by Grace Walton
“Donnie, I still think we got at least enough time to let the females wash their faces and fix up their hair. I mean some of these little heifers been crying all night. I ain’t about to bring the Prophet a bunch of dirty faced, snarly headed girls.” Gage heard one of the men argue.
“Me neither,” said another one. “I don’t want to be on his bad side. You all know what happened to Pete.”
There was some nodding and murmurs of agreement. Donnie scratched at an oily spot on his head and spoke.
“All right, all right- They got five minutes to get it done.” He hitched up his jeans and stepped past the bank of the creek closer to the fire. He plopped himself down beside the ashes and leaned back on an elbow.
“Go on Teacher Gal, you and them whiners have got five minutes. Go ahead and gussy up some. After all, you want to look purdy for your new bridegrooms.” With that, he spat into the center of the ashes sending up a hiss and a swirl of smoke.
Carrie knew if it weren’t for the children she would have gone over there and slapped the leer right off his squirrelly face. But she had to think of the students first. Gathering them up, she shepherded them down to the water. Thankfully the creek was running fast and clear. With resignation, she dipped the hem of her jumper into the cold water. She offered it to one child and then another to wipe their faces. When they’d all washed their hands and faces she set about gathering up stringy pony tails. Patiently she helped them to get the burrs and snarls out of their hair. Finally they were done.
“Well… my, my… they do clean up as purdy as a spotted pup. How about you, Teacher Gal? Ain’t you gonna gussy up yourself? Me and the boys had a right fine time last night just awondering how long that big ole fat braid of yours is and what you might be hiding behind them thick glasses and baggy dress.” Gage watched as her fists balled up. He knew he better make his move quick before Miss Smith got herself into even more trouble.
“Hey the camp,” he yelled. He clomped down the creek bed like he had no reason to fear them.
“How you all doin’?” His Paris educated mother would have shuddered at his thick accent and apparent lack of education.
“Hold up now!”
Gage lifted his hands to show he didn’t have a weapon, unlike the five men facing him who were all staring down the barrel of a rifle. “I ain’t here to mess with you. My pony threw me and I’m just hoofin’ back out to the road. Any you fellers seen a hard headed son of a gun buckskin gelding tearing through here?”
“No,” barked Donnie not lowering his gun. “Now you get on outta here.”
“Sure thing Partner,” Gage backed up cautiously, hands still in the air. “I don’t want no trouble. No sir, I surely don’t.”
The other men seemed to relax. One or two shoved their rifles up on a shoulder. Donnie didn’t move.
Gage started to turn to leave. His unbuttoned shirt gaped at the neck and the tattoo became visible for the first time. Gage, seeming to realize it showed made a great display of jerking his collar up before turning. Donnie noticed the mark, just as Gage had intended.
“Wait up!” Donnie ordered. “Purity of race.”
Gage turned and responded with the correct code words, “White is right.”
Donnie smiled and uncocked his rifle. “Well, come on in and have a cup of coffee Brother.”
Gage returned the smile and nodded in agreement. “I would purely love to, Brother.” He shambled down towards the fire.
Carrie wasn’t sure what had just happened. But she frowned because now instead of five men she had to deal with six. And the new one was by far the biggest and most fit looking of the crew. Even if he did look as dumb as a post. This one seemed more dangerous than all the others combined.
Donnie welcomed the newcomer with a sweeping arm. “Sit a spell and tell us where all you come from.”
Gage nodded and lowered himself to the ground. “I appreciate the coffee.” He reached and grabbed the tin cup one of the others offered. “I’m from down around Idaho. Came up here for the hunting. How bout you boys?”
Donnie cleared his throat and gave the others the evil eye before answering, “We live here.”
“What you doin’ with all these kids?” Gage asked without suspicion.
The others looked at Donnie as if asking him what they should do. Donnie answered, “What crowd you in?”
Gage’s face split in a dumb grin. “I reckon you seen my ink?” He yanked down the collar of his shirt to show the tattoo. “I’m a member of the Aryan Brotherhood…. and right proud of it.” The others relaxed further and chuckled.
“How bout you boys?” he probed.
“Aw… we’re members in good standing of The Conclave,” Donnie bragged.
“You don’t say?” Gage sounded impressed. “I heard you all was a tough bunch to tangle with. So what’s with the kids?”
Donnie cleared his throat again and seemed to be making a big decision. “Well… I guess I can tell you, beings as you’re a Brother and all. These here girls are prospective brides, we need all fifteen of them. We got a lot of God fearing men in the Conclave needin’ good wives. We couldn’t find the sort we was looking for. So we decided to get us some young ones and raise them up to suit.”
Gage nodded sagely. “That’s a fine idea. We got the same problem over in Idaho. We thought we’d solved it though.” He let the words dangle to entice them.
Donnie bit. “That so? What did you all do?”
Gage leaned back comfortably against a rock and picked at his blackened front teeth. “We got us some gals from the Philippines.”
“You got one?” Donnie asked breathless.
Gage mournfully shook his head. “I didn’t have a chance. Them little gals got married up so fast it’d make your head spin. By the time I got to picking my choice, they was all Mrs. Somebody Else.”
“Man you really messed up,” Donnie commiserated. “They say them Asian girls know how to treat a husband. They’re all submissive like. Not like these hard bossy American women. Take Teacher Gal over there. It ain’t no secret why she ain’t married. Man’d have to be near crazy to hitch up with one like that.”
Carrie snorted from down by the creek. They didn’t know the half of it. She’d listened intently to everything the men said. And she hadn’t liked any of it.
“I know, I missed my chance.” Gage prodded the dirt with the toe of one scuffed boot. “You all got the right idea. Get um young while they’re still pliable. Saves a man a whole lotta trouble in the end. ”
All the men around the dying fire grunted their assent.
“But I got to be honest boys, some of them girls don’t look like they even started their monthlies. Down in Idaho we don’t hold with that. No sir, we don’t marry up with no child,” Gage said.
“Us neither,” allowed Donnie as the others nodded. “We can pick the one we want, but we can’t live with um’ right off. I reckon that’s why Teacher Gal there is so interestin’. No waiting period involved with marrying up with her. Yep, The Prophet set a strict rule about marrying age. We don’t marry no girl till she’s at least fourteen, or she’s started her courses- whichever comes first. These here little ones will be trained by the older wives till then. They got a whole lot to learn about living at the Conclave. We don’t have all the modern fancy conveniences.”
“That’s right,” chimed in one of the men. “We don’t hold with electricity and indoor plumbing. That kind of stuff can just ruin a man for spiritual matters.”
Another one added, “Yeah, we live off the land… keeps us hard and ready to fight. And our women folk have to learn to live like the pioneers did. No washing machines and microwaves.”
Gage watched the teacher carefully. Her reactions to their conversation were patently clear. She wasn’t scared. No, he’d give Miss Smith that much. But she looked as if she might explode any second. That would be bad, fatal in fact, for them all. He’d done enough deep cover work with these types to know even if they were stupid and b
igoted, they were still dangerous.
“Tell you what,” he began conversationally. “Since I had bad luck back home, how bout you let me take the old one off your hands.” He pointed towards Carrie. She straightened to her full height and glared at him.
“I can tell just by looking at her, she ain’t gonna take to pioneer living too easy. And she’s way too old to train.”
Donnie swore and spit into the fire again. “I wish I could oblige you, but that one’s been picked already. By a bunch of us. I’m real afraid there’s gonna be bad blood about who gets her.”
Gage looked incredulous, “You gotta be jokin’?” He chuckled with mirth. “Man, she’s too tall, too skinny, and way too plain.”
Carrie’s eyes narrowed. She’d heard those words before, at the Courthouse, in the elevator. She gave the man another look. He was a big guy. But that was all he had in common with the rich, urbane, and deadly Dr. Gage Ferguson. No, it must just be a dumb coincidence. Ferguson was probably still back at the school looking for the famous Caroline. She smiled and gave her attention back to what the men were saying.
“I like them tall,” piped up one of the kidnappers.
“I’ll grant you that could be a plus. But did you all get a good look at her? I mean, really I’d be doing you all a favor,” Gage persisted.
“Well….” Donnie drawled slowly. “We was talking about that very thing last night as a matter of fact.” The others nodded.
“And we come to decide that she might have a right nice form under that baggy dress she’s sporting. And then too, she’s got a powerful mane of hair. Can’t tell the color, but there’s a lot of it. I like that in a woman. Bible talks about a woman’s crowning glory being a good head of hair. And Teacher Gal’s got plenty. To come right down to it Brother- we all want her.”
Gage looked skeptical. “So what are you gonna do? Far as I know it’s illegal for a woman to have 5 husbands.”
Donnie thought that was hilarious. He cackled like a rooster. “Lord Brother, you are a pistol. Course a woman can’t have more than one husband. Now it’s different for a man. The Bible talks about lots of guys who had more than one wife. So we hold that if you can provide for more than one woman you can have more.”
“What’s good enough for King David and King Solomon is good enough for me,” piped up the boy enthusiastically.
“Shut up Leroy,” Donnie growled. “You’ll have to excuse him, he ain’t never been married before and he’s a mite… uh… overly ready you might say. But as I was sayin’, at the Conclave if you can build the woman a shack, you can marry her.”
“But that still don’t solve your problem with this woman. What are you gonna do?” Gage asked.
Donnie frowned. “We haven’t got that far in our thinking. It’d be up to the Prophet to decide anyway. But, I guess we could draw straws for her.”
All the others seemed to think that was a good solution. It was fair and seemed logical. Gage nodded, all the while searching for a solution to his own personal dilemma.
“Drawing straws? I suppose it’s as good a plan as any.” He rubbed his face. He hadn’t shaved since yesterday morning. His beard rasped his hand.
“You think I could sort of, hang out with you boys? Just until we get close to a road? If I don’t, I could be wandering around out here for quite a spell looking for that dad burned horse of mine.” They all laughed at his predicament.
“Shoot, I reckon. You can tell us what all the Aryan Brotherhood is up to,” Donnie invited. “But we need to get started. The prophet is expecting us and we’ve got a lot of track to cover.”
Gage uncurled his long body and stood up. He stretched his arms over his head and several of the men took a step back. The new man from the Aryan Nation might be friendly but he was also very, very big. None of them wanted to crowd him.
Donnie suddenly looked at the stranger with suspicion. “Say… if you was hunting… where’s your gun?”
Gage gave him a lopsided grin and answered, “It’s in the saddle holster on the dad-blamed buckskin. All I snagged on the way down to the ground was this old backpack.” He held up the ratty and torn item in question.
They all laughed at his misfortune. “Man, you lost your horse and your gun?” Donnie snickered.
“Yeah,” Gage looked over at Carrie. “Don’t tell no one, how bout it?”
Donnie slapped him on the back as if to sympathize. The men started gathering up the meager items that made up the camp. Each man rolled up a sleeping bag and then thrust it towards one of the girls to carry. Frightened, the girls obeyed. Troy and Zack kicked dirt into the fire. The others shoved the cooking supplies and the pan and coffee pot along with their tin cups into a dirty croaker sack.
Donnie hauled it up over one shoulder and marched to where Carrie stood watching. He heaved it down to the ground and spoke to her.
“OK, Teacher Gal make yourself useful. Big as you are, you ought to be able to tote this here little sack with no trouble at all. It might take some of the spunk out of you too.”
Carrie made no move to obey. She just stood there with her hands on her hips and stared him down.
“Listen you stubborn mule, either tote the sack. Or you’ll be sorry,” he threatened.
“Oh, I’m already sorry,” she said tartly. “I’m sorry you inept kidnappers chose my school to raid. I’m sorry I’m not standing downwind from you since it’s obvious you don’t bathe. But most of all I’m just plain sorry for you, you poor excuse for an adult. What kind of man has to steal a little girl for a wife?”
Her words stopped as Donnie backhanded her across the face. Defiant, she lifted her head a slow trickle of blood dripping down her stubborn chin. This show of rebellion infuriated Donnie. He balled up one fist and cocked it back as if he would knock her to the ground. Gage strode over to stand between them.
“Hold up now Donnie. Don’t be hitting her again. She ain’t pretty to begin with. But what’s she gonna look like with a black eye and a fat lip?” Gage reasoned.
Angry the smaller man seemed to be getting ready to throw a punch at Gage. At the last minute some reason must have kicked in because Donnie stopped. He took a good look at the size of the man confronting him and nodded. He wasn’t happy, but he was smart enough to know when to back down.
“She’s still got to carry the gear,” Donnie mumbled through stiff lips as he stalked off towards the head of the group.
That’s fine… that’s fine.” Gage’s response was affable. “She probably just needs help getting the load up on her back. Ain’t that right Darlin?”he asked Carrie with narrowed eyes. “Let me hoist that pack up for you Sugar.”
Donnie scowled as he said with a toss of his head. “See that you do that Brother. Git it done, cause if she don’t cooperate… Well, let’s just say we’ll be one bride shy when we get to the Conclave.”
Gage waited until the others were out of earshot before he picked up the bulky bag and began to approach Carrie. He frowned when he saw she meant to stand her ground. Now was not the time to anger any of the men. His mouth set in a hard straight line. Gage wiped the blood from her lip with a gentle finger and placed the heavy bundle on her back. At least he tried. Carrie easily avoided him with a move her Dad had taught her. Gage, surprised, chuckled. Carrie stared at him in disbelief. Anger she was prepared for, and violence was a distinct possibility. But humor, humor caught her off guard. So did the rumbling educated voice.
“Very nice Miss Smith, I haven’t seen that one since Ranger Basic.”
Carrie knew that voice didn’t belong to the rough man standing before her.
“I’m sorry he hurt you.”
She shivered in response to his deep, warm words. That shiver triggered a memory. A delicious memory of an intriguing man she’d met in an elevator and met once again outside the school. And that smell, yeah underneath all the dirt and grime she smelled cloves and cinnamon.
“He won’t hurt you again.”
There was a savageness pla
ying through him. She got the impression he was keeping another part of his nature completely hidden. A violent side, he kept restrained by sheer force of will. A side wildly at odds with the tender way he tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and straightened her glasses. She was beginning to understand how complicated and dangerous a man he truly was.
“What about you Dr. Ferguson? Are you going to hurt me?” her normally smooth voice came out as a croak. She looked up and found herself caught in the angry depths of his light colored eyes.
His smile didn’t reach those eyes as he held a finger in front of his lips. He carefully made sure no one could hear them before he answered quietly, “We can all get out of this situation alive. As long as you stop antagonizing them.”
She wasn’t convinced. She didn’t know why he was involved. “Why are you here?”
“I’m doing a favor for a friend, Miss Smith.” His words were cryptic. She didn’t trust him.
“Stop calling me that,” Carrie snapped.
“What would you prefer?” was his smooth reply. “Caroline?”
“No, I prefer Carrie.” She looked to the side and stabbed at her glasses with one nervous finger. Nothing could induce her to look him squarely in the eye.
“I know who you are Miss Cain. Ray told me.” His tone had softened as if he was somehow sorry for her.
Carrie swallowed hard and forced herself to meet his sympathetic amber eyes. “Ray? Who’s Ray?” She shrugged her shoulders in defeat. “Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know who’s paying to have me killed. It doesn’t matter anyway.”
Gage was surprised at the hot flow of anger he felt as she spoke. He found himself wanting to hurt somebody. He took a deep breath and tried to tame the fury racing through his body. He hated the tiny line of blood, she was dabbing at on her chin. He took another deep breath. Emotion right now was dangerous. He could see she didn’t have much experience with men, even if she had been a world famous model. He made her nervous. That was good, he could use her fear.