GODDESS OF THE MOON (A Diana Racine Psychic Suspense)

by Polly Iyer

  Cal pulled behind one of the buildings at the end of the compound and waved them into the brush.

  “That’s where they put me this time,” Maia said. “My regular apartment doesn’t have security locks and cameras. This one does.” She shrugged. “I’ve been deemed untrustworthy, I guess. Imagine.”

  “Big Brother’s all over this place,” Lucier said under his breath. “I gather Seth staying the night is a common occurrence?”

  “Usually,” Maia responded without embarrassment.

  Lucier nodded. Clearly, the situation wasn’t entirely against her will.

  Cal jumped out of his cart and approached, keys in hand. Anat and the baby were already wending their way to the rear door.

  “We’re as safe here as anywhere,” he said, “but not for long. If either Steel or the other guard gets free, people will be searching the compound. They’ll find us eventually. Right now, the night’s in our favor. All we have to do is convince Seth to fly us out of here before dawn.” He followed Anat’s path. “Just in case, be quiet.”

  “Seth is the only one who can get the children out of the dorm without raising suspicion,” Maia said.

  Lucier put his hand on Diana’s back and guided her along the dark path. “I hope so.”

  Everyone bypassed the elevator and tiptoed up the stairs. Cal had already opened the door. Seth was groggy but awake, and from the narrowing of his eyes, not happy. Last in, Lucier closed the door.

  Seth kept his stare riveted on Maia while she ripped the strips of tape off his mouth and undid the cuffs with the key from the key ring. Silent, he propped himself up on the bed and waited, his attitude a mixture of uncertainty and anger. Cal was the first to speak.

  “You’ve got to help us, Seth.”

  Seth still didn’t speak, even when Maia she sat next to him.

  “We have to stop what’s going on here,” she said, “You’re the only one who can do it.”

  “If I don’t, what are you going to do, Maia, kill me? Spike my coffee again?”

  “No,” Lucier said moving closer, “but they’ll kill me and probably arrange to kill Maia, if not technically, at least to the world.”

  “She knew the repercussions when she pulled the stunt with those two phony art thieves,” Seth said. “Frankly, nothing would please me more than for Maia to be here on a permanent basis. At least that’s the way I felt before tonight.”

  “My father said he’d get rid of all the troublemakers. That means Anat and Cal too.”

  Seth shook his head. “He wouldn’t.”

  “I’m afraid she’s right,” Diana said. “I heard him and Edward Slater discuss their plans, and Maia, Anat, and Cal weren’t part of them. Don’t forget what they plan for yours truly.”

  Maia raised her hand to his cheek. Seth shrugged it away and crossed his arms over his chest like a stubborn child.

  “Someone in this compound is violating our child, Seth, maybe all the children. Is that all right with you?”

  “Impossible.” Seth said defensively. “I’d know.”

  “You’re sure? Because I’m not.” Tears rolled out of her eyes before hiccupping sobs shook her body. Anat moved to her and put an arm around her shoulder.

  “Anyone with half a sense of reality knows that kidnapping babies from their birth parents is a crime,” Lucier said. “By turning a blind eye, these people, you included, crossed the line. If murder is involved, you’re an accessory.”

  Seth picked a residue of adhesive off his cheek, rolled it in his fingers, and flicked it into space. He expelled a ragged breath. “I didn’t know about the babies until they were brought here. I objected.” He focused on Lucier, then glanced at Maia. “I’m not a militant, nor am I a hero. Neither is my nature.”

  “Here’s your chance to change,” Cal said. “You might find doing so will save the lives of the people in this room, not to mention your children. I’ll even venture to add all the children in this compound, because their treatment defies everything that’s moral.”

  Maia reached out her hand again, but Seth refused to look at her. “Please, Seth. Help me get the children―all the children―away from here. They need help. I can’t stop you if you want to return.” She spoke in a whisper. “You must know that, deep in your heart. For once, don’t be the loyal soldier. The war is over.”

  * * * * *

  Steel got the wad of cotton out of his mouth, but no one would hear if he screamed bloody murder. That was the whole point of situating the cabins away from the main compound and soundproofing them―doubling the silence.

  The son of a bitch cop had tied him up good. He was exhausted from trying to extricate himself. Every time he moved, one of his wrists twisted and stressed his forearm to the point of snapping. With his ankles tied to opposite sides, he couldn’t use them to raise himself. The lemon meringue had crusted on his face, its glop still clouding his vision, and the cloying smell was turning his stomach.

  The strips of cloth holding his feet were his best bet. He shimmied down as far as possible to get some movement in his legs and, scraping his heels against the posts, worked off his shoes. Now, if he could just stretch the cloth enough to slide his foot through the binding. He pointed the toes of his right foot and pulled and pushed.

  “Damn,” he howled. Fucking cramp. Spasms curled his toes, sending excruciating pain into the arch. When he tried to straighten it, a knot tightened in his calf and worked its way up his leg into his thigh. It felt like a vice clamped around his quadriceps. He lifted his middle up to stretch, but the contractions shot stabs of pain into his hip, and his arm wrenched from the maneuver.

  He needed to walk out the cramp, but how in hell could he tied to the goddamn bed? Relax, Steel. Let your body unwind. Easier said than done when his whole body ached with every move. Deep breaths.

  The pain diminished in small twitches, but he tried again without pointing his toes. That’s what set off the cramp in the first place. This time, he pulled both feet toward the middle. The cloth stretched but not enough for either foot to slip through; however, the post on the right side moved.

  Again, Steel.

  He did and the post loosened some more. Again. And again, until it broke away from the bottom of the railing. He slid the tie down and freed his foot. He turned sideways, careful not to twist his shoulder, and pushed his free leg against the other post until it, too, came apart. He collapsed and took deep, calming breaths.

  Big fucking deal, he thought. What now? How in hell would he get his wrists free? He could break the top rail, but he might break both arms in the process. He shimmied up straighter and turned slightly onto his side. Grabbing the top rail with one of his hands, he pulled himself up so his shoulder was level with the rail. Then he rammed into it, hoping one of the posts detached, but all he did was wrench his right forearm. He stopped to catch his breath before he tried again.

  Thrusting harder, the rail loosened. He exerted more pressure and finally pulled it from the side post. He slid the cuffs to freedom. Using a liberated slat as a lever, he pried open one cuff; the other hung from his sore, swollen wrist.

  He comforted himself by thinking how his hands would feel around the cop’s neck. How he’d take his damn sweet time watching the fucker take his last breath.

  Chapter Fifty- Five

  Silent Confession

  Lucier hadn’t seen many people since he arrived, but he bet he was the only person of color in the whole place. So much reminded him of Nazi Germany that he shuddered when he thought of the eerie comparison.

  He went with Seth to get the children while Cal stayed with the women. Lucier trusted Seth Crane about as far as he could throw him, which prompted his hand to curl around the gun’s handle in his pocket.

  Seth eyed the bulge. “You don’t need a gun. I won’t give you any trouble.”

  We’ll see. “Who’s watching the children?”

  “A group leader. He’ll be sleeping. There’s never reason for anyone to be on alert. This isn’t t
he kind of place where people are held at gunpoint.”

  “But it’s the kind of place where people are put in cabins to go through indoctrination, huh? Everything’s fine and dandy as long as no one questions the rules.”

  “Rarely happens.”

  “What about Anat?”

  Lucier caught Seth’s sidelong glance. “Anat is smart and manipulative. She planted the seed that someone was abusing Phillip to get Maia to do what she wanted, which is to get out of here. I’d know if something happened.”

  “Maybe. Or maybe the idea was so remote you never gave it a thought.”

  “My father wouldn’t let a perversion of that kind go on in his utopia.”

  “What do you call kidnapping babies if not a perversion?”

  Seth didn’t answer. Was internal angst causing a chink in this man’s armor?

  “Don’t tell me there hasn’t been any inbreeding here, because I won’t believe you. With all the group’s sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, nieces and nephews, they couldn’t possibly keep at least cousins apart.”

  Again Seth didn’t respond.

  They arrived at a large building Lucier assumed―no hoped―was the dormitory. The space carved out of the forest for the dark cedar wood structure camouflaged it from an aerial view. Same with Maia’s building. The compound hid in plain sight. He doubted they could hide a plane runway, though.

  The design of the building alleviated Lucier’s tension that Seth was taking him directly to either Crane or Compton. Neither man would reside in this simple no-frills building.

  “Wait here,” Seth said. “The kids will be sleepy, possibly cranky. If I’m lucky, they’ll be quiet. I don’t want to explain what I’m doing if anyone wakes up, and I sure don’t want to explain you.”

  Okay, so he’s maybe playing it straight. Still, Lucier felt like he stood on the fifty-yard line at the Super Bowl game, with all eyes on him. In another couple of hours, dawn would light the sky, but right then the area was as dark as pitch. No lights anywhere to give away their position from above. Crane and Compton money had created an entire town―no, a world―including their own water supply, construction, and power source. How did they accomplish this faux utopia without anyone exposing them? Money. It was all about money.

  Seth carried out the youngest child with the other two trotting alongside. He signaled Lucier to take the driver’s seat and hopped in. The older boy got in back, curled into a ball, and went to sleep. The little girl sat on her daddy’s lap and cuddled her father and younger brother. A bomb wouldn’t wake the little boy.

  “Drive,” Seth said. “Go back to Maia’s apartment the way we came. As long as I’m here, you’ll be safe.”

  Lucier turned the cart around. “What happens next?”

  “I’ll fly you out of here, but it won’t be easy.”

  “You know I’ll find this place and bring back the FBI, don’t you?”

  Seth didn’t say anything for a long moment. “It really was a noble idea in the beginning,” he mused, “but something went wrong. What do they say? Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely.” He drew a breath.

  “You went along,” Lucier said.

  Looking straight ahead, Seth Crane was a master of silence, but oh how his silence spoke volumes. His daughter squirmed in his arms, and he planted a kiss in the midst of her blonde curls.

  “My father is a formidable man, Lieutenant, and my mother is in thrall to all he offers. It’s not a complicated structure. My siblings and I were taught to love and to pleasure. We were instructed to read the great books of the world, to learn philosophy and metaphysics. Those higher planes of learning were the gods we worshiped.”

  Lucier wondered whether love and pleasuring went on within the household, but he didn’t ask. He didn’t want to know. “When did Satan enter into it?”

  “Satan was presented no differently than other gods in other religions.” Seth pointed. “Turn here.”

  Lucier pulled up to the back door and stopped.

  “How can I explain something I grew up with and believed in? Were we all brainwashed? Were you brainwashed in the religion you grew up with? Somehow I doubt you see it that way, any more than I did. I still believe in much of what I’ve been taught―love, beauty, intellectual pursuit.” He shrugged. “Hedonistic? Probably, but no one discards the teachings of a lifetime easily.”

  Unless his whole family is wiped out in one horrific moment.

  “Like I said, the noble experiment went terribly wrong.” Seth handed the young boy to Lucier, then leaned over his seat to wake Phillip. The boy got up without question and followed the two men into the house and to Maia’s door. She took Leo from Lucier, kissed his cheek, and laid him on the bed; Seth did the same with Iris.

  Maia went to Phillip. He pulled back, and she leaned down and put her hands on his shoulders. “Would you like to leave here, son?” she asked. Tears filled his eyes and he nodded.

  Seth crouched by Maia’s side. “Phillip, I know you’re sleepy, but I’m going to ask you a question, and it’s important you answer truthfully. You don’t have to name names, but I’d like you to say yes or no. Okay?”

  Phillip nodded. He rubbed his eyes and yawned.

  Lucier noticed the boy hadn’t spoken one word since Seth brought him out of the dormitory. Phillip did seem reserved for a boy his age, and Lucier began to understand Maia’s concern.

  Seth fingered through Phillip’s hair and gently held the back of his head. “Has anyone here touched you or done anything to you in an inappropriate way?”

  The boy’s chin quivered. He stood with his arms rigid at his sides, avoiding eye contact with Seth. He neither moved nor looked for solace to either of his parents when he started to cry. In fact, he backed away from his father, who reached out for him.

  Seth swallowed hard, and his jaw tightened in concert with a fiercely pulsing vein in his temple. He pulled the distressed child to him and wrapped him in his arms. Maia sat in semi-shock with the back of her hand across her mouth.

  “Let’s get to the plane,” Seth said. “I’ll get to the bottom of this when I return.”

  “You’re coming back?” Maia asked. “Now that you know, how could you?”

  “Like you, Maia, I’m a little late coming to the party. There are other kids here. I need to find out who’s doing what and why. What’s more important, who knows, and why they’ve let it continue.”

  “Don’t forget the stolen babies,” Diana said.

  Seth met her gaze. “I haven’t.”

  “I’m coming back with you,” Lucier said. “With the authorities.”

  Seth fixed his eyes on Lucier and nodded.

  Lucier checked his watch. Four a.m. They’d never get to the plane before the sky turned light. “Anyone at the airstrip?” he asked Seth.

  “I doubt it. Two pilots are on call, and one or the other will make the round-trip when summoned. There’s always a small plane here and a helo in case of emergency. My father and I are the only people who fly. He rarely does any more.” He waved his hand at Lucier. “Follow me.”

  Seth drove one of the carts with Maia and their children. Phillip still sniffled, but he clung to his mother like a little boy terrified to let go. Lucier and Diana hopped in the back of the other cart. Cal drove with Anat and her baby in front. If one didn’t know the situation, they looked like three couples with their kids out for a nighttime drive around the golf course.

  How many more planes were at the disposal of Crane Corporation and Compton International? Was there a contingency plan to evacuate everyone if the need arose, and if so, where would they go? He only hoped Diana, the children, and those at risk were out of there before he found out.

  Chapter Fifty- Six

  Escape

  Steel grunted along holding the arm he wrenched in his persistent effort to loosen the back of the headboard. His shoulder was killing him, the foot he used as a battering ram to break the door lock didn’t feel much better, and his wrist
might be broken. He put the pain aside, driven by so much rage for the damn cop. With no idea where the son of a bitch had gone, he decided to wake Slater for the verbal lashing he’d get for letting his prisoner subdue him―with a lemon meringue pie, for chrissakes. The more he thought about it, the madder he got.

  The villas were empty unless one or the other boss men showed up. Slater came less often and usually alone, but he stayed longer―three or four days. Steel wasn’t exactly sure of Slater’s position. He wasn’t a Crane in name or by marriage, but he acted like it. Steel didn’t like the man’s attitude, as if everyone in the room had just crawled up to vertical from all fours except him. Most of the women at the compound would do anything for him, though Steel couldn’t understand why. It was as if the man had some kind of magnetic hold on them. As a guard, Steel’s job description fell short of thinking. He did what he was told, and he’d screwed up royally.

  * * * * *

  Lucier held Diana’s hand in the back seat of the golf cart while Cal followed Seth onto a bumpy path shrouded with an overhang of trees. “Are there any accessible phones anywhere, Cal?”

  “All the links to the outside are coded. That’s the one thing I haven’t been able to crack.”

  “What about in the airstrip? There has to be communication equipment.”

  “Same,” Cal said. “Locked and inaccessible. Believe me, whenever I had the chance, I tried.”

  Damn. These people had thought of everything. With an endless source of money, they’d constructed buildings that blended into their surroundings, hiding it from the world.

  Seven or eight minutes later, they came to an airfield carved out of the mountains. A large camouflage-painted hangar sat at one end of a runway lined with recessed lights that rivaled any Lucier had seen. A helicopter sat to the right on a helipad with a removable cover, and a turbo prop took up one space inside the two-plane hangar. Lucier knew little about planes, though he’d flown both in a similar plane and a chopper to survey hurricane damage. This one seated maybe a dozen people.