Fort Lupton (45 page)

“
We’d better hurry then,”
Dionne said with a firm nod.

Dionne picked up the receiver and held it
out to Yvonne. Dionne gave Yvonne a fierce look, and Yvonne nodded.
Yvonne dialed one and then the only phone number she knew.

The phone rang once.

It rang twice.

“
O’Malley,” a man’s voice
said.

The automatic sprinklers came on.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday evening — 8:25 p.m.

Denver, Colorado

Tanesha was so agitated and angry that she
jumped out of her father’s truck as it rolled to a stop in front of
Sandy’s salon. She stalked toward the salon. Seeing what looked
like a party inside, Tanesha stopped a few feet from the salon.

“
That looks fun,” Ne Ne
said as she walked up behind Tanesha.

Scowling at Ne Ne, Tanesha walked to the
door. She punched in the entry code and opened the door.

“
Tanesha!” Heather yelled
from across the room.

“
You’re having a party?”
Tanesha asked. Her voice reeked with irritation.

“
It just happened,” Sandy
said. She hugged Tanesha. “Honey forced Charlie out of Seth’s
house. They came here because it’s safe. Heather, Tink, and Ivy
were going to Seth’s for dinner.”

“
We ended up here,”
Maresol said. She held out her arms and hugged Tanesha. Under her
breath, she said, “I see the wicked witch is here.”

“
Mm-hmm,” Tanesha
said.

Maresol gave Ne Ne a dark look and moved
away.

“
I see some people
remember me,” Ne Ne said in a light voice.

Tanesha glanced at her grandmother.

“
I did what I could,” Ne
Ne said.

“
You . . .”
Tanesha started.

She stopped talking when she saw Jill and
her sister Candy outside the salon. She gestured toward the door
and Rodney let them in. While everyone welcomed Jill and Candy,
Rodney took Tanesha’s elbow and moved her to a quiet corner of the
salon.

“
What?” Tanesha
asked.

“
I just want you to know
that I understand how you feel,” Rodney said.

“
But?” Tanesha asked.
“Just spit it out.”

“
No buts,” Rodney said. “I
understand.”

“
What do you understand?”
Tanesha crossed her arms in front of her.

“
I understand that I went
to prison.” Rodney nodded. “I made my own choices. I took my own
chances. I lived the hand that I was dealt. It wasn’t fair or right
or just or anything like that, but I was a grown man. Your mother
was in the same boat. But you . . .”

“
What about me?” Tanesha
asked.

“
You had to live with the
consequences of what happened to us and our choices,” Rodney
said.

Tanesha scowled and looked away from
him.

“
I get it, Miss T, I do,”
Rodney said. “It’s all fine and well for me to say that you
shouldn’t be hard on Ne Ne, but I wasn’t there.”

Tanesha shifted to look at him.

“
I get it,” he said. “And
she’s . . .”

“
A fairy,” Tanesha said.
“I hate them.”

“
You and Fin are close,”
Rodney said in a mild tone.

“
Fin doesn’t pretend to be
anything other than what he is,” Tanesha said. “He knows he’s got
it good; he’d tell anyone that.”

“
And everything’s about
him,” Rodney said.

“
He’s a man, isn’t he?”
Tanesha nodded.

“
You don’t trust what
she’s going to say,” Rodney said.

“
All I can say is that
she’s here and my mother’s in danger,” Tanesha said. “Again. Mom
was fine a little while ago. Fairy shows up, and Mom’s in trouble.
That can’t be a coincidence.”

Tanesha watched Sandy answer her cell phone.
Sandy gestured to turn the music down.

“
What is it?” Rodney
asked.

“
It’s Mom,” Tanesha
said.

“
Tanesha!” Sandy
said.

Sandy waved Tanesha over to her. Everyone
watched as Tanesha moved in her direction.

“
Seth says that your mom
called him,” Sandy said. “I guess she knows his number from before
her head injury.”

Tanesha nodded.

“
She’s trapped in the
office with the guys who . . .” Sandy nodded. “They are
saying they will trade your mom and Dionne, you know Jeraine’s mom
. . .”

“
I know who Dionne is!”
Tanesha said.

Sandy hugged her. Under her breath, Sandy
said, “It’s going to be okay.”

“
What do they want?”
Tanesha asked.

“
They have told the FBI
that they will trade them for me.” Sandy gave a quick nod and
swallowed hard. “The FBI called ages ago.”

Tanesha scowled at Sandy’s bobbing head and
the phone.

“
Your mom says they don’t
plan on trading them,” Sandy said. “They plan on using and killing
them.”

Tanesha felt a wave of rage rise up from her
belly.

“
Oh, and your mom set the
building on fire,” Sandy said.

Tanesha felt rage rush through her. Tink
must have said something funny, because Charlie, Ivy, Jill, and her
sister burst out laughing. Tanesha glanced over at them. When she
glanced back at Sandy, she realized that time had stopped. She
looked for her father. He was standing with his ear close to
Maresol’s mouth and his arm over her shoulder.

“
It’s unnerving, isn’t
it?” a voice asked.

Tanesha turned around. She saw Ne Ne
standing near the stairwell to the basement.

“
Whatever is going on
here, I’m not doing a damned thing without my girls,” Tanesha said.
“Not a damned thing.”

“
Of course,” Ne Ne
said.

“
Put everything back
then,” Tanesha said.

“
I didn’t do this,” Ne Ne
said.

“
If you didn’t, who did?”
Tanesha asked.

“
You did,” Ne Ne said.
“That doesn’t mean that I won’t use it for my purposes. I am a
fairy, after all.”

“
And what might that be?”
Tanesha asked.

“
Would you show me around
the basement?”

“
What do you want from the
basement?” Tanesha asked.

“
I’m not sure,” Ne Ne
said. “Mostly, I figured while you quieted everything, you could
give me a tour.”

“
A tour?” Tanesha
asked.

“
This space is quite
infamous, you know,” Ne Ne said.

Ne Ne started down the basement stairs.
Tanesha had to move fast to keep up. Tanesha clicked on the light
at the bottom of the stairs. Ne Ne moved to stand in the middle of
the room.

“
Do you mind?” Ne Ne took
out a camera and took a dozen or more digital photos of the
basement. “It’s for our library.”

She walked from one burnt rafter to the
next, only to kneel at a spot on the floor.

“
Where did it die?” Ne Ne
asked.

“
What?” Tanesha
asked.

“
The serpent,” Ne Ne
said.

Tanesha walked toward the wall where Saint
Jude had lain. She pointed to the floor. Ne Ne shook her head.

“
Not there,” Ne Ne
said.

“
The serpent kind of
exploded,” Tanesha pointed to a spot near the front of the
basement, “ . . .there.”

Ne Ne went to the spot. She took a
photograph and carefully put her camera away. Then, without
ceremony, she opened her hands so they faced the spot where the
serpent was destroyed. Tanesha saw a kind of dark fog come off the
wood. Ne Ne held out a vial and the fog drifted in.

“
Now we can save them,” Ne
Ne said.

“
Who?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Those caught in the Sea
of Amber,” Ne Ne smiled. “Of course.”

Tanesha’s mouth dropped open.

“
You don’t give a crap
about my mom.” Tanesha’s voice held her disbelief. “She’s in
terrible danger, like she was the entire time you lived here. And
once again, you’ll do nothing.”

“
Oh?” Ne Ne’s voice was
mild. “You didn’t mind it before.”

“
I was a child!” Tanesha
said.

“
Maybe you should remember
that,” Ne Ne said.

“
What?”

“
It’s you that holds the
whole mess against yourself,” Ne Ne said. “You blame yourself for
what happened to your mother. You blame yourself for not doing
more.”

“
I…”

“
You were a child,” Ne Ne
said. “And the rest of us, we did as much as we could. Was it
perfect? No. But your parents are here, alive, in love, and happy.
Do you have any idea how unusual that is?”

“
I…”

“
They have extraordinary
love for each other, that’s true. But even that kind of love is not
enough in most cases,” Ne Ne said. “If you want to know what I did,
I made it so that could happen.”

“
But . . .”
Tanesha started. “Who’s going to save her tonight?”

“
The same person who saved
her last time,” Ne Ne said.

“
No one saved her last
time,” Tanesha said.

“
That’s not entirely
true,” Ne Ne said.

“
Fine,” Tanesha said. “Who
saved her last time?”

“
Why, you, of course,” Ne
Ne said.

“
Wh . . .?”
Tanesha started.

“
Wasn’t it you who
negotiated to purchase her from that horrible man?” Ne Ne asked.
“Didn’t you do the year-in and year-out work of making her keeper
trust you so that when the chance was available, he called you?
Wasn’t it your husband who actually bought your mother’s freedom?
Why did he do that?”

“
But
. . .?”

“
We should get back,” Ne
Ne said. “Your friend Jill is half Titan. They get a little hostile
when they’re in a time lock. And Hedone . . . Well, let’s
just say I’m glad it wasn’t me who locked her down. Shall
we?”

With that, Ne Ne went up the stairs, leaving
Tanesha to stare at her back. In a moment, the music and noise
returned upstairs. Tanesha saw Heather at the top of the
stairs.

“
Fairy crap?” Heather
asked.

Tanesha nodded.

“
Thought so,” Heather
said. “Should I come down?”

“
I’ll come up,” Tanesha
said.

There was a cheer for someone else joining
the party, and Heather turned to look.

“
Jeraine’s here with
Jabari,” Heather said.

Tanesha stomped up the stairs.

The
serpent returns

Tuesday evening — 8:45 p.m.

Phoenix, Arizona

“
Dionne,” Yvonne
whispered.

Dionne turned her head to look at Yvonne
from her position near the door. The overhead sprinklers continued
to shower them with freezing water. Dionne was somewhat shielded
from the onslaught by the ornate doorframe molding. Yvonne was
sitting under a folding chair from the supply closet. They had
arranged folding chairs over Agent Angie. Those horrible men had
come in right after Yvonne hung up the phone. They told them to get
ready because a helicopter was on its way.

“
She’s waking up.” Yvonne
pointed to Agent Angie.

Dionne belly-crawled to the spot behind the
table where Agent Angie lay. She shooed Yvonne away and took Agent
Angie’s hand.

“
What happened?” Agent
Angie asked.

“
You were shot,” Dionne
said. “Just under your vest.”

“
Through the girl.” Agent
Angie nodded. “And she’s . . .?”

“
Dead,” Dionne
said.

“
How bad am I?” Agent
Angie asked.

“
Depends,” Dionne
said.

“
On?” Agent Angie
asked.

“
When you get to the
hospital,” Dionne said. “And what these so-and-so’s do.”

Agent Angie didn’t say anything. Dionne
leaned into Yvonne.

“
Aren’t you supposed to
call again?” Dionne asked.

“
In one more minute,”
Yvonne said.

“
Who
. . .calling?” Agent Angie asked.

“
Seth O’Malley,” Yvonne
said.

“
Why?” Agent Angie’s voice
was more air than sound.

“
It’s the only number we
know,” Dionne said. “Now shush, you need to save your
strength.”

They heard a noise in the hallway, and
Dionne peered around the corner.

“
They’re coming,” Dionne
said. She looked at Yvonne. “You’d better call.”

Yvonne picked up the phone and dialed Seth
again. The phone clicked and clicked again.

“
Yvie?” Rodney’s voice
came on the line.

“
Rodney?” Yvonne felt a
surge of power just hearing his voice.

“
Ne Ne is here, honey,”
Rodney said. “She came to help save you.”

“
Ne Ne . . .”
Yvonne said under her breath. “But what can
she
do?”

“
She’s helping Miss T,”
Rodney said. “Seth gave the police the information you told
him.”