by ammyford1
“That sounds dangerous,” I said.
“It was, but at the time I needed it.”
I couldn’t help thinking that his life must have been pretty rough if he was prepared to put it on the line every day. I wondered what had happened to make him feel like that.
“You enjoyed risking your life?” I asked.
“I did for a long time. The Special Force took me to places I had never been before. It was fast paced and exciting but the reality of what I was putting myself through hit home when Tagan was killed.”
He seemed to have better control over his emotions this time and I only saw the briefest flicker of pain in his eyes before he moved on. “I have always loved the countryside and wanted to use my degrees so I decided to buy a farm and when one came up in the location I was after, I bought it. I had come to the end of my contracted period and was ready to say goodbye to the military.
“Do you miss it?”
“Sometimes, but I grew tired of being rootless. I have different priorities now.”
The thought of Ahran and Talina putting down roots together didn’t sit well with me. Since when had Ahran’s future started to matter so much? Had it been when he had kissed me? Or when I had met Talina? Or had it been when I first laid eyes on him standing under my porch? Much to my dismay, I realised it was probably the latter.
The flight attendant interrupted our conversation and handed us steaming hot plates of some sort of casserole and rice. She poured us both a glass of wine and I took a mouthful of the meaty dish in front of me. It was delicious and nothing like the aeroplane food I had ever tasted. It was also preferable to the sweaty baguette I had stuffed in my bag.
I spent the time we ate thinking about what Ahran had told me about his life and I admired his drive to branch out and do something he felt passionate about. I couldn’t think of anything better than living in beautiful countryside, building a business based on something you felt strongly about and doing it with someone you loved. Did Talina share his passion? From what I had seen of Talina the only thing that she seemed passionate about was herself.
I looked over at Ahran’s handsome profile. I wondered what it would be like to share my life with him. I shook my head slightly, what was I thinking? I hardly knew the guy, not to mention that he was engaged to another woman and from an entirely different universe. He wasn’t technically even the same species. The idea of me and Ahran ever being together was so utterly ridiculous it was laughable. I needed to stop these silly daydreams and focus.
“You’ve gone very quiet. No more questions?” he asked, sipping his wine.
I reached for my glass and took a large gulp, it was sweet and warming. I welcomed its soothing effect as it hit my stomach.
“Not for the moment,” I said as breezily as I could.
“What about you Sophie, are you happy?” he asked, keeping his eyes trained on me.
It struck me as a slightly odd question. “Well, I would have preferred that Toby had not been kidnapped by aliens,” I said with a frown.
Ahran’s lips twisted into a humourless smile. “We all wish that hadn’t happened, but I mean before the recent turn of events. Were you happy?”
I blew out my cheeks as I thought back to my life before Toby had been kidnapped. “It’s been a really tough year. Losing Katie was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to deal with. She wasn’t just my sister she was my best friend.” I took another sip of my wine. “Our mother never really got over the death of our father when we were young and even though Katie was only three years older than me it was her I always turned to. The bond we had continued into adulthood.”
I looked up at Ahran with tears in my eyes and was met with his own look of anguish. Was he thinking about Tagan again? I guessed he knew what it was like to lose someone he’d loved.
He started to say something but faltered. “I’m sorry,” he said eventually. “From the brief glimpse I’ve had of your life it seems like you have coped well.”
I smiled and swallowed back the tears.
“Toby is a great little boy, I am lucky to have had him.”
“Have him,” Ahran corrected. “We will get him back Sophie.”
I so desperately wanted to believe him but at this moment in time Toby seemed so far away.
“You don’t think they are being cruel to him, do you?”
“He is an innocent and children are highly regarded in Ramia. There is no reason why they should be cruel to him. Toby is Bazeera’s ticket to getting what she wants and she wouldn’t compromise her chances.”
Ahran’s words offered me some comfort. I gazed back into his eyes, struck by the sincerity I saw there. He really was trying to reassure me. I wanted to believe him, but I was so far out of my comfort zone in this strange place that I hardly knew what to think.
His hand was resting on top of the tray in front of him and I wanted to slide my hand into his to draw on some of his strength but I fought the urge.
“Thank you.” It was all I could muster as tears threatened. Tears not just for Toby, but for myself and the awkward, difficult and dangerous situation I had found myself in.
Whilst we ate dessert I tried to rein in my emotions. I yawned as our trays were cleared away.
“You ought to try and get some sleep,” Ahran advised.
I nodded, feeling weak with exhaustion. “I can quite safely say that today goes down as one of the worst days of my life and that’s saying something. I’ve had some pretty bad ones,” I said, giving him a weak smile.
He smiled back sympathetically.
“I think I will try and get some sleep,” I said, retrieving the headphones from the pocket on the side of my chair, before reaching down for the blanket that was stowed under my seat. I reached up and switched the overhead light off.
“Night,” I said, pulling the blanket over me. I put the ear buds in my ears and fiddled with the buttons on the arm rest. “How do I turn the T.V. on?”
“Here,” he said, reaching over and switching it on. I managed to not inhale as he did it this time. I also pushed myself back into the seat to avoid any contact with him. I was knackered, my defences were down and there was no telling what my body would do in response to his touch.
The T.V. screen flickered to life and he sat back in his seat.
“Goodnight Sophie,” he said quietly.
For a long time, I stared at the screen not taking in the movie. How was I ever going to get through this? I feared for Toby and wondered how he was coping away from me and home. I didn’t know how we were even going to begin to find him. I was also pretty concerned that my growing attraction for Ahran could only end in tears.
After some time the gabble of Ramian dialogue flowing through my headphones receded into the background and I surrendered to the creeping fingers of sleep.
*****
“Wake up Sophie,” Ahran said as he nudged my arm. “We are just about to land.”
I had assumed the foetal position in my chair and my left arm had gone dead with the weight of my head. I sat up a little disorientated and stretched when I realised where I was.
“That was quick,” I said croakily.
“It was for you, you slept for most of it.”
“You didn’t sleep?”
He shook his head.
“Can’t you sleep on planes?”
“Something like that,” he said with an odd expression on his face.
Apart from the massive deceleration the landing was smooth and we were ushered off the plane by our flight attendant. It wouldn’t have surprised me at all if she had pressed a piece of paper into Ahran’s hand with her phone number on it.
We left the plane and made our way to the arrivals lounge. It was the middle of the night and apart from the passengers that had been on our plane, the place was deserted. It wasn’t long before our luggage appeared down a chute and onto the carousel. We went through security and made our way through the airport.
“I’m just going t
o nip to the ladies, I won’t be a minute,” I said as I spotted what was literally the universal sign for the toilet to our left.
“Okay, no problem.” Ahran pulled his phone out of his pocket and leant up against the wall outside the ladies. “I’ll just wait here,” he said distractedly.
I walked into the loos. There was a woman with a sleepy child washing their hands at the basins and I smiled at them as they left. Somebody entered the cubicle next to me. When I had finished I went to the basins and washed my hands. I caught sight of my reflection in the mirror, I was pale, my hair needed a good brush and the little make up I had put on earlier had worn off.
I scrabbled around in my handbag for my brush and a hair band. The person who had been in the cubicle next to mine came out and I briefly made eye contact with her before I felt the blow between my shoulder blades.
She hit me with such force that it catapulted my upper body forward causing my head to smack against the glass whilst my abdomen collided with the sink unit. Pain seared through my head and I let out a whimper as I slid to the floor.
Disorientated, I felt her hands take a grip around my neck. I used all the strength I had to claw at her fingers but my attempt to lessen her grasp was futile and my vision began to cascade into a multitude of colours under her lethal hold. My chest felt like it was about to explode. I gasped for breath and came to the sickening conclusion that it would only be a matter of seconds before my world went blank.
I could feel myself drifting. The hands around my throat were too strong and I had nothing left to fight with. My arms fell loosely to my sides as I gave into the burning feeling in my throat and lungs. Two images flashed in my mind, one was of Toby and the other was of Ahran, and then I lost consciousness.
Chapter 13
“Sophie, can you hear me? Open your eyes,” said a male voice.
Air was being forced into my lungs in between pumping thrusts to my chest. My head was pounding and it felt like a stock car had driven right into my pelvis. I attempted to draw in the breath that was making its unrelenting way into my lungs, but the sensation against my dry throat only caused me to splutter and cough.
“Gretcha garlena,” said the now familiar and welcome voice.
My eyes fluttered open and I took a couple of painful breaths unaided. “What happened?” I croaked, struggling to understand why I was lying on the floor of a public toilet and why I was in so much pain.
“You were attacked,” Ahran replied, his face full of concern.
I attempted to sit up, but a bolt of pain shot through my head and I fell back onto the floor.
“Hey, steady, take your time. You’ve got a nasty cut on your forehead.”
My arm felt heavy as I touched my head, it was wet and sticky and I stared uncomprehendingly at the blood that now coated my fingers.
Slowly it came back. I remembered brushing my hair, a woman behind me, the blow to my back and then not much more after that.
My lungs and throat burned.
“Have you got any water?”
“Yes, let me help you sit up.” I tried to assist but my strength had all but deserted me. “Easy,” Ahran said, “I’ll lift you.”
I felt as weak as a new-born and lay heavily in his arms as he gently eased me into an upright position against his chest.
“Here have some of this,” he said, pressing a bottle to my lips. The cool water soothed my parched throat. I drew in some steadying breaths and felt slightly better in spite of the pain coursing through my head.
“Where is she?” I asked as the panic kicked in.
Ahran tilted his head towards the form lying on the floor just a few feet from us.
I gasped. She was as still as a stone.
“Oh my God! Is she dead?” I knew the answer as soon as I noticed her open, vacant eyes.
“She would have killed you.” Ahran’s lips formed a grim line. He was applying pressure to the cut above my eye.
“Ouch! That hurts,” I winced.
“I’m just trying to stem the bleeding, you need to have this looked at,” he said with a frown. “If I support you, do you think you can stand up?”
“I think so.” I was creeped out by the dead woman lying only a few feet away from me and was only too happy to give what he was suggesting a try.
Ahran’s arms cradled me as I summoned all my strength to prepare myself to stand. I was on my feet in no time having put very little effort in on my part. “Ah my head!” I cried out in pain.
Concern carved itself into every line of Ahran’s face. “I’ve got you.” He took my weight effortlessly. “Do you think you’ll be okay if I sit you over there for a moment?” He pointed towards a row of chairs that lined the wall. “I need to hide the body.”
My eyes widened but I nodded in agreement. He carried me over and lowered me carefully onto one of the seats.
“Here.” He handed me the bottle of water and I took another sip.
He went over to the dead woman, hooked a hand under her arm and dragged her as easily as if she had been a ragdoll over to the janitor’s cupboard. With his free hand he pulled out a penknife concealed under his trouser leg and extracted one of its arms with his teeth. How on earth had he got that through security? He unpicked the lock in one deft movement. The door swung open and he bundled the body into the cupboard carrying his task out with emotionless efficiency. He shut the door and used the penknife to lock it again.
I closed my eyes at the image of the woman slumped in the cupboard. The only other time I had seen a dead body was when I’d had the distressing job of identifying my sister at the hospital. The image forced a tearless sob from my throat.
Ahran was back at my side in the blink of an eye.
“Are you alright?”
I nodded even though I felt anything but.
When he was satisfied I wasn’t going to pass out, he went over to the sink and dampened some paper towels. He knelt down in front of me and set about cleaning me up. It hurt but his close proximity helped to keep my mind off the pain. “There, that looks better,” he said as he dabbed at my face one last time.
“You need to change your top there’s blood all over it.”
I looked down at my favourite pink sweater which was now red with my blood. “There’s another top in my bag.”
Ahran left me sitting on the chair and went to get our bags.
“Here,” he said dropping my bag in front of me.
“Thanks.” I leant forward and unzipped it. The pain caused by the sudden movement made me suck in a breath. I replaced my blood soaked sweater with a navy hoody and stuffed my stained sweater in my bag.
“We need to leave. We’re lucky no-one has come in here. Are you ready?”
“Where are we going?”
“You need to see a doctor.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, trying to reassure him. I didn’t want to make a fuss, this was exactly the sort of thing he had meant when he had warned me that our trip would be dangerous and I had just inadvertently proven that I shouldn’t be making it with him.
“We’re not going anywhere until someone has looked at that cut,” he said, pointing to my head wound. “It’s still bleeding.”
He was right. The warm trickle of blood hadn’t stopped. I rearranged the damp paper towels and applied more pressure. “You’ll need to put your hood up so we can get out of here without drawing too much attention to ourselves.”
He put his rucksack on his back and swung my bag over his left shoulder so he could support me with his right arm.
I went through the motions of walking but knew that without Ahran I would have crumpled into a heap on the floor. It felt like I’d been hit by a train. My back hurt, my neck hurt, my hips hurt and my head continued to throb. I glanced back at the door of the cleaning cupboard as we left and felt sorry for the poor unsuspecting cleaning person who would get a nasty shock in the morning. My gaze skimmed over the crack in the mirror and I could only feel relieved that I was leaving this skirmis
h alive.
We walked an indirect route through the terminal and I looked up at Ahran questioningly. He pointed to the minute CCTV cameras fixed to strategic points around the airport. “We need to avoid those.”
“Oh.” I wouldn’t have even noticed them.
I tried to act like every other traveller who had not nearly been strangled to death and we managed to leave without raising any suspicions. Ahran hailed a hover cab and we glided off into the night. I laid my head back on the seat and tried to avoid replaying the events of the last hour in my mind.
Ahran sat quietly brooding next to me. I couldn’t think of anything to say that would make the situation any better so I opted to say nothing.
I looked out of the window. There were a couple of other cars on the road and like ours they glided silently along. It was kind of eerie. The buildings were no more than four stories high, modern looking and largely made of glass. The streets were clean and well lit and there were lots of trees. A great deal of thought had obviously gone into the planning of the beautifully planted seated areas which helped to minimise the overall impact of the buildings. I now understood what Ahran meant when he said that living in a Ramian city was no hardship. Even though it was urban, it was leafy and there was a sense of space.
Eventually we pulled up outside a nondescript building down a side street. It looked like a small shop. The windows had frosted glass and a light glowed from inside. Ahran touched his fingertips to a pad in front of us and the door glided open. He helped me out of the car and I eyed the shop front. It was the only building in the street with its lights on. “Is this the doctor’s?” I asked.
“Yes.” He spoke into the intercom at the door. Within a matter of seconds the door opened and a young woman greeted us who, despite the late hour, looked alert and efficient in her fitted white uniform.
We stepped inside and it smelt of hospitals. The nurse motioned for us to take a seat on one of the two, white leather sofas and left through a door in the wall opposite. The only other piece of furniture in the room was a clear Perspex coffee table with a large bowl of exotic looking fruit sitting on top, the splash of colour it provided was in stark contrast to the plain white walls and furniture.
