Echo

them behind. When they were discovered, and they would be, the authorities would have to come find us. It doesn’t matter that we didn’t do anything wrong or that they planned to harm you. They deserved to die. I’ve heard rumors about Armoni and Kelly for a long time; serious, disturbing rumors. Tomas fell under their spell, attracted to whatever fueled their psychotic behavior. There was nothing we could do to change that. If your mother and Hiro hadn’t been hit by that truck, maybe we wouldn’t have been a target for them. But sooner or later they would have met a similar fate. It was only a matter of time.”
    “Please, I don’t want to know any more about them.” She held up her hands attempting to ward off the noxious information. “Echo, do you understand what you did?” Golden auras flashed in their minds.
    “Oh yes, Sister Abby, I exterminated the bad humans. It was most necessary. They were a scourge with a hate toward all other life on this planet, especially fellow humans. They were no longer in balance. They hurt you.” The aura dimmed; the room filling with silence. Then the auras whispered in gray tones. “They were predators. They tried to kill My Barney. He was dying. They did not deserve to live. That is the law and always will be.” Echo said nothing further, even though they tried to get her to explain what she meant by the law. Maybe she simply meant the U.S. laws.
    “Now, as you all realize, one of the guys got away.” Jose’s face looked harsh and determined. “I don’t know what that’s going to mean for us, but we better keep on our toes. I don’t know who survived, Tomas or Armoni, but he’ll be gunning for us. The good thing is, he probably won’t be able to find us. What will he do without any money anyway? When it comes right down to it, they were just local scumbags,” Jose said. “Why don’t you take Barney to the kitchen, Echo and get him some chow? Fill his bowl with water … thank you.” Jose wanted to raise a new subject.
    “We know Mama Diaz and the girls didn’t move in with Tomas. I suspect the only reason he suggested they move out was so we would be more vulnerable. I think they may have been after Scotty’s gold coin. It’s the only thing that makes sense. But that still leaves the problem of Mama Diaz’s whereabouts. I’d like to suggest we put Peter on the case and have him hire a detective to find them. If they’re willing, I’d like to bring them to Sarasota with us. We can’t have them in the house with us, obviously, (waving his tail) but we can get them a house on the same street. I would feel much better if I knew they were with us, okay?”
    “But how would we explain our sudden wealth?” Abby asked.
    “What about the truth?” Scotty proposed. They all looked at one another in surprise.
    “Well, I guess we could. But without knowing how they would react, I’m not sure. Can we think that one over for a while? I don’t think I’m ready for more people to know our secret or about Echo. It makes me very uncomfortable. And how would we hide our eyes from them? Won’t they question the constant sunglasses?” Abby’s face reflected all of her doubts.
    “Oh yeah. I forgot about that, but I guess it wouldn’t be a problem if we tell them the truth.” Rubbing his eyes, Jose felt the stress overwhelm him. He felt tired; so much happened in such a short period of time. Standing up, he pulled Abby to her feet, tipped her head back and looked into her eyes. She smiled.
    “Let’s go to bed, babe. We can figure this out tomorrow.” Saying good night to Scotty, they headed arm in arm to their bedroom. Their bedroom, Jose thought, beholding Abby’s smile again. Can things get any better than this?

Chapter 18
    Omar stood out on the terrace, watching his lanky teenage daughter with her diving instructor, as he drilled her in their Olympic sized in-ground pool. Always a bright, sweet, cooperative child, she bore no resemblance to her uncooperative mother. The fact that his heroin-addled wife did not give birth to her went unnoticed by all but his most trusted men. His loss of patience with his wife was hardly surprising as Jane slowly became more difficult to control. He hoped obtaining the child for her after the death of their own infant would satisfy her and therefore, she would become more malleable. No such luck.
    He idly wondered when this adopted country of his would get its act together on the health front. It was