Chapter 10
Angela could finally start to hear voices. Neither was familiar, but that didn't surprise her considering this was a new place to her.
She took a careful peek past Zarik, through the bushes and saw light. Dim light, but it had a source.
Howzer edged into the thinner scrubs ahead and Zarik gave her the motion of slow down.
She followed, holding the knife in her right hand tight enough to not lose her grip, but lose enough to be flexible.
Had they already found the person responsible for raping his little sister?
She kind of hoped so. It was horrifying to think that someone like that was out here free.
All three of them were quiet as they crept towards the light, keeping to the shadows as much as possible.
Angela was finally close enough to see a bit of the people.
Two were standing up and it looked like a third was on the ground.
From her angle, she could tell the third wasn't moving.
"Dammit." Zarik hissed.
She followed where he was looking, slightly edging him out of the way to get his view.
She clenched her fist as she saw familiar blond hair.
The voice hadn't sounded familiar because of the mask over her face, but Angela could recognize a body just about anywhere.
The woman, and not the one on the ground, was Gloria.
"She in on this?" Angela asked him almost silently.
"I'm not sure. Three, we take them by surprise, okay? You get Gloria."
She nodded.
He caught Howzers attention with a brush of his hand on the ground and she watched him make a soothing motion towards the dingo before clenching his hand tight.
The dingo shifted himself to launch, but Angela was surprised when he didn't immediately.
Instead, the old beast waited, primed.
Zarik held his hand where she could see it and held up three fingers.
She heard the very faint sound of him switching his gun from bullets to the energy charges.
By the tone, it sounded non-lethal. Painful, but non-lethal.
"Hear that?" The man asked. He wasn't Zarik's brother, that Angela could tell.
"Probably one of those stupid dogs coming back." Gloria waved it off.
Zarik started counting off and Angela prepared to move.
As the two in the light moved, Gloria towards them, the man to the woman on the ground, he closed his fist, completely skipping the second count.
Angela didn't mind as she pushed forward behind him, Howzer leaping out first.
She watched his dingo slam into the man bending over the other woman as she rushed into Gloria's space.
The other woman came up short as Angela deftly swept her legs out from under her and took her to the ground.
Zarik prevented the man from fully pulling his gun out on Howzer by coming to stand with his boot on the man's hand and his own gun at his head.
"Don't move." Zarik growled.
Angela held Gloria's hands behind her back, knife at her throat.
"Zarik!" Gloria cried out. "Get her off me."
"You two are under arrest for several counts of rape and accessory." Zarik said to her, his voice was cold. As if he knew both of them.
"But, I didn't do anything." Gloria wailed.
Angela watched Zarik motion to his dingo and the beast ran off, quick and stealthy, back into the bushes.
"I can't believe it was you two all this time." Zarik sighed.
"And why not?" The man glared up at him. "Not like all of us can be pretty boys like you and Lyle."
Angela took in his features. He honestly wasn't as good looking as Zarik, but then, to her few were. But he wasn't horrible looking either. Not from her angle anyway.
He wasn't quite as built as Zarik or even Lyle, but he wasn't too overweight either.
He was just rather ordinary.
Like, boy-next-door ordinary. The kind of ordinary most men were.
"That's no excuse James." Zarik snapped. "Do you even know what you did to Mira? To my baby sister?"
"I twasn't me, but if she did get it, she asked for it." James snapped back.
"How?" Zarik kicked his gun away from the man before kicking him to his back. "She's just a kid."
"She always acts so damn innocent, but then she spends all the damn time with that stupid little shit that it's no secret what they're doing."
Zarik frowned and Angela watched them, keeping her grip of Gloria tight.
"Little shit?" Zarik sounded confused.
"You think I'd have been stupid enough to come after your sister. Fuck Zarik, I'm not that hellbent on getting myself killed. Everyone knows you're protective, like a god damn old days dog." James tried to push Zarik away. "I'll take the blame for maybe using a bit of underhanded tactics in getting tourists to have sex with me, but never rape."
"What about her?" Zarik motioned to the unconscious woman on the ground.
"I found her like that alright. I was coming out here to set up my usual deal. I'm not a monster." He pointed to a box on the ground.
Angela raised herself up a little to see the contents and saw a lantern and a blanket and other things she knew and really didn't want to ever see again.
"In a dingo nest?" Zarik asked.
"Fuck you Zarik, you're not the only one those pups like. I spent a year getting familiar with this pack. It's part of my shtick. The woman think it's dangerous to come out here, but I give them some snacks every few days when I come out here to think and they like me. So I made it so that they won't attack me."
Zarik stepped back, letting the man sit up as he moved to check on the girl.
"I haven't been out in a few weeks because I was out of town and when I came back I saw the three carcasses past those bushes and came to see if the pack was dead. I saw her and dropped the box to check on her. I stood up to find my kit from the box and Gloria came from those bushes there. If any one of us is questionable, its her."
Angela looked down at Gloria.
"I didn't do a damn thing and you can't prove it." She clammed up, not looking at anyone.
"She's drugged, but okay." Zarik said as he knelt by the woman. "Bad cut on her cheek from hitting something."
James scooted towards his box and Zarik held up his gun. "Go fuck yourself. I'm getting my kit."
"Kit?"
"Medical kit." James reached in and pulled out a small box from the bigger box. He opened it up and held it out to Zarik. "I was gone because I can't do the finals of my medical training on the computers you set up here in town. I had to go to the city and finish the courses."
"You're...taking classes?" Zarik frowned as James moved towards the woman and Angela watched him pull a few things out and clean up her wound.
"Took. I wanted to be a paramedic because..." James looked away. "Fuck you Zarik, it's your damn fault anyway." He seemed embarrassed.
"Why James?" Zarik sighed as he stood up and moved towards Angela and Gloria.
"I wanted it because I wanted to work with you. You're always so damn popular and busy and being a Hunter and all and I just...I'm nobody."
Angela watched Zarik frown as he pulled his belt off from under his holster belt.
He took hold of Gloria and Angela moved away as he bound her wrists with his belt.
"You..." Zarik sighed.
"He's just a little whiner, a crybaby follower." Gloria said laughing.
"And what would you know? You've never supported me. You've just used my books to make drugs." James snapped at her.
Angela moved towards the woman on the ground as James finished bandaging her cheek.
Zarik sighed as he held on to Gloria.
He watched Angela check over the woman as well, but looking more for other signs than he'd been looking.
"Ang?" He asked her.
"She seems to be okay." Angela said.
"Like I said, I use false pretenses and the allure of danger, not drugs and rape." James said. "Maybe you should look into my sister before me."
Angela frowned as she looked at him.
She could see a little resemblance. About as much as Zarik had to Lyle.
"We should head back for town, that way she can get some proper care." James moved to pick the woman up.
"Yeah." Zarik sighed.
xXx
They met up with the local officers Howzer had rounded up and Zarik passed Gloria over.
She hadn't spoken, despite him asking about who had been working with her.
He watched the officers take her and the other woman off their hands and Zarik reached to put his arm around Angela's shoulders as he tucked the knife back in the holster with his gun.
Having his belt back was good.
"Well, it shouldn't take long to figure out who the other man is." James said.
"And you think you're helping?" Zarik raised a brow at him.
"Best way to prove my innocence." James glared back.
Angela held up a hand.
"Look, at least if he's helping us, we can keep an eye on him." She said.
"See, at least one of you is thinking clearly." James said.
"No, I'm just the most unbiased here right now." Angela corrected.
Zarik sighed again as he turned towards the house.
"Keep sighing and you'll sound like an old man." She teased him.
"You'd still love me." He leaned against her.
"Would I?" She sighed. "I guess I would."
"You guess? How cruel."
"So, can I help you guys?" James asked.
Zarik didn't even turn around. He just held up his hand and waved back. "Fine."
He walked with Angela back to his parents house and avoided the handful of people who had come to visit his parents as he led Angela back up to his room.
He really wasn't up for dealing with more people tonight.
It was half an hour before someone knocked on the door and he opened it.
His sister had brought them both food.
She stayed to talk with them and Zarik enjoyed seeing Angela getting along with his little sister.
His partner really seemed to fit in with his family.
Mira took the dishes back with her and Zarik headed for the bathroom and started the tub.
"Ang?" He called out.
"What?" Her voice was faint.
He frowned as he left the bathroom and saw the balcony door open.
But seeing her leaning on the railing, looking out over the oasis, was relaxing.
"Want to take a bath?" He asked as he leaned beside her.
"I guess we probably need one after trekking through the wild." She sighed. "I think I could like staying here."
He tugged her with him towards the bathroom, closing the balcony door on the way.
"Really? I was hoping so." He grinned.
"I mean, it's bigger, there's amenities we don't have out in the desert, and you want to stay here." She said as she headed for the bathroom ahead of him.
He really liked watching her move.
"I was wondering, since you're okay with staying with me..." Zarik reached for her hand and she turned to look up at him. "Angela, will you marry me?"