She did not hide her pleasure from him, and when he was satisfied that he had accomplished his objective, he dropped his resistance and the explosion that followed was almost too much. Darkness flashed before his eyes as he teetered on the edge of consciousness, and when he found himself in her arms, panting, listening to her heart beat with his ear pressed to her glistening left breast, he realized that he had crossed it.
“Are you okay?” she whispered over labored breaths. “You passed out for a second.”
“That was incredible,” he said, lifting his head to look at her. Her skin glowed with the sheen of perspiration that enhanced the contours of her sylphlike body. “I can’t believe how tired I am.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, her expression a mix of uncertainty and vulnerability. “I’ve never…I mean I haven’t…”
“You were a virgin?” he asked.
“Yes. Does that bother you?”
He shook his head and smiled. “The only thing I care about is that we’re finally together.”
“I’m glad,” she said, and rewarded him with a truly warm smile devoid of conflict.
“And you’re just as much of a hellion in the sack as you are out of it.”
She punched him the arm, but lightly. “I’m not a hellion.”
“I wouldn’t have you any other way,” he said, and kissed her. “So what now?”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused. “What now what?”
“I don’t know what I mean,” he admitted. “I guess what I’m saying is I don’t just want to go back to the way things were. I want to go and bleed Max and his moronic goons so that they leave people the fuck alone and I can stay here in bed with you and not have to babysit the workers all day long. Is that wrong?”
She laughed. “If ‘bleed’ means kill in your colorful and somewhat infantile military parlance, then, yes, Alex, that would be wrong. But it feels good to hear you say it.”
“Tell me to kill Max,” he pleaded playfully. “Just say it and I’ll go right now.”
“Stop it,” she said, nudging him on the side of the head.
“Fine, fine. What do you want to do now?”
She shrugged. “I’ve never done this before, so I don’t know the rules.”
“Rules?”
“Yeah, like when can we do it again.”
He stared at her. “You want to do it again?”
She bit her lower lip. “Do you?”
He felt himself stirring, despite his exhaustion. “God yes, but if I die, it’s your fault.”
Chapter 24
“Good morning, Alex,” Max said, grinning ominously. Alex brushed past a young woman on her way out of Max’s cabin. He recognized her as the Goth girl he had seen after he returned from his expedition. She looked embarrassed and withdrawn, and the lingering scent of perspiration betrayed what had been going on. He turned to watch her go, his face darkening with resentment. He didn’t know what Max had done to get her in bed, but knowing what he knew about the man he doubted he would approve.
“You don’t look so good,” Max continued smugly. “Were you out drinking again?”
“Something like that,” Alex said, rubbing his eyes as he lowered himself into the chair opposite Max’s desk.
“I didn’t ask you to have a seat,” Max said.
“No,” he said. “You didn’t.” He yawned, trying to clear the lingering grogginess. He had set his laptop alarm to ten o’clock, which he figured was early enough to be considered morning yet late enough to annoy the governor. With Yael on duty, he had enough people to leave one in the village and two at each camp, which gave him some free time to waste with Max.
The governor’s smile deepened, as did the level of threat Alex perceived from him.
“I was not pleased with your outburst yesterday,” Max said. “Back in the real world, we would have called that felony menacing, unlawful discharge of a weapon and reckless endangerment. Those charges carry a stiff penalty.”
“Really?” Alex asked facetiously. “What did you call it when Reynard did it?”
Max nodded appreciatively. “I see you’re on your toes this morning. That was a most excellent retort. However, it doesn’t change the fact that you openly defied my authority, and I just can’t have that. Something must be done.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed. He was tired of playing cat and mouse with this petty tyrant. A part of him screamed for caution, but he was too distracted to care. All he wanted to do was to get back to his girlfriend.
“Come get some,” he said, his tone an artful mix of casual and menacing.
Max was taken aback momentarily, but his smile quickly returned.
“Okay then,” Max said. “Let’s not screw around anymore, Alex. Let’s just cut right down to the chase.”
“Let’s,” Alex agreed. “Why did you call me here?”
“To be perfectly honest,” Max said. “I don’t like you. I’ve never liked you. I think you’re stupid, reckless and irresponsible. I think that you are grossly unqualified for your position, and frankly I don’t see why I should be burdened with you. You are also dangerous and undisciplined.”
“And ugly,” Alex added, emboldened by the overt hostility. Max’s mind games unnerved him, but such open confrontation was much more to his liking. “You forgot ‘ugly.’ I probably smell bad too, and my mother dresses me funny.”
Max leaned back in his chair, once more holding his hands before him with the fingertips touching. Alex wanted nothing more than to grab those fingers and break them.
“I really like this sudden honesty and openness between us,” Alex continued. “I think it’s a refreshing change.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, and while we’re doing this, I don’t like you either. For starters, you’re an asshole. All you care about is being in charge and having people ask ‘how high’ when you say jump. You’ve surrounded yourself with ass-kissers and sycophants, which I suppose is a public service, because it lets us filter out the garbage among us. If you had your way you’d turn this place into a prison labor camp with you as its warden.”
“Are you quite finished?” Max hissed, his tone venomous.
“No,” Alex continued undaunted. “I’ll let you know when I’m finished. I think you are grossly unqualified for your position. Whoever thought a glorified lawyer would make a good governor obviously watched too much network television. You don’t know the first thing about being a leader. Sure, you’re a great manipulator, you lie and scheme and twist people into knots until they do what you want out of fear and confusion, but you have no idea how to really motivate people, how to inspire them. This place would be a whole lot better off if Yael’s dog were in charge. At least it would have the good sense not to shit where it sleeps. And if you’re the kind of egotistic dipshit that passed for a judge back in the world, then a part of me is glad that shithole is gone and your ilk along with it.”
Max’s lips pulled back, baring his teeth.
“Now I’m finished,” Alex said. “Tell me why you called me here or I’m leaving. I have work to do, like keeping your dogs from biting the humans.”
Max glared at him a moment, the veins in his temples pulsing, then relaxed and regained his composure.
“I’m not here to trade insults with you, Alex,” he said. “Yesterday afternoon I sent a request through channels to have you removed from your position.”
Alex tried hard not to flinch as he felt his world crumbling around him. He had all but decided that Max was bluffing, that he couldn’t have him removed. Yet if that were so, why had he called him here? Why had he dropped the pretenses? There was no stopping it now, not after what he said, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to regret his words.
“And?” Alex asked, doing his best to keep his voice steady. His heart raced as he came up with a contingency plan in the event he was locked out of the arms room. He had three rifles in his cabin, not including the one he used when on duty, and several thousand rounds of amm
unition. His people were still armed and equipped. If all of Max’s stooges were as heavily armed as they were—
“And I was told, in no uncertain terms,” Max answered, interrupting his thoughts. “That I could not replace you so long as you obeyed your general orders.”
Alex exhaled sharply, not bothering to hide his relief, then grinned triumphantly. “So we’re done here?”
“Not quite,” Max said and leaned forward, like a cat about to pounce. “I was also told that if you disobeyed a single order from me, they would indeed replace you. Of course such an order would have to be for the welfare of the colony, and not something arbitrary and pointless like ‘shoot yourself’ or ‘jump off a cliff.’ Pity, that would have been a lot simpler.”
Alex nodded. “So then. Go ahead and order me to do something that would benefit the colony. I may do it myself, or I may delegate. Or, better still, I may co-opt one of your people to do it. My general orders aren’t very specific on that issue, but I’m betting I have some wiggle room.” Now that he knew his position was secure, he was eager to push its boundaries. Though he wondered why Max had told him that his request had been refused. It didn’t make sense to give him that information freely. Unless he were planning something.
Max’s toothy grin was unnerving. “Absolutely, Alex, you may delegate or co-opt as you wish. As long as you carry out my order.”
“Well then, what is it?”
“The mentally challenged survivor,” Max said, his voice almost a hiss. “What did you call him?”
“Wawa,” Alex said nervously, not liking where this was going. “What about him?”
“He represents a drain on our resources, by which I mean our food and our surgeon’s time, both of which can be better spent elsewhere. Over a few days, such drains are insignificant, but over time, they add up, until this ‘Wawa’ amounts to a significant threat to the survival of this colony.”
“Bullshit.”
“Perhaps, but I have conferred with our ‘friends’ and they see it my way.”
“So what do you want me to do? Stop feeding him from the rations? I’ll get fruits…”
“No, Alex, I want you to kill him. I want you to take him into the jungle and blow his fucking brains out. That is an order.”
Alex jumped to his feet. “Fuck you, I won’t do it.”
Max nodded, his teeth bared once more. “Oh, Alex, I’m counting on it. You have until the end of the day to carry out my order…or not. Now get the hell out of my house.”
Alex stared at him, unbelieving. Once again, Max had completely and utterly outmaneuvered him.
“I said get out,” Max said. “Or you won’t need to kill Wawa, because I’m pretty sure failing to respect the sanctity of my home and office will also do to have your sorry ass replaced.”
Alex trembled with impotent rage, his hands itching to draw his sidearm and empty the pistol into the governor, but he forced himself to turn about and walk outside. There was work to do.
He went to the arms room and located Wawa on his security cameras. The man was walking in the jungle near his cabin, the one that used to belong to the rapist. He was holding a stick and poking the ground. He smiled with each touch, as though delighting in the fact that he still had the ability to affect the world around him. They had found him in an art school of some kind, Alex remembered.
Radioing Patrick to meet him, Alex grabbed some things he needed and took Wawa down to the beach. The man was happy to go along with someone he knew.
“What is it?” Patrick asked, looking at Wawa uncertainly.
“The boat,” Alex said. “Help me get it in the water.
Patrick looked at Alex, then at Wawa, and swallowed nervously.
“Sir, what—”
“Don’t ask questions, Patrick, not right now. Sometimes we have to do things we don’t want to do, for everyone’s benefit.” Even as he said it, Alex knew those very words, in one language or another, had been spoken at the scene of every atrocity in the history of mankind. The sprawling wilderness of human civilization had been burned away, leaving just a few tiny seeds behind. Here, in one such seed, the offspring had already begun to emulate the parent.
“Okay, Alex, I trust you.” Together they got the boat in the water, and after helping Wawa board, Alex got the motor started and idled past the rocks and reefs, cringing at every scrape. As he cleared the obstructions and pushed on the throttle, he turned to look back at Patrick, who was still on the beach, watching him pull away.
“I’m sorry,” Alex muttered, though he wasn’t sure to whom he was speaking.
*
There was a small crowd waiting for him when he returned. He guided the boat gently onto the beach and looked at them apprehensively. Barbara stood in the lead, hands on her hips, glaring at him with such anger that he was almost afraid to get out and face her.
“What have you done?” she demanded, wasting no time. Behind her, Yael stared at him, her face red and puffy, probably from crying. Tom and Sandi stood next to her, looking glum, but there was no one else from his team. Max looked on from beyond the beach, obviously pleased. He was flanked by Bob and Kristoff, who looked smug. They were enjoying their payback.
“Where is Wawa?” Barbara continued as Alex climbed over the side and jumped down onto the sand. “You better not have done anything to him, you bastard!” She walked up to the boat, and looked over the gunwales. “Where the fuck is he, Alex?”
“He’s gone,” Alex said softly. “I’m sorry, I had no choice. Max—”
Barbara slapped him across the face, hard, and while he could easily have voided the strike, he chose to let it hit. It hurt, a lot, and he wanted to cry out, but held himself back. She turned around and walked away, holding her face as she cried.
“Chief,” Tom said, shaking his head. “That’s not cool, man.”
Alex ignored him and started for his cabin, sparing a regretful look at Yael. To his surprise, she fell into step behind him.
“That’ll do, Alex,” Max said as they passed him. “Not quite a bullet in the head, but I like it.” Alex ignored him too and kept walking. If he looked back at the governor, if he tried to speak to him, he would kill him.
After they left the others behind, Yael said, “How could you, Alex? How could you do it?”
He opened the door to his cabin, and she followed him inside.
“I suppose this means it’s over between us?” he said, turning to look at her as he closed the door. “I wouldn’t blame you.”
“If she hadn’t slapped you,” Yael said. “I would.”
“You can, I deserve it.”
She slapped him, though not nearly as hard as Barbara had. It still hurt.
“Is that what you want?” she said, her voice even. “An easy way out?”
“No,” he said. “How could you even think that?”
He stepped back as she came at him again, but it was not to strike him. She put her hands on his shoulders.
“Then we’ll get through this,” she said. “I really wish you hadn’t killed him, but we’ll figure it out somehow.”
“You would stand by me?” he asked. “Even after something like this?” All else momentarily forgotten, he stared into her eyes and was overwhelmed. When she had stood by him outside the ruined cathedral, he had crossed the boundary between infatuation and love, but now he felt yet another boundary fall behind him, and he was in a new territory, an undiscovered country. He had no words for how he felt for her.
“I don’t know about you,” she said. “But when I told you I loved you I meant that I’m with you, always, no matter what. Even when you do something as terrible as this, though it breaks my heart, because I thought you were better than this. I can’t believe it, that you would do it, but I trust you, and I’m sure you had your reasons.”
“I am,” he said.
“You are what?”
“Better than this. And I can’t tell you how much what you just said means to me.”
�
�What do you mean you’re better than this?” she demanded, pushing away from him.
“I mean Wawa isn’t dead.”
Her hand was quick, almost too quick, but he caught her slap just before it hit him.
“You bastard!” she cried, though he could see the relief in her eyes. “What did you do with him?”
“He’s on that trawler, that big boat we found with the useless diesel. I gave him water, a bunch of nutrient powder and some dehydrated food. He’ll be fine for a while, and we can figure out what to do with him later.”
She shook her head. “How could you keep me going like this? You could have told me what you were planning! You should have told Barbara! She was hysterical! She really cares about Wawa!”
“No. I needed an honest reaction. Max has to believe I killed him, or it will give him grounds to have me replaced. And we can’t afford that. What that man would do…”
“You could have told me once we were alone.”
“Yeah,” he admitted. “I could have. But I wanted to know what you would have done if I’d really killed him. I’m sorry, it was cruel, but I couldn’t help it.”
“Asshole!” she said. “Don’t you ever do that to me again!”
“I won’t. But I’m really glad I did. Really glad!”
“We have to tell Barbara,” she said. “And the others.”
“Yes we do, but they may not listen to me right now. Get them on the radio, tell them to go to the warehouse. I’ll meet you there.”
Chapter 25
“I can’t believe you did that to me!” Barbara cried, but this time they were tears of relief. “The thought of you pushing poor trusting Wawa overboard and leaving him there to drown…I couldn’t handle it.” She leaned against the recovery bed that Ryan had occupied, glancing nervously at the “hospital” room door.
“Well I wouldn’t have just left him there,” Alex said, trying to make her feel better. “I would have shot him first.”
Yael shook her head, then said to Barbara, “He has a way with words, doesn’t he?”
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