Dictator s Daughter (17 page)

“I admire your spirit, Sierra. I always did.
But I’ve changed, just as you have.” He walked over and stood close
to her. The two bodyguards had her arms stretched straight against
the wall and her legs spread and pinned with their bodies. She was
helpless.

“You’ll never change! You only wanted to
marry me because Riley wanted me. You just couldn’t stand him
having anything better than you.” She saw in his expression she’d
hit another nerve. “You remember Riley, right? Better looking; half
as stupid?”

“Riley has never left my side.” Victor hissed
through his teeth, eyes narrowed. “His allegiance to me is
outstanding. You make it sound as if I stole you from him but he
didn’t want you either! My father forced our marriage on me just as
he did on you. It was all for his own gain with no thought to
either of us.”

“But, you enjoyed hurting Riley. You knew
what you were doing.”

Victor grabbed her chin and held her head
still as his mouth quickly descended on hers. He kissed her
forcefully and brutally as she squirmed to get away. When he pulled
his mouth away from her face, she spit on him. Just as quick, he
backhanded her face and split her bottom lip open.

The men dropped their hold on her as Victor
punched her hard in the stomach, making her keel over with the loss
of breath.

The men walked from the room and as Victor
closed the door, he said to her, “Maybe the next time I come to
visit you, you’ll not dish out insults.”

Sara lay once again on the cold floor, too
hurt to climb up on the bed. Blood seeped from her lip and onto the
floor and tears flooded her eyes as sobs erupted out of her
mouth.

To allow Eliwese some time to rest, Ryan and
Sean moved out to the living room and sat down on the couch.

“What else has she told you?” Ryan asked
Sean.

Sean thought long and hard on what he felt
Eliwese would be alright with Ryan knowing. He went ahead and told
Ryan about her marriages with the first husband at age twelve. The
effort to produce an heir has been ongoing ever since and she’s
held her head high in rebelliousness. Most everyone she has had
contact with had been murdered outright or simply gone missing. As
Sean finished, Ryan looked stunned and shocked.

“It seems impossible anybody could be so
cold-blooded and brutal. I mean, I didn’t know Rawlings was so bad.
How can he get away with it? How come no one turns him in? Why
haven’t we heard more about these kinds of things?”

“Well, he gets away with it because he’s
Victor Rawlings. The ones who try to bring awareness about his
behavior are killed or they become crossers and then
we
hear
about it.”

Ryan turned the conversation back to
Eliwese.

“Is this what it’s been like the whole
time?”

“What do you mean?” Sean asked.

“You know, fighting the fever.”

“Pretty much. What about you, why did it take
so long for you to get here?” Sean asked.

“I hitched a ride to Northtown yesterday and
stayed at a hotel. Then I hitched back to here, well not here, but
a couple miles up the road. I wanted to make sure no one followed
me.”

“How did you escape anyway?”

“They let me go. The dude, Riley, knows that
I make the relocation arrangements for our crossers and he thought
I had relocated her already. My job, the one I never do, saved my
life I think. They gave me a cell phone with Riley’s number and
told me to call when I reached you guys.”

“Is it on?” Sean asked.

“No, I didn’t want them tracking me. Don’t
worry; I checked it out for other tracking devices.”

“When are you going to call them?”

“When we’re ready.” .

“I can’t believe Dad is gone, it just doesn’t
seem possible.” Sean said in a quiet humbled voice.

“I know.”

“I don’t even know what we will do without
him.” Sean was trying to fight back tears. He looked over at Ryan
who had tears already rolling down his face. Sean went over to him
and put his arm around him. He thought about how hard it must have
been for him to witness his own father’s death and watch his mother
and sister be taken hostage.

Sean stayed with Ryan for a while,
reminiscing about their father. Later, he helped Ryan to the other
bedroom. Sean then returned to Eliwese’s bedroom. He sat down in
the armchair and looked at her sleeping soundly on her side.

She had no plans of living beyond the
government upheaval. She had resigned herself to die for a worthy
cause. If only he could change her mind. Sean felt an incredible
urge to protect her and help her succeed at taking down her father.
He definitely wanted her to survive to see the victory and enjoy a
life without violation.

Sean laid his head back and closed his
eyes.

“Sean, wake up,” she said. “We need paper and
a pencil, hurry.”

Sean did so and came back to the room. He sat
down and she immediately started telling him what to write down. He
looked at his watch, four-thirty PM.

“Write this down: Laptop with wireless
capabilities, DVD video recorder, blank DVD’s, another car, new
clothes, money, four new cell phones, courier, possibly two
couriers,”

She paused as Ryan entered the room.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?” Ryan asked
Sean.

“We just got started on this list,” Sean
responded.

“Did you get all of that, Sean?” she
asked.

“Yes.”

“We will need to be able to change our
appearances completely within about five minute’s time. Write down
disguises.”

Sean didn’t understand the reasons behind
half of the listed items, but he figured she must know.

She continued, “Make a new bank account in
Sean’s name, and put his name on my account.” She looked deep in
thought. She was staring into nothingness and both boys kept
perfectly still. She had her hand up to her mouth, squeezing and
bending her bottom lip. She looked at Sean and said, “Make that two
different cars besides the one we already have.” She rattled off
other supplies such as make-up, hair product, curling iron and
more.

“So what’s the plan?” Ryan asked
impatiently.

She was lying on her side with a couple of
pillows propping up her head. Sean realized he hadn’t even taken
her temperature or checked her out.

“Wait. Let’s look after you first. No plan
can go down until you’re better.”

She agreed. Ryan helped Sean as they
inspected the wounds and took her temperature. One-hundred three
and her wound on the back looked worse than ever with pus
oozing.

“You have to get that junk off the wound so
air can get to it.” Ryan looked at Sean.

“But it will re-open the wound.”

“No it won’t. Remember when Checkers was
attacked by that mountain lion? How mom cleaned his wounds daily
after the vet said it would help it heal better? She put
antibacterial cream on it, too.”

“Well how do we do that without making her
bleed again?” Sean was concerned. It hadn’t been an easy task to
get her bleeding to stop in the first place. He sure didn’t want
her to lose any more blood.

“How about we soak it with warm water? Wet
paper towels on it should moisten it enough to come off.” Ryan left
the room to get the supplies and Sean looked at Eliwese. She had
heard the conversation and thought it would be a good idea,
too.

“I’d rather you soak it off in the shower,
but that’s just me.”

“Well, if your fever doesn’t come down, you
just might get your wish.”

Ryan came back in and stood on the side of
the bed, facing her back. “So, tell us what you are thinking.” He
applied a sopping wet glob of paper towels. Water ran down her back
and stomach. Ryan took a dry towel and wiped up the water and as he
did so he noticed the scars on her back. He looked up at Sean and
pointed to her back. Sean nodded indicating he already knew they
were there.

Eliwese started her idea. “We make a video of
me talking about the information concerning my father. We make
three copies of the video. We instruct two couriers to deliver the
videos to particular news stations in Northtown if they are not
notified by a certain time by all five of us; the three of us and
your mother and sister. If any one of us is missing, the courier
will make the delivery. This should help to ensure the plan of
succeeding. We schedule a time and place with my father, like the
Northtown Mall, and place the other cars in strategic places with
our change of clothes. We escape unnoticed and leave the
country.”

“What about the other copy of the video?”
Sean asked.

“We hide it here, just in case.”

“Just in case, what?” Ryan asked.

“Ryan, do I really have to answer that?”
There was impatience in her voice. “Ouch.”

“Ryan, don’t try to rush the scab.” Sean
scolded.

Sean looked at her and said, “We have a
laptop computer here at the cabin, but we don’t have online access.
Everything else would have to be purchased. We have a stash of
money here, but new cars? We’d be lucky to be able to afford one
used car.”

“How much do you have?”

“We keep ten grand in the vault downstairs.”
Sean said seriously. “It’s emergency money.”

“Really?” Ryan asked.

“Ten will get a reliable used car. We
definitely want one that won’t break down during our escape.”
Eliwese said quietly. “I have money in my bank account that we can
use to purchase other cars later.”

Ryan asked, “How do we set up a time and
place with your father?”

“Email. Ryan, you will need to go shopping in
Northtown for these supplies. Find a used car first, preferably
white, then shop for the items on the list, then find a Wi-Fi
hookup and send the email to my father. It’s important you leave
quickly because it won’t take long to be tracked down. The email
will let him know he is being blackmailed; and it won’t thrill him
at all.”

“Why me? Why not Sean?”

Sean was enraged with his questions. Eliwese
handled it well, “The guy who killed your father is still around
and expecting your phone call. If he sees you, you can tell him you
haven’t found us yet. If he saw Sean, he would be either killed or
followed back here.”

“What if he didn’t believe me?”

“Believe what?” she asked him in a frail
exhale.

“You know; if I said I hadn’t found you guys
yet and he didn’t believe me, would he kill me?”

Eliwese heard the fear in Ryan’s voice. “No,
he wouldn’t kill you. If he did, his chances of finding me would be
slim to none.”

This answer satisfied Ryan. However, Sean
wasn’t consoled. He knew if Ryan compromised their location, they
would all be killed.

“Can you bring the laptop in so we can get
started on the email?” Eliwese asked Ryan.

He nodded and left the room. Sean moved over
and checked her scab. It smelled badly but was loosening up. There
was quite a bit of discharge from the wound and the redness and
swelling seemed to have gotten worse.

Ryan came back in with the laptop. He typed
as Eliwese recited the letter. They revised and rewrote it many
times. Sean continued to moisten the scab and let his thoughts
wander off. He thought about his father and how much he would miss
him. He thought of him refusing to give information concerning
their location and then being shot because of it. It sent waves of
rage through his body. His father sacrificed his own life for his
son’s protection and the protection of a stranger, an honorable
death to be sure. Sean wondered where his father’s body was and
when they’d be able to give him a proper funeral and burial. How
long would they be forced to stay in hiding?

His thoughts turned to his mother. Was she
ok? Was she being treated fairly? After hearing the horrible
stories from Eliwese, he doubted Victor Rawlings would be kind to
his mother. More rage welled up within him at the thought of any
harm coming to her.

What about his sister, Lyndee? Sean hoped she
was being held with their mother and not separate.

The voices in the room were pulling him back
to reality.

“Sean, Sean,” Ryan snapped his fingers, “you
look like you’re going to fall over. Are you ok?”

“Umm, yeah sure.”

“I am going to drive to Northtown now and get
these things taken care of.” Ryan waved a list in the air. “It’s
going to take me at least three hours if there aren’t any delays. I
will not be able to communicate with you in that time.”

“We will be fine, Ryan. We’ve made it this
far, what’s three more hours. Right?”

Ryan left at six o’clock PM and the cabin
fell silent. As much as Ryan irritated him, Sean was sad to see him
leave.

Sean went back in the bedroom with Eliwese.
He walked over to her wounded side to check her scab again. The
ooze and disgusting smell curdled his stomach but he tried to keep
a calm face for Eliwese’s sake.

She looked at him. “Would you help me soak it
off in the shower?”

“Are you sure? Because I could keep up with
this paper towel process.”

“I’m sure. My fever is climbing and the cool
water would feel good.”

After Sean wrapped her IV with tape and
plastic, he asked, “Can you walk or do you need me to carry
you?”

“Help me walk.”

He did so. Once in the bathroom, he removed
his shirt and pants but left his boxers on. He positioned the fan,
started the water, and turned to find her sitting on the closed
toilet, gazing at him with the same expression she had the day she
watched him chop wood.

“You are in such excellent shape,” she said
weakly, admiring his muscles. “When do you ever find the time to
work out?”

Sean was embarrassed. “I don’t. I chop a lot
of firewood, as you know.”

“Well, it works for you.”

Sean hung her IV bag on the nail and picked
her up so her wounded side was away from him and climbed in the tub
with her. After sitting down, he pulled her tank top up so the
water could beat down on her scab. Once again, her head cuddled
against his bare chest and she reached her left arm up and wrapped
it around his neck; her breath was hot against his skin. Every now
and then, he would wipe her wound and small amounts of the scab
would peel off, exposing more to be washed away. He continued the
process for at least one hour in which time she’d drifted off and
awoken several times.