Diana Racine 02 - Goddess of the Moon

all crept forward to survey the damage. Maia gasped . “ Seth ’ s hurt . Help him.” She ran inside the hangar.
    “You okay?” Cal asked Anat. When she nodded, he jogged after Maia .
    Diana scanned the area . Phillip Crane was nowhere to be seen. The all-powerful Crane let others do the dirty work. Where ha d he gone?
    Lucier motioned Crane’s three flunkies togeth er and leveled the gun at them.
    A mechanized roar came from the hangar. “ Crane ’ s escap ing,” Diana yelled over the din .
    Helpless to stop him, Lucier handed the gun to Diana and pointed to the three prisoners . “Shoot them if they move.”
    “My pleasure,” she said.
    Lucier helped Cal drag Seth out of the way . Everyone else moved back from the engine’s thrust as the plane taxied onto the tarmac .
    Just then, o verhead, lights appeared in the early morning sky , and a brilliant spotlight illuminated the gathering on the tarmac. Lucier rushed out from the hangar and took the gun from Diana’s hand. He pointed skyward. Shielding her eyes from the glare, she made out two dark ovals in the sky. E lation spread through her like wildfire, and she saw the three letters that would burn an image in her brain forever: FBI.
    The earsplitting noise of the turboprop drowned out the whirring sound coming from above. T he helicopters circled, hovered for a minute, then set down on the runway, blocking the path of the plane’s escape. Diana couldn’t see inside the plane, but the engines shut down. Crane didn’t emerge .
    Lucier grabbed her hand and squeezed it so hard her fingers went numb for a second. “You okay?”
    She nestled next to him. “Never better.”
    Four men got out of each helicopter, guns dr awn . They split. A few jogged to the hangar, one examin ing Slater. The rest tended to the group , except for the lead agent who headed their way . “You Lucier?”
    Lucier nodded. “Boy, are we glad to see you.”
    The agent scanned the area , checking the men either down with injuries or being held at gunpoint . “ L ooks like you handled yourselves pretty well.” He shook Lucier’s hand. “Mike Cafferty . Stallings said if you were still alive to tell you he send s his regards.”
    “I wasn’t sure I would be.”
    “Who’s the guy in the plane?” the agent asked.
    “Phillip Crane.”
    “The industrialist?”
    “ O ne and the same . The man coming to on the ground over there is Silas Compton. You have two of the richest guys in the country to load up, Cafferty. Big damn bust.”
    “I’m gonna love this.”
    “Mind if I yank Crane out of the cockpit ? ” Lucier asked.
    “You think he has a weapon?”
    “ He didn’t before he got in the plane , but I’m not sure if he had one stashed inside . Being Phillip Crane, he probably still thinks he’s going to get away with this. That ain’t gonna happen , not when all the facts come out . Your collar, Cafferty, but I ’d like to cuff th e slippery bastard myself. ”
    “As long as I tag along . ” He must have noticed Lucier’s frown. “Just to keep things kosher. Jurisdiction and all that.”

Chapter Fifty- Eight
    Amid the Confusion

    D iana was exhausted, having slept little. She and Lucier filled in the disbelieving agents on Crane’s plans for a new order. F ederal agencies , child protection professionals, doctors, and counselors conducted interviews with both the staff and members of the group . P riests offered to conduct exorcisms to rid the evil spirits from Satan’s damned. Their ov ertures were politely rejected.
    The compound buzzed with planes landing and taking off. Fortunately, the re were enough rooms to accommodate everyone trying to make sense out of a story that defied imagination. With few precedents , the state agencies proceeded one step at a time. Cafferty was right. Lucier had no jurisdiction in Oklahoma . He and Diana were star witnes s es only .
    “What happens now ? ” she asked Cafferty.
    “All the psychologists and counselors agree that the children should remain here while they’re being interrogated. Uprooting them from their parents or from the adults acting as their parents, before they understand what’s happening would be more detrimental. Besides, it’s easier to keep everyone together here . Doctors are taking DNA swabs from everyone in the complex.”
    “And the kidnapped babies?” Lucier asked.
    “ T wo young women who said their names were Nona and Brigid and claim to be daughters of Silas and Selene Compton ,