Page 47 (1/2)

Drake had had to carry Helen, and though Gilda had accepted Angus’s support, she hadn’t allowed him to do the same There was an odd kind of distance between them that Zach didn’t understand, but he hoped like hell it went away soon This place needed the as a team

It needed him and Lexi to do the sanored it, preferring theaway at hiht and she never ed to access his power? He was sure the failure would crush her, not to mention the fact that he had no clue what that would , but it wasn’t renewing itself, either There were no new leaves for, no buds

Patience He needed to stop worrying and have soive Lexi so

A warm smile pulled at his ain

A small whimper of sound rose up to his ears, barely audible Zach stilled and held his breath, listening It caain, a little louder this time, from the thick brush on the far side of the wall It sounded like a wounded animal

Or a child

Fear kicked hard,Zach’s body move into action Had one of the huotten hurt? There was so much chaos around the wall’s break, it could have happened

The sound ca noise of pain and terror Definitely not an animal

Zach shouted to the closest man, "Neal, coh that the floodlights shining on the work area had been turned off The huone inside for food, anyway

Deep shadows left dark pockets over the landscape, but Zach had served perih ti the dips and ruts in the diht

Neal was bare-chested He pulled a T-shirt from his waistband and wiped the dust and sweat from his face "What’s up?" asked Neal His voice was deceptively lazy as he ca so sht I heard so Like a kid"

"Doubt it," drawled Neal as he dropped the shirt and drew his sword

Zach had been teah to know that despite his casual o from zero to killer in about three seconds

"Yeah, me, too Guess we’ll see" Zach checked the sky "Whatever it is, can’t be that bad for long Sun’s almost up"

The pitiful sound came from the bottom of a shallow ravine about fifty feet away

"It sure as hell sounds human," said Neal, but he didn’t put away his sword

They reached the edge, and Zach saw apale blue "Help me," said the kid, and it was definitely a kid "I’m stuck"

Both men slid down the side of the ravine, which wasthe rainy season, the crevice would be running ater, but right now, it was filled with scrub brush, mud and weeds

Neal sheathed his sword as Zach pushed through the brush toward the kid It was a little boy,faded blue jeans and near hi pole and tackle box His feet were sunk into thehis arms and his butt in the thick nize the boy, but there were a lot of kids at Dabyr, more all the time

"What’s your name, son?" Zach asked as he looked for a way to reach the boy without getting stuck himself

"Clay"

"Are you hurt, Clay?"

"I twisted my ankle" He sniffed and looked like he wished he could wipe the tears froht vision was good enough that he had no troubleout the shiny streaks over the kid’s face

"Don’t worry We’ll get you out of here"

His voice wavered with genuine fear "Are you gonna tellthe kid out He had to learn how dangerous it was to go outside the walls--learn it well enough that he never did it again "Don’t worry about that right now Let’s just focus on getting you out of here"

Fro cocked He turned to see as going on, already knowing it was bad

A burlyland behind and above Neal with a un pointed at the Theronai’s head "Move and I’ll blow his brains out," said the stranger

Zach stepped in front of the kid to protect him from stray bullets

Neal’s hand moved to his sword

"I wouldn’t do that," said another man behind Zach

Zach whirled around and saw a skinny huly beard on the far side of the ravine In his hands was a shotgun, and it was pointed at the boy

Outrage surged through Zach This whole thing had been a trap with the kid serving as bait

"You won’t kill him," said Zach "That child is one of your own"

"He’s not my kid," said Skinny, his voice chilly with indifference "Go ahead See if I’"

The boy’s eyes overfloith tears and his nose started running "You said ere going fishing"

"Shut up," barked Skinny

"What do you want?" asked Zach

"You and your buddy here are co with us"

"Like hell," drawled Neal And then he went into a blur of motion that severed the h the air