Before Geronimo could react, she embraced him and planted her eager lips on his. He opened his mouth to speak and found her tongue entwined with his own.
Kilrane was chuckling.
Geronimo relaxed, allowing his body to respond to her passion, to the feel of her firm breasts pressed against his chest.
So much for discipline!
Chapter Twelve
They entered the Home in the wee hours of the morning, well before the horizon would be tinged by the brilliance of the rising sun. Their method of entry was ingenious, a technique the Warriors hadn’t considered and planned against.
Kurt Carpenter, the Founder, had provided for the Family’s water supply and effectively utilized this water as a secondary means of defense.
A stream entered the Home in the northwest corner, via an aqueduct, and was diverted along the base of the brick wall surrounding the entire thirty acres. The flowing water exited the Home through another aqueduct under the southeastern corner.
The pair knew the layout of the Home; their intelligence information was superb. They dove into the stream outside the wall and swam underwater through the northwestern aqueduct, emerging in the middle of the stream inside the Home completely undetected by the Warriors on guard duty. Cautiously, they clambered onto the bank and scanned the immediate vicinity for any signs of life.
The Family members were all fast asleep.
“Where do you think he is?” Ox questioned his diminutive companion.
“Beats me,” Ferret answered. “We’ll have to search this entire place until we find him.”
“Should we split up?”
“No. We’ll stick together. My nose is better than yours and I might pick up his scent first,” Ferret stated.
“Whatever you say,” Ox acquiesced.
They carefully scoured the western sector of the Home, avoiding all open spaces, sticking to whatever cover was available. Fortunately, there were plenty of trees, bushes, and shrubs to facilitate their clandestine hunt. Their primary concern was the solitary Warrior stationed on the west wall, but he seldom glanced in their direction. He naturally focused his attention outside the Home, alert for potential invaders.
Over an hour elapsed.
“Where the hell is he?” Ox demanded when they stopped in a stand of trees not far from the cabins in the center of the Home.
“Beats me,” Ferret replied. “I’ve been unable to catch his scent.”
“Do you think he’s left?” Ox queried.
“Doubt it,” Ferret responded. “Where would he go? Back to the Civilized Zone? No way. He knows the Doktor would fry him to a crisp.
The only friends he has are the people here, this Family. He’ll stay here for as long as he can.”
“Maybe he was never here to begin with,” Ox speculated. “Maybe the Doktor was wrong.”
Ferret, startled by Ox’s stupidity, glanced at the collar around the giant’s neck, waiting for the blue indicator light to flash and Ox to writhe on the grass in acute agony.
Nothing transpired.
Ox, belatedly, realized his blunder, a shocked expression crossing his face. “I… I… I didn’t mean…” he stammered.
“The Doktor knows you didn’t,” Ferret said. “That’s probably the only reason you’re alive right now.”
Ox’s brow broke out in sweat.
“They way I see it,” Ferret was reasoning aloud, “he’s here, all right, but he doesn’t sleep with the others. He’s found someplace private, somewhere he can be alone. He won’t come out until morning.”
“So what do we do?” Ox queried.
Ferret stared toward the eastern half of the Home. “That part is maintained in its natural state. Lots of woods, plenty of hiding places. I say we hide out there and keep our eyes peeled. Sooner or later he’ll show his ugly face, and then we do as the Doktor wants and finish the traitor off.”
Ox was studying the forested eastern section. “Sounds okay to me.”
“Let’s go.” Ferret moved nearer the cabins, listening for any indication of an early riser. If his memory served, these cabins were used by the Family’s married couples as their individual homes. Once past the cabins, the pair would be safely beyond any inhabited structures.
The rear door on a nearby cabin opened.
Ferret dropped to the ground, Ox at his side.
A young girl with long black hair came forth and closed the door. She grinned and ran westward.
“She’d make a tasty treat,” Ox whispered, licking his lips.
Ferret shook his head and rose, watching until the girl was out of sight.
Secretly, he wished the Doktor had paired him with someone else instead of Ox. The big lummox was constantly hungry. Ox thought with his stomach instead of his brain, a troublesome weakness at best, a fatal failing at worst.
Using whatever available cover presented itself, the deadly duo successfully passed the cabins and reached a dense stretch of forest beyond.
“We’ll wait here,” Ferret announced when they were safely hidden from view.
“I just hope this doesn’t take too long,” Ox grumbled.
“Why?” Ferret inquired, already knowing the answer.
“Because,” Ox began, “I’m…”
“Who’s in there?” demanded a new voice, a man, from perhaps fifteen yards off, to the north.
Son of a bitch! Ferret hastily scrambled through the underbrush until he spotted the speaker, an elderly Tiller dressed in faded, patched overalls and an old blue baseball cap. Ferret’s sensitive nose detected the man’s stale body aroma. His acute hearing permitted him to detect the Tiller’s raspy breathing. Hidden in a thicket only six feet from the aged farmer, Ferret patiently waited, knowing the Tiller would depart soon if he didn’t hear any more voices or anything unusual happened.
But something did.
Ferret, amazed, saw Ox rise from cover behind the Family member. The Tiller sensed danger and started to turn, his face contorting in horror when Ox’s brawny hands clamped onto his neck and squeezed. Ferret could see the man’s discolored expression as he valiantly struggled for air, kicking and thrashing to no avail. Ox grinned, his bony blue fingers slowly crushing his victim’s throat, gouging into the soft flesh and splitting it apart. The Tiller gasped and gurgled as Ox lifted him bodily from the ground and, with a savage wrench, tore the head from the body. The headless form toppled to the grass, blood gushing from the severed neck vessels.
Ox grinned, raised the head to his lips, and hungrily slurped at the stump below the chin.
Enraged, Ferret rose from concealment and advanced on Ox. “You damn idiot! What the hell did you think you were doing?”
Ox, flabbergasted at the reproach, ceased his meal and lowered the grisly head. “He heard us. We couldn’t let him tell the others.”
“You big jerk!” Ferret fumed, his tiny ears twitching. “He just heard voices. For all he knew, it was some kids playing in the trees. If you’d left him alone, moron, he would have gone about his business none the wiser!”
Ox stared at the body, embarrassed. “Gee, Forest, I didn’t think…”
“You never think!” Ferret exploded, forgetting the necessity for silence.
“You don’t have a brain to think with! A turnip has more intelligence than you do, fool!”
“Well,” Ox said, attempting to appease his small friend, “at least we have some food…”
Ferret, beside himself, kicked Ox on the right shin. “Food! That’s all you ever think of!”
Ox, although he scarcely felt the blow, winced. “I’m sorry, Ferret, Please don’t be mad at Ox!”
Ferret glanced around, insuring they were still alone. “We must hide the body. We’ll drag it into the woods and bury it. You’d best hope the Family doesn’t miss him and send Warriors looking for this Tiller before we locate the one we’re here to find!”