Unforsaken (13 page)

Rattler’s expression stayed neutral as he spoke, but he was staring at me intently, and I knew exactly what he meant by “private stuff”—like the fact that I was his daughter. No one knew that besides Prairie and Anna and Kaz.

“It’s true,” I muttered. “My name is Hailey Tarbell.”

There was no response from Prentiss, and I imagined him assimilating this new information. In my mind’s eye he was a large man, only slightly diminished by age, broad shouldered and muscular, wearing an immaculate uniform with medals on his chest.

“Ms. Tarbell,” he said after a long pause. “It is an honor to make your acquaintance.”

Acquaintance
—I bristled at the word. He made it sound as though we had met at a party in a fancy restaurant, as though we were shaking hands, when he had been behind a plan to imprison me, to force me to create zombies. I remembered how Prairie’s eyes used to waver with fear whenever she mentioned the General; she was even more terrified of him than she was of Bryce.

“Now, Prentiss, I’ve got one other person here might be of interest to you,” Rattler continued. “Young man’s a full-blood.”

“Well, that
is
good news,” Prentiss said smoothly. “I am assuming you refer to Kazimierz Sawicki. I have already had the pleasure of making Mr. Sawicki’s acquaintance, though only over the phone. I do look forward to meeting him in person.”

If Rattler was surprised, he covered it well. “You’ll meet him if’n when
I
say so.”

“As you and I have discussed in the past, I am sure we can
work out a mutually beneficial arrangement wherein you provide … subcontractors, for a generous finder’s fee.”

“Yeah, for your
research studies,
” Rattler said sarcastically. “Aw, now, don’t go gittin’ ahead of yourself. Boy’s doin’ just fine here, for now. I’m sure you realize that my terms are up for a major renegotiation. My people are worth a hell of a lot more to you than the few thousand bucks you threw my way last time. I mean to make sure you appreciate that fact before we do business again.”

“Mmm,” Prentiss said. “I do agree that these are precious resources, of course, Mr. Sikes, and we do intend to compensate them—and you—appropriately.”

“Now hang on a minute,” Rattler said, his voice going deadly. The manic fury that always swirled underneath the surface threatened to emerge; he sat up straight and gripped the edge of the table in one strong hand. “I don’t think you’re in a position to be callin’ the shots here.”

“Oh, did I forget to mention—I’m sorry, Mr. Sikes, there’s one additional piece of information that may make you a bit more amenable to my proposal.” His voice was cold, almost bored. “You see, a little earlier today, several of my … associates stumbled onto an unexpected opportunity to bring a person of interest into our little family. And we’re delighted to have her, of course.”

“What are you saying?” Rattler demanded, the color draining from his face.

He knew, even before Prentiss answered.

“We’ve got Prairie Tarbell.”

T
HE NIGHTSHIRT
R
ATTLER HAD BOUGHT ME
was too big, and it flapped around my knees while I got ready for bed. Rattler had at least let me use the bathroom by myself, waiting outside in the hall with his chin ducked down, almost like he was embarrassed to be there. I took my time brushing my teeth. I needed to think, and I wasn’t looking forward to being locked into “my” room for the night.

“Come on now, Hailey-girl,” Rattler’s rough voice growled through the door. “Don’t be takin’ all night. Big doings tomorrow.”

I knew he hadn’t thought of anything else since Prentiss had told him they had Prairie. Neither had I. Hearing Prentiss’s cold, arrogant voice on the phone only deepened my horror that I had led him to her and Chub.

Still, I hoped Rattler’s obsessing might make him careless.
I wasn’t about to tell him anything about her capture. I guessed he was waiting for a vision to give him direction, and I didn’t plan on helping.

I splashed water on my face and blotted it dry with the thick, soft towel Rattler had given me, then opened the door. Rattler grunted and led me back to the room he’d prepared for Prairie. He pointed to the bed. “See you don’t muss it up, now. It ain’t meant for you.”

After he locked me in, I slid under the blankets. The floral sheets were clearly expensive, soft and silky. The pillowcase was embroidered and edged with lace. Everything was too frilly for me—flowers and lace and pastels—but I could imagine Rattler choosing the finest things he could find, storing them up for the day he brought Prairie home.

I lay in the bed, unable to sleep. Thoughts of Chub and Prairie and Anna circled through my mind, my fears alternating with schemes and plans I abandoned one after another. Finally I got out of bed and snapped on the delicate lamp that sat on the bedside table. I went to the wall that joined my room with Kaz’s, and tapped gently, putting my mouth close to the plaster.

“Kaz,” I said in a low voice. “Can you hear me?”

In a few moments there was an answering knock, and then the murmur of his voice—too low for me to make out his words. I didn’t dare speak any more loudly. Rattler and Derek were downstairs, and while I guessed that Derek might keep drinking until he passed out, I knew Rattler never drank.

I looked around the room, wondering if there was anything I could use to cut into the wall, maybe make a small hole behind a picture or under a flap of wallpaper, but there was nothing.

Still, I felt better knowing that Kaz was close by. I got the pillow and comforter from the bed, lay down on the floor next to the wall and knocked one more time to let him know I was near. After that, I was asleep in moments.

Rattler’s voice woke me. “What the hell are you doing down there?”

I sat up slowly, rubbing sleep from my eyes. It took me a moment to remember what I was doing on the floor as I stared at a pair of well-used black work boots.

I scrambled to my feet, drawing the comforter around me like a robe. Rattler beckoned impatiently. “Come on down here. I got something to tell you.”

I had to beg him for a few minutes in the bathroom, and I could hear him tapping his foot on the floor the entire time. If I’d had any illusions that his attitude toward me was softening, they were laid to rest when he made a point of showing me the handle of his gun above his belt. “Git on, now.”

Kaz sat at the table with Derek, eating a bowl of cereal with a banana sliced on top. A tall glass of orange juice and a cup of coffee sat next to his bowl. In front of Derek were a bottle of aspirin and a glass of water, though he sat up a little straighter when we came into the room.

“Hailey,” Kaz said, and pushed back his chair.

I wished I could touch him, hug him, but Rattler got there first and shoved Kaz back into the chair as though he was a child rather than a two-hundred-pound man. Kaz was strong, but Rattler was too.

“Sit back down, boy,” he growled.

“Are you all right?” Kaz asked, never taking his eyes off me. I nodded, and Kaz slowly pulled his chair back up to the table.

“Derek. Git ‘er something to eat.”

“Tell her to git it herself, I ain’t—”

“Get up, Pollitt,” Rattler ordered as he took a seat and motioned to me to do the same. “Get off your lazy ass and earn your keep.”

Derek reluctantly got up, clutching his temple and shaking his head. “I don’t see why she cain’t, why they both cain’t fix their own breakfast, they’re both—”

“You leave the thinking to me,” Rattler said, cutting him off. “Don’t tax yourself, seein’ as you probably kilt a few thousand more brain cells last night.”

Derek refused to look at Rattler while he got up and stumbled to the counter, where he got another bowl and poured cereal and milk into it, muttering to himself.

Rattler waited until the bowl was set down in front of me, then rested his elbows on the table and looked from me to Kaz and back, narrowing his eyes shrewdly.

“You seen anything new, boy?” he asked. I’d been wondering the same thing, but I prayed Kaz would keep it to himself if he had.

But Rattler didn’t wait for an answer. “ ’Cause I just had me a nice little view of Hailey’s aunt. Also a couple a guys gonna wish they’d never laid a finger on her, time we’re through.”

My heart skipped. “Did they hurt her?”

Rattler’s expression tightened with fury, his black eyebrows knitting together, his lip curling and his jaw going tight. “No. Not yet. And they ain’t gonna get the chance.”

“Did you see where she was?” Kaz asked.

“Hotel room,” Rattler said. “Chicago. I could see the skyscrapers out of the window. Up on a high floor, got her locked up like a damn bird in a cage.”

His fury was even stronger than before. I thought I knew why: a hotel room with a view like that would be expensive—far more luxurious than anything he could provide for her.

The irony—that he wanted to imprison her just as Prentiss’s men had, that only the location was different—seemed to escape him.

“Do you know which hotel?” I asked.

“Not yet,” he muttered. “But I will.”

“What are you going to do if you find her?” Kaz demanded.

“Not
if
, boy—
when
,” Rattler snapped. “I’m gonna bring her here, where she’s meant to be. We’re going to be a family. Me, her … my daughter.”

He hooked a thumb at me, his words giving me a chill.

“Aw, don’t look at me that way, girl,” he added, noting
my reaction. “Gonna have sisters before long. You’re gonna help raise ’em up, a whole mess a Healers. I’m gonna make things right around here, put things back the way they’re supposed to be. No more giving away our destiny, our bloodline.”

“How are you going to do that?” Kaz demanded. “Round up Banished women and lock them up here? You’re gonna run out of room pretty quick.”

The blow that sent Kaz crashing onto the floor came so fast that I didn’t even see it, but suddenly Rattler was standing over Kaz with a boot on his chest. “Don’t you sass me again, boy,” he spit, and I realized that even without the gun he held in his hand, he was more than a match for Kaz. There was something almost inhuman about his coiled energy, his sheer power. Kaz was strong, his body tuned and hardened by lacrosse, but he was not a fighter, and in a match with Rattler, he would lose.

“It ain’t your place to question me, boy,” Rattler continued in a voice that was eerily soft. “I run this house. I will lead the Banished. I know where the blood runs strongest, and I—”

“What about me?” Derek demanded in a whining voice. His skin was pale and clammy and there were purple bags under his eyes. “You promised me a woman, you promised—”

“Yeah, right,” Rattler said smoothly, his expression flattening out as he turned to Derek. I realized that Derek had to be really stupid not to know he was being lied to. To me, it
was obvious … but then again, I was the man’s daughter. There was more to the blood than I wanted to acknowledge. Rattler would never be my dad, but in fathering me he had passed on more than pure Banished blood: I was able to read him, sense his moods. “You’ll have your pick, Derek. Any woman you want.”

“I better,” Derek mumbled, taking a drink of his water, some of it dribbling down his chin. “I just better.”

Rattler took his boot off Kaz and offered him a hand, which Kaz refused. As Kaz got to his feet, Rattler shrugged. “There may be a place for you, son, once you realize I’m your best shot here. Hailey stays with me. You work with me, maybe you can stay too.”

He turned away, so he didn’t see the look Kaz gave him. But I did, and Kaz’s silent fury mirrored my own feelings.

Rattler was strong, and he was smart. But we would find a way to be stronger and smarter.

A
FTER
R
ATTLER LEFT
, his old truck spinning gravel as he peeled out onto the road, Derek got more and more agitated. I suspected that it was because he wasn’t drinking. As much as I knew he wanted to, he was too afraid of Rattler, who had made him promise to watch us around the clock and keep us out of trouble.

“Ought to just lock y’all up in them rooms upstairs,” Derek muttered several times.

The minutes ticked by. I had found a stack of old
Time
magazines in a drawer, and Kaz and I tried to read them while Derek played with the change from his pockets, pushing the coins into patterns on the table. I thought I’d go crazy from boredom, but I didn’t want to provoke Derek into following through with his threat. At least I had Kaz for company as long as he let us remain downstairs.