Diana Racine 02 - Goddess of the Moon

identified them . Our people are notifying t he birth parents as we speak.”
    “What will happen to those girls?” Diana asked. “They’ve been so compromised.”
    Cafferty shook his head. “They’ll need psychological counseling and deprogramming. They ’ll face crim inal charges as well. There’s a lot to iron out .”
    “You feel sorry for them, don’t you?” Lucier asked her . He turned to Cafferty. “Diana feels sorry for everyone. She even felt sorry for a guy who wanted to kill her.”
    Yes, she felt sorry for the girls, but not for Compton and Crane. They were evil and should get the maximum sentence the law allows “It’s not the same thing . Those girls have been brainwashed. They never knew w hat they were doing was wrong.”
    “Sorry, Ms . Racine , bu t they knew kidnapping babies from their birth parents was a crime.”
    Diana shrugged. “Well, yes . Still … ”
    “What about Anat Crane and Cal Easley?” Lucier asked.
    “They’ r e help ing identify who belongs to whom, especially Easley. They’ve been trapped here a long time. Hope they can make it in the real world.”
    “They will because they kept their worlds real, even here.” Lucier flipped through the papers of the human inventory. “There’s a little girl named Anna. If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t be having this conversation, and I think she fed information to Cal Easley.”
    “I’ll look into her personally.”
    “Good. I’d hate to see anything happen to her.”
    Diana and Lucier got up to leave. A plane waited to take them back to New Orleans. Lucier turned. “Oh, one more thing. Seth Crane and Maia Compton. They helped us. What’s going to happen to them?”
    “They’re gone.” Cafferty said.
    Lucier stopped. “Gone? Gone where?”
    “Good question. The doctor fixed up his arm . The Compton woman and her children were with him. Then, during the night , the y all disappeared.”
    Diana’s mouth hung open. “Huh? But how?”
    “They flew out of here.”
    “ Planes blocked t he runway ,” Lucier said.
    “ That’s right . Crane took the helo .”
    “And you don’t know where they went ?”
    “Not yet. They have to land somewhere. We’ll get them.”
    Diana stole a quick glance at Lucier . With an aircraft that can land just about anywhere? Don’t bet on it.

Chapter Fifty- Nine
    Introspection

    T hat evening, w hen Diana o pened the door to her house , she and Lucier were met with that closed-up, musty smell , mixed with a hint of vanilla from the candles she loved. This was her home, and she loved the feeling of security. Tears filled her eyes. “Good to be home .”
    Lucier kicked the door closed and took her in his arms. “I wasn’t sure we’d see either of our houses again.”
    “ You’re my hero , Lieutenant.”
    He kissed her lightly on the lips. “I didn’t feel much like a hero when my face fell into the salmon. Quite the contrary. I should never have trust ed those people. Knew it in the depth s of my soul. Yet I let down my guard, disbelieving they ’ d do what they did. ”
    “We were duped. No doubt about it.”
    “ I talked to Captain Craven while you slept on the plane. He thought we were duped too. Said he missed me, but he’s going to dock my pay.”
    Diana searched his face. “ He’s kidding , right? I mean you almost single-handedly broke up a kidnapping ring .”
    “I ’m not sure . I hope so .”
    “I’ ll put on a pot of coffee , t hen I need to call my parents . I need a shot of caffeine to deal with them .”
    Diana spent half an hour alternating between answering questions from her mother and father . The FBI advised her and Lucier not to talk publicly about the case to avoid tainting the jury pool when the group went to trial , so she careful ly avoided anything her publicity-hound father could “accidentally” release to a reporter .
    “ Cafferty called while you were on the phone,” Lucier said when she hung up . “T hey tracked down the Crane Corporation pilot who flew Anastasia Easley to Canada to m e et up with her mother and three sisters. All five are a waiting extradit ion back to the States , but there’s a tricky situation with Anastasia Easley.”
    “What’s that?”
    “Canada won’t extradite anyone facing a murder charge unless the death penalty is off the table, so she’ll probably spend the rest of her life in prison.”
    “I can live with that.”
    “ The men were denied bail in spite of protests from some of the