Toni and Maya both reached for Nicole’s arms when she stumbled on the broken pavement of the neglected roadway. Even though Xavier had said he’d send a transport back for them, Juan and his men had decided they wanted hot food and showers sooner rather than later. They’d set off at a fast clip in the direction Xavier’s transport had taken, and Nicole was having trouble keeping up.
“Are you okay?” Maya asked.
Nicole grimaced. “I’ll be fine. I just need to focus on what’s ahead—hopefully a full meal, hot bath, and a real bed. I could sleep—” She stumbled, then bent to grasp her right calf before sitting abruptly. Her face contorted. “Cramp, cramp. Dung.”
Toni would have laughed at the uncharacteristic curse if it hadn’t been obvious that Nicole was in pain. Pregnancy was bringing out a short-tempered side of the usually sweet, sunny Advocate who befriended everyone. She knelt and grabbed Nicole’s foot with one hand to flex it gently. “Let me help, Nic.” She rubbed Nicole’s arch and Achilles tendon with her other hand.
Maya joined her ministrations, pushing Nicole’s hands away to take over her frantic massage of the visibly knotted calf muscle. “Let Toni and me do this. You sit back and concentrate on breathing through the pain,” she said to Nicole.
Emile stood over them, his expression anxious. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s dehydrated and her legs are cramping.” Toni knew she shouldn’t snap at Emile. He’d been kind and helpful. But she was tired and thirsty. They’d drunk the last swallows of their water when they rose that morning, and now she was kicking herself for not giving up her share to Nicole.
Emile dug—a bit awkwardly with Tan still tied to his back—into one of the deep cargo pockets of his pants and handed a quarter-full water bottle to Nicole. “Will this help?”
Maya looked up and beamed at him. “Thank you, Emile.”
The big man blushed and scuffed his boot against the pavement. “I’m sorry I can’t carry her, too.” He glanced nervously at the other men, who had stopped some distance ahead. One of them was striding back toward them. “Maybe it won’t be much farther, but I think we need to hurry.”
The man, the same who had earlier suggested he should help fit her pack straps around her breasts, approached with a sneer. “Juan wants you up there,” he said to Emile. Though the man had a slight build, Emile wilted under his mean stare and hurried back to the group, Tan’s limbs flopping as he jogged. Then the man glared at the women. “Get up.”
Toni stood to face him while Maya rose and held out a hand to Nicole, who failed in her first attempt when her weight pulled at her tender calf muscle. She plopped back down to the roadway.
“I said for you to get up, bitch.” The man shoved Toni out of his path and drew his foot back to kick Nicole.
“No!” Toni charged into him, knocking him to the ground and going down with him. Their momentum rolled them several times before Toni ended up on top, her knife pressed to his throat. “Only a belly-crawling coward would kick a pregnant woman.”
He tried to buck her off. Unsuccessful, he taunted Toni. “So, she’s your girlfriend? I got the idea that you fancied the green-eyed tart. She’s a tasty-looking morsel. Maybe I’ll take a piece of her as payment to leave the Advocate alone.”
Toni pushed the knife’s point into his skin and a drop of blood leaked from the small prick. “Maybe I’ll cut your manhood off, after I slit your jugular.”
“Toni?” Maya’s voice wavered.
Toni froze at the quiet click of a projectile weapon cocking next to her ear.
“I have to rescue you from this runt of a woman?” Juan spat on the ground next to the man’s head and then pressed the gun to Toni’s temple. “Drop the knife and get up.”
Fury swirled in her gut. His remark tore at a life-long wound. She wasn’t a runt. She was a warrior. She growled and pressed the knife deeper. The bead of blood was joined by more to form a tiny pool that filled and trickled down the man’s neck. “Drop your weapon or I’ll cut his throat.” Maybe she’d kill him anyway. Then he’d never touch Maya. Ever.
Juan’s cold laugh rang out. The gun no longer pressed against her head. “Drop your knife or I’ll shoot the Advocate. Then we won’t have to worry about her slowing us down.”
“If you hurt her, Furcho will roast you slowly.” The threat was a stall while she calculated whether she could slice her captive’s throat and the tendons in Juan’s ankle in one stroke…before he registered what was happening and shot one of them. It was a gamble.
“Toni. He’s very serious.” Nicole’s soft words instantly dampened the fire driving her thoughts. Furcho and Alyssa trusted her to protect Nicole and her unborn baby, not gamble with their lives. And what if his bullet hit Maya instead? A sliver of panic shot through her. How had she even considered putting them in danger? Toni rose, and her captive scrambled backward before standing and dabbing at the blood on his neck, his sneer gone. She flipped the small knife and slowly offered the handle end to Juan. He took it from her, then backhanded her with the gun’s grip. Pain exploded in her cheek. She staggered back but managed to stay on her feet. She touched her fingers to her throbbing face, and they came away bloody.
“Search her for more weapons.”
She held Juan’s stare as his man rifled through her pockets and ran his hands over her body. She willed herself not to react when he squeezed her breasts and crotch in his rough search.
“Nothing, unless she has something shoved up inside her. Want me to check that, too?”
Toni’s stomach soured at the thought of his hand probing her. She’d hit him with her shield hard enough to crack his skull before she’d let that happen. She silently thanked the stars as a long hover bus appeared in the distance and the other men began to shout.
“No,” Juan said. “Get in the transport.”
The man hurried away. Toni didn’t need Nicole’s empathic powers to see his relief that Juan hadn’t shot him for letting a woman best him.
Juan stood a moment longer, his eyes boring into each of the women in turn. “Don’t test me again.” He gestured for them to go before him as they walked to the waiting hover bus.
* * *
Maya squeezed onto the bench seat with Toni and Nicole, then glanced nervously around the transport. Tan had been cut free from Emile and dumped unceremoniously onto the seats across from them. Juan sat up front, while the others settled around the bus. Nobody occupied the seats immediately in front and behind them. Not even Emile, who sat quietly in the very back of the bus. His kindness to them had earned him a cold shoulder from his comrades. Other than Juan chatting up the driver, the bus was sullenly silent.
A barrage of anxious questions swirled like a tornado in Maya’s head. Was her mother safe? These men showed no respect for Cyrus as their leader but jumped to follow Xavier’s orders. What about Nicole? She wasn’t dealing well with pregnancy. And that baby. Maya had sensed something unusual when she’d touched Nicole’s belly earlier. Would the rough conditions cause a miscarriage? Was the pregnancy advanced enough that a miscarriage would endanger Nicole’s life, too? Toni could shield them from the men, but she couldn’t stop a woman’s labor. Could she?
Toni. Wow. A tingling sensation washed over Maya as she flashed back to the earlier scene. Toni was so brave and fierce. Maya itched to slide her hand into Toni’s and entwine their fingers. Toni made her feel safe. And more. She glanced at Toni’s serious profile. She was staring at her hands, full lips pursed in a contemplative pout. The swirling in Maya’s head stopped, and a single vision pushed everything else away. Toni’s pouty lips on hers, their tongues sliding together, hot and wet. Then Nicole’s quiet words tore her from her pleasurable daydream.
“We should ask for a doctor to scan your cheek and make sure the bone isn’t fractured.” Nicole angled to sag against the window of the hover bus. “If they won’t get one for you, maybe they’ll give us some supplies so I can patch you up.” Nicole’s last words faded away as she closed her eyes and rested her head in the junction of the window and the back of their seat.
The memory of Juan’s pistol cracking against Toni’s cheek flashed through Maya, and she cursed her drift toward amorous thoughts. How had she gotten so off track? She cupped Toni’s chin and gently turned her head so she could see more than Toni’s profile. Maya covered her mouth as she choked back a shocked cry. An ugly bruise already swelled Toni’s left eye nearly shut, and a dark trail of blood had dried along the ridge of her jaw and down her neck even as the cut on her cheekbone still wept a trickle of bright red. “Oh, Toni.”
The right side of Toni’s mouth curled in a tiny smile. “I want to say you should see the other guy, but I’m sure I look worse than him.”
Maya raised her hand and Toni flinched, then held steady, her one visible eye holding Maya’s gaze. She’d never seen such a rich shade of brown, framed by long, thick, dark lashes. Heat radiated from Toni’s tortured flesh when Maya skimmed her fingertips over the bruise. She gently pried the enflamed eye lids open. “Your eye looks clear and undamaged,” she said quietly. “What can you see?”
“Swirls of green and blue, like the deep part of the Third Region Gulf.”
Maya blinked. Sun and stars. She’d fielded compliments before from would-be suitors, but Toni’s murmured words fluttered the breath in her lungs and stuttered her heart. She dropped her eyes to Toni’s mouth, and before she could analyze her intent, Maya closed the few centimeters between their faces and touched her lips to Toni’s. The sudden scuffle of men moving around and past them jerked Maya back to reality.
“Perverts,” one of the men muttered.
“Maybe they’d put on a show for us,” another man said, louder. The group of them moving to exit the transport laughed.
Toni frowned, then turned in the seat to scan the bus as if she were counting heads. They were seriously outnumbered, and Maya feared what Toni might be plotting.
“Don’t react. That’s what they want you to do.”
“I wasn’t planning to give them the satisfaction,” Toni said, frowning. “Something…I don’t know what I’m looking for, but I just felt like I needed to look.” She twisted around to wake Nicole but froze when the window reflected her image. She lifted her hand to her damaged cheek and carefully touched it. “Dung. I look like death warmed over.”
“You should see the other guy,” Maya said, drawing another tiny smile from Toni.
Emile was the last man to head for the exit. He said nothing, avoiding even a glance their way as he squatted to pull the still-unconscious Tan over his shoulder. Toni roused Nicole, and they followed him.
Juan was waiting beside the bus. “Come with me. Emile. Bring the pyro.”
They rounded the bus and stared at a modest four-story hotel. Toni paused in front of the sign next to the entrance, murmuring the hotel’s name and the Believers Only sign attached to the wall below it. Her odd behavior made Maya wonder if more than her cheekbone was cracked. “Come on,” she urged Toni, tugging her shirt.
After a brief conversation with the clerk behind the desk, Juan herded them into the lift and pressed his finger to the touchpad.
“Four,” Toni whispered.
A man was working on the security plate of a door to their left and looked up as they exited the lift. “I’ve already taken care of the adjoining room, and I’ll have this one done in just a second.” He used narrow pliers to pull a wire loose and replaced the face of the lock. “All done. Did they give you the code at the front desk?”
Juan held up a card the desk clerk had given him.
“It should be good for both rooms. I disconnected the sensor that opens the door from the inside. The only way to exit is to tap your code into the security panel inside the room, same as you punch it in here to get in.” He tucked the pliers into a tool belt at his waist. “If you lose or forget the code and get trapped inside, just buzz the front desk.”
Maya glanced at Toni and Nicole. Toni was watching Juan and the hotel tech intently. Nicole was propped against the wall, staring into space. Maya edged toward the center of the hall, for a better view of the security plate. Toni didn’t glance her way but gave a tiny nod to acknowledge Maya’s move to make up for her blind side. Her eye was a thin slit now. They both waited.
“You’re sure it can’t be opened without the code?”
“We do it all the time for people with kids. Keeps them from sneaking out or constantly touching the door just to watch it retract and close over and over. But I’ll wait while you test it.” The tech stepped back to give Juan access.
Juan used his body to block even the tech’s line of sight, but the tech wasn’t watching Juan. He was staring at Toni’s damaged face.
“You’ve got quite a shiner,” he said to Toni. He pointed past them. “The ice machine is on this floor, last door on the left. Looks like you could use some.”
“She’s fine,” Juan said, motioning for Emile to go into the room first.
The tech raised his eyebrows at the sight of Tan slung over Emile’s shoulder, and his brow knitted as he glanced from Toni to Juan. Concern flickered in his eyes, then suspicion.
Juan apparently noticed and sighed dramatically. “These women came to The Natural Order for help with their addictions to mind-altering drugs and drinks. We thought they were doing well, but then these two showed up inebriated.” He jerked his thumb to the doorway Emile had entered. “That one passed out and tripped this one as they were boarding the hover bus. That’s when she hit her head.”
Maya grabbed the opportunity. “Is there a doctor in the hotel?”
The tech started to answer, but Juan interrupted him. “We’ve already arranged for a doctor to come by later.”
Movement in her peripheral vision caught Maya’s attention. Nicole, alert again, mouthed he’s lying. Emile emerged from the room, and Maya groped for a quick plan. She had to do something. She stepped forward and smiled. “Emile, could you please get some ice for Toni’s eye?” She pointed down the hallway. “It’s at the end of the hall, on the left.”
Emile looked to Juan for permission. Juan gave a quick nod, then smiled at the tech. “So, you can see why I’ve asked for the security panel to be modified.” He sighed again, his expression sorrowful. “It’s regrettably necessary to save them from the temptation to seek out more drugs.” He shook his head. “It’s an illness, you know, and our duty to help them in their struggle.”
While the ice was a small victory, Maya couldn’t celebrate. Juan was a good actor and had outmaneuvered her with a lie plausible enough to relieve the tech’s suspicions. Her hope that he might call the local peacekeepers to investigate died.
“Thank you for your help,” Juan said, dismissing the tech as he ushered them into the room where Tan sprawled on the first of two beds, still out cold. The friendly expression Juan had maintained for the tech disappeared with the click of the door’s lock. He went directly to the credenza and removed the receiver chip from the back of the large-screen digital viewer. They wouldn’t be able to access anything outside the room—news and entertainment channels, the d-net, or even the front desk.
Toni disappeared into the personal facility, and the sound of retching quickly followed. Nicole shot a worried look in Toni’s direction, then slid past Maya to check on Tan. Maya surveyed the room—sparsely furnished but clean. She eyed the door that connected them to the next room. Would guards be posted there? The thought of being trapped in these rooms with leering men made her want to retch, too.
When the musical tones of a code being entered into the outside security panel sounded and the door slid back, Juan’s hand shot to the weapon strapped to his belt. He holstered his partially drawn gun as Xavier strode into the room, followed by Emile, holding a small waste can full of ice and another man carrying several large paper bags that he set on a table in the corner of the room. Maya nearly swooned at the aroma of food trailing him.
Xavier scanned the room. “Where’s the other one?”
Toni emerged from the personal facility, chalk-white and wiping her mouth with a wet bath-cloth. Xavier stared at her face, then turned a questioning stare on Juan.
“She attacked one of the men.” Juan shrugged as if it was nothing.
Xavier’s expression darkened. “I told you to shoot all of them if even one tried to escape.”
Juan ducked his head, his bravado disappearing at Xavier’s cold, flat words, and Maya looked from one to the other. Nicole could confirm her suspicion, but she was already sure. Juan, Xavier’s right hand, was afraid of his boss.
“Nobody tried to escape.” Toni’s battered face contorted in a half grimace. She swayed, then put a hand on the wall to steady herself. “One of your bastards tried to kick Nicole because she stopped to massage out a leg cramp.” She pointed to her eye. “This was Juan’s reward after I stopped his idiot.” She glared at Xavier with her one visible eye. “Only a man with a little penis would kick a pregnant woman.”
Maya wanted to slap a hand over Toni’s mouth to stop her from saying more.
Xavier narrowed his eyes and stepped into Toni’s personal space. Toni pushed off the wall and straightened. Hands open and held loosely at her sides, she didn’t give an inch. No, no, no. This was not the time. Maya hadn’t seen it in a vision, but she felt it in her core. If Toni revealed her shield now, their future would change.
Maya slid between them, gently forcing Toni to step back. “I want to see my father. He is the leader of The Natural Order, not you. He understands that women are to be protected.” She gathered her courage and punctuated her next words with occasional pokes to Xavier’s chest. “And, while we might require protection and guidance from men, women are the source of new life. The Natural Order needs children to spread our beliefs and our dominance in the world.” She leaned forward to counter the tug at her shirt that threatened to force a step back. She was warming to her lecture and far from done. “Only one stallion is needed for the herd to grow, but a herd of stallions with few mares is doomed.”
Xavier’s mouth curled into a slow smile. “I like your fire. Maybe I should be your stallion, no?”
The tugging of her shirt switched to an arm wrapped around her waist. Toni pulled her away from Xavier as she whispered into Maya’s ear. “Maya, no. I’m sorry I started this, but it’s time to shut up.”
His expression amused, Xavier shrugged and drew back, too.
His white teeth shone as his smile widened. “But the food we brought is growing cold while I rattle on.” He drew something from his pocket and tossed it to Juan. “Put these on the pyro and make sure they’re locked tight on her wrists.” He turned to Emile and gestured to the connecting door. “Open this, please, so our other guest can join them.”
Emile hurried to unlock the door and smiled when it slid back.
“Mom!” Maya threw herself at Laine when she stepped tentatively into the room.
“Enjoy the food I’ve brought you, ladies. We’ll be leaving tomorrow for the City of Light.” With that, the men filed out, and the door to the hall slid shut with a click and faint whir of the lock engaging.
Laine hugged her youngest child to her chest. “Are you okay?”
Maya disengaged from her mother’s embrace but grabbed Laine’s hand and led her to Toni, who sat on the end of the bed, her head bowed. “I am, but you have to help Toni. That dung-eater hit her.”
Laine stopped, cocked her head, and raised an eyebrow—a gesture she’d used Maya’s entire childhood to check her children’s bad behavior or language.
Fists on her hips, Maya rounded on her mother. “Really, Mom? We’ve been kidnapped, survived a plane crash, then made to hike through the woods and sleep on the cold ground. I’m not a child. I am a woman who is out of patience, beyond hungry, and desperate for a bath.”
“Please stop yelling.” Toni’s weak request was cold water on Maya’s fit of temper.
“Sorry. I’m so sorry.” Maya spoke quietly, kneeling to stroke the undamaged side of Toni’s face. “Are you going to be sick again?” She spotted a small waste bin next to the credenza and scooted a few steps on her knees to retrieve and place it between Toni’s knees. Toni bent low and dry-heaved over the bin.
“Let me help.” Laine sat on the bed next to Toni, who open-mouth panted a few breaths before heaving again. She grasped Toni’s wrist and dug her fingers in a pressure point. Still bent over the bin, Toni coughed a few times, but her breathing slowed, and she wiped at her mouth with the cloth still in her hand. Laine laid her other hand at the base of Toni’s skull, applying pressure behind both ears with her thumb and fingers. “Maya, get another cloth and wrap a handful of ice in it, please. Then see if there’s a liner in the facility bin that we can use to make a larger cold pack for her cheek.”
Maya got another cloth from the personal facility, put a big handful of ice in the center, tied the corners to form a small pack, and held it out to her mother.
Laine raised the heel of her hand where it rested on the back of Toni’s neck. “Slip it under my hand.” Toni tried to raise up, but Laine held her down. “Not yet. Just a minute more.”
Toni didn’t argue. She swallowed hard and rested her forearms on her thighs, then closed her good eye and gave in to Laine’s touch.
Maya wanted to wrap her arms around Toni and hug her hard. She wished for the first time that she’d inherited her mother’s healing gift, that she could be the one relieving Toni’s pain. But she didn’t, so she wasn’t.
She picked up the bin of ice and took it into the personal facility. An extra liner was tucked under the one lining the small bin in there. But before she filled it, she dipped her fingers into the chips of ice, then held them to the back of her neck. She felt a little queasy herself. Queasy with worry. What if Toni’s concussion was serious? Her brain could be bleeding. The extensive swelling worried her. If the cheekbone was shattered close to her eye, her vision could be permanently impaired unless she was taken to a hospital for surgery to repair it.
Maya tipped the ice bin over the sink to drain off some of the melted water. She wished they had a way to keep it from melting since they couldn’t get more. When she tipped the bin back upright, a flash of color showed under the ice. She dug out a couple of small cartons of juice. Emile, bless his heart. She hoped his kindness wouldn’t buy him more trouble. The gentle man didn’t belong with Xavier’s group. She shivered. She sensed a very dark soul when she looked into Xavier’s eyes. He must have been badly born several times over.
She stepped back into the room with the ice pack and juice cartons to find Toni in the middle of the second bed, propped against the bed’s headboard and supported by a stack of pillows. Laine sat on the bed where Tan was sprawled, her hand covering Tan’s forehead and her head bowed in concentration. Nicole was taking bites from a cheeseburger she held in one hand while she unpacked the food bags with her other.
“This stuff is still warm, you guys,” Nicole said between mouthfuls.
Maya set the juice cartons next to the food. “I found these in the ice bin. There must be a snack vendor in the ice room, and our big friend smuggled a few for us.”
Nicole picked one up and held it to her cheek. “Sun and stars. I’ve been craving some apple juice.”
Maya took one juice carton, a water carton, and two burgers from the food stash, juggling them with the ice pack and towel she’d grabbed. Toni turned her head toward Maya when she sat carefully next to her. She wasn’t as pale now and tried to smile before closing her eye again. Maya leaned down and brushed her lips over Toni’s. She hadn’t thought about why when she’d kissed Toni on the bus, but she was ready to admit she was inexplicably drawn to this brave woman. When she started to pull back, a small tug at her blouse was all the encouragement she needed to return for a firmer caress. She swiped her tongue against Toni’s lips before retreating again—a promise of more when Toni was well again.
“So sweet,” Toni said.
Her wistful whisper made Maya want to really kiss her. Instead, she brushed a lock of Toni’s dark hair away from her forehead and studied the bruised eye. “I’ve got an ice pack for your cheek, but if your stomach has settled, you might want to try to eat something first.”
Toni’s tongue swiped over her lips, and she held up her wrist. “Your mom said this is an old sailor’s remedy for seasickness. It must work because I’m feeling better, maybe even a little hungry.”
Maya recognized her mother’s braided leather bracelet. A stone bead was threaded into the thickest part like a stone in a ring. But the bracelet had been turned inward and pulled tight so the bead bore into the pressure point Laine earlier held with her fingers. Maya opened the juice carton and stuck a straw in it. Toni took it and sucked greedily.
“Slowly,” Laine warned her from the other bed. She rose and went to the table for her own burger.
“How’s Captain Tan?” Toni asked.
Maya couldn’t wait any longer. She unwrapped a burger and took a large bite. Toni was watching her, so she put a hand over her mouth and mumbled around the food. “Sorry. I’m about to starve.”
Laine sat on Tan’s bed again and began to unwrap her burger. “I was able to dissipate the drugs in her system somewhat. She should be waking shortly.” As if on cue, Tan groaned and twitched.
Toni raised a hand to carefully explore her jaw, then sipped on the juice again. “The food smells great, but I’m not sure I can chew much.”
Maya wanted to laugh at the hunger in Toni’s eyes as they followed the burger Maya picked up to bite into again. She broke off a small bite from her burger and held it to Toni’s mouth. “Try this. It shouldn’t require much chewing.”
Toni opened her mouth for the food, then chewed just a few times before swallowing. “More?”
Maya smiled and broke off another small piece to plop in Toni’s eager mouth. Nothing was wrong with Toni’s hands, but Maya was happy to feed her. She was aware of Laine watching them, but she didn’t care. She put the ice pack in Toni’s hand and guided her to hold it against her eye as she ate. Maya chuckled at a sudden memory.
“What?” Toni asked as she sipped her juice in preparation for more burger.
“I was just remembering your insult to the kicker’s manhood,” she said, offering the last bite to Toni, then opening the second burger for them to share. “I can’t believe you actually said that to Xavier.”
Toni swallowed another bite. “Yeah, well, sometimes my mouth gets me into trouble. Thanks for jumping in, but you were pretty close to the edge, too. I loved your stallion analogy, even though Xavier seemed to miss the intent.” The swelling made her smile crooked, but Maya thought it was sort of sexy.
Her stomach seemed to have shrunk over the past few days, so she fed the rest to Toni. She sipped from her water carton while Toni chewed. Tan groaned again, and they watched the restless movements of her legs and arms.
“Why did they put gloves on her hands?” Maya asked.
Laine frowned. “They’re fire-retardant gloves, designed to restrain pyros in mental wards so they don’t hurt themselves or others. She can’t form a flame without burning herself.” She frowned. “They put them on Kyle when she was with me, but hers weren’t connected to form handcuffs like these. Kyle was able to pick the wrist locks on hers and throw them off when everything started happening in Killeen.”
Toni suddenly sat forward, and Maya stood to dispose of the litter from their meal. Maya followed her gaze. The captain’s restless movements had stilled, but the muscles in her neck and arms were visibly rigid. Was she about to have a seizure?
“Mom?”
Laine, her face etched with concern and question, turned back to her patient. She reached out to investigate this new turn, but a low, animalistic growl stopped her hand mid-air.
Showing no warning flutter or dazed confusion, Tan’s eyes were dark and alert when they suddenly opened. Her voice, however, was low and hoarse. “I’m going to burn him slowly into ash. The mother-jumper son of a dung-eater who put these suffocating gloves on my hands is mine.”