Sworn to Protect

by Kimberly Van Meter

  Mya waved away her protest and Iris let it go. There were certainly bigger issues at hand than her hurt feelings for being bypassed in the chain of command. Besides, she understood Mya was trying to protect her, even if Iris didn’t want her coddling her like a damn baby. “Bastard left her in the woods. She could’ve caught pneumonia or been eaten by animals,” Mya said, her bitterness escaping in her tone. “How could someone do this horrible thing? She’s practically a child.”

  “A monster,” Iris bit out. “A sick monster who doesn’t care about anyone but himself.” Rage had begun a slow percolation in her breast when she thought of Sierra victimized in this way. The rage smothered the guilt for the moment. “Where’s Sierra now?” she asked.

  “She’s in room 1. I talked her dad into letting us keep her for observation. She’s a mess emotionally. She hasn’t said a word since she was brought in. I’ve called in a pysch evaluation for her but the psychiatrist on call is coming from two towns over. It’ll be a while. In the meantime, we’re just trying to keep her comfortable.”

  Iris nodded and wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the warmth leaching from her body. “Did he…?”

  Mya nodded, looking away. “And more.”

  “How bad?”

  “She didn’t require surgery to repair the damage but nearly so. She’s pretty torn up.” Mya’s mouth tightened as she continued, “Sierra hadn’t been sexually active yet. She was saving herself for marriage. There were vaginal lacerations as well as…in other places. Oh, Iris…my heart breaks for that girl.”

  “Great Spirit,” Iris breathed, tears springing to her eyes. She ground out the moisture with the flat of her palm, angry that she felt so helpless. “Did you catch anything viable on the wet mount?” she asked, hoping Sierra’s attacker hadn’t had the wherewithal to use a condom, leaving behind essential forensic evidence.

  “No DNA under her fingernails but since he drugs them into submission, that’s not surprising and he must be wearing a condom when he rapes his victims,” Mya answered, shaking her head. “The bastard is smart. He likely also wears gloves or something to keep from leaving fingerprints.”

  Iris stared, hardly able to say the words. “You think the two cases are related?” It was a stupid question. These kinds of crimes didn’t happen often on the reservation, at least not on theirs. When Iris didn’t answer, just met Mya’s gaze, she shuddered. “Can I see her?”

  Mya hesitated then relented. “Only for a few minutes. Sundance will be here soon to take her statement because last night she wasn’t talking and she’s not really up to visitors.”

  Iris walked to room 1 and before entering made sure she’d controlled her own heart rate first. She needed to be calm for Sierra. When she was ready, she opened the door and stepped inside. Sierra’s father, James Buck, sat lightly dozing in a hard plastic chair beside Sierra’s bedside. He jumped awake when Iris approached but settled when his gaze registered recognition.

  “How is she?” Iris asked, checking Sierra’s blood pressure and pulse. James’s expression crumpled into such agony that she could almost feel his pain. Iris remained steadfast on the outside but inside she trembled. “Has she said anything?” she asked.

  “When they first brought her in, she was so out of it, like she was on drugs or something,” James stated, his gaze never leaving his daughter’s face. “And then when the doc had managed to flush out whatever that monster had given her, she just stared at the wall not saying nothing.” He looked to Iris, distraught. “You know my Sierra. She’s a little butterfly. Always smiling, always saying something nice to everyone. Who would do this to her? Why?”

  Iris shook her head, wishing she had the answer, not only for Sierra but for herself. Sierra appeared catatonic, rarely blinking, just staring at the wall as if her spirit had left behind the shell of her body. “Sierra?” Iris ventured, watching for any sign of life in the girl’s brown eyes. Nothing, not even a flicker. She tried again, this time a little firmer. “Sierra, honey, it’s me, Iris. Can you look at me?”

  Again nothing and the failure to elicit a response only served to distress James further so Iris stopped. Perhaps in a few days Sierra would come around, Iris hoped.

  “I didn’t want her working the night shift,” James started spontaneously, his eyes red-rimmed from a long night. “But she’s trying to save up money to leave for college and there’s so little work around here. She promised me she’d be safe.”

  A lump rose in Iris’s throat as she nodded wordlessly. James had raised Sierra by himself after his girlfriend had split when Sierra had been only a year old. James could’ve gone the easy route and become a drunk like so many others before him who were faced with not enough work and too much vice, but he’d made being Sierra’s dad his number one job. And now he was crumbling right before Iris’s eyes over something no one had any control over.

  “He dragged her into the woods and left her there like trash,” James said, his voice trembling. “He hurt her so bad. She’ll never be the same. He broke my little girl.”

  Iris couldn’t get her mouth to work properly. She wanted to assure him that Sierra would recover eventually with plenty of love from her family and friends but she couldn’t get herself to utter the words. She couldn’t bear to give the man false hope. Besides, who was she to give advice on healing a wound like this? She was nowhere near better. Maybe on the surface she seemed put back together, but on the inside she was a shattered mess. Mya had been right not to call her, she realized as hot shameful tears crowded her eyes. She was certainly no help to this poor child. She was no help to anyone. She mumbled something appropriately apologetic to James and left the room before she embarrassed herself further and completely lost it.

  Chapter 10

  Sundance rounded the corner and Iris, head down and not watching where she was going, slammed into him, nearly knocking the wind out of him. She let out a small cry and instinctually struck at the solid wall that was his chest until she realized it was him.

  “S-Sundance, I’m sorry,” she said, moving to go around him but he stopped her with a gentle hand on her forearm. He tried not to take it personally when she flinched involuntarily at his touch but it served to kindle the cold rage he felt against the man preying on women.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, wincing at the sore spot forming on his chest. She jerked a nod but her splotched face said otherwise. He took a guess that Mya had told her about Sierra. He knew it was going to be hard on Iris but he hadn’t expected the wrench in his gut at her obvious struggle. “I take it you heard about Sierra?” At Iris’s nod, he asked again, “Are you all right?”

  “No, I’m not all right,” Iris answered, a small, angry snap to her tone, but he sensed her response was more directed at herself than him. Iris had always been a proud woman, strong and opinionated. The subtle shake in her fingertips betrayed her innate fear of what she couldn’t control. The change over her had been profound and he suspected she hated it but couldn’t seem to stop it. It was as pointless as railing at the clouds for soaking the ground beneath them with a torrent of rainfall that overflowed the riverbank and flooded homes. She wiped her cheeks and rubbed the moisture on her blue scrub. “She was just a kid. A sweet, innocent kid on the brink of her life, getting ready to do great things. She had college plans and she couldn’t wait to—” Her words seemed caught in her throat and she looked ready to collapse, which was the last thing she’d want anyone to see at work. “It’s my fault,” she cried, looking as if she wanted to sink into a dark hole and die. “I should’ve listened to you and tried harder to find out who did this but I was afraid and I didn’t want to know. Now, that poor baby has to deal with what I’m going through and if it’s nearly killing me, what’s it going to do to that sweet girl? I can’t bear to think of the damage…”

  He pulled her into the empty staff lounge and closed the door before folding her into his arms. He did it without thought, and after a moment, she sagged against him. The scent of her long, black
hair filled his senses as it trailed down her back from her no-nonsense ponytail and tickled the backs of his hands. He held her to him, willing some of his strength into her for what she was going through. She fitted perfectly against him, nestling into his chest like a puzzle piece clicking into place. The realization that he didn’t want to let her go snapped him to attention. Her soft cries wet the front of his uniform but he didn’t care. What mattered was getting Iris through this moment. Everything else would find its place later.

  “You couldn’t have known,” he murmured, soothing her.

  “It doesn’t matter. He has to be stopped and you knew that but I shut you down. I couldn’t handle it. This is my fault. For the rest of my life I’ll know in my heart that Sierra was hurt because of me.”

  “Stop,” he demanded, holding her tighter, but she didn’t complain. In fact, she burrowed in harder, as if needing the pressure to reassure her that she was safe. He could feel her soft hiccups and erratic breathing against his chest. “You did not cause this. It happened because some sick freak gets his jollies off by hurting women. Plain and simple. I won’t listen to you beat yourself up like this. You need to be strong. That’s how you’ll help Sierra. She needs your strength, to be an example of how you can pick yourself up and stand tall even when you’ve been knocked down.”

  She glanced up at him, her wet lashes framing eyes that conveyed fear and uncertainty. “What if I can’t? I’m a mess. I’m the furthest thing from strong. Sierra needs a better example than me.”

  He didn’t know how to tell her that he was in awe of her strength, her determination. That most people wouldn’t have the courage to stare their situation in the face and march forward even when they were scared. But she did. She just couldn’t see that in herself yet. His tongue felt tied and he wished for once he’d been born with the ability to say pretty things that inspired people. He felt inspired each time he looked at Iris but he couldn’t seem to say that either without tripping over himself and looking like a fool, so he remained silent. All he could do was hold her. And so that’s what he did.

  After a long moment, Iris pulled away and almost couldn’t meet his eyes. He handed her a tissue, that she gratefully accepted and wiped at her running nose. She inhaled a deep breath and managed a watery smile. “Not my finest moment.” A faint, rueful smile followed. “I seem to be having a lot of those lately,” she admitted. “I feel like such a toad. Sierra needs me to be strong, and here I am locked in the staff lounge bawling my eyes out. But I can’t seem to control when and where the tears start.”

  “You’ve been through a lot,” he said gruffly. “Don’t beat yourself up for not being a superwoman.”

  “I’m not trying to be a superwoman,” she said. “I just want to be me again.”

  “You will.”

  Silence laden with heartache filled the space between them until she offered quietly, “Thank you.”

  “You don’t have to thank me,” he said, though his body warmed and his arms itched to pull her close again. He shook off the thought with effort, needing to clear his head. A muddled brain was the last thing he needed, particularly when the stakes had just gotten higher. Someone was out there preying on the tribe’s women. “I’d like you to rethink your decision to undergo hypnosis. Now that this man has struck twice, it’s likely he won’t stop until someone stops him. He thinks he’s gotten away with his crimes but I aim to put him down. I can’t do that without your help.”

  Iris shuddered but her mouth firmed. He caught a glimpse of the old Iris, the one who never backed down from a challenge and enjoyed the thrill of the chase as well as a bloody victory. She never apologized for being better or stronger and she was without a doubt, the best person to have as an advocate. He could see Iris shouldering that role with Sierra, no matter her own battle wounds. At that moment, pride suffused his body as he watched Iris grab on to the thinnest straw of courage she had within herself to face the demon in her nightmares for the sake of a young girl.

  “I can’t let this monster hurt anyone else if I can help it,” Iris said. “Give me the name and number of this hypnotherapist. If the details in my head will catch this son of a bitch, I’ll do it.”

  Sundance accepted her decision with a grave nod, knowing at what cost she had reached it. The moment wasn’t appropriate to touch her but he wanted to. His heart swelled with something more than pride and he was caught between needing to push it away out of confusion and grabbing it with both hands to examine it. In the end, he thought it best to leave it be.

  “If you’re okay, I’m going to check and see if Sierra is ready to give a statement, though from what Mya has told me I don’t have high hopes.” She nodded and he opened the door but paused before leaving, needing to say one more thing before the moment was gone. Iris stood like a warrior, her eyes twin coals, not missing a single detail. She exuded beauty in spite of her wounds and he was momentarily stunned. He recovered without giving away the riot happening in his head. “You’re a brave woman. I never knew just how brave until this moment. I won’t let you down.”

  Her lips parted as if to say something but he didn’t wait to listen. He didn’t dare. His thoughts were already a twisted mess and he needed clarity, not confusion.

  But he couldn’t deny, somewhere along the way, he’d stopped seeing Iris as the friend of his sister that he tolerated and more like the woman she’d turned into when he hadn’t been paying attention.

  If only he’d come to this realization before that night…maybe she wouldn’t have been in that bar that night. Too bad maybe didn’t mean squat.

  The monster was still out there—and there was no telling who he was going to target next.

  Sundance left Iris and went straight to Sierra’s room. He knocked softly and entered, steeling himself for the sight of young Sierra Buck in much the same state he’d seen her when she’d been found.

  He accepted a handshake from James Buck and knew without having to ask that not much had changed. He withheld a sigh, not wanting to further distress James. He could only imagine what the man was going through, and Sundance wasn’t going to add to his burden.

  “How are you holding up?” he asked James.

  James shook his head. “Not good. I’m trying to hold it together but it’s hard.”

  “I’m going to do my best to find who did this,” he promised James.

  James nodded but refrained from comment. What was there to say? Not much. Sundance sighed and took out his notepad. “I hate to do this but I have to ask some questions.” When James nodded his consent, Sundance continued. “How long had Sierra been working the late shift at the general store? Was this something she did often?”

  “Not too often but no one wanted to work the late shift, which made it an easy shift to pick up for extra cash. She was saving money for college. I didn’t like her working at night but she assured me it was safe.”

  “What about her coworkers? Who did she close with? Isn’t there supposed to be two people closing the store?”

  “I thought Vince—that’s her boyfriend—was supposed to close with her but he blew off work to go to some party. I could skin that boy alive for leaving her all alone like that,” James spat but his ire soon faded and he just looked sad and bereft. “It ain’t the boy’s fault. He’s feeling pretty bad about it. I just want someone to blame, I guess.”

  “I understand. I’ll want to talk to the boy. Where can I find him?”

  “He’s at home today on account of the situation. He’s the one who found Sierra. He’d come back to pick up his car and found Sierra lying in the dirt like she’d crawled out of the forest and then passed out there.”

  That’s quite likely what happened. The drug—ketamine if the rapist used the same MO—had worn off enough to shake off the paralysis but had still been potent enough to keep her from walking far. According to Mya, the girl had been naked and beaten in addition to sexually assaulted. It was a miracle she’d found her senses long enough to crawl out of the forest.
As dense as the undergrowth was in that area, no one would’ve seen her even from the parking lot. The rapist had obviously known this, that was why he’d picked that particular area. That told Sundance the rapist was at the very least familiar with the landscape.

  Sundance had a bad feeling that whoever this sick freak was…he was no stranger.

  He might even be one of the tribe.

  Chapter 11

  Sundance walked into the Tribal Center with his documentation tucked under his arm. He saw Chad through the glass talking with a stout, older man he recognized as his father, the director of Indian affairs. Chad’s expression was thunderous—an expression he didn’t often see—but over the years he’d gotten the impression that Chad and his father didn’t get along. If he was always trying to cut Chad’s funding wherever he went, Sundance could see how that might strain the relationship.

  He knocked and Chad ushered him in with a tight smile. “There’s the man of the hour,” he announced, gesturing. “I was just telling my father of all the uses a tribal officer offers to a reservation and why it would be shortsighted to make cuts at this time.”

  Sundance stuck his hand out, grinding his jaw against the urge to start throwing numbers and stats at the man. “Sundance Jonson, tribal officer,” he said.

  “Paul Brown. I remember you. Last time I saw you, you were a bit shorter,” he said, taking his seat opposite Sundance.

  Sundance exchanged a mildly amused look with Chad. “Yes, sir, I’ve grown a little since I was twelve.” Paul patted his rounded belly. “Haven’t we all…” Then he got straight to business. “I hear there’s been a bit of a situation happening here with some assaults against women?”

  Reluctant to use the assaults as a platform but knowing it would probably have the most impact he moved forward with a nod. “We seem to have someone targeting women on the reservation. The last victim was a high school student who worked in this very office in the work experience program.”