Nuworld: Claiming Tara (31 page)

his property.” Tara began to fume all over again.
“Gothman women are property.” Taffley said with a
shrug.
“I’m not Gothman!” Tara slammed her fist on the table.
Taffley jumped and knew he’d hit a nerve. Was it a bad
decision showing the paper to her? If this made her angry,
what would she do when she learned she was floating into
a trap?
A loud boom exploded in the night air. Taffley screamed!
He staggered out of his chair and reached for the bottle of
wine. He didn’t have his wits about him before another
boom made his heart race too fast to breathe.
Bang sticks!
Tara squatted next to her chair and adjusted her laser to
scan for
life-signs. Whoever
fired
was too
close.
The
explosions had been so loud she wasn’t able to hear if her
babies were crying. Although it was a good guess that they
were.
She pointed the laser toward the woods along the river,
judging where
the
shots had come
from.
People were
yelling, and although the red beam on the laser found their
attackers, she didn’t need it. They were making enough
noise to be easy targets. She set her laser to kill just as
Taffley grabbed something else out of that closet where he’d
pulled his wine. He took off running and the next thing she
knew he
was
climbing
the
ladder
to
the
top
of
his
watermobile.
Hell be doomed! Someone had, more than likely, scared
her children to death, and for that alone deserved to die.
Now Taffley was on top of the ferry, and he had started
shooting. The darn fool was going to get killed.
Tara shot at three individuals on the bank. A splash in
the water and a howl let her know one of them had fallen
in. She saw another fall from a tree. The third jumped in
the water of his own accord and started swimming toward
them.
Taffley aimed his long bang stick at the person in the
water, and another loud explosion ran through the air. The
man in the water let out a bloodcurdling scream. His arm
floated away from his body.
Taffley’s bangstick had such a kick she saw him stumble
back after firing. For a second, she envisioned Taffley
falling down his ladder, but he steadied himself and looked
around at the now calm waters.
“Sure are a lot of thieves lately,” he muttered as he came
back down the stairs. “We live in a land of no laws. Take
care of your own, that’s the River People’s law. I’ve learned
to protect my property. Keeps one on his toes. They say a
government will stop all this, but I don’t see it happening.”
Tara ignored his rambling and ran down the short hall
to Andru and Ana. Both of her children were crying loudly.
She almost slid into the room and reached for the twins.
Tiny hands simultaneously grabbed her fingers and held on
as if their lives depended on it.
“You’re safe, sweet babies. I swear it,” she promised and
scooped both children into her arms. It was all she could
do to calm her outrage in order to soothe her babies.
Taffley walked to the edge of the hallway, but respecting
her privacy, talked to her without coming to her door. “I’ll
keep a watch tonight. You don’t worry none about them
babies. I’ll keep them safe. Ain’t no thief ever boarded my
hauling watermobile.”
Tara doubted Taffley’s ability to keep them safe, but
thanked him and pulled the children up on the bed. Within
moments, the three of them were sound asleep.
It seemed just minutes later when Tara opened her eyes
to the sun streaming through the open window of her
room. Ana lay cuddled next to her, sleeping soundly, while
Andru played with his feet. He smiled broadly at her when
she looked at him. The smile looked just like his papa’s.
Tara lay there, holding both of them tightly, feeling pain
from the loss of the only man she’d ever loved. Tears came
to her eyes and she let them flow.
It wasn’t long before both babies were fully awake and
ready to play. Tara had to put her own thoughts aside and
focus on her children. As she sat on the floor of the small
room, tickling and playing with them, she heard Taffley
whistling through
the
wooden walls as he
prepared
breakfast. Every now and then he groaned. She imagined
he was either hung over from the wine, or not used to firing
that large bang stick of his.
The bell announcing that food was ready came shortly,
and Tara picked up the babies and headed out to the table.
She was surprised to feel how warm it was outside.
“We’ve had someone following us through those trees
over there,” Taffley said as Tara secured the babies into
their chairs. “If you want to eat in your room, I can set the
table in there.”
Tara looked at the trees and heard the low rumble of a
motorcycle. She squinted and saw two people riding the
bike.
They were
matching
the
pace
of
the
hauling
watermobile and staying just out of view through the trees.
“If you’d help me push the babies chairs to my room, I’d
appreciate it.”
She walked back to the room, pushing Ana in her chair.
Taffley followed with Andru. Her son talked gibberish in a
very demanding tone. It made her think of Darius. Not the
gibberish. Andru spoke in such an insistent manner. He
sounded as if he had the answers and wasn’t too patient
about explaining them, just like his papa.
Once again she shoved the man out of her head. Andru
would never be like Darius. Tara would raise him to be
better than that.
She watched the bike through her window as she fed the
babies their breakfast. Why wasn’t its rider attacking like
the
others?
They
paced
the
hauling
watermobile—
watching, learning, yet not attacking. It was a Runner
strategy, but that wasn’t a Runner bike.
“Tara?” A voice shouted her name.
She jumped, startled, and rushed to the window. “I don’t
believe it!” She ran out of the room and onto the deck.
“Stop the watermobile,” a voice yelled.
“Not on your life.” Taffley raised his bang stick to fire.
“Taffley, no!” Tara cried out, but it was too late.
Taffley fell to the ground as laser fire shot across the
water and knocked him off the deck. He yelled loudly and
looked at his smoking leg. Dark blood started soaking
through the torn material of his pants.
“Put that laser down now!” Tara yelled to the shore.
She ran over to Taffley and propped him up against the
deck.
“Tara, you’ve got to make him stop,” Torgo yelled. He
and Syra were now visible on the shore of the river.
“Who are they?” Taffley was grimacing from the pain.
“A couple of kids. What they’re doing here is the
question!” Tara looked back at the two sitting on Torgo’s
bike.
“Tara, can you hear me?” Torgo yelled.
“Yes, I can hear you.”
“You’re floating into a trap. There’s a mob down there
just waiting for you. They’ll turn you in for the price on
your head.”
Tara looked at Taffley, who kept his eyes pinned to the
deck. “How do we stop this thing?”
He got up slowly. Holding onto his bleeding leg, he
limped to the back of the watermobile. She didn’t follow.
Her babies wailed. Tara hurried to them, deciding the many
mothers in her clan who had always appeared calm as the
clan travelled had to have been very good actors.
Taffley yelled at her. “Hold onto those little ones. I’m
dropping the catch hold. When it digs into the river bottom,
it will cause quite a lurch.”
Tara gripped the sides of the babies’ chairs and braced
her
feet
as the
watermobile
jerked
to
a
stop.
It
was
suddenly very quiet all around them.
“Word is traveling all over the place that you are on a
ferry headed to the border,” Torgo yelled, breaking the
silence.
Tara left her children with their breakfast, hoping the
calm surrounding them would be enough for them not to
cry.
“I wonder how they found out.” Tara marched on to the
open deck and glared at Taffley.
“All I knew was that you were a Runner. People ‘round
here’s scared of Runners. I’d already let you on my hauling
watermobile when I saw the reward being offered.” Taffley
looked sincerely forlorn as he stared at her. “I don’t know
why you’re wanted, but I can’t imagine whatever you did
was all that bad.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Taffley looked at the two kids sitting on the bike on the
shore. He nodded in their direction. “If things are as bad as
those two say, the thieves attacked us to get to you.” He
shook his head. “There’ll be more. Probably soon. You’d
stand a better chance if you get off on the other side of the
river.”
Tara studied the water. The river was wide. She spotted
a few sandbars ahead
of
them
and nodded
in that
direction. “How far to the border?”
“Half a day, if you drive. We’ll get there tonight if you
stay on board. If you drive straight south, you’ll cross the
desert. Another half a day of heading west and you’ll hit the
road.”
“We need to get the groundmobile and my bike off this
thing.” She started yelling instructions to Torgo and Syra.
“Cross the river up there by the sandbars. Torgo, give it
some speed when you hit the water.”
Taffley was obviously feeling the pain from his wound as
he hobbled around. He didn’t complain. To his credit, he
made
quick
work of
removing the
straps from the
groundmobile and bike. More than likely he’d decided it
there wasn’t a reward in it for him, his hauling watermobile
would be safer with her and the twins off of it.
Tara loaded the babies into their seats in the back of the
groundmobile, much to their dismay. A bit more of their
breakfast, a few select toys, and Andru and Ana seemed
content.
“What can we do to help?” Torgo lifted himself out of the
water onto the deck. He’d parked his bike on the shore
after driving to the other side, then he and Syra had swum
out to join them.
“Hell be doomed! What are you two doing here?” Tara
showed her rage. “This isn’t a game.”
“You promised me a job.” Syra shrugged, not caring if
Tara yelled, and wrung water from her hair.
“You can’t stay with me. You’ll both get killed.” Tara
wasn’t in the mood for a mouthy teenager.
“You’re not so great you couldn’t get killed yourself.”
Syra’s eyes flared. “Especially with two babies. You need
help.”
Torgo spoke up. “My brother isn’t going to stop looking
for you, or his children, no matter where you go.”
“’Scuse me. I hate to break up this family feud, but are
you all getting off, or not?” Taffley shifted his gaze from the
dripping teenagers to the irate Runner.
“Yes, we are.” Tara continued to glare at Torgo and Syra.
“Okay, you want to work? You got it. Syra, take my bike off
the trailer. It will lighten the load when we drive the
groundmobile through the water. Torgo, you help Taffley
lower the ramp.”
Everyone began moving, and in no time Tara was in the
groundmobile, going through the water. The splashing on
either
side
of
the
vehicle
impressed
the
twins. They
watched the spectacle with awe.
“Be careful, Taffley,” Tara yelled from shore after they’d
secured the trailer to the back of the groundmobile.
“It won’t be a welcome committee when I get to the
border, that’s for sure.” Taffley let out a laugh. “Do me a
favor, though. When you tell it around the fire, say you
shot me while escaping. I don’t think I could live it down if
they knew I got shot by some kid girl.”
“Deal!” Tara smiled. “I’ll ask a favor in return. From now
on, you be friendly to Runners. We’re good people, and no
Runner will attack you unless you attack first.”
Taffley waved, then started pulling up the catch hold.
“Let’s get a move on. You can ride with me as far as the
border.” Tara was anxious.
Syra ignored her and walked over to Torgo on his bike.
“You’ll ride with me,” Tara stressed as she climbed in the
groundmobile.
“Why? I want to ride with Torgo.”
“I can see that.” Tara gave Torgo a hard look, and he
diverted his attention to the ground. It dawned on her that
the two of them had been together all night. “You want to
work for me, then get in the groundmobile.”
Syra knew Tara would lecture her. After all, she had left
without telling anyone. She was with Torgo. And, she’d
followed
Tara,
who
had
every gold
hungry warrior in
Nuworld after her. Deciding to pick her battles, she joined
Tara.
Syra glanced back at Torgo, who followed behind the
groundmobile. He smiled and she faced front. So far, this
was the best adventure she’d ever had. It was actually
disappointing that they’d found Tara so fast. Riding with
Torgo all morning, rubbing against his body, her arms
wrapped around him…her mind drifted to the night before.
They’d rode south, following the only map she had found
on her landlink. Once they’d found tracks that resembled
those
a groundmobile
and trailer would leave, they’d
followed them to the river. That’s when they’d decided to
take a break.
She remembered Torgo kissing her. The bright moon
had made it easy to see. When she’d unbuttoned his shirt
and slipped it off his shoulders, every one of his chest
muscles were outlined with moonlight. His hands had been
all over her. He never even hesitated with his exploring.
Maybe he wasn’t as inexperienced as she’d thought.
Everywhere he’d touched her had set her on fire. She didn’t
remember how they’d moved from standing to lying on the
ground. They’d greeted each other’s bodies with excitement
and anticipation. While she hadn’t been aware of hurting
herself at the time, the bruises on her body this morning
indicated they’d gotten a bit carried away.
There had also been the…thing she’d done to Torgo.
Syra never would have thought to do it, except she’d
caught her Aunt Tasha doing it to another clansman one
night. Her aunt and the man never knew she’d seen them.
But, she’d never forgotten what she saw. It had looked like
they’d been enjoying themselves, so she’d tried it last night