Scars Of Defiance (9 page)

“Nineteen, almost twenty.”

“How long has your family been helping crossers?”

“All my life,” he said on an exhale.

“You don’t sound thrilled about it.”

“I haven’t been given much responsibility with it. All I do
is pick up crossers after a drop and run daily errands for the family.”

“I’d say that’s a pretty heavy responsibility. If you hadn’t
found me, I’d be …”

Paul leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees and
resting his chin in his palms. He looked at her sitting in her relaxed position
on his bed. His bed. Evening was approaching, and a sleepless night loomed
ahead. How would he be able to sleep with this stunningly beautiful girl, a
princess, lying next to him?

“Are you wondering whether you should have pulled me out of
the ice?” she asked in a serious tone.

“No, not at all. I pulled a stranded crosser out of the ice
because that’s what I do. I didn’t know who you were or what you were fleeing.
I only knew you would die if I didn’t do something.”

She flinched at the word “die,” even though she had resigned
herself to the idea that death would be far better than staying in Rendier.
“That’s good,” she said, “because many more people will be fleeing my country,
and they will need your help. Reginald’s reign is a terrible ordeal, but it
will eventually come to an end. Then it will get even worse. Your family and
the good they offer will always be needed. In fact, I would love to be in the
position to help crossers from my country. I just don’t see how it will ever be
possible.”

“Oh, you never know.”

“How many crosser homes are there in this town, Paul?”

“I honestly have no idea. They’re supposed to be secret. But
the numbers are dwindling from when I was a young boy. It might have a lot to
do with the fact that the border has tighter security, and drop-off planes only
bring crossers in the winter months. There aren’t enough crossers to sustain
the number of homes willing to care for them — you know, supply and demand. At
the same time, we pick up as many as we can when they come, up to six usually.”

“More will come,” Sierra said matter-of-factly.” The
crossing methods will need to be refined to accommodate more defectors. A
system needs to be established that will allow year-round crossing.”

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of the door
bell out in the living room. For one terrifying second they looked at each
other. Then they both sprang from their seats and bolted for the trap door.
Like a well-oiled machine, they executed the drill and were quickly hidden
under the house with the trap door closed above them.

Neither one of them breathed. Paul still had his arm around
her, giving her support as they crouched close together under the floorboards
of the living room. They heard footsteps and muted voices, and as the people
walked above them, light dust drifted down from the underside of the boards
under the living room.

Sierra looked Paul in the eye with a silent prayer. His
expression of absolute terror burned itself into her mind. Now she knew what
fear looked like, and it scared her more than she could have imagined.

The footsteps were walking toward Paul’s door, and they heard
a heavy knock on his bedroom door. It opened, and the footsteps entered his
room. Sierra gasped, and Paul wrapped both arms around her, pulling her tight
against his body as their eyes watched the trap door in horror.

The lever was pushed, and the door dropped with a thud.
Sierra pressed her face into Paul’s chest, and his arms wrapped around her even
tighter. He swiveled around to shield her from the opening. Their bodies
trembled together.

Chapter 5

“Paul?” His father’s voice filled the crawlspace, and then
Zachary’s face appeared through the hole.

“Dad? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong. Greg is here to see you. He’s in the
living room.”

Paul let out a huge sigh of relief and lowered his head so
that his mouth rested on the top of Sierra’s head. He inhaled the sweet smell
of her hair
and let his eyes close for a moment.
She still had a death-grip around his middle, and his arms were wrapped tightly
around her. He brought up one hand and placed it gently on the back of her
head.

“It’s alright,” he said tenderly. “Let’s go back up.” He
felt her loosen her grip, but she didn’t look up at him. He helped her hop
toward the trap door, and Zachary lifted her out of the hole. Once Paul was out
of the closet and had closed the trap door, he brushed himself off. He glanced
over at Sierra, who sat quietly on the bed, then he opened his bedroom door
just far enough to slip out without exposing his female guest to Greg.

Sierra lay back on the bed after Paul left the room. She
didn’t want to see him leave. There was a certain security when she was with
him. She felt it powerfully just a few moments ago.

Zachary remained with her and was looking out the window.
“Any problems getting under the house?” he asked without looking at her.

“No. We practiced.”

He turned his gaze in her direction, “Really?” His eyebrow
went up and Sierra saw the resemblance between father and son. Same brown hair,
eyes, mouth, everything. The only difference was age.

“It was a good thing we did. The first try was a blunder.”

“You should know I’ve heard the search is on for you.” He
turned his attention back to the window and stared outside as if he were
looking for something.

The blood left her face, and her breath stalled somewhere in
her lower gut. She hadn’t even been in Baylend a full twenty-four hours, and
she was already being hunted.

He continued, “No raids yet. They’re looking for sightings
or tips first.”

“It scared me to be under the house,” she said quietly.
“There’s no way out.”

“I know. I’ve been thinking about that too. I’ll work on
something else for you. Until then, you’ll probably have to spend a little time
under there.” He nodded in the direction of the closet.

“Paul is a good protector.” Her simple statement reddened
her cheeks. She could still feel his strong arms wrapped firmly around her,
smell his masculine scent, and feel his body tremble with fear.

Zachary looked at her and wondered about the importance of
this young lady. She was definitely beautiful, but what was it about her that
Reginald Rawlings wanted so badly that he had to keep her locked up in the
palace? “Paul said the whole palace was poisoned.” He looked at her with his
head tilted to the side. A questioning look was in his eye.

She nodded.

“How?”

“It was in the food, but I don’t know what it was. Dr. Roth
is an extremely smart man. But he did tell me it wouldn’t be detectable in
blood samples.”

“He sounds like he’s on our side.” Zachary smiled but
wondered how one person could pull off something like that. Something didn’t
add up in Zachary’s mind. His attention fell on the half-eaten cookie on the
bed. “Is that yours?”

Sierra picked up the cookie and looked at Zachary.

His eyes went to the dresser top, where Paul’s half-eaten
cookie sat. “Two half-eaten cookies in different parts of the room might lead
someone to think there are two occupants in this room. I’ll need to talk to
Paul about this. If this had been a raid, those would have raised a question
about your presence.”

Sierra nodded her head in understanding.

“Hey, man. What’s up?” Paul said as he closed his bedroom
door behind him.

“Hey Paul,” said Greg.

“Follow me into the kitchen, Greg.” Paul motioned to the
swinging door beyond the dining table. He needed a few moments to try to get
his nerves under control. They both grabbed a cookie, and Greg opened the
fridge and pulled out a carton of milk as nonchalantly as if he lived there.
Paul took two cups out of the cupboard and sat at the table.

“Our home was raided early this morning,” Greg said in a
hushed whisper. “They were looking for a young girl. We picked up a male
crosser last night, but we only took one because of our remodeling. Did you
guys get any new ones last night?”

“Seven.”

“Whoa, you’re not equipped to handle seven are you?”

“No. One’s in my room.” Paul had been told repeatedly not to
tell anyone about the crossers, not even his friends. Secrecy was a top
priority in the house. It was of crucial importance for everyone’s safety. A
little nagging voice in the back of his head told him it was a mistake to
reveal any details to his best friend.

“Any young girls?”

“Just men this time,” Paul lied, stuffing a cookie in his
mouth.

“Oh. Well, don’t be surprised if you get raided too. They
broke my Walkman while tearing through the place. It ticked me off. But what
was really weird was they didn’t even seem to care we had a crosser in the
house. They were only looking for the girl.”

“My father is already on guard for that.”

“So,” Greg took a big bite of his cookie, “do you want to
hang out tonight? I hear there’s a new waitress at Sophie’s, and she’s real
cute. We could go check her out.”

“Sorry man, I have duties here.”

“They’ve got PacMan,” he tried to persuade his friend.

“I am actually in charge of my crosser, first one to be
exact.”

“Moving up in the world are we?”

“Something like that.”

“Well, I better get going. Wouldn’t want you slackin’ on
your new job. See you around.” Greg lightly punched Paul in the shoulder and
left the kitchen through the back door.

Zachary stayed with Sierra until Paul came back to the
bedroom. Paul walked in carrying two mugs of hot chocolate and handed one to
Sierra. Zach took the cup from Sierra and faced Paul. “Paul, your inexperience
will wind up resulting in Sara’s capture unless you start thinking more
clearly. Two cookies and two mugs of cocoa indicate two individuals. Please,
for both your sakes, use more caution.”

“Alright.” Paul’s head hung low as he berated himself. He
hadn’t even thought about what it might look like to raiders.

Zachary left with the second cup, leaving Paul and Sierra to
share one mug.

Sierra took the offered drink, being careful not to touch
Paul’s fingers. “What did your friend want?”

“He told me they were raided this morning looking for a
young girl. I assume he meant you.”

“But your father said there weren’t any raids happening
yet.”

“He did? Hmm. Maybe he doesn’t know about the raid at Greg’s
house.”

“Should you tell him?”

“I will.” He sat in the armchair. Sierra noticed his worry
creases forming. “You know, being down there was pretty intense, wasn’t it?”

Her eyes dropped to her mug. She answered back in a barely
audible whisper, “Yes. Thank you for protecting me.”

Paul rose quickly from his seat and turned his back to her
while he looked out the window. “Well, I didn’t really protect you. Not
exactly. It was just my dad, well, Greg I mean. So you don’t need to thank me.”

Sierra looked at his back, wondering if she’d said something
wrong. Maybe he thought her reaction in the crawlspace was too childish. “Is
something wrong, Paul?” He turned to look at her. His expression looked pained.
She didn’t know what to think. She didn’t know what to say. She still trembled
from the whole ordeal.

Paul walked over to the dresser and rubbed the back of his
neck with both hands. He turned around and faced her. “When we were down there,
I realized I’ve never been responsible for anyone other than myself before. I
wanted to run. I wanted to throw my hands up and say ‘uncle’, say ‘alright I
changed my mind, I don’t want to care for a crosser.’ But you hugged me so
tightly out of fear and …” He sat down on the edge of the bed next to her feet.
“I worry that I won’t be able to protect you well enough. I’m not experienced
with this kind of thing. Then my dad points out my lack of forethought and the
fact that I carelessly put you at risk.”

Sierra couldn’t believe he was opening up to her so
candidly. His eyes showed fear of the unknown and something else she couldn’t
figure out. “I thought maybe you were thinking I’m … that I’m not worth the
risk your family is taking.”

His eyebrows shot up in shock. “Sara, that’s not at all what
I think. I feel like I’m not the right person to be protecting you. If I don’t
do my job right, you could be captured and beaten by that S-O-B again. I can’t
let that happen to you because of my inexperience.”

“You did an amazing job of protecting me, Paul. It’s normal
to be afraid. I think you’re being too hard on yourself. When the trap door
opened, you put yourself between me and the potential danger. If this is your
first time protecting anyone, I’d say you have a natural ability. ”

He stood and walked over to the closet. “I didn’t fully
understand the enormity of your situation until we were in that position.” Paul
noticed the dirt on the floor left from their clothes and shoes. It definitely
needed to be cleaned up. He turned to Sierra to see her eyes still glued to
him. “I need to get the broom and clean up this dirt,” he said. “I’ll be back.”

Paul found his mother in the kitchen taking a casserole out
of the oven. “Mom, do we have any extra rugs or carpet samples to put down in
the … you know.”

“You could take the bathmats down for now. I’ll get some
carpet samples later. How’s everything going? Your father told me he gave you
quite a scare.”

“Yeah. Maybe we should tell all our friends to use the back
door and not ring the bell. One heart attack a day is my limit.”

“How did Sara handle it?”

“She was pretty scared. I felt bad for her.”

“Well, that’s understandable. You’ve seen her scars and
bruises. You know what kind of pain she’d be in if she went back, both mental
and physical.”