She felt a chill, and realized, with shock, she was lying naked on a satin coverlet, on a bed with large four posters at the corners. Her feet were bound together with silk sash-like ties, and secured by something down at the foot of the bed, but over the mattress’ edge. Her arms were tied above her head, secured by the same sashes, to a headboard with a beveled mirror embedded in it.
Her eyes rose to the ceiling, containing a large gilt mirror nearly the size of the bed itself. In this mirror, she could see her naked form. She noticed her hair had been recently washed. Makeup had been applied to her face, including light pink lip gloss. With the increase of her respiration came the scent of something flowery, and she realized she’d been oiled or covered with a delicate scent from lilies or something tropical. White roses in a red vase sat on both sides of the bed on matching dark nightstands.
Looking back up to her face in the mirror, she began to realize this was a stage. There was a show starting sometime soon.
And she was the star.
She tried to think of anything that could indicate where she was. Why she was here. Nothing came to mind.
A door opened in the wallpaper, and inside stepped a woman and a man. The woman was naked, with a silk robe falling loose and open down the front. Her heavily made-up face was not pretty. Her smile made Sarah sick to her stomach.
Luci, Mother. Where are you?
The man had a barrel chest and a dark complexion, looking perhaps Italian or Greek. He also wore a robe, but it was, thankfully, tied at the waist. Sarah got the impression he was also naked under the paisley pattern on silk.
“Isn’t she lovely?” the woman said to the man.
“Stunning. I like very much,” he said with an accent. His mouth was hidden under a full moustache. He wore a gold cross around his neck.
“Would you like to touch her?” the woman asked.
“Very much,” the man said. He was led over to the bed. Sarah squirmed, wanting to scream something, but realized she was also gagged. Her bindings tore into her flesh as she tried to move her knees from side to side and pulled at her wrists, trying to force something loose.
“Ah, that’s lovely, too. See how she struggles?” the woman continued. “Is there any doubt, Mr. D, that she is a virgin?”
“How old is she?”
“You don’t want to know. Of the age girls marry in your country, though. Old enough to warm a man at night. Young enough to be ripe for the taking. You would be her first, Mr. D, if we can work out all the details.”
“Then I will touch her,” he said. He began to reach for the spot Sarah was protecting between her closed legs, but the woman deflected his fingers.
“Not there. No man has touched her there, Mr. D. Whomever gets her will be the first. I want her unspoiled. You understand.”
Sarah felt the sweat pour down between her legs, down her back, and under her arms. Despite her attempts, she was immobilized not only by the restraints, but also from some form of drug she had been given that hadn’t worn off completely.
The man known as Mr. D looked down at her like she was some sort of coveted toy. She could see dirty thoughts in his eyes. She tried to look defiant, and when that only seemed to enflame him further, she tried to beg him for decency. The look he returned told her he was beyond hope. There wasn’t an ounce of compassion in his dark face.
The woman took his hand and placed it on Sarah’s right breast. He closed his eyes as he squeezed her flesh. His nostrils flared as he tilted his head back toward the ceiling like he was savoring a favorite meal. His voice came almost like a whisper.
“I…must…have…her,” he said as he continued to squeeze, before moving to her other breast.
The woman stopped him, taking his wrist and placing his palm at her own breast. “This is what you get tonight. And, if you’re very nice, Mr. D, I will put your name in the bidding pool. Only our very best customers will be allowed to bid. But only the man who wins, will get a prize.
He maneuvered, turning to face the woman, parting her robe further as he allowed his other hand to grope her behind, pulling her to him.
Sarah watched his fondling of her and was disgusted. She closed her eyes immediately, but the long wet kiss and licking was noisy and something she could not get out of her mind. Finally, the two of them left.
She longed for the little house with her mother, even a drunk mother was better than this. She missed Luci, her art classes, the other kids in school. She missed having a future that seemed bright and unstoppable. All that was being taken away from her, and very soon. Somehow, she knew she would survive, but the near future would not be a pleasant one.
She vowed that, whatever happened, she would not let it change her. She would survive. She came from a long line of survivors. The history of her people had taught her how to survive, even in the face of abuse, neglect, and indifference to her soul’s desires. Somehow, she would get even.
Some day.
Chapter 26
‡
Danny drove up, parking behind Agent Sanders’ pickup. He had another person with him, who waved back at him as he opened the driver’s door and took off in the truck. Griffin was still nursing when Danny came up to stand beside Luci, giving her a kiss to the side of her neck, before touching the baby, who had started dozing off. Griffin renewed his interest in her breast and began nursing once again.
Danny rubbed her cheek with the back of his fingers. “You are a vision sitting here like this. All I ever want in the world is right here, sitting on this porch.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling, feeling warmed all over. “All I ever wanted is right here, too,” she said to the baby, and then looked back up to Danny. “The two of you. Forever.” Danny bent down and kissed her softly.
When he went inside, Luci and the baby followed him.
“Danny, I was looking over Sarah’s computer, and I think I’ve found something.”
She opened the laptop, pulled up Sarah’s profile page, and showed him the private messages. Zelda’s attention was sparked and she came over to look. Luci moved in front of her, blocking the view.
“Mom, this is going to be disturbing. I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want to upset you.”
“She’s my baby, Luci. I have a right. I need to see it all. All of it, Luci.”
Danny chimed in, “Luci, she’s right, sweetheart.” He addressed her mother, “Zelda, I’m sure you understand we are trusting you won’t be passing this on to anyone else?”
“Of course not,” Zelda replied, irritated.
Luci stepped aside and they began to read the disturbing string, starting with the conversation about Sarah pleasuring herself and then the follow-up discussion the next day.
“Holy Christ! Whoever did this is going to rot in hell,” Zelda shouted out. “What does the nose-bleeder think of this?”
“He doesn’t know yet; you know that, Mom. He’s at the hospital getting his nose fixed.”
“Zelda, I’m going to have to give Sanders this computer for a few days. I think Luci is right, these emails don’t sound like they came from a young teenager. Way too bold for this. I think Sarah got herself messed up in something. Maybe this is a clue to what’s been happening to the other girls,” Danny said.
“Go ahead. I’m not going to stand in the way. Not that I like outsiders reading my email, either.”
“That’s not going to happen.”
Zelda walked off shaking her head.
Sanders called them in response to Danny’s message. He offered to meet them at the pie shop, unwilling to have a repeat of the morning’s events at the Tohe household. Lyle was driving, which was probably a good thing, since it was obvious to Luci the man was on pain meds. He looked like death warmed over. She’d started apologizing to him, but he stopped her.
“No need. And when the swelling and pain wears down, forgotten.”
Danny could see Luci was having a hard time keeping a straight face, and was grateful a smile to Griffin took som
e of the pressure off. But soon they watched as Lyle and Sanders poured over the material on the laptop. Sanders became agitated and at one point looked like he wanted to throw the device clear across the room.
“Can the FBI find out where those messages were sent from?” Danny asked.
“Probably. Not sure how long it would take, though. These things don’t work like on TV. You have to imagine how many requests they get every day,” Sanders answered. “Fuckin’ perverts.” He realized he had misspoken. “I mean the bad guys, not the Bureau.”
“Understood,” Danny said to his water glass, avoiding eye contact.
Lyle’s comment was tentative. “So, Cortland, what’s the next step then? You think we’re gonna need more help? This is beginning to look really big.”
Sanders sneered at him, and Danny picked up right away it was due to the fact that Lyle had used his given name.
“They always look big. When you crack them, they shrivel up like an excised pimple.” He glanced to Luci. “Sorry, ma’am.”
The conversational silence was awkward. “Should we try to play along with them, then?” he asked.
“You mean, make an entry?” wondered Luci.
“Fuck no,” Sanders began, then softened his eyes again and shrugged for the apology he didn’t speak. “I’m going to download everything onto a zip drive and send it off. Sometimes that strips out the coding. But if we answer, and they have Sarah, they’ll know we’re onto them. That’s not smart.” It looked painful for him to speak.
“So have you seen things like this before?” Luci asked.
Sanders gave her a look as if she’d sprouted a pink horn in the middle of her forehead, and then shook his head. His eyes were getting bloodshot now. Luci’s face was shriveling into a wince the more she watched him. Danny was focused on the agent’s swollen and colorful features as well.
“You okay, Sanders?” he asked.
“No. I fuckin’ feel like shit. Pardon me. But not a good time to take a medical. This isn’t good. None of this is any good,” he said, pointing to the computer. “We can’t delay.”
Luci was compelled to reach out and touch Sanders’ hand. “Thank you.”
At first, the agent jerked as if hot water had been thrown on him. Afterward, Danny noted Sanders found it impossible to look Luci in the eyes, brought out the secure USB drive, made a copy, and abruptly left.
When Danny, Luci, and the baby got home, Zelda was gone. Luci tried to call her on her cell, but the call went to voicemail after four rings.
“You’d think she’d leave you a note so you wouldn’t worry,” Danny said.
“I’m exhausted, Danny. I just don’t have the energy to create another conspiracy. I just wish we had something we could do except wait.”
“It will be okay. I don’t know how I know, but I just know.” He’d taken her in his arms and rubbed the back of her neck and shoulders, feeling her relax under the pressure of his fingers.
“I don’t have those intuitions, Danny,” she said to his chest. “Everything on my screen is black. Painful,” she whispered.
“I’m going to go talk to a couple of my grandfather’s friends. Maybe they’ll have some information about something they might have seen. Not sure Sanders got to them in the interviews.”
Luci put the baby down in the bedroom while Danny put in a call to several of his grandfather’s friends, left a message for his cousin, and then reached his team leader, Kyle.
“You got a plan, of course?” Kyle asked him.
“I’ll know more when I can get with Sanders again, but yes, they’ve got a plan. Complicated now with Zelda—that’s Luci’s mother—taking off on her own.” He paused. “Kyle, sure glad I’m here.”
“You stay out of trouble, though, Danny. You make sure the locals do all the first moves. Don’t go leading any rogue missions, I don’t care how good they sound. That’s not our theater, this is.”
“Roger that.”
“Hey, pulling strings for you, big guy. Little Ali is sure enjoying himself over here with the dog handlers, and the nurses are spoiling the kid something fierce. He’s practically living on chocolate and cold cereal.”
Danny laughed. Yesterday morning, he’d left Ali standing in the small yard with half a dozen puppies jumping up, knocking him down and licking his face. One of the war dogs had given birth to a litter a month ago, and the much-heralded event had been a welcomed distraction. That’s the way he chose to remember the little Iraqi orphan, giggling, being covered in puppies. The pretty Navy doctor had agreed to watch over him in the medical dorm until special circumstances permission to bring him to the States could be secured.
“Thanks, Kyle.”
“No problem. You just get your butt back over here in two. Don’t make it three, Danny.”
He also returned a call from his mother, who was planning a trip out to Arizona to visit him and meet her new grandson. Danny asked her to wait until they understood what was going on before coming.
“Not like over there,” Danny began, “but Mom, things are not safe. I’ll call you as soon as I can.”
Danny appeared at the doorway to the bedroom, and Luci began to feel guilty for the lusty thoughts she was having while her sister and perhaps her mother were in danger. One forearm leaned against the door trim on his side of it, his other hand was stuffed into the front pocket of his jeans. She was so grateful for his presence.
“I know you’re tired, but without knowing where your mother is, I’m not comfortable leaving you alone,” he said as he gave her a slow appreciative perusal they both knew would not lead to anything further. She brushed past him, giving him a brief kiss, as she made her way to the living room to let Griffin sleep. She sat down at the table and sighed.
“I’ll be fine. I really think she’s just out shopping or something.”
“I got a little something I need to ask you.”
Luci had put her hands on the computer but stalled.
“What?”
“Over in Iraq, there was this little boy I rescued, Ali. He’s four years old. We tried to save his father too, but—”
Luci’s heart clenched as she felt Danny’s pain. “Go on. Tell me. Tell me everything.” She knew visions of things experienced overseas would haunt him.
Danny walked to the window and looked out over the desert. “I held him in my arms as they got his father. I sheltered his eyes so he didn’t have to see what we all saw. This man sacrificed his life for our cause, and for a chance at a better life for his son.” He turned and she could see the hurt lodged inside this strong, compassionate, silent warrior. She knew there was more and didn’t want to pry. She’d take his information however he chose to present it.
Danny knelt on one knee, taking her hands in his. “I’d like to bring him here. I’d like to try to adopt him, if you’re willing.”
It wasn’t what Luci had expected. She touched his cheek and gave him the only answer she knew was in her heart.
“Of course. We have room for one more, many more, Danny, you know that.” Her smile was returned, which gladdened her heart. “Will they let you bring him back?”
“Not sure. I was working on it, when I came back here. Kyle just told me the paperwork had been filed in my absence. But they’re trying to expedite it. Maybe when I go back, they will—”
“Let him come home with you. To us.”
“Yes. To us. Thank you, my love.” He bent, giving her a warm kiss.
Danny stood and continued his stare out the front window, lost in thought. Luci resumed her interest in Sarah’s computer and opened it. She was about to enter Sarah’s password, when she decided instead to go into her mother’s email. Not more than an hour ago, George Yellowhorse had left Zelda a message saying he had information on Sarah. He’d repeated it five minutes later, and then indicated he’d try to call her.
“Danny, look at this!” He ran to stand behind her, and she showed him the email.
“That’s where she is,” Danny said.
“She’s gone to meet up with that scumbag Yellowhorse. He must have gotten her on the phone. He knew the one thing he could tell her that would for sure make her want to meet with him without backup.”
“You have to tell Sanders. This would be on the USB, right?”
“Not if it came in afterward,” he said.
Luci searched for a way to figure out where she might have gone. Long stretches of barren unpaved roads crisscrossed all over the reservation. They could travel for miles without seeing a soul. Home sites dotted the landscape, most of them unmarked, without addresses and never with something like a “Welcome to the Yellowhorse Household” sign at the driveway. Her mother literally could be anywhere on or off the reservation.
Danny got Sanders on the phone. “Okay, he’s coming here,” he said when he’d hung up.
“What did he say?” Luci asked.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Humor me. I can take it.”
“‘That dumb broad.’”
Chapter 27
‡
Danny got a call from Wilson, who, as it turned out, was home again, although training in the desert outside Las Vegas. He promised he’d be there in less than four hours, which would mean he’d be breaking the speed limit the whole way.
Danny was relieved he would have someone else with recent knowledge of the goings on at the reservation who could assist Sanders in ways Danny couldn’t. Several of his grandfather’s buddies had returned his calls. He’d asked them if they’d seen Zelda, and of course everyone was concerned. He knew they’d be calling everyone they knew, asking the same questions. The Navajo oral social media was in full swing. If she’d been seen anywhere, they’d know about it soon. He recalled how he could never get away with anything, how eyes were always on him, reporting back to his mother every little thing he did something, and it used to drive him completely nuts. He and Wilson never got away with anything.
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