by Sahara Foley
"How was I to know Claudia would be so influential in that part of town?" she snarled through gritted teeth. "You be acting like I had something to do with it and I be in cahoots with her."
Warden drummed his fingers on her desk, adding to her irritation. "Well, you are the one who pushed us to pay for her silence." He stared at her with cold, hard, condemning eyes.
"She be my sister. What did you expect me to do?" Matron asked defensively. "Look, let me send one of my faithful guards to talk to her. See what her intentions be. If’n I find we can't trust her, well, she had a good life." She plastered a fake smile on her face, trying to appease Warden.
At the sound of loud noises and muted voices coming from the hallway, she turned with annoyance in her chair. What now? Can't these bitches do anything right around here?
"I don't know," Master interjected as he simpered in his usual fashion, making Matron hate him even more. "We don't want Claudia thinking she’s got the upper hand." He was interrupted by a resounding crash as the office door slammed open, causing all three of them to jump in surprise.
As the wooden door slowly fell off its hinges, a chubby, short man stumbled into the office. He wore a black one-piece outfit with silver toy guns in a holster around his waist.
"What the hell?" Matron yelled, as she laboriously pushed herself out of the too-tight chair. "Who are you, and what you doin' busting up my door?"
"Lurga Pukani want girl," the stranger said as he held up a cube with a picture of a child.
Matron leaned closer, squinting at the picto. "She looks like that retard I sent to Master last year," she said over her shoulder to Warden. Hands on hips, she glared down at the man, his head cocked at an angle like he was listening to something. "Hate to burst your bubble, boy, but that little twat be dead. Guards! Come in here and get this piece of shit outta of my office!"
Four female guards hustled into the room and surrounded the chubby man. He stood there, staring at Matron, unmoving. When it became apparent he had no intention of leaving, they grabbed his arms and tried pushing and shoving him toward the door. He wouldn't budge.
"Uh, Matron," one of them said breathlessly with sweat beading on her forehead, "he won't move."
In a blink of the eye, Lurga spun in a tight, fast arc, and flung the four women off him. They collided against the nearest walls and slid to the floor, bodies twisted and broken, obviously dead.
Warden sprang from his chair, pale-faced, eyes wide with fright. "Matron, for God Sakes, tell him where Cook is. She left with the girl, didn’t she?"
Matron stared at Warden, her mind racing. This strange man could be the answer to our problem with Claudia. If I give him my sister's name, he might kill her, just like he did my guards. Can I condemn my only sister to death?
With a nod and wicked grin, she turned toward the chubby man. "Mister, my sister took the girl. You can find her here." She rattled off the address to Claudia's house.
With a rumbling growl sounding like a bear, he turned and stalked out the way he came.
The trio crowded into the hallway as they watched the strange man stagger toward the exit. When he reached the glass, double doors marked with a "pull' sign, he shoved against them, sending fragments of glass flying everywhere. He stepped through the bent aluminum frame and disappeared.
Warden, Matron, and Master stared at each other in stunned silence. As if reading one another's minds, they fled the scene, leaving in different directions.
From the doorway next to Matron's office, a blonde head peeked out. Ducking back inside, the most recent secretary for Matron scampered to her desk. Picking up a headset, she punched some numbers, and whispered to the person on the other end.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Slick stood on the porch, binoculars in one hand, a walkie in the other. According to his sources, a strange, possibly deadly man was heading their way, looking for little Karrin. Eyewitnesses told Slick the man was either drunk or high, as he staggered down the street. However, no one wanted to mess with him.
Slick raised the glasses to his eyes, training them on the spot where the man should turn onto Wilburn Street, about a mile from Claudia’s house. He shifted nervously around, straining to see any movement. He'd be damned if something happened to Claudia’s little girl. He just hoped all his preparations worked.
From what he heard, he wasn't so sure.
Lurga turned the corner onto Wilburn Street and proceeded toward the house. Contruda confirmed his target was located there. As he started up the long driveway, he noticed a strange-looking weapon in the yard, the color of an unshaved Penna. The machine had one long tube and several smaller ones that swiveled to match his progress toward his contract.
The warrior shrugged and mumbled to himself in Ispepyein, "Children's toys."
When Lurga drew to within three fighter lengths from the horribly colored machine, two male Humans stepped out and aimed long sticks he assumed were weapons.
"Stop right there, mister," the taller of the two yelled. "State your business."
While Contruda translated, he held out the picto. "Lurga Pukani look for this female. She is here." His words came out garbled. The language was getting easier to understand, but it hurt his throat trying to form the words with the alien vocal cords.
The man held up a small box to his lips. "He's got some kinda weird cube with either a picture of Karrin or Tanya. I can't tell.” Shooting his gaze toward the short, chubby man, he murmured, "Damn Slick, when he talks, he sounds like a lion roaring underwater. What do we do, boss?"
As Lurga waited for them to bring out his target, he surveyed the area. Contruda informed him that the ugly machine sitting between him and the house was called a ‘tank.’ Other than that, there were no other formidable weapons he would have to contend with.
Unfortunately, the longer he waited, the more Humans were positioning themselves behind trees and bushes. Turning the area he was standing in into a field of fire.
Just as Lurga was getting ready to take further action, a rotund, tall woman pushed through the screen door and lumbered down the stairs. The older female stopped in front of the warrior and held out her hand for the picto. She scrutinized it, her brows furrowed in concentration. After a minute, she handed it back.
"What you want with her?" she asked.
"This girl, she is to go with me," Lurga rumbled in his best English.
"Humph! My girls ain't going nowhere with the likes of you, mister! Now, get off my property afore you’re shot." She turned on her heels and strode back toward the house. Passing by the pink tank, she ordered, "Don't let him pass. Do whatever it takes – shoot the shit out of him, I don't care. But, he ain't getting closer to my house."
Walking up the steps to the porch, she shuddered as foreboding crept up her spine. She never ran from a fight in her life. However, right now, she wanted to go as far away as she could from the seemingly harmless man.
Placing the picto back in his flight suit pocket, Lurga stared with amazement at the scene around him. Of the many assignments in his duty as an Ispepyein Warrior, on all the different planets, he had never seen so many people come to defend one small child. By now, there were dozens of people standing and aiming various forms of weapons at him.
What is it about this child that fosters such devotion? Why are these people willing to sacrifice their lives for her?
"Maybe there is more to her story than my fearless leader told me," he muttered to himself in Ispepyein as he rubbed the unfamiliar chin. "The Calen's obviously fear her, if they want her dead so badly. Yes, before I kill her, I must find out the answer."
With a new plan of action in mind, he started walking toward the house.
Claudia stood right inside the doorway, Karrin and Tanya at her side. She watched, heart, pounding in her throat, as the strange man shuffled up the driveway toward the tank. He had an odd, shambling gait, like a baby learning to walk. He also kept jerking his arms and shoulders, like his skin didn't fit right. Nonetheless, he
still terrified her, especially the silver pistols holstered on his hips. They reminded her of ray guns she'd seen in sci-fi movies.
"What you want us to do, Mama?" Slick asked. He was standing on the other side of her with three of his aides.
"Kill the bastard."
Slick nodded, then waved his arm at one of the young men stationed on the tank.
Nodding back, the young man started firing one of the tank’s machine guns at the approaching man.
Suddenly, the air was full of the sound of gunfire as other automatic weapons chimed in. The deafening roar and boom of the tank’s cannon made Claudia flinch back, hands over her ears. Chunks of ground and concrete rained down. The area where the frightening man had been walking was obscured by a thick cloud of dust and smoke.
"Yay! We got the son-of-a-bitch," one of Slick’s aides shouted, punching the air one fisted in celebration.
A loud cheering came from outside.
Excited, the aide added, "We pulverized the bastard. That'll teach him to mess with Mama's kids."
Claudia stared at Slick, seeing the same hopeful expression on his face. Then, they both glanced down at her precious Karrin.
Outside, the cheers of victory turned to startled cries of surprise and disbelief.
Cocking an eyebrow at Slick, Mama looked back at the front yard. Her jaw dropped in shock at the unbelievable sight. Amid the falling debris and drifting smoke, a form rose from the ground. Claudia's heart stuttered.
Other than smudges of dirt on his pale face and hands, not one mark could be seen. Even his strange-looking, one-piece, black suit appeared unscathed. What, the hell is he? Her sense of foreboding grew more intense.
This time, when Lurga started advancing, he had one of the toy ray guns in his hand, aimed at Karrin’s tank.
"Hit him with everything you got, boys," Mama hollered out the door. With a horrible sinking feeling, she knew it wouldn't matter.
Every weapon opened fire, at once, in a deafening cacophony of death. The tank's cannon boomed, over and over. Shaking the ground, shaking the house, shaking the foundation of Claudia’s life away. The man, once again, disappeared in geysers of flying dirt and debris.
In their haste to eliminate the threat to Karrin, her protectors were firing willy-nilly, unintentionally shooting their own. Soon, there were screaming, and moaning wounded strewn everywhere. In the meantime, as the tank continued firing, it was slowly backing up the driveway toward the house. Claudia saw her fate in that retreat.
Fear coursing through her body, the older woman knelt beside Karrin. She took her smaller hands into her calloused ones. "Honey, do you know that man? Does he look familiar to you?"
Karrin stared, back and forth, between Claudia and Slick. Something terrible was happening and it had to do with the strange-looking man. What does he want with me?
Claudia was the closest person to a mother she remembered. She took her from that awful cell at the Home and brought her here. Karrin didn’t want anything bad to happen to her, or anyone else. If Mamma gets killed, will I have to go back to that terrible place? Her heart stuttered in fear.
When the cannon roared again, she flinched. With tear-filled eyes, she shook her head, acknowledging she didn’t know who that horrible person was.
"You mean DID know him," a scrawny, pimple-faced kid standing behind Slick, blurted out. "Ain’t no way he survived that last blast. He weren't more’n twenty feet away. He was pulverized for sure."
Claudia gave him a scathing glare. She gave Karrin's hand a little squeeze before she peered at Slick and placed it in his hand. "I don't know what this sum-of-a-bitch wants, but you gotta get Karrin outta here. You know where. We've discussed this afore. Use the sewers – and hurry!"
Turning to Karrin, she hugged her tight, barely able to breathe from a lump the size of a biscuit in her throat. "Baby, you gotta go with Slick. He'll take care of you, okay?" she whispered in Karrin's ear. "Me and Tanya will be right here when you gets back. Hear?"
When she pulled away, she saw her little girl's blue/silver eyes glistening with tears. Fighting her own urge to cry, Claudia pushed Slick and Karrin away from her. "Now, go! Hurry!"
Karrin flung her skinny arms around Claudia's neck and hugged her tight. "I don’t want to lose you. I love you." She turned to Slick and tucked her little hand into his.
Slick leaned over and kissed Claudia on the cheek, and then glanced outside. The once familiar safe haven resembled a war zone. Huge chunks of the lawn and driveway were missing. People, who'd been accidentally shot or hurt from flying debris, were bleeding and screaming everywhere.
The tank operator was reloading the cannon as fast as he could, the barrel glowing red, but their enemy kept advancing. He shook his head. Who the hell is this guy? No way one of them could've lived through that hell-fire. Mrs. C is right. We’re in deep shit.
Pointing at the kid with the zits, and another boy standing next to him, he shouted over the thundering cannon, "You two stay here. It's your job to protect Mamma and Tanya. Jake, you're with me. Come on, let's move!"
With Karrin cradled in Slick’s tattooed arms, they hurried down the hallway toward the basement steps. The frightened girl peered back over his shoulder as Tanya tried yelling something over the booming noise, fingers in her ears. Within seconds, they disappeared down the steps.
Her heart tearing in two, Claudia took a shuddering breath and stared at the spot where her special child vanished. Will I see her again? Her gut told her no.
The woman stood and palmed the tears from her eyes. She couldn't afford to be weak now. She had other plans that needed to be put into play.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Feet pounded, water splashed, the sounds bouncing off the walls of the dimly lit sewer tunnel. Clutching Karrin to his chest, Slick leaped over a rat as large as a cat and came to a skidding halt at an intersecting junction. Lungs heaving, he leaned his back against the slime-covered wall, trying to catch his breath.
Damn, Mrs. C was right. I need to lay off the cigs. Of course, the foul air didn't help matters any. After spending most of his life in the sewers, he still couldn’t stand the rotten egg smell. His nose wrinkled in disgust.
The sound of running footsteps made him glance back at the direction he came. A tall man with a beer belly almost as round as a car tire lumbered into view. Stopping next to Slick, he leaned over, hands on knees, gasping for air.
"BJ," he said as he shuffled the little girl to the other side, "from here on, it be your job to protect Karrin. You keep moving, no matter what happens. No matter what you hear. You got that?"
Big Jake straightened up, his brows creased with worry. "What ya talkin’ about?"
Slick gazed down at the little girl and gently pushed a strand of dark hair off her face. Dark silver eyes full of fear stared back at him. Like Karrin, he was an orphan at a young age when his parents were killed during a food riot. Since hooking up with Claudia, she and the girls became his new family.
Everyone said Tanya and Karrin looked alike, but he never thought so. In his heart, he knew Karrin was unique, like Claudia did. And, like Claudia, he would sacrifice anything to keep her safe.
We didn’t know what we were protecting you from. Please, God, don’t let him find her. He placed a soft kiss on the girl’s forehead and handed his adopted sister over to Big Jake.
"BJ, take Karrin to tunnel 60. You know where it be. I've shown you afore. Then, you gotta proceed to the Building. They'll take care of her after that."
Visions of the strange guy walking through the cannon and gunfire made Slick’s heart stutter. "At least, I hope so," he muttered under his breath. He took off running, again, Big Jake right behind him Karrin bouncing on his hip.
Peering down the gloomy tunnel, Slick spied his destination. He stopped at the next intersection and waited for Big Jake to run by, and began pulling down a heavy, rust-covered iron grate. After the gate screeched and thudded to the floor, Slick slid a thick metal bar across it, locking the b
arrier in place.
Slick studied his handy work. Usually, it took a torch to cut through the one-inch grating. He didn’t think that mattered anymore. Sighing, he turned toward Big Jack.
"BJ, that man be after our little Karrin. We can't let him have her, got that?"
"Shucks, Slick. If’n you'd let me at that fat man, I'd have torn him apart, limb by limb." He glanced down the open tunnel in front of him. "Why you be sending me to the coppers at Scotland Yard? They ain't gonna be no help."
"'Coz we ain't able to protect her ourselves. Tell them coppers Mama sent you, and they need to watch over Karrin. Now, go. Get outta here. I'll stay here; see if’n I can stop him."
Big Jake stared at Slick. Confusion and uncertainty reflected in his dark brown eyes.
Slick grunted in impatience and gave a shooing motion with his hands.
Shrugging, Big Jake spun on his heels and started off at a slow jog. Karrin's arms were tightly wound around his tree trunk neck, her wide eyes filled with tears and uncertainty.
"Just remember tunnel 60 and the coppers," Slick shouted at the retreating back. "You make sure you take her there, even if’n you die trying."
"You got it, Slick," came his echoing reply.
As Slick paced nervously, back and forth, waiting for he knew not what, he reflected over what Claudia had confided in him several months ago. From her hacked sources via the few military satellites still working, she watched recordings from several years ago of a strange craft entering Earth's atmosphere. The round-domed ship hovered three miles over the English Channel for a few minutes before a bright, white beam lanced down to the surface of the planet. In a white blur, the spaceship streaked back into space.
The beam landed on a private yacht, anchored right off the shoreline. In a flash, so bright it blanked out the next thirty frames of film, the ship exploded in a massive fireball. Nothing was left behind, but smoking water and very little debris strewn across the water.