Take Her to HeVan (Nephilim Book 6) (30 page)

“You haven’t given us your name. And that’s fine, you don’t have to. Based on what Jural has told us, you have an extreme situation. He may have told you, solving extreme situations is my specialty. Your worries are over, sweetie; if you want, we will build you an entire new identity.”

“I don’t understand why you would do this for me. What you’re talking about is going to cost a great deal of money. It’s obvious you have a lot of money but why would you spend it like this?” she asked.

How they answered would get her off the fence she was straddling in her head.

“That’s a really long story and it would take hours to tell. So how about I give you the Cliff Notes version. My best friend, Addie, fell in love with three billionaire brothers from Greece. Yes, there are three of them. It works for her and they treat her like a queen. They are passionate about the plight of women in the world. Seeing the results of abuse and human trafficking pissed them off.

“Then there’s me. I used to work for the CIA. I’ve seen some horrible things. Sarah and I were separated as infants. She experienced the terror you’ve been through first hand. We found each other again when her doctor ordered her to quit working and take the stress out of her life. She met Tammy around the same time we were reunited.

“It was Addie’s husband’s idea to set up the Sanctuary after speaking with the head of the abused women’s shelters in Chicago. We chose Wisconsin because we wanted a location far away from the eyes in the cities. That’s how so many women are found; they can’t help but return to what is familiar to them.

“Tammy’s experience is in the hospitality industry; she used to work for one of the larger hotels. She acts as den mother and keeps us all organized. Her husband, Markus, is a doctor. Like you, she has two small girls; their father died in the war. Sarah is in charge of our training programs. She has a knack for finding the right career for each of our residents.

“We still contribute to several women’s shelters in Chicago and other cities. The ladies in charge of those places know to contact us on the extreme cases. These are women who really need to disappear. That’s my job and I’m really good at it. You can trust us; I’m not going to tell you we’ve got all your problems solved in one fell swoop. I would say you’re on the right road,” said Becky.

Linda had been listening carefully to everything Becky had told her. She was glad Becky had laid it all out, as she was used to facing her problems head on. Just as she was about to give them her name, Sara came running out of the bedroom in her underwear dragging some clothing in her fist.

“Mama, help,” she said.

“Sara Jean, you’ve been dressing yourself for two years. How come you need my help?” she asked, even as she pulled her daughter between her legs and started to dress her. But she knew. Her girls had been through so much in the last few months. She could understand her needing to go back to simpler times, when Mama took care of everything.

Across the room, the others had all gone silent. Busy with her daughter, Linda didn’t notice and when she was done pulling the t-shirt over her daughter’s head and helping her into her jeans, they had recovered their composure.

All of them had recognized the birthmark on the back of the little girl’s thigh. All of them knew now was not the time to tell this woman she was descended from aliens from another planet. She’d take her girls and run for sure.

When Linda looked up, she didn’t see anything wrong in their faces. They were all smiling at Sara. Jural had come over at one point and had taken the chair next to Linda. Sara looked up into his face. This man had carried her into the hotel. He smelled nice.

“Did you find the potato lady in the banana building?” she asked.

“Not yet little one; I was going to ask your mama to help because we don’t know where the banana building is,” he said.

“You tell them, Mama. They saved us; now they have to save the potato lady,” she said before running back to the bedroom to watch more cartoons.

Linda sat up straight in her chair and looked over at them all. Had they been questioning her daughter? What else had they been doing?

Tammy recognizing the suspicion in her eyes for the fear it really was and spoke quickly to calm her down.

“While you were bathing your other daughter, Sara came out looking for an orange and overheard us discussing the search for our friend, Marla. I hope we didn’t scare her; she must think there are bad men around every corner. I gave her the fruit bowl and closed the door after her. You know about the search; it was how we found you.”

Relaxing, because she understood how that could have happened, she sat back in the chair again.

“You didn’t question her about what she saw?” Linda asked.

“Only to ask her if you had seen the man and woman, too; she said no. We wouldn’t question her without your knowledge and cooperation. She’s a little girl and needs to be protected,” said Sarah.

“But that was over an hour ago; do you have that kind of time to waste?” Linda asked.

“No, but we won’t sacrifice one innocent to save another, either,” said Jural, entering the conversation for the first time.

That was what finally got her off the fence and convinced her that these people were sincere. Even though they knew the life of one of their own hung in the balance, the protection of her girls took precedence.

“Okay, fill me in and I’ll see if I can help you. It’s the least I can do with all you’re doing for me. You can call me Linda. You’ve met Sara Jean; my other daughter is Andrea Michelle. She’s a bit of a tomboy, so we call her Andi.”

Becky, because she was the best at putting together a concise report, went through the whole story. The only interruption during the telling was the arrival of room service. Tammy had led them over to the credenza so they could start setting up the buffet she had ordered. When she noticed Linda didn’t even blink when Becky got to the part involving Amy’s and Charlotte’s psychic gifts, she wondered what gift Linda had.

Linda paid no attention. She was glued to Becky’s story and by the end of it was determined to help them. It may not pan out, but Sara was a girl who noticed every little detail. Now they needed to get her to talk because Linda didn’t know what building she meant.

“She did say one other thing before she left. She said you walked that way every day. If you could give me your route, we can start there. I can get pictures of the buildings using Google Earth. If that doesn’t work, I’ll have Jural drive the route and take photos of all the buildings. Then Sara can point out the one she’s talking about.”

Tammy came over to where the rest of them were sitting. “How about we start with a nice breakfast? If you ask her questions while we’re all eating, it will help her be more at ease and we may learn more.”

“Thank you, Tammy, that’s a good idea,” Linda said, standing up. “I’ll go and get the girls now. The food smells really good.”

When her stomach rumbled they all chuckled, and it broke up the tension in the room.

It was Jural, the oldest one in the room, who hadn’t been around children since he was a child himself, who figured it out. After Linda described the route she’d been taking from the soup kitchen to the building where they had been hiding, a route that dodged traffic cams and other surveillance, Becky brought up as many pictures as she could.

Jural saw a spot on the wall of one building. It was near the sidewalk, at a child’s level, and shaped like a banana. The fact that the building was of a golden yellow brick darkened and stained caused the mark to stand out against the grime.

“Is this the banana building, little one?” Jural asked Sara in a low voice, showing her the picture.

She stopped before taking a large bite of her chocolate chip pancake, dripping in syrup, to look. “Uh huh, are you going to go and save the potato lady now?”

“Yes, I am, little one, yes, I am. Thank you,” he said, giving her a kiss on the top of her head. He had recognized the colors of the mark on her leg. She descended from his house on HeVan, House Dingir. He vowed to become their protector; it was his right. Nodding to the others, he strode quickly from the room.

“He didn’t finish his eggses,” said Andi.

“He had to go be a hero,” Sara gravely explained to her sister. Andi just nodded and went back to her food.

“My two little girls are very fond of Wiggles. What do you two like?” asked Tammy.

Not willing to wait for the elevator, Jural took the stairs down three at a time with his long legs. He wasn’t even winded when he entered the banquet room they were using as a command center.

The limo drivers had had to leave, but Brad and his friends were hanging in there. They knew the men would need their cars to get around; and not knowing the city, they also needed people who did.

“We have a lead,” he announced entering the room. Looking around he saw that only half their number were there. “Where are Karlo and Charl?”

“They are still out searching. They refuse to come back in. How can they rest, knowing Marla is in pain and needs them?” asked one of the warriors, looking up from where he was pouring over a map.

“We didn’t say anything until we had solid information. But it looks as if one of the small children we saved last night saw Marla carried into a building. This is the one,” he said, putting the picture down on the table and giving them all the address.

Jural wanted to go along for the rescue, but he took his new duties to Linda and her children seriously; he would stay behind. Markus gathered up his medical bag as he gulped down his coffee and left with the others. Jural was already on a cell phone contacting Karlo and Charl to tell them where to rendezvous with the others.

Remaining behind were Ishme and Ari, two of the
Ankida
to Becky and Sarah. They had searched last night while their brothers stayed behind with their mates. Now it was their turn to stay. Scattered around the room were many of the women and a few other warriors. Jural was pleased to see new hope in their expressions. He only hoped it was Marla Sara had seen the night before and not some other woman in need of rescue.

Marla had been fading in and out from the throbbing in her chest. Her eyes were glazed over with the pain and she had to concentrate on breathing in and out through her nose to keep herself from vomiting and then choking. When she was aware enough, she used her tongue to poke at the duct tape. She could only work at it for small increments of time because working her tongue against the tape exacerbated her nausea. After what seemed like hours and was probably only minutes, she was able to loosen it to the point where it came loose from the left side of her mouth.

She looked again to where the alarm clock was balanced. It was facing away from her so she didn’t even know how much time she had left. The one good thing Jake did for her, though he was most likely unaware of it, was when he closed the door, he also closed out the rats. Of course, the rats weren’t letting a door prevent them from getting to the scent of fresh meat. They were scratching and scratching at the door and the walls, giving it the good old college try. Really, she was totally ready to be rescued now.

The battery in the lantern had died before dawn. That time, in the complete darkness of the room, listening to the rats and not being able to see anything had been the most frightening. The quick look she had of the room was enough to tell her the building was derelict. Likely in a part of town with little or no foot traffic, so she didn’t want to scream unless there was a good chance of being heard. She was hoping for an early morning garbage pick-up or something. Of course, if the rats got in, all bets were off.

She dozed a little and then became aware of a lightening in the darkness. It didn’t seem as dark, if that made sense. She realized there must be a window over the radiator she was attached to. It was obviously boarded over, but there were cracks between the boards. One crack now had the sun coming through and like a spotlight, the sun’s rays shone down on the double barrel of the shotgun pointing at her chest. Not her favorite image to wake up to in the morning.

Her mind was fuzzy but she seemed to recall Jake blathering on about how instead of getting married in the afternoon, she’d be getting dead. If that were true, she still had time. She kept trying to loosen her bonds with no luck so far. It didn’t help that each time she shifted she sent a new shaft of pain through her body.

When it became light enough to take a good look around, she catalogued the room around her. Yep, pretty much as she remembered from the night before, an air of abandonment overlaid with the dusty perfume of decay.

Marla was doing everything she could think of to try to get through each minute without giving in to the tears and despair. She knew Karlo and Charl were looking for her; and all of their friends would be helping. If they needed to, they’d probably grab Jake and torture her location out of him. At least dreaming of them torturing Jake was a more pleasant way to pass the time than thinking about being nibbled on. The rats seemed to be louder now.

About a half hour later, her eyes were taking another tour of the room when she spotted sharp beady eyes peering down from the corner of the ceiling. The rats had given up on getting through the wall. They’d gone up and had made a hole through the crumbly acoustic ceiling tile. It was a good thing she’d been saving her voice, she screamed loud enough to make the cast of a horror movie.