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"Me too." Andy looked more scared than honest.
"We might have the doctor just check you two out to be sure. One thing is for sure, you need to eat. You're both way too thin." Noam smiled. "I bet you're hungry."
"Starving. He didn't let us have very much." The older boy sighed.
"What's your name?" Xander asked him.
"George, but everyone calls me Geo."
"How old are you?" Xander used his thumb to wipe tears from Eric's cheeks as he spoke to Geo.
"Fourteen." Geo seemed to sit a bit taller as he said it.
"I'm Xander, this is Kacey. Did you meet the others?"
"Yeah, while we waited for you." Geo glanced at Ben who sat on the bench with the boys. "We're only trusting you because Andy swears you have Lenora."
"I understand that. I wouldn't trust us either if I were you. You don't know us, but I promise you're going to be safe and we'll take care of everything. No one is going to hurt any of you. Lenora will tell you when we get to the house. I'm guessing she's asleep right now, but we'll wake her up as soon as we get there and she can explain everything that's happened. She's been so worried about all of you." Xander smiled.
"She's okay?" Andy asked.
"She is now. She was very brave and escaped the bad men who had her. When I last saw her, she was with my friends, Becca and Faith, baking cookies in the kitchen. That was hours ago, and as I said, they're probably asleep, but I promised we'd wake her if we found Andy." Xander wished the child in his arms would stop crying. Maybe he was hurt worse than he'd thought. Thinking about the possible injuries made him sick.
"Cookies?" Andy looked excited.
"Yep. I bet we can sneak some when we get to the house. It won't be long now. We're almost there. Don't be scared. We have some friends at the house with us, but you can trust all of them. We're going to go inside and wake up Lenora, but first, I need to make sure Eric is okay." Xander was amazed at how calm the boys seemed. They had to be worried they were going from bad to worse. Hopefully, whatever that code meant Lenora had sent them with was enough to calm their fears. He saw the distrust in Geo's eyes, but Andy seemed perfectly content with what was going on.
"Tomorrow, after you boys get some sleep, we'll get you some new clothes and whatever else you need. Do you know how to swim?" Archer asked from the passenger seat.
"Yes," both boys answered in unison.
"Then you'll need swim trunks. There's a pool and I know Lenora and Becca went swimming this afternoon." Archer grinned at the boys. "And I haven't gotten a chance to play yet, but I did see a really neat gaming setup if you like video games."
"I've never really got to play any," Geo told them.
That made Xander curious about the boy's background. What fourteen-year-old hadn't gamed? It was something he needed to find out more about.
"I love to play." Andy turned and leaned forward as he looked at Archer. "I'm good at them."
"Good, then you can help Geo learn." Archer smiled. "Okay, we're here. Just stay quiet while we get inside. Once in, we'll find Lenora and wake her up."
Xander was relieved to be back at the safe house, but he didn't relax. The boy in his arms was injured, and there was a dead body he'd left behind. He hadn't had a choice. Well, he had, but leaving the man alive really hadn't seemed like an option at the time. Xander had no regrets about killing him. Besides, alive he could have identified them. Dead, he couldn't make up excuses for what he'd done. As everyone piled out of the car, he tucked Eric tightly to his chest. "We're home. You're safe. No one will hurt you here." The boy still sobbed, but it had eased a bit. He climbed out of the car and came face to face with Beau.
"How bad?" Beau asked.
"I'm not sure. There's anal damage, light bleeding. I'll carry him. Where are we going?" Xander didn't want to release his hold on the boy until he was safe inside.
"Follow me." Beau turned and started inside.
As he followed, he noticed Kacey had the other two boys with him, walking them up the steps and into the house. They'd be safe with him. His full concern now on the child in his arms, Xander let everything around him fade into the background and prayed the child wasn't hurt too badly.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Becca stood just inside the door with Lenora holding her hand tightly. "They just pulled up and should be inside in just a minute." She didn't want to let Lenora rush outside in case they'd been followed or something had gone wrong.
When she'd heard that the team had the boys and were headed home, she'd woken Lenora, sure that she'd want to be there to see her brother when he arrived. Also so that she could help the boys stay calm in the new environment. They had to be scared and worried about where they were being taken.
"Where is he?" Lenora started to run forward.
