It’ll have to do. They didn’t have a better option to get off the base.
Maya held her breath as they stopped at the shack. There were already more personnel here than normal. Jim flicked off the siren and rolled down the window. From where she sat she could see the uniform at the window. The man looked in at them wearing the blank expression the gate guards usually adopted.
“I’ve been instructed to turn back all vehicles.”
“That’s a shame. We got an organ donor transport,” Jim informed the guard.
“Oh no. There’s several people depending on us. They’re already being prepped for surgery and this donation will only keep so long,” Laney exclaimed.
“It can’t be helped. This probably has something to do with that explosion we heard leaving Tricare. I bet we’re needed back at the hospital,” Jim replied to her.
“There’s a ton of personnel who can handle whatever it was.” Laney shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry. I just feel horrible for the guy waiting on this heart. He has five kids.” She poured it on thick.
“Don’t make the man feel like a murderer. He’s just doing his job.” Jim put the ambulance in gear and started to turn the wheel to head back the way they came.
“No. It’s just a training exercise. As you were,” the guard replied and waved them on.
“Oh, thank God,” Laney gasped when they raised the gate and were pulling forward.
It wasn’t a moment too soon. In the mirror she could see several Humvees heading for the gate.
“Take the causeway before they change their minds.” Maya pointed to the on-ramp, her heart beating a million miles a minute.
Laney turned to face her as they headed toward the mainland. “I’m so sorry. If it wasn’t for me, Emil and General Frank would’ve never known,” Laney rasped.
“Don’t apologize, please.”
Maya looked meaningfully into the woman’s eyes. If she ever hoped to be forgiven for her own sins, she had to be willing to forgive, too. And she didn’t really blame Laney. The place they just escaped from twisted everyone into the worst version of themselves.
“We got out,” Maya almost choked on the words.
“We did.” Laney cast her a teary smile.
“Thank you all.” Boaz moved to be closer to Laney.
“Yes. Thank you.” Vintor cast the sheet aside.
“You’re free now.”
Maya looked at Vintor as she took his large hand in hers and squeezed it. She never fathomed when he showed up in the operating room this day would come. It was sort of ironic, her salvation coming at the hands of a man who looked like the devil himself. Then again, who else could’ve spirited her out of the hell she’d been in?
“We’re not out of the woods yet, kids. I think we’ve got helicopters overhead,” Jim commented as they hit the mainland and headed north on the highway.
“Then this is where we part ways.” Boaz peered out the window.
“You’re leaving?” Laney fretted. Her face twisted in distress as she looked at Boaz.
“We are leaving,” Boaz corrected her.
“Oh.” Laney’s shoulders eased, and a nervous smile replaced her scowl. She clearly had a thing for the chameleon.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Maya asked as she anxiously fiddled with the neck of her shirt.
“It’s going to be much harder for us to evade your government if we all stay in the same spot,” Vintor agreed with Boaz.
“I guess you’re right. They’ll have to divide their efforts if we split up,” she conceded but still didn’t like it. Strength came in numbers.
“What’s all this about?” Jim asked as he drove.
She forgot he didn’t have a translator.
“We’re going to split up,” she replied.
“I gathered that, but where?” he replied.
“Stop here,” Boaz instructed and waved at the next turnoff for a park by the highway.
They pulled off the highway and Jim circled the park, stopping at a spot covered by trees. Boaz got out and helped Laney from the cab. Maya joined them.
“So, what are you going to do?” She hated they were parting this way after all they’d been through.
Laney looked to Boaz.
“A lot of time has passed since I was captured. There were others of my kind that came here to help your people, but as you can see things didn’t go as planned,” Boaz explained.
“I’m sorry. I wish we weren’t so suspicious.” Maya shook her head sadly.
“If any Anguis are still here, I need to find them. My people need to know what’s going on.”
“What about the Miran Sona?” Vintor asked.
“We were still allies when I was captured, but disagreements were beginning to occur about how to interact with Earth. I don’t know anymore.” Boaz shook his head.
“Oh.” That was something she wasn’t aware of.
“Let’s get this show on the road, kids. People at the playground are starting to wonder why an ambulance is here,” Jim called out from the driver’s seat.
“Okay. Please be safe.” Maya tried not to cry as she gave Laney a hug. “Maybe you can convince Boaz to put a pair of pants on at some point,” she whispered with a little laugh.
Laney giggled, her cheeks turning red as she glanced at Boaz camouflaged against the side of the ambulance.
“You be safe, too.” Laney hugged Maya tighter then let go and joined Boaz.
“Thank you for your help.” Vintor put his fist to his chest and bowed his head.
“And you.” Boaz clasped Vintor’s good shoulder.
Boaz took Laney’s hand and they headed into the brush. It was sad watching them leave. It was highlighted by the fact that it looked like Laney was wandering off all alone. Maya frowned as she looked at Vintor. Like Laney, she wondered what he planned to do.
“What’s next now that you’re free?” she asked, nervously shifting from one foot to the other. He could pretend none of this ever happened and she wouldn’t blame him if he did.
Vintor quo Fortis
Vintor shifted his gaze from where Boaz and Laney disappeared to Maya, hearing the anxiousness in her voice. Her eyes looked better. Whatever drugs she’d been given seemed to have left her system. But her eyes weren’t entirely normal. There was sadness in them. His chest felt tight as he stared at his dark goddess. Now that she was lucid again, she found herself on the run with a brutish foreign male. He wouldn’t apologize for getting her away from the vile people bent on hurting her, but her life had just been turned upside down, and he’d had a big hand in that. She had to be terrified.
It’s going to be all right, I promise. He reached out and ran his finger over the crease in her brow, smoothing the furrow till she gave him a wan smile.
“I need to contact my people and figure out if there’s any way to salvage this mission,” he replied to her question.
“I can help,” Maya offered.
“No.” Vintor shook his head. He didn’t want her in danger.
I need to find some place safe for her.
“Oh.” Maya frowned.
“This discussion needs to continue on the road,” Jim said as he nervously looked at the other humans in the park then glanced overhead.
Vintor heard the aircraft that had been canvassing the sky undoubtedly looking for them.
“We better get moving.” He pulled Maya back into the boxy vehicle and they took off again.
“You might not want my help, but you need it. The DOD has your ship and with the attack back there they’re going to lock down twice as hard. And how are you going to get around? I know this city.”
The humans found my cruiser! Vintor closed his eyes in frustration. Well there went his best means of reaching his friends. Maya was right. She did know her way around and how her people operated. And if he couldn’t find Ashtoret he had to either retrieve his ship or his handheld to contact Aculus. Vintor wanted to growl. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that. T
here had to be a way to send a signal that Ashtoret would see and recognize.
“Fine,” he rumbled.
Maya gave him a giant smile, and his breath caught in his throat at how stunning she was.
Goddess help me. She was irresistible. Concentrating on keeping them out of danger was going to be impossible when all he could think about was despoiling her.
“Where to now?” Jim asked while piloting the vehicle.
“I live at the Indian River condos, near Rockledge Medical. You can drop us near there and we can regroup.”
“That’s good. An ambulance heading toward the hospital won’t look odd. Can you walk if I pull up in the lot?” Jim asked.
“Yeah. I used to walk when I worked there.” Maya nodded.
“Well then you’ve got five minutes to figure out what to do about him.” Jim gestured to Vintor.
Of course, you can’t just walk around, Vintor groaned as he realized they had to find some way for him to blend in.
Maya nervously played with her neck and he smiled. He noticed it was a habit of hers when she was puzzling over something.
“Oh, I’ve got it.” Maya grabbed a bunch of bandages from the cabinet on the wall. “Lean over. You’re too tall for me to reach.”
She started winding the bandages around his head, covering his face and neck.
“He looks like a tragic burn victim,” Jim snorted.
“Hush.” Maya glanced back at him and started laughing. “Okay. You do look pretty pathetic, but it’ll work.”
He watched her through the slit in the bandages, loving the way her face scrunched up as she giggled.
Yeah, it’s going to be hard keeping my hands to myself. He smiled through the gauze.
“We’re pulling up now,” Jim called back.
“What are you going to do?” Maya asked the old medic.
“I’m going to take the ambulance on a little pleasure cruise. That way if they pull the GPS they think we’re headed north,” Jim replied.
“You’re making yourself bait.” Maya frowned.
“Call it penance.” Jim reached back and patted her knee then glanced at Vintor before turning his attention back to the road.
“You helped us. There’s no need to sacrifice yourself, you’ve done enough,” Vintor said and Maya translated for him.
“I’ll ditch the ambulance when I feel like I’ve gone far enough. You two just worry about yourselves. This is your chance to get free of this bullshit. Don’t go screwing that up with some harebrained scheme.”
“We’ll try not to.” Maya snorted at the old medic.
“Yeah sure,” Jim replied, sounding incredulous. “Here, Laney dropped her badge. Sounds like you might need it.”
“Thanks.” Maya took the card.
Jim pulled into a lot in front of a large building and stopped. Vintor helped Maya out of the boxy vehicle, and she stepped to the front door. Jim lowered the window.
“Be safe. Don’t hold onto this too long,” Maya fretted as she leaned up and kissed the male’s cheek.
If the male wasn’t old enough to be her sire Vintor might have been jealous. He wanted to bow to the medic out of respect, but he was playing the part of an injured person. Maya backed away as Jim pulled off again and left the lot.
“This way.” She took the path flanking the large building.
There were numerous people coming and going, many were medics dressed like Maya. The disguise she’d invented worked because people only gave him a cursory glance. They passed the large clinic and kept heading toward the river. They turned to follow the main road and Maya stopped cold in her tracks. The scent of fear that was suddenly emanating from her sent a growl vibrating from his throat. She tugged him off the walkway into a stand of trees by a dwelling. He followed her worried gaze to the three black vehicles heading the direction they were going.
“No, no, no,” Maya rasped, distress filling her voice. “I thought we had more time.”
This had to be the human warriors who were hunting them. Maya stood frozen looking toward her home, like she was debating forging ahead. She couldn’t seriously be thinking of going there now.
“Maya, we must go back. We can blend in with the others at the clinic,” he quietly insisted as he tugged her hand.
“No, you don’t understand.” She resisted him, abject fear rolling off her in waves.
Even when he’d found her in the lab the scent of her trepidation hadn’t been this strong. Something was terribly wrong. But he got the feeling it wasn’t the fear of being captured with the way she still tried to move toward her home.
“I don’t know what’s wrong, but we can’t go to your dwelling if that’s where your authorities are headed. We need to get out of the area.” Her safety was the only thing that mattered.
Vintor wrapped his arm around Maya’s and pulled her down the walkway back toward the sprawling clinic. She was shaking uncontrollably by the time they reached the building and he became frightened. Vintor turned her toward him and captured her cheeks, angling her face to meet his gaze. He didn’t care if people saw his hands or heard him speak.
“Maya, I need you to think. Where do we go from here?” he husked as she stared at him, her eyes wild, like a cornered animal. “We’ll figure whatever it is out, I promise. But we need to find a secure place for the night.”
Maya nodded repeatedly as she focused on him. Her rapid heartbeat slowed after a moment and she managed to rein in the acrid scent of fear that was burning his nose. She glanced around, taking stock of where they were.
“Let’s go inside.” She pointed to the entrance of the clinic and he followed her inside. “Have a seat.”
Maya walked over to the desk and spoke briefly to the female there who then handed her a curious crescent-shaped object on the end of a long wire. Maya held it up to her ear and spoke into the other end.
It’s a wired communicator. He tilted his head, confounded by the primitive device. The network of wires something like that would require to function had to be astounding.
Vintor shook loose of his thoughts when something tapped his knee. He looked down to see a tiny male human staring at him with wide eyes.
“You hurt your whole head?” The youth gaped.
Vintor nodded and subtly tucked his red hands behind him.
“My sister broke her arm, but I didn’t push her out of the fort even though girls aren’t allowed,” the tiny male insisted.
Vintor tried not to laugh. He had a feeling the male wasn’t totally innocent despite his claim.
“Jacob, stop bothering that man,” a female reprimanded as she turned in her seat and saw where the wayward youth had wandered. “Come back over here. I have goldfish crackers,” she bribed her young, who happily ran back to his mother and began munching on his snack.
“Making friends?” Maya asked.
Vintor gave a little snort as he stood and joined her.
“My brother’s on his way,” Maya informed him but she didn’t look entirely pleased about involving her sibling.
The news didn’t make him happy either. If anything happened to her family Maya would be devastated. She’d suffered enough already.
8 Reunion
Maya
Maya breathed a sigh of relief when Gary pulled up in his Trailblazer. He’d made good time.
“Get in the back,” she directed Vintor then hopped in the front seat next to her brother. “Thank you for dropping everything and coming to get us.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek.
“I don’t hear from you in months, and I don’t know the last time you asked me for anything, like hell I was going to say no, lil sis.” Gary cast Vintor an odd look before focusing on her again. “Besides, I was already out picking up the pizzas for our Friday night lock-in at the rec center.”
“You’re still doing that?” She smiled.
“As long as there’s foolishness on the streets and the kids need someplace to keep their behinds out of trouble,” he replied.
“Vintor, my older brother Gary. Gary, my friend Vintor,” she introduced them. “Gary runs the local community center. He’s been turning youth away from gang life one basketball game at a time.”
She smiled wistfully at her brother. He was making the difference in the community she hoped to when she got into medicine.
“Nice to meet you. By the way, Maya, as I recall you still owe me a game of one on one.”
“As much as I’d like that, I’ll have to take a raincheck.” She grimaced.
“Yeah, I figured with Vintor looking like that. What happened? That doesn’t look good.” Gary glanced at Vintor in the rearview mirror.
“It’s a long story. I’m sorry but I need you to take us to a hotel and I hate to ask but I need you to pay for it.”
She cringed when Gary’s gaze swung toward her, suspicion filling his eyes. He always knew when she was up to something. It’s what made him so good working with the neighborhood kids.
“I think you need to tell me this long story. It’s gotta be a good one since you live blocks from here, but you want to go to a hotel instead. And on a surgeon’s salary you should have more than enough to pay for a room. Not to mention I thought you stopped working at Rockledge Medical years ago.”
“Gary, I know you still think it’s your job to watch out for me, but we’re not kids anymore. I need you to just do this, please.” She’d already involved him too much by calling, but she didn’t know who else to turn to.
“Like hell, Maya. You’ve been practically absent for the last two years, and barely showed your face when mom was on her deathbed. I promised her I’d make sure you were okay, but it’s been damn hard. So, you’re gonna tell me what’s going on and I’ll even feed you dinner while you spill the beans, sis.” He gestured at the dozen pizzas in the back of the SUV.
Maya closed her eyes to block out the pain reflected in Gary’s pointed stare. He was right. He deserved to know why she’d distanced herself from the family she’d once been so close to. It was only fair since he’d been involved from the beginning, even if he didn’t know the DOD had been using him as leverage to keep her in line.
Warrior's Plight (Cadi Warriors Book 6) Page 9