Secrets of the Guardian (Waldgrave Book 3)

by A. L. Tyler

  He looked at her, eventually blinking. “Fine.”

  Lena closed the door and set off at a quick pace down the street to the diner on the corner of Fifth and Geraldine. She was fairly sure it wasn’t a trap, but she was placing no bets on whether someone had been smart enough to hack her voicemail and hear the message that Warren Astley had left. However, if someone was out to get her, she knew this was the last chance she might ever have to reunite Kelsey and Warren, and somehow that validated taking the risk. She checked her watch before pushing the door open to the dimming sunlight—it was nearing eight, and she hoped he was still there.

  She stepped into a place that smelled of bacon grease and barbeque sauce; the floors were shiny, but made sticky noises as Lena walked through the bright fluorescent light to the greeter station a little ways off from the door. A tall woman with bleach blond hair wearing jeans and a peach colored blouse looked up from her restaurant map to smile at her.

  “How many tonight?” She asked in a semi-southern drawl, reaching for a stack of menus on a podium to her near right.

  Lena glanced around the restaurant; Warren was sitting in a booth at the far end, staring stoically into a cup of coffee that he was stirring absentmindedly.

  “I’m with him.” Lena said pointing. “Is it okay if we just talk and not get interrupted? It’s kind of long time reunion.”

  The greeter smiled and nodded, and Lena went over. As she walked passed all of the people sitting in other booths and at the adjacent bar, she tried to see if she recognized any of them; there was an old couple getting ready to order, a guy sitting alone at the bar, and two younger women, perhaps in their late teens or early twenties, sharing an appetizer. One of the young women looked up at Lena as she passed, gave her a quick smile, and then went back to silently munching on the appetizer. As she slid into the seat across from Warren, he looked up, startled, and stared at Lena for quite some time. He was as worn down as he had been last time, still tired looking and wearing shabby clothes, but the anxious look of hope had sparked in his eyes.

  “I’m sorry, do I know you?” He finally mustered.

  Lena smiled. “I think you do. We met a while back in Texas, and then once before, though I’m still trying to forget that time.”

  He leaned back and looked her over one more time. “I never would have guessed…Is she here? I heard you were out with some friends, and I thought—“

  Lena smiled cautiously. “She’s here. Now, wait—you’ve got to understand a few things.”

  Warren smiled broadly and then looked like he was going to cry. He tersely gave Lena his full attention as she started to speak.

  “She doesn’t know you the way you know her. She doesn’t even know most of what this is about.” Lena explained.

  “You haven’t told her?” Warren frowned. He seemed to think for a moment. “Thank you. I think I prefer it that way.”

  “The reason I didn’t tell her is because it’s not my place. You’re going to have to tell her, and I want you to tell her everything.” Lena watched as Warren stopped smiling. He looked at Lena almost angrily, his prematurely wrinkled brow furrowing as his eyebrows dove together.

  He leaned in close to her, keeping his voice down. “We haven’t had easy lives, the two of us! And now you want me to spend the first moments with my daughter talking about…about her mother, and, and…how dark our lives really are? I won’t do it—these are things she just doesn’t need to know!”

  Lena looked pleadingly into his livid eyes. “Would you rather someone else, a complete stranger, even if that stranger is a relative, told her after your untimely death? Because let me tell you, I wouldn’t! Don’t let that happen to her. She needs to know.”

  It took a minute for Lena’s comment to register on Warren’s face. He sat back like she had slapped him. Lena gazed out the window briefly, and then looked back at him; his expression had softened considerably.

  “You might not have wanted this for her,” she started slowly, “and you’re trying to protect her, and that’s good. But you can’t protect her from the past. She’s a very intelligent girl, and sometimes it’s absolutely striking…she’s clever, Warren, and even if you don’t tell her she’ll find out. She’ll know. She knows things that I have no idea how she knows. She has a family, and two brothers, and someday she’s going to want to meet them. You can’t just take all of it away from her. You did things you don’t want her to know about, but you can’t hide it—it’s her heritage. She needs to make sense of it before someone decides to tell her a story with certain details left out, and that version makes up her mind for her.”

  They sat in silence, the memory of Lena’s early days at Waldgrave aching terribly. She didn’t know where Warren intended to take his daughter, or who he wanted her to know, but the one thing Lena did know was that she didn’t want Kelsey to wind up the victim of a conspiracy she didn’t even know about.

  “I understand.” Warren said quietly.

  Lena nodded. “Do you have a phone?”

  Warren reached into his pocket and produced an older model flip-open cell phone, and passed it to Lena. She found her cell phone number already programmed into it, and called it. She spoke with Devin for a few minutes and then closed the phone.

  She looked back up at Warren. “Okay. We can’t stay here long…I’m guessing someone’s told you about what’s going on lately?”

  “The killings? Bound to happen.” Warren said with a shrug. “What’s Corbett playing at, anyway? He worked very hard to maintain his standing all those years, and now he’s just bowing out?” He looked at Lena questioningly.

  “I have no idea.” She lied poorly.

  “No—seriously. What’s he hiding?” Warren’s eyes filled with concern. “Lena, if he doesn’t step up to lead, the killings will continue. The old families need someone to follow, someone to keep them in line. Otherwise, if there’s a chance to steal the lead, they’ll try for it…Whatever he’s trying to accomplish, he won’t have much to return to if this goes on for long.”

  “He’s not up to anything.” Lena said flatly.

  Warren nodded, accepting that he wasn’t going to get any more out of her. His eyes narrowed as he raised his coffee to take a sip.

  “Really, it’s nothing.” Lena said finally, trying to fill the silence. “Well, it’s not nothing, but it’s not anything you should be concerned about. It’s just some family business he’s having to take care of—stuff since my grandfather passed on that he’s needed to deal with.”

  “I see.” Warren conceded unconvincingly.

  “Um, Lena?”

  Lena looked over. Devin and Kelsey were standing next to the table. Kelsey was carrying her suitcase and looked white as a sheet as she stared at Lena. Warren’s eyes had wandered up to her daughter’s face; he looked like he might cry again.

  “Cheryl, is it?” Warren said quietly. “That’s what I’ve heard.”

  “Kelsey.” She replied.

  “Isn’t this sweet?” Devin said sarcastically. “Okay, I know those two girls over there, and they totally recognized me. May I suggest we move out now? Like, right now?”

  Lena shot up out of her seat and turned around. Three booths from their own, one of the two young women Lena had seen upon entering was talking on a cell phone. Lena’s eyes met with her companion’s, and the second girl leaned over and whispered something to the one with the cell phone. The girl with the cell phone stopped talking and looked, surprised, up at Lena.

  Shit. She spun around and looked directly at Warren. “Do you have a car?”

  “Yes.” He said, getting up and looking around, bewildered.

  She started speaking very fast and in a low tone. “Take her, change her hair, and don’t stop moving. Hide. She’ll tell you why—you have a lot to share with each other. Call me, from that cell phone, at exactly six tomorrow night to let me know everything is okay. Now go!”

  Warren ushered Kelsey out of the diner as she gave shocked and sad looks at Devi
n and Lena. And just like that her face disappeared beyond the diner door; she was gone. They hadn’t even had the chance to say goodbye. Lena looked over at Devin, who was clutching at his stomach, and knew the person that the girl was talking to on the cell phone was Rollin. She grabbed Devin’s hand.

  “Let’s go.” She pulled him toward the diner entrance. The nearest girl, with brownish-blondish hair, got up to block their path and Lena shouldered her with force out of the way. As she fell into the table, Lena broke into a run, dragging Devin the first few steps. It felt like an eternity as they sprinted back to the car. They got in, and sped off in no particular direction. After they had cleared the intersection and Lena couldn’t see the diner in the rearview mirror any longer, she felt like she was going to be sick. It was dark out, and she pulled off into the first parking lot she could find and turned the car off.

  She sat still in the driver’s seat for several seconds, just letting the action of what had happened hum through her being. Then she hit the steering wheel as hard as she could, over and over again, feeling the pain shoot up her wrists.

  “Lena. Lena!” She felt Devin wrap his arms around her to restrain her. She was shaking. “It’ll be okay…”

  “Shit, Devin! That might be the last time we ever see her because of me! We didn’t even get to say goodbye—did you see the look on her face? They’re out to get me, and they saw her with me, and I didn’t even warn him!” She was tense. She tried to let him comfort her, but she knew she had screwed up this time. Kelsey was her responsibility; now, wherever she was, she was with a stranger on the run, scared and probably lonely, wondering if her two friends had even made it out of the diner. Wondering, like Lena was, if the other pair were currently safe and alive.

  Lena felt hot, angry tears dripping down her face in the darkness.

  “They’ll be fine, just stop worrying…Look, I only even met them after I met up with Rollin. They don’t know Kelsey at all. It’s probably better that we didn’t act like we cared that she was going off, because that really would have drawn the connection between her and us. You did the right thing.” He tried to pull her closer, but she was rigid, and she didn’t think she would be relaxing anytime soon. “We’re more interesting than she is. I mean, look on the bright side—they’d much rather be killing the two of us, right? Kelsey will be fine.”

  He had intended it as a joke, but neither of them laughed. It dawned on Lena that she was now back in hiding, and this time she was on her own. Devin was a good friend, but he wasn’t Griffin. This time, she was in charge of keeping herself safe, and she wasn’t sure she was up to the job.

  *****

  Devin drove the rest of that night to get them into Kentucky, where they had a hard time the next morning finding a place that didn’t turn them away for wanting to pay cash. Lena wasn’t willing to use her cards anymore for any reason; Rollin had somehow found out where she was staying. She didn’t know why he was being so bold after so many months of silence, but she was willing to bet that he was taking advantage of the fact that the higher families had been thrown into chaos; they weren’t a united front anymore, and it would be easiest to break them apart now. If he was lucky, he might win or bully enough support to put a candidate on the Council. He might even put himself on the Council if he played the situation out right.

  When they finally found a cheap, dirty motel that was willing to take them, Lena changed the password on her voicemail and on her email, and vowed to keep changing them every twelve hours. Howard hadn’t written anything since the day before, which left Lena a little surprised and worried. She curled up on the bed and tried to get some sleep while Devin ran out to buy more hair dye. Instead of sleeping, all her brain wanted to do was to consider options.

  She was ready to abandon the trip to South Carolina; it was just too risky. Of course, it was risky to be out and away from Waldgrave right now, but Howard had specifically told her not to try to return. God knew how long it would take before things were safe again—so why shouldn’t she go to South Carolina if she was already in danger? She had been in danger before.

  But that had been with Griffin.

  Ben would have gone to South Carolina for the answers.

  Her father would have bought the first ticket out of the country.

  But what do I want to do? Lena pressed her hand to her head.

  It was likely that someone was already following her. It was likely they would think to look in South Carolina, at the address Lena had given Howard; however, she had given him a false address, so that part didn’t matter. They would look for her in South Carolina, unless they were already figuring that she was too smart to go there, in which case they might be looking anywhere. She could plant a decoy—but the last time Griffin had done that, Rollin had squatted right at the entrance to Waldgrave to snare them upon return. Chances were that he knew she had business of some sort in South Carolina, and was going to be there.

  But, he was going to be watching the wrong address. But did she dare go that close, and bring down all of this mess on innocent bystanders? It was too much to consider.

  Devin eventually came back, and promptly fell asleep on the bed. After an hour had passed, and Lena still couldn’t sleep, she got up to change into pajamas and wash her face. As she started pulling things out of her bag, she heard an odd noise—like someone had stuffed maracas into her suitcase. She lifted a pile of clothes, and saw that Kelsey had given up her pills. They were all there—even the sleep aids.

  Lena stared at them for a long time. She turned and looked at Devin, snoring blissfully on the bed. She wasn’t going to be of any use later when they drove unless she got some sleep now.

  Just this one time, then.

  She pulled out the orange bottle, took a pill, hid them back in her bag, and laid back down on the bed. It only took fifteen minutes to work.

  It was dark again when she woke up. Devin had all the lights turned off, but the television turned on with subtitles. She watched him, illuminated in the bluish glow coming off the screen, until he looked over from the chair he was sitting on and smiled.

  “Good nap?” He asked.

  “Yeah.” She said, sitting up and rising from the bed. “Yeah, it was, actually.”

  “I went out and got some food. It’s from the grocery store. I’ve been feeling a little more off than usual, I guess, and I didn’t want any more fast food.” He got up and brought some bags over to the bed. “But I’ll go get you some, if you want it…”

  “No,” Lena said, pawing through the bags, “No, this is fine, Dev, thanks.”

  He went to the wall and turned the lights on, causing Lena to squint. A headache instantly overtook her, but she vowed she wasn’t going to take any more pills. She looked back down into the paper grocery bags and fished out some crackers, canned tuna, and a can opener that Devin had bought, and started making herself dinner…or breakfast, or whatever meal of the day it was.

  She looked over at the clock. It was just past midnight—she had been sleeping for ten hours, at least. God bless those pills.

  Devin sat down on the bed next to her and they ate tuna and crackers while they watched reruns of shows made in the early nineties. Devin seemed to have seen all of them, but most of it was new to Lena. She had still been out adventuring with her father in those days.

  “So.” Devin said after a while. “Do you want to do hair now, or in the morning?”

  “Now, I guess.” Lena sighed. Did it really make a difference?

  They went over to the sink area, and Lena found two boxes of dye. Both blond.

  “Ah, Dev—are you serious?”

  “Yes I am.” He said with a grin.

  He did Lena’s hair first, and then she did his while she was waiting for hers to set. She guessed it probably wasn’t a good thing to try to dye one’s hair twice in the same forty-eight hour period, but she knew she wasn’t keeping the same look anymore. Not since she had been identified.

  “Oh, Cher—I mean, Kelsey called
.” Devin said as Lena emptied the reeking bottle of dye onto his head. There was obviously a lot of bleach in this dye—Lena was already feeling sick and dizzy from the smell.

  “And you didn’t pick it up, right?” She asked, with heavy emphasis on the last word.

  Devin sighed and rolled his eyes. “Of course not. I figured you’d want to check it all sneaky somehow, because you seem to be into doing things sneaky lately.”

  Lena smiled, then sighed. “Well, thanks for not picking up. I’m not sure how I’m going to check it yet, but thanks.”

  Then went back to watch more old television episodes until it was time for Lena to shower. When she got out, her hair was so stiff and sticky she swore that she would find some high-quality conditioner the next day. But it was certainly blond; that, and it wasn’t too shockingly blond. As Lena looked over the light to gold tones in the mirror, she decided it actually looked pretty good.

  “I told you so.” Devin said as he passed her to go into the shower.

  Lena flipped the television to the news until Devin came back out of the shower, and checked her email again. There was still nothing. When Devin came back out, they packed up the car and Lena had him drive to a twenty-four hour grocery, where she attempted to take more money off of her cards and then called her voicemail from a store pay phone. As Devin had said she would be, Kelsey was fine. She was worried about Lena and Devin, but she was safe somewhere in Minnesota now, and she and Warren were headed for Canada in the next few days.

  Lena hung up the phone and trotted back out to the car in the darkness. She hopped in and handed Devin one of her two envelopes of cash.

  “How much is in here?” He said, tentatively squeezing the envelope.

  “Five hundred dollars. Don’t lose it, because we’re going to need it.” She said, putting on her seatbelt and settling in behind the wheel.

  “Five hundred! What the hell do we need that much…geez, I mean, we still have like, over a thousand from the last withdrawal!” He said.