The Fey

by Claudia Hall Christian

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  October 14—3:53 P.M.

  Pikes Peak National Forest

  Alex stumbled on a branch covered by a layer of snow. Her captor pushed her forward under the trees. They arrived at a small cabin. Rather than taking her inside, he pushed her around the cabin. Stumbling and walking, they reached the river about two hundred yards from the cabin. He pushed her against a pine tree.

  “Turn around,” he said. “I’ll unlock them.”

  Alex jumped through the handcuffs so that her hands were in front. He laughed and unlocked them.

  “The entire house is monitored with video and audio by everyone, including British Intelligence. No one can see or hear you here.” He pointed to the trees. “No satellite, either. We can speak freely here.”

  “Thanks, Sumit.” Alex smiled.

  “I’m sorry, Alexandra,” Dr. Sumit Roy said. “You are at risk for clotting from your injuries. You need an ice bath, and I cannot give you one in that monitored bathroom. The river will have to suffice. I’m sorry.”

  “Sumit, what is the plan?” Alex asked.

  “Eleazar will be here in two, maybe two and a half, hours. In the meantime, we will dress you like a proper woman. Of course, I’m going to rape you first.”

  Alex raised her eyebrows, indicating that she’d like to see him try. He laughed.

  “We will pretend,” he said. “I know you find me irresistible, but I am married.”

  Alex laughed. “How is Dalal?”

  “Very well. Excited to lose a child. My eldest boy received early admission to Harvard. He will attend next fall.”

  “I can’t believe he’s old enough for college.”

  “They grow up fast,” he said. “Alex, I have to stay with you while you clean up. Do you mind?”

  “No.”

  “You were so kind with me.” Sumit stopped talking for a moment as the memory came to him. “You gave me a warm bath, warm clothing, even held me while I shook . . . I cannot repay the favor.”

  “I’d be grateful for some food.”

  “We’ll eat a proper meal when we go inside. Rice for you. You will throw up anything else.”

  Alex nodded.

  “How is the wound?”

  “Infected.” Alex looked at her left forearm.

  “We’ll take a look at that as well. I have bandages in my pockets.”

  Alex nodded. She peeled off her filthy clothing. The cabin was located at over nine thousand feet altitude. It was very cold. Naked, Alex took a deep breath and walked into the three-foot-high river. The frigid water shocked her to the core. Moving through the river to a deep pool, she sat down and rinsed her body with her hands. Sumit threw her a cloth and a small bar of soap. Using the cloth and soap, Alex did her best to clean up. She lay back in the pool, letting the cold water numb her bruised and broken body.

  “I need to burn this clothing,” he said. “I’ll set this here.”

  Sumit held up the Leatherman Mini-tool and then set it on a rock by the river. While Alex soaked, he built a large bonfire. One piece at a time, he burned her clothing.

  “It’s time,” he said.

  She set the cloth and soap on the bank of the river. Sumit threw her a small towel. He pointed to a spot by the fire where she could warm up.

  “Raping?” Alex asked.

  “Ah, yes,” Sumit said. “God, you are bruised. Is that from me?”

  “Fucker,” Alex replied.

  “Let me see the arm.”

  Alex held her left arm out to him. He removed the strips of T-shirt from around her wound and made a guttural noise.

  “Did you do this scraping?”

  Alex nodded.

  “Probably saved your life,” he said.

  Tearing open a small packet of disinfectant ointment with his teeth, he smeared the injured area. He bandaged the arm with gauze and tape. He checked her pulse and her temperature.

  “You won’t take aspirin,” he said.

  She shook her head. He shrugged.

  He gave her a black abaya, robes that covered her from head to toe. He gave her a black niqab, a scarf covering her face, and a scarf to cover her head. Only her eyes could be seen.

  “Would you like me to bandage your forehead?” Alex asked.

  “No, I will do it for the cameras. You need these.” Sumit gave her a pair of long black gloves.

  “Sexy,” she said.

  “You are not a Muslim man,” he said.

  “Not today. Shoes?”

  “I don’t have any,” he said. “You need to know . . . I will do what I can for you, but . . . I’ve been informed that my placement in this organization is of greater importance . . .”

  “Than my life?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Alex shrugged. “They’re probably right. I will do what I can for you as well.”

  “It is what we can do. Remember, you have just been raped.”

  Alex nodded. While Sumit put the waning fire out, she tucked the Mini-tool into a seam of her right glove.

  “Shall we?” Sumit asked.

  Alex nodded, and they began their dance of disdain.

  Sumit grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the cabin. They moved from the cover of the trees. Alex stopped halfway, bending at the waist, and pressed her hand to her crotch, as if in pain. He yanked her arm and pushed her toward the cabin. She fell forward against the wall of the cabin and glared at him.

  He unlocked the cabin door, and they moved into the one-room cabin. Alex limped to a chair next to a tattered Formica table. She plopped herself into the chair, while Sumit began making a mid-day meal. Resting her head on her hand, she was asleep by the time he had finished cooking. He shook her awake and threw a plate of rice at her. Glowering at him, she stuffed rice into her mouth. He ignored her while he ate his meal. Standing over her, he pressed his hips toward her face, covering her from the cameras. His hand slipped more antibiotics into her mouth.

  After the meal, he pulled her into the main living area, where he handcuffed her to the couch. She fell asleep to the sound of soccer on television.

  It would be over soon.

  FFFFFF

  October 15—1:07 A.M.

  Northern Scotland

  (October 14—5:07 P.M. Colorado)

  “Wake up, John,” Alex whispered.

  They were backpacking through Yosemite National Park. Opening his eyes, he stretched his sore body. He blinked. Alex was naked, surrounded in an almost neon-blue light.

  “We must rest, love. We have twelve miles uphill tomorrow.” He turned over in his down sleeping bag.

  “You’ll never believe what I found,” she said. “Come on.”

  “And if I say ‘No’?”

  “You’ll miss out.” Her voice was a mix of laughter and tease.

  John unzipped his sleeping bag and worked his way out of the tent. Alex smiled at him.

  “You won’t need these,” she said.

  His clothing disappeared. The cold air blew across his warm skin, and he shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. When he opened his mouth to ask her what was going on, she smiled.

  “Come on.”

  Seeming to float a few inches off the ground, she took off down the trail. Even running full speed ahead, he was unable keep up with her. She waited for him like a bright blue beacon in the dark night.

  “It’s here,” she said pointing to the river.

  “Oh, love, this water is very cold. Let’s go back to bed.” He reached for her.

  She laughed and stepped into the water.

  “Join me,” she said. The laughter in her voice rose above the sound of the river like the tinkling of crystal bells.

  Stepping into the ice-cold water, he walked along the sandy river bottom.

  “This way,” she said. “Come over here.”

  His skin went numb in the frigid water. A bright yellow moon moved from behind a cloud to light the way to her. He slipped into the deep pool where she was swimming.
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  “You’ll catch your death, love. Come out of the river with me.”

  Giggling, she said, “Come to me.”

  Moving forward, he felt a flush of warm water. His face must have registered shock, because she laughed.

  “It’s a hot spring,” she said.

  The water warmed as he drew close to her. She slipped her arms around his neck. He kissed her deeply, savoring her touch and flavor. Under the bright moon, they lay wrapped around each other. Her close, naked contact and the warm water awakened his longing for her. Laughing, she moved on top of him. With the moon shining over her blue shoulder, she kissed his lips.

  When he shifted to join with her, she disappeared from his arms. In a breath, her weight, warmth, and closeness vanished. Certain she was teasing him, he turned to look for her in the river.

  His empty arms felt the cold first. The warm flushed out of the river. He lay in ice-cold water. Storm clouds blew over the bright moon. He called her name into the wind. His eyes searched the dark for her blue light. Snow fell as he ran down the path toward their tent. He found the tent windblown, empty, and covered with frost.

  Standing at the tent opening, John called Alex’s name and strained his ears for her response. The cold wind and snow finally drove him into the tent. Reaching to zip the tent, he heard voices. Still naked, he jumped from the tent and ran in the direction of the sound.

  Breaking through a circle of pine trees, he came to a clearing. With her hands tied behind her back, Alex was kneeling on the ground. She was dressed in black robes, the traditional dress of a Muslim woman. A man stood behind her, holding a handgun to the back of her head.

  John screamed her name, and the man fired. The front of her skull exploded and pieces of her brain and blood splattered onto the pine needles. What had been Alexandra “The Fey” Hargreaves fell forward to the ground.

  “Alex!”

  John’s scream awakened the sleeping house. Jumping out of bed, he paced the length of his room. What he could possibly do? Tom pushed the door open.

  “What is it, boy?”

  “Alex is going to die.”

  F