by Ciana Stone
He felt tightness in his chest at her words. Turning in his seat to face her, he took hold of her shoulders. “I have to know.”
She had the most miserable expression on her face, as if the weight of the world rested solely on her shoulders. “No matter what happened, no matter what he did, it won’t change anything,” he promised. “Nothing can change the way I feel about you.”
“So you think,” she argued softly. “You may change your mind.”
“Then at least give me the opportunity to prove you wrong or be proven wrong,” he insisted.
She nodded and turned away. There was no way she could face the memories, no way to talk about it while she was looking at him.
Peering up over the animal pen she looked around frantically. Not only did she not see him, she didn’t see anyone. That seemed odd. All day yesterday the village had been filled with people coming and going. She could hear the sounds from where she waited in the jungle.
When he had not returned by nightfall, the fear returned. She didn’t know what to do—to wait for him or try and find him. She was afraid in the jungle alone, especially at night, but she was more afraid of going out into the village alone. The night hours crept by like a slow-moving river. Each time she would doze off she would jerk awake, sure that something was about to pounce on her. The first light of dawn was the most welcome sight she had ever seen. She decided she had waited long enough. She was tired and hungry and she had to find him.
Despite the peculiarity of the absence of people she was still hesitant to venture out from her hiding place behind the animal pen. She waited for what seemed a very long time and still no one appeared. Thinking that perhaps she would be safe enough she left her refuge and wandered down the dirt street, peering into the buildings. Each was dark and deserted.
“Where did everyone go?” she spoke aloud without thinking.
“Heaven or hell, take your pick,” a voice behind her made her jump and whirl around.
A tall man with craggy features and dark hair dusted with a feathering of gray at the temples stood not five feet behind her. “Who are you?” she squeaked, at the same time backing away from him.
“My name is Bruce. I came here looking for you.”
“Why?” She continued to retreat.
“To take you to your father.”
Senna knew then that whoever the man was, he was definitely not her friend. Her father would never send a stranger for her. She had been warned repeatedly not to have anything to do with anyone except for Lucas, Marcus or her bodyguard. Turning, she ran as fast as she could. She had no idea where she was running to, only that she had to get away.
Coming to a corner, she turned. As she did she cast a look over her shoulder to see if the man was pursuing her and ran headlong into someone. Hands with a grip like a vise grabbed her and before she could scream a cloth came down over her mouth and nose.
She fought with all her strength, trying to tear the noxious rag from her face but her vision was blurring and she was so dizzy she could barely stand. A moment later she felt a suffocating sensation take hold of her. Her body sagged despite her mind’s demands to keep fighting and darkness closed in around her.
When she woke she was in a strange room, lying on a pallet on the floor. As she sat up the cover fell away and she realized she was not dressed. Clutching the cover, she wrapped it around herself and stood.
There was one window, set high in the wall, too high for her to reach. She tried to push a heavy wooden chest in front of the window to stand on but it wouldn’t budge. Looking around for some other avenue of escape, she saw none. The only way out was the door. The problem with that was what lay beyond even if she did find it unlocked. She debated it for a bit then started for the door.
Just as she reached it, it opened. Jumping back, she tripped over the cover she had wrapped around her body and stumbled. Instinctively one hand reached out to break her fall. She scrambled to get to her feet and keep herself covered at the same time. As she turned she found herself face to face with a man she had never seen before.
Obviously of Asian descent, he was slim yet muscular, with long sleek hair pulled back and tied with a thong. His eyes were as black as obsidian and his face appeared as if it were carved from living rock. He was wearing a black silk robe, belted at the waist. Beneath that she could see black pants but no shirt. His hands weren’t visible as they were hidden behind his back. Everything about him made her afraid. It was as if he exuded an aura of evil.
“Who are you?” Her voice would not rise above a choked whisper. “Where am I?”
“You will address me as master,” he replied in heavily accented English.
Senna took a step back. “What do you want?”
“You will tell me everything you know about the project.”
She didn’t understand his demand. “You mean the dig?” she asked.
His eyes narrowed but aside from that he didn’t move a muscle. “You will tell me what I want to know.” He emphasized the word will in a way that made her heart thump rapidly.
“I don’t understand what you want.” She tried to stem the tears that threatened to erupt. “I don’t know anything. My dad’s here on an archaeological dig and I don’t really know what—”
“Enough!” he roared.
She jumped at the shout. She didn’t know why he was so angry. She was trying to tell him what she knew. Even as the thought crossed her mind it occurred to her that she didn’t seem to know very much for having been with her father for a year. In fact, she couldn’t remember much at all about the dig. A memory surfaced and a pictured appeared in her mind—a mound of freshly dug dirt in the jungle, broken clay and scattered bones.
“It must have been a burial ground,” she voiced her thoughts before she realized it then looked sharply at the man.
This time when he spoke his voice was soft yet still menacing. “You will be taught the futility of lying.” His hands moved from behind his back. In them were two sets of manacles equipped with thick chains.
A fear unlike any she had ever known rose like bile. Senna backed away from him, trembling and sweating. He advanced on her and she continued to retreat until she was backed into a corner, “No,” she whispered. “Please.”
Before she realized he’d moved, he had her. The cover was ripped away. The shock and humiliation of being exposed galvanized her into action and she fought back. Her fight, however, was short-lived. Despite his small stature, he was strong and fast. Within minutes her wrists and ankles were locked securely in the leather manacles.
“No, please,” she begged through her tears as he dragged her across the room toward the pallet.
He paid no attention to her tears but proceeded to fasten the ends of the chains from her wrists to a metal hook mounted in the wall above the head of the pallet. She screamed and thrashed around and he slapped her so hard that her head banged against the wall and stars danced before her eyes.
She tried to kick at him as he forced her legs apart and grabbed one ankle. He drove his fist into the inside of her thigh, and when her leg collapsed he finished attaching the chain to the hook in the floor. Senna’s arms ached from being stretched up over her head and the weight of her body hanging from them.
When both ankles were secured, he stood and took her chin between his fingers, forcing her to look at him. “Now the lessons begin,” he said with a cold smile.
She had no idea what he was talking about. She figured it out soon enough, when the pain began. Then she could only scream.
Senna’s voice broke and she turned her back on Konnor. “That was only the beginning,” she said so softly he almost didn’t hear her. “And the pain was not the worst part. The other things he did, things he made me do… After a while I forgot how to be normal. My life was one rape, one pain after another. Time stopped and it was like being trapped in a nightmare that wouldn’t end.”
“And he couldn’t break the programming?” Konnor asked. “You couldn’t reme
mber the data Lucas had downloaded?”
“Believe me I would have gladly told him anything he wanted to know if I could have. But I didn’t know anything. At least I didn’t think I did. And he was not the kind of man to admit defeat. I think it became a personal crusade for him. And…and he enjoyed his work.”
“And this was Kitaro, right?”
She nodded and wiped her face then gave him a furtive glance before looking away again. “I reached a point that I just wanted to die. I wouldn’t eat or drink. He would try to force-feed me but I would just throw up whatever went down. I had to die. It was the only way. I couldn’t live with…”
“With what he did to you,” he finished her sentence.
She shook her head and was silent for a long time. Finally she took a deep breath and turned to face him. “No. I could live through it. I did live through it. I wanted to escape myself. You see—” She broke off and looked down. “God, this is so hard,” she whispered. “I can’t…”
“Yes, you can!” He grabbed her shoulders tightly. “You have to. For your own sake, you have to let go of it or it’ll eat at you until there’s nothing left. None of this was your fault. You were a victim. You couldn’t help what he did. He forced you.”
She looked up and the misery was clear in her eyes. “That’s just it! Don’t you understand? He stopped forcing me. He…he had only to demand and I would do anything…anything he asked. He won, Konnor, completely. He became what he said he was—my master—and I didn’t fight him. I gave in.”
“Because you were afraid and hurt and—”
“No, because it was easier.” Her voice was full of self-loathing. “And because I wanted to. I-I became as bad as him. I welcomed the abuse and begged for more.”
Konnor’s eyes widened and his hands fell away from her shoulders. She watched him, knowing what his reaction must be, how he must despise her for her weakness. She despised herself.
“I’m sorry,” she said when he didn’t speak. “I’m so sorry, Konnor. I know you must think—”
“You have no idea what I think!” His voice was like a gunshot, sudden and sharp. “You have no idea what I’m feeling right now.”
“Yes, I do,” she argued. “You hate me. You think I’m as sick and twisted as—”
“Stop it!” He grabbed her again, this time hard enough to hurt. “Quit being the victim! Do you hear me? You got away and you survived and that’s all that matters. Do you think I give a damn what you did so that you could survive? Well, I don’t. It doesn’t matter.”
“But you don’t know what he—”
“What he did? What he made you do?” He cut her off. “No, you’re right, I don’t know—yet. But I will because you’re going to tell me and you’re not going to leave out anything.”
“Why?” She winced at the pain of his grip on her. “Why would you want to know?”
“Because I need to.” His voice was low but he looked her directly in the eyes. “And if you love me the way you claim, you won’t hold back anything.”
“It isn’t pretty,” she said defeatedly.
“I don’t care how bad it is. Just tell me.”
She closed her eyes and tried to quell the shame she felt at what she had to say then before she lost her nerve she started to talk.
Chapter Seventeen
Glendale
Minora waited in the car as Lucas went to the door of the small wood-frame house. He knocked several times before the door opened. A tall man with hard blue eyes, long dark hair, and the skin tone of someone who was of American Indian descent appeared. His hard features softened into a smile as he looked at Lucas. The two men clasped hands then Lucas gestured to Minora.
As soon as she got out of the car the man was off the porch and racing down the steps. “Min!” He swept her up in his arms and held her as if he would never let her go.
“Colton.” Her voice was soft and filled with emotion.
“God, are you a sight for sore eyes,” he said as he set her down. “As beautiful as the first day I saw you.”
“Hardly.” Her eyes twinkled with the compliment. “But I see you’re still the same charmer you always were.”
“You’re the only one I ever wanted to charm,” he said seriously. “But I guess renewing old acquaintances isn’t what brings you here.”
She shook her head. “Could we talk inside?”
Colton led them inside and fixed them coffee. “So, what’s up?” He looked from one to the other. “Gotta be something major to get you out of hiding,” he said, directing his last comment to Lucas.
“Unless we do something fast they’ll have the prototype operational,” Lucas said in a tight voice.
Colton’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you said it could never happen unless… Sweet Christ, are you telling me they’ve found the final gate?”
“All I can tell you for certain is that Senna has remembered,” Lucas replied. “How much I can’t be certain.”
“But you suspect.”
“Marcus has resurfaced,” he said flatly.
“Well, that says a lot.” Colton leaned his chair back on two legs and ran his hands back, smoothing down the dark hair that fell in a long braid down his back. “So, what you do want me to do?” he asked as he let his chair settle down on all four legs.
“We have to get to the prototype before they do.”
“Jesus, Luke, why don’t you just ask me to walk on water?”
“Colton…” Minora reached over and put her hand on his arm. “We need you. Senna needs you.”
He smiled sadly. “You always were my weakness, weren’t you, Min? Okay, but it’ll take me a day or so. I’ll have to call in a lot of markers on this one.”
Lucas nodded and Minora smiled. “Thank you.”
“You have a place to stay?” Colton asked.
“I still have the house,” Lucas replied. “So far no one’s discovered it. I think we’ll be safe there.”
“Okay.” Colton stood. “I better get cracking. I’ll meet you at the house as soon as I’ve made arrangements. If you haven’t heard from me in forty-eight hours get the hell outta Dodge.”
Lucas nodded his understanding. “I owe you, Colton.”
“I think you mean we all owe her.” Colton’s face wore an expression of sadness. “We’ve all screwed her over, Luke. She didn’t deserve this.”
“We did what we had to do,” Minora spoke up. “This is no time for regrets. We’ll be waiting, Colton. Be careful.”
“Always,” he replied and walked them to the door. “You do the same.”
Lucas and Minora got back in the car. He looked over at her and saw the strain on her face. “I know this isn’t easy, Min.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to fall apart,” she said softly then tried to smile. “There’s too much at stake.”
He nodded and started the car. Both of them were so caught up in their own thoughts that neither of them noticed the car that followed them. Colton, however, did. From his place at the window he saw the dark sedan. Running from the house he jumped in his truck and pulled out, keeping his eye on the sedan.
Nevada
Senna was the first one out of the helicopter when it landed. She ran to the car that was parked nearby and flung open the door. There was no one inside but a note lay on the seat. She had time to read it before Konnor reached the car with their bags.
“It’s directions.” She showed him the note.
He made no comment but got in the car and started it. He was having a lot of trouble controlling the rage that was simmering just below the surface. The things Senna had told him made him want nothing more than to find Kitaro and rip his heart out.
Not only did he want to kill Kitaro, he was having some difficulty coming to terms with what she had told him about Shen. Shen was the one who had saved her. He had taken her from Kitaro and they had gone to Japan to one of the smaller islands. Senna had been there with Shen for several months. She told him that she and Shen had b
een lovers and that she had loved Shen at the time. He had immediately felt a surge of jealousy at her words but envy of Shen soon faded for she told him that despite caring for Shen she had never been able to get over the man who had rescued her from the villa. That made him hate someone he had never met.
He forced his mind to other matters. Something he didn’t understand was why she had forgotten Shen, and she couldn’t explain it. He suspected there was more that she didn’t remember but didn’t bring it up. It had been hard on her to admit what she had to him and he could see the toll it had taken on her.
“I think that’s it,” she said quietly, pointing to a house set off the road.
Konnor nodded and turned into the driveway. Halfway to the house he stopped and looked at her. She didn’t speak but met his eyes with an anxious expression on her face.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “About Kitaro and Shen. That was a long time ago and it’s over.”
“Then you forgive me?”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” he assured her by pulling her close. “I love you. I always will.”
Senna clung to him for a long moment. “I love you so much, Konnor. More than I knew I could love someone.”
Their lips met and Konnor was tempted to turn around and leave, go somewhere no one would ever find them and forget about the whole mess. But he couldn’t. Putting the car in gear he drove the rest of the way to the house.
Senna opened her door and got out. The front door of the house opened and she ran to it. Konnor saw her in the arms of an older man as he walked up the steps.
“Konnor, this is my father, Marcus Laserian,” she said as the man released her.
A dam seemed to burst in Konnor’s mind as he looked at Marcus Laserian. For a moment he was blind to everything except the vision in his mind, a vision of Marcus and Slater together. “Senna, get away from him!” He dropped the bags and grabbed her.
“Stop it!” She fought against him. “What are you doing?”
“This isn’t who you think it is.” He shoved her behind him. “He works for Slater.”
