When Evil Came to Stay, page 8
“Wasn’t much of a childhood.” He touched a hand to her shoulder for an instant. The action unbalancing her with the support he clearly offered.
“It was okay. I mean, sure, I don’t have a flesh and blood family, but I also don’t have that miserable family politics a lot of others have either. I choose who I want to know, where I go. My days are my own.”
“But what about birthdays and holidays?”
“Aren’t they kind of over-rated? People go out, spend all that money, get drunk, and have to see Great-Aunt Gertie who hates you anyway.”
David laughed, clearly at a loss to understand her reasoning from the sound of it. “Sometimes, but it’s better to be festive with the people you love around you. To be part of something bigger than yourself.”
“Maybe, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know I don’t have to have it to feel fulfilled, you know? I spend Ramustas at home usually, watching vids or painting. I like the solitude, and usually the apartments around are empty so I can turn it up loud, throw popped corn at the screen, and stuff like that.”
“It’s almost Ramustas now. What will you do?”
She sighed, knowing this year there’d be no way to ignore it. “I usually ask for duty so someone with a family can spend it with them. It’s about kids and families. I guess there’ll be a meal in the mess. That’ll be nice. The rest of the day, I’ll probably sack out. Read a book. Keep busy.”
“Spend it with us. Daniella, Jonah, Clarissa, Michael, and the baby.”
He must have almost surprised himself with that question, but she smiled, appreciating the care and thought in his invitation. “Maybe not. Not that I don’t like your family. They’re great, but... I’d just feel like you’re being kind...” She floundered for the right words so he wouldn’t have to get angry that she thought he was pitying her. Which, no doubt he is.
“No, really, Erin. I’d love for you to join us.”
She winced, and her mind tried to compute the best way to decline. “How about we just wait and see? Life depends on so many things right now.”
Erin rolled to her side, hoping he’d take the hint, but the rasp of bedding on the ground, followed by the touch of his hand again, snaking around her shoulders, pulling her in to his embrace. “I mean it.”
Warmth filled her, insidiously drugging her and grinding on her mind. He might mean it, but she wasn’t sure she could handle it. Erin lay still, waited for the emotion to pass, and drifted off to sleep.
David waited for the slow, rhythmic breathing that told him Erin had finally given in and slumbered. “Why? Why do you pull away? What is it that makes you feel that you need to keep a wall between us?”
She’d had a rough start, true, but it didn’t explain the way she stayed apart from others. The genuine sense of disconnection from life and others.
Getting to the bottom on that might give him a foothold in her heart, though not nearly enough; it might be a starting point.
The incident where she’d been injured guarding Daniella had come far too close to wiping her from life, and that he couldn’t tolerate. He’d realized then that he’d been squandering his chances, and that knowledge gnawed at him for the last several weeks.
Today, when he’d talked with Cam, Astrid, and Jude he’d watched her. She’d been friendly and yet that air of ‘don’t touch me’ had remained intact and he’d wanted to crash through it.
Too much too soon, he reminded himself, though he kept his arm around her. It took a long time before he too slept.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Dawn brought with it wakefulness and the roar of an engine. Erin scooted from the bed and pulled the tiny toggle before waking David. He stashed the bedding while she ran for the toilet then greeted Astrid and Jude who’d brought with them something that smelled mouthwateringly delicious.
“Since we gathered you only had MREs we brought breakfast muffins. This one is chicken and corn. The other is bacon and sundried tomatoes.” The woman passed a small basket filled with the food into her arms. “And coffee, since the army and every service we’ve ever had anything to do with lived on that too.”
The muffins, warm from the oven, and the travel mugs would be an excellent start to the day, and the four settled onto hay bales. “Astrid, how long have you been here?” Erin bit into the baked item and moaned at the tastes that exploded on her tongue.
The woman eyed her speculatively. “We’ve been here since Cam’s Da, Patrick, put the plan forward. There were five families initially that pooled to purchase land, but since then we’ve grown to nineteen. Why? You interested in joining us?”
Erin choked on a crumb at the woman’s question. “No! Just trying to work out why you’d come to somewhere like this.”
Astrid gazed at her, cold blue eyes steady. “We fought battles where men and women killed each other face-to-face. Where the blood and stench became the only thing we knew we could expect. We watched the life drain from girls and boys barely old enough to comprehend what we were all fighting for. It stays with you, the kids. The death. The smells. Eats at you so that one day you reach the point where you can’t fight anymore. Where being around people who don’t understand becomes just as dangerous as the battlefield.”
Astrid inhaled and then released the oxygen with a whoosh.
“We knew, when we came here, that we were hiding from the world. Accepted that, because we did what was necessary to save the citizens from a world of slavery and corruption, but the cost to ourselves was almost the loss of our souls. We’ve given all we could, Erin. Now we need to heal. We needed to reconnect with nature and life and be free. That’s why we came here. To be truly able to live our lives and to become, if not the people we were before, then the people we now are.”
Erin pondered the words. “Is it working for you?”
Astrid smiled, an uptick of her lips. “Yes and no. Hiding away doesn’t solve anything, but to be honest, the peace and tranquility have allowed most of us to come to terms with what we’ve done.”
She finished her muffin. “That was really good. I haven’t had anything like that in a long time.”
Astrid smiled at her. “Maybe when you’re done, you’ll come back here and visit. But for now, let’s take a look at this copter.”
The work was companionable, the two men and Astrid conferring while Erin remained watchful. By mid-morning, the rotor fully repaired, they ferried the copter onto the hay trailer and into the open air. David and Erin climbed inside, and Astrid pushed another bundle of muffins into her hands. “For the journey.”
Once Astrid and Jude retreated to the barn, David ran through the pre-flight checks, engaged the engine, and up they rose. Erin chanced a final look down at the barn before it disappeared from sight.
David wasn’t sure what Astrid had said to Erin that put such an introspective look on her face, but she’d been quiet during the flight and subsequent drive back to their base. She’d excused herself at the lines and scurried up the steps as he watched. Something had changed, some quality about her, indefinable yet obvious.
He scratched his head and headed for the computer lab they’d set up at the clinic. Sevres and Fairburn were there as was Maylin. “You made it back.”
He snorted. “Just a small detour first.”
Fairburn snorted. Sevres simply raised an eyebrow, shrugged, and returned to his work. “What did you learn while I was away?”
“Celeste and her friend Sorrington—yes, the one Fairburn was chasing down—decided on the spur of the moment to go for a sail on his yacht, the Sun Spinner. They’re expected to be gone for another couple of days, meaning there wouldn’t be any benefit in trying to track her down for another couple of days. The timing is convenient, I agree.”
David frowned at Maylin, wondering just how far she could dig into the system without alerting PolSearch. He asked and she grinned.
“Let’s see, shall we?” Maylin tugged the keyboard closer after settling into the chair, and within moments she was diving beneath the surface of the heavily encoded system. “See, this will allow me to circumvent the trace system. Most coders build back doors into their programs, allowing them to make corrections and to override parts of the code. I happened to know one of the people working on building the new PolSearch security modules. They showed me this portal.”
Maylin’s fingers flew now, tapping and turning off aspects of the system which would grant her access to secure documents and files.
“And there you have it,” she said. “Sorrington’s background, links to his current financial documentation, and even his religious and political connections.”
David frowned. “Say that again.”
Maylin chortled, no doubt surprised at his demand. “I’ve got access to current financials—”
Squeezing his eyes shut, David pinched the bridge of his nose as the thought bloomed. “Not that.”
“His current political affiliations?”
“No, Maylin. His religious affiliations. Get me what you have.” The idea chewed at him, teeth sinking deeply into his psyche. Religion. They’d ignored anything to do with that, because the majority of people had eschewed any form of belief system these days. It could be a wild- goose chase, but the alarm blaring in his head wouldn’t be ignored.
David stalked to the coffee machine and poured one for himself and another for Erin as she entered the room, having changed out of the wrinkled clothing and Kevlar jacket, replacing them with clothing less battle ready but nevertheless form-fitting. He held the cup out to her, and she accepted it in silence.
She looked around the room, eyes focusing on Maylin, then turned back to him “What’s going on?”
“I had a thought, and Maylin is following up on it. What if we’ve been attacking this from the wrong direction? I mean, we have points of interest for many of our players, but someone is pulling the strings. Someone with clout and resources.”
Erin’s nose wrinkled. “I know that, but you’ve got something vastly different in your sights, don’t you?”
“You don’t believe in any form of religion, yet you celebrate Ramustas, right?”
She jerked as if he’d hit her, but David raised his hand before she could argue. “No, just listen. You think it’s just about the kids and families, but others with deeper beliefs would—”
She blinked once, the tightness of her facial features softening. “They’d be looking for some kind of religious meaning. That’s the way you’re going?” Disbelief dripped from her words. “No one believes in that hocus-pocus religion crap these days.”
David shrugged. “As a kid, my parents made sure Michael, Daniella, and I attended the Monastery for religious interpretation classes.”
Erin stared, eyes wide open, her mouth dropping at his words.
“There are many who believe in the teachings of Rumasa. My parents among them. There are those who believe we are too lax in the way we celebrate the religion. Some have moved their teachings underground and become fundamentalist in their practice. It’s been like that for time immemorial. People taking their beliefs to the extreme.” David got up and paced around the seat as he spoke. “What if that’s what the deal is here? What if we need to stop looking at it from a purely financial and political standpoint and add in a personal belief or beliefs that absolves them from responsibility for the way they achieve the outcome.”
Erin shook her head. “You’re reaching, David. Who in their right mind would allow some antiquated belief system to run their decision making?”
He sighed. “You’re so damned linear at times, Erin. Stop thinking in terms of A plus B equals C. Just for a moment, suspend your disbelief and join the dots.”
Erin shrugged. “I guess it’s possible.”
David could tell she wasn’t sold on his suggestion, but she nodded. “Okay then, what next?”
“Maylin is already investigating their religious affiliations. If they have one.”
They waited as Maylin dove deeper, and clenched their hands when the woman heaved a sigh. “So, I have what you’re looking for... Well, kind of. Yes, they are all affiliated to a religious doctrine. But while some follow Rumasa, we have some Christians and even Asatru. There is no one belief system. I’m sorry, David.” Maylin stood up and shrugged.
David inhaled, released the tension in his shoulders, and gazed into the coffee cup. “I was so hopeful.”
Erin slid her hand over his, the prickle of awareness at her closeness difficult to suppress. “It’s okay. We’ll find something. There has to be a hint somewhere. They all fit in somehow. We just have to find the key.”
For the first time, he allowed his frustration at the inability to find the connection bubble to the surface. “Perhaps, but at the rate we’re going it will be too late.”
Frustrated, David tugged away, slammed the coffee on the bench, and left the room.
Erin watched David leave. She understood his frustration, but the thought that he’d believe religion might be the reason for all this? She shook her head. “No one believes in that anymore.”
Behind her the pad of feet startled her, so she jerked. “Some do. He does obviously. But his frustration is palpable, Erin. We need to find the key...and so far no one has been able to give it to us. Has Liv given you any ideas? Perhaps she might be able to shed light on what lies at the heart of this.”
Maylin’s words crashed into her mind. Liv. She might know something. Perhaps it was time to see the child, since she’d been moved to the open ward, her injuries requiring special care. She vaguely remembered someone saying she’d remain there until such time as Daniella and Jonah had settled into the cottage being set up for their use.
“That’s a great thought. I’ll go see her now. Thanks for your help, Maylin.”
Erin spun and left the room, well aware that the child might not be able to shed any further light onto the conundrum that plagued them all. Don’t go discounting before you can be sure.
Marching across the compound, she pondered the thoughts, until her communicator blared. “McNally,” she answered.
“Just the person I need.” Jonah.
“What’s up?”
“Are you in earshot of anyone?” he asked.
She glanced around and responded that she was alone.
“Good I’ve got a mission. Top secret for you. Meet me at Daniella’s office as quickly as you can.”
His tone and words piqued her interest, so she veered in that direction, frowning when
David came into view. Dammit. If he sees me, he’ll want to know why I’m here. Jonah won’t like that. She ducked behind the building and waited before peering around the corner. He was gone, and heaving a sigh of relief, she scurried to the door. The handle moved, and once the way was open, she stepped into the hall, pleased David wasn’t there either, since she didn’t know where he’d gone. Several steps took her to the door to Jonah’s office, and she knocked.
The door opened and there stood David. Oh no!
“Come in, McNally.”
Gritting her teeth, she followed Jonah’s curt instructions and waited.
“Now that you’re both here, I have a mission for you. Both of you. It seems Celeste Landry is missing. She was last seen aboard the yacht, Sun Spinner, with Draven Sorrington. You need to find her before it’s too late.”
Erin scowled. “He’s probably already—”
Jonah shook his head. “No. She contacted Daniella this morning, raising the alarm. She slipped away overnight, because Sorrington had scared her. Enough that she was willing to jump ship with an inflatable dingy, some water and her communicator. Time is of the essence, and I believe she may be able to give us the connection we’re looking for. You’re cleared to use the copter and all speed. I’ve arranged a boat out of the harbor for cover. Get moving and find her before anyone else does.”
“But Jonah, what about the investigation into the funds?” An itch started on the back of her neck. Search and rescues weren’t something she was good at, let alone those that included flying and water.
“Sevres, Fairburn, Maylin, and I will continue that side of the investigation. Finding Celeste is priority though. She contacted us specifically because she said she’d overheard something about the warrior children and yours and David’s investigation was a threat. She said there’s more and it runs deep, but her communicator battery is running low. We’ll keep working from our side, but I need you two out there, finding her, before they do. I need you on this now.”
With no time to waste they were quickly bundled out of the office, feet pounding across the asphalt toward their accommodation units. “I need to grab some cold weather clothes, particularly in case we get wet.”
He grunted something unintelligible, and Erin glanced at him. “What’s your problem?”
“It’s taking too many twists. Nothing about this investigation makes sense. We have so little to go on.”
“Well, maybe this is the link we need so we can work out what comes next.”
“I’ll meet you back here in ten. We can arrange the copter to be ready on our way over to the airbase.” Then David turned and left her to it, watching him retreat.
Without a further sound, Erin headed for her room, pulled open the door, and stepped inside, only to be shocked to see Liv sitting on her bed and not in the infirmary where she was supposed to be.
“Hope you don’t mind. I let myself in. There’s some chatter about your mission, and I couldn’t help but overhear it, so when I got to the lab and they said you weren’t there, this seemed the next obvious place to look for you.”
Erin stared at the girl. “I’m in a hurry, Liv. Talk while I pack, but unless you have something useful to tell me, then I’m going to have to cut you short, okay?”
She turned, pulled a backpack from under the bed, and flung open the wardrobe, hunting for fresh underwear, pants, longer sleeve shirts, and spare boots.
“Where you going?”
