Fort Lupton (46 page)

“
About the helicopter?”
Yvonne asked.

“
Exactly,” Rodney
said.

“
Can I talk to her?”
Tanesha asked.

“
Here’s Miss T,” Rodney
said. “I love you.”

His words made her glow all over, but he was
gone before she could reply.

“
Mom,” Tanesha said.
“Listen to me very closely.”

“
Yes, Tannie,” Yvonne
said.

“
They are not going by
helicopter,” Tanesha said.

“
What?” Yvonne
said.

“
They told you that to
trick the police.”

“
Tannie says no
helicopter,” Yvonne said.

“
Figures,” Dionne
said.

“
Agent Angie has a taser,”
Tanesha said.

“
I have her gun, Tannie,”
Yvonne said.

“
Let them find the gun,”
Tanesha said.

“
Hide the taser,” Yvonne
said. She nodded to Dionne and pointed to Agent Angie.

“
Do you have a taser?”
Dionne asked.

“
I’m lying on it,” Agent
Angie said.

“
They’re going to go down
the stairs with you,” Tanesha said. “It’s protected from the
police. When you reach the fifth floor, something will happen and
you’ll be able to use the taser.”

“
And get away?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Go through the door,”
Tanesha said. “Ne Ne and Dad will be waiting for you on the other
side of the fifth floor door.”

“
Really?” Yvonne asked.
“That’s nice.”

“
Mom!” Tanesha said.
“Focus up.”

“
Yes, Tannie,” Yvonne
said.

“
They are going to want
some . . . uh . . .”

“
Sugar?” Yvonne
asked.

“
Right, sugar, before they
go,” Tanesha said. “You remember how to stall?”

“
We can do that,” Yvonne
said. “Dionne’s good at it.”

“
What?” Dionne asked in a
whisper.

“
Making men wait for sex,”
Yvonne said. “We have to tease them into waiting. You up for
that?”

“
And it will save
us?”

“
Tannie thinks so,” Yvonne
said.

“
I’ll do it.” Dionne
nodded. “But, how does Tannie know all this stuff?”

“
How do you know about all
of this?” Yvonne asked.

“
Turns out knowing
everything and being bossy is my fairy power,” Tanesha said with a
snort. “Jeraine is not surprised.”

Yvonne laughed.

“
Mom,” Tanesha said.
“Listen.”

“
Yes, Tannie,” Yvonne
said.

“
You can have anything you
want,” Tannie said. “You just have to want it badly enough. Ne Ne
can’t get Dad there without your help. Can you help?”

“
Rodney’s waiting for me
on the fifth floor, just behind the stairs door,” Yvonne
said.

“
Exactly,” Tannie said.
“You’ll remember?”

“
Trick them into delaying
sex, but get them all flustered and impatient,” Yvonne said. “Let
them find the gun, but not the taser.”

Dionne held up Agent Angie’s taser.

“
What’s next?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Go with them down the
stairs,” Yvonne said. “Taser them on the fifth-floor landing of the
stairs. Go through and find Rodney and Ne Ne. Did I miss
anything?”

“
You have to want Dad to
be on the fifth floor,” Tanesha said.

“
That’s a given,” Yvonne
said. “Anything else?”

“
Don’t think a negative
thought,” Tanesha said. “Your fairy power is high now. You could
blow up the whole building or whatever. Hold your power in like you
used to do with your keeper.”

“
Got it,” Yvonne
said.

“
And Mom?”

“
Yes, Tannie?”

“
Good luck,” Tanesha
said.

“
They’re coming,” Yvonne
said. “Love you, Tannie.”

Yvonne hung up the phone. She looked at
Dionne.

“
Ready?” Yvonne
asked.

Dionne nodded. She hid the taser in her bra.
Yvonne adjusted Dionne’s voluminous breasts around the object until
it was invisible.

“
I see you ladies are
ready for us.” A man’s voice came from the front of the
room.

Yvonne put on a bright smile. Dionne
mimicked her expression and they stood up.

“
Just for you, sugar pea,”
Yvonne said.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday night — 8:58 p.m.

Denver, Colorado

“
She was down here?” Sandy
asked Tanesha as they walked down the basement stairs.

“
When time stopped,”
Tanesha said.

“
And you made that
happen?” Jill asked as she walked down the steps behind
them.

“
That’s what she said,”
Tanesha said.

“
Do we believe her?” Sandy
asked. “I mean, Maresol hates her.”

“
That’s because she didn’t
save Mom,” Tanesha said.

“
Good reason, I think,”
Sandy said.

“
What did she want down
here?” Jill asked.

“
She wanted to know where
the serpent was killed.”

“
Saint Jude?” Jill
asked.

“
No, I thought that too,”
Tanesha said. “She wanted to know where the creature inside Saint
Jude exploded.”

Tanesha pointed to the rafters.

“
She held her hands out
like this,” Tanesha said. “And . . .”

The same strange mist came off the
beams.

“
Oh, creepy,” Heather
said.

“
I washed that!” Sandy
said. “Myself! Jill even decontaminated it and
. . .”

“
Quick,” Tanesha said. “Do
you have a clean container?”

Jill ran to the recycling bin in the corner
and found an empty plastic juice bottle. Sandy took it from her and
washed it in the sink in the basement’s hidden room.

“
Did she ask about in
here?” Sandy asked as she came back with the bottle.

“
No.” Tanesha held the
bottle up to the mist, and it floated inside. “She didn’t ask about
the babies either.”

“
Maybe she doesn’t know
about them,” Heather said.

“
Maybe,” Tanesha said.
“She said this space was infamous. I didn’t ask her, but I got the
impression it was famous because of us killing the serpent. She
said that everyone is stuck in the amber because of Delphie, and
that it had to do with all of this.”

Her friends gave her skeptical looks.

“
I know!” Tanesha said.
“It all sounds like bullshit.”

“
We should ask Edie,” Jill
said.

“
Where is Edie?” Heather
asked.

“
She’s on a date with
James Kelly.” Jill rubbed her hands together. “She was really
excited.”

The women smiled at the idea that Edie and
James Kelly would start a relationship.

“
What do I do with this?”
Tanesha asked.

She held up the container. The mist from the
beam had congealed into a murky sludge. The girlfriends
shrugged.

“
What if you
. . .” Heather started. Tanesha turned to look at her.
“Nah . . .”

“
What?” Tanesha
asked.

“
What if you did that
thing, you know, with your hands on the floor where we killed the
babies?” Heather asked.

“
Why?” Jill
asked.

“
I don’t know.” Heather
shrugged. “Maybe something will happen.”

“
Like the mist?” Tanesha
said.

“
Yeah,” Sandy said. “If
this junk so important, we should get more from where the babies
died. Don’t you think?”

Jill and Heather nodded.

“
Okay, but stand back,”
Tanesha said.

“
What are you guys doing?”
Honey asked from the top landing of the basement stairs.

Sandy ran up the stairs to her. Honey was so
tiny that even Sandy could carry her down the stairs. Jill grabbed
Honey’s chair and brought it down.

“
The fairy came down here
and got some juju from the serpent,” Heather said while Honey got
settled.

“
She said it would help
get everyone out of the Sea of Amber,” Tanesha said. “I did what
she did and I got . . .”

Tanesha held up the juice bottle of
sludge.

“
It looks gross,” Honey
said. “Is it supposed to do anything?”

Tanesha shrugged.

“
It looks like tobacco
spit,” Honey said. “You know, from chewing.”

“
Ew,” the women said in
unison and made disgusted faces.

“
She said this serpent
juice would save everyone,” Tanesha said.

“
What about the babies?”
Honey asked.

“
That’s what we said.”
Jill nodded.

“
Don’t you think we should
ask your dad, Jill?” Heather asked. “He’s just back from there and
. . .”

“
We can ask him,” Jill
said. “I want to ask Edie too. But if this juice is key, we should
get as much as possible.”

“
Before the fairy figures
out there’s more stuff to get,” Sandy said.

“
She’s right,” Tanesha
said.

“
I think we should be
careful,” Jill said. “This creature wanted to infect us so it could
take us over. There’s no reason to believe this stuff doesn’t have
the same desire.”

“
Or can’t do the same
thing,” Tanesha said.

“
Right,” Honey said. “Good
point. Should we get some hairspray?”

“
Good thinking,” Sandy
said.

She jogged to the room hidden by the
paneling and came back with hairspray cans.

“
Lighters?” Tanesha
asked.

“
Oh yeah,” Sandy ran back
to the room and got out the lighters they had used
before.

Honey laughed when she could click her own
lighter, and the women cheered. While the party continued upstairs,
they lit their hairspray.

“
We’re ready,” Sandy
said.

“
Start over here,” Heather
said. “We killed a whole bunch over here.”

Tanesha held her hands out over the place
where they’d killed the baby serpents.

And nothing happened.

“
Try over here!” Jill
said. She pointed to the burn marks where they’d killed several of
the baby serpents.

Nothing happened.

“
I’m going to try all of
them,” Tanesha said.

She ran from spot to spot. A slight hissing
sound started when she had waved her hands over five or six
spots.

“
Keep going!” Jill
said.

Tanesha went from spot to spot. She was so
focused on what she was doing that she didn’t notice that the room
was getting foggy. The fog began to swirl around them.

“
Tanesha!” Heather
yelled.

“
Get behind me,” Tanesha
said.

“
No,” Honey said. “We have
our flamethrowers. We need to protect each other, not have you
sacrifice yourself for us.”

As the tornado took form, the women moved
against the wall. The places where the baby serpents had died
continued to give off steam, and the steam swirled with ever
greater intensity. There was a snapping sound. The fog condensed to
create the shape of a female serpent. The fog-serpent hissed at the
women.

~~~~~~~~

Tuesday night — 9:05 p.m.

Phoenix, Arizona

“
How did you do that?”
Dionne asked in a low voice as she pushed the bathroom door
open.

Yvonne followed her into the room and made a
beeline for a stall. Dionne waited to see if Yvonne would answer.
When she didn’t, Dionne went into the stall next to Yvonne’s. After
a few minutes, Yvonne flushed the toilet and went out into the main
area.

“
Sorry,” Yvonne said. “I
really had to go.”

“
Me too,” Dionne said. She
flushed the toilet in her stall and came out. “How did you get them
to let us come in here?”

“
Tannie said that I could
have anything I wanted,” Yvonne said.

“
And your fairy power is
high,” Dionne nodded.

“
It worked,” Yvonne
said.

“
And now?” Dionne
asked.

She looked at Yvonne in the mirror. Yvonne
smiled.

“
Don’t worry,” Yvonne
said.

“
What do you want now?”
Dionne asked.

“
A warm bed and a handsome
man,” Yvonne said. She washed her face and took a paper towel from
the dispenser. “Warm bed. Handsome man.”

“
You think that will
work?” Dionne asked. “They were pretty . . .”

“
No,” Yvonne said. “I
don’t think it will work.”

“
Then what?” Dionne
asked.

Yvonne leaned into the mirror to use the
paper towel to wipe the mascara from under her eyes. She kept
working and didn’t say a word. Dionne touched her shoulder.

“
What do you think, Yvie?”
Dionne asked.