Tarla made her report first. "I don't think there's any question about it. The only thing we have all avoided is the water and everyone is behaving normally."
"If, by normal," Logan added, "you mean Higgs is so antsy he's making my skin itch and Wilkes is preparing to go ten more rounds with Lee Tang, then I agree. The drug, or whatever it is, must be in the water."
Geoffrey nodded. "Of course, this is only supposition, but, if we hadn't stopped drinking the water yesterday, I believe we would all be totally passive by now."
"Just like the puppet-people," Logan said.
Robin made a face. "We'd probably be bedding down now, perfectly content to sleep until it was time to work again. Yuk! What a horrible thought."
"Agreed," Geoffrey said. "We would have given up on any escape attempt and our caretakers would still expect that, which gives us the advantage of surprise."
Logan agreed. "It's probably also safe to assume that they'll be lowering their guard once they're certain their drug has taken effect."
"Which means, we need to act the way they expect us to," Geoffrey stated. "Slow-moving, little or no conversation, early to bed, early to rise. This meeting is to be the last of its kind. We'll have to be extremely discreet from now on."
Higgs couldn't stay silent another moment. "If you capture the woman tonight, none of that may be necessary. I could tell she was somebody important. Used to giving orders, you know. They'll probably agree to anything we want to get her back."
"Are you still willing to go through with this?" Geoffrey asked Higgs.
"I'll do whatever I have to," he replied seriously, despite several snickers from the others.
"Then, unless anyone has thought of an alternative," Geoffrey concluded, "we go with the hostage plan." He waited a few seconds, but no one spoke up. "That's it then. We all retire to our tents except Higgs, who will be patrolling the area as he did last night. There's even less moonlight tonight and heavier cloud cover which will help some, but that field is still wide open. It's going to be very difficult to sneak up on her without her seeing us."
Logan offered his advice. "The clothes we have are all light colors, but the blankets are dark. If we're lying on the ground, covered by the blankets, we should be fairly well camouflaged. At midnight, my team will crawl out of their tents, hidden under blankets and position themselves in a horseshoe around the spot where Higgs is to have his rendezvous. Once he gets her good and distracted... preferably naked and disarmed... we'll close up the ends of the horseshoe and move in."
"What about weapons for us?" Alicia asked.
"No weapons," Geoffrey said. "Take ropes to tie her up, but I don't want to risk any accidents that might reduce our bargaining power."
Logan went over the timing and each person's positioning and movements. "Any questions?"
"Should I give some kind of signal when I see her coming?" Higgs asked. His unintentional pun earned another round of chuckles and, once he got the joke, he laughed with them. "I'm serious," he protested in vain. "I could whistle to let you know she's approaching then I can say something appropriate when it's a good time to move in, like... now."
"It works for me," Lee said with a grin and everyone else agreed.
Gianni gave Higgs a pat on the shoulder. "Even if you imagined this whole thing, I appreciate you giving me something to laugh about."
Geoffrey shook hands with each member of Logan's team wished them luck then they each straggled off to their own tents to try to get a few hours' sleep before beginning another vigil.
At the appointed hour, Logan's team stealthily slipped out of their tents and started creeping toward the field. Higgs had to keep reminding himself to walk slowly and ignore the dark mounds slithering their way across the ground. As he meandered repeatedly along the same patrol path he had set for himself the night before, he kept his gaze focused on the spot where he had first noticed the woman in the field.
What if she doesn't come back? He would never live it down. Why couldn't she have chosen someone else, like McKay or Wilkes? No one would have laughed at them. What if she does show up and he can't get it up? It was one thing for a couple of guys to share the same whore in front of each other but this was different. Geez! He was going to have to do it in front of the whole squad!
He did a quick check of his male anatomy to make sure it hadn't disappeared altogether. He had to forget about how many people were watching and counting on him to make good. He decided his best bet was to call up one of his favorite fantasies and concentrate on that.
Keeping his attention on the field, he pictured two gorgeous lingerie models driving along in a terrible thunderstorm. Suddenly, their car stalls out, right in front of his house. Since his parents are out of town, he's the only one home. By the time the two girls knock on his door to ask for help, they're both soaked, their thin tee-shirts clinging to their perfect, perky, and braless breasts.
As his mind automatically replayed the part of the fantasy where they exchange their wet clothes for towels and proceed to show him their appreciation, he felt his body quickening. If Parisia came—oops, when Parisia came for her next lesson, he would simply close his eyes and pretend she was one of his stranded models.
Despite his positive attitude, however, when another hour passed and she hadn't shown up, all his worries resurfaced. He glanced up at the black sky and wondered if he was going to get rained on now as well. As he passed near one of the mounds on the ground, it spoke to him.
"Psst! Higgs. Isn't it about time for wonder woman to show up for her date?"
Higgs was about to shoot back a smart reply when he saw a figure in the distance. He walked a few steps more until he was fairly sure it was her. Puckering his lips to make the promised announcement of her approach, he realized he hadn't been told what tune to whistle. The only song that came to his mind was "The Star-Spangled Banner," and that seemed a little disrespectful. Telling himself that what he was about to do was in fact his patriotic duty, he licked his lips and whistled the opening bars of the national anthem.
Holding on to the mental picture of his two wet models, he prepared himself to confront the enemy.
Chapter 10
"Nice to see you again, Parisia," he said when she was close enough for him to confirm her identity. "I didn't drink any water, like you said. What's in it anyway? Some kind of tranquilizer?"
"Something like that," Nadia answered brusquely. She had been dying for this hour to arrive all day and she had no intention of wasting one more second than necessary on foolish conversation. She was more than ready to get on with it but she remembered the procedure from the previous night and knew he required certain actions before he could deliver what she needed. "You may ask your question after and I will answer, as I did last night... if I find your performance satisfactory."
"Oh, I think you'll be satisfied with what I'm going to show you. And I have a big surprise for you at the end."
There was something different about him tonight, Nadia noticed. He seemed more sure of himself, even smiling at her with a hint of mischief. The pulse between her legs throbbed a bit stronger as she anticipated what he may have planned for her. Her fingers grasped the neck closure of her caftan.
"Wait," he said, taking her hands in his and lowering them to her sides. "Part of what I have to show you is the undressing."
Nadia had been undressed by Fulton a thousand times and couldn't imagine how it could be done differently but she was willing to give the Earth man a chance to surprise her. "Go on."
Her first surprise was that he didn't immediately remove her caftan. Instead, he ran his hands through her hair, over her face, and down her clothed body. He continued to stroke her in that manner as his mouth pressed to hers—kissing, he had called it. Shortly after his tongue began its interesting little dance in her mouth, she felt the urge to touch him back in the same ways and was rewarded with an approving murmur from him.
The removal of their clothing took place an inch at a time, and m
ore touching and kissing accompanied the gradual exposure of naked, tingling flesh. The law against men touching women in her world was fundamental to their way of life. And yet, Nadia couldn't help but wonder why women would deny themselves this delicious entertainment. How could they believe something that felt this good was detrimental?
As Ray Higgs's mouth closed over her nipple, concern over the other women's beliefs fled her mind. She only knew that nothing had ever been as exciting as what this man was doing to her and she didn't care if she was the only female in her world who knew about it.
So caught up in a whirlpool of sensation, she noticed, but didn't care why he tossed her caftan far from where she was standing. All that mattered was that he lowered her to the grass and was rubbing his nude body against hers. She parted her legs for his entrance but received her second surprise instead. As he buried his face in her womanpiece, she squealed with shocked delight. The notion streaked through her brain that she could teach this trick to Fulton, then, in the next instant, only one thought remained. More.
She was lost to the desperate hunger he aroused, fed and aroused again. She climaxed several times and yet she still felt the clawing need to have his manpiece ramming into her body.
She heard herself cry out to him, begging and pleading in a way no woman of Heart would ever demean herself and finally, thankfully, he gave her what she demanded.
"Now!" he shouted.
"Yes!" she cried back. "Now! Now! Now!" The explosive release hurled her to the very edge of consciousness, where her weightless body spun out of control in a sea of darkness. As she floated back to awareness on wave after wave of pleasure, she felt the man abruptly shift his position so that he was straddling her hips and pressing her shoulders to the ground in the most peculiar fashion.
All of a sudden, her hands were yanked over her head, her legs shoved together, her wrists and ankles bound so quickly, she was immobilized before she was fully alert.
"What is the meaning of this?" she screeched indignantly. "Release me this instant!" She glared up at the man she had mistakenly assumed was under her control then realized too late they were no longer alone.
"Ride's over, sweetheart," Higgs said with a grin. "Time to pay up."
"Okay, Higgs," Logan said. "We'll take it from here." As Higgs rose to his feet, Logan's gaze dropped to his sex, which hadn't yet gotten the message that the game had been cut a few seconds short. He shared a look of amazement with the others as they realized the little man was not built proportionately all over.
Some of those looks turned to envy as Alicia and Lee stepped forward to assist the hero into his clothes then offered to escort him back to his tent... with Sergeant McKay's permission. Logan gave it but told them to first let the major know they had their hostage.
As they saluted and walked away smiling, Logan thought the last three days held more surprises than the previous three years. With a shake of his head, he got back to the business at hand. "Gianni, check her clothes for that weapon Higgs mentioned."
"You have no right to take what is mine!" she squawked. "I order you to release me! You will all be severely punished for this impertinence!"
Logan decided they would be better off with their eardrums left intact and promptly rectified the problem. He pulled off his shirt, twisted it into one long band and, covering her mouth, tied the makeshift muffler behind her head. Her first reaction was incensed shock but as she checked out his bare chest, her nostrils flared as if catching an intriguing scent and a predatory gleam filled her eyes. She was clearly considering taking him on for dessert. He hoped all of her kind weren't as hungry for men as she was or he was going to have one hell of a time convincing his team to fight for their freedom.
His gaze shot to Gianni to see what was taking him so long and caught the man staring at the woman with his mouth open. Despite her bindings, she was managing to move her thighs and hips to relay her message of sexual need loud and clear. "Gianni!"
Gianni's attention jerked back to the robe in his hands. He pulled two objects out of a pocket and passed them to Logan.
No longer doubting Higgs's claims about anything, Logan deduced that either the cigar-shaped thing or the thin metal square thing was a weapon. He turned them in his hands, but carefully avoided touching anything that looked like a button or trigger. "Cover her up... before any of you catch whatever she's got. Don't untie her though, just wrap her up in that thing."
It took several men to handle that order but she was soon trussed up like a large black sausage.
"Well," Logan said. "I think it's safe to assume she doesn't have any of those super mental powers Higgs warned us about." Standing at the woman's feet, he asked her, "How is it that you were going to punish us?" Her eyes were filled with loathing. He pointed the flat box toward her chest. "With this?" No reaction. "Or this?"
The second he raised the silver cigar, her eyes squeezed shut in expectation of something bad. "Very good. Of course, I don't know how to use this thing but I'll bet if I pushed this little slide up and down or pressed one of these buttons, I'd figure it out eventually." She definitely didn't want him to do that. "So, what do you say? Would you like to be cooperative or shall we play trial and error?"
Her narrowed eyes shot out lethal threats but she appeared willing to hear more, so he explained. "Cooperative is where we take the muffle off your mouth but you talk only to answer our questions. And you do answer our questions... truthfully... or we move on to door number two."
Before she could indicate her choice, Geoffrey, Tarla and Robin arrived. "You haven't missed much," Logan said to Geoffrey. "Higgs exaggerated a little about her size and powers but everything else is pretty much the way he described."
Geoffrey took a moment to appraise the bundled-up female on the ground and went with a friendly tone. "Hello, I am Geoffrey Cookson, of the United States, Planet Earth. Higgs said your name is Parisia, that your people are human like us and that we're in an alternate dimension, on a mirror planet called Heart. Is that correct?"
She tried to say something that only came out as muffled noise, glared at Logan, then mumbled again.
"It sounds like she wants to talk to you, Geoffrey," Logan said. "Must be that British accent of yours. Okay, lady, you've got one chance to play nice. If you behave and answer our questions, you might get home in one piece."
Her eyes widened at his implication that she might not get home again then she slowly nodded her agreement to his terms. Logan retrieved his shirt and helped her into a sitting position.
Nadia's mind worked frantically to come up with a means of escape. She had to get back before dawn, at which time someone might witness her passage through the barrier. If her little excursion were discovered, she would be chastised and humiliated, her plans for the future irreparably damaged. She understood Earth women had no power over their men, so she couldn't depend on them to assist her.
Looking from one man to the other, she had the feeling that the blonde man could be manipulated, whereas the scarred man exuded too much hostility to be of use to her. Directing her response to Geoffrey Cookson, she said, "Ray Higgs spoke the truth."
Geoffrey hunkered down to her level and smiled. "We mean you no harm. We only want information."
Nadia smiled back and spoke in a tone meant to sound cooperative. "I will tell you whatever you wish to know, but only if you treat me in a civilized manner. Untie me, allow me to dress and return my property to me."
Geoffrey ignored her order. "If we are truly on another planet, how did we get here?"
She guessed he might be more pliable if his peers were not observing him so closely. "I prefer to speak only to you. Send the others away."
Geoffrey glanced at Logan and noted his disapproval of that idea. "If you wish to be left alone with one man, it will be him," he told her, pointing at Logan. "And I assure you he's not nearly as patient as I am."
She might have given it a try but the minutes were ticking by and she had no more time to waste. She em
itted a loud sigh of disgust. "I should have known it was impossible for men to behave in a civilized manner. What is it you wish to know?"
Geoffrey began his list of questions by repeating his first one. "How did we get here?"
Since she had no idea how extensive his scientific knowledge was, she decided to stick as close to the truth as possible, rather than try to fabricate answers and risk being tripped up in a lie.
"You came through a gateway. As far as we can tell, there is a magnetic field that flows between the northeastern hemisphere of Earth and the northwestern hemisphere of Heart. Apparently, the magnetic pull goes only one way, from your world to ours, and it only causes a problem when there are violent, electrical storms in the fields on both worlds at the same time. When that happens, a gateway opens and whatever or whoever is in the eye of the Earth storm is pulled through. Fortunately, the precise conditions required for such an incident have been rare."
"It sounds like Higgs was right about that Dragon's Triangle business after all," Logan said to Geoffrey. "But how did we land here in one piece?"
Nadia waited for Geoffrey Cookson to indicate that she should answer the other's question. "Once you were through the gateway, your pilot regained sufficient control to land your craft."
"Why doesn't anyone remember that?" Tarla asked.
Nadia assessed the woman who spoke without the man's permission to interrupt. Perhaps she had some power after all. "A near-term memory depleter. We find it is best to keep our existence as secret as possible. May I ask you a question now?"
Tarla looked to Geoffrey and received his approval. "All right."
"Why do you allow these barbarians to abuse one of your own kind? Do you have no control over them at all?"
Tarla wasn't certain which question was more surprising—that this woman considered them sisters of some sort or that she assumed the men could be controlled. "As second in command, I fully endorsed the actions of our men. By imprisoning us here, it is you who have abused us."
LOGAN (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 5) Page 13
