He pulled out his sword and cut his way a small distance in. Kate waited at the end of the beach and just watched. Tim didn’t see any signs of humans, and the only thing that seemed to be within the foliage was lots of dew hanging from the leaves of the trees and hot, humid air.
“Come on,” he called to Kate. “The city isn’t too far west of here, let’s get started.”
She looked at him for a moment, her eyes full of caution and doubt. Then, she slowly began to follow down the path he had cut. Tim had his backpack on his shoulders, and Kate gripped one of the hanging straps of it with her delicate hand.
“Alright, baby bro,” she said softly. “Lead on.”
They made their way through the jungle. Tim tried to squeeze through gaps in the dense vegetation whenever he could, but found himself relying on his sword to clear a line through it most of the time. It was tough going, and the insects were thick at every turn.
Eventually, he began to hear more than just the sound of nature. The steady hum of cars on roads greeted them, and soon after, they burst out into a clearing by a highway.
“This looks promising,” said Tim. “We might even be able to hitch a ride.”
Kate punched him in the arm and gave him a disapproving look.
“Do you not understand the basic idea behind keeping a low profile?” she asked him. “The more people that see us, the less of an advantage we have here.”
“Hmmm…you have a very strategic mind, sis,” he said. “Alright, let’s walk.”
In fact, they didn’t even make their way over to the road in the beginning, at Kate’s insistence. The two of them stayed as deep in the jungle as they could while still keeping their eyes on it, and continued along in the same direction. After a few minutes, the looming city became fully visible of the sprawl of impoverished huts and shacks.
Manai’s city was called, somewhat expectantly, Manai City. Tim wished that he had done more research on it and its inhabitants as they made their way towards it. There were a good number of buildings, some paved streets, cars, almost everything you would expect out of the capital of a small island nation. Overall though, it appeared to be on the small side, lacking the massive sky rises and hundreds of thousands of people that were the backbone of cities back home.
They were forced to leave the cover of the trees as they made their way closer. Tim led Kate down the road, and did his best walk casually. More cars began to pass them by as they shifted from the more rural outskirts into the city proper. They were not in a busy area, and the buildings mostly seemed to be in disrepair, but they were still pulling some odd looks from the locals.
It made perfect sense, for a number of reasons. The clothes that Tim and Kate were wearing, by this point, were almost completely tattered. The shipwreck and experience on the abandoned island had taken a massive toll on them.
Their light, relatively fair skin tones also stood out on against the backdrop of tanned Manai natives. Tim and Kate walked down the road, towards the core of the city, and seemed to become the center of attention as they passed people along their way.
The road was concrete, but badly maintained, covered in potholes, trash, and various fluid spills from cars. Above them were clothing lines strung across the two and three story high houses and apartments, most of them designed with an architecture that looked like a reflection of Manai’s native culture. People sped by on bikes, mopeds, and motorcycles, and it seemed as though there were few, if any, traffic indicators or rules of the road.
“Wow,” said Tim. “This place is…different.”
“Are those...priests?” asked Kate.
She pointed ahead. There was a commotion coming from down the road. There was a struggle happening between several men. One of them was carrying a pistol, and wearing basic military fatigues. The other had a long, flowing white robe, with a gold embroidered brown sash wrapped around his waist. The man wore flamboyant silver jewelry, earrings made of huge, shiny hoops, and rings on every finger.
“Unhand me, this instant!” screamed to man. He spoke English with a thick Caribbean accent, which Tim could make out easily enough.
“Public proselytization speeches have been outlawed, by order of General Charresso,” said the soldier. “I will let you go only if you tell these people to return to their homes.”
“I will not!” screamed the robed man. He began struggling, and the soldier grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. Several more men appeared from the other side of the street and made their way over.
“The message of the Holy Hand of the Sky Turner cannot be silenced!” screamed the man. “The people will hear his message and rise up!”
One of the soldiers pulled out a small two way radio and began speaking into it. Tim realized that he was calling for backup. A crowd had formed around the scene, and he and Kate were on the edge of it. They could only blend in with the people of the island so much.
“It’s time for us to go,” he said to his sister, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her back the way they had come. They only managed about twenty steps before hearing a shout that was obviously directed at them.
“Hey, you!” shouted a soldier that had approached from another street. “You two, stop right ther!”
Tim turned to book it, pulling his sister with him. Unfortunately, she caught her foot on the edge of a pothole and went down. He bent to help her up, and the soldier was on top of them, pistol held in one hand and radio in the other.
“Hands in the air, now!” he screamed.
Tim made a move to lift Kate to her feet, and felt the cold steel barrel of a pistol being jabbed against his chest. He slowly lifted his hands up into the air. Several more soldiers descended upon them, and he felt himself being forced down and against the ground.
“Tim!” Kate yelled.
“It’s okay, Kate,” he said. “Just don’t worry, it will be okay,”
CHAPTER 39
They were brought inside what appeared to be a military base. The soldiers loaded them both onto a military vehicle, and drove them into the center of the city. The building was tall, the tallest around, as far as Tim could tell. No more than ten stories maximum, but it still dwarfed anything else the small island city had to offer.
Tim had both of his hands cuffed behind his back. Kate was still mobile, but they were being escorted by a group of four soldiers. Any chance of escaping was incredibly remote, especially given the firepower the men appeared to be carrying. That was one thing that Manai did not appear to be lacking.
There was an elevator, and the group took it up to the top floor. Tim tried to flash his sister a smile, but the soldiers went out of their way to keep them from being in close contact with each other. He gave up after one of them gave him a tap on the back with the butt of a pistol.
The soldiers led them down a long hall at the top of the building. At the end of the corridor, they went through a door, and the room they ended up in was large and intimidating. A man was seated behind a desk in the center, and appeared to be a soldier himself. The men saluted him as they brought Tim and his sister over, and he stood up and smiled at them.
“Welcome,” said the man as they were led in front of his desk. “Please, have a seat.”
The man’s voice tone was friendly, but it somehow felt to Tim as though he was offering a command rather than a suggestion. The soldiers behind them formed a wall, keeping them from heading anywhere other than forward.
One of them took off his hand cuffs, and he rubbed his chaffed wrists. His bag and sword had both been confiscated immediately after they’d been picked up, and he could only assume that their captors must be passed the point of considering either of them to be a threat.
He stepped forward and sat down in one of the chairs, with Kate lowering herself into one beside him. He looked at the man and flashed his most charming smile. The man smiled back.
“This isn’t the warmest welcome I’ve ever received,” said Tim.
“No, I have to imagine
it’s not,” said the man. “Your name, if you please…”
Tim said nothing. He wasn’t sure what was going on, and it seemed to him like the best thing he could do was offer as little information on himself and his sister as possible.
“Do not be afraid, you are in safe hands,” said the man. “Here, I’ll go first. I am General Charresso, head of the Holy Royal Army of Manai.”
Tim waited a moment longer, waiting until it was apparent that he would have to offer up something before opening his mouth to respond.
“My name is Tim, and this is my sister Kate,” he said. “We…we were both shipwrecked, and only barely made it to your islands with our lives.”
“From the cruise ship that went down, I assume?” asked General Charresso.
Tim said nothing, feeling as though he had given away something, perhaps a little too hastily. There was no bluffing this man, not dressed the way they were. Their ragged clothing told no lies.
“You don’t have to be afraid,” he said. “I apologize for the way we brought you in. We have not seen many Americans on our island since the beginning of the turmoil. It is very difficult for us to control our suspicions, given your governments history for getting involved in the affairs of other countries.”
“It’s more than alright,” said Tim. “My sister and I were on vacation when the cruise liner went down. We spent many days on an island, before finally being able to find another boat and get here. We are just tired, and hungry.”
“Oh, I’m sure you are,” said the General. “Why is your sister not speaking up more?”
Kate snapped to attention, a nervous look flashing across her face.
“I, I’m sorry!” she said. “I’m just exhausted from the ordeal.”
General Charresso smiled at her. Tim looked at him, and then glanced around the room. The soldiers did not seem to be any more at ease now than when they had first arrived.
“Again, it is I who must apologize,” said General Charresso. “The island is not in the best situation, politically at the moment. Our previous Emperor went mad with power, and we…the people and the military, were forced to take control here. You must know how it is as Americans, we were not free under the old regime.”
He looked at Tim and his sister, as giving them room to speak up.
“The priests of Makano have taken advantage of the transitional period we are in. You may have seen them already. They preach against the progress that the people want. They even send men to their deaths in bombings, just to chip away at the society of the island for their own purposes.”
The General sighed, and shook his head. He reached under his desk slowly, and when his hand came back up it had a pistol in it. Tim quickly tried to stand up from his seat, but rough hands pushed him back down in it. Kate managed to get out the beginning of a scream before a soldier clamped his hand over her mouth.
“Now I need you to tell me why you are really here, Tim,” said General Charresso. “I’ve seen the book you have the before…I know of the markings in it.”
Tim glared at the man.
“Go fuck yourself,” he said.
“Honestly, I admire your defiance,” said the General. “But unfortunately, this is a life or death situation, my friend.”
He gestured to one of the soldiers, and the barrel of a pistol was pushed against Kate’s head. She tried to scream, but could only manage a muffled, hollow cry from underneath the hand of her mouth. Tim’s heart began to race in his chest, and both of his fists clenched tightly.
“I will kill her, if you make me,” said the General. “Or would you rather die, instead?
He nodded towards Tim, and another soldier aimed a pistol at his head. Kate was unsilenced, and the General sat back in his chair casually.
“Kill him,” he said.
“Stop!” cried Kate. “I will tell you, just let us go!”
“Kate, shut up!” Tim yelled.
“We were sent by an old man, Jarovian…” she said, tears streaming down her face and words coming out of her mouth in an almost incoherent rush. “We were sent to find his daughter.”
When the General heard her words, his calm outer demeanor seemed to instantly melt away. He looked confused and incredibly angry.
“That is…that’s not possible!” he yelled. Charesso stood up from his chair, knocking it down behind him, and slammed his fists down on the desk.
“Fuck!” he cried out. “Fuck fuck fuck!”
He slammed his fist into the desk several more times, and then turned away from everyone in the room, breathing heavy. He pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and lit one, taken a huge drag off it and filling the room with smoke. Finally, he turned back towards Tim, his sister, and the soldiers.
“Lock them up,” he said, waving his hand. “We will need to keep them…locked up.”
The soldiers behind Tim pulled him up to his feet, and led him and Kate out of the room.
CHAPTER 40
Tim and Kate were taken down by elevator into the basement of the building. It exited out into a dingy hallway, lit only bare naked light bulbs hanging from tiny lines running along the roof.
Their captors led them down a maze of hallways, finally bringing them into an empty room and pushing them into it. The floor was cold cement, and there was no furniture to speak of. The door had a tiny glass window reinforced with a metal lattice.
“You will be here until the general decides what to do with you,” said one of the soldiers as the door was shut behind them.
“Gee, thanks,” replied Tim. He looked over at his sister. Her face was still wet with tears, eyes red and puffy. The room was chilly, and the floor sapped the heat right out of them. Neither of them had anything more than their basic clothing on, which was thinly woven to begin with and had seen better times.
“Tim…” said Kate. “I’m sorry…for telling him.”
“Hey, don’t be,” he said. “That crazy fucker had all of the power in the situation. Besides, it’s not like it mattered in the end. He would have thrown us in here regardless.”
Kate was silent. Tim walked over and sat down behind her, leaning his back against hers.
“His reaction was pretty weird though,” said Tim. “I think we learned as much about him from it as he did about us.”
“How so?” asked Kate.
“Well, for one thing, he hates Jarovian,” he said. “It’s more than that though…it also seems like…he’s scared of him, or something. Nobody reacts that way to hearing somebody’s name unless they have some seriously bad memories of the person.”
“I think…” Kate started speaking, choosing her words carefully. “I think Jarovian must have once had a lot of power over this island.”
“That would make a lot of sense,” said Tim. “But it only makes is seem even weirder that he would just be hanging out in a crazy occult store back in the US.”
“Maybe he wasn’t just hanging out in there,” said Kate. “There is way more here than we can see on the surface.”
“Well that’s for fucking sure,” said Tim.
They were silent for a moment. The room had a musty smell, as if it had been flooded sometime in the recent past. Kate grabbed her brother’s and rubbed it gingerly.
“You know, this is the second time in a month that I’ve been held prisoner,” he said. “It makes for a very interesting way to pass the time, the whole not having any freedom thing.”
“God, how is it that you’re still cracking jokes?” asked Kate.
“I have a naturally cheery disposition,” said Tim. He leaned his head around and into her frame of view, smiling a comically wide grin.
Just then, there was the sound of footsteps outside. Tim turned and scrambled to his feet just in time to see the door open. A woman was standing in the hallway, dressed in the same army fatigue the rest of the soldiers had been wearing. She had a gun strapped to her leg and was pushing a small cart with plates of food on it.
“Hello,” she said. �
�Please stand up against the wall. I have food and some things to make your stay more comfortable.”
Kate flicked her head over to Tim, taking his lead. He just smiled, and nodded,
“Sure,” he said. “Thank you, we really appreciate it, Ms.…”
“Alex,” said the woman. “I mean, Lieutenant Alex!”
Her voice was soft and open, almost inviting. In it, Tim could hear exactly what he had been hoping for. He was not entirely weaponless. There was one that it seemed as though it was impossible to disarm him of.
“Lieutenant Alex, of course, where are my manners?” said Tim. “So you’ve brought us food? It looks amazing, and hot.”
Alex smiled at him and blushed girlishly. The contrast between her expression and the military garb and equipment she had on was striking, but cute. She pushed the cart into the room and stepped in after it.
“Oh, thank you,” she said. “It’s just a basic breakfast, bacon, eggs, toast…that kind of thing. I made it.”
“Well you certainly know how to make food look appetizing,” said Tim. “Although the fact that I’ve been away from a proper restaurant for so long might make me a little biased.”
“I…I don’t usually cook much,” said Alex. “We don’t keep out prisoners here. Typically we move them to an actual prison inside the city. I guess John…I mean, General Charresso, has a special plan for you two.”
“Yeah, we had figured as much,” said Tim. He stood up and slowly began walking towards Alex.
“Here, I’ll put your food down and you can take it after I have left the room,” she said. Her voice was shy sounding, with a small tremor of nervousness and…something else.
“I just wanted to thank you,” said Tim. “Face to face.”
Alex seemed to want to object, but she said nothing as Tim closed the distance between the two of them. Kate watched on, her face turning to a scowl as she realized what her brother was attempting to do.
Curse Of Desire: Complete And Uncut (Taboo Erotica) Page 15
