The Three (34 page)

Anna realized what Matt was doing just as she reached Kael. She leaned in close, hissing, “Matt’s going down there.”

“So am I,” Kael gasped. It was clear that Matt had knocked the wind out of her, and she struggled to regain her breath.

Anna was torn between following Kael blindly and preserving their rescue plans. “If we go down, it’s over.

Even if we kill ten of them, we’ll never defeat thirty. Not like this.”

“Stupid kid forgot to take his bat,” Kael protested.

Anna looked over and saw Matt’s weapon still lying in the dirt. Fuck. The boy was never going to win this fight.

Anna tipped her head back and released the loudest hawk call she could manage. It was something from teenaged days with Garrett, practiced in the summer under the tutelage of his adoptive father. She knew it would get somebody’s attention. She would give Matt’s rescue attempt a chance, but she needed to help in any way she could without getting herself killed.

Just as Brian looked up at the sound she made, faltering for a moment in his effort to force Elin’s head closer to his erection, Matt burst from the trees. He stumbled down the relatively steep incline that led to the edge of the water. He didn’t hesitate to dash across the river, splashing in a frantic attempt to reach Elin on the other side. He slipped once, twice, but kept going. Brian turned his head at the sound of the boy’s approach and released Elin’s hair.

Anna glanced back at camp, hoping and praying that someone heard the hawk cry. The camp guard closest to the trees looked around in mild interest, then tilted his head when Matt shouted at Brian as he emerged from the river.

“Leave her alone! What the fuck is wrong with you, man?”

Brian took a step backwards and frowned hard at the blond teenager storming toward him. Behind Brian, Randy released the little girl, apparently shocked by the sudden appearance of a stranger. The girl took one last, terrified look at Elin, then set off running and sobbing. It took the second man almost a full ten seconds to start after her.

By that point, Brian had swatted Elin aside, tucked himself back into his pants, and zipped up. He stepped up to Matt, meeting his challenge. Angry words were exchanged, then Brian swung at Matt, catching the boy hard in the jaw with his fist.

Anna moved her eyes back to the camp. Elin’s little friend had made it to the tree line when she ran smack into the front of the guard who had been standing closest to the river. Randy was hot on her heels, and he skidded to a stop when he saw his comrade. For a moment he stood, stunned, then he said something to the guard and pointed back at the river. The new guard, a man with a bushy mustache, swept up the child and jogged with Brian’s companion back to the riverside.

Anna swept her gaze ahead of them, just in time to see Matt land a blow to Brian’s face. Matt shook out his hand, wincing, as Brian’s head snapped backwards from the impact. It took Brian only a moment to recover, and when he did, he lunged and tackled Matt to the ground. He drew back to deliver another punch to Matt’s face but never had the chance to strike. The guard with the mustache set the little girl down and rushed to break up the fight.

“Come on.” Kael grabbed Anna’s arm and pulled her to her feet. “We’re moving closer.”

Anna let Kael tug her along by the hand. They jogged over the path that Matt had taken, to a better position. Anna knew they weren’t being as quiet and cautious as they should as they tore through the trees, but she counted on the men being too distracted to notice them.

“Here,” Kael hissed, and they dropped down against the trunk of a thick tree. Now only thirty feet from the scene of the fight, they peered through the foliage that obscured them from view.

“Brian, that’s enough!” The guard with the mustache wrapped both arms around Brian’s chest, restraining him from lunging at Matt again. Matt scrabbled backwards on his hands and feet, then struggled to stand.

He turned his head and wiped at his nose with his arm. It came away red with blood.

“Fucking little bastard attacked me!” Brian roared. “I’ll fucking kill you, you little prick!”

Matt stepped backwards as another guard ran into the clearing and joined the man with the mustache in restraining Brian. This guard looked to be only a year or two older than Matt.

The man with the mustache glared at Randy, who hovered to the side in awkward silence. “Go get Trey,”

he ordered.

At first, Randy stared down at where Elin sat naked in the grass, shaking, and didn’t respond to the command. Then, after a sharp bellow from the mustached man, he said, “Sure thing, Doc.”

Doc gave him a short nod, then tugged Brian’s arm behind his back. “Calm down! Stop fighting me and calm the hell down so you can tell me what’s going on here!”

“I’ll tell you what’s going on.” Brian jerked his head at Matt, who held his T-shirt bunched to his face to soak up the blood that poured from his nose. “That little motherfucker there decided to try to take the woman and the girl. He tried to jump me, and you got here just as I was beating his ass—”

“He was…he was abusing this woman!” Matt’s voice cracked on the words, but he stood his ground, straightening his shoulders. “I saw him trying to force her to…to—”

“That’s bullshit!” Brian snarled. “And I’ll kill you for even saying it.”

Anna watched the two guards holding Brian look at each other behind his head. Doc raised an eyebrow, and the younger one gave him a slight nod in return.

Silently, Matt stepped over to Elin’s discarded clothing, strewn across the grass in front of him. He bent and gathered the items with shaking hands, then walked to where Elin sat. Without a word, not looking at her body, he crouched down beside her and offered her his arm. Elin grabbed onto him with her cuffed hands and allowed the boy to pull her to her feet.

Meanwhile, Brian was going crazy. “Why the fuck are you holding on to me? I’m the one who’s in this army.

He’s the one who doesn’t belong here! Whose word are you going to take?”

Matt handed Elin her clothing, and she hurried to cover her naked body as two more men entered the scene. One was Randy, who looked as though he wanted to disappear into the trees. The other man was blond-haired Trey, who stormed over to Brian.

Matt turned and, in a show of quiet authority that left Anna breathless, said, “Will someone please uncuff this woman so she can get dressed?”

Trey stepped between Brian and Matt, glancing first at the teenager then at his red-faced subordinate.

“What are you doing, Brian?”

“I was taking her to bathe, sir,” Brian said, calming in the presence of his leader. He shook off the men who restrained him and ran a hand down the front of his T-shirt. “As you ordered.”

“I ordered Dan and Randy to bathe the women,” Trey said. “Not you. What are you doing here?”

“I took over for Dan, sir,” Brian said. “He needed to take a trip to the woods, and he asked me to take the last pair to the river.”

Trey looked over his shoulder at Randy, who immediately dropped his gaze to the grass. “Is that true, Randy?”

Randy’s silence was indictment enough.

“What the fuck?” Brian cried out. “This guy jumps out of fucking nowhere and attacks us, probably to take our girls, and I’m being questioned?”

Trey glanced at Brian, then turned to regard Matt seriously. He looked the boy up and down. His eyes flitted over to Elin, who still held her soiled clothing in front of her naked body, then back to Matt.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Matt. And I wasn’t trying to kidnap anyone. Do you really think a guy like me would take on these two guys? He was trying to hurt this woman. And I wanted to stop him.”

“How was he hurting her?”

“He was…he was trying to…” Matt stuttered.

“He was trying to have intercourse with her?” Trey’s face was expressionless, his eyes cold.

Matt started to shake his head, then stopped with an embarrassed shrug. “He was trying…he was making her do things, and then he tried…he wanted her to use her mouth…” He shifted in discomfort and shot Elin a nervous look. Elin lowered her eyes to the ground.

Trey swiveled on his feet, took two steps toward Brian, then drew back to deliver a hard punch to his face.

“Stupid fucking wasteful bastard. You were going to traumatize her, and for what? A fucking blow job?”

Brian turned back to Trey, spitting out a mouthful of blood. His eyes burned with fury. “So you’re taking his word over mine?”

“You’ve been dying to hurt her from the second we got her.”

Anna blinked in surprise. There was something unsettling in Trey’s tone of voice.

Brian opened his mouth, but Trey kept talking. “Don’t you dare deny it. You can’t get over the fact that she managed to land a few blows on you. That her lover killed Sue. Yes, I believe him. He’s got no reason to lie, as far as I know, but you’ve got every reason. I don’t know why Dan allowed you to take his assignment—I’ll deal with him later—but I do know that you didn’t volunteer so you could be a good guy.”

Brian shook his head and muttered under his breath, but he kept his gaze to the ground, refusing to meet Trey’s challenging stare.

“You’ll report to me after lunch.” Trey nodded to Doc, who put his hand on Brian’s shoulder and encouraged him to turn in the direction of camp. “Collect the key for Elin’s cuffs from him, Doc. I want you to hold on to those for now.” Trey glanced over at Randy. “You, too. Report to me after lunch. I’ll determine what to do with you then.”

As Doc and the other guard led Brian and Randy away, Trey turned to Elin. “It happened like the boy said?”

Elin nodded, eyes downcast. “Yes, sir.” She shifted the T-shirt in front of her chest, tugging on the cotton material to try to cover her upper thighs.

Anna’s lip curled in disgust as Trey moved to Elin and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a close embrace. “You’re okay now,” he told her.

Elin nodded. She didn’t pull away, nor did she accept the comfort Trey obviously thought he was offering.

“Yes, sir.”

Trey ran a gentle hand down the length of Elin’s naked back, then stepped away to fish around in the pocket of his blue jeans. Clearly he carried a set of handcuff keys of his own. “Let me see your wrists.”

Elin had to pull the T-shirt away from her bare breasts in order to obey the command. She held out her hands and waited patiently as Trey unlocked the cuffs. After he removed them, he captured Elin’s wrists and rubbed them, asking softly, “How does that feel?”

Something about the tender nature of his voice and actions made Anna’s stomach turn. She looked at Kael and caught the unabated anger in her indigo eyes.

“Better.” Elin met Trey’s eyes for a moment, flinched, then added, “Sir.”

“Good.” Trey planted a soft kiss on Elin’s forehead. “Get dressed, darling. It’s nearly lunchtime.”

Matt looked away as Elin dressed, but Trey watched until she tugged her T-shirt back on, then he turned his attention to Matt.

“I’ll talk to you in my tent first. I think we have a few things to discuss.”

“All right.” If Matt was afraid, he was doing an excellent job keeping that fear out of his voice.

“Do me a favor and grab the little girl, okay?” Trey said. “Let’s get these two settled down for lunch, and then we can talk.”

Matt nodded. He approached the dark-haired girl slowly and crouched in front of her so that he was at eye level. “Hey there. What’s your name?”

When the girl didn’t answer and kicked at the grass shyly, Elin said, “Her name is Lana.”

“Lana. That’s a pretty name.” The girl wouldn’t meet his eyes. “Do you want to come with me so you can eat lunch?”

“Go ahead, Lana,” Elin said. “Matt’s not going to hurt you.”

Lana raised her eyes and assessed Matt, uncertain. Matt smiled at her until, after only thirty seconds or so, Lana lifted her arms into the air in silent consent.

“Thanks, Lana,” Matt scooped her into his arms. “I’ll just follow you,” he told Trey, and Anna sent a silent thank-you to him for not leaving Elin alone with the leader.

There was something about the way Trey treated Elin— however solicitous it seemed—that made Anna uneasy. From Kael’s quiet sigh beside her, Anna knew she felt the same way.

“You’re wonderful with children,” Trey commented to Elin. From his tone, it was clear that he considered this a high compliment. “Somehow I knew you would be.”

Anna shuddered.

“Thank you, sir,” Elin mumbled.

“All right, then. You want to stay uncuffed for lunch?”

Elin didn’t hesitate to nod vigorously. Anna wondered how often Elin got to be free from her restraints.

From the brief flash of light in Elin’s eyes at the suggestion, she guessed that it was relatively rare.

“You’re going to behave?” Trey took Elin’s upper arm, pulling her to his side.

“Yes, sir.”

“That’s all I need to hear.” Trey gestured to Matt. “Come on. I imagine the food’s almost ready.”

Kael pulled away from the tree and sat back on her heels. She covered her face with both hands and exhaled shakily. “That was…too close.”

Anna didn’t want to think about it. She was having enough trouble maintaining her relative calm as it was.

Her cheeks burned as though Elin’s humiliation had been her own. “I guess now we know how Matt can help us,” she whispered. Thank God we found the boy. We would have been killed on the spot, but Matt…I think Matt might just be accepted into the fold for that one.

“Come on.” Kael grabbed her hand. “We’re going back to our original position. I want to see the camp.”

Anna allowed Kael to drag her through the trees once more. They were stealthy and sure-footed this time, careful not to attract attention now that the excitement had died down. They found the place where they had originally crouched, and they resumed their positions looking out over the camp.