“Like the whackos in Waco?” Cody added, deadpan.
“My apostles,” Nathan said glibly, looking thoroughly insane like another David Koresh. “Brother Larry, Brother Chet, and Brother Glenn you already know.”
Brother Larry’s vile gaze raked her up and down, sickening her to her core.
Brother Chet bowed slightly with false gentlemanliness, also making her ill.
And Brother Glenn had been their illustrious pilot.
The anti-disciples.
Nathan sauntered up, taking her chin between his well-manicured fingers. He clucked his tongue, and shook his head. Dark humor gleamed in his eyes as he turned her face one way and then the other. “I see living with the dregs of humanity has taken a toll on you. You’ve lost that porcelain veneer I found so engaging. Your dear departed mother would have heart failure were she to see you in such a state.” He clucked his tongue and shook his head again. “I suppose it’s nothing a day at a fancy spa can’t remedy.”
Scorched by Nathan’s reptilian touch, she tried to yank away but he held fast, hurting her. She spat in his face with as much force as she could, and then grinned, squaring her shoulders. “And I see your taste in company hasn’t improved.” She cast a supercilious look around the group of scum. “I see the company in which you dwell is improving, Nathan,” she said with unmistakable sarcasm.
Brother Larry advanced on her, his hand up and ready to backhand her.
She glared at her would-be attacker, breathing hard, trying not to show fright. Monsters like him thrived on fear.
Cody charged at the man, and then froze when a gun shot rang out behind him.
“Not another inch, Richards, or you’re a dead man.” Chet’s voice rang out with about as much charm as a living, breathing terminator. “Get back and don’t be so stupid again, old friend. That was your final warning.”
Nathan caught Brother Larry’s wrist and twisted it. Daggers flared in his eyes. “No one touches the lady but me, understand? You try that again, you’re a dead man.”
“My hero,” she drawled, doing her best not to let them see her wince or tremble. The scorn in her voice was impossible to mask. “Are you saving the pleasure of eliminating me for yourself?”
The tick in Nathan’s right eye went spastic, but other than that, he remained remarkably controlled, as if he kept himself on a tight leash. Apparently politics had taught him some measure of self-control.
He leaned forward. His hot breath on her face sickened her. “Eliminate you? Perish the thought. I’ve missed you in my bed. I wanted to rip that Jesse Dalton into little pieces for stealing you from me, for putting his filthy, unworthy hands on you.”
He sidled up to her and whispered in her ear, “A wife can’t testify against her husband.”
Wife? The reptile was a million times crazier than she had even thought. She shuddered at the thought of intimacy with the snake in front of her. She’d rather die a thousand horrid deaths than let him touch her. “Jesse Dalton was a million times more man than you could ever be.”
“I doubt you’ll think that after we’re married.” Nathan traced her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb.
“She’ll never marry you.” Cody tensed beside her, ready to dive for the man’s throat. When Chet pushed the gun in his back and Brother Larry cocked a rifle on him from the front, he stayed in his place, albeit bristling.
Nathan strolled over to Cody. “You trying to pick up where that Dalton left off? Maybe I should take you apart limb by limb.”
Cody’s eyes narrowed. “I’d like to see you try. By yourself. Without your henchmen. Just you and me in hand to hand combat.”
She froze, her gaze glued on the men. Would Nathan accept the challenge? Even if Cody won, he’d be a dead man. And she had no doubt he could beat Nathan in a fair fight with his hands tied behind his back.
But Nathan didn’t fight fair. Nathan’s men would see that Cody died.
“No Cody! He’ll kill you.”
Brother Larry’s lips curled back from his teeth. “The Reverend can’t lose. Not with God in his pocket.”
“Amen, Brother.” Chet said with fervor, shaking his head.
“Hallelujah, Lions!” another man said, sounding about ready to break into an old fashioned revival.
Cody scowled at Melissa.
Nathan smiled, his left cheek dimpling. He was certainly a pretty boy, albeit a sleazy one, and it was no wonder he could fool his constituents. It was too bad they couldn’t see under his civilized veneer like she could, to his dark slimy soul. She’d tell them if only they’d believe her.
“See how much faith she has in you, lover boy? She knows I’m more man than you’ll ever be, no matter what she says.”
She remembered Christina. The sun climbed high in the sky and the hour had to be drawing near. “Aren’t you going to be late for your wedding to my sister?”
Nathan grinned ear to ear. “Don’t you mean we’ll be late for our wedding?”
“Never, Alexander!” Cody spat on the ground near Nathan’s feet.
“What makes you think I’ll marry you, now or ever?” Melissa injected all the haughtiness, all the disbelief she could drag up from the depths of her soul.
Nathan nodded to Brothers Larry and Chet. “Tie him up. If either make a threatening move, kill him.”
Aghast, she glared at the devil in the three-piece, custom-made Italian suit.
Nathan put a finger under her chin and tilted her face so that she looked him square in the eye. “Either you marry me this afternoon, or your boyfriend dies. And don’t think for a minute it’ll be a quick, merciful death.” He pointed to Larry. “You see Brother Larry, here? I see from the fear in your exquisite eyes that you remember him well.”
Brother Larry grinned, shooting another round of dread through her. The man was the devil incarnate. Pure evil gleamed in his eyes, infecting everything and everyone around him.
Nathan continued, trailing his finger down the column of her throat to the swell of her breast where he let it linger to her disgust. “Larry loves to offer human sacrifices. He lives for it. And we indulge him from time to time to keep him happy.”
“Don’t marry him for me, Melissa.” Cody strained against the ropes and handcuffs restraining him. “You can’t marry that monster.”
A tear clung to her lash at the sight of the man she loved chained up like a wild animal. More tears clogged her throat. She couldn’t let them torture him. She couldn’t let him die for her. She was already responsible for at least two deaths.
She glared at Nathan. “How will you tell my father, my sister, and your constituents that you’re marrying me and not Christina? Won’t they be more than a little curious? Won’t it look suspicious?”
“No, Lisa.” Cody’s voice sounded defeated. “Don’t even consider it.”
“The press release is already written and just waiting to be released to the media. Everyone knows I never gave up hope of finding you alive, that I never stopped loving you. My public will be overjoyed for us.”
Cody spit on the ground near Nathan’s feet. “You mean you’re obsessed with her. Threatening her isn’t love.”
Nathan motioned at the FBI agent with his gun. “Brother Chet, shut him the hell up!” He frowned, prowling, the gun moving back and forth in his hand. “I tire of hearing hatred spew from his vile mouth.”
Curious, she asked as Chet gagged Cody with a strip of cloth, “What if I refuse to marry you still? If I let you kill him?” Melissa prayed her bluff would work. “Would you kill me, too? Torture me?” She knew she took an awful chance and she quivered inside but she stood tall and firm.
Nathan gestured to Brother Larry. “No.” His voice sounded deceptively meek, which worried her more than his earlier display of bravado. “I’ve no doubt you’d choose death, my brave little fool.”
“Why would you want to marry someone who feels that way about you? You could’ve had my family fortune by marrying my sister in some small, quiet cerem
ony. I wouldn’t have known in time to try and stop you. I’d have never claimed my inheritance. You know that.” She peered into his face, examining it. “You’re a raving lunatic, aren’t you?”
Rage boiled in Nathan’s eyes and he struck her face hard, sending her reeling in the dirt at the base of the helicopter. He loomed over her in three angry strides. “Don’t ever call me a lunatic again!” He yelled over his shoulder, “Bring out our ace in the hole.”
Horror flooded her when Larry’s men dragged out a bound, gagged, and sobbing Christina from the rustic cabin one hundred yards away. “Oh, God … Chrissie. What’re you going to do with her?”
“Same thing your friend will get if you don’t cooperate. Only we’ll have some fun with her first.”
“No!” The word was ripped from Melissa’s throat. Knowing she had no choice, knowing she couldn’t live with herself if she let anything happen to her innocent little sister, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and whispered in a hoarse, defeated voice, “You win, Reverend. I’ll marry you.”
Nathan crouched down in front of her, his pants legs hitching up at his knees to show an expanse of black sock. “And you’ll have sex with me and pretend to like it until you grow to love it. You’ll produce fine, strong heirs. You’ll be the perfect hostess for my political soirées, and you’ll support my bid for president of the United States.”
“I’ll do what you say.” She prayed to God for deliverance, for heavy drugs to numb her. “I’ll pretend, you demented lunatic.”
Fury thundered across Nathan’s eyes again. “And you won’t ever call me ‘demented’ or ‘lunatic’ again.”
When Nathan held out his hand to help her up, Melissa shunned it and struggled to her feet unassisted. She dusted leaves and dirt off her jeans. “Can I see my sister now?” Her voice had a hard edge.
“Make it quick or we’ll be late for our nuptials. The press and the president are waiting. It’ll be the affair of the century.” He followed her and nodded to his men to un-gag Christina. “No funny stuff. No trying to escape or injure the Lions.”
Melissa hugged Christina as if she’d never release her. Tears flowed freely from both women, “I’m so sorry I put you through this, precious. I had no idea he’d drag you into the middle of this mess. I love you so much.”
“You’re really alive,” Christina said simultaneously through broken sobs, her voice incredulous. Puffy red eyes scoured her. Her nose ran and her lips were chapped and swollen. Twigs and leaves were woven into the silky tresses of her blonde hair. “I missed you so much. I thought I’d never see you again. I’m so sorry I believed him about you. That I was going to marry him.”
“I’m here. I’ll never leave you again.” Melissa crossed her heart with her finger and sent up a silent prayer. “I swear.”
Through hiccups, Christina said, “You can’t marry him. He’s crazy.”
“Shush! He’ll hear you. I know he is but I’ve no choice. Don’t worry about me. I survived this far.”
“But I do.” A fresh flood of tears ran down Christina’s ashen cheeks. “He’ll make you miserable. He’ll hurt you.” Embarrassment flooded her eyes. “I know why you ran away now. You weren’t hiding from Daddy and me, were you?”
Melissa shook her head as she wiped away her sister’s tears, choking back a healthy dose of her own. “I’ll be more miserable if I know he hurt you or Cody. I couldn’t live with myself.” She sneaked a glance at her intended. “Besides, someone has to stop him from becoming president.”
Christina about choked. “No! You can’t let that happen. I can’t believe I backed him.”
“I won’t. Don’t say a word. Promise?”
Christina tried to smile but failed dismally. She shook her head, dislodging a couple of twigs. “Promise.”
“Break it up.” Brother Larry yanked Melissa away rudely, hurting her upper arm with his meaty fingers. “You two society broads have had plenty of time to get reacquainted. The Reverend says it’s time to vamoose out of here.”
Melissa could barely look at Cody, such a pathetic sight: bound, gagged, and helpless. Raising her voice, she asked, “Can I say goodbye to Cody?”
Emotions warred on Nathan’s face. Finally, he said in a gruff voice, his face contorted with thunder, as he jerked a thumb at the bound man, “I shouldn’t allow it, but nice, loving fiancé that I am, I’ll let you say your final good-byes. Make it quick and no mushy stuff.”
She knelt next to Cody and gazed deeply into his beloved eyes. Her heart broke and she struggled not to cry anew. “I love you, Sir Lancelot. I’ll always love you till the day I die.” Leaning forward, she kissed his cheek, allowing her lips to linger on his stubbly flesh, to inhale his scent for the last time. “Don’t do anything stupid on my account. Don’t be a hero. I’ll never forgive you if I have to write your eulogy, too.”
Cody’s eyes spoke volumes. To her dismay, they grew moist and misty. She couldn’t take it if he cried. Her own composure was too frail.
“I love you, too,” Cody said. Then his gaze was drawn over her shoulder.
A shadow fell across them and she glanced up into her fiancé’s face where storm clouds brewed anew. “How touching. The star-crossed lovers declaring their undying love and saying their final farewells. Should I boo-hoo?”
Fury infusing her, Melissa rose to her feet. Her fingernails dug into the palms of her hands as her fists clenched tightly. “Stuff it, Nathan!”
“Is that anyway to talk to your beloved intended? To God’s mouthpiece? I think not.” Nathan grabbed her elbow and thrust her into the helicopter with Brother Chet and Brother Glenn and then squeezed in next to her, where Cody had sat on the trip here.
The scent, the feel of the Reverend sickened her and she turned her face away from him, unable to look at him another second. She pressed her nose and hands to the window, staring down at Cody and her sister whom they’d left behind. She watched until they became as specks of dust.
Forcing herself to turn back to Nathan despite the nausea the sight of him gave her, she looked him straight in the eye. “I need proof they’ll be safe before I marry you.”
Brother Chet lifted a silvery brow. “I don’t think you appreciate your position.”
“Au contraire, monsieur.” She glared at the highly detested devil. “I think I do. I don’t care to live if you hurt either of them.” She turned a scathing glance on the man beside her. “Especially not shackled to you.” Turning her wrists upward, she held them up to him. “You might as well kill me now, while everyone thinks I’m still dead, or I’ll scream what vile scum you are to anyone and everyone who’ll listen.”
Nathan just chuckled. “You still have spirit, my dear. I can’t wait to get you in my bed.”
She sneered. “I want them both at the wedding, unharmed and freed. That’s my deal.”
Brother Chet’s hand tightened on the back of his seat. “I don’t like it, Reverend. They’ll sing a God damned opera to the press.”
“Not if they know what’s at stake. Radio Brother Larry and tell him to meet us at the wedding with little sister and Kojak.”
“I still don’t like it. Richards is a wild card....” Brother Chet raked his fingers through his hair.
“And this one likes to gamble now, don’t you?” Nathan snatched her wrist without warning and hauled her against him so that his torrid breath scorched her neck. “Just remember, that this time, you’re gambling with your boyfriend’s--and your sister’s--lives. Don’t underestimate me.”
“I won’t. I only gamble with my own life these days.” She considered clawing his eyes out, then grabbing for the controls and crashing the chopper. She’d sacrifice her life, for at least those she loved and the people of California would be safe from Nathan’s dementia.
But Nathan must’ve intercepted her glance at the pilot and gleaned her thoughts. An evil grin dawned over his face. “If you’re thinking of making us crash, be advised that Brother Larry has orders to send lover boy and little sis
ter to their Maker in the event of our untimely demise.”
Screams gurgled in her throat. Nathan’s evil knew no bounds. She’d have to figure out a different plan. For now, her mind was a void.
* * * *
Cody chafed in his bondage. He’d never been so helpless, so enraged, or so scared.
This Brother Larry character was as insane as the Senator. Maybe more. Cody wasn’t sure how tight a rein Alexander kept on his disciples, or for that matter, if the man had a shred of sanity left himself. Mainly, he was scared for Melissa and Christina. He’d seen what monsters like these could do to women and the thoughts sickened him. Unbidden images of his sister’s lifeless and mutilated body came to mind. He shuddered, remembering the horror of it, and it took everything in him to lock the images away in his mind again.
He kicked himself for believing in this idiot, for tracking down Melissa at his bidding, without checking him out more thoroughly. Not that he believed all politicians were squeaky clean, but he’d never dreamed one could be so evil, one of the devil’s demons.
He couldn’t even talk to Christina as he was still gagged. His lips, teeth, and tongue had never ached so badly in his life. His arms had never been so sore. Blood seeped from his shoulder wound and he was afraid he’d pass out any moment. His vision was getting blurry and he was feverish.
“You’re hurt,” Christina whispered. She looked much like her older sister, except she was a paler version with her white-blonde hair, grayish-green eyes, blonde eyelashes, and pale flesh. At this moment with worry plastered over her face, she was completely washed out.
Of course, even after what she’d been through, she looked terrific considering....
Another helicopter powered up.
Without warning, Cody was yanked up from behind and he stumbled, falling on his face. The dirt and moldy leaves tasted bitter on his tongue and he spit them out.
“The Reverend requests your presence at his wedding. Too bad you forgot to get a gift.” The man tsk-tsked and prodded Cody forward.
Cody’s fists itched to deck the idiot. But he schooled his temper into some semblance of quiet, knowing he’d do neither Melissa nor Christina any good dead.
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