by Ciana Stone
Konnor watched her curiously as she turned it over and something very small fell into her open palm. “What’s that?” he asked as she picked up what appeared to be a seed and crushed it between her thumb and middle finger nails.
“Close your eyes,” she said.
“What?”
“Just do it!” she ordered sharply.
Konnor gave her a look that said he thought she had gone over the deep end, but did as she said. She held the crushed seed under his nose. The sharp yet sweet scent seemed to pervade the room. “No longer bound to the mountain,” she whispered in his ear. “As the lightning crashes the mind lifts free from its fetters. As if on wing it flies to the truth. The power of the tengu has failed. You are free.”
Konnor jerked and his eyes flew open. Almost as soon as they did, he closed them again and fell back, banging his injured head on the cold floor. Senna tried to hold him but his body arched as if in great pain and he gritted his teeth to keep from crying out.
Oh, god, what have I done? She thought she may have made a terrible mistake. Maybe it was too sudden, maybe he wasn’t ready. Suddenly his body went slack. She jumped and shook him but he didn’t move. Putting her head against his chest she heard the steady drum of his heart. At least he was alive. There was nothing else she could do but wait. Moving so that his head lay in her lap, she stroked his face and forehead, willing him to awaken and be all right.
It seemed like an eternity passed before he abruptly sat up. She scrambled to her feet as he bolted to his. He turned and looked at her and his face looked like he was seeing a ghost.
“How…can this be real?” His voice sounded uncharacteristically weak. “Is it… No, it couldn’t have been you.”
“Yes, it could. Think, Konnor, think. Try to remember.”
He clenched his eyes closed for a few seconds. She saw the color fade even more from his face when he opened his eyes and looked at her. “It is you,” he breathed. “You didn’t die.”
“No.” She reached out her hand to him.
“But…” He looked at her hand but made no move to take it. “But when I left you and went into the village… Damn! It’s so fuzzy. No, wait! I remember. I was jumped. I fought but there were too many. When I woke up I was locked in a room with no windows. The door had a small opening with bars. Slater came to the door. He said you were dead, that you had been killed trying to escape. Then…then… Oh, fuck! Senna, it was…”
“Kitaro,” she answered for him. “And Marcus. They were both working for Slater. They stole your memories and planted new ones. Just like they did with me.”
“But why? I didn’t know anything about what Lucas was doing and—”
The metal door opened and Konnor stepped in front of her, shielding her with his body. A man was shoved into the room. He stumbled and fell. A moment later Slater walked in, holding Minora and pushing her along in front of him.
Senna scrambled around Konnor before he could stop her. “Oh god, oh god, oh god!” she repeated over and over as she ran to the fallen man.
He looked up at her as she reached to help him. “Dad,” she cried and embraced him. He returned the embrace then pulled her behind him. That’s when it dawned on Senna. Minora was standing! She moved from behind Lucas, but he pulled her into his arms protectively.
“Min?” she spoke in a strained voice.
“Not now,” Lucas said softly.
“How very touching,” Slater drawled sarcastically. “Don’t you think, Konnor?”
Konnor glared at him menacingly and took a step forward. Slater’s hand moved from behind Minora’s back and Konnor could see the gun. He stopped where he was.
Lucas stepped away from Senna with his hands out to his sides. “Slater, it doesn’t have to be this way. Surely even you can see—”
“I can see that I’ve won,” Slater gloated. “And by the way, Lucas. Your brother sends his regards…from hell.”
Senna gasped and Minora closed her eyes but Lucas didn’t blink. “So, you killed him. I’m surprised it took you this long. But if you expect tears from me, think again. Marcus betrayed me, betrayed all of us long ago. I will not grieve for him.”
Slater looked over at Konnor who had a puzzled look on his face then he looked at Senna. “Come now, Lucas. It’s so impolite to make references to things that not all of us understand. Why don’t you explain to your…let’s see, what should we call her…your adoptive daughter, or would bastard niece be more appropriate.” He paused and looked down at Minora. “What do you think?”
She shook her head and would not look at him. Slater turned to Lucas. “Well? We’re all waiting. Go on, tell them how you used them, and lied to them. Show them how honorable and righteous the Laserian family is.”
Lucas shook his head and wouldn’t speak but Slater jabbed the barrel of the gun into Minora’s back hard enough to make her cry out in pain. “Don’t make me have to persuade you,” he warned.
Lucas stared at him for a moment then turned to Senna. “Have you regained your memories?”
“Yes.”
“All of them?”
“Yes.”
“Then you understand the Sumer project.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Konnor for a moment. “And you?”
Konnor nodded but didn’t speak and Lucas sighed. “I thought I had considered every possibility. The notes were encrypted, Marcus’s notes were altered, the information had been successfully downloaded with multiple keys required to break through the locks. I had only to destroy the prototype and the information would be safe.”
He turned to Senna. “But that is not what you want… No, it’s not what you need to hear.” He took her hands in his. “I lied to you, about so many things. I wish now I could go back and do it over. But it’s too late.”
“Lied? About what?”
“Everything—who you are, where you came from. I thought I was doing what was right for you—for all of us. I was wrong.”
“What are you saying?” She felt a stabbing sensation in her stomach.
“Marcus and I were working for Slater. It was Slater who arranged for everything. Otherwise I would never have made the discovery. I was in Egypt and received a message to meet someone in Cairo. When I arrived at the meeting place a man was there. He gave me an address and directions. Following those directions I went to a large and luxurious private home. That’s when I found out that Marcus was alive. He was already working for Slater. He was the one who had stumbled onto the device. But neither he nor the scientists they hired could figure out what it was. I recognized it as something I had seen but for a time could not remember what. Then it came to me. It was from some ancient scrolls. I contacted Marcus again and Slater arranged for Andrea and I to go to Iraq. I didn’t know at the time that she had been working for Slater since before I met her.”
He paused and cast a look at Slater before continuing. “I truly believed that he was a good and decent man. That was my biggest mistake. He never intended on anything except seeing the project to completion then killing all of us. It was by blind luck that I discovered Andrea’s deception and that led me to finding out the truth. That’s why I staged my death in Iraq.”
“Then why did we go with Marcus to South America if you knew he was working for Slater all along?”
“Marcus somehow found out about my deception and got word to me. He said that he was in hiding because he had found out the truth about Slater and Andrea, and Slater had tried to kill him. I suspected he was lying but…but I was so caught up in my obsession with the plans by then that my arrogance overrode my judgment. I thought I could trick both him and Slater and use them to finish my work. That’s why I used the device and transferred the data into your mind. It was part of my plan to double-cross them.”
“It didn’t exactly work out, did it?” Konnor asked in an angry tone. “You used your own…you used Senna, to further your ambitions without a thought of what the risks were to her.”
“You
’re right,” Lucas agreed and fell silent.
“Just what am I to you?” Senna asked. If neither Lucas nor Marcus was her father, then she wanted to know just who she really was before Slater killed them all.
Minora looked at Lucas in surprise. “But you said…” Her eyes darted to Slater then back at Lucas. “Oh, god, no. Not you, Lucas.”
Senna didn’t have the slightest idea what Min was referring to but apparently Lucas did for he looked nervously at Slater. Slater shrugged and motioned Lucas to stand beside him. “Well, I suppose the ruse would have been detected sooner or later so why not give them the truth.”
He looked at Minora. “Yes, he is working for me.”
Minora’s eyes carried her hurt but her face was filled with anger. “How could you? All these years I kept your secrets and it was all for nothing!”
“Hardly,” he argued. “You did exactly as I expected you to do, as you always do. You were, after all, the only honest one among us, weren’t you, Min?”
She looked away from him and he looked at Senna. “Sorry to disappoint you, but as Bruce said, sooner or later you would have known. I personally would have preferred it to be later, but things don’t always work out the way we want.”
Senna’s mind was in a whirl. If Lucas was working for Slater then why didn’t Slater have all the facts? Unless he’s still trying to trick Slater, she considered. It made sense. If he really were working for Slater they would have had the project completed and in use by now. She decided to follow that assumption for the time being and opened her mouth to make a hateful comment. Before she could get one word out the door burst open. Gunfire erupted and Slater was pitched forward, knocking Minora to one side as he fell. Everyone froze as the man walked into the room then Minora ran and flung herself into his arms.
“Come on,” the man said. “We don’t have much time.”
“Lucas betrayed us,” Minora said. “He’s working for Slater.”
The man gave Lucas a look hard enough to kill. “Take his belt and bind his hands,” he directed Konnor.
“Who are you?” Konnor didn’t make a move but eyed the man suspiciously.
Minora turned and looked at him and Senna. “Please, we can trust him.”
“Konnor, please,” Senna added.
He nodded and lashed Lucas’ hands behind his back with his belt and pushed Lucas ahead of him as they followed the man out of the room.
“Where are we?” Senna asked as he led them through a maze of hallways.
“Underground,” he said over his shoulder. “The Sumer Project research center.”
Senna looked up at Konnor as they hurried along. The man led them to a stairwell and they ran up four flights. Everyone was breathing hard when they reached the top. The man opened the door and looked out then jerked his head for them to follow him.
Outside was a military vehicle, a Hummer. They all piled inside and the man got behind the wheel. At a leisurely pace he drove to a small building about a half a mile away. “We’ll be safe here for a while,” he said as he stopped the vehicle.
Everyone went inside. It appeared to be some type of command post. Senna looked around as the man pushed Lucas over to a chair at the table and lashed him to it. Minora stood off to one side, glaring at Lucas. Konnor watched them all suspiciously.
Lucas turned and looked at Senna. “Despite what you believe, I never intended to let Slater gets his hands on a working model. If I had, I could have told him years ago what he wanted to know.”
“Not everything,” she argued. “You don’t have all the data and you can’t operate the system.”
“True, only you and… Only you can do that. But I could have told him how to revive your memories.”
She knew that much was true. What was more, he could have told Slater the truth about the final gate. If he hadn’t then perhaps he really was telling the truth. But she could not know for sure.
“I’m sorry,” she said after consideration. “I want to believe you, but…”
“It’s not important,” he interrupted. “All that matters is that we destroy the project and we only have twelve hours to do it.”
She swallowed nervously but nodded. “What do we do?”
“We don’t do anything right now,” the stranger spoke up. “All of you are going to eat and rest. At nightfall we go in—if conditions hold.”
“What does that mean?” she asked.
“It means if we’re still alive,” Konnor replied and pegged the stranger with a hard gaze. “You still haven’t told us who you are.”
“Colton Ryder. United Nations Security.”
Konnor’s eyes narrowed. “Do we have a reason to trust you, Mr. Ryder?”
Colton nodded. “Yes, sir, I think you do.”
Konnor crossed his arms over his chest stubbornly. “Convince me.”
Kitaro turned as the door opened. He was not in the best of moods. All of their attempts to reactive the controls he had once initiated in Konnor’s mind had failed. He could not understand it. Years ago he had been successful in causing Konnor to forget what had happened in South America and his involvement. He had thought that the loyalty Konnor had always shown to Slater was his handwork but apparently he was wrong. When the mind control device had failed they had turned to drugs and even physical torture but nothing had worked. If that were not bad enough Slater had interfered.
The woman walked in with a triumphant smile on her face and he turned his thoughts away from Konnor. “Slater’s missing and the others are holed up in a shack on the base.”
He hid his surprise at the news and nodded in acknowledgement. It would not do to let her know that she was one step ahead of him. “Are our people in position?”
“We have everything under control. No one gets on or off the base without our knowledge, and thanks to the intervention of Ryder, the base has been effectively shut down for the next twelve hours. He has executive power over everything until then.”
“How is that possible?” Kitaro was not convinced. “His authority doesn’t extend into the military sector.”
“It does if you’re Colton Ryder,” she retorted.
He didn’t comment but turned away. She walked up behind him and ran her hands down his back then around to circle his body and press against him. “Soon we will have ultimate power,” she cooed excitedly. “And all our enemies will be dead.”
He unwound her hands and turned to face her. “And you have no feelings about their deaths?”
“Why should I? They’re nothing to me. They never were.”
“And yet you shared your bed with Lucas for years.”
“Only as a means to an end.”
“And me?” he asked. “Am I merely another means to that end, Andrea?”
“Of course not!” She looked away as she replied.
He took her arm as she started to move away. “Are you sure about that?”
She looked up at him and he could see the deceit clear in her eyes even though she tried to hide it. “How can you even ask that?” She attempted a hurt tone.
He smiled at her. “Perhaps because I see so much of myself in you.”
A confused frown passed over her face that disappeared as his hand dipped into the pocket of her jacket and emerged. Then fear transformed her beautiful features into a mask of terror.
“Did you think me that big a fool?” he asked, turning the blade back and forth in front of her face. “Ummm, poison, I imagine.”
“Kitaro, listen, you’ve got it all wrong. That wasn’t meant for you. I only had it for—”
“I’ve had enough of your lies,” he cut her off. “In fact, I’ve had enough of you.”
“Kitaro, no!” she begged as he raised the blade. “You need me. How else will you convince her to activate the system?”
The downward motion of the knife stopped. It was possible that she would be useful if Senna proved troublesome. Best to wait until he had control of Sumer 1 before he killed her.
“Ver
y well.” He lowered the knife but didn’t release it. She eyed him warily as he walked over and picked up the phone. “See Andrea to her room and make sure she does not leave until I call for her.”
“I will not be locked up like some—” Her protest was cut short.
“If you want to live you will do exactly as I say!”
She nodded in apparent defeat and let the man who entered escort her out of the room. Kitaro took a seat behind the desk and leaned back to smile at the photograph in the golden frame on his desk. “Soon,” he promised the image of the woman. “Very soon they will all be dead and I will have supreme power. And you, my darling. You will be back where you belong. With me.”
Chapter Eighteen
Everyone waited nervously for Colton to speak. He had insisted that they all eat something and took upon himself the task of cleaning up afterward.
Konnor looked over at Senna. She had barely eaten anything. Neither had Minora. He and Lucas both had pointed out that they would need their strength but neither of the women had seemed to pay it much attention.
Finally Colton took a seat at the table with them. “Now, I believe you wanted some reason as to why you should trust me, Mr. Konnor.” He looked at Konnor.
“The name is Chase.”
Colton gave him a penetrating look. “Yes, it is now. But it wasn’t always. Or don’t you remember?”
Konnor frowned at the question. He couldn’t help but notice the way Senna tensed, and looked over at her. She was watching him expectantly. “Think back to South America,” she encouraged him.
He looked across the room, staring blankly out of the window as he called upon the memories of that time. After a few minutes he looked at her in surprise. “My name was Chase Konnor. Slater changed it.”
“And had Marcus and Kitaro alter your memories,” Colton offered.
“Yes,” Konnor agreed. “But that’s hardly reason to put our lives in your hands.”
“Then how about the fact that it was me who convinced Slater not to kill you but to alter your memories instead?”
