CHAPTER SEVEN
Justine packed water bottles with nipple pull-tops and some snack bars into a child's back pack. She tossed the buffalo in on top to hide them. She fought to put it on Sorcha's back. It wasn't easy to avoid the flailing arms. "Shush, baby. I'm getting you out of here. I'm taking you back to Daddy."
Sorcha's blue eyes narrowed, her lower lip pushing out. "Daddy?"
"Yes, baby. But you have to be very quiet or they'll catch us."
Justine was shocked when Sorcha put her hand into hers. She unlocked the girl's neck restraint and lifted her up in her arms. Ethan was out and Eve was asleep downstairs in Justine's bed. She had told them about Lindsey joining them and they were thrilled. Too thrilled. Justine knew that they thought she had sold them out. Sorcha overheard their whispers and mockingly told her she'd be dead soon. Justine decided to believe the little girl.
Her heart hammered as she managed to get out of the house. She already had the dog in the car. She didn't have a baby seat so she just strapped Sorcha in, jumped in the driver's seat, kicked the car in neutral and coasted down the hill that was her driveway. She started the car at the bottom and raced out of town and into Wind Cave park. She sped as fast as she dared with the wild buffalo herds roaming around.
She dialed all the numbers Lindsey had given her but no one answered. She left messages for all of them, hoping that meant they were in the air and couldn't take calls. "We're going to make it, baby."
"Where's Daddy?"
"He's on his way," Justine said, hoping that was true. "We're going to make it."
Sorcha looked over into the back seat. "Grandma Joyce and Grandma Darla say we're in trouble. The bad man gonna do something."
In spite of herself, Justine looked in the rear view mirror. She had no idea what the girl was talking about. She saw no one in the backseat but had no doubts Sorcha did. "Do they know what kind of trouble?"
"Coming now."
Justine's palms sweated and she depressed the accelerator, hoping not to get pulled over. The car suddenly shuddered, metal screamed and the wheel jerked in her hand. Parts of her car started shredding away and then she slammed into a rock. It twisted the car, sending it airborne. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sorcha encased in a green glowing light. She was being protected, Justine realized as the car flipped and rolled. Finally, it came to rest on its roof. Every part of Justine hurt. Behind her, her poor dog whimpered. She felt blood dripping down her face. Sorcha was wailing but she couldn't tell if the girl was hurt then Sorcha fell silent.
Justine tried to ask Sorcha if she were all right. She tried to move and see for herself but she couldn't. She could barely breathe. Justine wondered if she were dying as she willed a tourist to see where the car had landed and call for help. A car approached after what felt like forever.
"Told you, Eve, the toy works just like a poppet," Ethan was saying and Justine wished she were dead.
"At least your shield worked," Eve said. "The brat's fine. What about Justine?"
Ethan reached into the car and removed Sorcha. Justine could just barely see him out of the corner of her eye. "She's done for. Just let nature take its course."
And with that, they left her to die, spiriting away Connor's child.
"Any reason we're taking the long way to Rapid City?" Eve groused as Ethan drove.
They had used plastic police cuffs, the kind that looked more appropriate for trash bags than people, to restrain Sorcha who was busy entertaining herself by shrilling as loudly as she could in the back seat. Ethan debated using magic to shut her up. His magic had saved her from the crash and the terror of the crash, which had kept her in stunned silence, was fading, replaced by anger at being trussed up in the car.
"Because I'm going to head to Wyoming. We can drive there and catch a plane. The Slayer won't expect that...if you're even right about Justine betraying us to Angel and the Slayer through Lindsey." Ethan eyed his companion sourly. He should have known better than to work with Eve again. The last time had been enough to make him a marked man. Eve and the Senior Partners had given him scads of money to do this new job. He couldn't resist even though he knew the Slayer and Ripper would kill him so he was prepared to do the same to them. "We could be doing this all for nothing."
"Trust me, Ethan," Eve said over Sorcha's red-faced screaming. "Lindsey and I were lovers. I know him. He's not the kind to change his mind. He has to be setting us up."
"I'm not going to a hell dimension to raise this child, Eve. I'll do what I have to in order to prevent it." Ethan hoped she heard the ominous tone in his voice. He'd hurt her, no questions asked and sell the kid to the first person on his door with cash.
"Neither am I. I thought originally about recruiting Andrew for this but changed my mind. He despises Connor for stealing Dawn and letting her die that he'd probably do anything to get back at him. He's murdered before." Eve shrugged.
"So why'd you drag in the lawyer instead?" Ethan slowed for Bighorn sheep crossing the road.
"Andrew's a moron. He'd last about ten seconds in Quor-Toth. We'd be better off sending the brat in alone. Hell, Justine would probably have killed him on principle in the first twenty-four hours. I thought Lindsey's desire to destroy Angel would bring him to us. I'll pay for that." Eve gave Ethan a funny look. "Why are you slowing down?"
"Change of plans. Casting that spell to destroy Justine's car knackered me. Unless you're up for a long drive while I sleep, maybe we should get some rest," Ethan said.
Eve dug her nails into his shoulders. "With Angel and company on our trail?"
"I'll fall asleep at the wheel. They won't expect us to hide out here." Ethan gestured at the sign for Custer State Park. "They'll be looking on the highways and cities for us, not in the middle of the bloody forest. Night's falling and I don't fancy trying to find a hotel to crash in in the middle of this god-forsaken nowhere in the dead of night if we find we're too tired to go further. It's not like they can track us."
"And what about the screamer?" Eve stabbed a finger over the car seat at Sorcha.
"The same spell we used to get her past security at the airport. I can't cast it and drive. Just tuck her hands away so the dim bulb taking money at the gate won't see the cuffs. No one is going to pay any mind to a squalling tot. Crying is what they do," Ethan said. "We'll release her once I cast the spell and no one will know she's not our daughter out on a weekend camping trip."
Eve leaned over the seat and shoved Sorcha's hands into the backpack Justine had given her, zipping it up until it nearly cut her skin. It would look like Sorcha was digging in it, just enough to fool the minium wager handing out park passes. "Where are we going to camp?"
"We aren't. When I had to spend forever watching Justine at the dismal pub in Hot Springs, I read over all the tourist trap literature just to kill time. There are plenty of actual hotels in the park. We won't have to sleep with the bugs," Ethan said.
"Thank God," Eve said, handing Ethan a twenty to pass to the gate keeper.
They drove inside with Sorcha squirming and crying in the back seat. Ethan headed for the Peter Norbeck Visitor Center so he could get a map and find a place to stay. His hands quivered with exhaustion on the steering wheel. It hadn't been easy to use a Hot Wheel car like a poppet to wreck Justine's car while simultaneously protecting Sorcha from harm. He needed a rest and figured a state park was plenty big enough to hide them if someone was actually after them.
"Sit up, you little brat," Eve ordered.
Ethan looked in the rear view mirror and saw Sorcha on her back, her tennis shoes pressed to the back window. He braked hard, seeing one of her hands pulling free of the back pack. "Bloody hell, Eve, she's loose. Catch her up and try not to let her blacken your other eye."
"Shut up," Eve said, leaning over the seat.
Sorcha whacked her with the back pack and kicked at the window. The glass groaned and she kicked again with her unnaturally powerful legs. The glass shattered and she shrieked as flying bits tore into her. Sorcha swarmed upright and went right out the window, backpack and all.
Cursing, Ethan whipped the car off the road and he and Eve scrambled out. He got between Sorcha and the highway. All she needed to do was get to the visitor center and it was over. He almost had her, long strands of her hair caught in his fingers but she nearly broke his wrist with that whirling backpack. The child made for the woods. Ethan raced after her, his lungs burning. He regretted every cigarette he had ever smoked. Eve was doing even worse. She wasn't dressed for a foot chase in the woods.
Still, Sorcha's little legs were no match for his. She stumbled and nearly fell, barely catching herself. Ethan grabbed for her, realizing too late she had picked up at rock from the trail. She tossed it and he found out the hard way why the Senior Partners wanted her so badly. Eve had warned him the child was already in Slayer training and her accuracy was lethal. The rock shattered his nose. Ethan dropped, dazed, unable to see or breathe. He felt blood gushing down his face.
When the stars cleared and he could draw a ragged breath, he saw Eve on her ass, nursing her ankle. He figured her dress shoes had done Sorcha's work for her. He limped over to her, seeing the brat disappearing up the trail.
"We have to get her back," he said, wiping blood off his face.
"If we don't, we're dead," Eve said and he had no reason to doubt it. "You can't leave the car there. The cops will tow it and we'll be in just as much trouble when we get her back with no car."
"I'll move it to the visitor center. You go after her. I'll catch up. She's just a kid. She can't outrun us forever," Ethan said, having a bad feeling about going into the woods with night falling. He was a city boy. What did he know about hiking or in this case, mad dashing through the woods? He had the urge to sell the girl to the worst of the bidders just for spite.