Just Believe (18 page)

"Lucas!" Erin jumped into his
arms.

"My darlin'," he murmured into her
hair. "I'm here. Now we've got to get you out."

"Yes," Erin replied, trying to be calm.
"You're in danger, Lucas. You and Gaelen. I heard them talking when
they thought I was asleep."

"Them who?"

"Dr. Duncan. The orderlies, you know,
the ones with the accents?" Erin took his hand and led him into the
shadows. "They were talking about getting you and Gaelen to Ireland
for some reason. Something about a Council. Lucas, what is this
about?"

He squeezed her hand and, wrapping his
arms around her, pulled her closer.

"I can't tell you now, love. There
isn't time. Come," he said, taking her hand and leading her to the
door. "Is there another way out?"

"I don't know. I just ducked in here to
get away from the goons."

Lucas chuckled. "It's all right. We'll
get out. They have to deal with Gaelen now." He drew open the door
and peered out. Erin glanced out around him, but could see nothing.
"Good," Lucas said at last, "Gaelen has them far away. I'm going
out to make sure the way is clear. You follow when I give you a
wave, okay?"

She nodded and, for the first time in
days, really felt everything would be all right.

He leaned toward her. She stood on her
tiptoes. Their lips met in a sweet, too-short kiss of
promise.

He winked at her playfully, lifting her
spirits even more, before he went out into the hallway.

Erin watched, waiting for the sign. A
creepy crawly wiggle of dread inched up her spine.

"There he is, boys. Get him!" Dr.
Duncan shouted.

Frank and the other big orderly jumped
out of a room and onto Lucas.

This wasn't the sign he'd intended,
Erin was sure, but it was close enough for her. She yanked the door
open and leapt into the hallway. Screaming her head off. Hands out,
ready to scratch, teeth bared for biting.

"Let him go!" Erin yelled at the burly
men who held Lucas down. "Let him go!" Her little fists made no
impression at all on them.

"Damn minx! Stop!" Frank waved her off
him as though she were no more than a gnat, sending her flying
against the wall.

Woof! The air whooshed from her lungs
and her legs crumpled. Erin slid to the floor, gasping,
aching.

"Leave her alone!" Lucas roared, though
he was unable to move.

"Can't you shut him up,
Sean?"

"Sure." The other orderly, Sean,
whacked Lucas with a meaty paw.

Lucas's head snapped backward, a thick
crack sounding as he made contact with the wall. His eyelids fell
shut as his eyes rolled upward in his head.

"Lucas!"

"Don't you worry, darlin', I just gave
him a little Ulster sedative," Sean said with a laugh as he bent
over and tied Lucas's wrists behind him with a dark green rope. He
turned back to Frank and the doctor. "He'll be giving us no trouble
for a bit."

Erin crawled over to Lucas, running her
hands along his chest, his face, his arms.

"Yuck," she exclaimed, drawing back her
hand from the cold, wet, fishy-smelling bonds around Lucas's
wrists. "What do you have him tied with?" she managed to
ask.

"Never you mind, dear," Frank said,
offering her a hand up. "It's just the ticket for holding such as
him down."

"It looks like seaweed."

"Aye. He won't be breaking out of a
well-tied strand of good, salty seaweed." Frank looked at Dr.
Duncan. "How 'bout it, Doc? It's up to you. Do we wait to get the
other one?"

"What other one? You leave my sister
alone!" Erin shouted, terrified for Annabelle's sake. Everybody
knew aliens abducted beautiful Earth women to have sex with
them.

"Not your sister, sweetheart," Frank
reassured her. "It's Lucas's brother we'll be after."

"Why are you wasting time explaining to
her? Gaelen will follow us to get his brother. Then we can bring
them all before the Council and get our reward. Bring these two and
let's be off." Dr. Duncan swirled away in a blur of long white lab
coat and led the way.

Frank grabbed Erin's arm and pulled her
to her feet. Turning to his companion, he asked, "Can you get that
one, Sean?"

"Sure'n I can handle this wee
lad."

Dragged along the hallway, Erin glanced
around, frantic for a glimpse of a friendly face.

The nurses and doctors strolled along
the hall as though they were invisible.

"Help!" she cried. "Help us!" She
grabbed at the sleeve of a passing nurse.

Her fingers passed through the woman's
arm.

A gasp of terror whistled through
her.

"They can't see you, dear. Nor can they
hear or feel you. You are invisible to them," Frank
explained.

"But how?" Erin stopped her question.
"Of course. You are aliens. You can pass through walls, so I
suppose you can make yourselves invisible, too."

Frank laughed out loud. A passing nurse
looked right at him, then, face wrinkled in confusion, she moved
on, shaking her head.

"Yes, dear. We're aliens. Right,
Sean?"

Sean joined in the hilarity. "Aye,
Frankie. But I got me green card right here in me
wallet."

The two laughed all the way to the end
of the corridor where a freight elevator stood open,
waiting.

"If you can hold down the comedy,
George and Gracie, we'll get on our way." Dr. Duncan was leaning
against the corner of the huge elevator, finger on the button that
would take them to the basement.

"I'm Gracie, okay, Frankie?"

Frankie laughed as he followed Sean
into the elevator.

"Begorrah, Sean. You know I don't like
cigars. Maybe we could take turns?"

"Shut up, the both of you." Dr. Duncan
pressed the button, then pressed her palm to her
forehead.

"You need to relax, Doc," Frank told
her. "You pixies just take life too serious."

Dr. Duncan rolled her eyes to the
ceiling. "I'm not going to get into a whole big stramash o'er
this."

"Stramash?" Sean and Frank said the
word together, stared at each other, then smirked.

Erin, still held in Frank's tight grip,
ventured a question. "Where are you taking us? Why are you taking
us?"

"We're going to Ireland,
dear."

"Ireland?" Erin felt her eyes widen and
a smile spread over her face. "I've always wanted to go to Ireland.
My Granny Tinker was born in Ireland." Then she remembered she was
being taken to Ireland against her will. "I don't think I can go
now. I've got a biochemistry final and practicals
and..."

"Don't be too concerned over that,
dear," Dr. Duncan said. "If the court finds you innocent, you'll be
returned."

"What court?"

"The court being convened at the brugh
of King Finnvarra."

"Brew?" Erin asked.

"She means palace, lass," Frank
offered.

Dr. Duncan glared at the man. "Palace,"
she repeated, looking very irritated, before she turned her back to
them all.

"Who's King Finnvarra?" Erin asked
Frank.

"The king of the good folk of Connacht,
lassie." Frank tipped his head and looked her up and down. "I
wouldna worry o'er much, were I you. The king has an eye for the
comely lass, and a special affection for your kind. He'll not let
harm come to you."

"What kind is my kind?" Erin asked,
sure she wasn't going to enjoy being the object of this king's
affection.

"Mortal."

"Mortal?" Erin was about to ask another
question, but the sharp sting of an injection bit into her arm an
instant before Frank's face faded before her eyes, and she fell
into blackness.

Chapter Twelve

Gaelen sped along the hallways,
purposely leaving a trail. At the end of a long hall, he stopped,
unsquooshed, and caught his breath. He waited for the lads to come
after him, ready to take on the two fairy mercenaries with his bare
hands.

"Okay, buddy," a voice startled him
from behind. "You the guy causing all the hullabaloo?"

Gaelen turned to face the man, one of
the regular hospital security men, doughnut-padded belly hanging
over his belt.

"Me?" he asked, all
innocence.

"Oh, come now," the guard said. "Let's
not be coy." He pulled a pair of handcuffs from behind his back and
jingled them. "Don't make this difficult, eh?" He motioned with one
hand ahead of him. "Shall we?"

"Certainly," Gaelen answered, glad to
have some help in finding Lucas and Erin. "I don't know what the
trouble is, though, officer. I was looking for my brother. He's
visiting his sweetheart up here."

"Really? Tell it to the supervisor,
buddy. All I know is, a doctor called security to come up to
restrain some patients who'd gone gaga. You one of
them?"

"Do I look gaga?" Gaelen asked,
offended.

"Do I look like a doctor?" the officer
said, grabbing Gaelen's elbow.

"Hey!" Gaelen cried, wrenching his
elbow free.

The officer pulled the pistol from his
holster. It shook a little, as though the man were unfamiliar with
it.

Gaelen was starting to get antsy. Lucas
was supposed to be here by now with Erin. Glancing over the
officer's shoulder, he wondered what to do now. The shaky gun in
the man's hand didn't worry him. It would be an easy thing to
squoosh and get out of the way. But that would reveal his nature to
a mortal who wouldn't be likely to believe. That could be more
fatal than the bullet.

"Okay, officer. Don't get nervous. I'll
come quietly." Gaelen raised his hands over his head and waited for
the officer to indicate the way they were to go.

The shaky officer let Gaelen pass him
and start down the hall. Gaelen, hands still in the air, walked
slowly, hoping to see Lucas and Erin come around the corner. Then
he could let the officer take them all to the security office,
somewhere he and Lucas could engineer an escape.

But Lucas didn't come.

A hard punch in his back redirected his
attention to the officer.

"Come on, what's the hold
up?"

"Listen, officer, could we go back this
way? I was supposed to meet my brother, and I seem to have
misplaced him."

"Looking for reinforcements,
eh?"

"No," Gaelen said, stopping and
turning, only to freeze as he found himself staring down a blunt,
blue steel barrel. He stepped back. "I think he can help us work
all this out. I hate to waste your time, you see."

"Sure, you're a regular humanitarian.
Get going. We'll take the elevator here."

They were back in the psych ward, its
normal hum of activity resumed. Gaelen turned his head, back and
forth, looking for Lucas's russet head.

The doors squeaked open and again the
officer urged him forward with a poke in the ribs.

"Wait," Gaelen said, becoming more
anxious now. "Nurse!" he called to a passing woman in a flowered
scrub suit. "Where is Dr. Duncan?"

"Dr. Duncan left about a half-hour
ago."

"Where did she go?"

The nurse narrowed her eyes with
suspicion. "What business is it of yours?"

"I'm her boyfriend. I was supposed to
pick her up for a hot date."

"You said you were waiting for your
brother," the officer reminded him, poking him again.

"Stop that! It was a double
date."

"Really?" The woman's eyes passed over
Gaelen's form, evaluating him. "At eight in the
morning?"

"What difference does time make to a
man in love? So, where did my sweet Linette go?" Gaelen asked
again. He put on his best leer. "I'm a little anxious to get her
alone."

The nurse smiled. "Dr. Duncan is
transporting a couple of patients this morning."

"Transporting?" Gaelen asked, a chill
running down his spine. "Which patients?"

"I don't really know." The nurse's
forehead wrinkled as though she was trying to remember something.
"I should, though, shouldn't I?" She wandered off, shaking her
head.

"Damn. Pixie-led."

"What?" the officer asked. "What are
you talking about?"

Gaelen didn't answer. As he got on the
elevator, he silently kicked himself for not seeing it sooner.
Every mortal being on the whole floor was pixie-led. Linette had
bewitched them, so they wandered the halls, not seeing anything
Linette didn't want them to see.

And he'd left Lucas all alone in the
midst of it.

During the ride down in the elevator,
Gaelen wondered if he should try to escape. He weighed the danger
of revealing himself and just getting the heck out of here. Time
was wasting, and Lucas and Erin would soon be on a plane to
Ireland. He had no illusions that Linette would bother taking them
to New Jersey to let the North American Council take care of the
matter.