CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Animals? They’re killing animals?” frowned Saylor. “I never made that connection.”
“What do you mean?” frowned Ham.
“I mean, our house had these animal skin rugs. What I thought were faux animal skin rugs. I never thought to ask if they were real. There were two zebra rugs, a bear rug and my father had a rug with a tigers head in his office. I swear, I thought they were fakes,” she said with tears in her eyes.
“You didn’t have a reason to believe otherwise. You didn’t even know about the guns until you were in high school,” said Gator. “Did you ever suspect that they were sending the daughters to these hunts?”
“Never,” she said shaking her head and swallowing. “But in fairness, I was one of the younger daughters. There were a few others, but most of the families had sons.”
“Saylor, we know that’s not true,” said AJ staring at her.
“Wh-what do you mean? It was mostly boys on the compound. There were only a few other girls and they got married and mo-,” she stopped suddenly realizing where it was all going. “Dear God. They didn’t move away. They were sent to entertain the hunters and didn’t return.”
“We think that’s probably right. There were four young women, older than you that no longer live on the compound from what Zane told us. One was supposed to be his wife. When she was chosen, hence ‘the chosen one’, he knew he’d never see her again.
“What I can’t figure out is why none of these girls aren’t getting pregnant, which would have saved them at least until the babies were born.
Do you remember any of the families having new, unexplained babies?
Maybe they said they’d adopted them or were taking care of them for a family member or something. ”
“No,” she said shaking her head. “Nothing like that. Why would my father tell me I had to marry one of the Yeager boys? I mean if I was going to be a chosen one why make me marry him?”
“Maybe it was to save you, in a way,” said Gator. “If you were married, you wouldn’t be sent to the hunters.”
“This is all so sick. So perverse!” she said pacing the front of the room. “Do you understand how this makes me feel? These people were my family. They were supposed to protect me, protect the other kids and now I find out they’re sending them to their death.”
“Honey, it’s not your fault,” said Sor. “You had no idea what they were doing and I suspect they did a very good job of hiding it from you. All of this helps us to understand why they had the cache of weapons and maybe even the food. They could have been using it to provide for the hunters at the camp.”
“Why did they send the Miller boys to Mexico? Why not send them to the place they own in the Dakotas?” she asked.
“Most likely because the boys would have suspected something. Although Zane didn’t say it, I got the feeling that he and his brother weren’t planning on returning to Nebraska. I think they were going to sell the guns and hides, and then take the money and hide,” said Ham.
“God, those poor kids. The other five boys are probably paying for their brothers leaving them there. Can’t we help them?”
“We’re going to help them all if we can.
We’re gathering a team now that will head to the Dakota property and get the animals out of there.
The property right now is zoned as an animal rehabilitation center.
That’s probably why no one reported the wild animal sounds that surely they heard,” said Gator.
“Who will go and rescue them?” she asked looking around the room.
“That team is prepping for departure now,” said Ham. “It will include Trak, Striker, Sniff, Dex, and a few others. They’re more than capable of getting in and getting those animals out of there.”
“But won’t the property be guarded and have cameras? Surely there are alarms. And what if there are hunters there?” she asked.
“Do you really want to know, Saylor?” asked Cowboy.
“Yes. I really want to know.”
“If there are hunters, they will be hunted. If it’s only animals, we’ll take them and notify the authorities to shut down the property and seize it. If there is anyone there from the compound or working for the compound, they’ll be arrested.”
She stared at the men for a moment, then looked at her stoic husband, his long hair touching his shoulders, his face a mask of nothingness. There was no emotion, no anger, no lover. Nothing.
This is what he’d done when he’d left last time. He distanced himself from her to shield her from where he was going and what he’d be doing.
“You’re going, aren’t you?” she asked.
“You’re my wife, Saylor. I will do everything to protect you and I cannot allow others to risk their lives when I’m capable of helping. I know you don’t understand,” he started.
She ran to him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Laying her head against his chest, she breathed in deeply, taking in all of his scent.
“You’re wrong. I do understand. I understand more now than ever before.
I’ve never had anyone protect me. No one and that’s what you’re doing now.
You’re protecting me and the boys and I’m so grateful that I found you and that you love me enough to do this.
” He smiled over her head at the grins of the other men.
“Honey, you are loved more than you can possibly imagine. My life would be empty without you and the twins. Not to diminish that but this is about more than you, me, and the boys now. It’s about those animals and the hunters. We have to stop that.”
“I know,” she nodded. “I know and I understand. I think it’s awful and terribly cruel. Can we bring them back here?”
“I don’t know,” smirked Jak staring at the doorway. Luke, Gaspar, and Irene were smiling at them. “What do you think?”
“I think we can make room for more,” smiled Gaspar. “But so help me if you bring me a wild hyena, I’ll skin all of you alive.”
“No signs of a hyena,” said AJ with a straight face.
They all turned to stare at him, their brows furrowed.
“Oh, sorry. I sent drones once we knew where the property was located. We’re still counting but it’s mostly zebras, lions, tigers, giraffes, elephants, and a few scattered bison and elk. ”
“Just found a grouping of black bears,” called Hiro from the comms room.
“Okay,” nodded Ham. “Looks like we’ll have a lot of animals. Make sure we have cages, trucks, and Lucy, Violet, Dani, Summer, and Claire waiting in the jet in case they’re needed.”
“On it,” said Cowboy. “That’ll mean King, Matt and Devin will want to go too.”
“The more the merrier,” said Ham. “Let’s get this done.”