Diana Racine 02 - Goddess of the Moon

breathing passage . His effort to wipe it away pushed the viscous substance further into his eyes. He inhaled some of the mixture and launched into a choking cough. Lucier sprang up, grabbed hold of the man’s testicles, and yanked with all his might. Much better than a kick that so metimes failed to hit the mark.
    “Sorry to resort to the old yank - the - balls cliché, man,” Lucier said, “but it’s either your nuts or mine.” The guard released a horrifying wail and bounced around with one hand clutching his crotch, the other unsuccessfully wip ing the goo from his eyes. Lucier decided to put him out of his misery. He picked up the wooden chair and smashed it over Mountain Man’s head. The chair was solid, didn’t even splinter. The goliath collapsed to the floor like a two hundred-fifty -pound boulder and lay as still.
    The girl started screaming loud enough to alert anyone within hearing distance. He took a giant step toward her and clasped his hand over her mouth, muffling her cries. “I’m not going to hurt you if you stop screaming,” he said calmly in her ear. “If you don’t, you ’ll force me to put you to sleep too.”
    Panic flashed in the girl’s eyes, round as marbles, her angelic face a mask of fear. Lucier assumed she was aware of what happened to anyone who didn’t behave . He also assumed the kids here were taught to honor their elders . E ven though he wasn’t one of them , he hoped she’d respond to his demands as she would to any adult.
    “I need your help , ” he said in his most soothing voice. “ W ill you scream i f I remove my hand from your mouth?” She shook her head, and he uncovered her mouth. She whimpered but didn’t cry out. He knew how scared she was and felt guilty . L ives depended on what he did now. “Stay here and don’t move.”
    She nodded and he shut the door. H e frisked Mountain Man and confiscated his gun and a switchblade strapped to his ankle. Next he took h is key s and cell phone . The gun was a Glock . He checked the load ―f ull ―and tucked it in to his waistband. He also relieved the big man of a prized find. Handcuffs. Lucier guessed they were for him if he gave any trouble . W ho knew ? Ar ound here the cuffs might have a dual purpose.
    Lucier hurried back to Anna , huddled where he’d left her. “They have a woman here they’re going to harm . Diana Racine. Do you know her?”
    Anna nodded and shrugged away from Lucier, but he kept a firm grasp on her arm. “They won’t harm her,” she said tentatively. “She wanted to come here. We worship her.”
    “People brought her here against her will.” Lucier backed away to show he wouldn’t hurt her but stayed close . “Do you think i t’s right to make someone do things against her will?”
    Anna sniffled. “Sometimes you have to until they learn the right way . B ut I don’t believe you. They wouldn’t do that to her . ”
    “Give me the benefit of the doubt, for now.”
    A moan from the unconscious man caused Lucier to check his life signs . He’d hit the brute hard enough to cause permanent damage . A finger to the big man’s neck r evealed a strong, steady pulse. He couldn’t worry about it.
    “ Why do you think this man has a gun?”
    Anna shrugged, but she wrinkled her brow. Thinking now, Lucier hoped. “ What if your leaders tell you the wrong things? What then?”
    The girl looked confused. “We ’re not supposed to question.”
    “They were going to kill me,” he said, holding up the gun as evidence . “Then they ’d say they sent me home , b ut they would have been lying.”
    “They’d … never lie. Lying is ―it’s a sin.”
    Lucier shook his head in exasperation. This place had been built on lies. A flashback memory surfaced of a lecture Lucier gave to his older son after catching him in a lie. It’ s a sin to lie , he’d told him. Lucier shook off the remembrance as he’d done so many times, snippets of another life popp ing up when he least expected them.
    A snort from his unconscious captive snapped him back to the present. His groans indicated it wouldn’t be long before he was awake and seriously pissed. The man had at least sixty pounds on Lucier and wasn’t the type to fight fair. A smile curled his lips when he thought how he put down the hulk. Not fair either.
    Though the man was dead weight, Lucier dragged him to the cot , praying he didn’ t rouse . He hoisted his torso onto the mattress first, then his legs. His heart pounded