Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (64 page)

“
Good night, Child,” Chris
said, and Emily was alone again.

She slipped in and out of
sleep all night. She wasn’t tortured by muscle pain, but staying
flat on her back all night wasn’t very comfortable. What Emily
assumed was the next morning, she heard the door open.

“
We have more questions for
you,” Chris said, and released the handcuffs from the bed. He moved
Emily back into the chair and refastened them.

“
Can I have one hand?” she
asked him, and after he laughed, he let her right hand
go.

Emily smiled slightly.

“
Do you know where the
political prisoners are kept?” Chris asked.

“
No, I know where the
regular prison is,” she said.

Chris sighed, “Don’t lie to me, Child.
I want to know where Selhman and Ingram are.”

“
How am I supposed to know
that?”

“
We know all about you. You
spend a lot of time down in the prisons, and we need to know where
they are.”

“
Yeah… well… I don’t stop
and ask everyone’s name.”

“
Where are they?” Chris
yelled, slamming his fists onto Emily’s chair.

“
I don’t know!” Emily
yelled back.

She heard Chris sit back
down and when he spoke, his voice was calm, “I find it hard to
believe that you, of all people, don’t know where these prisoners
are.”

“
What do you mean by
that?”

“
You’re nosey. You go where
you don’t belong, you ask what you shouldn’t, and you know more
than any mortal should,” Chris told her.

Emily frowned,
“Nice.”

“
Tell me what I want to
know and we’ll let you free.”

“
You would not… I may not
be 9,000 years old, but I wasn’t born yesterday.” Emily could feel
her temper rising, something she reveled in. She would need that
anger to retaliate.

“
I’m sure the Equites would
gladly trade two small prisoners for the Winchester, especially the
pregnant Winchester,” Chris said, and he sounded pleased with
himself.

Emily felt the familiar
pull as she was able to draw from the emotions and ready herself
for the attack, “I don’t need to see.”

“
What do you mean?” Chris
asked, and she heard him stand up quickly.

“
You made the same mistake
the Encala did… assuming I have to be able to see to attack.” Emily
grinned.

She heard a frantic
commotion moments before letting go and sending out waves of anger.
The boat fell silent and Emily slipped off her blindfold. She
shielded her eyes against the bright light until they adjusted, and
then looked around.

The boat was about as big
as the one Chevalier had. Emily was in a red stateroom that was
lavishly decorated with vases and delicate statues. One handcuff
dangled from her right wrist, and she was able to kick at the arm
of the chair to free the other hand. Moving quickly up the stairs,
she looked out over the ocean. There was no land in sight. The deck
was covered in ash, and she wiped a trickle of blood from her
nose.

Emily moved swiftly through
the boat to make sure no heku was left alive, and ended her search
on the bridge. Brushing the ashes from the Captain’s chair to the
floor, she sat down and looked at the controls. They were the same
as the ones David taught her to use, but she had no idea which way
to go to get back to the island.

She heard quiet voices over
the radio, so she reached over and turned it up.

“
Council City is clear,
heading back to base,” she heard a man say.

“
Copy that, Island Coven is
clear, team ten heading back to base,” a woman said a few seconds
later.

There was static and a soft voice
said, “Base, Team 4 leaving Thukil.”

Emily frowned. She wasn’t
sure if the Valle had wiped out the city and the island, or if they
were just clearing their forces.

“
Navis did you copy? All
heading back to base,” a female said.

There was a long pause.

“
Navis do you read?” she
asked again.

“
Team ten to Navis,” a man
said.

Emily picked up the microphone, “Is
Navis the boat?”

There was silence for a few
moments.

“
Who is speaking?” the
woman asked.

“
Angela, I’m out with
Chris, but he’s busy with the Winchester,” Emily said, and
grinned.

“
Yes, Angela, the boat is
Navis. Tell Chris to return to base with her,” the woman said,
irritated.

“
Roger that,” Emily said,
and started flipping through the channels on the radio until she
heard idle chatter.

“
No, the damn fish were not
biting up there,” she heard a man say, irritated.

“
Yes they were. You’re just
not using the right bait,” someone answered him.

“
Sorry to interrupt, but I
could use some help,” Emily said into the microphone.

“
Well hello, Ma’am, how can
we help?” another stranger said.

“
If I give you my
coordinates, can you tell me which direction to head to get back to
northern Maine?” She knew that sounded childish and uncertain, but
that’s all she could think of.

“
We can try, what’s your
location, Darlin?”

“
Please don’t think I’m
stupid, but I don’t really know how to read this… I’ll give you the
numbers.”

“
Ok, are you out here
alone, Ma’am? You sound like you’re in trouble,” one of them
asked.

“
I’ll be ok if I can just
get back to Jonesport, Maine. So… 42 degrees, 58’35 point 39 north
and 67 degrees, 29’31 point 84 west.”

“
If you head northwest, you
should come close.”

Emily nodded and started up the
engines.

“
I’m only about an hour
from you, Ma’am. Why don’t I come help?” he asked.

“
No, no, I can find my way,
thank you,” Emily said, and turned the radio back to the Valle
channel.

Emily tapped the compass.
She knew it always pointed north, or was supposed to, but she’d
always been irritated how it fluctuated though, and if you tapped
it, it could point the complete opposite direction. Emily searched
around and found a clock, it was 11am.

Pointing the boat away from
the sun, Emily kicked up the engines and headed off toward the
northwest. While the boat slowly made its way back to Maine, Emily
found a broom and started sweeping ashes into the Atlantic Ocean.
She guessed everyone would be upset about that, but she didn’t
care.

Once the ashes were swept
into the water, she started nosing around. The boat was mostly
empty. There were no personal belongings, or any sign that anyone
was staying there. She did find one door marked ‘office,’ but it
was locked. It took a lot of kicking and then one strategically
placed hit with a hammer before the door opened.

Emily sat down at the desk
and started looking through papers. Not much of it made sense. Most
were papers about disciplinary action against members of the Valle
or crew rosters. She flipped open a large book and thumbed through
the pages. It was an atlas with little names handwritten on some of
the pages. She paused on the map of Rhode Island when she saw the
name “Exavior” written in long-hand above one of the
cities.

“
Hrm… idiots,” Emily said,
and shut the book. The other book on the desk looked like a
journal, but when she opened it, it was more like a chronological
outline of the Winchester family. Emily turned to the back of the
book where she saw herself listed with Allen, Alexis, and then
Baby3. She laughed when she saw that Chevalier was listed as the
father of the first two, and Damon of the unnamed baby.

Emily started searching the
office for anything else of importance, but all she could find was
an empty briefcase. She put the map book and the Winchester book
into the brief case, along with all of the papers from the desk,
then she shut it and took it with her up onto the deck.

Emily ran for the bridge when she
heard the radio.

“
Navis, why are you not
returning to base?” the woman asked again, aggravated.

Emily picked up the
microphone, “What makes you think I’m not heading to
base?”

“
We show you heading west
of the staging area. Head back to base this instant. The Elders
want to talk to the Winchester immediately,” the woman
demanded.

Emily cringed. She hadn’t
considered they had GPS on the boat. She scanned the area for any
boats and sighed.

“
Fine, I was going to leave
this as a little surprise… but… this is actually Emily. I ashed
your entire crew,” she said, and heard only silence for a few
minutes. “Hello?”

“
This is no time for jokes,
Angela,” an angry man said.

“
If I see one boat approach
me, they’ll be ash before you can read the name of this boat. Is
that understood?” she asked sternly.

The channel fell silent and
Emily kicked the boat up faster. She ignored the whine in the
engines. She was in a race for Maine, and had to get to the island
before the Valle caught up with her.

Emily turned the radio over
to scan and sat back to watch. From the Captain’s chair, she had a
360 degree view of the ocean. She searched for binoculars but
didn’t find any. She supposed with the eyes of a heku, they
wouldn’t need them.

Hours passed as Emily
watched the compass and the location of the sun, and tried to keep
a heading going directly northwest. Just before dark, she saw land
approaching and turned the boat north, hoping to run into something
familiar. She’d been on the ferry enough at Jonesport, that she
hoped she could find the town from the water, but she knew it would
be hard in the dark.

Emily stopped the engines
and slipped on the large coat that was on the back of the Captain’s
chair when it got cold. She also put on the Captain’s hat and
tucked her hair up into it.

She sat back and watched
waves pass as she waited for the sun to rise so she could see
better. Just as the sun was coming up, she saw a helicopter off in
the distance, heading away from the land.

Emily grabbed for the
microphone when she heard Kyle’s voice, “Equites 1, you are clear
for the north lawn.”

“
Kyle?” she asked into the
microphone.

“
Copy, Island,” someone
responded.

“
Kyle?” Emily asked again,
and then listened.

“
Equites 1, can you hear
me?” she asked when no one answered.

“
Equites 2 from Island,”
Emily heard Kyle say.

“
Equites 2
here.”

“
ETA?”

“
Thirty minutes,
Island.”

“
Copy, you’re clear for the
roof,” Kyle said.

“
Kyle!” Emily screamed into
the microphone.

“
Thukil 1 arriving at
Island in ten minutes,” she heard a voice say.

“
Copy, clear for East
lawn,” Kyle said.

Emily looked up as she saw
another large helicopter fly overhead. She turned the boat to
follow it, and pushed it into full speed.

“
Island, you have a boat
approaching,” she heard a man say, and felt relieved.

“
I.D., Thukil?” Kyle
asked.

“
Colors suggest Valle,
though I see no one on board,” the pilot said.

“
Equites 1 and Equites 2,
join Thukil. Powan, are you near us?” Kyle asked.

“
Powan is fifteen minutes
south, heading to Thukil,” a strange voice said.

Emily tried again, “Kyle?”

When no one answered, Emily
threw the microphone, frustrated, then saw two helicopters
approaching.

“
See it, definitely
Valle.”

“
Emily 2, can you engage?”
Kyle asked.

“
Emily 2 is off, will
intercept in fifteen minutes,” she heard Mark say.

“
Full force, no telling how
many are on that boat,” Kyle said.

“
Copy that, Island,” Mark
replied.

“
Equites 1 to
Island.”

“
Island here,” Kyle
said.

“
Second boat approaching
fast, another Valle. This one has heku on board,” the pilot
said.

Emily stood up on the
bridge and looked around her. She couldn’t see anything but the
helicopter overhead.

“
Island, Valle boat 2 is
going to reach the first before Emily 2 arrives.”

“
Powan
with 2
^nd
Valle boat,” she
heard a strange man say.

Emily headed out onto the
deck. The wind from the one helicopter was strong, and she had to
fight to keep from falling over. She turned to the radio when she
heard a voice.

“
Thukil to Island,” she
heard a deep voice say.