Life Blood ---XX---Page No--66

"No, it's wonderful now" Then she turned and said something
to one of the women. It took me a moment to realize she was
speaking their language; I guessed it was Kekchi Maya.
        I was stunned. How did she learn it? Finally she looked back
at me and switched to English again. "I didn't understand before. I
was . . . sick so much."

"Sar, come on." I slipped my arm around her. "We're going to get you out of here."

I'd never felt so helpless. Alan Dupre had said there was a
road, but it was controlled by the Army. Right now, I didn't even
know where it was. Maybe I could find a phone, or radio. Call the
embassy. There must be something. Alex Goddard has to be here
somewhere, but he's not going to stop me. I'll strangle him if he
tries.

I hugged her again, the feel of her skin-and-bones frame making my soul ache. But most hurtful of all, I wasn't sure she would want to leave.

"Sar, can you understand me?" I tried to catch her deep blue
eyes. "I'm taking you home. Your father's very worried about you."
        Mention of Lou seemed to finally get through to her. She
turned and examined me with a quizzical look, and then her eyes
hardened.

"Morgy, he was never there for me." Her voice was filled with certainty, and pain. "But when I went to see Dr. Goddard he let me come here for the ceremony. It's so spiritual. After—"

"Sar, come on." What did she mean by "ceremony"?

Whatever it was, I had to get her out of this place. Immediately. "We've—"

"Are you here for the ceremony?" Her face flooded with

renewed joy. "It's two days from now. Maybe he'll let you—"

"She should be resting." It was a harsh voice, directly behind
us.

I recoiled, then whirled around. Three men were standing

there, two of them young privates in uniforms of the Guatemalan
Army and carrying AK-47 assault rifles, the ones with the long,
ominous curved clip Steve called cuerno de cabrio, the "horn of
the goat."

The third was in a black sweatshirt and black jeans, his long salt-and-pepper hair tied back in a ponytail.

"They should have known better than to bring her out here," Alex Goddard said. "Not in her condition."

The bastard. It was all coming together in my mind. He'd tried to kill her once before, and now he was going to finish the job. But he'd have to kill me first.

"I'm here to take her home." I marched up to him. "You're not
about to get away with kidnapping. I'm going to get the embassy
to—"

"She's here for important medical reasons." He met my eyes. "I hope you'll allow me the opportunity to help her."
        "What do you mean, 'help'?"

"I'll explain if you'll give me a chance." He revolved and

delivered some brusque orders in Kekchi Maya to the women,
who nodded apologetically and began helping Sarah back onto
the palanquin. After he admonished her in the same language, he
then said something in quick Spanish to the two young Army
privates, who gave him a firm salute, turned, and walked over to
pick the palanquin up, to carry it for the women. The sense of
authority he exuded reminded me of that first morning we met at
Quetzal Manor. His eyes flashed from benign to demanding to
benign in an instant.

"No, damn it, alto!" I strode over, shoved the soldiers aside, and took her hand. "Sar, honey, don't you understand what's going on? Something terrible happened to you when you were here before. I'm so worried—"

"But he says I need to stay, Morgy." She drew back. "It's best. He's helping me."

As I watched the two privates carry her away, down the

cobblestone pathway, AK-47's swung over their shoulders, I felt

my helplessness become complete. The Army here was under his control, just like everything else.

How was I going to tell Lou about this, that Sarah had been brainwashed? Whatever Alex Goddard had done to her had
turned her into some kind of "Moonie," ready to denounce her own father. So now did I have two battles to wage: one with Alex Goddard and one with her?

Then he walked over to me.

"I'm not going to ask how you got here, though I assume it
wasn't easy." He smiled, like a kindly priest, and put his hand on
my shoulder. "But however you did it, I'm glad you decided to
come. It's important for you to be here. She needs you now."