CHAPTER THIRTY

July 20 – Sept 4, 2001

They stayed at Cleomedes's place, questioning John if he knew of any others whom Raines had removed from the prison. John did not say or rather he had not the information to say. Lewison then turned to the Greek, convinced that any man who suspected his sister-in-law of murder would not hesitate to do a little investigation of his own.

After an hour or so, Cleomedes took out a drawing pad and a recorder and called John over. In a few minutes, John had drawn the picture of a man, woman, and four children, all sans clothes, plus a fat man handing Raines some money from his wallet, and gave a perfect imitation of the man's speech.

Lewison handed this information to Jarod who said, "the buyer lives in Texas. I'd say the panhandle."

"Do you know anyone in Texas?" Lewison asked Cleomedes.

"John told me something about Raines, or Wheezy was going to offer his services to a Baxter who would make fast work of him. He was quite agitated about that. It seems that Wheezy had an expression that this Baxter could eat little boys and girls."

"Baxter," said Jarod. "He'd have to be someone who lives in an isolated area, possibly a farm. From John's sketch, I could scan this into the internet and see if anything comes up."

"Go ahead."

They soon had knowledge of the suspect who did live in the Panhandle, on an isolated farm with no main roads nearby. They only went to town for supplies, had a generator, and produced their own electricity, no home phones, only cell phones, and no satellite or internet connection. Baxter had a plane and often flew off on business, leaving his family alone except for harvest time.

The group decided they would arrive there at the middle of August. Now this did not sit well with the Centre by the text messages Miss Parker received on her cell phone, for Raines thought she could have easily dropped in a store in New Jersey and pick up the necessary dungeon supplies. She unkindly reminded them of a previous incident, so after a long drive, they arrived in the Panhandle on August 25, a little later than they anticipates, having being delayed because Lewison ran out of gas.. Apparently, he was such in a hurry to track down the missing Pretenders and kill their owners that he forgot to fill up at the nearest gas station, which did not bode well for Gino who being a chauffeur, among other things should have known better.

So leaving the car on the side of the road (apparently for anyone to pick up or perhaps Lewison had set explosive charges so it would go boom—well that was a bit too much), the group decided to parcel off in the respective cars. John's children went in Rachel's car, Gino went with John in Cleomedes's van, and Charles, David, and Naomi were in the back seat, the reason being that since Jarod was the father of the three; they had to spend some time together.

Lewison sat besides the window, next to Miss Parker who felt rather lucky she was not big-boned as the principal was not that small.

"I heard through the Centre grapevine that you were on your honeymoon," said Miss Parker, as they drove towards their destination.

"Oh the Companionship. I took your daughter, Margaret in the Official Union after she informed me of the Centre goings on as well the name of that human girl, the one with the nerdy father."

"You could have consulted us first," said Jarod in the manner of an irate father.

"Are you going to kill him?" asked Naomi.

"No, he's not going to kill him," said Miss Parker, "He just wanted to know. Did you remember what I told you about eloping?"

"That's when they go to sickly motels," said Charles.

"That's not sickly, silly, it's seedy," snapped Naomi. "That's when the father gets a 'phaser' and says ' you go through the Union with my daughter or I vaporize you!"

"We're coming up to a drive-in. What does everyone want?" asked Jarod, seeing the American flag fly on a pole and the parking lot filled with holiday goers. ..

"Cheese burger," said Charles.

"Fillet of Fish," said David.

"Sirloin steak with buttered mustard and a hollandaise sauce," said Naomi trying to be difficult.

Miss Parker told Jarod to stop the car and returned with Charles and David's order plus a hamburger with onions and mushrooms for Naomi. "It's chopped up sirloin steak, enjoy!"

Meanwhile Jarod and Lewison were having a heated discussion.

"I say you should have discussed this with me. Margaret's my daughter, in case you haven't forgotten!" .

"And would you have high enough rank to protest or agree? No, but .I know that one in the Centre is of our own kind, not an owned one, but there by Mr. Parker's direction, although he is unaware who it is. Our kind is very loyal. Even our Supreme Chosen, Tom Daniels, although swayed by a human female, returned to the fold," said Lewison.

"I thought he united with a Sloan Parker."

"He did and has children She almost died in an attempted assassination after the birth of her first child. They had to deliver the other child from her almost lifeless body and cover up her existence. Tom no longer trusted the humans except for a few —of a military nature, of course."

So, thought Miss Parker, this explains the recent discoveries in heat sensing, medical knowledge, and space exploration that springs as from the head of a Hydra. "I gather it'll no longer cost $100,000 for a hammer!"

"Maybe $50,000.00,"said Jarod with a wry smile.

"Males have no common sense!" said Miss Parker, as if this explained it all.

The farm was where Cleomedes said it was and as they suspected, it held a few Pretenders. The man working the tractor, his hands and feet chained inside, could not escape because he was so weak from starvation. He and the two children were hoeing a plot of land, were 1.6rs.

John recognized the man and broke the chains before the farmer and this family could stop him. Meanwhile Jarod brought over a blanket to cover the two children who were naked. There was no sign of a woman, except for a patch of bare ground that looked the size of a grave.

"We need shovels," said the Pretender to John who went to the van and brought two out. "What else do you keep handy?"

"Spare coffins," said John with a grin "No, not that. We're, I'm always planting something. Once it was a Clematis bush, another time, the boss wanted to move the Walnut tree closer to the house. Of course, it was a seedling then, but I spent almost an hour getting it set just right."

"Some people are never satisfied," The dirt was piling on either side of the two men, both who were trying their best to keep any of it off of them. .

Meanwhile Lewison signaled and winked at Gino who signaled back as if they made a decision. With their pockets bulging, both started for the farmhouse.

No one took much notice as they were more interested in what was buried. So far, they dug up the skeleton of a dog hastily thrown in over a box which did not look as if it contained any human skeletons for that matter. Jarod and John lifted up the box which on second thought was longer than they expected.

"What kind is it?" asked the Pretender.

"I don't know. I've been locked up in that room all of my life. I'll break the lock and see"

"Aiiee!"

Suddenly Rachel perked up. "It came from the house!" Her gun drawn and cocked, she started to head in that direction when Jarod stopped her.

"Leave it alone They deserve what they getting!"

Sure enough, a slovenly looking man, more fat then muscle rushed out followed by another man, this one African American unlike the first who was Anglo Irish.

"Help! Let us in the car!" yelled the fatter man.

"Look you stupid mother—" The black man followed this with several phrases referring to the sexual act, and the stuff that went out of one's stomach as well as a few extra blasphemies which seemed to be the extent of his vocabulary and when that failed, started kicking at the driver's door while his father-law went to the passenger side.

Jarod reached for the door, getting his right hand and foot ready when suddenly, the son-in-law fell, an axe in his skull. At the same time, the slovenly man collapsed, his eyes wide open and his hands clawed against the passenger window pane, blood spurting out of his mouth.-

For a moment it was quiet and then Gino pulled the axe from the Negro's back while Lewison put away his gun. The two Dominants then returned to the house, setting it on fire.

"Did they have any kids?" asked Miss Parker, noticing for the first time, a pair of pajamas on the clothesline. "Well did they?" She got out of the car and grabbed Gino who was starting towards Cleomedes' van.

"Not any more," he said.

"What about the police? What will Cox say when he finds out? He'll have your head!"

He just looked at her. "Are you afraid to die, Miss Parker? Because we aren' t!" He paused when he saw her face. "Oh I'll get a pick axe This one's a bit bloody." He hit the hard ground and soon made it large enough for the bodies. After that, he took something from Cleomedes van and brought out the bodies. From what Jarod, Miss Parker, and Rachel saw, they must have died in horrific pain.

Lewison enlightened them on the details. "Squealed like a pig like his mother. And his two sisters just bawled. Mommy, mommy' after describing the method used in mating about me." He imitated the children's pleas and coarse language, mocked the women running around the kitchen, describing their frantic antics as they tried to escape.

Gino snickered, thinking the description hilarious, but Jarod kept a straight face while Rachel and Miss Parker were white.

"So I cut out those little piggies's tongues and gave them to Gino. He shoved them up on the hooks of a coat rack, through their stomachs. Made sure the fire took a long way to reach them," he said.

"What about the women?" asked Cleomedes.

"Tied them up and shoved them in the oven. It was a rather big one. The younger one screamed 'don't kill my baby' and looked towards one of the rooms. Think that would work?'"

"That 'baby' was about ten and darker than the ones that Marcus's daughters married," said Lewison. "Her mother must have had her when she was the same age. We were going to spare her, until she used the word describing intercourse between those who reside in mobile establishments, so we found a space in the oven, and shoved her in with her mother and grandmother, then turned on the heat to 500 degrees."

Miss Parker almost gagged as she thought of that poor little girl. She felt Jarod would show a bit more sympathy, him having been brought up to sympathize with the blacks, and perhaps have him say that "not all blacks were like that," but he didn't. He just remained impassive. It was as if all of Sydney's training had vanished.

"I suppose they were like the children of Sodom," he said. "I saw the movie The Bible. I particularly remembered the part when Abraham was telling Isaac about the wickedness of that city and the boy asked if the children were wicked too. The snake going through the eye of the child's skull was a good touch, although with the incineration that happened to those cities, I doubt there would have been any bones remaining. I gather it is what is called poetic license."

"My father was in the Resistance," said the Greek. . "Once they caught this SS agent. Have anyone of you seen anyone dunked in boiling wax? I doubt if anyone of us are able to do what you did."

"Sounds unusual for your species."

"That SS officer had a game called lower the Jewish kid over a bucket of wax, cut the rope one by one and see how long it takes before he dies.' They also did it with the others in my village
because we hid them. My father decided to payback "

The grave was now open and as they suspected, the bones were that of a woman and two children. The farmer had buried them alive by the looks of them.

"I make out two girls. I thought the Dominants were more inclined to have boys," said Miss Parker

"It just seems that way to you," said Lewison, "It's just that our females are bred early and it isn't until they reach their twenties that they go out in the field."

"So the girls are at home, cooking and cleaning," said Miss Parker.

"Or supervising the captives. With the knowledge that both our species are compatible, we seem to acquire a large number. So far, however, the children born are all Dominants. No more Weak Children and we have to protect our females."

"Is that the reason that you seem to use the same names over and over again?"

Lewison gave her a half sneer..

"We should goto Walmart and get something for the new kids," said Jarod as they drove back to Blue Cove to which they all agreed. Miss Parker, Lewison, and Rachel all started to get out their wallets and refused Cleomedes' offer to help.

Lewison and Jarod decided, against Rachel's objections, that the boys just needed slacks, shirts, socks, shoes, and sandals. "And possibly undershirts," said Lewison for since the New Species first originated in Mexico, they had the idea that they were resistant to cold. Actually, they were not. It was just that Pretenders were neat dressers unless they were running from the Centre and only had time to drop in at Goodwill and pick up a pair of jeans and tee-shirts one time, a button up shirt the next time, or wear the clothes they escaped with.

On the way back, they were stopped by a couple of state troopers who detoured them to another road.. The captive children were in Cleomedes's van, hidden under a blanket.

"Any trouble, officer?" asked the Greek.

"Couple of idiots couldn't wait to have a smoke rammed their car into the barrier a while back.. So until this part of the highway's repaired, the road's closed."

"I remember that. I saw them barreling down from the Shopping Centre," said Cleomedes, showing his radio, "going to get fresh batteries."

"Got took in that two for one sale, huh? They cleared off the old stock last week" The officer looked at the brand. "We've had a couple of smoke alarm fires. You'd better try the regular brand. .No sense being careless.."

"Thanks officer."