by Ada Haynes
Even Kalem smiled at that. Then his bodyguard reminded Ekbeth that he had another meeting to attend.
“Oh yes, the family Council. Please take your time, Sally. I see you’re suffering. I can even arrange a bed for you in the house if you want.”
She laughed. “No need. I’ll manage to hop back to my bed at the Na Saoilcheachs’ house. Don’t forget you promised not to kill anyone, Ekbeth.”
He bowed to her, and then left.
This was going to be a very grim meeting. He was not expecting a lot of contrition. That was not the As’mir way. But he had every intention to teach them a lesson. He was going to give them a choice. He was just curious to see which option they would choose.
With Kalem trailing him, he resolutely entered the Na Duibhnes’ Council room.
29
“Be ready. He’s coming.”
Shona jumped to her feet. It had been a boring wait the past three hours. Searching through Lydian Farrill’s four-room apartment had not taken more than an hour, and, apart from condoms in one of the kitchen drawers, she had not found anything unusual or even remotely interesting.
Certainly not the Kadj’dur.
The ring had to be somewhere on this side. Ekbeth had confirmed his cousin still had it, and Farrill no longer had access to the Valley. She just had to find where it was. And as the seduction manoeuver was not going to work anymore, it was time for less subtlety.
She heard the key going into the lock of the entrance door and took a nonchalant pose on the sofa. Lyrian Farrill did not notice her immediately. Obviously tired from a long day at work, she thought.
She purred, “You kept me waiting, Lyrian.”
Surprised, he dropped his coat, and turned towards her, recognizing her immediately. “You! How did you get in?”
She smiled. “Guess.”
He checked his door, and then growled, “You walked through the door?”
She nodded. “My, you know of me, indeed! But I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced.”
His smile was not as friendly as hers. A bit frightening, actually. Not that it daunted her.
“I helped when Kalem and Ekbeth were looking for you,” Lyrian said. “And I was at the party, as well. You may have cut your hair and be decently covered this time, but I still know who you are.” Then he frowned. “And you should not be there. The Aras’arisidz has not yet ended.”
“No it has not, but I still decided I really had had enough of your cousin and all the others, so I left.”
“This is not possible…” He apparently realized what had happened because he stopped in mid-sentence and looked at her with astonishment.
Shona nodded. “Indeed. And no need to tell me I broke Ara’s rule and this is going to cost me my head. I know that part already.”
“Why are you here?” he asked,
Shona stretched her legs. “Good question. Someone asked me to recover something from you. I’m running out of time, so I thought it better to ask you instead of losing time dreaming up complicated plans. Where is the Kadj’dur?”
It did not take him long to make the connection. “Keremli! The old crone sent you!”
Shona nodded. “Indeed. And I’d show a bit more respect to my ancestor, if I were you. Especially after the way you cheated her. She’s quite angry with you, you know. But all you have to do is give me the ring back, and I’ll leave.”
“It’s not here.”
“I’ve already discovered that, thank you very much. So, again, where is it?”
Farrill did not answer. Instead, he jumped on her and tried to hit her. She effortlessly blocked his attempt. He was no trained warrior and his approach had been pretty obvious. Unluckily for him, she had spent quite some time over the past few months training with Toshio’s men. She had not fully recovered from her experience in the Valley, but it was still child’s play for her to evade his fists. She simply had to raise her knee to his most vulnerable place to send him reeling to the floor.
When, despite his pain, he made a second attempt to punch her, he found himself facing the end of a gun.
This was actually fun, she thought. “Lyrian, Lyrian. I told you I had no time to lose. So, tell me.”
His face closed up. Mmh. Maybe not that fun.
She picked up her com. “Our target is not cooperative. Time for plan B, guys.”
In a moment, her team was inside. They bound Farrill, gagged him, and placed him in an antique leather travel trunk they had brought, securing the lid by fastening its tarnished brass lock and buckling the old leather straps. Shona had found the trunk in the Castle attic some time ago and had always wanted to use it in a kidnapping. This was the perfect occasion.
A few minutes later, Shona closed the door behind her and followed the three men carrying the trunk downstairs.
No one stopped them.
*
They left Farrill in the trunk for another hour after their arrival at the safe place. Then Shona opened the lid herself.
He was not looking so sure of himself after all the time in that cramped space in such an uncomfortable position. She removed the gag, none too gently. “Changed your mind?”
He kept his mouth closed.
She sighed. She had hoped they would not have to go this far. She took one step back and said to her men, “Take him out.”
The men pulled Farrill out of the box, and forced him to stand between them. He was squinting. His eyes were probably hurting from the bright neon lights after the hours spent in the dark. And she noticed how shaky his legs were. Cramps.
My, he really was no match for them—and, apparently, not capable of doing a vanishing act on them, as she would have done in his place.
She faced him. “No need to tell you there’s no point in screaming for help. Even if you managed to escape us—which won’t happen, believe me—the nearest village is a two-hour walk from here. We’ll find you before you get there.”
At that, at least, he reacted. “Dead I’m of no use to you.”
She laughed sadistically and looked straight into his eyes. “I’m pretty sure you’re not the only one who knows where the jade ring is, Lyrian. You’re just the most obvious choice. So, why don’t you stop playing the hero, and tell me what I want to know. I promise I’ll give it back to its previous owner.”
He shook his head. She gave a tiny nod.
She let the men hit Farrill for ten minutes before ordering them to stop. Then she crouched next to him and gently lifted his head. “Tell me, Lyrian.”
He spat blood. One of his eyes was half closed. Still he shook his head. “I won’t tell you. No matter how much pain your dogs inflict on me. You’d better kill me now.”
She caressed his chin tenderly. “Pain, Lyrian? This was nothing. Just a beginning. I have far more experience than you with pain. You don’t want me to show you what I know. You really don’t. Tell me.”
He spat again. “Ekbeth will find you and make you pay for this.”
She let go of him, and stood again. “He can always try. He won’t be the first. I’m not that easy to kill. And I retaliate. Some people have discovered that too late.”
She turned to one of the men in her team. They had worked together before. “What do you think?”
He looked grimly at Lyrian’s crouched figure, then shrugged. “Five hours. He’ll faint. And we need to keep him sane.”
She looked again at Farrill. Hesitated only briefly. This was going to be as unpleasant for her as for him. But Farrill had apparently made his decision.
“Do it.”
*
It took them six hours.
Farrill was but a shadow of the man they had kidnapped when they finally left him alone. He was whimpering, lying in a protective, fetal position.
But she had her answer. At least, if he had not lied. There was only one way to know.
They left their victim alone and walked to the main room of the apartment that Jeffrey had found for their purpose. They had lied to Lyri
an. It was not isolated at all. It was in the heart of Zurich—a new building that was almost completed.
“What do you want to do, Shona?”
“I’d say, let’s try it.”
The men smiled. Breaking in was something they enjoyed far more than questioning.
“No walking through the walls this time?”
She shook her head. “He gave us the security codes, and we have his keys. I know where his office is. This should not take more than twenty minutes.”
One of the men looked back at the door they had just closed, having erased all traces of their presence. “What about him?”
“He’s not going to die. We left the light on. That’ll bring help faster. Let’s go.”
They changed clothes first. It had been a gory business. They exited the building by the service stairs.
With their rented car, Ekbeth’s bank was just ten minutes away. On their way there she called the pilot and asked him to have the plane ready for departure in one hour.
On the key pad at the front door of the bank she entered the first code. The light turned green. So far, so good. Farrill had not lied. Pity that he had proven so stubborn.
The construction men were going to have a nasty surprise when they arrived at work in a few hours.
30
Sorting out the McLeans’ business took him longer than expected. Ekbeth was only able to return to Zurich two days after the end of the Aras’arisidz. Attending the family councils of the past few days had definitely been an ordeal. But not only for him.
He smirked, remembering the faces of his uncles and cousins. They had certainly been surprised by his decisiveness during those meetings. That was not something they were used to. And he had cut short their protests. That they were used to. But in the past, he cut them off as a way of escaping the situation. This time, he just told them to shut up and gave them a piece of his mind before announcing his decision.
The whole family was doubtlessly going to discuss this new attitude of his in the coming days. They would just have to get used to it. Because he now had every intention of going back to the Valley once a week. And to not tolerate their childish attitude anymore.
Now, if Kalem just could look a little less annoyed by his decision…
As soon as he entered his Zurich villa, Ekbeth headed for the room he used as an office. It was still early in the afternoon, and, no doubt, tons of emails were awaiting him. It was always like this when he was in the Valley, even though Orsina, his assistant, was sorting them before it hit his mailbox.
Kalem disappeared, probably, Ekbeth thought, to tell the staff they were back, in case they had not yet noticed. Ekbeth took his mobile phone and laptop from the safe—not the same one that Kimiel had put her hand into—and started them up. That was what he missed the most while in the Valley—they had no connection to the outside world, nothing even resembling the Net. He occasionally sneaked his computer inside Kse’Annilis, but it was not really of big use to him without the Internet connection.
Now, he only had to wait for the new messages to come in. In the meantime, he was going to find some coffee—something else he had sorely missed the last two weeks. There was coffee in the Valley, but nothing like the one he enjoyed at his home.
His phone rang just as he was about to leave the room. At the same instant Kalem reappeared with a look on his face that alarmed Ekbeth.
He picked up the phone.
“Sir. Finally! I’m glad you’re back!”
His assistant. He frowned. The woman had worked for him for more than twenty years, and he had never heard panic in her voice, no matter what the crisis was. Until now… “Good afternoon, Orsina. How are you?”
“Good. Good. But your cousin, Mr. Farrill…”
Ekbeth walked back to his chair and sat slowly. “What happened to him?”
“Someone kidnapped him four days ago. He was found in a deserted building the next morning. His kidnappers tortured him.”
This was even worse than anything Ekbeth could think of. No wonder old Orsina was so upset! “I’m coming to you, Orsina.”
“Yes, sir. Of course…wait a second. No! You have to go to your cousin first! He’s at the University Hospital. In intensive care. Your driver knows where.”
“Have you informed the police?”
“The police informed us, sir. They don’t have an explanation yet. They are very puzzled by the event. But really, sir…”
“Yes Orsina. I got the message. I’m on my way to the hospital.”
Kalem was impatient to speak as well. “I just heard the news, Akeneires’el! My staff has been investigating. They’ve found nothing so far. No witness, nothing. But you know what I’m thinking…?”
Ekbeth nodded grimly. “Kimiel.”
The driver was waiting for them in the garage. Probably warned by Kalem. Ekbeth prevented Kalem from getting into the car. “No.”
“Akeneires’el. I have to come with you.”
“There’s no point. She’s not in Zurich anymore. If Lyrian was found, she probably got whatever she wanted from him. No, I need you to go to London now. Go to Maire Kincaid. Get some answers from this Matheson. Find her.”
Kalem was not entirely happy about the order, but he nodded and took a step back.
The car left the garage smoothly. Ekbeth closed his eyes. There was a remote chance that Kimiel was not involved in this, of course. But Ekbeth tended to agree with Kalem.
His cousin! Why would she kidnap his cousin?
*
The hospital was huge and split into different buildings, so Ekbeth was happy that his driver was able to bring him to the right location and give him precise instructions that helped him find the room quite easily.
He stood at the door, taking in the scene. There was a small group of medical students in white blouses around the bed. And a familiar red-haired woman sitting in a corner of the room. All listening carefully to a lecture given by a professor, while Lyrian lay in the bed, connected to an impressive ensemble of tubes and machinery, moaning incomprehensible words.
Ah, so his cousin’s case was worth a lecture, it would seem. Not very reassuring.
Ekbeth entered the room, drawing the attention of the students. Their professor frowned at him. “Who are you?”
Ekbeth approached the bed. The students moved aside. Sarah-Lysliana greeted him with a nod and said, “He is my husband’s cousin and also his boss.”
Husband? There were too many people present for Ekbeth to get into discussing that bit of information.
Lyrian opened his eyes at this moment and looked at him, but Ekbeth was not sure he was really seeing him. Then Ekbeth noticed how Lyrian’s hands were shaking. “What’s wrong with him?”
The professor shook his head. “The sedatives we are giving him are not working. He’s very agitated.”
Ekbeth pointed at the installation. “Is that why there is all this machinery? I was told my cousin has been tortured.”
“Oh, there is some physical damage as well—mainly superficial, though. This was obviously the work of an expert. You can inflict a lot of pain without massive damages when you know how to. I’m not saying there is none at all. Most of the skin around his genitals shows severe burns, for example. But we’ve treated him, and have every confidence he’ll fully recover physically. We are much more concerned about the psychological damage.”
“Psychological?”
The professor nodded. “I was there when the police brought him in. His kidnappers had broken him, sir. Psychically. I’m used to traumatized victims. I worked in Rwanda after the genocide. This is worse. We could not touch him at first—he would not allow us. We had to literally hold him down to do the first injection of sedatives.”
Ekbeth looked at his cousin with horror. Was Kimiel really behind this?
“Will he recover?”
The professor hesitated. “I don’t know. We’ll have to do some tests. Later. For now he needs to rest. I’d like the sedatives to be mo
re effective, but we can’t give him any higher dosage. We’ll leave you alone with your cousin. Don’t expect much coherence from him yet.”
Ekbeth was finally alone with Lyrian and Sarah-Lysliana. He took a chair and sat next to the bed. He still had to get over the shock of this attack on his cousin. This was not supposed to happen. Normally, Lyrian was as well-protected as Ekbeth himself. Ekbeth had an unofficial agreement with Nukri na Liom, one that assured Lyrian would be transferred out of harm if threatened. Unofficial because Lyrian’s banishment forbade this protection. Thankfully, Nukri had agreed because he understood how important Lyrian was for the community, banished or not.
However, Lyrian had not been protected during the Aras’arisidz. Nukri was out of reach. Ekbeth had to wonder whether Kimiel had been aware of that fact when she pounced on his cousin.
He turned to Sarah-Lysliana. “How long have you been here, Sally?”
“Since yesterday evening. Your secretary left a few messages on my mobile when she could not reach you. I came as soon as I heard what had happened. And, before you ask, I said he was my husband to save a lot of administrative complications.”
Ekbeth nodded and turned his attention back to his cousin. Lyrian had closed his eyes, but his face was anything but relaxed. Instead it looked grimly determined—maybe in an effort to recover some control of his body. His hands were still shaking very badly.
Ekbeth was also having trouble controlling his emotions. Whoever did this to his cousin would die, he decided. He took his cousin’s hand. Lyrian tried to pull his hand away. But Ekbeth did not release the grip.
He talked to him, in As’mir. “You’re safe, Lyrian. We are here. They won’t hurt you anymore. You need to rest!”
Lyrian did not seem to hear him. He was muttering something. Ekbeth tried to understand what he was saying. Just some series of figures. Lyrian was manipulating figures all day long. It could mean anything.
Ekbeth kept talking and holding Lyrian’s hand in his until he felt his cousin’s body relax. Somehow.
Ekbeth wanted to help him. And there was something he could try. If there was one thing the As’mirin were still good at, it was toxicology. With all the poisoning incidents they regularly endured, there was no other choice but to keep their knowledge up to date. That meant sedatives was also an area of expertise. For Bers’el na Saoilcheach especially. The old man might know of a better solution than that which the hospital was giving Lyrian.
