Star People Legacy, Smith, T.L. [big ebook reader .TXT] 📗

panicked. Definitely not portraying the tough Marine right now.

“I can’t just disappear.” He started buttoning up his shirt. “I’ll go in and set it up with my second to hand the reins over to him. Then I’ll catch up with you. Wherever that is.”

“If they were watching you, then they know you came out into the desert last night to get me. They might have followed us here. Probably have a tracker on your truck.”

Casey gave me a smile I knew well, his patient ‘got it covered, babe’ smile when I was trying to tell him something he already knew. “I dropped my regular truck off at the shop before going on that call yesterday. When I realized you were missing I pulled a random UC truck from the lot to come looking for you.”

“Charles will follow you in and bring you back to us when you’re all clear.” Daniel moved over to the door. “The Cocopah put one of their casino hotels at our disposal. We can hide in plain sight. No one’s going to notice a few dozen more Indians on the reservation.”

“A few dozen? Last count there’s only seven in the family, Casey makes eight. That doesn’t exactly scream invasion forces.”

Daniel closed his eyes, shaking his head. “Just a babe in the woods, aren’t you, Din’ah.” He looked at me again with that impatience he had when I was a kid. “We are an old people, spread out over the many states. All of us diligently watching for signs and you just blindly stumbled on our prey.”

“Doing my job, on patrol, so there was no ‘stumbling’ involved.” I snapped at him, resenting the stupid kid treatment. “And how would I know anything about all this? I’ve been kept in the dark, always told ‘when the time comes’. If I’d had a clue, maybe I wouldn’t have gone back up there to try to figure things out. Maybe my friend might still…” The rage ignited the thing inside me, burning up through my flesh. I jerked my arms out. “STOP IT!”

I ran to the bath and slammed the door, sliding down the back of it. If I’d known, something, anything, Lutz might be out there helping us plot how to get to these guys. Or he’d be safely on base stuck on desk duty until this was over. And now Casey was involved too. I just promised him forever, but we had to go into some kind of battle with some weird-assed dark Spirit that had been around for thousands of years.

My head ached with all the ugly images. That monster, those innocent illegals, Lutz’ twisted and broken body, even some of the nightmares left over from the Middle East. If myths were true, what was the Great Father’s or Mother’s plan to forever burden the Star People with the task of hunting Maxa’xak? How did I end up in the center of this? Why me?

I ignored the rapping on the door. “Beth? Come out. Your brother is gone.” He knocked again, then stopped, though I could feel him on the other side of the door. He waited a couple minutes, then I heard him again. Through the cheap fiberboard separating us, his voice came through as if his lips were whispering in my ear. “I’d freak out too. It’s a lot for any sane person to deal with. No one can blame you for wanting to run away, but I know you. You don’t run. We’re not runners.”

I turned my head against the door. “What am I? If all this is real, than I’m not any more human than that monster is. You didn’t look at the video. You didn’t see it. If that’s what it looks like, what will I turn into?”

“I have to assume something still human. Look at your mother. Aside from some strange…” He didn’t finish the sentence. She’d embarrassed him often enough to and keep him on his toes around her. “Listen, babe, you won’t know more until you ask her. We’re going to the hotel. You’ll get a little more rest, then we’ll figure all this out.”

“You’ve got to go into the office.” I turned more, putting my hand to the door where he was crouched on the other side. “I’m… scared. What if they figured out you tricked them? What if they have someone in your offices too?”

“I think they’d have hit us here if they had. This isn’t exactly Fort Knox.” He laughed softly, but under it was a tone of seriousness. “Listen, if you’re that worried I’ll see if Daniel can change up the plan a bit. We’ll go to my office together. You can stay in the back office with Charles while I set everything up.”

I didn’t respond and he didn’t push me. My skin stung a bit from the intensity of this episode, but I was transitioning back to normal. I needed to get a grip on this fear and this weird thing inside me. Another deep breath and I let out a sigh. “No. Go. I’ll meet you at the hotel.”

“Okay, but not until I can see you’re all right.” His voice had shifted. He was standing up. I turned the lock on the door as I got off the floor, opening it. He immediately pulled me into an embrace. “I promise I won’t be long. Just stick to Daniel’s side until he has you to safety.”

“I will.” I gave him another hug. “I need a few minutes to get ready, so go.”

Casey gave me a kiss and another hug, then pulled on a civilian windbreaker, adding a cowboy hat. It was still dark enough no one would notice the uniform underneath. Chucky was waiting outside.

Frankie was there too. “I got the room covered. Get yourself ready to move.”

I locked the door and took another shower. A quick one, but the cold water totally woke up my nerves. I dressed in the civvies Joey had for packed. I half-expected him to pull out the