GODDESS OF THE MOON (A Diana Racine Psychic Suspense) (51 page)

C
hameleon

T
he last thing Lucier remembered was Slater’s sidekick, a huge creature he dubbed Mountain Man, injecting him with something.
E
verything went black until he woke
last evening
, stiff and groggy
.
He
’d been moved into a
rustic room
with
no windows and a lock
to
challenge Houdini on the only door.
The place smelled
musty
and unused
. The small bathroom
contained a toilet, sink,
a bar of soap and a towel. The
re was a
cot bolted to the floor,
a
table, and
one
chair. No sheets or pillow. Better than a prisoner holding cell but not by much.
This must be where they ostracized
those undisciplined members who
bucked
the rules
, he thought.

He’d been served dinner, and in the morning breakfast.
A
very good sandwich
followed
a few hours later.
At least he was no longer
trussed like a Thanksgiving turkey
, and it didn’t appear as if they were going to starve him to death
.

He weighed his escape options the minute
his head cleared
. Nothing in the room worked as a weapon except the chair,
except the
only person to enter
so far
was
a
young girl
who brought his
three
meal
s
. H
e refused to put her in danger unless he had no other choice. Mountain Man accompanied her, but he stood outside the
door
, well out of reach of any attempt to take him down. They
’d
thought of everything.

This morning, h
e stretched, did
a dozen pushups and
a couple of
deep knee bends to get his legs back
, breathing heavily when he finished
.
H
e
sure as hell
wasn’t in
peak
physical condition, and Slater’s man looked like a pro wrestler who could put him down without working up a sweat.
Lucier
figured his life expectancy may span a few more days, but that’s all. He was too much of a threat to keep alive
, and they couldn’t let him go.

He asked Mountain Man about Diana
,
and
the man
assured
Lucier
in monosyllables that she was fine. The answer didn’t assuage the terror
of remembering
his
last image
of her, bound and unconscious.

Think, Ernie
. He needed to find a way out and fast. One possibility kept cropping up, but he d
oubted
this guy would fall for it. Maybe he was all brawn and no brain. With nothing to lose, Lucier
made up his mind to
try after
dinner
. Otherwise, he was a dead man.

To give
him
self
an extra advantage, after the midday meal he launched into a
serious set
of push-ups and stretches.
Gotta
get back in shape
.

* * * * *

M
aia put her faith in Cal as they raced through the woods toward Anat’s building. She hear
d
the rapids
,
fe
lt
a fine mist
in
the air
that turned
her shirt into a soggy rag pasted to her skin. Cal thrust out his arm to slow her down when
their destination
emerged from the e
erie shadow of trees.

Cal pointed skyward to the small black box high on a pole topped by a solar-generated light.
“There’s a camera aimed on the front door
.
”

“
H
ow do we get inside?”

“
A
door
in back.
Stay here for a minute while I make sure
the area’s
clear.”

“But
―
”

Cal disappeared. What were they doing? Even with Anat free, her plan depended on Seth, and Seth would surely fight what they needed him to do. Escap
ing
from the compound, surrounded by mountains, woods, and rough-rapid
waters
would be impossible without him. No one walked out of there.

Cal stuck his
head around the side of the building and
crooked his finger for her to come
. She followed
his
path to a narrow service door.

“We
gotta
make this fast
,” he whispered.
He slipped the master key into the lock. It didn’t work.

“Damn
.
They’ve even separated her by keys.”

“I thought you visited.”

“I
do, but I have to get
clearance
. Anat and I eat together,
spend some time, then I leave.”
Cal shrugged.
“They’re scared of her. Think she’s plotting something, which of course she is
.”

The thought that her father and Phillip were afraid of
Anat
made her smile
. They’d come this far and were in too deep.
No stopping now
.

Cal proceeded to try one key after the other until he found one
that worked
.
They
enter
ed
and climbed the four flights to Anat’s aerie.
When
Cal opened the door
,
Anat ran to him and flung her arms around him. They kissed.

“Okay,” Maia said, looking at Anat and Cal. “Now I’m totally confused. I thought
―
”

“I couldn’t tell you,” Anat said. “I wanted to, but I didn’t know if
I could
trust
you
.”

“Explanations later,” Cal said. “We’ve got to get out of here.
Give me
the sling, Anat. I’ll carry Chloe.”

Anat
picked up the sleeping child
, and Cal
arranged the sling on his chest. The baby didn’t wake. T
hey hustled out the door. Maia
now believed
Chloe was indeed Cal’s daughter, but she didn’t ask. Too many questions begged answers, and she hoped to live long enough to get them.

“Where’s Diana Racine?” Maia asked as they hurried do
wn the stairs to the back door.

When they got outside, Cal
locked the door behind them. “She’s in the visitor’s quarters
, receiving
the royal treatment. Phillip uses
the suite
when he’s tempting someone he
regards
deserving of our great order.
The suite is
newer and
even
more plush
than his.”

“
Where’s
the cop?”

“
I
n one of
the out-cabins
. They’re secluded and soundproof.” He held everyone back. “Wait. Let me
look around
.”

“Are they the cluster of buildings on the other side, in the woods?” Maia asked
Anat.

“Yes.
Cal
and I have both been guests there,” Anat said.
“
Lovely place
.”

“Why?”
Maia
asked
.

Cal
returned and
put his hand on Maia’s shoulder
.
“
Later,
when we have
more
time.
”

“Bottom line is
their conversion didn’t work,” Anat said.
” T
hey gave up on
the both of us.”

“
Later, ladies.
Time is important, and we don’t have much.
The cabin is far
. Are you up to making the trip
, Anat
?”

She
nodded.

“What about me?”

“
Anat
and I have had this plan for a while, but we needed Seth, and you were the only one who could persuade him to go along with us.”

“I haven’t
persuaded him
, Cal. I drugged him. What makes you think he’ll do what you want because I ask him?”

“
I’m an optimist.
I can’t think otherwise. The kidnapping of the babies and
the two outsiders
make
stopping
this
debacle
necessary
. Even to Seth. It also puts a kink in our plans because now we have more people to worry about.
”

Cal
’s gaze
lingered on Anat. Such love passed between them that Maia felt like an intruder.
He cuddled the baby close and rubbed his cheek on the sleeping child’s head
.

Turning
his attention to Maia
, he said,
“
Y
ou have the best chance of getting Diana Racine out of the suite.”

“Me? How?
T
hey’ll recognize me.”

“
E
xactly the point.
You’re Silas Compton’s daughter. No one will question
whether
you’re supposed to be there, and unless they know you’re
being
contained, they’ll think you’re doing your father’s work. If Anat or I are seen, a red flag with sirens
will go off
.”

“
I
t’s the middle of the night. Why would I want to see her?”

“Because your father is having a meeting to offer up Diana, Goddess of the Moon.
Make up some bullshit about the stars being in the right place in conjunction with the new moon. They’ll believe
you
. No one in that role is conditioned to question.”

“Is my
…
father still here?” She almost choked on the word father, considering the picture
forming
of him. A picture she
’d
chose
n
to ignore
for too long.

“I don’t know,” Cal said, “I haven’t been privy to any information today.
I know
my father
isn’t here
, n
or
are
Anastasia
and
her sisters
.”

“Do you know why?”

“I have an idea.”

Who was feeding Cal his information? “What if you’re wrong?”

He held her gaze. “Then we’re fucked. We haven’t much time. If we can’t convince Seth to join us when he wakes up, we’re fucked anyway.
We’re past the point of no return
. Go to the Racine woman, Maia.
Get her out of the building.
Anat and I
will go
to the cabins
and release
the cop. We’ll meet in the middle, behind the school, unless something happens to one of us.
If it does, we
can’t be any worse off than before we started, can we?”

Maia clasped the back of her neck and massaged. “Tell me what to do, then
point me in the
right direction
.”

A P
ie in the Eye

D
uring the six years between the death of his family
and
meeting
Diana, Lucier
either ate out or dined on a variety
of supermarket frozen dinners.
Occasionally, he
feasted on
leftovers at his friend
’s
hotel
. T
he food in this place vied with the best of New Orleans
’s
famous kitchens. His hosts obviously believed the cultivation of a genetically mastered race depended as much on good nutrition as it did
on
DNA.