by Polly Iyer
He met her gaze. “I’m telling you the truth.”
She nodded, let out a long breath. “I can get you to the building. After that, I can’t guarantee no one will see us. I’m expected to return to my group with the man you left tied to the bed. Someone might be out looking for us already.”
“Guess we’ll have to take our chances.”
“Okay.”
Anna’s directions led them on a dirt trail through the woods, skirting the main area of the compound. The drive went on forever. How big was this place? Where was it? He doubted most people there knew; otherwise, how could Compton keep the compound secret? Eventually someone would talk. A spike of reality caused a shiver. Talk to whom?
“Where are we? What state?” he asked.
“Paradise,” she answered. “We’ve always been told we’re in Paradise.”
Chapter Fifty-One
Last Try, Do or Die
Compton and Slater left the two women in the suite, assuring them they’d return after their meeting to discuss the new problem. Diana lifted the whimpering Maia to her feet to direct her to one of the cushioned chairs. At her touch, a vision filled her head.
Maia with children clutching at her.
Fear as thick as morning fog.
What did that mean?
“Diana?
Diana felt a tug on her arm.
“Diana?”
Maia’s voice broke through her haze. “Wh…what?”
“Are you all right?”
Was she? “Yes, yes. I’m fine.” Diana had experienced telepathic moments hundreds, no thousands, of times in her life, but she needed to put this one out of her mind. Not now. Concentrate on getting out of here. The red light twinkled in the vent. “Are there hidden microphones?”
“Only video unless they’ve changed the equipment.”
Diana hoped she was right. “Who’s in charge, Maia?”
Maia took her time. “Phillip Crane pulls the strings, but he lets my father think he’s the boss. He’s a wise old man from a long line of wise old men. Nothing goes on without his approval. Then there’s Cybele and her devious daughters. Now, because I screwed up, no one will ever know about this place and what they’re doing.”
“Don’t be too sure. Ernie was working with the FBI to find the compound. They will.”
“You heard my father. It’ll be too late for me and for Anat and Cal. And for your policeman,” she said apologetically. “They can’t let him go.”
Hearing the truth was much worse than thinking it. “I know. How will your father explain your disappearance?”
“I thought you were the psychic.”
Diana managed a weak smile. “I thought so too, but Edward Slater fooled me completely. Good thing I retired.”
“Edward surprised me too. As for my disappearance…” Maia drew a deep breath and let it out in a long, hissing stream. Her gaze connected with Diana’s. “Oh, I’ll go on an extended vacation, I guess. Maybe I’ll be hypothetically kidnapped by terrorists while troubleshooting Compton business in the Middle East. I’d be the perfect target, wouldn’t I? Daughter of a rich American held for ransom. Only they’ll never find me. Silas could arrange that, in theory anyway. He’ll be heartbroken for the world to see. He may even arrange for my body to be found. He’d enjoy the theater.” Maia lifted her manicured fingers and massaged her temples. “I can’t believe what he’s done. He murdered my mother, Diana.”
Diana sat on the arm of Maia’s chair. “I’m so sorry.”
“We didn’t start out like this. Even though Dione and I hated Selene, we believed they were building a new world, where love and learning formed the basis for an advanced society. I thought of the Satan aspect more as a metaphor to lift the constrictions that religion burdened on the individual and free us of our inhibitions. Dione and I thought it was over the top, but we never believed we practiced a philosophy of evil.
“Not until the kidnappings.
“Then I saw what my father allowed Nona and Brigid to become. His own daughters. His and Selene’s.”
Diana got off the arm of the chair and crouched in front of Maia. “Those two girls are Silas’s daughters? Your sisters?” Maia nodded, and Diana rose and paced the room. “Some psychic I am. I felt the evil, even saw it, but―” She couldn’t go on. This was more perverse than a charred, skeletal hand prophesied. Silas Compton was a monster, and puppeteer Phillip Crane pulled the strings. To what ends would they go to advance their nightmarish ambitions? Diana had encountered the dark side many times in her life, but never to these unfathomable depths.
“Is there another compound? Somewhere they’d go if they had to abandon this place?”
“Not that I know. Why, do you think there is?”
“They knew when Ernie and I disappeared the feds would keep looking until they found us. So, yeah, there’s another place, an escape route. One buried even deeper in red tape than this one.”
Maia bit her bottom lip. She wiped away a tear. “Oh, my God. What have they done? What have I done?”
Diana wondered why Maia Compton never asked herself these questions before. She’d ignored all the signs. But this wasn’t the time to add more guilt to her mounting list of regrets.
“Forget the self-incrimination for now.” Maia sniffled and wiped her eyes. “How did you get free to come here?”
Maia told Diana what she, Anat, and Cal had done so far. “When Seth wakes, he’ll be furious. How could we think he’d go against his father? He’s been conditioned to obey. But―”
“But what?”
“Something he said―like no evil existed here until the kidnappings. I think he’s wrestling with his conscience.”
“We can only hope he’s come to his senses. Not that it will do us any good tonight.”
“What if they’ve found Anat and Cal and locked them in isolation?” Maia got up, walked to the window, and drew back the drapes. “It’s so black outside. A big endless nowhere.”
“Where are we?”
“Exactly? I don’t know. Seth knows, but he would never say.”
Didn’t anyone ever question anything? Then she thought how she was raised to do what her father ordered. Maybe we aren’t so different after all. “We’ve got to get out of here.”
“I’ve given it my best shot. Besides, even if we could get out this window, it’d be on TV.” Maia nodded at the vent.
“I tried disabling it, but―” She studied the vent. “Damn, why didn’t I think of this before? I must have still been woozy from the drugs.”
“What?”
“Listen up.” She explained what she wanted Maia to do, then yanked the chenille lap blanket from the upholstered club chair. In the bathroom, she flattened it on the vanity and squirted toothpaste around the top edge until she emptied the tube. She carried it behind her back into the bedroom. Maia had moved the desk chair under the vent to the side. Diana got on the chair and pasted the blanket over the vent.
Please stick, Diana prayed, at least long enough to do what we need to do. Both gave thumbs up when the fabric held. They needed to work fast before it fell off.
Maia scurried behind the door with the chair in tow, and Diana moved to the bedside table. Hopefully the guard wasn’t glued to the screen. Diana lifted the lamp and crashed it to the floor. Maia drew a deep breath, raised the heavy chair over her head, and waited. She was taller with a better chance of succeeding. The key turned in the latch, and when the guard hurried inside to see what happened, Maia slammed the chair down on his head. He hit the floor like a felled tree. Timber.
Diana grabbed his keys and frisked him for a weapon and found one. This was the second time in her life she held a gun, and all within a few months. She tucked it into the waistband of her skirt.
“Okay, girlfriend,” Diana said. “You’re more familiar with this place than I am. Let’s get the hell out of here before someone figures out what we’ve done.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
Out of the Mouths of B
abes
Lucier didn’t play golf, so he marveled at the barely audible sound of the little electric vehicle. Another one sat at the end of the building. He saw no cars and guessed the carts provided the preferred mode of transportation around the compound. Anna pointed him in the direction of what she claimed was the guest house. He hoped she wasn’t double-crossing him because he wouldn’t know until it was too late.
“Slow down before the intersection,” she said, “or they might spot you.”
Her warning offered Lucier a measure of relief. If she was setting him up, she would have told him to barrel straight through.
“Where now?” he asked.
“I’ll tell you, but you’d better tie me up or handcuff me, or else they’ll know I helped you. This way, if you don’t succeed, I can say you forced me with Steel’s gun.”
“Steel?”
“He’s the guy you handcuffed to the bed. I don’t know if it’s his first name or his last.”
“You knew I wouldn’t hurt you if you refused to help me. So why did you?”
Anna thought for a long moment. “This place used to be a paradise, but things changed. Steele came, others too. They all look like the villains from comic books. Tonight, when Steele said he’d kill you and Miss Racine, that’s not Paradise anymore.” She pulled her legs into a yoga position and grew pensive. “But what really changed my mind were the new babies. They’re not ours, which meant they belong to people outside the compound. That means they were stolen, and that’s wrong. My friends and I―we’re afraid now. That’s why I’m helping.”
She leapt from the cart and motioned Lucier to follow. When they got to the intersection, she pointed to a row of one-story buildings. “Those are the guest houses. Miss Racine is in the first one.”
“You’re sure?”
“I delivered food to her yesterday. I’m sure.”
Lucier patted her head. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
“Don’t. Just tie me to the steering wheel or something. Stuff my mouth so I can’t yell, and make sure I can’t get loose no matter what I do. You’re not out of the woods yet. Even if you get her out, no one leaves here without a plane.”
“I’ll worry about if I get that far.”
“You better be right. This place is all I’ve ever known. But I’m not ready to have kids. I’m still a kid myself.”
Lucier wanted to smile, but he found nothing amusing about what she said.
She pointed to a copse of bushes. “Park over there. The cart will be harder to find, because when Steel doesn’t return, they’ll come looking.”
“Damn, you’re one smart kid.”
“We’re all smart here, and don’t swear.”
Now he did smile. He drove the cart into the brush, then took off his belt and wound it around her wrists and ankles and buckled it to the steering wheel so she couldn’t move. He stuffed his handkerchief into her mouth. “Sorry, Anna, but you’re right. I’ve gotta make this look good.” She nodded. “You okay?” She nodded again. “I’ll be back to get you if they don’t get me first.” He kissed her forehead and left.
Sticking to the perimeter of the wooded area, he dashed toward the back of the buildings. Voices filtered from around the front. Familiar voices. Lucier listened. He’d never forget Slater’s, but the other one gave him pause until he realized it was Silas Compton’s. He didn’t recognize the third voice responding to Compton’s orders.
“Don’t release the two women for any reason. I don’t care whether one of them goes into cardiac arrest. It’d be a ploy, and Diana Racine is the princess of ploys. My daughter is queen.”
“Yes, sir,” the third voice said.
Daughter. Had to be Maia, Lucier thought. She and Diana were locked up together. That’s a break. I think. He waited a full ten minutes, until after the voices disappeared into the night. When he was about to start for the building, something pressed into his back, and a man’s voice said, “Don’t move.”
Lucier raised his hands and sighed. So close.
He turned to face a handsome man, thin and wiry, holding a stick for a gun and carrying a baby in a sling. With him was one of the most beautiful women Lucier had ever seen, and he’d seen a lot of beautiful women lately.
“Are you the cop from New Orleans?” the man asked.
Lucier nodded.
“I’m Cal Easley. This is Anat Crane. We’ve come to get you out of here.
Chapter F ifty-Three
The Ticket to Ride
“Let’s get as far away from here as we can,” Diana said. “If we’re going to be caught, I want to give them a run for their money.”
“One thing in our favor. Silas won’t wake Phillip in the middle of the night. He’ll wait till morning. They’ve gone back to sleep.” Maia grabbed Diana’s arm, looked both ways outside the door, and hurried her out the building, heading for the woods.
“Diana.”
She stopped in her tracks. Ernie. “I’d know that voice anywhere.” She whirled around, saw Lucier with two other people, and ran into his arms with tears filling her eyes. Smothering him with kisses, she said, “God, I thought you were dead.”
He held her close. “For a while, so did I. After Slater brought you into my prison, I was so worried. I―”
“Look,” Cal said, interrupting. “I’m glad you two found each other and are both able to talk about it, but not here. Not now. We’ve got to move.”
Maia and the woman Diana assumed was Anat Crane huddled in hushed conversation, obviously relieved to reconnect. Diana had no idea who the man carrying a baby in a sling was.
“Wait,” Lucier said. “I left a young girl, Anna, tied up in one of the golf carts. Someone’s got to release her.”
“Already did,” Cal said. “She gave me a run-down of tonight’s happenings. I told her to get back to her dormitory. The door will be locked, but if anyone asks about Steel, she’s to say he’s with you. She’ll be okay. No one will suspect anything.” He put his hand gently on Diana’s back, leading her toward the cart. “I’m Cal Easley,” he said.
Cal Easley’s touch passed to Diana one of the oldest emotions known to man. Love. The love in his heart for the little girl he carried. The sensation was so intense it took Diana’s breath away.
Unstrapping the baby’s sling, Cal transferred her to Anat. “Come on.” Both piled into their cart. “Do you fly a plane, Lieutenant?”
“No. Why, is there one in the compound?”
“A couple of them, plus a chopper.”
“Do you?” Lucier asked Cal.
“No. Never mind.” Cal said. “We’ll need both carts. Follow us, be as quiet as possible.”
“How did you know we were here?” Lucier asked.
“Little Anna.” Cal started his cart. “It’ll be dawn in a couple of hours. We have to be gone by then.”
“What about Seth?” Maia asked. “What about my children?”
Cal turned back to face her. “We’ll get your children. First Seth. He’s our ticket out of here. Trust me, Maia.” Then he took off.
Lucier turned to Maia in the back seat. “I don’t know what his plan is, but it’s better than mine.”
Cal navigated the narrow paths as if he’d carved them out himself. Lucier followed. Tree branches crunched under the wheels as they tore through the dark. Diana heard the rush of water, smelled the damp earth. The air was cool, but she felt warm and sticky from the night’s tension. Being free for the moment didn’t instill a long-range sense of optimism. “For someone who’s been under guard, Cal knows his way around.”
“I’ve been snookered,” Maia said. “Anat told me Cal’s IQ is the highest of anyone here, but because he’s gay, they won’t use his sperm. No one pays him any mind, so he has free rein inside the compound.”
Lucier laughed. “Gay my ass. He’s as gay as I am. But I bet she’s right about the IQ.”
“And he’s the baby’s father,” Diana said.”
“I figured that out when I s
aw them together,” Maia said. “I guess Anat didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth.”
Lucier swerved out of the way from a hanging limb. “He’s been putting on an act.”
“Fooled me,” Maia said, “until today.”
“Those two have planned this escape for a while, and they would have succeeded except for a couple of minor details.”
“Which are?”
“One, he can’t fly a plane.” Lucier tipped his head to the back seat. “But Seth can, can’t he, Maia?”
“Yes, he flies.”
Diana turned to Lucier. “What’s the other thing, Ernie?”
“He needed help. Cal and Anat are very patient people. You’re the key, Maia.”
“Me?”
“How often do you come here? Every few months?”
“Usually.”
“And I bet it was Anat who convinced you to drug Seth?” Diana asked.
Maia nodded.
“Where did she get the drugs?”
“She didn’t really say who gave them to her exactly, but she saved them up.”
“Bet innocuous Cal got them,” Lucier said. “I assume there’s a staff doctor who prescribed them to Cal to help assuage his inner demons.”
“Yeah.” Maia said as if she’d finally put it all together. “Poor, tortured, gay Cal.” She laughed. “Brilliant.”
“Maybe, but we’re not out of here yet,” Diana said. “Still, this might be our only chance.”
“You got that right.” Lucier slammed his foot on the accelerator to keep up with the cart leading the way through the black night in the dark forest.
C hapter Fifty-Four
Beat the Dawn
“What are you thinking?” Diana asked.
“I’m not thinking,” Lucier said. “I’m hoping. Hoping the feds are close to finding this place. Even if we convince this Seth fellow to help us, we still need to get the plane off the ground. Getting Maia’s kids first gives the bad guys more opportunity to catch us.” He wondered if he should have verbalized his negative outlook.
