Jesus Christ, he thought, I can’t handle this kind of responsibility.
Cindy groaned and stirred, lifting her head off his chest and blinking sleepily. She smiled when she saw him, hooked a hand over his shoulder, and pulled herself up to kiss him. The physical reality of her mouth on his triggered sense-memory, briefly shedding light on banks of memory obscured by alcoholic blackout.
The shack was her slave quarters. She’d told him that at some point. Since they would be gone from this place forever in less than a day, there’d been no point in seeking other lodging. Besides, there were things here she needed. Faded, edge-worn pictures of her little girl, a child’s drawing on a yellowed piece of construction paper, and a hidden weapon. She’d shown him where the latter was, he remembered that, but the weapon’s location was a bit of information that still eluded him.
He’d been falling-down drunk when they finally left The Outpost late that morning, needing to lean on Cindy to remain upright while they made their way here. All he’d wanted to do at that point was pass out on the mat, but Cindy had other intentions. She gave him something, a powder she said was a derivative of the Trance plant, and made him swallow it with water. The Trance derivative produced a muted version of the smoked version’s trippy effects, but it mainly acted as a restorative.
And, he remembered now, a stimulant.
He’d watched her remove the two ragged articles of clothing she’d had on since he’d met her in the holding facility. “I want to make love to a man one more time.” There’d been a troubling hint of melancholy in her voice. “I want you, Chad.”
And so she’d had him.
He remembered a lovely experience, one that didn’t necessarily rank in the upper echelon of sexual encounters, but a nice one. He suspected the sex would have been better had he not indulged so much, a notion that triggered pangs of regret. He wished his first time with Cindy could have been better for both of them, but she didn’t seem unhappy. Indeed, the opposite seemed true. This smile was the most unguarded, serene expression she’d shown him, and seeing it made him happy.
He smiled. “I know you’ll have a lot to do when you get out of here. Putting your life back together will be a lot of work. But, when you have some time to spare, would you do me the honor of having dinner with me?”
A bit of color entered her cheeks. “Wow… you know, that’s the first time I’ve been asked out since before my husband proposed.” The color faded from her face. “That bastard.”
And then she was crying.
Chad stroked her hair and let the tears run their course. He wanted her to feel safe in his arms, to be the best source of comfort she could imagine. He realized he was falling for her, and the insight made him wonder again why he hadn’t been able to be this way with Dream. Maybe he’d needed something like this-some crisis to test his ability to endure and survive-to shock the selfishness and insensitivity out of him.
He had to admit something like that was long overdue.
Dream was lost to him forever. He’d blown that opportunity by distancing himself from her all these years, and now he’d even ruined what remained of their once-special friendship. It was such a waste. And so unnecessary. But it was reality and he would have to accept it. And learn from it. He couldn’t know what the future held, but he vowed not to repeat the mistakes of the past with Cindy.
When she was done crying, she kissed him again and said, “Thank you, Chad.”
He opened his mouth to say something, but she shushed him.
“Thank you for making me feel human again. I can’t tell you what that means to me.” The smile she showed him was almost shy. “It’s like a little miracle.”
Her words moved him to tears. “Cindy, I-“
He never finished saying whatever it was he’d meant to say.
Because that was when they kicked the door down.
One powerful blow was enough to bring the door off its hinges. It toppled to the floor and landed with a smack, sending a cloud of dust into the air. While Chad and Cindy coughed and blinked dust out of their eyes, guards with visorhelmets and shotguns streamed through the new opening. Cindy was jerked out of Chad’s arms and dragged screaming outside. Chad saw her naked back disappear through the door and lurched off the mat, but the butt of a shotgun connected with his jaw and sent him crashing back against the flimsy wall. The boards bulged but didn’t quite give beneath his weight. His vision blurred, pain roared in his head, and he only dimly perceived the last shotgun-wielding guard’s hasty departure.
Blinding rage obliterated the pain. What had just happened was more than wrong-it was an offense against nature. The fucking thugs had stormed into the room like Nazis, absolutely heedless of the intimate scene they were violating. His mind was a whirlwind of questions: Had someone within the conspiracy ratted them out? Why had they only taken Cindy? Was this possibly unrelated to the conspiracy?
Questions without answers.
For now.
Chad braced his hands against the wall, shook his head to clear the fog, and tried to remember the location of the weapon Cindy had shown him last night. It was no use. Christ, he couldn’t even remember what kind of weapon it was. He was keenly aware, however, that Cindy’s predicament grew more dire every moment he lingered here. He pushed away from the wall, staggered across the room, stumbled going down the step outside the door, and crashed to his knees on the hard ground.
The guards were struggling with Cindy.
She was amazing. She just never stopped fighting. Never gave up. She drove a foot into one guard’s crotch, doubling him over, flailed against the arms that held her, and managed to get free of one guard. She grabbed his visor and tore it off, sank her fingers into his eyes, and released him when he reeled away screaming. The other guard relinquished his hold on her and backed away.
She advanced on him, her eyes alive with feral, predatory fire. The guard was clearly rattled by Cindy’s ferocity, fumbling with his shotgun and dropping it. Chad couldn’t believe it. She was going to pull off another miracle.
Too late, he saw the nut-kicked guard get to his feet. It happened too damned fast.
The guard pulled a handgun from the holster at his waist.
Aimed it at the back of Cindy’s head. And pulled the trigger. Bloody pulp splashed the other guard’s vest. Chad screamed.
The bout of lovemaking on the balcony was just the beginning of a day given over to pleasures of the flesh and far-ranging astral trips. Dream felt a flutter of pleasure, a carnal echo, at the memory of her ass balanced on the railing, her legs locked tight around King as he moved against her, her head thrown back and her hair swaying in the breeze. The knowledge of her precarious position had the perverse effect of heightening the sense of erotic exhilaration, rendering her orgasms explosive, overpowering. There was no question a drop down the mountainside would be fatal, and King’s firm grip about her waist was the only thing separating her from a plunge into the abyss. When it was over, they returned to the bedroom and went traveling again. A journey rich with magic and awe. He showed her more wonders of the world. The great wall of China. The Eiffel Tower. South American rain forests.
The bottom of the ocean and the mysteries that lurked there, strangely shaped creatures that glowed like science fiction monsters, shipwrecks recent and ancient, and a great, shadowy presence King called Zarah, the god of the depths. The being was aware of their presence and was none too happy about it. This Dream discerned for herself, and a surprised King attributed it to her unusual gifts, which were developing at an astonishing rate now that she had finally tapped them.
They left the ocean and climbed through the earth’s atmosphere, venturing again into the chilly embrace of space. They flew low over the blasted landscapes of Mars, danced around the rings of Saturn, and passed through the unfathomable heat of the sun. They followed a communications satellite in its unwavering geosynchronous orbit of the earth. Then they were back in their bodies, consciousness and living tissue merging like a revelation of sensuality, and they were at each other again, intent on ravaging every square inch of the other’s flesh, a mad pursuit of the ultimate carnal cleansing.
Then, again, more traveling.
Followed by yet more lovemaking.
King’s enthusiasm was unbridled. He’d completely surrendered to the first real new experience he’d had in
