by Doug Welch
They stood silent in the room gazing around at her tiny three room apartment as if unsure as to what to do or say next.
The woman dressed in the chador broke the quiet. “Can I take this damned robe off now? It’s suffocating.”
The sound of spoken English shocked Dorri. She hadn’t heard anyone speak anything other than Farsi for almost thirty years. Although she’d been educated in America and wrote her articles in English, she hadn’t used the spoken the language the entire time. Nevertheless her brain automatically switched languages. “Yes, please do. I hate the sight of it.”
Dorri’s words caught the attention of the man in the dark glasses. As the mysterious woman ripped the chador over her head, he addressed her. “I imagine you’re overwhelmed by our presence here, Missus Rowan. But let me introduce myself. I’m Paris Fox, and I’m married to your daughter, Elizabeth. We’ve come to rescue you from Iran.”
Dorri swayed, unsteady on her feet. Each word he’d spoken seemed more impossible than the next. Paris hurried to her side and supported her, leading her to a seat on the divan. It was only then that she collapsed, weeping on his shoulder.
Paris held her as she sobbed, unsure as to what he should do or say. He cleared his throat and compelled by a need to comfort her, stroked her hair. “Is there anything I can do Mother Rowan? I’m sorry we fright–”
Dorri broke his embrace and placed her fingers on his lips to stop him. “Hush. I’ve waited for a long time for someone to call me ‘mother’. That’s all you needed to say.”
Paris stared at her tear-filled violet eyes, Elizabeth’s eyes. He studied the lines and creases of age and the thick flowing gray hair for a clue as to how Elizabeth would age. He liked what he saw.
Dorri looked up at Caesar and patted the space beside her. “Come nephew, sit beside me. I want to look at both of you.”
Caesar moved over and sat on the divan. Dorri took each of their hands in both of hers and squeezed them. She brought both of their hands up to caress her cheeks.
“I was so worried,” she said. “I haven’t heard from Edward in over a year. How is my husband?”
Paris shot a questioning glance over her head to Caesar.
Caesar shrugged. “He’s been ill, Aunt Dorri, very ill. But he’s on the mend. We haven’t told him yet that we’re bringing you out of Iran. We feared the shock would be too great.”
Paris could feel Dorri tense. He longed to sense her feelings with his mind but didn’t want to do so without her permission.
“You said that before,” she said. “I can’t leave Iran. I can’t even leave this building without fainting. How do you plan to help me escape when I can’t even leave my apartment?”
Paris knew to what she referred. He and Elizabeth had discussed it before he’d decided to attempt to rescue Dorri. Elizabeth’s opinion was that any pattern that could shut down bodily functions could not influence autonomic function like respiration or heartbeat but could only affect functions tied to emotions like dreams, digestion or blood pressure. Based upon Elizabeth’s insights, Paris had formulated a plan to block Dorri’s emotional response and allow her to escape the country. But he wouldn’t know until he tried it.
It was time to reveal himself. “We have a plan, Mother Rowan, but you’ll have to trust me.”
“Trust you? What do you mean? You’d have to be a powerful Adept to remove the patter–” Before she could finish the words, Paris expanded his mind to encompass her mind-glow.
Her eyes grew wide. “You’re an Adept! My daughter married an Adept?”
Worried that he’d lost her trust, Paris protested, “I wasn’t when I met her.” He continued in a more normal tone, “It’s a long story, Mother Rowan, and it’ll take a while to tell it but not right now.”
Paris saw Dorri glance at Audrey. “Who are you young lady? Are you a part of this mad scheme?”
Audrey, who’d been observing everything with a confused look replied, “My name’s Audrey —Audrey Warren. Hopefully, I’m a rescue not a rescuer. I hadn’t seen these two men before today...except for him,” she pointed to Paris, “or maybe his twin brother.”
Paris flinched at the mention of a twin but he was relieved she hadn’t elaborated. It would create more confusion and distrust. It was something they definitely didn’t need right now. “Yes. We’ll need to talk about that later, Audrey.”
Her eyebrow rose. “We certainly will...Paris.”
Dorri looked even more confused. “At first I thought you two were related, you look so much alike. You could be twins, you know.”
Paris winced at that. It was impossible that Audrey could be a twin sister. Didn’t he have enough of them? Moreover, did the Shadow Council know? Was that why they’d sent him on a bogus intelligence mission, knowing he’d accept it, because the temptation to rescue Dorri would be too much to resist?
Paris waved his hand in dismissal. “As I said, we’ll talk about this later.”
Audrey opened her mouth to protest but Paris cut her off. “Later, Audrey.” He turned his attention to Dorri. “We need to stay here for awhile, Mother Rowan. I need to see if I can remove the pattern. I’m afraid we’ve drawn too much attention to ourselves to roam the city without suspicion. Is that alright with you?”
“Why certainly, she replied, “and you needn’t fear that someone will come knocking at the door. Since they locked all the political detainees in this building, they’ve lost all interest in us with the exception of food deliveries. But how did you manage to enter the building?”
Paris pointed to his head. “With my mind. We should be safe for awhile, at least long enough to take care of your problem.” He tried to sound confident but he knew that removing the pattern might be difficult. Oh well, take it one step at a time.
Audrey was a different matter. They’d planned on flying Dorri out of the country on a commercial airline. All the necessary documents had been prepared in advance and they would all withstand scrutiny. Caesar was to act as her son, taking his mother to Canada to visit relatives. Paris was supposed to travel on the same flight, posing as a businessman and defraying any suspicious officials with his Adept abilities. Now, they would have to figure a way to include Audrey in the equation. He didn’t like hasty plans, but they had no choice if they were to try to get her out of the country.
Dorri rose from the divan and extended her hand to Audrey. “Come with me child. You need to freshen up and I may have something you can change into. It looks like you’ve been wearing the same clothing for a while now.”
After Dorri left the room with Audrey in tow, Paris turned to Caesar. “We need to know why Audrey just happened to bump into us. None of this makes any sense. I wonder if the Shadow Council planned it.”
Caesar spread his hands. “That’s not all, Paris. I think it’s more important to discover how you managed to acquire another twin. I mean, Alex is one thing. You two were born at the same time from one womb. But Kitty? And now, Audrey? That’s more than coincidence, Paris, it’s impossible. Both of them are younger than you or Alex, so how can they look so much like you and my wife?”
Caesar had touched upon a subject plaguing Paris since they’d met Kitty in Las Vegas. He couldn’t deny that Kitty was a half sister. Except for the color of her hair, Kitty was a twin to Alex. Audrey was cast in the same, but younger mold, again with the exception of her hair color. What was going on?
However it’d occurred, one thing was clear, the Borgia Shadow House was behind it. Paris knew they’d provided the woman or possibly women that gave birth to seven children. He and his sister, along with twin boys and three girls, all of whom looked alike, and with the exception of he and Alex, all of them had been abducted from their fathers during their teenage years.
Paris sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I can’t cope with this right now. First we need to know what happened to her and then we can figure out the rest.”
Chapter 4
Audrey’s story
Paris sat in the common roo
m of the apartment listening to Audrey talk. He’d decided that Caesar should assume the lead because it was obvious Audrey still didn’t quite trust him.
Dorri looked on with interest while Caesar questioned her.
“So how did you come to be in Iran?” he asked.
“At first I had no idea of where I was,” Audrey replied. “I was kept confined in a white room during my pregnancy, no television, no Internet, no contact with the outside. If it hadn’t been for the books they provided I think I would have gone insane.”
Caesar paused for a moment, thinking. ‘Let’s backtrack. How were you abducted?”
A frown knitted Audrey’s eyebrows. “It was during my first semester in college. A hot looking classmate, he looked Spanish or Italian, asked me to a party. If I’d known what to expect, I never would have gone, and if I ever meet up with the asshole again, I hope I have my father’s shotgun with me, because I know how to use it.”
She took a calming breath and continued. “Anyway, I had one drink and the next thing I knew I was in an airplane going God knows where. I was kept drugged up the whole trip, and I woke up in a locked room.
“I was terrified at what they might do to me, but they must have put something in my food to calm me because I felt dopy, you know, like a tranquilizer?” She looked around the room at each of them as though seeking affirmation.
“Did you know who these people were? Caesar asked. “Did they say anything to give you a clue?”
“Some bull about People, Houses and Borgias,” Audrey replied. “I figured they were some kind of cult trying to confuse me so I ignored it.”
“They weren’t lying, Audrey,” Paris said. “If it’s the organization I think it is, they’re really descended from the Borgias of antiquity and you’re fortunate you escaped from them.”
“Whatever,” Audrey replied. “But after what must have been a few months, a small group of these people you call Borgias tried forcing me to do some stupid exercises, looking at weird patterns and trying to make sense of them. I didn’t have any idea what they wanted, but one day something clicked in my mind.
“That’s when I discovered that I could become invisible to some of them, not all, but some and I could play tricks on them. I hid it from them, thinking I could use it to escape, but that’s when they must have decided to impregnate me.” Her voice had become hoarse as her story progressed and tears formed in her eyes.
Dorri broke in. “I think Audrey has answered enough questions for now.” She rose and handed Audrey a cloth to wipe her eyes.
Audrey looked up at her and shook her head, the tears sparkling as they escaped. “It’s okay. I’ve got to get it off my chest. Someone has to know what those bastards did to me.”
Audrey dried her eyes and composed herself. She continued in an angry voice. “The fuckers treated me like I was their property or something. They warned me if I didn’t learn what they wanted me to learn, that I’d become a breeder as they termed it, an empty womb in which they could conceive a child. But I just thought that they were trying to scare me again. Then one day they came into my room with this bulldog-faced bastard who strutted around like a peacock. He spoke Italian or something like that. They all kowtowed to him like he was some kind of fucking royalty and–”
Before she could finish Paris interrupted. “You say this man was Italian? Can you describe him?”
Audrey glared at him for a moment and then sighed. “Yeah, I can. I’ll never forget him. He had brown hair with a little gray at the temples. He was a pugnacious prick, like he was always spoiling for a fight. He looked a little like those pictures of Mussolini. I think his name started with a “G” like Grieg or George, something like that.”
Paris seized upon the name. “Could his name have been Gerardo?”
Audrey nodded. “Gerardo, that’s it. His name was Gerardo. Why? Do you know him?”
Paris nodded. “I’ve met him, though I can’t say it was a good experience.”
Audrey’s face reddened. “Do you know where he lives? ‘Cause he’s next on my hit list. I want that bastard to suffer.”
“Go on with your story, Audrey,” Caesar interrupted. “How did you wind up on the streets of Tehran?”
“This Gerardo guy froze me just like Paris did. I couldn’t stand up and my arms and legs were numb. Then they brought in a man that looked a lot like Paris. I swear he was Paris or a twin. He was dressed in a robe and he didn’t wear anything under it. Do I need to provide details?”
Caesar shook his head. “No. What happened after you became pregnant?”
Audrey lay back on the divan she’d sat on and stared at the ceiling. “Once a doctor found that I was going to have a baby, they moved me. I didn’t know at first where I was going, because a man put a hood over my head, but I know it was a jet. It’s hard to not know that.
“They kept me in some new hospital until the baby came, a baby girl. I was allowed to nurse her for awhile. Although I wanted to reject her because of the rape, I couldn’t. She was so precious, so tiny. I still remember her cuddled against me. Then one day that foul piece of shit, Gerardo came and took her. Just like that, she was gone.” The tears had started to flow from her eyes and ran down into her hair. She turned on her side, huddled in a fetal position, and sobbed.
Once again, Dorri intervened, glaring at both of them. “I think that’s quite enough. Can’t you see this woman’s been through hell?”
Hovering over her like a mother hen guarding her chick, Dorri supported Audrey into the bedroom and closed the door.
Once they’d departed, Paris cleared his throat and turned to Caesar. “I could feel Audrey’s suffering. I tried to help her with my mind but the hurt and anger is too deep. If she wasn’t as mentally torn, she’d be a lot like Alex. She’ll need a lot of therapy to overcome this and it’s beyond my abilities.”
Caesar looked grim. “I have to admit while listening to her I became angry. I couldn’t help but imagine Alex in her place. It could have happened, you know. If you hadn’t stopped them, the same thing could have happened to Elizabeth and her in Las Vegas.”
He unclenched his fists and stared at his hands. “Who’s this Gerardo you mentioned? How do you know him?”
“He’s an Adept from the Borgia Shadow House,” Paris replied, “a real sleaze. I met him at a Shadow Council meeting and the experience wasn’t pleasant. If he’s involved in this, then he’s also involved with the Iranian Shadow Houses and the Council needs to be warned.”
Paris stood and paced the room. “I wonder how it all fits together. He’s forced her into an act that may border on incest, and then snatched her child. Who was the father and what does Gerardo intend to do with the baby? I’m uneasy about this, Caesar. I think that once Audrey calms down, we need to ask her more questions.”
“Are you sure?” Caesar asked. “Further questioning might cause her to go off the deep end. She’s little more than a teenager. She couldn’t be more than what? Twenty, twenty-one years old? With what she’s been through, I’d think you’d want to lay off until later. At least wait until you’ve gained her trust.”
Paris shook his head in negation. “I’ve read her mind-glow. She’s stronger than you might think. There’s a core of resilience in her and reliving the experience with someone like Dorri who’ll believe her may be just what she needs.”
“You’re the expert in that regard,” Caesar said. “I’ll defer to your judgment but first I think we need some sleep. It’s been a long day.”
Paris didn’t feel like sleeping. His adrenalin was high and the urge to follow Audrey and wring all that she knew out of her was strong. However, he knew that Caesar was right. It could wait until the morning.
* * *
Dorri sat in the common room with Audrey waiting for Paris and Caesar to emerge from her bedroom.
In her tiny apartment, sleeping arrangements had proved awkward but she’d managed it.
Caesar and Paris slept in the common room while she shared her bedr
oom with Audrey. Unfortunately they’d all had to share the closet sized bathroom adjacent to her bedroom. The men were currently using it to freshen up.
Paris seemed to her like an earnest and energetic young man but with a great deal of responsibility riding his shoulders. She knew what it meant to be a head of a Shadow House. Her father had worn that mantle for a number of years. But Paris acted like a man who’d commanded men before and seemed to assume the role with confidence.
She’d formed a new respect for the daughter she’d never known, beyond the letters and photographs that Edward had smuggled to her. Apparently Elizabeth had good taste in men.
Caesar acted like his father, sober, always considering his options before speaking or acting, but once he’d decided, plowing ahead like a determined bear.
She marveled at the fact that they were now a family, risking their freedom and their lives to enter Iran to free her. Whatever the outcome, she’d always be grateful for the attempt.
Audrey had cried herself out last night while Dorri held her. She’d poured out the bone shaking fear that she’d endured while a captive and the mental anguish stemming from her rape. She’d described the warmth of her baby nestled against her breast and the sensation of her child feeding at her nipples. Her revelation had caused Dorri to reveal her own history, revealing some of the pain and suffering she’d experienced as a captive, but also the ecstasy she’d enjoyed as Edward’s wife.
The door to the bedroom opened. Paris walked out into the common room, followed by Caesar. He sat on cushion on the rug and Caesar joined Audrey on the divan. Dorri thought Paris’ move was understandable. By putting himself at a lower level than Audrey, he’d become less of a threat to her.
“I want you to know, Audrey,” Paris said, “we’ll do all we can to get your baby back, in addition to reuniting you with your family. You have my word on that. As of this moment, you’re under the protection of my Family. It may not mean anything in Iran, but it means a lot back home. Anyone, Shadow House or otherwise will answer to me if they try to molest you again.”