Chapter 34
Beckett’s eyes were wild— looking everywhere, trying to make sense of the situation — what his next move should be. Where was Luna? There were five armed men between Beckett and any place she might be. He’d never find her if fighting armed men was step one. “Where are you taking her?”
A gruff voice said, “Wherever we want, and it’s none of your business.”
He said, “It is my business, that’s my wife.”
The officers started laughing like it was all some big joke. One said, “Well you’re not big on the decision making, huh? Marrying a Nomad — you could probably fuck her without going to all the trouble. Dumbass.”
Beckett’s ears turned red. He wanted to kill the guy. “She’s my wife — legally you have to tell me where you’re taking her.”
The guy rounded on Beckett, “Oh I do, do I? You got proof that your deserting-ass married that piece of trash Nomad, or am I supposed to accept your honest word?”
Beckett’s jaw clenched and unclenched.
The policeman said, “Yeah, you know what, I’m tired of talking to you so you better shut up.”
The boat sped south across the bay. The wind had come up, the water churned, the boat dipped and hopped at breakneck speed. Beckett shut his eyes against the wind. He felt green again, not at all like the kind of guy who could get all heroic, fight a bunch of policemen, rescue a girl, and somehow get to shore. So he sat there with his eyes closed trying to think of a plan but instead thinking about the real probability that he would throw up. Possibly pass out.
After about twenty minutes, the boat pulled to a dock where two more police officers were waiting. Beckett’s best guess was that now they numbered about seven. The odds of Beckett’s heroic rescue were getting worse and worse. “Cargo?”
“Yep, army deserter.” An officer yanked Beckett to standing, shoved him up a ladder and onto the dock.
Beckett asked, “What about the girl? Come on, let me see her, okay? Just a quick—”
One of the officers on the dock asked, “What happened? He got walloped by a board?”
Officer Capstone said, “Resisting arrest. Also he was like that when we found him.”
Everyone but Beckett chuckled.
Beckett was shoved and yanked as he was passed from the boat to the dock. He stumbled trying to stand where they wanted, but not doing it quick enough, or smart enough, or possibly short enough, or something. He was taller than everyone there, but the officers made up for the height difference with pure animosity.
Beckett said, “I need one minute to speak to my wife—”
Capstone sneered, “He thinks calling her his wife will make all the rest of us keep our hands off the cheap piece of ocean-paddling ass. But he’s not taking into account how hot she is.” He laughed heartily as they returned to the boat.
Beckett asked the new officers holding his arms, “What are they going to do to her?”
They force marched him up the dock toward shore. “Nothing, they aren’t going to do nothing, because no matter how much they want to make your ass crazy, they aren’t going to risk their jobs for a good-for-nothing Nomad girl.”
The other said, “You should be worried about where they’re taking her.”
Beckett asked, “Where are they taking her?”
“The camps, where she belongs.”
