And they were tired of him interfering with their salacious urges, Theron guessed. But Bedene did not say that.

  “You said they have horses, right?” he asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Listen, if you can send these raiders off on another trail and maybe get a couple of horses for us, I’ll see to it that you get a double share of the earnings.”

  Theron almost said that he didn’t give a damn about the money—after all, he had no intention of letting anyone be sold—but he snapped his mouth shut, remembering his ruse. “The way I see it, there are three extra shares on the table now.”

  “You think you should get the shares of the people you killed?” Bedene asked. “That’s not going to make us think overly fondly of you.”

  “Do you think fondly of me now?”

  “No,” growled the man whose cap he had knocked off.

  Several others shook their heads.

  Bedene snorted. “You get the horses, Mace, and get us a head start, and we’ll talk. You’ll at least get two shares.”

  “Odd how you keep trying to get rid of me,” Theron said, thinking of the firewood gathering errand Bedene had made up for him the night before. What if this was about getting rid of him again, so the men could enjoy a leisurely morning with the women? No, Bedene wouldn’t be that stupid, not with raiders about to be breathing down their necks. He didn’t even seem that interested in the women. Last night, he had probably been trying to avoid the exact situation that had played out.

  “You’re the only one here with a scouting background,” Bedene said. “You’re the logical choice.”

  A scouting background he had barely used in the last fifteen years. Commanders didn’t run off to go sneaking through the woods; they had light-footed, young privates for that.

  “We need the horses for the women,” Bedene added. “Your tattooed beast is the only one without blisters all over her feet. Apparently, people didn’t walk much back then.”

  “All right. Horses.”

  Bedene had doubtlessly added that last argument because he had known that the prospect of making things easier on the women would sway Theron, but he couldn’t deny that the group could use horses. And a head start. It shouldn’t take him that long to travel to the camp, but he had better go before full daylight came. And he had better hope that he was as good at stealth as he had once been—and that the raiders didn’t have somebody better.

  • • • • •

  Andie grimaced as she stood near the doorway, listening to Bedene’s side of the conversation with Mace. With Theron, she reminded herself, though she vowed not to use the name out loud. It made her nervous that he was being sent away, that he was letting himself be sent away. Bedene’s reasoning might sound legitimate, but Andie had a bad feeling about it. These men had a lot of reasons to want to get rid of Theron, and this might be their opportunity to do so.

  And then what would happen to Andie and the others? As much as she hated admitting that she was dependent on a man—or on anyone—she couldn’t deny that the kidnappers still outnumbered them and had a huge advantage. Min-ji was clever, but she didn’t have any fighting experience, nor had Andie seen anything to suggest that the others did.

  “I’m ready,” Barbara whispered, joining her near the door, patting the side of her thigh.

  Andie nodded to her, glad the woman had woken up more animated today. The day before, Barbara had worn a glazed expression and spoken little, even when Andie had tried to draw her into their meeting in the corner. As Andie had suspected, her boyfriend had been killed in front of her eyes, and she didn’t quite seem to grasp yet what was going on. Further, she had blisters upon blisters on the bottoms of her feet. Her inertia was understandable.

  All of the men had gone outside when they had discovered the dead guard, telling the women to stay put. Min-ji had headed to the hearth and stirred up the fire, mumbling something about ingredients she had seen the day before. Now, she was pouring something into a hot skillet. Andie had no idea if she would have enough time to finish whatever she was making.

  She had used the men’s absence to rifle through the packs of the dead, assuming that anything taken from them would not be missed. She had found a sheath for the compact knife Theron had thrown to her and had used some twine to tie it high up on her thigh. Since nobody had offered her a belt, it was the best she could manage. She had found knives for Min-ji and Barbara, as well, instructing them on how to hide them. It wouldn’t take a very thorough search—or a very thorough grope, as they were more likely to receive from these brutes—to uncover the weapons, but Andie hoped to keep ahold of her knife long enough for it to be useful. She had found a tin full of matches, as well, the heads bulbous and uneven, as if they had been made from scratch instead in a factory. So long as they worked. They were tied to her other thigh, along with a couple of pouches she had filled with gunpowder and tied off.

  “We should go now,” Marisa said, the girl who had spent the night in the loft. Even if she had gone up willingly and there hadn’t been any cries of distress, her dark eyes were haunted now, and she flinched when Min-ji made a noise by the hearth. Marisa might have been moved into this group because she wasn’t a virgin, but Andie wagered that thug had been an alarming change from whatever high school sweetheart she had back home. “There are windows back there. Let’s sneak out, get out of here.”

  “And go where?” Andie asked, Theron’s words coming to mind.

  When he had mentioned the bracers, she had deflated, her plan of using the time machine falling apart, but then she had remembered that Bedene wore one. If she could get it from him, they might yet be able to get home. Even though she believed that Theron was an army officer and had good intentions, the route he had described sounded more complicated than running back up the trail to that cave and trying that time machine. If the machine had been moved, as he had suggested might occur, then they could go to his base and hope that everything would be as he had said. He hadn’t told her his rank, though, and she didn’t know if he truly had any power over what their fates might be if they returned. He didn’t have any gray in his dark hair, and she didn’t think he could be any older than forty, which meant he might be the equivalent of a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, but he might only be a captain or a major, if promotions here weren’t automatic, and she presumed they weren’t. She didn’t know anything about this world, but she had a hard time imagining someone as high ranking as a colonel being sent out on a mission like this. If he had that much rank, he ought to be commanding a battalion or a brigade somewhere; he would be too valuable to risk on something like this. Of course, the time machine might be top secret here, which would mean they would have to send someone they trusted, who had the talent, the experience, and the clearance necessary to make decisions in regard to it.

  Marisa nudged Andie. “Did you hear me? I just want to go back to Cle Elum. I want to go home.”

  “I do too,” Ruth Marie whispered. “I’m afraid to spend another night here. And I’m afraid—” Her voice tightened, and she looked very much like the sixteen-year-old girl she was. She was far too young to be in this situation. Not that there would ever be an age where it wouldn’t be terrifying.

  “I don’t think Cle Elum is there anymore,” Andie said. “You didn’t notice where we are? Snoqualmie Pass? The ski area—or what was once the ski area. Min-ji can explain it.” She nodded, because her friend was coming over. “And maybe she can explain those tin packets too.”

  Min-ji was carrying foil-wrapped packages. “They’re smoke bombs. I found sugar and saltpeter.”

  “I had no idea astrophysicists could make explosives,” Andie said.

  “They don’t explode. They just smoke. But if you find me a ping pong ball, I can make you a cherry bomb.”

  “Too bad I haven’t seen a toilet to flush one down yet.”

  Thus far, calls of nature had involved squatting behind bushes, with their captors uncomfortably close.

  “Are you two sisters?” Barbara asked.

  “No, Min-ji is my aerothermodynamics and fluid mechanics tutor.”

  “Aero-what?”

  “That’s what I said when I saw the course catalogue.”

  “I’m also the one who talked her into going camping,” Min-ji said. “I had never been before. I thought it would be fun.” Her face crumpled. “I’m sorry, Andie.”

  “Sh, it’s not your fault.” Andie hugged her friend, though the men were moving around outside, so they didn’t have long to embrace their emotions. They would probably be coming for the women soon. “And I did get to see that comet.”

  Min-ji snorted softly, her eyes brimming with moisture. Voices sounded close to the door, and she sniffed and collected herself. “Here, Andie. Take the smoke packets. You’re the one with the matches. I’ll trust you to find a time to use them.”

  Though Andie wasn’t sure how many more things she could tie away beneath her shirt before someone noticed the bulges, she accepted them. Then she moved closer to the door while Min-ji explained the situation to the others. She had already heard the unlikely story, and now she wanted to know what the men were up to. She hadn’t heard Theron’s voice for several minutes and was afraid he had, indeed, been sent away, off to deal with men who sounded about as fuzzy and nice as serial killers.

  She had no sooner than leaned her ear against the door than Bedene opened it. He frowned at her, or perhaps at the fact that her hands were not tied and nobody else had noticed.

  “Get the women in the truck,” Bedene told his men, “and make sure they’re tied again.”

  “Truck?” From what Andie had heard of the conversation between him and Theron, Bedene had wanted horses. He couldn’t have a real truck stashed here, could he? Andie had yet to see or hear a motor vehicle.

  Bedene pushed past her without answering, heading straight to his gear and grabbing it. Another man gripped Andie’s arm, pulling her into the damp grass outside. She went along with him, not wanting to get into a fight, lest the twine tying her weapons to her legs fall down, leaving a condemning pile at her feet. Min-ji and the others filed out after her.

  As she had feared from the conversation, Theron wasn’t anywhere around. He had been sent to get horses, horses they didn’t need if they had a vehicle. Andie swallowed as the implications battered her, one after the other. Bedene meant to leave Theron behind to face deadly enemies alone. Bedene meant to deprive the women of their sole protector. Bedene meant to ensure that Theron would never see the marketplace or find out where Andie and the others were to be sold.

  As she was pushed around the corner of the cabin, she stumbled, barely recovering. Her feet were as stunned as her mind. She didn’t know how Theron had come to mean something to her so quickly, but it was more than the idea of being left without a protector that bothered her. She wanted to see him again.

  Yeah? To what end? More kissing?

  Andie frowned at the all-too-frank voice in her head, even if it was correct. What did she think would happen with Theron? That they would have some romance here in Let’s-Kidnap-Women-for-Breeding Land? That she could go home, and maybe he could pop back through the time machine on the weekends to visit her? Sure, that could happen.

  “Wait here,” her captor said.

  Four other men had followed them through dewy, waist-high grass to an old barn behind the stables. It didn’t look like anyone had been inside for a long time—a slender tree had grown up in front of the doors, and it had to be several years old. The kidnapper jogged around a corner and disappeared. The others all held rifles and were watching the woods. More than one looked nervous after Theron’s talk of raiders. Or maybe it had been the dead comrade they had found on the doorstep that morning.

  The rest of the kidnappers had remained behind, grabbing their packs and waiting in front of the cabin. It occurred to Andie that nobody was paying an inordinate amount of attention to the women’s group right now. Their four guards were close, but looking in the other direction. She touched the bulge that represented the matches and tried to catch Min-ji’s eye. This might be the time to throw up some smoke, make some noise, and try to disappear into the woods. She definitely did not want to spend another night alone with these brutes, not if Theron wasn’t there to scare off their advances.

  Min-ji was watching her, and she nodded. The teenagers were watching her too. Andie touched Barbara’s arm, drawing her eye. She tapped her thigh and tilted her chin toward the nearest set of trees. The fact that the men wouldn’t—or at least shouldn’t—shoot them made her braver than she might have been otherwise, especially given her meager firepower.

  Barbara glanced at their guards, then nodded shakily.

  An engine started up near the back end of the barn. Andie reached for the matches.

  Before she could pull one out, two men charged into view from the direction of the cabin. One was Bedene, and he was waving over his shoulder for the others to follow.

  “Riders,” he barked. “A lot of them. Where’s the damned truck?”

  “Coming, boss,” came a call from the barn.

  Wood cracked, then shattered. Andie lifted her long shirt, touching the smoke packets and the matches. She bit her lip, looking to the tree line, tempted to run now, while the men around her had turned their weapons—and their focus—toward the cabin. But the thunder of hooves was audible now, and she would be running from a known evil into an unknown one. That unknown one could be much worse. As much as she hated to do so, she lowered her hands. If she had been alone, she might have taken the risk, but she couldn’t lead others to potential doom.

  A gunshot cracked near her ear—one of her guards firing at a figure on horseback that had charged past the cabin. A blood-curdling cry pierced the air as more riders came into view. They were male, their chests bare and painted, and leather masks covered their faces. Their long, matted hair bounced around their shoulders as they rode, pieces of fur tied into the snarls. They steered their mounts with their knees and used both hands to hold bows or rifles.

  Andie had been backing away as soon as they appeared, figuring she could find cover behind the barn, but someone spun her around and shoved her. “Go. Get in.”

  A big truck with a covered cargo bed was rolling toward the women, the doors mismatched, the frame made more of rust than metal. But in that moment, it represented salvation, an escape from those riders with their savage cries.

  An arrow speared the ground a foot to Andie’s side. She veered, zigzagging her route as she ran for the back of the truck, waving and pushing Min-ji and the other girls ahead of her. From what Theron had said, she had assumed these raiders wanted to collect stray women, as well, but if they were shooting indiscriminately, she would be more in danger of death than she was of being kidnapped.

  Bullets clanged off the truck, but aside from the rust, the sturdy frame reminded her of the military vehicles back home. So long as the driver wasn’t hit, it should keep running—she hoped.

  She reached the back and gave Barbara a hand up into the high cargo bed. Nobody had bothered dropping the tailgate. More screeching whoops echoed through the clearing, the riders not daunted by Bedene’s men, even though the kidnappers were firing back and striking raiders.

  Next to her, Min-ji tripped and tumbled into the grass. Andie grabbed her, helping her up, then giving her a boost. She was the last of the women, aside from Andie herself. The men could worry about themselves.

  As she put her foot on the fender and was about to climb up, a horseman made it to the back of the truck with a scream that made every hair on Andie’s arms stand up. The horse reared, and the man waved his sword, bloodlust in his eyes as he stared down at Andie. She grabbed her knife, afraid she would be too late and that it would be too puny of a weapon to do anything. But while he was staring down at her, his sword poised to strike, his horse’s legs pawing at the air a foot from her head, a bullet slammed into his chest. He tumbled off the creature’s back. Andie leaped into the truck, not waiting to see if he rose again.

  Several more of Bedene’s men flung themselves in after her. One was still straddling the tailgate when the vehicle lurched into motion. If not for a quick grab from a comrade, he would have fallen out as the truck drove away, bumping and tilting as it rolled through the high grass.

  That wasn’t the end of the attack. More rifles fired, bullets clanging off the truck and tearing through the thinner metal of the cargo cover. Andie had never climbed into one of the seats, and she was glad. She lay flat on the bottom of the bed with the others. One of the kidnappers had collapsed onto her back, ducking his head to avoid being hit, and for once, she didn’t care that one of the dirty brutes wanted to be on top of her. He was welcome to be her shield.

  Horse hooves continued to thunder in the grass, the riders keeping up with the truck.

  “Stay down back there,” Bedene yelled from the cab.

  “Not like we were going to be tearing off our clothes and dancing on the seats,” Andie muttered.

  The man on top of her snorted in what might have been agreement.

  The truck lurched, tires finding pavement, or the lumpy, cracked surface that passed for it. The vehicle bounced and jerked, picking up speed. Andie’s rattling teeth felt like they were in danger of falling out of her mouth.

  At first, the hooves pounded all around the truck, and rifles continued to fire, but finally, the horses grew tired and fell behind. The weapons ceased firing. Andie risked wriggling out from underneath her human shield and rising to her knees. She peered out the back, watching the riders fall farther behind. As the trees blurred past on either side of the old highway, a lump formed in her throat. They were leaving Theron behind to deal with all of those crazies on his own. She might never see him again.

  Chapter 7

  As soon as Theron reached the raider camp, the entire horde raced for their improvised corral. His first thought was that he had been spotted, but he caught a few intelligible words slipping out around their heavy slang that he could decipher. They were leaving for a raid.