Chapter 9
A thin veil of darkness blanketed the sky. I looked up at the full moon beaming back at me. There were so many stars here. An old oak tree had been uprooted and was lying on its side. I spread my bedroll out next to the tree, sat down, and leaned my back up against it. I was unusually exhausted from the ride. I rested my head back against the tree and admired the clear night above. Caiyan handed me a plate of food and sat down next to me, balancing his plate on his knee. Gertie straddled a rock across from us.
“Thanks.” I sighed and realized I was quite hungry.
Caiyan noticed my fascination with the stars. “You’re missing aboot a hundred years of pollution.”
“What?”
“That’s why you can see so many stars.” He pointed to the sky with his fork.
I looked over at him. The dark hair that usually lay casually at his collar had become soaked with sweat during the ride and was drying in glorious curls around his neck. I wanted to reach out and run my fingers through it. He looked over at me, and our eyes met. He raised an eyebrow, and a slight smile tugged at his mouth. Get a grip, Jen. I told my inner slut to calm down.
“Are you going to tell me aboot my gift?” I asked him.
“You think you’re real cute making fun of my accent?” he said. “Let me have a crack at yours then, lassie.”
As we relaxed around the small campfire eating our meal, Caiyan explained in a perfect Texas drawl, “Y’all’s gift was passed down through generations. Your aunt had given up and thought your family would no longer have the gift.” He shifted his weight slightly and set his empty plate on the ground. “My grandfather told me if there are no children, the gift dies, or sometimes the gift just doesn’t pass on to the grandchildren. I have never heard of it passing outside a direct line.”
I looked over at Gertie and wondered why I was the one who inherited the gift instead of her. She was holding her plate at mouth level, scooping the last of the beanie weenies inside with a slice of bread. Go figure.
Caiyan continued. “The job we do is difficult, and the gift doesn’t emerge until you hit puberty. When you put on the key, your gift can turn on the vessel. However, your mentor is supposed to protect your vessel until you are ready. It’s kind of a built-in safeguard to protect you.”
“Unless your mentor dies,” I said, and Caiyan pressed his lips together, nodded his head in agreement, and looked at the ground. “But I didn’t know I was going to be jetted back to the past.”
“I can only tell you the story my grandfather told me. So far it’s been true.”
“OK, let her rip,” Gertie said, hunkering down like she was about to hear a scary story.
“Legend has it that an ancient people, the Ancalites, had the gift of time travel. The gift was given to their king by the gods, and he was told the gift would be transferred through his bloodline.”
“Oh come on, the gods?” I asked sarcastically. “As in Zeus and all that bull?”
“Do you want to hear the story or not?” he said, crinkling his brow.
“Sorry, go on,” I said, trying to be more open-minded.
“The king’s key was large, like the armor of a warrior. It fit around his neck and covered his entire chest. When his offspring inherited the gift, a piece of his armor would be removed, made into a necklace, and given to the new child. The armor was designed so each piece represented an element of the universe.”
“So I have—or had—the moon, and you have the sun.” I realized that before we left the hill where we met Caiyan, he had buttoned his shirt up, hiding the precious key.
“Yes.”
“Who has the others?” Gertie asked.
“We have found several others. Searching for the remaining keys is our mission. The main key was made of titanium, which, by the way, wasn’t even discovered until the seventeen hundreds. Each element is formed from moonstone.”
“Moonstone. I have read about that gemstone,” said Gertie. “If you give your lover a moonstone when the moon is full, you will always have passion with each other.”
“That’s what I hear, but it also provides protection and healing powers,” Caiyan said.
“Geesh, you don’t really believe all that stuff, do you?” I asked.
“Maybe I should remind you, lassie, we are sitting here in 1915.”
“Good point.” I wondered if he realized when he was annoyed, his accent returned. Mamma Bea always told me that everyone has a tell. This means when they are fibbing, there is always a sign that gives them away. She said it is good for poker and cheating husbands. My tell was twisting a strand of my hair. Whenever my mom caught me doing something wrong, I would pull a piece of my hair and twist it around my finger. Gertie would bite her fingernails, and Jake would tuck his bottom lip under his front teeth. I wondered if this was Caiyan’s tell and stored it away for future use.
Caiyan continued. “When the king was young, he traveled back in time to help secure land for his tribe and make his tribe wealthy.”
“You mean he went back in time and ripped people off,” I said.
“I think he was more or less like Robin Hood. He only took what his people needed from those who had more than they deserved. He also went back to his ancient people and taught them how to grow crops and develop so they were ahead of the surrounding tribes, giving them a superior status. This gave his people security.”
Caiyan reached down and picked up a smooth rock from the ground. He rolled it around in his palms as he continued the story.
“The king’s vessel was made of pure gold. It was large because the king was rumored to be at least seven feet tall and built like Hercules.”
“Now we’re talkin’,” Gertie added, doing a fist pump.
“During this time the king had many wives.”
“Hold up,” Gertie interrupted, holding her free hand up in a “stop” position. “How many wives, like three or like twelve?”
“Many!” Caiyan said a little louder, glaring at Gertie. “The king had several daughters, and none of them had inherited his gift. He did not understand, because the gods had told him his bloodline would carry the gift. When his only son reached sixteen years, he went through the ceremonial rite of passage celebrating his claim to be the next king. During this ceremony the king put the key around his young prince’s neck, and it started to glow, thus revealing the gift. The king was ecstatic and had a piece of his key made into a necklace for his son immediately. He taught the prince how to use his vessel to travel through time to do good things and help their people become greater and wealthier. As the king’s son grew into a man, he fell in love with a girl he met while traveling back a few decades, and he wanted to marry her. The girl’s name was Analia. She was from a poor tribe, the Mafusos. They were also an enemy of the Ancalites. The king would not allow the marriage.”
“Ooh, very Romeo and Juliet,” Gertie interjected.
“Aye,” Caiyan said sternly, then continued. “One night the prince secretly left to marry Analia. They returned to the tribe hoping his father would accept his new bride, but the tribal king was not pleased. And because Analia had learned their secret of time travel, he sentenced the girl to death. The king also believed she had coerced his son into marrying her for his fortune. While the girl was held captive, waiting to be executed, the prince snuck in and freed her. He transported her back to her time and her people.”
“Why didn’t he just stay with her in her time?” I asked.
“He could naugh he didn’t have enough time.” Caiyan raked a hand through his dark hair, mussing it a little and making my toes tingle. “You see, it was the year he was to be born, and you cannae travel to a time when you are already living.”
“What would happen if the prince was there when he was born?” I asked.
“The grown prince would die. We have seen it happen before when a transporter wanted to stay back in time. You just sort of vanish.”
“That’s kind of creepy,” Gertie said.
“How do
we know when to return?” I asked.
“Travel is based on the cycles of the moon. We go back when the moon is full. We have about three to five days to complete our task. When the moon begins to wane, we must return before it reaches the third quarter, or half-moon appearance.”
“What happens if we go back to a time when we were not alive and decide to stay?”
“When the moon begins to wane, you get very uncomfortable.”
The way he said it made me uncomfortable. Maybe I didn’t need to know all the details at once. My Mamma Bea always said some things are better taken in small amounts, and I think this was one of those things. Mamma Bea was usually referring to liquor and men, but I was beginning to get a little frightened.
“The prince was going to stay with Analia, knowing he would die.”
“That’s so romantic,” Gertie said, placing her hand over her heart.
“Some of us that have the gift also have—How can I explain this? Let’s just call them special abilities.”
“What do you mean? Like superpowers?” I asked.
“Not exactly, but just imagine a few of us are given extra gifts, and the king possessed every gift we have discovered so far.”
“He was like a god, right?” Gertie asked.
“Sort of.”
“Do you have a special gift?” I asked. “Do I?”
“I don’t know what kind of gift you have, Jen.” He stood casually, avoiding the first question. “Now where was I—oh yeah. The king had the ability to control other travelers by causing a painful cramping sensation in all the muscles of the body simultaneously just by touching his key.”
What if the Mafusos have this gift? I thought to myself. What if they use it on me? I shuddered.
“Oh my God, that is so awesome. Then what happened?” Gertie asked as if she were sitting front row at an Ozzy Osbourne concert.
“The king thought the prince had gone off to sulk, so he summoned the prince at about the time the moon cycle started to make him sick. The prince couldn’t take the pain, and he returned. When the prince realized the king was unaware Analia had been freed, the prince secretly dressed in the girl’s robes and took her place. The prince did not want to live without his beloved bride. The next evening he was taken to the great volcano to be sacrificed to the gods. As the prince was pushed into the volcano by his own guards, he removed the shroud, revealing his face. The tribe was in shock. Falling to his death, he shouted, ‘I am sorry, Father, but my son shall live.’
“The tribal king was so distraught at his son’s death, he forbade himself all time travel. He put his key away, not to be used again. What the king didn’t realize was that although his daughters did not inherit the gift, some of his grandchildren would be blessed. One day his favorite granddaughter found the key. As soon as she put the key around her neck, it glowed. The king’s wife was excited and showed the king the miracle; however, the king was frightened he might lose another child, so he forbade anyone to wear the key. The wife thought this unfair, so she secretly took the key and divided it into many necklaces so each grandchild who inherited the gift would have one.”
“So how did they travel without a vessel?” Gertie asked.
“We are not sure.” Caiyan shrugged. “Some say the tribe’s witch doctor transferred the vessel’s power into small stone discs with the symbol each child had on his or her key. These discs were placed onto ordinary objects, creating vessels of their own. They could travel without using the king’s vessel. This is where the common vessels originated. When the moon was full, the tribal king went to the volcano to mourn his lost son, leaving the tribe alone to secretly travel back in time. The men would go back in time and get gold, grains, anything they needed and then summon the women to come and collect the goods. That is the reason you are a transporter.”
“Why are women the transporters?” I asked.
“Maybe because that was the way the tribe functioned. The men were the hunters, and the women were the gatherers.”
I tried to take in all the information and sort it out to something I could comprehend, but it felt like so many questions were left unanswered.
Caiyan was watching me intently. I think he must have realized my bewilderment, so he continued to explain. “I am not sure why the vessels of most men are only able to carry one person while the women can carry two or more.” He shrugged. “Somewhere along the way, we lost the ability to transport objects.”
“How do the brigands get their ill-gotten gains, so to speak, back to the present?”
Caiyan looked around as if someone in the bushes might be evesdropping on this secret. “They bury it, or if it is not too far in the past, they may have secured a location they can retrieve the items from when they return.
“Like a hollow stump or a secret lair?” Gertie piped in.
Caiyan laughed his first big laugh since we had arrived. It made his eyes light up and my toes curl a little. “No, Gertie, more like a post office box or the house of a relative. Cemetery crypts are also good hiding places.”
“Crypts,” I shuddered at the thought of having to search crypts for brigand booty. On the other hand, I didn’t think Caiyan would mind disturbing the dead if it involved recovering a treasure. I leaned back against the tree, and the bark on the tree trunk snagged my hair. I sat up and untangled it the best that I could and pulled my hair to the side so that it fell across my shoulder as I leaned back against the tree.
“Wait a minute, back up, what did the prince mean by his son shall live?” Gertie asked.
“Be patient—it’s coming,” he said, palming his stone in one hand and tugging playfully on a strand of my hair with his other hand.
I immediately pulled my hair out of his reach. He smiled and continued with his story.
“Two years had passed since the prince’s death, and a girl mysteriously wandered into their village. She was beautiful, with long, dark hair and mesmerizing dark eyes; it was difficult for any of the tribesman not to take notice. The king asked her to join him one evening as he walked to the great volcano to mourn his son. The moon was full, and as soon as he left, some of the tribe entered their vessels and transported. When they left, the Mafuso tribe invaded their village, killing everyone who was left behind.”
“That’s so sad,” Gertie said, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them.
“The beautiful woman seduced the king under the full moonlight, begging him to make love to her. The old king, being a fertile tribal leader, had no qualms about fulfilling her request. Afterward the beautiful woman walked with the king to the edge of the volcano.
“‘Do you know me?’ she asked the king.
“‘Have we met before?’ the king asked, confused.
“‘No,’ she answered, ‘but you knew my father.’
“‘Who was he?’ the king asked.
“‘Your son,’ the woman responded. The shocked king stumbled backward and fell into the volcano.”
“Holy crap!” exclaimed Gertie. “This is some good shit—no wonder our family is so friggin’ crazy.”
Ignoring Gertie, Caiyan continued, “Apparently, Analia, the girl the king’s son had married, was with child, and that was why the prince couldn’t let her die. He wanted his son to live. However, the Mafuso tribe had learned of the prince’s power and was behind the whole plot. Analia gave birth to a daughter, not a son, and Analia was so distraught, because she thought only a boy could inherit the gift. Feeling she had let down her people, Analia took her own life. The baby was named Jezebel and was raised by the wife of the Mafuso tribal king. As Jezebel grew older, she started to do miraculous things. She was faster than the best boy in their tribe and smarter than any of the elders. She possessed gifts that made the Mafuso tribal king’s wife wonder if Jezebel had inherited the great powers. The tribe was very evil. The Mafuso king plotted against them by raising Jezebel to hate the Ancalites. One night the Mafuso tribal king killed his wife, the only mother Jezebel had eve
r known. He told Jezebel the Ancalite king used his magic transporter to sneak into her chamber and kill her.
“Jezebel vowed she would seek him out and avenge her adopted mother’s death. She waited until she was at an age when the king couldn’t resist her and then went in search of him. After she killed the king, she went for his key but couldn’t find it or his vessel. She did, however, find keys the king’s wife had hidden for the future Ancalites who had the gift.”
“That is a very interesting story; however, I’m still confused about why I am here,” I said.
“But the story gets better.” Caiyan stood and walked around as he continued his tale.
“Oh man, where is the popcorn?” Gertie asked excitedly.
“The remaining tribe returned and found all their loved ones dead. Without a king, they took a vow. They would divide their wealth and separate from one another so this could never happen again. Many of the tribe traveled to foreign lands, where they passed their gift down through their families. This explains why we are from various backgrounds and cultures. They vowed only to time travel in search of the missing keys.”
“Why didn’t they just go back and stop the invasion?” I asked.
“Because the Ancalites were a peaceful tribe, and it went against their code to go back and kill the Mafusos before they committed the crime.”
“That is so romantic and twisted,” said Gertie.
“It doesn’t explain us,” I said. “What am I doing here?”
“Remember I told you the granddaughter really seduced her grandfather?”
“Yes, sooo gross,” Gertie said on the edge of her rock.
“She conceived a child,” he said.
“Damn, this is a fertile family,” Gertie said. “Jen, you’d better be careful. You’ll be poppin’ out those puppies like my cousin Bubba’s rabbits.”
“Me?” I questioned. “What about you? We are related, right?”
“I’m more from the poor Irish side of the family, obviously, since I didn’t inherit any gift.”
“Ladies, I am trying to explain the reason why Jen is here,” Caiyan broke in. Gertie and I sat back and waited to hear my life’s destiny.
“As I said, there was another child conceived, and this is where the bloodline for the brigands began. Filled with greed, they spent their time stealing and murdering. They had keys but no vessels, so they started tracking down Ancalites and taking their keys and vessels, which has filtered down to the pillaging we have today, I’m afraid.”
In frustration Caiyan tossed aside the small rock he had been caressing between his palms. “They are constantly trying to steal the keys and are in search of the king’s vessel.”
“So, are there others on our ‘team,’ I guess you would say?” I asked Caiyan.
“Yes, and you will meet them in time. This is a very dangerous job; you could be killed.”
“What happens if someone gets killed?” I asked, uneasy.
“You will die in this time and in your own. If we are able, we transport you back and make it look like an accident.”
I gulped. “Is this what happened to my aunt?”
“I am not sure, lassie.” But his eyes filled with regret, and his brogue thickened.
“How do I tell my vessel where to go?”
He pondered the question a moment. “Normally, to time travel, the transporter must be summoned by a defender.” He thought the idea over in his mind, then an amusing expression crossed his face. “You think of me.”
“What?” I almost yelled it.
“Jennifer, were you thinking of me when your key started to activate?” he asked with the corners of his mouth starting to turn up.
“No! Absolutely not,” I stammered.
“Yes you were!” Gertie blurted out. “Remember, you were denying love at first sight, and then I asked you about sleeping with a guy on the first date and…”
“OK, Gertie, we get it,” I said, cutting her off. “I might have been reminiscing a little.”
“When the moon is full, the brigands will go back. There is one family in particular who still carry the Mafuso name. They are after the king’s vessel. Some brigands are still a part of the Mafuso family. Others have split away and go back to steal and sometimes murder people for their own gain.”
“What about that guy in Scotland?” I asked, my ears turning a little pink with embarrassment from recalling our first encounter.
“Rogue is an independent brigand. He works for his own selfish gain.”
“How do you know where these bad guys are going?” asked Gertie.
“We have ways to identify when brigands have taken the time passage. The defenders will travel back to catch them. To bring another defender or transporter back in time, I request the presence of a specific person, and that person will be summoned.”
Caiyan sighed, then shook his head. “Usually the transporter is the one being summoned, not the one who causes the time travel. Your gift is very strange. You can think about me, and your key will activate. We must have cross connected. I was trying to decide whom I should summon for my transporter and imagine my surprise when my key started to glow. I wasn’t sure what that meant. It has never happened before.”
“Why is the Mafuso family after the king’s key and vessel?” I asked.
“Remember, it’s rumored to be pure gold, and it was the original, so possibly more powerful. There are many who believe if you have all the keys, you will have all the power, just like the king.”
The flames on the fire were starting to die down as I digested my dinner and all the new information. I could feel a chill in the air even though we were in southwest Texas.
“Where are we exactly?” Gertie asked.
“I know what I have told you,” he said. “We are in Presidio, Texas, in the year 1915.”
“How do you know where we are and what we are supposed to do?” I questioned.
“Over time things became a little more civilized. We formed an alliance with the British Secret Service, which led to a pact with the CIA from the United States, since many of the gifted are in your country. They gave us the name WTF.”
“What the Fu—?”
“Gertie!” I interrupted her. Then we both started to laugh hysterically. I think we might have been suffering from post-traumatic stress caused by the unbelievable, but we laughed until our sides ached. Caiyan shook his head and laughed at us.
“No, it stands for World Travel Federation. We are considered top secret. Although there are some out there, like you, who don’t recognize their gift right away or choose not to use the gift. When the moon is full, we know the brigands will go back. The BSS works with the CIA to try to figure out where they will strike next. We have worldwide support because they know if we were to fall in the wrong hands, we could be used as a weapon.”
“A weapon?” asked Gertie. “Whoa, that’s heavy.”
“Can you imagine what would happen if someone went back in time and murdered the Queen of England or one of your presidents?”
“Oh my gosh, you mean like Lincoln?” I questioned in horror.
“Yes, and Kennedy.” He picked up the canteen of water and poured some into a cup. He took a drink and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “That is why Lee Harvey Oswald was killed so quickly. He was a brigand. Of course, his real name was Oswaldo Mafuso.”
“What about Marilyn Monroe?” asked Gertie.
“No, she did that to herself. But there have been quite a few we couldn’t save.”
He ran a hand through his thick hair, making it stand up a little at the crown. Most men would look disheveled, but Caiyan only oozed more sex appeal with his tousled appearance. He hesitated like he was telling us too much and then proceeded on with the conversation.
“When we travel, we go with nothing. You can only return people through the transporter. That is why you are so valuable. We have to figure out what the brigands are after and then stop them before they muddle up history.”
“Like in Scotland,” I said. “You hit that guy with a rock, but how did you get him back if I am supposed to transport him?”
“Oh yes, Rogue,” Caiyan sighed. “He is a clever bastard.”
“You know him well?”
“Yes, he works alone. We have fought many times. He always seems to get away. He’s a slippery one, that fellow.”
“He got away?” I questioned, alarmed. “I thought you catch them and put them in jail?”
“Sometimes they get away,” he said, sulking.
“You’re not very good at this hero stuff, are you?” Gertie said.
“It’s not as easy as hitting them on the head with a rock. I got lucky I was able to stall him long enough for Mary, Queen of Scots, to get away.”
“Mary?” Gertie put a finger to her lips, which she did when she was in deep thought. “But she never became the Queen of England, if my history serves me right.”
“True, but Rogue was going to capture her; she had information on the location of one of the keys.”
“If you are lucky enough to catch these prisoners, I am supposed to take them to some place in Cuba, right?” I asked.
“We have a prison in Gitmo,” he answered.
Looking wide-eyed, Gertie asked, “Why Guantanamo Bay?”
“Gitmo has a reputation. Prisoners don’t want to go there, but really an underground prison exists to house these types of criminals. In the past our ancestors have traveled to save tragedy from happening in our present world. The problem is our society developed, and we couldn’t just kill people and risk getting arrested and stuck rotting in a jail from the past. We decided we needed help from the government, and presto, the WTF was developed. The prisoners stand trial for acts against the government, and then they are sent to prison. We have ways to force them to remove their keys, but it is almost impossible to find their vessels.”
“What happens after they are sent to prison?” I asked.
“Some are rehabilitated and then released. They are usually never returned their key.”
For a split second, I thought I saw Caiyan’s key glow. But maybe it was a reflection from the fire. For the first time, I felt a longing well up inside me, like I was significant. I was needed for something besides deciding what type of shoe was going to be in style next spring. It made me feel special, and damn it, if people were counting on me to save someone, I was gonna do my best. A noise pulled me out of my self–pep talk. It sounded like the drain in Mamma Bea’s sink after she washed her hair. The last of the water would go swirling ‘round and form a tiny tornado, then it would get sucked out, creating a slurping sound.
“Wait here,” Caiyan ordered as he slowly got up and eased through the trees.
“Are we gonna wait?” Gertie asked.
“No way,” I responded, getting to my feet. We crept down to the trees at the base of the river and peeked through the bushes. There was a man getting out of a bathtub. It was the old claw-foot type of tub, complete with a floral wraparound shower curtain.
Gertie peeked over my shoulder. “Is that a bathtub?”
“Yes, hush, they will hear you.”
Gertie scooted next to me and found her own spying spot.
Caiyan walked up to the man, and they shook hands like old school chums.
“Oh sweet Jesus!” exclaimed Gertie in her loud whisper voice that used to get us in trouble at church. “He looks like Keith Urban, the hot country singer.”
I pushed a leafy branch out of my way to get a better view. I thought he looked more like Shaggy from the Scooby-Doo cartoon, but as I watched him walk, he definitely had a kind of swagger. He was dressed in brown pants and a dark-green button-down shirt with a brown leather vest and a strange-looking cowboy hat. It reminded me of Crocodile Dundee. He seemed to be having an intense conversation with Caiyan. He shrugged his shoulders and moved his hands in an “I don’t know” manner as if Caiyan had asked him an important question he couldn’t answer. I felt Gertie put a death grip on my leg.
“Here they come; let’s get out of here,” she said as she took off toward the camp. Her skirt brushed up against the bushes, making a definite sound not likely from an animal.
I froze, hoping they wouldn’t look in my direction. I slowly backed up and had turned to hightail it back to camp when I heard, “Hold it, lassie.” The stern words were from Caiyan. “I told you to stay put.” The two of them sauntered over to me. I turned around slowly, feeling like I was caught with my hand in the cookie jar. The two of them stood over me, arms across their chests. Both were eyeing me like I was an ill-mannered child.
“Should we put her in a time-out?” asked the new man.
“It wouldn’t do any good, I’m afraid. She has a knack for getting into trouble.”
I opened my mouth to refute this, but he spoke before I could get the words out.
“This is Brodie; he’s a defender from Australia.”
“G’day, ma’am,” Brodie said with a million-dollar smile, extending his hand. “I hear you’re up to some trouble.”
“Hi, I’m Jen, the new transporter, and I’m no trouble at all.” I shook his hand, giving him my best smile in return, even though Caiyan was not smiling.
“So McGregor tells me,” was his response.
We walked to the camp, and there was Gertie, stretched out on her bedroll pretending to be asleep.
As we approached, she stretched and yawned. “Guess I fell asleep.” She looked up at us. “Oh, hello, who is this?” she asked, sitting up and batting her eyelashes.
“Brodie,” he responded as he stepped forward and offered his hand and pulled Gertie up on her feet. “The boss man is definitely not going to like the fact that a civilian is here. No sirree Bob.” Then the pot of beans suspended over the campfire caught his attention. “What’s on the barbie?”
Caiyan looked at Brodie, rolled his eyes, and said, “We’ve already eaten; help yourself.” He turned back to us and said, “I have asked Brodie to come here and help me, since there seems to be a new student among us and another who shouldn’t be here.”
Great, I thought, now all we need is a big brown dog and the Mystery Machine, and the gang’s all here. Scooby-dooby-doo!
Brodie sat down on the rock next to Gert and scrounged up some of the leftover bread. “What’s our MO?”
“MO?” I asked.
“Modus operandi or method of operation,” Caiyan answered.
“I haven’t seen anyone, but I have a feeling Mortas is here,” Caiyan said to Brodie.
“Not Mortas,” Brodie groaned. “He is such an arrogant arsehole.”
“Who is Mortas?” I asked.
“He is one of the craftier Mafusos,” Caiyan explained. “He is the oldest grandson of the Mafuso family. He started traveling aboot the same time as Brodie.”
“He’s a real whacker. Been a pain in my arse ever since.”
“What’s a whacker?” Gertie asked.
“I shouldn’t say in the presence of ladies, but a real dickhead.” Brodie added, “The old Mafuso bastard only sends him on the more involved missions.”
Caiyan stood and stretched. This time I knew his key glowed ever so slightly. What was this man up to? His jeans were sculpted around his taut leg muscles. Focus, I commanded myself. My cad sensors told me something was amiss. Caiyan excused himself to “stretch his legs.” Brodie was scraping the bottom of the beanie-weenie pot quite loudly. I thought I heard a motor rumble in the distance. The can scraping got louder, and the horses started to whinny.
“I need to use the, um, bushes,” I said. I stood up and started toward the trees, making sure I went in the opposite direction as Caiyan.
Gertie quickly jumped up. “Me too!” she said, following me into the trees.
“Do you always go at the same time?” Brodie asked, raising his eyebrows.
“It’s a girl thing,” Gertie responded, and I pulled her into the bushes.
I walked around the trees and then backtracked by the st
ream. The only source of light was the full moon, and I was trying to be careful not to fall over the tree roots that occasionally clambered over the path. I wanted to see what Mr. Sexy was up to. The rumbling sound grew a little louder, so I headed in that direction. Gertie was swooshing close behind me.
“Can’t you keep that skirt quiet?” I asked.
“Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t get the cool leather pants with the rawhide ties and the sexy chemise,” she chided.
As we came to the top of a hill, I stopped. The rumbling noise was right in front of us. I crouched down behind a bush, pulling Gertie with me.
“Shit, that’s sleek,” Gertie whispered.
I followed her gaze. In the clearing was a shiny black Harley-Davidson motorcycle complete with a sidecar. It had chrome pipes and leather seats I could smell from where I was hidden. But the main focus of my vision was the beautiful woman getting off the bike. She was tall and had mile-long legs that would have really worked a great pair of stilettos. She was fully clad in black leather, including the cowboy hat that hung low over her face. She removed the hat and let her shiny black hair fall to her waist. The bodice she wore was tight and accentuated her already perfect cleavage.
Caiyan was standing next to her, offering his hand in assistance off the bike. My blood pressure rose a little. They moved away from the bike and farther away from us. They were having some kind of conversation, but I couldn’t hear over the noise from the exhaust pipes.
“Who is that?” Gertie asked. “Maybe it’s Jezebel.”
“Shhh,” I responded. I didn’t know who she was, but I knew exactly what she was… a transporter.
Caiyan said something, and then he smiled. My blood pressure went up a little higher. Calm down, I told myself. There is no use getting riled up. I don’t even like him, I lied to myself. She is probably a relative. Then she took her hand and laid it on his cheek, leaned over, and kissed him. It was definitely not a sisterly kiss. I heard Gertie gasp behind me.
“Do you mates always go around spying on people?” Brodie popped up behind us. Gertie and I both jumped.
“Don’t sneak up on us like that,” Gertie said with her hand over her chest. “You’ll give us a heart attack.”
“Sorry, what are we lookin’ at?” he asked, and then he peeked through the bushes. “Damn, hell must have frozen over.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well, the last time Satan’s bitch saw Caiyan, she said she didn’t want to see him again until hell froze over, so go figure.”
“You know her?” I asked.
“Yep, ‘fraid so. She’s the Mafusos’ little tattletale, and if McGregor finds us here, we are in deep kangaroo shit.”
“You mean she’s an informant?” I asked.
Brodie nodded his head. “Good for us, not so good if she gets caught.”
I pondered the idea of her getting caught, then Brodie added, “I don’t know what Caiyan has between those legs, but the women sure seem to like it.”
That did it. My blood pressure began to rise, and I knew any minute steam would shoot out my ears, and I would whistle like a hot teakettle. My inner voice said, I told you so, and I took a few deep breaths to calm down.
The woman got back on the bike and then revved the engine, and she was gone. We turned around and ran back to the camp. At least, Gertie and I ran. Brodie just ambled along like everything was hunky-dory.
“Why did you come looking for us?” I asked Brodie, trying to catch my breath.
“You didn’t take any paper,” he said, holding up a roll of toilet paper.
Busted.
Then it hit me: I didn’t know anything about Caiyan. He could have been married to that woman for all I knew. Boy, did I feel stupid. I had read too many fairy tales to think he might want a happily ever after with me. This was a job to him, and I had just happened to be an added bonus the last time. I didn’t know where he lived or what he did for a living when he wasn’t chasing bad guys; I didn’t even know what kind of food he liked. I felt like I might have been having a panic attack. I tried to slow my breathing. Bending over, I dropped my head between my knees and took a few slow, deep breaths.