The Enemy Within (Daughters of the People Series Book 3) (21 page)

Indigo turned
her face carefully into the water, using it as an excuse to hide her flaming
cheeks. Of all the things for them to talk about, this was the one Rebecca had
to pick. Anything else would’ve been a more comfortable topic, even her rogue
twin.

When Indigo was
as clean as she reasonably could be, she turned the water off and accepted the
towel Rebecca handed her.

“Besides, I want
grandchildren.”

Indigo blinked,
suppressing the urge to roll her eyes. “I had no idea.”

“Sarcasm is
unbefitting a woman of your status,” Rebecca said, though her voice held no bite.
She handed the lingerie to Indigo. “I think these are safe to put back on.”

“Thanks.”

Indigo folded
her wet towel and set it on the counter before shimmying into her underwear and
pulling her clothes on over top. She pulled the clip out of her hair and handed
it to Rebecca, who twisted her own blonde locks up into her customary chignon.

“Ok, let me look
at you.” Rebecca ran her hands over Indigo’s hair, smoothing wayward strands,
and straightened her shirt until it hung properly. “Yes, I think you’ll do. No
one will be the wiser unless one of Bobby’s crew reports us to the police.”

“I doubt that.”
Indigo slipped her jewelry back into place and stood patiently while Rebecca
adjusted the necklace. “They’re a loyal bunch.”

“Not as loyal as
some. I had no idea you could be so vicious.”

Indigo ignored the
odd note of pride in the older Daughter’s voice with a casual shrug. “She hurt
Bobby. I couldn’t let her get away with that.”

“Tell me
something, Indigo.” Rebecca paused, seeming to weigh her words before
continuing. “Were you beating her out of duty or because you have feelings for
my son?”

“Both. I would
never have claimed him if I didn’t care for him.”

“You seemed so
unfeeling. I have a hard time believing you were doing it because your heart
was involved.”

Indigo’s temper
spiked and she bit it back. “I was plenty pissed. Still am, but I went in there
to gather information. Mortal humans are frail. If I’d let the anger take over,
I would’ve killed her before learning anything.”

“I see.” A smile
bloomed across Rebecca’s even features. “Cold-hearted logic. Your sister could
take a few lessons from you on that score.”

“We’re different
people,” Indigo said, and knew she’d failed to hold back the exasperation when
Rebecca’s smile widened. “People always assume that I’m weak because I’m
quieter and sometimes more gentle, but I’m still a Daughter. The blood of the
Sisters runs as swiftly through my veins as it does through hers.”

“Yes, it does.”
Rebecca threaded her arm through Indigo’s. “When Bobby told me you’d claimed
him, I had my doubts, but now I can see how unfounded they were. I couldn’t be
more pleased at being wrong about you.”

“Oh, well.”
Indigo cleared her throat. “I’m not sure how to take that.”

“As a
compliment. Now, come along, dear. We have work to do.”

Indigo allowed
Rebecca to lead her back through the gym, stopping long enough to throw her
towel into the laundry before they went back downstairs to see if India had
called.

* * *

It took hours to
organize. In that time, no one called with a place to meet and exchange Bobby
for the Oracle.

Rebecca had no
intention of giving her up, not even for the life of her own son, but it
wouldn’t come to that. Bobby’s people, his friends Hiro and Drew and all the
others who worked with them, were scanning video feeds, tracking down leads
from a sheet of paper Indigo had given them, and gearing up for surveillance
and a rescue attempt when they had a location. Rebecca held back from the fray,
observing the way they worked together as a near-seamless unit, tightly focused
on their mission.

It brought back
memories, some fond and others not, of her own days in the field, first as a
squire, then as a soldier, and finally as a leader.

Indigo worked
well with the others, slipping in wherever she was needed, and caring for everyone
else when she wasn’t. She and Hiro seemed particularly close, bending their
heads together to confer more than once, seemingly reaching for an odd sort of
comfort from one another. Once, Hiro drew her in for a hug and Indigo’s
shoulders trembled under his steady embrace. They seemed to be caught somewhere
between friendship and something deeper, though what that might be puzzled
Rebecca. There could be no doubt who held Indigo’s heart after the little scene
with Laura, none at all. This friendship, or whatever it was that had developed
between Indigo and Hiro, was no threat to Bobby, and so didn’t worry Rebecca.

What did worry
her were the quiet looks passing from Margaret to Indigo and back again, except
for the moment when Indigo had presented that paper with the miraculously
appropriate leads they needed to track down India and her little gang in the
Order. Then, Indigo had studiously kept her attention on the group, not once
sliding her gaze to Margaret’s.

That paper
illuminated intricate connections only a handful of people could make. Indigo
was not among those, but Margaret, with her particular duties to the People,
was. If others found out where Indigo had obtained that information, both their
lives were forfeit.

Rebecca studied
the pair as they worked apart toward the same end.

She hoped they
knew what they were doing.

* * *

Hours passed,
dragging Indigo with them through the long night while they waited for word
from anyone on Bobby. She stayed at BDH, helping where she could. The next day
dawned and still no news. Her nerves stretched thin and taut as the hands on
the clock in Bobby’s office inched around its face, marking off the time until
the sun fell again behind the mountains.

She missed him
so much.

It had been easy
to stay strong when the police arrested Laura and during the mini-interrogation
Indigo and everyone else had endured.

No, she hadn’t
spoken to Laura since Bobby’s kidnapping, though she’d heard the other woman
had tried to escape a couple of times and gotten beat up pretty badly in the
process. Such a shame, she’d said, and her expression had been so sincere, the
police woman questioning her had let it drop.

Strength had
come easily when Nicodemus Hutley, the Special Agent in Charge of the local FBI
field office, had come in with his slow drawl and quick mind, asking nosey
questions about the kidnapping that had taken him perilously close to learning
about the People. Dave had taken care of it, but Indigo suspected Hutley would
be back. Next time, he might not be put off so easily.

She made a note
to remind Bobby to instruct Zena on better procedures. The next time someone
was kidnapped, Goddess forbid, keep the police out of it. They only ever got in
the way.

Her energy had
gradually flagged, worn down one tiny incident at a time, from Rebecca’s
watchful gaze, darting between Indigo and Margaret as if she knew what the two
of them were doing, to helping with efforts to track down India and Bobby, to
Hiro’s mournful apology.

Damn him, he’d
finally let it slip that he and India had been, as he put it,
watching a lot
of Godzilla
, which Indigo took as code for
having wild and dirty monkey
sex
. She’d wanted to ask what had possessed him to take up with a rogue
Daughter, but it had been plain on his face. Hiro was falling in love with
India, Goddess help him. India wasn’t known for her kindness toward men, though
Indigo hadn’t the heart to share that with Bobby’s friend. In the past, her
sister had never stayed with a man longer than one night. That she’d chosen to
hang around Hiro long enough to
watch a lot of Godzilla
might be a good
sign.

Indigo wanted to
be happy for them. Maybe if things were different she could be, but until Bobby
came back to them, it was hard for her to dredge up anything outside of
exasperation for Hiro and a cold fury at her twin.

Now, twenty-four
hours after Bobby’s kidnapping, Indigo’s energy had fled and her mind was
gritty and numb. Everyone else had taken the time to rest, even Rebecca, who
had gone out with Charlotte to tend Robert and her younger daughter’s family.

Indigo had
tried, by settling in on the couch in Bobby’s office for a short nap. As soon
as her eyes closed, she saw Bobby, trying to stand and then falling to the
floor, and India lifting him easily and carrying him out, away from Indigo and
the people who loved him. Over and over again, it played through her head until
she’d finally gotten up and plowed back into the rescue efforts.

An hour later, Dani
caught Indigo in the break room making the umpteenth pot of coffee and yanked
her mug away.

“Forget it,”
Dani said flatly. “We’re taking you home.”

Indigo pressed
tired fingers to her eyes. “I’m needed here.”

“No, Indi,” Dani
said, and tears welled up so suddenly at the nickname that one escaped and slid
down Indigo’s cheek. “You’re no good to Bobby like this.”

It was the only
thing anyone could’ve said to get her to leave. Indigo gathered her things,
checked in with Hiro to let him know where she was going, and let Dani and Dave
take her home. Indigo sat in the back, watching the lights flash past along the
highway and listening to their softly voiced their conversation, a soothing murmur
of comfort.

Dave parked
Dani’s Jeep and they walked up with her, making sure she was safely in the
apartment. Dani hugged her hard before they left. The quiet support nearly
broke the thin thread of Indigo’s control.

She locked up
and wandered, trying to pin down why the apartment felt so wrong before her
tired brain put it together. Bobby wasn’t there. It was too big without him,
the rooms hollow and lonely. The yearning to have him close washed up so
suddenly, she swayed and nearly toppled under its weight.

They would find
him and bring him back. She repeated those words over and over again to
herself, using them to block the images from the security feed that perpetually
looped through her mind as she undressed, slipped on one of Bobby’s t-shirts,
and crawled into bed. She pulled his pillow close, holding it with a
desperation born of fear and sinking hope. His scent washed over her, the spicy
cologne he used mingling with the sharp fragrance of his shampoo, and under it
all, Bobby’s unique masculinity. She breathed it in, taking it into herself,
and clung to it as tears leaked out and her heart throbbed in her chest and
turned over in surrender.

She loved him.

A sob mingled
with a half-laugh. What perfect timing, to figure it out now.

Another sob
escaped and on its heels came the emptiness. Goddess, she missed him, missed
him so much it hurt. She turned her face into the pillow and let go, let the
hurt and the anger and the worried fear out in great, heaving sobs into Bobby’s
pillow, and when she was spent, finally fell into a restless sleep.

Intermittent
beeps woke her. She peered at the clock, tried to bring the digital numbers on
its face into focus and failed. Bleary eyed, she flopped onto her back and
checked the light seeping in through the closed blinds. Sunrise, she guessed,
and searched for the beeps.

She finally
found the source in her cell phone. Someone had sent her half a dozen texts
while she slept. She opened one and read the message.
Come now
. The next
one said the same thing and the next. Neurons fired in her brain hard enough to
bring her fully awake while she hurriedly scrolled through all of them.
Come
now
. She checked the phone number, didn’t recognize it, and sent back a
message.

Where?

The answer was
an address that Indigo immediately forwarded to Hiro, Drew, and Margaret. She
bounced out of the bed and threw on clothes, and called a taxi to drive her to
BDH.

It was time to
get Bobby back from India.

BDH was a madhouse
of activity by the time Indigo arrived. Drew barked out orders from his office
toward the back of the floor. Indigo weaved through the people rushing back and
forth, saw Hiro conferring with a team already half geared up, and finally
found Rebecca and her daughters holed up in Bobby’s office.

She pushed the
door open in time to hear Margaret say, “Forget it, Mom. You’re not going.”

“She’s right,”
Indigo said.

Heads snapped
around, Moira’s, Charlotte’s, even Rebecca’s, who regarded Indigo with a flat
stare meant to intimidate her into submission.

It wouldn’t work
this time.

Margaret gave
her an amused look, but the person Indigo wanted to see was Bobby’s next
youngest sister, seated on the far side of the couch past Moira, slumped down
with her eyes closed, and Charlotte, who smiled prettily at Indigo in greeting,
and Rebecca, whose gaze never wavered.

Indigo and
Jerusha were only two years apart in age and had attended school together at
the IECS during the turbulent war years of the 1860s. They’d been fast friends
until Bobby’s failed play for Indigo had placed a harsh strain on her
relationship with his family. It was the one regret Indigo had about leaving
Tellowee and avoiding the women in his family. She’d missed her friendship with
his sister. Now that the embarrassing
incident
of fourteen years past
had been resolved, it would be nice if she and Jerusha could renew their
friendship.

“Jerusha, it’s
so good to see you.” Indigo picked her way over legs and knees and furniture until
she could hug her favorite of Bobby’s natural siblings. “When did you get in?”

“Couple of hours
ago.” Jerusha pulled back from the hug and touched her forehead to Indigo’s.
“Mom called as soon as she heard about Bobby. I packed a bag and started
hopping flights to get here.”

“I’m so glad. We
could really use your help.” Indigo moved away and settled into the empty chair
in front of Bobby’s desk beside Margaret, who had taken the other one. “Has
Margaret filled you in?”

“Yeah. Hiro’s
got this idea about spreading us out between teams, with Mom here at command to
oversee us and Charlotte back home with Dad to head off any calls there.”

“Sounds like a
good idea,” Indigo said. “What’s the problem?”

Margaret
snorted. “Mom wants to go with us.”

“Absolutely
not,” Indigo said. “You’re mortal. You stay.”

Rebecca narrowed
an icy gaze at her. “I’ve been taking care of my own hide for nearly a
millennium.”

“That’s not the
issue here.” Indigo leaned forward and met Rebecca’s gaze with a steely one of
her own. “You’re a more valuable asset than Bobby. If for some reason you were
to be captured, we would have no choice but to hand over the Oracle.”

“That won’t
happen,” Rebecca said.

“You’re right,
it won’t,” Indigo snapped, “because you’re staying here to coordinate the teams
and guard Zena.”

“Wow, this is
better than a tennis match,” Charlotte said. “Maybe we should televise it. You
know. Do the pay-per-view thing and make some money.”

“I’d pay to see
it again,” Moira said. “Maybe after the sun’s fully up. Don’t know why you
Yanks can’t sleep to a decent hour.”

Indigo ignored
them. “It’s settled then. Charlotte, check in with Hiro, make sure he doesn’t
need anything else, and then you can head to the Upton home. We’ll call as soon
as we have word.”

“I’ll make a
good, solid breakfast and have it waiting for y’all,” Charlotte said, and slid
out of Bobby’s office in search of Hiro.

“Is there a
place I can get cleaned up?” Jerusha stood and pulled her lean body into a
full, bone-cracking stretch. “Don’t have time for a shower, but I’d love to brush
my teeth.”

“Oh, here.”
Indigo rose to rummage in Bobby’s desk. “He keeps spare toothbrushes and
toiletry items in here. I always wondered why before.”

“Now you know,”
Jerusha said with a wink. “Which way?”

Rebecca rose as
well. “I’ll show you. It will give us time to catch up a little.”

Moira went with
them, mumbling about coffee and rubbing her eyes like a child pulled from her
bed too soon.

When they were
gone, Margaret swiveled her chair around to face Indigo. “Didn’t know you had
it in you to stand up to her.”

Indigo huffed
out a laugh, caught somewhere between insult and pride. “I’m learning to draw a
few lines.”

“Atta girl.”

They hunkered
down over a copy of the intel coming in from the team Drew had placed around
the residence where Bobby was being held and strategized as time ticked quietly
by.

* * *

They timed their
strike for just after nine a.m., when nearly everyone in the neighborhood
around where Bobby was being held would have gone to school or work. Hiro divided
their groups into units containing two immortal Daughters and two mortal BDH
personnel each, with extra teams standing by in case they were needed. The
Daughters who weren’t trained in BDH tactics were to take rear positions and
allow the others to lead.

They parked a
block away from the residence where Bobby was being held and walked in through
back yards, up and over or around fences when needed, moving quietly in the
morning’s stillness. Hiro led one team with Indigo, Jerusha, and a young BDH
man Indigo knew only as Sanchez. Margaret, Moira, Drew, and another BDH man comprised
the other team.

They held their
weapons at the ready, each according to preference, and eased around the sides
of the house, Hiro’s group to the front, Margaret’s to the rear, avoiding
windows and shrubbery as they moved into position. Hiro took the door, gently
tested the handle, and mouthed
unlocked
. Sanchez peered carefully around
the sill of the front window, frowned, and shrugged.

He couldn’t see
in.

Hiro nodded and
mouthed a countdown, and then pushed the door open, allowing it to swing wide
before they rushed in one by one, Hiro first, then Sanchez, with Jerusha and
Indigo close behind. From the back of the house, sounds filtered forward of
Margaret and Drew’s team entering.

The first thing
Indigo saw when she came in was Bobby slumped over in a chair with his back to
them, his shirt torn completely off and a bandage wrapped around his ribs.
India stood over him with her hands on his head. She looked up, her eyes round
with surprise, and then she was gone in an agile sprint that carried her out of
the room and into the hallway, away from the back of the house.

“Got her,” Hiro
said as he broke into a run.

Indigo caught
Jerusha’s gaze. “Go after him. I’ve got Bobby.”

Jerusha nodded
and shot out the front door.

Indigo raced to
Bobby and dropped her sword behind his chair. The damage done to his beautiful
body had her heart stuttering in her chest and a slow, crawling dread creeping
up her spine. Ropes dug into his forearms, holding him to the chair. Probably
the only thing keeping him upright. His eyes were swollen and bruised a dark
purple, his nose bloodied, his lips split and cracked. More bruises blossomed
along his jaw, down his neck, and over his arms and torso, running under the
bandages before peeking out below them.

She inhaled
sharply through her nose as a slow and steady heat rose in her, burning through
her until her vision blurred red and her blood boiled.

Someone had
beaten him, torn at him while he was helpless to defend himself.

Her fists clenched
as the anger became so big, so hard, that it threatened to burst from her. She
swallowed it back, and with it the bile that had gathered in her mouth on
seeing her beloved husband’s beautiful body treated like a punching bag.

No, Laura hadn’t
suffered nearly enough, but she would.

Indigo palmed
her knife, used it to carefully slice away the ropes, and caught him when he
slid from the chair. Hands pushed in, helping her settle him on the floor. She
gently prodded his injuries, stripped his pants and boots off to check his legs
and feet, and was relieved to find the bruises confined to his upper body and
the breaks to his ribs.

She closed her
eyes, steeling herself for what else needed to be done, and pulled down his
briefs to check his penis and testicles, the first place a Daughter usually
struck on an enemy male. And sank down with a small prayer of thanks to the
Lady Goddess that he was hale and whole there.

Whoever had
beaten him hadn’t wanted to maim him permanently.

Not whoever.
India
.
No one else would’ve dared to treat such a valuable hostage so poorly.

Damn her twin’s
temper and complete lack of respect, for Indigo, for the strength of Bobby’s
family, for Bobby himself.

Hiro came back
in puffing and dropped to his knees beside Bobby, his gaze steady in spite of
his heaving breaths. Jerusha followed and stood behind him, and Indigo’s heart
sank at the hard set of the other Daughter’s expression.

India had gotten
away. For once, Indigo wished her sister wasn’t such slippery prey.

Margaret came in
from the back. “Checked the whole house. Nobody else is here.”

Drew settled
down beside Indigo. “Let us get him. He needs a hospital.”

“I can help,”
she said.

“No, we’ve got
him,” Hiro said. “Won’t be the first time.”

“Probably not
the last either,” Drew added with a grin.

“Good times,”
Hiro agreed.

Indigo moved out
of the way to let them care for her lover, and tried not to ponder what trouble
the three men had gotten into before Bobby had walked back into her life.

* * *

Bobby came to
with a groan amid the beeps and wheezes of machinery. His body was one big ache
from his waist up and his eyes felt like they were frozen shut. He lifted a
hand and felt a gentle touch on his arm, holding him back.

Indigo.

He turned his
head toward the soft sounds of her breathing and said her name. A rusty,
unintelligible grunt came out instead.

“Shh. I’m here.
Everything’s ok now.” Her hand stroked his hair back, a cool brush along his
skin. “Water?”

He opened his
mouth, tried not to flinch when the cuts on his lips cracked apart, and felt
the touch of a straw there. He sipped, let the water dribble down the back of
his throat, and fell back against the pillow with a sigh. Questions sped
through his mind, pushing their way through the fogginess of whatever drugs
were in his IV. He cleared his throat and managed to grate out, “Long?”

“It’s been three
days since you were taken.” Clothing rustled, a chair scraped back. “We came in
and got you as soon as we could.”

He nodded once.

“They were
trying to exchange you for the Oracle. Did you know? Rebecca refused, of
course, but there was no question about that. We were coming for you.” Her hand
fluttered across his thigh, landed there, a warm, solid comfort. “I hope you
know we would never have left you.”

Strain thinned
her voice. He patted awkwardly around the bed, searching for her until she twined
her fingers with his. It had never occurred to him that she wouldn’t come for
him, not once. Why would she even bring it up? Even if she never loved him, she
would always come for him. He wanted to tell her he knew that, tell her he
loved her enough for both of them. The words faltered in his throat, caught by
the pain or the meds seeping through his blood or a parched and injured mouth.
He heaved in a frustrated breath and gasped it back out when pain shot through
his torso where his ribs had cracked under the hail of India’s rage.

“Stop trying to
talk,” Indigo said. Her fingers tightened on his. “Get some rest. We can talk
later.”

He wanted to
talk
now
, needed to tell her, and struggled with it until someone came
in and adjusted the medicine in his drip, sending him into a numb void where
Indigo couldn’t follow.

* * *

Bobby drifted
through the night, waking more times than he could keep track of.
Indigo
.
He had to find her, tell her something,
do
something. Every time he
remembered what it was,
where
he was and what had happened, someone hit
the pain meds on his drip and he fell back into the darkness.

At long last,
light drifted across his eyes, piercing his subconscious. He followed it up
into full wakefulness and inhaled, searching for air and hissing out a sharp
breath when pain throbbed through his torso.

“Bobby, darling,
can you open your eyes for me?”

“Mom?” He rubbed
a sore hand across his eyes and pulled back when his fingers found a sticky gel
slathered thickly over his eyelids. “The hell?”

“Dr. Phillips
used a salve to keep the wounds around your eyes from sticking to the
bandages.” Cool fingers trapped his hand and pulled it gently away from his
face. “Stop fiddling with it.”