
"I don't understand," Kelly said.
"Valya adjusted her magic elixir to include liquid morphine. It guarantees her followers remain dependent."
She gasped. "Jake's hooked?"
Desert Guardian Page 17
