That Which Survives

by Ciana Stone

  “Enough!” he roared.

  She jumped at the shout. She didn’t know why he was so angry. She was trying to tell him what she knew. Even as the thought crossed her mind it occurred to her that she didn’t seem to know very much for having been with her father for a year. In fact, she couldn’t remember much at all about the dig. A memory surfaced and a pictured appeared in her mind—a mound of freshly dug dirt in the jungle, broken clay and scattered bones.

  “It must have been a burial ground,” she voiced her thoughts before she realized it then looked sharply at the man.

  This time when he spoke his voice was soft yet still menacing. “You will be taught the futility of lying.” His hands moved from behind his back. In them were two sets of manacles equipped with thick chains.

  A fear unlike any she had ever known rose like bile. Senna backed away from him, trembling and sweating. He advanced on her and she continued to retreat until she was backed into a corner, “No,” she whispered. “Please.”

  Before she realized he’d moved, he had her. The cover was ripped away. The shock and humiliation of being exposed galvanized her into action and she fought back. Her fight, however, was short-lived. Despite his small stature, he was strong and fast. Within minutes her wrists and ankles were locked securely in the leather manacles.

  “No, please,” she begged through her tears as he dragged her across the room toward the pallet.

  He paid no attention to her tears but proceeded to fasten the ends of the chains from her wrists to a metal hook mounted in the wall above the head of the pallet. She screamed and thrashed around and he slapped her so hard that her head banged against the wall and stars danced before her eyes.

  She tried to kick at him as he forced her legs apart and grabbed one ankle. He drove his fist into the inside of her thigh, and when her leg collapsed he finished attaching the chain to the hook in the floor. Senna’s arms ached from being stretched up over her head and the weight of her body hanging from them.

  When both ankles were secured, he stood and took her chin between his fingers, forcing her to look at him. “Now the lessons begin,” he said with a cold smile.

  She had no idea what he was talking about. She figured it out soon enough, when the pain began. Then she could only scream.

  Senna’s voice broke and she turned her back on Konnor. “That was only the beginning,” she said so softly he almost didn’t hear her. “And the pain was not the worst part. The other things he did, things he made me do… After a while I forgot how to be normal. My life was one rape, one pain after another. Time stopped and it was like being trapped in a nightmare that wouldn’t end.”

  “And he couldn’t break the programming?” Konnor asked. “You couldn’t remember the data Lucas had downloaded?”

  “Believe me I would have gladly told him anything he wanted to know if I could have. But I didn’t know anything. At least I didn’t think I did. And he was not the kind of man to admit defeat. I think it became a personal crusade for him. And…and he enjoyed his work.”

  “And this was Kitaro, right?”

  She nodded and wiped her face then gave him a furtive glance before looking away again. “I reached a point that I just wanted to die. I wouldn’t eat or drink. He would try to force-feed me but I would just throw up whatever went down. I had to die. It was the only way. I couldn’t live with…”

  “With what he did to you,” he finished her sentence.

  She shook her head and was silent for a long time. Finally she took a deep breath and turned to face him. “No. I could live through it. I did live through it. I wanted to escape myself. You see—” She broke off and looked down. “God, this is so hard,” she whispered. “I can’t…”

  “Yes, you can!” He grabbed her shoulders tightly. “You have to. For your own sake, you have to let go of it or it’ll eat at you until there’s nothing left. None of this was your fault. You were a victim. You couldn’t help what he did. He forced you.”

  She looked up and the misery was clear in her eyes. “That’s just it! Don’t you understand? He stopped forcing me. He…he had only to demand and I would do anything…anything he asked. He won, Konnor, completely. He became what he said he was—my master—and I didn’t fight him. I gave in.”

  “Because you were afraid and hurt and—”

  “No, because it was easier.” Her voice was full of self-loathing. “And because I wanted to. I-I became as bad as him. I welcomed the abuse and begged for more.”

  Konnor’s eyes widened and his hands fell away from her shoulders. She watched him, knowing what his reaction must be, how he must despise her for her weakness. She despised herself.

  “I’m sorry,” she said when he didn’t speak. “I’m so sorry, Konnor. I know you must think—”

  “You have no idea what I think!” His voice was like a gunshot, sudden and sharp. “You have no idea what I’m feeling right now.”

  “Yes, I do,” she argued. “You hate me. You think I’m as sick and twisted as—”

  “Stop it!” He grabbed her again, this time hard enough to hurt. “Quit being the victim! Do you hear me? You got away and you survived and that’s all that matters. Do you think I give a damn what you did so that you could survive? Well, I don’t. It doesn’t matter.”

  “But you don’t know what he—”

  “What he did? What he made you do?” He cut her off. “No, you’re right, I don’t know—yet. But I will because you’re going to tell me and you’re not going to leave out anything.”

  “Why?” She winced at the pain of his grip on her. “Why would you want to know?”

  “Because I need to.” His voice was low but he looked her directly in the eyes. “And if you love me the way you claim, you won’t hold back anything.”

  “It isn’t pretty,” she said defeatedly.

  “I don’t care how bad it is. Just tell me.”

  She closed her eyes and tried to quell the shame she felt at what she had to say then before she lost her nerve she started to talk.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Glendale

  Minora waited in the car as Lucas went to the door of the small wood-frame house. He knocked several times before the door opened. A tall man with hard blue eyes, long dark hair, and the skin tone of someone who was of American Indian descent appeared. His hard features softened into a smile as he looked at Lucas. The two men clasped hands then Lucas gestured to Minora.

  As soon as she got out of the car the man was off the porch and racing down the steps. “Min!” He swept her up in his arms and held her as if he would never let her go.

  “Colton.” Her voice was soft and filled with emotion.

  “God, are you a sight for sore eyes,” he said as he set her down. “As beautiful as the first day I saw you.”

  “Hardly.” Her eyes twinkled with the compliment. “But I see you’re still the same charmer you always were.”

  “You’re the only one I ever wanted to charm,” he said seriously. “But I guess renewing old acquaintances isn’t what brings you here.”

  She shook her head. “Could we talk inside?”

  Colton led them inside and fixed them coffee. “So, what’s up?” He looked from one to the other. “Gotta be something major to get you out of hiding,” he said, directing his last comment to Lucas.

  “Unless we do something fast they’ll have the prototype operational,” Lucas said in a tight voice.

  Colton’s eyes narrowed. “I thought you said it could never happen unless… Sweet Christ, are you telling me they’ve found the final gate?”

  “All I can tell you for certain is that Senna has remembered,” Lucas replied. “How much I can’t be certain.”

  “But you suspect.”

  “Marcus has resurfaced,” he said flatly.

  “Well, that says a lot.” Colton leaned his chair back on two legs and ran his hands back, smoothing down the dark hair that fell in a long braid down his back. “So, what you do want me to do?” he asked as
he let his chair settle down on all four legs.

  “We have to get to the prototype before they do.”

  “Jesus, Luke, why don’t you just ask me to walk on water?”

  “Colton…” Minora reached over and put her hand on his arm. “We need you. Senna needs you.”

  He smiled sadly. “You always were my weakness, weren’t you, Min? Okay, but it’ll take me a day or so. I’ll have to call in a lot of markers on this one.”

  Lucas nodded and Minora smiled. “Thank you.”

  “You have a place to stay?” Colton asked.

  “I still have the house,” Lucas replied. “So far no one’s discovered it. I think we’ll be safe there.”

  “Okay.” Colton stood. “I better get cracking. I’ll meet you at the house as soon as I’ve made arrangements. If you haven’t heard from me in forty-eight hours get the hell outta Dodge.”

  Lucas nodded his understanding. “I owe you, Colton.”

  “I think you mean we all owe her.” Colton’s face wore an expression of sadness. “We’ve all screwed her over, Luke. She didn’t deserve this.”

  “We did what we had to do,” Minora spoke up. “This is no time for regrets. We’ll be waiting, Colton. Be careful.”

  “Always,” he replied and walked them to the door. “You do the same.”

  Lucas and Minora got back in the car. He looked over at her and saw the strain on her face. “I know this isn’t easy, Min.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going to fall apart,” she said softly then tried to smile. “There’s too much at stake.”

  He nodded and started the car. Both of them were so caught up in their own thoughts that neither of them noticed the car that followed them. Colton, however, did. From his place at the window he saw the dark sedan. Running from the house he jumped in his truck and pulled out, keeping his eye on the sedan.

  * * * * *

  Nevada

  Senna was the first one out of the helicopter when it landed. She ran to the car that was parked nearby and flung open the door. There was no one inside but a note lay on the seat. She had time to read it before Konnor reached the car with their bags.

  “It’s directions.” She showed him the note.

  He made no comment but got in the car and started it. He was having a lot of trouble controlling the rage that was simmering just below the surface. The things Senna had told him made him want nothing more than to find Kitaro and rip his heart out.

  Not only did he want to kill Kitaro, he was having some difficulty coming to terms with what she had told him about Shen. Shen was the one who had saved her. He had taken her from Kitaro and they had gone to Japan to one of the smaller islands. Senna had been there with Shen for several months. She told him that she and Shen had been lovers and that she had loved Shen at the time. He had immediately felt a surge of jealousy at her words but envy of Shen soon faded for she told him that despite caring for Shen she had never been able to get over the man who had rescued her from the villa. That made him hate someone he had never met.

  He forced his mind to other matters. Something he didn’t understand was why she had forgotten Shen, and she couldn’t explain it. He suspected there was more that she didn’t remember but didn’t bring it up. It had been hard on her to admit what she had to him and he could see the toll it had taken on her.

  “I think that’s it,” she said quietly, pointing to a house set off the road.

  Konnor nodded and turned into the driveway. Halfway to the house he stopped and looked at her. She didn’t speak but met his eyes with an anxious expression on her face.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “About Kitaro and Shen. That was a long time ago and it’s over.”

  “Then you forgive me?”

  “There’s nothing to forgive,” he assured her by pulling her close. “I love you. I always will.”

  Senna clung to him for a long moment. “I love you so much, Konnor. More than I knew I could love someone.”

  Their lips met and Konnor was tempted to turn around and leave, go somewhere no one would ever find them and forget about the whole mess. But he couldn’t. Putting the car in gear he drove the rest of the way to the house.

  Senna opened her door and got out. The front door of the house opened and she ran to it. Konnor saw her in the arms of an older man as he walked up the steps.

  “Konnor, this is my father, Marcus Laserian,” she said as the man released her.

  A dam seemed to burst in Konnor’s mind as he looked at Marcus Laserian. For a moment he was blind to everything except the vision in his mind, a vision of Marcus and Slater together. “Senna, get away from him!” He dropped the bags and grabbed her.

  “Stop it!” She fought against him. “What are you doing?”

  “This isn’t who you think it is.” He shoved her behind him. “He works for Slater.”

  “No, he doesn’t!” She broke away from him and stopped between him and Marcus. “This is my father, Konnor. My real father.”

  Konnor looked from her to Marcus. “Tell her the truth!”

  Marcus looked at him then at Senna. “Please.” He gestured to the interior of the house. “We do not want to attract any more attention than we already have. We can talk inside.”

  Senna waited for an indication from Konnor as to what to do. He took her arm and escorted her inside. Marcus closed the door as he walked in then led the way to the den in the rear of the house. He took a seat in front of the window as Senna and Konnor sat on the couch.

  Senna sat rigidly beside Konnor as he stared hostilely at Marcus. “Tell her,” he demanded.

  Marcus smiled at him. “My dear fellow, you are operating under a false assumption. I do not work for Slater, although I am very well acquainted with the man.”

  “Acquainted, hell!” Konnor barked. “You’re in his pocket, you son of a bitch!”

  “You are mistaken.” Marcus didn’t seem upset by Konnor’s hostility. “As I said, I do know Mr. Slater and I can understand your misperception.” He looked at Senna. “I have had contact with Slater. That much is true. But not because of the reasons your Mr. Chase might think. I have been pretending to go along with him so that I could locate you and protect you from him. Senna, you know that I would never do anything to endanger you and I would die before I allowed the prototype to fall into hands such as Slater’s. I did what I had to do to make sure that didn’t happen. And Slater was not about to let me live unless he thought I was cooperating. So, in essence we were both using one another. He thought he was using me to get to you when in reality I was using him to locate the final key and thereby destroy everything connected with the prototype.”

  “Then you were working with him. It was you who gave him the information to get as far as he has with the prototype,” she replied.

  “Well, technically, yes. But as you well know, I didn’t possess all of the specifications. So, what he has now is basically a very costly piece of junk that has no hopes of ever functioning.”

  “Unless he has me and the final gate,” she replied.

  “And as we both know he does not have that,” he said with a smile. “Senna, I know this must be confusing but you have to understand that my only objective was to protect you and make sure that Slater never got his hands on the information you carry.”

  “So where do we go from here?” she asked.

  “I was coming to that.” He leaned forward in his chair. “If we act quickly we can destroy the prototype before Slater realizes what we’re up to. Using my clearance I can get into the secured area. All I need from you is the activation sequences and the final gate.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I can’t do that. I’ll go with you.”

  “That’s impossible,” he argued. “I’ll never get you cleared for access. I have to do this alone. It’s the only way either of us is ever going to be safe. Don’t you understand?”

  “No, I don’t,” she said stubbornly. “And I’m not going to do it. Either we go together or n
o one goes.”

  “Senna—” Marcus never got to finish his sentence.

  “Forget it, Marcus,” a voice came from the doorway behind them. “I told you she wouldn’t go for it.”

  Konnor was on his feet before the second word was uttered. His eyes glittered dangerously as he looked at Slater. “You rotten son of—”

  “Stuff it!” Slater barked and snapped his fingers. Two men entered the room behind him armed with automatic weapons. “If he moves, kill him,” Slater ordered then turned his attention to Senna.

  “Well, you have led me on a merry little chase, haven’t you? But the chase is over. I want the information and I want it now.”

  “You already have it,” she replied and looked at Marcus pointedly.

  Slater lit a cigarette before replying. “Unfortunately not. It seems that the specifications we have are not only encrypted but also incomplete. Do you realize how long we’ve worked on this project just to get to this point? Have you any idea the expenditures necessary for such an undertaking? If you have even an inkling of the magnitude of such a project then I’m sure you can understand why I cannot afford to let it go at this stage.”

  “Well, I don’t see that you have a choice,” she said smartly. “Because I don’t have what you want. There are still gaps in my memory.”

  “That’s unimportant. All we need is what Lucas downloaded into that pretty little head and the final gate.”

  “Then you’re fucked,” she said smugly.

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “You heard me.”

  “Yes, but I require elaboration on that bit of eloquence.”

  “Sure,” she shrugged. “Even if I give you what I know you still won’t be able to make it work because you don’t have the final gate.”

  “Oh, but I will,” he replied. “You will give it to me.”

  “That’s impossible.”

  “How so?”

  “The gate isn’t a what, it’s a who.”