“Are you all right, baby?” she asked again.
“Where are we going?” Louise finally said, her voice muffled by her turtle.
“We’re going home.”
“Home is that way,” she said. She pointed to the north.
“We’re going to my home.”
“Where’s that?”
“Rampart City. Do you know where that is?”
“America. Papa says American people are mean.”
“We’re not. You shouldn’t make judgments like that about people you haven’t met.”
“But you’re kidnapping me. That’s mean.”
Emma couldn’t say anything for a moment, impressed at how eloquently Louise could speak already at two years old. She didn’t even have the speech impediment that had marred Emma’s speech until she was in second grade. “I’m not kidnapping you.”
“You’re taking me to Mommy?”
“You could say that.” She turned to face forward to make sure there were no more animals in their path. She lightly tapped the accelerator to get them moving again. It would take a while to go overland, long enough that Ivan—or whoever would be in charge now—could have Russian border guards on alert. That would make it more difficult to get across. But there was always the armor. She could wrap the cape around herself and Louise to become invisible if that’s what it took.
Louise finally fell asleep and hunkered down to curl her body around her turtle. It was the same way Jim had slept in bed with her. She had felt so warm and safe then, but they would never sleep like that again.
He was dead. Another person she loved torn violently out of her life, like her parents, Aunt Gladys, and Percival Graves. It seemed everyone she loved was destined to die long before her. For two years she thought Louise had been part of that list, but now she had Louise back. She had reclaimed her daughter at the cost of the man she loved.
Even as she thought about this, the car began to stall. A red warning light flashed. Emma groaned. They had run out of gas.
***
Louise did not want to be carried. While she had been docile in the car, the moment Emma unfastened her seatbelt and tried to pick her up, Louise began to punch and kick at her. “Put me down! You’re not Mommy!”
“I’m sorry, baby. We have to walk now. The car is out of gas.” Out of gas because she didn’t have the foresight to fill it up on their way to the rendezvous. She had been so distracted by the thought of getting Louise back that she’d neglected a simple chore like making sure their getaway vehicle had enough fuel.
“I can walk. I’m not a baby.”
“My legs are a lot longer than yours,” Emma said. “We can go faster this way.”
“I don’t want to go! I want to go home!”
Louise continued to kick at her and hit her in the face with the stuffed turtle. The armor protected Emma from any real damage, not that Louise could have done any in any case. It did hamper her vision, not to mention it gave her a headache. She finally set Louise on the ground and bent down to look the girl in the eye, those blue eyes so much like her own—blue eyes that looked at her like a stranger. Emma pushed this thought away to glare severely at her daughter. “It isn’t nice to hit people. Or kick them either. Do you understand?”
For a moment she thought Louise would continue to resist, but then the girl bowed her head. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s all right, baby.” She picked Louise up again; the little girl once again turned docile. They made better time this way, not to mention Emma’s headache lessened. In time she could hear Louise breathe softly; she’d fallen asleep against her shoulder as she’d done on the overpass with Bykov. She stroked Louise’s hair as she continued to run through the snow.
Marlin appeared in front of her. “Such a cute little bugger,” he said. “Don’t know how she can sleep at a time like this.”
“She’s a baby,” Emma said as Akako had so many times. Despite that Louise talked almost like a grown-up and had outgrown diapers, she was still two years old. There was still so much she didn’t know about the world, especially about how dangerous it could be. She didn’t understand that while she slept, men with guns chased them and would probably shoot them on sight. Or at least they’d try to shoot Emma. Even if the armor could protect her, it couldn’t protect Louise too.
They crossed the Latvian border without incident. There was no sign to welcome them to Latvia until they reached a nearby village. There she saw the Latvian flag overhead and breathed a sigh of relief. They had made it out of Russia, Bykov’s territory. Now she could worry about how to get Louise back to America, back to her home.
She unfastened her cape and laid it down like a blanket so she could set Louise on top of it. Then she began to take off the armor. It wouldn’t do to go into town in a suit of red plate armor, at least not if she wanted to go unnoticed.
“Doesn’t look like anyone’s on your tail—yet,” Marlin said as she undressed.
“Good,” she whispered so she wouldn’t wake Louise. “I think we’ll stop here for the rest of the night.”
“Not much night left.”
“Then for the morning.” She figured they could go into town and find somewhere to sleep for a few hours. Then Emma could come up with a strategy to get them home. Maybe someone in town would offer them a ride to a bigger city, where they could get on a train or plane. The obvious problem was that Louise didn’t have a passport—at least not one with her. It wouldn’t surprise her if Bykov had all sorts of documentation made up for his daughter Katya, which would include a phony birth certificate. Once they got back to Rampart City—
She turned then and realized Louise was not on the cape. She was gone!
***
Emma had heard stories about kidnappings at shopping malls and supermarkets. Usually the mother in question would say she turned her back for a moment and her child had disappeared. Emma’s mother had always watched her closely and scolded her if she took more than a couple steps away from her mother’s side. If Emma insisted she could watch out for herself, Mom said, “I know, baby, but I don’t want to lose you.”
Emma had promised herself she would be that kind of mother. She would be caring and attentive, to make sure nothing happened to Louise. And now only five minutes into her career as a mother she’d turned her back and Louise had disappeared. She could only say in her defense she thought Louise was still asleep.
The good thing was that Louise was only two years old, and thus not well-versed in how to avoid a pursuer. Emma didn’t need the armor to follow Louise’s tiny tracks, as well as the scrape made no doubt by one of the stuffed turtle’s limbs as Louise dragged it along. She followed these tracks as quickly as possible, to catch up to Louise before an animal did.
She followed her daughter’s footprints into a thicket, where in addition to footprints, she saw handprints as well. Louise had begun to crawl on all fours, probably to hide herself in the brush. “Katya,” Emma called out softly. “Are you here?”
She didn’t hear anything for a moment. Then she heard a sniffle. She spotted the bright green form of Louise’s turtle among a bush. Emma knew better than to reach into the bush; she didn’t want to scare Louise any more than she already was.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Emma said. “I only want to take you home.”
Probably sensing the jig was up, Louise said, “I don’t want to go anywhere with you. I want Papa and Katarina.”
“I know this might be hard for you to accept, but I am your mommy.”
“No you’re not! Katarina is my mommy. Papa said so.”
“He lied to you, baby. I’m your real mother. That man with me was your real father. We came all the way from America to bring you back.”
“You’re lying!”
“I’m not. Mr. Bykov took you from me when you were a tiny little baby, just after you were born. He made me think you were dead. Mommy—Katarina—told me where you were so your father and I could bring you back.”
&nbs
p; “That’s not true. Papa wouldn’t lie to me. He loves me.”
“Your papa did love you. That’s why he lied to you.”
“No! You’re the liar.” Louise emerged from the brush, leaves and nettles caught in her tangled hair. Her face had turned nearly the same red as Emma’s armor; her bottom lip trembled as she fought valiantly not to cry.
“Katya, look into my eyes. They’re like yours. You have my eyes.”
“No. I don’t.” Louise closed her eyes and shook her head. “It’s not true.”
“And you have your father’s nose.” Emma smiled at her. “Louise Gladys Earl. That’s your real name.”
“No it’s not! My name is Katya! You’re not my mommy!”
Emma didn’t say anything for a minute; she tried to think of how to reach her little girl. Back in Rampart City she had hoped it would be enough to show up, that Louise would see the similarities for herself. Clearly that wouldn’t happen. Emma couldn’t blame the girl; Bykov and Katarina had obviously treated her very well. Why should she reject them in favor of some crazy American woman?
She thought of what Dr. Richman had told her, that she should communicate her love very clearly to Louise. She put both hands on Louise’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Katya, I want you to know I love you very much. I would have given anything for this not to have happened. I would have given anything after you were born to keep you with me.” Emma took one hand away to brush her white hair forward. “This happened after I thought you had died. Before that it was red, though not as pretty as yours.”
“Why did it do that?”
“Because I was very sad after I thought I lost you. I was so sad I had to stay in the hospital for a couple of months.”
“You went crazy?”
“Yes, I guess you could say that. I started seeing a psychologist. You know what that is?” Louise nodded, so Emma continued, “He helped me feel not so sad, but what really helped was going to the cemetery, where I thought they had buried you. I used to spend hours talking to you.”
“Why did you do that? If I were dead, I couldn’t hear you.”
Emma thought of the answer she had given to Dr. Richman. “I wanted to feel close to you. At your age that’s probably hard to understand, but when I went there, it felt like you were there, that you could hear me.” Tears bubbled up in her eyes, but she made no attempt to wipe them away. Instead, she smiled slightly. “When Katarina said you were alive, I was so happy. And I was scared too.”
“Scared of what?”
“That you wouldn’t love me. That you would think I was lying.” Emma sighed at this. “It’s all right if you feel that way. I’ll wait however long it takes. Even if you never do believe me, I’ll feel happy that you’re alive.”
That was all Emma could get out; her throat became choked with sobs. Louise threw herself against Emma’s chest and mumbled, “Don’t cry, Mommy.”
“I won’t, baby,” Emma whispered. She wiped at her eyes with one hand. “Everything’s going to be all right now.”
Then she heard the sound of helicopters approaching.
Chapter 22
The first thing Emma did was to shove Louise back into the thicket. Louise squealed with surprise at this. “Mommy, what’s wrong?” she asked.
“There’s some bad people after us. They want to take you away again.”
“Why?”
Emma ran a hand through Louise’s tangled hair to brush out some of the leaves and branches. “Because you’re such a smart little girl.”
“I am?”
“Yes. You are.”
It wasn’t until Emma stepped backwards that Louise squealed again. “Where are you going?” she asked.
“I have to make them go away.”
“Don’t leave me here. I don’t want to be alone again.”
“It’s going to be for a few minutes, sweetheart. Only until they’ve gone away.”
“What if they don’t go away?”
“They will. Trust me.”
Emma backed away from the brush to call for the case of red armor. Marlin appeared with it; he tilted his head slightly to hear the helicopters coming in. “Trouble seems to follow you, doesn’t it?” he said.
“I guess so.” Emma began to put on the armor. “Go see what we’re up against, would you?”
“Are you seriously thinking of fighting helicopters?”
“Why not? I already shot one down.”
“Good point.” Marlin floated away to see how many helicopters were coming for them. While he did that, Emma put on the armor, all except for the helmet. She didn’t want to become the Scarlet Knight yet.
She pushed aside the brush to find Louise in the same spot, her stuffed turtle clutched to her chest. “Mommy?”
“Yes. It’s still me.”
“You look different.”
“I know. It’s armor like the knights wear in stories.”
“It’s plate armor. From the Middle Ages.”
“That’s right, baby. I said you were smart, didn’t I?”
“Yes.”
“Now, no matter what happens, you have to promise to stay right here. Things might get scary, but you have to trust me. Can you do that?”
“You aren’t going to leave me, are you?”
“No, baby. I’m not going to leave you ever again.” She leaned through the brush so she could kiss Louise’s forehead. “Stay right here.”
The sound of rotors from the helicopters became louder. Louise shivered and squeezed her turtle harder. “Mommy, I’m scared.”
“I know, baby. I’m scared too.”
“You are?”
“Yes. Even grown-ups get scared.”
“You promise to come back?” she asked.
“I promise.” Emma was about to put on her helmet, when she saw the golden plume and an idea came to her. She ripped part of the horsehair plume off and then set the helmet on the ground. She nodded to the turtle in Louise’s hands. “What’s your friend’s name?”
“Slowey.”
“That’s a nice name. Can I see Slowey for a minute?”
“OK.” Louise handed the toy to Emma, who turned her back so Louise wouldn’t have to see what she was about to do. With her pinkie finger, she punched a slight hole in Slowey’s belly along the seam. She then pushed aside some of the stuffing inside the turtle to make a hole. Into this she stuffed the piece of plume from her helmet. After she’d shoved it deep into Slowey’s belly, she turned back around to hand the toy to Louise.
“No matter what happens, you make sure to hold on to Slowey. Understand? You’re his mommy and you have to look after him, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. You hold on to him real tight and then no matter where you are and where I am, I’ll be able to find you.”
“OK.”
Emma leaned forward to kiss Louise’s forehead again. “I love you, baby.” Louise didn’t say anything back, but Emma didn’t mind. She had only known Emma for a few hours and hadn’t yet digested the huge revelation that the people she thought of as her parents weren’t.
Emma picked the helmet up, put it over her head, and then tucked in her hair. “It’s time for Mommy to go to work,” she said.
***
Apparently Bykov’s minions weren’t squeamish about a diplomatic incident between Russia and Latvia. Then again, why should they be? Latvia was a tiny Baltic republic while Russia was the largest country in the world. At most Latvia might lodge a complaint with the United Nations, which would be largely ignored. That was if Bykov’s people hadn’t bribed the Latvians to let a half-dozen Hind gunships cross the border.
The Scarlet Knight emerged from the thicket with the cape around her to keep her invisible—at least from human eyes. When Marlin came back, he said, “They’re all wearing night vision goggles. That cape’s not going to do much good except as a fashion accessory right now.”
“That’s fine. If they want a fight, we’ll give it to them.”
“That’s what I like to hear.”
The Scarlet Knight pulled the Sword of Justice from its sheath. What had worked on the overpass would certainly work here as well. She merely had to throw the sword and take out the rotors to bring each helicopter down. Should be easy enough.
The Hinds weren’t so stupid as to all come at her in one wave. They split up: two came from the east, two from the north, and two from the south. In that way they hoped to catch her in a crossfire. Apparently they hadn’t realized that conventional ordinance couldn’t damage the magic armor. She had no intent to enlighten them on that point.
She broke into a run back towards the border to draw the helicopters away from the thicket to make sure no stray bullets or rockets hit Louise. Even if the Scarlet Knight didn’t care much about the girl—not in the same way as Emma Earl—her mandate as the Scarlet Knight was to avoid taking innocent lives at all costs; there could be no life more innocent than that of a baby.
When she decided she had gone far enough away, she planted herself in the middle of a clearing to make sure they had a good target. Her hand tightened around the Sword of Justice, as she waited for one of the Hinds to get close enough for her to use it. She bounced on the heels of her boots and charged up a jump at the same time.
One from the south came into range first. She could almost feel its missiles lock on to her. Just as she saw the tongue of flame from its winglet to indicate a missile launch, she jumped into the air. At the apex of her jump she hurled the Sword of Justice at the gunship. While she drifted back to the ground and used the cape to slow her descent, she guided the sword to duck beneath a winglet, back to the helicopter’s rear rotor. The golden blade slashed the rotor assembly clean off to send the Hind into a spin.
The Scarlet Knight kept the sword airborne and headed for the next gunship in line. Its pilot tried a series of evasive maneuvers to shake the sword, but there was no escape for it. The Sword of Justice nicked the center of the back rotor to short it out. While the second Hind joined the first in a flat spin, the Scarlet Knight called the blade back.
Tales of the Scarlet Knight Collection: The Wrath of Isis Page 130
