The little girl lifted her head, interest showing in her face. “I won’t have to share?”
“As long as Mona is okay with it. We’ll have to ask her about it.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.”
One of the warriors came over, bringing a mediko kit with him. “May I treat the child’s injuries?”
Heather nodded as she moved Kiki beside her. The little girl refused to let go of her hand, so she stayed there to reassure her. “Everything is fine, Kiki. This is Lieutenant…”
The young man smiled as he knelt down. “Tores.”
“Lt. Tores is going to help you with what hurts. I see a bruise on your cheek—did you get hurt anywhere else?”
Kiki was holding her wrist carefully with her other hand. “Is your wrist hurt?”
Lt. Tores reached for her hand but Kiki jerked back and winced in pain. “Easy honey, let him help you.” Heather reached to gently take Kiki’s wrist, holding it out for Lt. Tores to use his mediko scanner.
“She has a break. I can begin treating it, but she’ll need to wrap it and keep from using it for at least forty-eight hours.”
A tear ran down Kiki’s cheek. The girl was always so brave, but Heather could tell that she was in pain. “Lt. Tores, do you have anything to give her for pain?”
“I do.” He reached into his medik bag and pulled out a pressurized syringe.
“Is it going to hurt?” Kiki asked worriedly.
Lt. Tores gave her a reassuring smile. “Not one bit. It’s just like the treatments you’ve been getting for radiation. There’s no needle. All you’ll feel is air pressure against your skin.”
“Okay,” Kiki held out her wrist, watching everything that Lt. Tores was doing. He put the syringe to her arm and pressed the plunger.
“See, that’s all there is.”
Kiki blinked a few times, then smiled. “It feels better already.”
“I took the pain away, but I still need to treat your break.”
Heather spotted Leonard sneaking away. She wasn’t done with him yet. “Kiki, I need to go deal with something. I’ll send Mona back for you.”
“Okay.”
Heather stood up and walked over to Mona, who was trying to get her kids to behave. The woman looked exhausted, and she’d been crying over the whole incident, too. “Mona, I need to speak with you privately.”
Mona looked down at her kids. “Go sit with Kiki.” They ran off to be with their friend, and started asking Lt. Tores all kinds of questions while he treated Kiki.
“Tell me what happened?”
Mona sighed. “Leonard let them back into the tribe while you were away. The first few days everything was fine, but today…I swear I only took my eyes off the kids for a minute or two while I was washing the clothes in the shower area. When I looked up, Kiki was gone. I asked Jojo and Luke where she went and they said that a man grabbed her and took her away. I love Kiki and would never want anything bad to happen to her.”
Heather hugged her. “It wasn’t your fault. You’re taking care of three kids all by yourself. I should have been here to help you.”
“That man is sick,” Mona wiped her tears away.
“Mitchell?” Heather asked, but she already knew the answer.
“Yes. I went after her and she was screaming. Mitchell hit her and then threw her down while he and Jeremiah were arguing. A couple of the other men tried to break up the fight. I feel horrible, Heather. I should’ve taken better care of her.”
Heather felt her stomach clench with uneasiness. Mitchell had paid too much attention to Kiki and some of the other children, with a sick kind of interest. He cornered a twelve-year-old but was caught before he did anything to the child. That was one of the reasons she’d kicked him out of the tribe. In addition to that, he and his buddy Jeremiah were always stealing or breaking things and starting fights. She’d enough of them and sent them on their way.
Heather wanted to blame her, but the truth was Mona was trying to raise three kids, and one of them wasn’t even hers. She needed more help. “Don’t blame yourself. I’m going to make sure that you have someone helping you with the kids from now on. If anyone is to blame, it’s Leonard, for letting those two troublemakers back in.”
