Guardian of Dreams
Mary Beth Engle
Copyright 2010 by Mary Beth Engle
Smashwords Edition
Chapter One
Ciara knew she was dreaming. She had envisioned it, reaching for the images of the forest with her conscious mind until she could slip into the dream as effortlessly as she slid into bed each night. It had begun months ago as a relaxation technique suggested by her Dr to alleviate stress and help her get to sleep, and for the first week the dream had been only of the rainforest clearing. Then she’d heard a distant voice calling out; no, not just calling out, calling to her. Going in search of the voice she’d tripped over the gnarled roots of an ancient tree and found herself staring down into the bruised and bloody face of a man chained to the walls of deep pit.
Tonight the dream began as it always did with visions of the beautiful rainforest; hues of green and gold and brown intertwining with all the colors of the rainbow to create a landscape worthy of any magical masterpiece. Animals meandered about; large and small, chattering to their mates and friends in their various languages. The voices of colorful Macaws and Parrots echoing through the canopy; blending with the hushed sounds of water rushing over tiers of smooth stone to empty into a tranquil pool so clear you could see the tiny grains of sand and earth on its floor.
Awed by the beauty of the forest Ciara followed the animals about the clearing. Tendrils of dark hair, dampened and curling from the humid air, escaped their ponytail as she giggled at the antics of the small monkeys that filled the branches of the sub-canopy. She settled on a moss covered rock, her sock covered feet swinging as she waited for him to call to her.
Are you there? Have you come to me again, Little One?
The dream changed then, mist rising up to fill the air; swirling and dancing over gnarled roots and massive tree trunks that reached high into the clouds before bursting into thick branches whose leaves closed out the light. The beautiful rainforest became a dark, dank jungle as his voice led her toward the pit. She found him there, waiting for her, looking up through jade green eyes. The husky sound of his voice filled her mind and played sensuously over her nerves, but with each passing night she could hear him growing weaker and closer to death.
Ciara sat, as she had every night for the past eight months, and gazed down into his gaunt face. She smiled in welcome, brushing tears away as she took in his sunken cheeks and bruised, swollen face. “I’m here. I told you I would come every night until we figured out how to get you out of there. I’m sorry I’m late; it was such a busy day at work that I left nearly an hour late and threw off my whole evening schedule. Have you figured out a way to get out of there yet?”
He swallowed hard, his Adams apple bobbing in his painfully dry throat. “I don’t think that’s going to happen Little One. Even if they gave me the opportunity to escape I don’t think I have the physical strength left to overpower even one of them.”
The exhausted smile that spread slowly across his face was meant to soften the harsh reality of his words, but tonight Ciara was having none of it. “Who are ‘they’? Tell me who they are, or at least tell me your name.”
“No Little One, I can’t do that. I’ve no idea how or why it is that you’re able to come to me like this, but for you to know anything about who or where I am would put you in great danger.”
“I’ve been in danger before, Tough Guy, more times than I care to think about.”
He gave a sad smile. “I know Little One, we’ve discussed it at length if you’ll recall. I wish there was something I could do to take those memories from you so that only beauty and pleasure ever touched your life.”
Ciara snorted. “Those memories aren’t pleasant, but if I’d never lived through that pain I wouldn’t appreciate how good my life is now.”
“I hope I’ll be able to say the same one day.”
“Well then you can’t give up! I have no clue how it is I’m able to recapture this dream every night, but you can’t just give up on me or I’m sure the dreams will stop. You have to give me a chance to get you out safely.”
The green eyes glittered. “Would that be so bad? If the dreams stopped, I mean. You could dream of other things if I didn’t occupy so much of your sleep.”
Ciara gazed down at him in surprise. “I don’t want the dreams to end. I love the forest and the waterfall pool, but it’s being here with you that brings me back. I hate what they do to you; that you’re hurt and hungry and chained down there with no way for me to help you. I hate that you won’t let me try to get you out, but I like talking to you. Would you rather I not come again? Do the dreams make things more difficult for you? That seems a silly thing to ask a figment of my overactive imagination, but if it makes this harder for you then I’ll stop coming.”
He shook his head vehemently. “Definitely not, Little One. If I get out of this hell it will be because of your visits to my dreams. You are my sanity. When you came to me that first night I had given up. My mind was slipping away,” He gave a derisive laugh, “maybe it’s already gone and that’s how I’m able to conjure up a gorgeous woman to sit by a pit in the jungle and talk to me. I must say you are an excellent figment of my imagination Little One. I couldn’t have done better if I’d ripped you out of a Playboy Magazine.”
Ciara blushed. “You are so full of shit.”
He grinned at her, loving the odd dichotomy of innocence and steel toughness he’d discovered in her. He knew what her answer would be but continued anyway. “What makes you say that?”
“My butt is too big and my hips are way too wide. Not to mention no self-respecting five foot tall woman should wear a 36DD!”
A strangled groan issued from the pit and Ciara looked down quickly. “What happened? Are you okay?”
The groan turned to a chuckle and the green eyes sparkled like diamonds in the darkness. “Calm down Little One, I’m alright. The physical pain was momentarily overwhelmed by the knowledge that there are luscious curves under all those clothes you wear.”
The blush returned tenfold and he grinned again. “Why do you wear so many clothes? If this is really my dream you should be naked.”
Ciara rolled her eyes. “That just proves that it’s my dream and you can’t give up and leave me.”
“I’ll do my best Little One, but you didn’t answer my question; why so many clothes?”
Ciara shrugged, her dark hair swaying around her slender shoulders. “My apartment is cold.”
“Why?”
"I leave the thermostat set low to save on the gas bill.”
“Doesn’t anyone take care of you, Little One?”
She snorted. “I’m twenty-eight years old, I take care of myself.”
“Then why are you cold when you sleep?”
Her blue eyes rolled heavenward again and she smothered a chuckle, giving only brief thought to why her dream figment would question her lack of someone to keep her warm at night; and that was exactly what he was asking her. She let it pass, instead providing a vaguely pat answer. “I’m just starting out and I don’t want to put a lot of money into bills.”
There was a long silence from the bottom of the pit, so long that Ciara was starting to become frightened when his voice finally came again. It sounded stronger somehow, still wrought with pain and exhaustion, but stronger than she’d heard it in weeks. “You need someone to take care of you Little One; someone to hold you so that even the coldest nights won’t require clothing.”
“Well they aren’t exactly beating down my door.” She smiled, “I guess you’ll just have to find some way out of that pit Tough Guy and fill the position yourself.”
His eyes took on a shade of green she hadn’t seen before, like emerald silk flowing over a bed of soft grass. “It would be my honor, Little One. To be honest with you I’ve thought of little else since the first night when you came slipping out of the darkness like a single heavenly star lighting only for me. I didn’t want you to think me presumptuous and given my current situation I didn’t want to issue invitations.”
Ciara felt her cheeks burning again and tried to laugh it off. “Yeah more like the night I stumbled like a bull in a china shop over a tree root and caught sight of those horrible chains they have holding you there.”
“No matter how it happened there’s no doubt I would have been dead that night if you hadn’t appeared when you did.”
“I have no idea how it is I conjured you up, but it broke my heart to see you down there bruised and battered.” She tried to smile, “Perhaps you’re my inner child.”
She thought there was a glistening of unshed tears in his eyes, but his voice came to her in that new, stronger tone, this time threaded with laughter. “If I ever make it out of this hole in the ground Little One I’ll be sure to prove I’m not a child, inner or otherwise."
Knowing that he was trying to make light of the darkness her words had brought to them both she gave him a wide eyed look. “Oh really? Just make sure you leave the chains and the pit behind you, I’m not much for kinky sex.”
He chuckled; surprised that she’d walked into his trap so easily. “We’ll have to discuss your definition of kinky at length sometime soon. I think I might enjoy broadening your horizons just a bit.”
Ciara’s eyes grew wide in earnest at his words. “Is this going to turn into a sex dream? I don’t believe I’ve ever had one of those.”
He shook his head slowly, his green eyes searching her face for any sign that she thought herself to be anything more than wandering in a dream. “Oh no Little One, I have no desire to turn this into an erotic dream.”
Her face fell a little and he chuckled to himself as he realized she was disappointed. “My arms are chained at the wrist so I have no way to touch you. That could never be enough for me.”
Ciara laughed and shook her head. “I must really be going nuts, now I’m talking myself out of having sex dreams with a figment of my subconscious imagination! I guess it’s become such a habit while I’m awake that I’m carrying it over into my dreams.”
An odd expression flickered across his face. “Do you talk yourself out of having sex while you’re awake, Little One?”
She shrugged. “Well no, there would have to be some opportunity to talk myself out of.” A giggle escaped, “It’s not as if I meet many eligible men in my line of work.”
The odd look returned and he gave a little growl that reminded her of a tiger warning away an intruder. “That’s probably for the best Little One.”
She looked down at him in surprise and he changed the subject quickly, “You speak often of your work, but yet you’ve never really told me what you do.”
Ciara snorted. “You never give me the chance. You’re always too busy playing your version of twenty questions. Besides, you’re the one who’s always insisted on no specific information.”
“Don’t be churlish, Little One, situations sometimes change, now answer my question. What is it that you do?”
She shook her head slowly. “You are such a bully! Have I mentioned I don’t really care for domineering men?”
He grinned. “Several times, now do as I say and answer the question.”
Ciara laughed. “I teach high school Science; Ordinary Earth Science mostly although I do have two sections of Honors Science that covers more in depth materials.”
His grin widened. “I don’t remember ever having a teacher who looked anything like you, Little One; they were all old and warty.”
“You are such a man!” Ciara smiled down at him, wishing she could reach out and slap at his arm playfully. The worst part of her dreams had become the inability to touch him or comfort him in any way. At first she had been sure that this was her dream and she controlled it, but each time she tried to dream herself into the pit close enough to touch him she awoke immediately and was unable to get back to sleep for hours.
“I’m elated to know you’ve finally noticed that, Little One.” He chuckled softly, “I’d begun to despair that my poor traumatized subconscious had conjured up a lesbian to sooth me through my final days.”
Ciara gave him an indignant look. “Is there something wrong with being a lesbian?”
His grin returned. “Not for another lesbian, but for a man it can be a bit of a disappointment. There’s no need to fret, I’m not homophobic.”
She blushed again under the heat of his gaze. “Fret? Really? Who says fret? My imagination needs some updating I think.”
He gave her a warning look. “Don’t even begin to consider finding another dream to walk in Little One; I’ve decided tonight that I like dominating your dreams.”
Her brow arched. “Really? Just don’t try to dominate me along with them.”
“We’ll see; you might find that you like me dominating you.”
She gave another unladylike snort. “Yeah right, alpha much?”
A surprised look flittered across his face, replaced by a wicked grin. “From dawn to dawn, Little One, from dawn to dawn.”
There seemed to be some special meaning behind his words. Special to him at least, but there was no chance to ask what they meant Ciara could feel the dawn tugging at her. The dream would end soon and she didn’t want to go. He was so weak and exhausted, despite what seemed to be a renewal of his positive attitude. She was always afraid she would come to the forest the next night to find him cold and silent. It was silly really, but she always held the lingering fear that her favorite dream could easily turn into her worst nightmare.
His green eyes clouded suddenly. “They’re coming Little One, you have to go.”
Ciara shivered. Anytime his captors showed up before dawn he would look especially bad the following night. “Alright, until tonight.”
Steel cold reserve filled eyes and he shook his head quickly. “Not tonight Little One, not tonight.”
“But why?!” He’d never asked her not to come; in fact he’d always seemed eager for her to return.
“We have to hurry, just promise me you won’t return looking for me tonight.”
Ciara sobbed, tears streaming down her flushed cheeks. She nodded, somehow knowing it was important to him that she gave her word, “I promise.”
He smiled then, his green eyes lighting up once again. “Don’t worry Little One, you’ll hear from me again. I’m not sure when or how, but you will hear from me.”
“But…”
He cut her off quickly. “They’re coming closer. You have to go now, but first I need you to tell me your name; your full name.”
“Why? You wouldn’t give me your name; what if knowing who I am puts YOU in danger?”
He laughed softly. “Do you think I could be in any more danger than I already am? Now do as I say and don’t argue! Tell me your name.”
Ciara stood up seeing the opening back to the waterfall as the fog began to lift. She glanced down one final time, whispering so that only he could hear, “Ciara, Ciara Michelle Andrews.”
A scream of pain sounded suddenly, followed by his voice in her head commanding her to run. She felt an almost physical push against her backside forcing her toward the light. Ciara ran, her breath ragged from crying and some sudden unknown fear, not stopping until she’d reached the deep tranquil pool. She collapsed onto a large rock covered with moss and the tears came again, her sobs drowning out the whoosh of the waterfall until finally the shrill buzzing of her alarm drew her from the dream and back into reality.
Chapter Two
Ciara awoke to a fresh onslaught of tears, dragging herself out of bed to shut off the alarm. A hot shower washed away the tears and slowed the ragged rhythm of her breathing, leaving only the illogical fear that had taken root in her heart. Telling herself she was silly for allowing a dream to affect her so strongly she washed her long dark hair and let the sweet smell of her shampoo help relax the tension that was quickly becoming a pounding headache.
Stepping from the shower she dried on a fluffy blue bath sheet and smoothed on mango scented body lotion. She applied a light shadow to her eyes; a sweep of mascara to her lashes completing her makeup before she slipped into a jade green bra and matching panties. Her normal work wear included hose, plain black dress slacks and a sleeveless black top that Ciara brightened up with a jade green cashmere sweater she’d found at the local second hand shop. Pulling the towel from her head she used a small blow dryer to finish drying her hair then swept it into a thick, elegant twist at the back of her head. After one final look in the mirror to be certain her uneasiness didn’t show on her face, she slipped on her comfortable black work pumps and headed down the hall to the small kitchen.
A scrambled egg, a sausage link and a toasted English muffin gave her enough time to process the dream and begin sorting through the fear and disappointment she still felt at her forced promise not to return to the dream that night. “Ciara my friend,” She spoke aloud in the silent apartment, surprised at the wavering in her voice, “you are greatly in need of psychotherapy!”
Or a good lay!
Ciara laughed as that thought floated through her mind on the voice of her best friend, LauraAnn. She laughed because she knew that was exactly what LauraAnn would say when she told her about the latest dream episode. Of course she would still confide in her friend, just as she had every day since they’d met at the bus stop on the first day of third grade. Tough Guy had called her his sanity last night, but in her real world LauraAnn and her family had been Ciara’s sanity since they were both eight years old.
Each time Ciara’s own mother had gone to jail, Cindy Bradshaw, LauraAnn’s mother, had packed up her most recently birthed children and trotted down to the child protective services to state with complete confidence that Ciara Michelle Andrews would be in their custody until Melinda could care for her daughter again. To her favor Melinda Andrews had appreciated everything the Bradshaw’s did for Ciara, but her first priority had always been her drugs and whatever man was currently supplying them for her. She praised herself as a good mother because she refrained from pimping her daughter out as so many of her friends did when they got older and the drugs began ravaging their bodies and looks. Instead Melinda had turned to an increasingly violent series of men, allowing them to do as they pleased with her so long as they kept her drugs supplied and stayed away from her kid. She lived in violence and died violently just three months before Ciara graduated from high school, and one final time Cindy Bradshaw had shown up at CPS to state that Ciara would be living with them.
Shaking off her stroll down memory lane Ciara grabbed her book bag and lap top and left the apartment, making sure to lock the door behind her. In the parking lot she unlocked the door of her battle scarred VW and shoved her bags into the passenger seat before sliding behind the wheel. She turned left out of the apartment complex and headed toward the center of town and Huffman Senior High School. The school was a rugged old building that had started out as an orphanage and transformed itself through the years into a hospital, a library, and finally when the population of Huffman exploded past a few hundred citizens it became the school.
Ciara pulled into her usual parking space right outside her classroom window and turned off her car. She grabbed her bags, locked the doors, and made her way past the few early arriving students. She unlocked the door to her room and flipped on the light, laughing at the drawing of a cell that remained on the blackboard from her final honors section the day before. It was basically correct, but drawn in the rough hew of a child who despite their best mental efforts would never mature past the age of seven or eight. She wondered briefly why she hadn’t explained to Tough Guy that she taught special education Science to children suffering from a variety of physical, emotional, and behavioral disabilities.
Most of her regular students lessen plans consisted of simple elementary school assignments while her honors sections were made up entirely of kids without physical or medical disabilities but who suffered from behavioral issues that made it impossible for them to succeed, or even just survive, in a normal high school classroom. They were smart kids whose lives outside school altered their personalities in such a way that many would ultimately wind up in prison. There were some Ciara could help save, others she merely kept occupied at school until their outside activities caught up with them. She’d been teaching these classes for the past four years and prided herself on the fact that out of those four graduating classes only three of her students were now in prison while four others had gone on to enroll in community college and two of those four were now in four year universities well on their way to earning their Bachelor’s Degrees.
Ciara once again shook off her revelry and with years of practiced discipline focused her attention firmly on her job as the first of her students began to arrive. Her first period class consisted of six students, all wheelchair bound and all accompanied by teaching assistants who helped each child keep notes, answer questions and complete assignments. This class was by far the easiest for Ciara as the lesson plans were simple first and second grade Earth Science and the students were happy, well behaved and eager to have fun and learn new things about the world around them. It was the perfect chance for Ciara to push aside her worries and settle herself back into her normal daily routine.
Despite the relative ease with which she moved through her day, by the time she dismissed her last and most challenging group of students back into the outside world Ciara was completely drained emotionally. Packing away her assignments to be graded and the materials she would need to complete lesson plans for the remaining nine weeks of school she sent thankful prayers heavenward that it was Friday and she had a three day weekend stretching before her. She had her regular Friday night dinner and sleepover plans with LauraAnn and her husband Jack, and then there was a pint of chocolate mint ice cream calling to her from the freezer in her apartment.
She was loaded down and ready to leave when a shadow fell across her classroom door. She sighed softly, “Whoever you are come on in; your ninja skills deserted you in the afternoon sunlight.”
She heard the shuffling of feet and two of her students appeared before her desk glancing nervously around the room. “Um, Ms. Andrews?”
Ciara looked from the young man dressed in faded sagging jeans and oversized hooded sweatshirt to the similarly dressed young lady glued to his side. “Nakeem, Jessie. Is there something I can do for you?”
The young girl, her brown eyes ringed with thick black eyeliner, bit her lip nervously and glanced once again around the room before replying. “Ms. Andrews, do you remember that problem I told you I might be having?”
Ciara’s heart
dropped into her stomach. Nakeem Hardy and Jessie Morris were two of
her brightest and most gifted students; ones she had hoped to see
walk at graduation and go off to college in the fall. Each had been
born into the fire of gangs, drugs and prostitution; their
relationship beginning in the fifth grade when Jessie’s father had
sold her to Nakeem’s grandfather as payment for a lost drug
shipment. The grandfather, who was forever under investigation by
both local and federal authorities for prostituting underage girls,
had made a show of taking Jessie under his wing to save her from the
streets. As Jessie’s eighteenth birthday loomed closer both she
and Nakeem were aware that she would soon be expected to repay the
kindnesses
shown her by Nakeem’s family.
“Yes Jessie, I remember. I was
hoping it would hold off until after graduation.”
Nakeem pulled his hand from the pocket of his hoody and handed an envelope across the desk to Ciara. “Everything you need is in there Ms. Andrews, but we can’t wait any longer.”
Ciara nodded, her heart in her throat, and reached into the pocket of her laptop bag. She pulled out an envelope and replaced it with the one Nakeem had given her. “I understand. Are your final projects completed and turned in as we discussed?”
Both students nodded and Ciara handed the envelope to Jessie. “Very well then, you are both dismissed and excused for the remainder of the semester. Explanations of your final grades are in that envelope.”
She looked directly into the eyes of each of the young people standing before her, hoping the words she was unable to speak would convey themselves. Be careful, move quickly, take care of each other, and never look back.
Nakeem and Jessie both nodded before resuming the relaxed pose of the uncaring troubled teens they were believed to be. The envelope Ciara had given them made its way into Nakeem’s hoody and with a casual, “See ya never, Ms. Andrews.” the two of them disappeared through the open classroom door.
Ciara locked up her classroom and hurried to the parking lot with her heart pounding in her chest. She drove home slowly, her mind preoccupied now with her students and the struggles they faced. At her apartment she dropped her laptop and school materials in the hall closet, pulling out the envelope Nakeem had given her and placing it inside the large, colorful bag she carried as a combination purse and overnight bag. In her bedroom she pulled off her work clothes and tossed them in the hamper exchanging them for jeans, colorful knee socks and an old college sweatshirt. Grabbing her overnight bag she turned off the lights and headed out again, more eager than ever to talk to LauraAnn.
It was a scenic twenty minute drive from Ciara’s apartment on the outskirts of Huffman to the rambling five acre farm LauraAnn shared with her husband Jack and their ever growing family of children and animals. Ciara made the drive on autopilot, her mind replaying both last night’s disturbing dream and this afternoon’s worrisome visit from her students. She sighed, allowing the problem she could actually do something about to take the forefront.
This wasn’t the first time she’d been faced with a situation like Nakeem and Jessie’s, and over the past four years Ciara had become prepared to help her special students gain a real chance at life. During her first year of teaching what the school called the “bad kids” one of her eighth grade girls had been arrested for prostitution. Ciara had gone to the juvenile detention facility to deliver the girl’s school assignments and provide tutoring for some of her other students who were incarcerated for various offenses both large and small. The young girl had been scared out of her mind and had taken Ciara into her confidence, explaining that she had been prostituting herself for the previous six months after her mother had died from a drug overdose.
The girl and her fourteen year old brother had come home from school to find their mother dead and were afraid that protective services would send their three younger sisters to their biological father who the teens were convinced had been molesting the three little girls. So instead of calling the police or running away, Faith and Christopher had rolled their mother into a hastily dug shallow grave and proceeded to take over the day to day responsibilities of raising their four, six and eight year old sisters. It was only when they realized their mother’s unemployment checks couldn’t be cashed or sold without questions that Faith had turned to prostitution while her brother picked up a job collecting protection money for Nakeem Hardy’s grandfather.
Ciara smiled as she though how simple it had been that first time. She’d gone to LauraAnn’s husband for help, and Jack, an ex-Navy Seal turned police detective, had pulled a few strings with friends at protective services. By sunset all five Martin children had been placed with a wonderful foster family in the city and an investigation launched into the suspected sexual abuse. Nakeem and Jessie’s problems would not be nearly as easy to solve, and as she pulled into the long gravel drive leading to LauraAnn and Jack’s three story farm house Ciara could only hope that there would be a happy ending this time as well.
As she passed a large, colorfully painted wooden sign bearing the words “Laura’s Ark” in childish purple script a small, dark haired boy appeared from behind the sign waving enthusiastically. Ciara waved to Jack Jr., LauraAnn’s oldest and only son, and continued slowly down the drive to pull into her regular parking spot beside the three car garage. By the time she grabbed her bag and emerged from the car Jack Jr. had announced her arrival and Ciara was met on the front porch by a very pregnant LauraAnn and three cherubic little girls.
As she always did Ciara reached out to pat LauraAnn’s bulging belly and grinned. “Still haven’t figured out what causes that huh?”
LauraAnn perfected as sexy a pose as any woman could in her eighth month and replied in a sultry voice. “Oh believe me I know exactly what causes it, that’s why it keeps happening!”
Ciara laughed and rolled her eyes, swinging the smallest of the girls onto her free hip. “You are such a w-h-o-r-e!”
Jack Webb stepped through the screen door and swept Ciara into a huge bear hug. “Damn right, and that’s just the way I like her!” He planted a kiss on Ciara’s forehead, and then aimed a much more ardent one at his wife’s lips.
Ciara laughed again. “Get a room you pervs, or at least let me put my stuff inside before you send us kids out for ice cream.”
LauraAnn laughed at Ciara’s reference to how her parents had managed to get their alone time with a house full of rambunctious children. She pushed her husband playfully aside and opened the screen door, standing aside to make room for the others to enter the house before following them inside.
Chapter Three
Dinner was the usual rowdy Friday night affair with salads, home cooked pizza and bread sticks smothered in cheese and garlic butter. Jack and Jack Jr. took on the manly chore of kitchen clean up while Ciara and LauraAnn bathed the three wiggling, giggling little girls and stuffed them, powdered and sweet smelling, into matching blanket sleepers. Ciara read the girls a story while LauraAnn rested her back and Jack got his son showered and ready for bed. Then with the four kids snuggled into their beds Ciara, LauraAnn, and Jack gathered in the living room around the coffee table.
LauraAnn stroked her husband’s black curls absently, concentrating on Ciara’s retelling of last night’s dream. “So he actually told you NOT to come back tonight?”
Ciara sighed. “Yep. He made me promise that I wouldn’t go, although why I should stay away just because he told me to I have no idea.”
Jack arched a brow and looked up at his wife. “If I told you to stay away from somewhere, what would you do?”
LauraAnn grinned and pulled his hair, “It would depend on why you told me not to go and how strongly I felt I should be there. Because you’re my husband and I trust you with my life, not because you’re the man and you say so.”
Jack nodded and looked back at Ciara. “Cici, obviously your subconscious is trying to tell you something to keep you out of trouble, if I were you I would listen.”
Ciara nodded and LauraAnn smiled over at her. “Besides, if the man says you need to stay away after eight months of asking you if you’ll be back you need to listen because something must be changing.”
Ciara rolled her eyes. “You’re sound like Tough Guy now.”
LauraAnn laughed. “Well there is something to be said for a touch of domineering maleness. Haven’t you told him how liberated you are?”
Her friend grimaced and stuck out her tongue. “At least a million times! I asked last night if he was alpha much and he actually said, ‘from dawn to dawn’!”
Jack sat up suddenly, looking curiously at Ciara. “He said what?”
Ciara blinked, startled at her friend’s reaction. “I asked him if he was alpha much and he said, ‘from dawn to dawn, Little One, from dawn to dawn.’ Why? Does that mean something to you? He acted like it had some special meaning to him too. Is it some sort of he-man code or something?”
“Or something.” Jack sank back on the sofa, his face thoughtful. “The only time I’ve ever heard that phrase, that exact phrase mind you, is when I was a Seal. There were rumors that a special military team existed, men and even a few women that were handpicked from the Special Forces units of each of the four military branches. They were highly trained and sent on high security missions. The team was called Alpha Squad and their credo; the way they recognized each other, their retired, etc., was simply ‘Alpha dawn to dawn’.”
LauraAnn frowned. “Do you know anyone in the military Cici?”
Ciara shook her head. “You know I don’t LauraAnn; no one except Jack. This doesn’t make any sense at all. How the hell would my subconscious come up with the credo of some secret military group that may or may not even exist?”
Jack shook his head. “Oh they definitely exist.”
LauraAnn glanced at her husband. “I thought you said they were rumors?”
Jack sighed. “There were always rumors through the Seals about the unit’s existence. I know they exist because just before I signed my separation papers I was approached about joining Alpha Squad.”
“What?!” LauraAnn reached out and smacked her husband’s leg. “You never told me that!”
Jack shrugged. “It’s a SECRET unit Laur, and it didn’t matter to me because I had no intention of renewing my service. You were done with school and I was coming home to you and our kids and that’s all that mattered to me. I didn’t need the glory and I didn’t think the extra pay was worth my having to disappear for months at a time with no contact.”
LauraAnn shivered and reached over to grab his arm, using it to haul herself closer to him. “Thank God you had enough sense to turn them down.”
Ciara nodded. “I agree, but that still doesn’t explain how the hell that damn credo got in my dream.”
Jack shrugged. Don’t ask me. I haven’t heard it in more than three years, and I certainly never discussed it with you.”
LauraAnn chuckled. “Have you been running amuck in my best friend’s subconscious Jackson?”
Ciara grimaced. “Ewwwwwwwwwww gross LauraAnn!”
“Okay, that’s it!” Jack jumped up from the couch and tackled Ciara to the floor, tickling her sides until she screeched for mercy.
LauraAnn laughed, shaking her head at the antics of her husband and their best friend tussling on the carpet. Ciara’s dreams had been concerning her for several months now, but she really hadn’t felt the time was right to discuss what she thought was really going on. Now it would seem her friend was on the verge of figuring out for herself what LauraAnn had suspected for several months. Somewhere, somehow, Ciara’s Tough Guy was a real human being held captive, chained in a pit in some foreign jungle with no way to escape.
“Okay okay, I give up!!! Jackson Webb isn’t gross and disgusting!!” Ciara was laughing so hard she could barely get the words out, but they were loud enough for Jack to hear and she suddenly found herself scooped up from the floor and returned to her former position as if nothing had happened.
Jack returned to the couch and cuddled up next to his wife, stroking her rounded stomach lovingly. “So what are you going to do Cici? Are you going back tonight?”
Ciara shook her head. “No, I promised I wouldn’t go back tonight and I won’t. He said I would hear from him so I assume at some point he’ll return to my dreams.
Jack and LauraAnn looked at each other, and LauraAnn drew a deep breath as Jack nodded. “Cici, have you ever considered the idea that it might not be just a dream?”
“Of course not, what else could it be?” Ciara gave them a confused look. “You think there’s really some guy out there chained in a pit?”
LauraAnn nodded. “I think it’s something you should consider, Ci.”
Ciara shook her head. “That’s crazy LauraAnn. Do you really believe someone could enter another person’s dreams like that?”
Jack Shrugged. “Stranger things have happened Cici.”
“I don’t believe that’s really possible, Jack, and I can’t believe you would really think something like that could happen. What happened to Practical Jack?”
Jack glanced at LauraAnn and smiled. “I’m still Practical Jack, Ciara, but sometimes things are more than what they appear.”
Ciara sighed and shook her head. “Well either way I promised that I wouldn’t go back into the jungle tonight so there isn’t anything I can do to help him right now. I don’t have a name or any idea where to start trying to find out who might be able to help him.”
Jack nodded thoughtfully. “I’ll try contacting the officer who approached me about joining the unit and give him the information that we have.”
LauraAnn agreed. “I think that’s a really good idea.”
Ciara shook her head in disbelief. “Aren’t you afraid they’ll think you’re a fruit loop Jack?”
Jack glanced at LauraAnn again before shrugging. “Why do I care what they think? I’m not a Seal anymore and no one in Huffman gives a rat’s red rear if I’m nuts or not as long as I do my job.”
“That makes sense I guess.” Ciara sighed and forged ahead into her other set of worries for the day. This one would involve Jack’s work more directly than giving some most likely useless information to the leader of some secret military unit. “Now if you two are done trying to convince me I’ve been walking in a stranger’s dreams for the last eight months I have something a tad more important to discuss with you.”
Jack arched his brow. “What have you done now Ciara?”
She sighed. “I got a visit after class today from Nakeem Hardy and Jessie Morris.”
Jack sat forward. “Good Lord, she’s not eighteen for another three months, has Hardy turned her out?”
Ciara shook her head and reached across the coffee table to grab her overnight bag. She withdrew the envelope Nakeem had given her and passed it to Jack. “They’re gone Jack. They couldn’t wait any longer; Hardy has been separating them at every turn and pushing Nakeem harder about taking part in business transactions. Nakeem has been afraid for awhile now that they were setting him up for a big fall to get him away from Jessie.”
Jack cursed softly. “Ciara, Hardy is going to flip his freaking lid when he finds those kids gone. He’ll have every goon in the city on them before they can get a bus out of town.”
Ciara took a deep breath. “Well you have three days before the heads start rolling.”
LauraAnn pushed forward on the sofa. “Ciara Michelle Andrews! What have you done?”
Ciara’s eyes widened. “I didn’t DO anything Laur. Some of the kids from my honors class decided to take a weekend getaway down to the lake. Nakeem arranged with his grandfather to provide them with some ‘refreshments’ while they’re there.”
Jack’s jaw twitched. “Bullshit, Cici, what have you done?”
“Nothing, I swear to you that those kids have been planning a weekend party at the lake for weeks now. All I did was provide Nakeem and Jessie with a way to be long gone before Hardy figures out that they aren’t partying and making business contacts down at the lake.”
Jack clenched his teeth. “I swear to the good Lord, I hope this Tough Guy of yours IS real, because YOU need a freaking keeper! What – did – you – do?”
Ciara huffed. “I do not need a keeper Jackson Webb! I do just fine taking care of myself and the last thing I need is some testosterone oozing goon trying to tell me what to do!”
Jack fixed her with a look he usually reserved for Jack Jr. and Ciara grimaced. “Fine, I gave them some cash and two bus tickets to the East coast. Hopefully it will buy them enough time for you to make a case with the evidence Nakeem sent you in that envelope.”
LauraAnn’s blue eyes widened. “SOME cash?” She sighed. “How much cash, Cici?”
Ciara mumbled a figure under her breath and heard LauraAnn utter a phrase that would have her doing Hail Marys come Saturday afternoon. She heard Jack give a huge sigh and looked over at him. “Cici, that had to be most of the money you have in the world.”
Ciara shook her head. “No, I’ve been preparing better for these things. I’ve been putting a little bit away each paycheck and then buying short term CDs. Once they mature if I need money for something I take some from there and if not then I just roll it over again into new CDs. I’ve been cutting back on costs so I’ve been able to do several rollovers on three different accounts.” She smiled. “I really can take care of myself Jack, I’m not an idiot.”
Jack sighed. “No one said you were an idiot Ci, you just let your heart over rule your head sometimes. Do you really think Hardy isn’t going to know you have something to do with this? I know you want to help these kids, but you have to be more careful with your actions. If D’Vaughn Hardy ever really gets wind that you’re the one pulling his girls off the streets he’s not going to hesitate to kill you or those kids.”
Ciara sighed. She hated when Jack was right, and in her heart she knew that this time he was definitely right. D’Vaughn Hardy had run every prostitution, protection, and loan sharking operation in Huffman for more than twenty-five years and most of the drug trade as well. He was slick and greedy and was rumored to have most of the county Sheriff’s department in his pocket. It was because of his third acquittal on federal racketeering charges that the Huffman Police Department set up the Special Cases Unit that jack was now in command of.
“There’s no way to trace either the cash or the bus tickets back to me. I bought the tickets online from a library computer in the next county with a prepaid credit card that I loaded with cash six months ago at one of those check cashing places in the city. The cash is in small bills that I withdrew in small amounts from different ATMs all around town over the past eight to ten weeks. The only tie between me and those kids is the school and three weeks ago I issued my regular deal to the honors seniors. They could work ahead and turn in their final papers and projects before five o’clock today and as long as they were well done and complete they were excused for the last nine weeks. I’ve offered the same deal every year that I’ve taught the honors courses because so many of the kids have opportunities to work those nine weeks with the migrant farm crews to earn money for graduation and college.” She smiled at LauraAnn’s astonished face, “Like I said, I’m not an idiot.”
Jack shook his head in disbelief, “How long have you been planning this Ciara?”
Ciara shrugged. “I wasn’t really planning THIS Jack, I was just preparing for any kind of eventuality. I learned that the hard way a long time ago. I’m an honest, God loving, law abiding person, but believe me I was taught young and well how to lie and steal and get around without being noticed. Just because I don’t break the law doesn’t mean I don’t know how.” She sighed. “When I was with the Bradshaw’s I could be normal and lead the kind of life I wanted, but at home with Melinda I had to know how to survive and take care of myself on the streets.”
LauraAnn reached out to pull her friend into a tight hug, tears running in streams down her cheeks. “I’m so sorry Cici!”
Ciara returned the hug. “Oh Laur, don’t be sorry! I had a happy childhood thanks entirely to your family and all the rest just makes me a little more street smart.”
Jack rubbed his wife’s back, looking over her head at their friend. “Just be careful Ciara, very careful.”
Ciara nodded. “I’m always careful Jack and believe me; I’m not going to do anything stupid. I’ve been avoiding men like D’Vaughn Hardy since I was four years old. I’m not likely to forget how deadly they can be.”
LauraAnn stood up suddenly and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Let’s go to bed. Jack can e-mail the army guy and then tomorrow he can go through the stuff Nakeem sent with his team and see if there’s anything relevant to their investigation.”
Ciara grabbed her bag and followed LauraAnn and Jack up the stairs. They stopped outside the door of the master bedroom where Ciara gave each of her friends a tight hug before continuing up the stairs to the attic bedroom LauraAnn had dubbed ‘Cici’s Penthouse Suite’. LauraAnn and Jack watched her disappear up the stairs before continuing into their bedroom. Jack closed the door firmly and headed straight for the laptop set up on the small desk in the corner of the massive room.
“You should have told her Jack.”
Jack glanced over his shoulder and shrugged. “Told her what Laur? That you and I can speak to each other with our minds no matter how far apart we are?”
He clicked the send button and turned to pull her between his knees. “She wouldn’t have believed me. She would have been hurt and angry that you haven’t confided in her about it long before now, and I can’t see where it has anything to do with her situation anyway. We have a connection to each other that allows us to share each other’s thoughts after being together since the sixth freaking grade. We don’t share dreams and even when I was with the Seals it was only your beautiful voice in my mind.”
LauraAnn nodded as she turned back the hand pieced wedding ring quilt that covered their king size bed. She fluffed the pillows and climbed into bed, moving automatically to the center of the mattress where Jack could reach out and pull her close to him. She rested her cheek against his shoulder and curled herself as tightly against him as their growing baby would allow. “I wouldn’t want to be in anyone’s mind but yours.”
Jack nodded and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I see enough ugliness in people every day on the job, Laur, the last thing I want is to know the thoughts they don’t put into action.”
Chapter Four
In her attic bedroom Ciara crawled beneath the soft down comforter on the massive bed LauraAnn had insisted was an ultimate necessity. It was warmer at LauraAnn’s house and she wore only a lightweight nightshirt instead of her usual bundled sleepwear. Her mind was filled with fears for Nakeem and Jessie, and for the first time in months she had to make an effort to fall asleep.
It amazed her how quickly her brain had trained itself to go immediately to the forest when she closed her eyes. Finally she realized that if she was going to get any sleep at all she was going to have to fill her mind with a different vision, a different place where she could completely relax. She looked around the shadowy room feeling the love that LauraAnn put into each and every decorating choice she’d made. The walls were painted a gentle, swirling blue that reminded Ciara of the softly undulating waves of the ocean while the ceiling was textured and painted the palest shade of blue imaginable. It struck her how much the room reminded her of a day at the beach and she decided to go with that, allowing her mind to fill itself with images of crashing waves and warm sunshine.
In what felt like only moments she was strolling along a sandy beach, her toes sinking into the hot sand. The sun felt warm on her face and the breeze smelled sweet and clean. Seagulls flapped and squawked overhead as wave after wave rolled onto the soft white sand. There was a huge crag of rocks jutting out into the ocean and Ciara made her way toward it thinking to sit on top of the biggest rock and watch the dolphins frolicking in the distance. As she neared the inland side of the crag she realized there was a small boy sitting against one of the rocks. At first she thought the boy was Jack Jr., but as she drew closer she realized this boy was darker in coloring and much younger than eight year old Jack.
The boy looked up and saw her walking toward him. Ciara wondered if he would be frightened by her sudden appearance and glanced around, looking for a parent or older sibling. There was no one anywhere near and she felt a moment of anger at the stupidity of allowing such a young child to play alone so near the ocean. Then she saw that the boy was smiling and waving her toward him. Ciara hurried across the hot sand, stopping a few feet away from the boy. He was digging in the sand, one chubby little hand clutching a small plastic shovel while he used the other hand to help transfer the sand into the bucket held steady between pudgy little feet.
“Hello!” His voice was sweet and clear with just the slightest hint of a lisp and it tugged at Ciara’s heart. “I thought you would NEVER get here! I’ve been waiting and waiting for you!” He looked up from his task and smiled, his huge green eyes sparkling with joy.
Ciara knelt on the sand next to his little yellow pail and rested back on her heels. “I’m sorry, Sweetie, do I know you?”
He giggled. “Not yet silly, it isn’t time, but you will.”
Ciara smiled. “Where’s your Mommy?”
Another fit of giggles erupted and his chubby hands flew faster, filling the tiny pail over and over. Ciara looked oddly at the pail as she realized that every time the sand got near the rim of the bucket it would disappear again. The child appeared oblivious, just continuing to scoop and dump with his little blue shovel. “Oh, she’s around, don’t worry.”
Ciara nodded. “What’s your name?”
He stopped shoveling for a minute and looked up at her with his sparkling green eyes. “Right now my name is Michael Gabriel, but that may not be my name when you know me.”
She considered that for a moment then smiled and nodded. “Okay, I’ll remember that. When will I meet you?”
He shrugged and returned to his shoveling. “The Father says it isn’t time yet.”
“Oh do I know your father already?”
The boy nodded. “Most everyone knows the Father.”
Ciara sat on the warm sand and began building a little castle. It was really more of a large house than a castle, but Michael Gabriel seemed to enjoy her company and she’d always loved playing in the sand. They played quietly for a bit, and then Ciara was struck by a question, “Michael Gabriel?”
“Yes?” He looked up from his bucket and fixed her with yet another heart rending smile.
“Where are we?”
He looked startled for a moment then smiled again. “In my dream of course!”
Ciara nodded as if that made complete sense. “Your dream or my dream?”
“You can’t walk in your own dream silly. Don’t you know the rules?”
She shook her head, her long hair blowing in the gentle breeze. “No, actually I don’t know the rules. I didn’t even know there were any rules.”
The little boy nodded. “There are always rules. The Father says rules are what make it possible for us to do the impossible.”
Wise beyond his years.
Ciara thought the words to herself, but Michael Gabriel looked up and grinned. “We all are here, but when you know me I won’t know as much.”
Ciara laughed. “Oh really? Are you going to forget?”
He nodded again, his black curls bobbing as he fixed her with the patronizing look adults usually reserved for small children. “Yes. We all do, and then we learn it all over again.”
Ciara realized then that she hadn’t spoken her thought aloud. “How did you know what I was thinking?”
Tiny shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. “It’s my dream you’re walking in so I know your thoughts.”
For whatever reason that seemed to make sense to Ciara until he continued on to say, “The Father says I won’t forget that part, that I’ll always have it I just won’t let anyone know about it for a long time.”
Ciara’s brow furrowed as she tried to work through his words in some sensible manner. “You’ll always have what?”
The tiny hands were moving rhythmically again; scoop and dump, scoop and dump. “The ability to know your thoughts.”
She blinked. “MY thoughts?”
Michael Gabriel nodded. “Yes. Well not just yours, all people. I’m not sure about animals; I never thought to ask about that. I like animals, do you like animals?”
Ciara nodded in confusion, her brain catching hold of the words that made the most sense to her. “Yes, I like animals a lot. I don’t have any right now, but my friend LauraAnn has a lot of animals on her farm.”
The boy nodded. “I know, I think I’m going to like her a lot too.”
“I’m sure you will.”
Ciara was about to continue when the boy stopped shoveling again and looked at her, his eyes held a touch of sadness this time. “You have to leave now; it’s time to wake up. Don’t be afraid when they come for you, it will all be okay in the end.”
She stood up slowly, feeling the same tugging at her mind that she always felt when morning came to pull her from the jungle. “When who comes for me; where am I going?”
Michael Gabriel shrugged. “Lots of places. Like I said, it will all be okay in the end.”
***
Ciara sat bolt upright in bed; her heart pounding and her mind racing. The sun was starting to peek through the white lace curtains that covered the windows and a quick glance at the clock on the bedside table told her that it was nearly eight o’clock. She could hear the sounds of stirring below and smiled, shaking off the remains of her dream as she threw back the comforter and headed into the bathroom adjoining her room.
A quick shower did even more to return her to reality, and by the time she had finished her morning routine and dressed in jeans and a deep blue rib-knit sweater she was more than ready to face the day. She gave a moment’s thought to Michael Gabriel as she grabbed her bag and headed downstairs toward the kitchen and the delicious smells that were already winding their way to the upper floors. He was such an adorable little boy and she let herself consider all the possibilities that his appearance in her dream could carry with it. Of course he had said that she was in his dream, but Ciara had decided in the shower that her subconscious had just been trying to find some way to process the crazy notions LauraAnn had filled it with the night before.
“Cici, Cici! Come sit by us!” LauraAnn’s two youngest daughters; three year old twins Renata and Regina chorused as Ciara entered the kitchen. The pleas drove all thoughts of the dream from her mind as she slid into the chair that had been saved for her by the adoring sisters.
Plates were already on the table and Ciara looked over at LauraAnn. “What’s left to do Laur?”