Diana Racine 02 - Goddess of the Moon

get out of here . ”
    “I’ve given it my best shot. Besides, even if we could get out this window, it’d be on TV.” Maia nodded at the vent.
    “I tried disabling it, but ― ” She studied the vent. “ D a mn, why didn’t I think of this before? I must have still been woozy from the drugs. ”
    “What?”
    “ Listen up .” She explained what she wanted Maia to do , t hen yanked the chenille lap blanket from the upholstered club chair. In the bathroom, she flattened it on the vanity and squirted toothpaste around the top edge until she emptied the tube . She carried it behind her back into the bedroom. Maia had moved the desk chair under the vent to the side. Diana got on the chair and pasted the blanket over the vent.
    Please stick , Diana prayed, at least long enough to do what we need to do. Both gave thumbs up when the fabric held. They needed to work fast before it fell off .
    Maia scurried behind the door with the chair in tow, and Diana moved to the bedside table. Hopefully the guard wasn’t glued to the screen. Diana lifted the lamp and crashed it to the floor. Maia drew a deep breath, raised the heavy chair over her head, and waited. She was taller with a better chance of succeeding. The key turned in the latch, and when the guard hurried inside to see what happened , Maia slammed the chair down on his head. He hit the floor like a felled tree. Timber .
    Diana grabbed his keys and frisked him for a weapon and found one . This was the second time in her life she held a gun, and all within a few months. She tucked it into the waistband of her skirt.
    “Okay, girlfriend,” Diana said. “You ’re more familiar with this place than I am . Let’s get the hell out of here before someone figures out what we’ve done.”

Chapter Fifty- Two
    O ut of the Mouths of Babes

    L ucier didn’t play golf, so he marveled at the barely audible sound of the little electric vehicle. Another one sat at the end of the building. He saw no cars and guessed the carts provided the preferred mode of transportation around the compound. Anna pointed him in the direction of what she claimed was the guest house. He hoped she wasn’t double-crossing him because he wouldn’t know until it was too late.
    “ S low down before th e intersection ,” she said , “ or they might spot you .”
    Her warning offered Lucier a measure of relief. If she was setting him up, she would have told him to barrel straight through .
    “Where now?” he asked.
    “I’ll tell you, but you’d better tie me up or handcuff me, or else they’ll know I helped you . This way, i f you don’t succeed, I can say you forced me with Steel’s gun.”
    “Steel?”
    “ He ’s the guy you handcuffed to the bed. I don’t know if it’s his first name or his last.”
    “ You knew I wouldn’t hurt you if you refused to help me . So why did you?”
    Anna thought for a long moment. “This place used to be a paradise, but things changed. Steele came, others too . They all look like the villains from comic books . T onight, when Steele said he’d kill you and Miss Racine , that’s not Paradise anymore. ” She pulled her legs into a yoga position and grew pensive. “But what really changed my mind were the new babies. They ’re not our s , which meant they belong to people outside the compound. T hat mean s they were stolen , and that’s wrong . My friends and I ― we’re afraid now. That’s why I’m helping.”
    She leapt from the cart and motioned Lucier to follow. When they got to the intersection, she pointed to a row of one-story buildings. “Those are the guest houses. Miss Racine is in the first one.”
    “You’re sure?”
    “I delivered food to her yesterday. I’m sure.”
    Lucier patted her head. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
    “Don’t. Just tie me to the steering wheel or something. Stuff my mouth so I can’t yell, and make sure I can’t get loose no matter what I do. You’re not out of the woods yet. E ven if you get her out, n o one leaves here without a plane.”
    “ I’ll worry about if I get that far .”
    “You better be right. This place is all I’ve ever known. But I’m not ready to have kids. I’m still a kid myself.”
    Lucier wanted to smile, but he found nothi ng amusing about what she said.
    She pointed to a copse of bushes. “ P ark over there. The cart will be harder to find , because w hen Steel doesn’t return, they’ll come looking.”
    “Damn, you’re one smart