by Serena James
Kane’s attention was diverted when he had to duck to avoid another fast incoming blow. The next time he was able to glance at her he saw her step shakily onto the rocks and stare down into the water. He wasn’t happy and was about to shout at her to move away when Connor knocked him to the ground and jumped on him. He was forcibly lost in the fight once more.
He heard Tom say comically, “I’m getting bored lads. Someone needs to win this and stop the lassie falling off the rocks into the water. She thinks she can fish with a stick in her condition. She’s hungry, lads, like me.”
Kane wanted to stop. Rebecca was in danger and Tom wasn’t going to do anything to help her. It was his way of making them stop fighting and Kane was listening. “Connor, we have to stop this. Rebecca...”
“No we are settling this now. I am not finished with you yet Kane.”
Kane blocked another punch and returned the blow at Connor. They were on the ground again and he was trying to put Connor in a headlock when there was a loud noise from the forest. It was the roar of a tiger and it sounded too close for comfort. Both men stopped dead in their tracks. And looked up with startled eyes.”
Tom said, “Looks like we have more to worry about than your jealousy gentlemen. And somebody better get to the lassie before she slips and falls. We don’t want her getting any more injuries to add to her collection. Do we boys?”
Connor and Kane separated quickly. Connor told Kane, “This isn’t finished.” He started towards Rebecca but Kane made sure he got there first. He was aware of Tom chuckling to himself in the background.
Rebecca did not appear to be in any mood to accept their help or condemnation for standing on the rocks. She shouted at both of them as they started wading through the water to reach her. “Back off. Woman with a sharp stick.” She pointed it at them.
Connor was angry. “What the hell are you doing? You can hardly bloody stand. You’ll slip.” He wiped blood from his mouth.
Kane watched her scan the water closely and aim the stick at it. “Shut up. I am fishing for my tea. I’ve seen enough of bloody Bear Grylls to know what to do and to slide down that waterfall on a maple leaf if I have to.”
Kane laughed. She sounded more like the old Rebecca. Connor wasn’t amused. He reached out for her arm. “I want you to stop it now and come away from there.” She shrugged him off.
“You sound like my mother, Connor. Back off. Have you finished your stupid boys fight or is there more to come?”
Kane watched her stare at the clear water again. A couple of large looking fish swam slowly by. Neither of them answered her. Kane saw her feet sliding on the slippery rocks. He told her as diplomatically as he could to move away - it was dangerous. He reached out to take her arm, to stop her from falling when she gave a cry of delight and stabbed at the water. She shouted excitedly, “I’ve got it. I’ve got it,” and raised her stick out of the water. Impaled on its point was quite a large fish that flapped around manically. Kane couldn’t help but be impressed. She was smiling again. Even Connor looked relieved at the sudden glee on her face. It was like watching a child.
She laughed, “I got it. I killed a fish for tea. I can survive in the wild.”
Kane watched her stare at the fish as it struggled in its last few moments of life. Her face turned from happiness, to horror. All of what colour there was in her face drained suddenly. He called her name but he received no answer. Connor put his hand on her shoulder. Kane shook her arm gently. Nothing registered.
Then she jumped sharply as though she’d been shot. She swayed and they held on to her. She looked up at them quickly. “I shot someone. I shot a man when I escaped. I killed him. It was one of the soldiers. It’s not the first time I have killed is it?”
Kane gave her a sympathetic look. He couldn’t begin to imagine how painful it was to rediscover those memories that had caused her so much distress. It probably felt as though each one were a stab in her heart.
Connor rubbed her shoulder and dipped his head. Kane held her gaze and told her softly, “No it isn’t.”
She shuddered. “So much is starting to come back. I need time to think. I am afraid of what I might find out.” She thrust the stick with the fish into Connors hand and shrugged them both off. She waded slowly back through the water to sit down by the tree. Kane stared after her with Connor. She twisted away from their gaze and covered herself with her jacket. She looked heartbroken.
Kane told Connor fiercely, “No more fighting. She doesn’t need the stress. We can settle this back home when it’s all over. She needs support and we need to get her out of here alive. Rebecca comes first.”
Connor slowly nodded. “Yes. We can have a truce for now. But when this is over I am coming for you.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Chapter Fourteen
Rebecca woke with a start. For a moment she wondered if she had suddenly turned blind. It was an irrational thought but it was so dark it seemed a possibility. Afraid of the darkness since childhood, and the demons and the devils that lurked there – she couldn’t help but cry out with fear. But when she opened her mouth she found that she had no voice.
She frantically outstretched her hands for something to grab on to. She felt the darkness bear down on her like a heavy weight. She needed to feel something solid, something to help guide her out of the black hole she’d found herself in. Her heart was pounding. The more she struggled to find her voice the more panic she experienced. What’s happening to me? I can’t speak. Did I die?
A presence filled the air around her. She froze. Soft breath caressed her throat. Its scent was not unpleasant but it was one she recognised. The peppery scent triggered a memory. It was one she had hidden from. I don’t want to remember. I promised I wouldn’t let you stay in my thoughts. I would banish you. But she could hear laughter. She knew that mocking laugh.
He was there in the darkness with her. The man who had tortured her, who had his men beat and rape her. Memories flooded her mind and pressed at her in the darkness. She couldn’t breathe. She felt his touch on her throat. A light caress that a lover would give. She was paralysed with fear, disorientation. Am I still in that jail cell? Did I dream my escape? Is any of this real? Oh God, am I dead?
Light began to illuminate her immediate surroundings. Her torturer’s smiling face loomed in front of her. He began pressing on her throat. No, no I can’t be back here. I got away, I got away. She watched Srisai’s black eyes bulge with excitement as he began to draw the breath from her body. He placed his hand tight over her mouth. Beginning to suffocate, she desperately tugged at his hands to free herself.
She stared at him helplessly. There was never any mercy from Srisai. He would bring her to the brink of death. Maybe she would get lucky this time and he would kill her. Her surroundings began to lighten around him. The forest came into view. She could hear the waterfall. Srisai’s face began to contort and change into someone else. She must have been dreaming but the hand around her throat and over her mouth was very real.
She looked up at the man who was trying to smother her to death with wide eyes. She fought back hard. She twisted her body back and forth, anything that may help to loosen the man’s grip. She could see Dominic lying in front of her asleep, shielding her as usual. Connor was to her side, also asleep, also guarding her. It was Tom’s watch and it was Tom who was killing her.
He was straddled over her, crying. His tears were heavy and splashed her face making her frantically blink. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry lassie. But I have to do it. Those doctors you told us about, they have my wife and boys. They are going to kill them, I can’t let them. You were supposed to die yesterday when they came for you but Dominic was never going to let that happen. I am their back up plan. You have to understand. Dominic... he can’t blame me. It’s for the best. I’m sorry.”
Rebecca stared at Kane mentally willing him to wake up. She kicked her feet in the dirt of the forest floor trying to dig it up. It was her only chance. She kicked the dirt a
t Dominic, once, twice. It was enough. He was alert within seconds, his gun outstretched and aimed at Tom. She would never forget the look on his face when he found his best friend throttling her.
She watched him drop his gun and dive at Tom, punching at the side of his head with the force of an express train. Tom’s hand loosened from her mouth. But he wouldn’t let go of her throat. He was a formidably strong and heavy opponent for Dominic and she knew he wouldn’t give up easily. There was too much riding on her death for him.
The commotion woke Connor up. He rushed to help Dominic who was ferociously trying to prise Tom’s hand from her throat. She felt herself weaken and her body begin to relax. She tried to keep fighting but there was no more oxygen going to her muscles. If it had been Srisai trying to kill her he would have laughed as he told her about the shade of blue she was turning.
But there was somebody else standing over Tom now. She could see a shadowy figure. It was Charles. He raised his arms high and brought a heavy rock down hard onto Tom’s back. It did the trick. She felt the grip on her throat loosen. Connor kicked Tom’s unconscious body off her. Dominic immediately reached for her.
She felt him pull her up as she gasped and coughed for air. Every cough was agony from hell with her broken ribs. She wanted to be sick. She crawled away from Dominic and Connor. They were crowding her trying to make sure she was still in one piece. She reached the water’s edge and violently threw up.
Dominic’s hands were on her shoulders. One of them moved down to rub her back. It was all too familiar. She remembered Afghanistan, the day she killed that man. He’d rubbed her back then. It was the first time he’d touched her. Connor was at her other side moving the hair that had come out of her tie and was hanging around her face. She couldn’t stop shaking.
She reached into the nearby water and splashed her face. Dominic wanted her to turn around so he could check her throat. It was too sore to talk. She began to feel defeated by all of the pain she was experiencing. She tried to crawl away from them again. But they weren’t letting her go anywhere and they held her fast.
She felt so hot and feverish with the pain. She closed her eyes for a moment. Dominic and Connor were talking to her but she couldn’t hear them anymore. Another memory was invading her mind and like the last it felt so real.
She was standing back in her mother and father’s home. She was a little girl again. Her body was filled with fear. Her mother was behind her suddenly, pushing her through the house with Michael. He was so young. It was the night when the men with the guns came. Her mother was pushing herself and Michael to safety. She’d just seen her father shot.
Her mother was frantic, “Go and hide Rebecca. The police are on their way. I will distract them. Look after your brother.”
Rebecca remembered her mother’s hand pressing into the small of her back to hurry her along. She could hear the men shouting for them. Her mother wanted them to go to the out buildings and hide. Rebecca took hold of her brother’s hand. Her mother checked out of the back door to make sure it was safe and then told them to hurry. She had to leave them now.
Tears had been streaming down her face. She was afraid for her mother. At eleven years old she understood her mother had little chance of distracting them and was sacrificing herself to save them. She blurted out, “Mummy, I love you.”
Her mother was tearful as well. She smiled and hugged them both quickly. “I love you both. Promise me sweetheart that you will always look after your brother. He needs you. I am relying on you to protect him. You’ve always been a brave girl. I love...”
The shot caught her mother in the back of the head. Her mouth opened wide with shock. Her eyes flew open, bulged. She crumpled to the floor like a lifeless doll. Michael screamed and cried. Rebecca simply stared at the man running down the hall towards them. If Michael hadn’t tugged at her hand she wouldn’t have moved.
She slammed the kitchen door and pulled the bolt along to lock it. It would take them valuable time to get through it. She found the vent that Michael had hidden inside a month earlier to consume all of his sweets from Halloween. The family had been terrified that he had gone missing. She was too big to get into it but Michael would still be able to.
She pulled the vent cover off and told him to get in it and hide. She remembered putting her finger to her lips and whispering that he had to be as quiet as a mouse. He had cried and then nodded. She watched him crawl in and covered it over as the men started to break down the door. She told him, “It will be all right Michael. I will come and get you when they’ve gone.”
She moved away from the vent as the men broke down the door. There was nowhere to hide. She ran over to the sink. There was no escape for her but if she could divert them away from Michael then she would have succeeded in protecting him – just like her mother had asked.
She pressed her back against the sink as the two men burst through and searched the room with wild eyes. She remembered trying to stop her tears and making a conscious effort to keep control as they turned towards her. One of them grinned at her. “Got you, duck. You can’t play hide and seek with us. We will always win.”
He approached her, running a hand through his greasy brown hair that hung in a limp ponytail at the back of his head. His leather jacket creaked as he moved making her press her back against the sink.
“Now where is your little brother?”
Rebecca made sure she kept looking straight ahead – determined not to allow her eyes to betray Michael’s whereabouts. The man leaned his spotty face close to her own. He kept sniffing and there were yellow stains on his teeth. His alcoholic breath had her leaning away. His friend started tearing the place apart in a rage looking for Michael. She remembered thinking how dumb they were not to see the vent.
“Ah, come on duck, don’t make this hard on yourselves. It will be over quick. Just like it was for your Mum and Dad.”
The mention of her mother and father stung her heart. She squashed her palms behind her on the sink wishing she could push it out of the way. Wondering if she could make a hole with it through the wall on the other side and run away.
His friend was waving his gun around. He seemed agitated. He had the same accent. “Get her to talk Frank. The police are on their way. They’ll be here any time. We were supposed to be in and out quick. The boss won’t be pleased and we won’t get the bonus if we don’t get the whole family.”
“But it’s the little girl they want.”
“Yeah well. He wants the whole family totalled. No one has to know who the girl really is.” He’d turned back to her. “If you only knew how famous you were, little girl. If you only knew what your real name was...”
“Shut up, Frank. We need to find her brother.”
“Okay, okay. I’m on it.”
“Now I’m getting angry, duck. Come on where is that naughty brother of yours.”
She was trying to make sense of what he’d said. Did it mean that mummy and daddy weren’t really mummy and daddy? Did she belong to someone else?”
Rebecca tilted her chin up at him defiantly. She couldn’t help herself when she stated with an imperial tone, “I am not telling you anything. Murderers.”
“You cheeky little cow.”
That was when she’d felt the blow from the back of his hand across her face – once, twice, three times. She’d cried then. It stung like hell and the tears had been forced from her eyes. The last impact had knocked her to the floor. It took all her effort to stand again. She had too much of her mother in her to lie on the floor and cower.
She was going to face them down, stall and protect Michael until the police got there. Just like Mummy asked. She glared at Frank through her tear soaked eyes – her face pulsing with pain. He obviously didn’t like the look on her face because that was when he pointed the gun at her temple. He told her he was going to kill her now anyway. They would look for her brother afterwards. Maybe he would see her die.
She lifted her chin at him again. She ignored her s
haking fear. Mummy said dying was inevitable for everyone at some point. You never knew when it was coming. You just had to face it when it arrived. Don’t fight it, it will always win. I will see mummy and daddy in heaven. But I don’t want to die yet.
She told herself there was no choice for her to make. She closed her eyes, trying not to cry. She heard Frank pull back the trigger. She heard him say, “I’ve never killed a kid before. Wonder what it feels like?”
Her last thought was for Michael. They hadn’t found him yet. He still had a chance. There was a loud shot. And another. She jumped with it. Am I dying? She slowly opened her eyes when she felt two arms wrap around her and lift her up.
A policeman held her close to him. He was trying to cover her eyes as he stepped over something. It was Frank’s body. She saw it and screamed. There was another scream joining her. It was her brother’s. The other man’s body lay on the floor next to the vent. His hands were in it ready to pull it off the wall. Michael was safe. The thought brought her back into the present.
She was sitting propped up against the tree again. Dominic’s hands were around her face. He was whispering to her that she was safe. He looked worried for her. Connor was rubbing her shoulder and gently shaking her. She could hear him saying to Dominic, “She’s coming out of it. She’s snapping out of it.”
She stared at them both. “What happened?”
Dominic’s features visibly relaxed. He hadn’t changed a bit since she’d last seen him. He always appeared a lot younger than he was. He was what? Just turned forty? Yes I remember, you are one year older than me. I missed you, Caveman. She didn’t say it out loud. Didn’t dare tell him that she remembered. That would put him in danger – danger from the man Somwan sent to kill him if she didn’t go to South Bundhara. The man Somwan sent to keep her under control and watch her, Connor Knight.
Everything Connor had told Dominic in their fight before was a lie. Connor had professed his own love for her. He didn’t care about Somwan and her group, it was just a job. He wanted to be with her. He told her that he would make her recognise that they were made for each other. That she needed him better than Kane. In time she would see.