The turn signal clicked on as Raphael pulled from the parking space, driving down the egress, entering traffic, and merging onto the interstate. The rattle of the plastic wrapper didn’t faze him as he heard the pop of the soda can and a small mouth guzzling down the sugary sweet liquid.
“You’re safe for now,” Raphael said. “I took a chance that you would get in the vehicle once I moved it closer to you. The man was not your father?”
“No,” a small child said. “I like your voice. You have a voice like a nice Daddy that reads great bedtime stories.”
Mr. Exit cleared his throat, trying to get the child to come back on track, “Was the man planning to hurt you?”
“No, but he was going to take me to other men who would,” she said, shoving a handful of nuts into her mouth.
“Have those men or Theodore hurt you before?” he asked looking into the rear-view mirror trying to see who he was speaking with.
“Theodore is not allowed to touch me or the Mothers,” she said. “He has his own wives. I don’t have anyone but Willow Rayne and Dusty Rose. They are my nest and take care of me. You know like baby birds, with a Mommy who brings them food and keeps them warm.”
“Do you know how to get to where Willow Rayne and Dusty rose live?”
The child sounded small, hungry, and very thirsty. She gulped down the soda, making a loud burp, then opened the bag of chips. Her manners weren’t lacking as she asked to be excused for the loud gassy expulsion of air.
“Sorry, but I am so hungry. I don’t get to eat until after date night,” she said, frowning. “It would have been my first date night, but I didn’t wanna go. Some of the girls come back from date night very sick. Hurt. Bleeding down there.”
Raphael’s hands gripped the steering wheel. He’d heard so much of this before. Cults of pedophiles masquerading as holiness and wellness centers of the new age of people living off the grid. They were dens of iniquities preying on the less fortunate. He knew them all too well since he’d lost his sister to one in Ohio.
If it hadn’t been for the Archangel, a man very few of the technicians actually knew personally, going inside one of those cults on a late night to rescue his sister, the niece who ran track at Idaho state would have been just like the child in the back seat; a victim with no future outside of more abusive men.
“Sweetie, do you know where I can locate your mothers?” Raphael asked. He didn’t know what to expect from the kid. She sounded very small. Maybe six or seven at the oldest.
“Right outside of Pine Knot in Daniel Boone National Park. Well, not in the park, since that’s the gub’ments land, but right on the edge of it. Willow Rayne and Dusty Rose are there. He’s going to sell them soon,” the small voice said. “Willow Rayne won’t allow Him to touch Dusty Rose, although he says she’s ripe for the plucking. Willow Rayne fights hard to keep Him away from Dusty Rose. She don’t know they took me.”
“What’s your name?”
“Karli Jebsen,” she said.
“Do you have parents, Karli?”
“No,” she said softly. “My father fought against them, and they killed him a few years ago. I think it was years, I’m not that great at telling time on a calendar yet. My real mother tried to get away, and Him sold her to the men with mustaches who talk funny, but Him kept me.”
“Karli, are there a lot of men at this place where you live or just Him and Theodore?” Raphael wanted to know.
“Him. Theodore. George and Kindred, who really wants Dusty Rose. No one trusts that guy,” she said. “In the morning, Willow Rayne and Dusty Rose will walk to the Wolf Pen Creek to get water and wash clothes. I think we should meet them there and escape with you.”
“With me?”
“Yes, I prayed for help like Willow Rayne taught me to do when I was terrified, and that’s what I did,” she said. “I prayed. You pulled up and scared Theodore and I ran and hid. Butchy started barking, letting you know something was wrong, then you moved your car so I could get in it, and you brought me food. I need more because I’m still very hungry, and I need to pee.”
“Karli, I should call the police and let them handle this,” Raphael said, trying to see the child in the back seat.
“Why? The police come out every Friday and go into the mating hut with a different girl each week. The policeman also wants Dusty Rose, but only Him can have the girls first,” she said. “Him wanted me, but Willow Rayne wouldn’t let Him touch me either, which is why Him was sending me out for date night. I hate it there. Please help me. Help us.”
“If I am caught with you, I could get in a lot of trouble,” he said. “We may need to find someone to help me, help you.”
“I want you to help us,” Karli pleaded.
“Karli, how do you know I’m not a bad man too?” Raphael asked, looking into the rearview mirror to see her face. “I can’t see you Karli.”
She slid over in the seat. She wore a purple slip dress with daisies and other flowers covering the fabric in sporadic spots. She had caramel skin with thin braids in her hair and an adorable upturned nose.
“How old are you, Sweetie?”
“I’m 10, but Willow Rayne said on my next birthday she would make me a cake. I really like cake, but we don’t get to eat sugar,” Karli told Raphael. “That soda was really sweet and I’m probably going to start pinging as Willow Rayne calls it.”
“Karli, we need help. I need to make some calls to get a few people to provide me with more information before I get myself into a mess I can’t get out of, or these bad men will end up hurting me too,” Raphael explained.
“No, the less people the better,” Karli said. “If anybody asks, I’ll just say I’m your daughter. When you get Willow Rayne and Dusty Rose, you can say Dusty Rose is your daughter from your first marriage and I’m the one from you and Willow Rayne. We can be a family. I can go to a regular school with real friends. Please. Please help us. I hate it there.”
“So, you’ve told me.”
“We just have to wait until morning, just after sunrise. I can show you,” Karli said. “I can ease in and tell them we’re being rescued, they follow me back to the truck, and we’re outta there!”
“Karli, it’s not that simple,” Raphael tried to warn the child, who popped up on the back seat.
One look at her sweet cherubic face did him in. The idea of a 10-year-old child being taken to grown men for date night made the acid in his stomach bubble and his trigger finger itch. A thing he didn’t care for was people with vices who hurt others. Him, whoever ‘him’ was, had earned an assessment from Mr. Exit. It wasn’t his place to pass judgement, but he didn’t mind expelling a few bullets when needed.
“Helping people is easy. Help me. Help my Mothers,” Karli pleaded.
The sign came up for Pine Knot. Before he knew it, he had hit the turn signal to exit the interstate. Once he secured Willow Rayne and Dusty Rose, a call would be made to the Archangel for assistance with the women. Tonight, he needed a place to rest. Karli needed more food and a hot bath once he collected her mothers, and the rest he’d have to figure out.