Stackpole, Michael A - Dark Conspiracy 02 by Evil Ascending Read Free Book Online

backward, arms flailing, he stared wide-eyed at the snake hanging from his right wrist by its fangs. His heels caught on a rock and sent him flying back into a stand of cholla cactus.
    Boxer had awakened when his name had been called, but the scream brought him to his feet. Wearing only frayed jeans and holed socks, Boxer charged at Rajani like a bull. He snatched her up in a hug, but she managed to rake his face with her gold claws. Shrieking madly, he dropped herto the ground and clutched at his ruined face.
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    streamed from between the man’s fingers. Before Rajani could move, the dog shot at the man and sunk its teeth deeply into his right leg, bringing him down. Moving in concert with the dog, the little girl scooted forward on her butt and looped the length of chain around the man’s throat. Planting her feet on his meaty shoulders, she yanked back with her hands while straightening her legs.
    The man’s neck popped with a gunshot sound that made Rajani wince and the boy cry out. Rajani looked over at the other man, but she sensed nothing in the way of active emotions from him. His body twitched a bit, but his breathing came raggedly and his lack of reaction to the cactus festooning him told her he was suffering from a total central nervous system collapse. With its rattle playing an accompaniment to the sound of the man’s dying breaths, the snake coiled itself on his chest.
    She scanned the area one more time, but felt nothing beyond the quartet of Earthlings around her. She shut herself off from the anger and hatred pouring from the girl, unprepared for such harsh emotions. The little boy continued to radiate panic, but it began to drop off as the dog trotted over to him and licked his face.
    Squatting down by the fire, Rajani used the one remaining button to close her blouse. “Are you unhurt?”
    The fire layered bright highlights into the girl’s honey-blond hair as she nodded. “Boxer knew I’d do him if I got the chance.”
    The edge in the girl’s voice shocked Rajani. She looked more closely at her and, through the thin fabric of the girl’s soiled T-shirt, she detected the initial budding of the girl’s breasts. She can be no more them 12 LMUs in age physically, but her voice and her anger. .. “I am Rajani.”
    The girl let the chain go slack and slip through her fingers. “I’m Dorothy and that’s Mickey. The big one, the one your snake got, that’s Uncle Andy. Boxer was his friend. They brought me up here to sell me. I brought Mickey with me.”
    “Sell you?” Rajani looked from Dorothy to the little boy, who remained hidden in the folds of the thin blanket they had been given. “But your parents, do they know?”
    “Know?” Dorothy pointed at Andy’s body. “Check his pockets. My father gave him a bill of sale.”
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    “What?”
    “Well, daddy’s not been right since Mommy died.”
    Mickey began to whimper, so Dorothy turned toward him.
    ”Quiet, quiet. It’s not your fault. Daddy didn’t mean it when he said it.”
    The boy fell silent, but his anxiety began to radiate out again. Rajani smiled at his silhouette in an effort to draw him out, but he hunkered down, trying to make himself small and unnoticed. “Your brother is certainly shy.”
    “Yes, he is. And I’m giving you the wrong impression of my father. He is a good man, really he is. Honest. He brung us up proper, too.” She waved her brother forward.
    ”Mickey, say ‘thank you’ to this nice woman for helping us.”
    “Ang ou,” he whispered from the darkness. He slowly made his way into the firelight and watched the dancing flames with bright fascination in his eyes. When he looked up and made eye contact with Rajani, she saw the flesh on his cheeks rise up around his eyes in a smile, but he kept his face