Dictator s Daughter

by Angell, Lorena

  “Always, I’m going to take a shower.”

  “Do you need help? Um…what I mean is, should I get my mother?”

  “No, I can manage.” She stole a glance at Sean on her way to the bathroom door and found his cheeks had flushed.

  Sean sat on the couch, his mind racing over details, over crazy notions. ‘What if’s clouded his judgment. What if she wasn’t married? What if he could go with her and help her make a new life? But, what if her father found her? What if their home was raided? What if she was taken back to Rendier?

  That night was more difficult than Sean imagined it would be. Sean’s mind kept going back to the pictures Ryan had shown him; full body shots in gorgeous formal dresses, relaxed shots with Eliwese smiling, and the most disturbing, the family portrait. Victor Rawlings, his wife Elinore, daughters Eliwese and Elaine all sat regally and dressed professionally for the shot. It made Sean angry, although he didn’t understand why.

  The next day everything started out calm and silent, with nothing suspicious to be worried about. Sean went downstairs to the kitchen around noon and was soon joined by Ryan. Sean was not in the mood to talk to him. Maybe if he ignored him, he’d go away.

  “So, what do you think, Sean?”

  “About what?”

  “Eli being Eliwese,” Ryan whispered his accusation.

  “I think you’re crazy. Why don’t you talk to Dad if you are so curious?”

  “It’s no good. He won’t tell me anything.”

  “And why do you think that is, Ryan?” Sean angled his voice to sound like a Psychiatrist.

  “Shut up.”

  “Why don’t you go do something constructive, not destructive?”

  “Very funny,” Ryan said.

  “Where are Mom and Dad?”

  “I don’t know I just got up.”

  Sean exited the kitchen and ran right into Lyndee. She took his hand and pulled him into the spare bedroom with a spark of urgency and fear in her eyes.

  “Sean, I was just in your darkroom. I think your crosser is Eliwese.” Lyndee apparently didn’t trust Ryan any more than Sean did.

  “Yes.” He confirmed her suspicions.

  “How long have you known?” she inquired.

  “Not long.”

  “We’re all in big trouble. My crosser just admitted to being Riley Stone’s mother.”

  “Who’s that?” Sean had heard the name before, but he couldn’t remember where.

  “Riley Stone, Victor Rawlings’ head of security, his top bodyguard, his number one man! That Riley Stone!”

  “Lyndee, we get high-up important people here quite often. Your last crosser was the personal secretary to Victor Rawlings. I don’t understand why you’d be so freaked out over Riley Stone wanting his own mother to be safe.”

  “I know that, Sean. Beth said he told her this house was the safest around because Victor’s daughter was here. How does he know, and why would it make us the safest house unless he placed her here and is protecting her like he’s protecting his own mother?” Lyndee watched Sean’s face for the moment of realization.

  The moment made all the color drain from his face. His heart thumped erratically. Sean started looking around as if the empty room held answers to the major problems in their lives.

  “Mom’s in your room with Eli, if that’s what you’re wondering.” Lyndee volunteered up.

  “Yeah, and Ryan’s in the kitchen talking treason. First he thought Beth was Eliwese, but then he moved on to Eli being Eliwese. This whole operation is going down and I’m not sticking around to watch it. I’m taking Eliwese and we’re leaving. I’d suggest you ditch Beth and convince Mom and Dad trouble is brewing. I don’t want Ryan to know about this.”

  “OK, but shouldn’t you tell Dad yourself of your plans?”

  “No time. I’ve got to get Eliwese out of here.” Sean reached forward and gave Lyndee a hug.

  Sean’s heart rate hadn’t had a chance to slow down in the last while. There was simply too much going on around him to relax. He hustled up the stairs to his room.

  “Was my mother in here?” he asked Eliwese.

  “She was, but she left.”

  “Put your shoes on. We’re evacuating.”

  Sean’s urgent tone put Eliwese into immediate action.

  Sean opened the closet and took out his jacket and emergency cash. He shuffled through the hanging items and found a jacket for Eliwese and a ball cap. When he turned around, Eliwese was ready to go. He held up the jacket and she instinctively put her arms in it. Sean pushed the cap on her head.

  “Follow my lead and do exactly as I say, without question.”

  She nodded with frightened eyes as wide as saucers.

  Sean led her down the stairs and into the kitchen. Luckily, Ryan wasn’t there anymore. Sean took her out the back door to the car. He backed out of the driveway and scanned up and down the road for suspicious vehicles. Not seeing any, he drove away. He glanced back over his shoulder at his home and was filled with an inauspicious feeling. He drove through town and up the road to the west. Eliwese remained silent.

  Sean looked over at her and saw tears streaming down her cheeks. “What’s wrong?”

  She didn’t answer. Sean found a campground off the main road and pulled over. He watched for followers for a few minutes, and then turned to Eliwese.

  “Talk to me Eliwese, please. What’s wrong?”

  “Why did we run?” she asked as she wiped her tears.

  “Gut feeling.”

  “He’ll kill my mother and sister because of this.” Her voice was numb and she stared straight ahead.

  “Who?”

  “Riley.” She stated plainly.

  “Riley Stone? Your father’s bodyguard?”

  “The one and only.” She turned to face him and she suddenly looked small, frail and easily crushed.

  “Lyndee’s new crosser, Beth, is Riley’s mother. I just found out Beth knew you were at our home. That’s why I panicked and we ran.”

  “But what about everyone else?” Now Eliwese was the one in a panic. “You’ve got to get them out of there! This is bad, Sean. He will swoop in there and kill them all, even his own mother, when he finds out I’m gone.”

  “Well, then we’ll make sure he doesn’t find out you’re gone.” Sean dialed his father on his cell phone.

  “Sean! Are you safe?” Paul’s strained voice asked.

  “We’re safe, but you’re not. Get everyone out—” Sean heard commotion, yelling and hollering, but he didn’t hear his father again. Instead, he heard a different voice.

  “Where are you, son?” The low growling male voice was unlike any he had heard.

  Sean shut his phone and slammed his fist on the steering wheel. “Damn!” He opened his phone again and pressed the power button, turning it off.

  “Sean?” Eliwese’s soft voice sounded from somewhere in the distance.

  His home was being raided; Sean knew it and it killed him to realize he couldn’t do anything about it. Sean started the car again. He needed to get them both to a safe location, and he hoped he wouldn’t stumble upon a roadblock.

  Eliwese reached over and placed her hand on his thigh to get his attention.

  “It’s happening, my home is being raided. If he hurts anyone I’ll string him up and quarter him slowly!”

  His intense anger scared Eliwese, but she knew his family meant the world to him, even Ryan. Eliwese said, “I’m sorry, Sean.”

  He pulled out on the highway and headed for the cabin; the family safe house. It should only take fifteen minutes to get there, as long as they didn’t run into trouble. As if on cue, the windshield started exploding on the passenger side.

  Chapter 6

  Sean saw the gunman up the road, crouched behind the front of his parked car. The man had emptied his clip and was jamming in another. Sean yelled to Eliwese to get down and floored the gas pedal yanking the wheel in the direction of the shooter’s car. Once the gunman realized what was
going on, he jumped to the side as Sean’s bumper rammed into his. The other vehicle was pushed off the road completely, tipping it on its side and rendering it useless.

  Sean was pleased with his impromptu decision and its success. An ensuing grin crossed his face, until he looked over at Eliwese. She lay at an unnatural angle and was completely motionless. His heart leapt into his throat and he nudged her shoulder. “Eliwese, are you alright?” No answer. He rolled her to try to see her face, and then he saw the blood. She’d been hit.

  “Eliwese! No!” He shook her to try to rouse her, but she didn’t respond.

  Sean panicked, he needed to help her, but he also needed to get to the cabin. He could not stop the car, not when someone had already found them. Most likely more people were looking for them, and the realization made Sean push the gas pedal further. She was breathing, but still unconscious, “Hold on, Eliwese, I’ll take care of you.” He kept his hand on her shoulder.

  The drive was long and silent filled with anticipation and worry. Sean’s eyes were glued to the rear-view mirror more than the road before him. It took exactly fifteen minutes to reach the cabin his family called ‘the hideout’. It appeared like an ordinary vacation cabin but was far from it with bulletproof windows, extensive food supply, and a state of the art alarm system. Sean wondered why they didn’t just live there, instead of in town.

  He jumped out of the car to enter the code for the garage door. After it opened, he quickly drove inside. Sean got out and hurried around the car to the passenger door, hitting the button on the wall in the process to close the garage door. He was surprised to find Eliwese still unconscious and he worried her condition was far worse than he thought.

  As he carefully pulled her out of the car, he was relieved to see minimal blood on the seat. He carried her unconscious body into the cabin, and headed for the specially designed medical room. Dr. Randall and Sara had equipped the room years ago with all manner of first-aid and triage supplies. Cupboards along one wall held medical supplies and a small refrigerator contained medical solutions. Several thick reference books and binders leaned against the wall by the small sink.

  Sean laid his patient on the prep table and unzipped her jacket to get to the wound. Under the jacket she wore a tee-shirt. He grabbed a pair of scissors and carefully cut the shirt right down the middle of her abdomen. Just as he suspected, he found a flesh-colored formed body suit which gave her the shape of a male, right down to developed abs. Sean saw the bullet hole on her lower left side. He began cutting the padded suit up the center to expose the wound and as he cut, he would tear as much as possible. When he reached her breast area, he found she was wrapped tightly with ace bandage and he did not cut through it.

  As he opened up her padding, his heart sunk. The foam had acted as a sponge to absorb the blood that poured out of her wound. It was now clear to Sean why she was still unconscious; she was bleeding to death. He turned her on her side and saw she had an even bigger wound where the bullet had exited her back. The skin was shredded and it nauseated Sean. She needed a doctor.

  He applied clean gauze on her wounds and pulled her arms out of her sleeves. He removed her pants, leaving her boxer shorts on and carried her lifeless body to the main bedroom just off the kitchen. He placed her on the bed and ran back to the prep room to gather more supplies.

  He came back with a box full of items and applied more gauze to her wounds as blood had seeped through the others. He threaded her arm into a blood pressure cuff and set the machine to automatically respond. He waited anxiously for the results which seemed to take forever, but finally the dismal numbers flashed on the machine, setting off the alarm. Sean reached over and disabled the annoying beep.

  She’d lost too much blood, what should he do? He thought about all the extensive first aid training he’d learned over the years and he knew what she needed was an IV.

  He wished he had paid better attention when Dr. Randall taught him this procedure. He set up the items necessary, prepped her left arm and made his first attempt.

  Failure.

  He tried again and again but her veins were flat. After five attempts, he finally succeeded. He opened up a large flow of saline to help flood her veins. He inspected the mess he’d made of her arms and shuddered. She would be covered in bruises at each IV attempt site very soon.

  The blood pressure machine clicked on again and he waited for the reading. A wave of relief swept over him as her numbers weren’t any lower than the previous reading. He took a big breath hoping she’d stabilized and let out a sigh as he exhaled. He checked her bandages and applied more gauze and pulled the sheet up and over her tucking it around her small shoulders.

  Sean stared at Eliwese’s face. Her big bushy eyebrows were still attached to her pale skin. He went into the bathroom and washed his hands and brought back a warm moist washcloth and applied it to her eyebrows to remove them. Once he had completed, he surveyed her delicate features and feminine bone structure. Her cheekbones were high and her nose small. It still amazed him that it all disappeared when she put on those fake eyebrows. Couple it with the padded shoulders and constantly covered neck, and voila, it’s a boy.

  He sat down in the armchair beside the bed. He laid his head back, took a big deep breath and thought about his family and home. Was everyone alright? It had been years since any altercations had occurred with Rawlings’ guards at any halfway home in Slaterville. He felt it was unlikely anything bad had happened at his home.

  He looked over at Eliwese. Who had shot at them, hitting her? Did he want to kill her? Riley Stone knew where Eliwese was. Did he place her at his home or was he only aware of her location? Did it mean Victor Rawlings knew where his daughter was all along?

  She started to tremble and he moved over to the bed and placed his palm on her forehead; it was cold. He pulled up the blanket and snuggled it under her shoulders. Still she shivered and she made a faint moaning sound.

  “Eliwese, how do you feel?” No response, only more shivering.

  He knew he needed to warm her up, but how? He turned the heat up a few degrees, put another blanket on her and even tried a warm washcloth on her forehead, yet she continued to shiver. She wasn’t suffering from hypothermia, but more likely shock. He stuffed pillows under her feet to elevate them, and then decided he’d warm her body with his own body heat as if she was hypothermic.

  He kicked off his shoes, took off his shirt and jeans, pulled back the blankets and sheet and lay down beside her right side, allowing his skin to touch hers. He pulled the bedding up and over them to trap the body heat.

  He lay on his side with his legs pressed up against her right leg. He placed his arm across her abdomen with his hand reaching up and grasping her left shoulder. He scrunched a pillow under his head and rested his forehead against her cheek. She continued to shake for a little while longer and then seemed to calm down.

  Sean heard the click of the blood pressure machine as it turned on and he lifted his head to see the reading. Again, the number was a little higher than the previous number, yet still would have set off the alarm. He snuggled his face against hers again and shut his eyes.

  “Sean,”

  He raised his head and looked at her barely open eyes, elated she’d come to.

  “What happened?” she whispered.

  “Someone shot you but you’re safe now, close your eyes and rest.”

  He checked the clock, three-thirty in the afternoon.

  A couple of hours went by and Sean got up to replace the IV bag with a fresh one. He started a batch of coffee in the kitchen and went in to check on her bandages. They looked good with no blood making it to the surface. He found a laser scan thermometer and checked her forehead temperature; ninety-six degrees. He climbed back in bed with her.

  Another thirty minutes went by and the smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the room. Sean raised his head to see the current blood pressure reading which was better than the last. His eyes traveled to the window and he saw that the su
n was setting, filling the sky with beautiful colors.

  “Sean,” she was awake again.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Like I was run over by a train.” A small smile broke across her face and then disappeared. “Who else is here?”

  “Nobody.”

  “We’re alone?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where is everyone else?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  She moved her hand across her stomach and realized she was nearly naked. She closed her eyes and turned her head away from him. “You undressed me?”

  “Yes, I’m sorry, but I had to. You’ve been shot in the side. I had to stop the bleeding.”

  She took a shaky, shallow breath. “I’m sorry for the trouble I have brought to your family. I never meant—” she stopped.

  “Hey, we know the risks with taking in defectors. Every crosser we have ever taken into our home brings risk with them,” he reassured her.

  She turned her head back toward him, “My situation is different than the general risks you’re used to taking. I should have never tried to leave my country. I’ve only ruined the lives around me.” She coughed a little.

  “You need to rest, try not to worry about this right now. We’re safe.”

  “I’m so thirsty, and I hurt.”

  “I’ll get you some ice and painkillers.”

  When he came back, she had tears rolling down her temples. He had brought a syringe of morphine with him and he inserted in the IV. He didn’t know what to say to her, so he just fed her ice chips with a spoon till she’d had enough. He put the cup down and used the back of his fingers to wipe her tears away. As he did so, she closed her eyes and he felt the warmth of her skin.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, “there’s no one else I’d rather be with right now.”

  The clock showed six o’clock. He changed her IV bags as necessary and monitored her blood pressure and temperature. She had reached ninety-eight degrees and he felt relieved; but once it started to climb above that, he realized she was probably in for a long haul. He went in the prep room and looked through the medical books for ideas how to deal with whatever was to come. The binder his mother had put together talked about infection and antibiotics in a language he could actually understand. He found what he needed and went back into the bedroom with an antibiotic and injected it in her IV.