“Marcella? You okay?” He asked her.
Marci was nodding, about to cross to Brogue when she heard a faintly familiar shortening of her name.
“Mars?”
In an almost timid manner, Marci peered out from behind Persephone to one of the intimidating looking men in the room. The man who’d spoken was dark-not quite as tall as the dark man he stood closest to. The man who’d called to her had eyes that were intense, potentially unsettling in their steadiness. There was something else, she noted. Something deeper-something remembered.
“I’m your brother, Marcella.” Bashir took a few slow, cautious steps toward the woman who watched him with unflinching curiosity. “I’m Bashir. I know you don’t remember-”
“Bass?”
“Yeah,” eyes going shiny with unshed tears, Bashir nodded as though the gesture took tremendous effort. “Yeah Sweetness,” quiet laughter came into his voice.
Everyone stood silent as the siblings approached one another on uncertain steps. They moved slowly, yet inexorably closer until they were reaching out to link fingers and meet in a tremulous, desperate embrace. In that moment, the true worth of the mission had finally been revealed.
Hill crossed the room to Persephone. “Where is that son of a bitch?”
Persephone gave a quick jerk of her head. “Still having his beauty rest.”
“Let’s wake him. He can sleep when he’s dead,” Dreck Eamon decided.
“Death. That state of being
won’t be too far off for him now,” Bashir sighed as his companions
nodded.
~~~
Jacob Shelanon yawned widely in appreciation of the restful sleep he’d just enjoyed. A new day. Another day seemed a more accurate phrasing.
Each night he went to bed and woke every morning with the hope that new light would bring new inspiration-new discovery. He tended to revel in the emotion only a few seconds-a full minute if he was lucky.
Luck was on his side that morning. Such excellent rest the night before had given his psyche a much needed boost. A boost, followed by a jolt with the realization that he wasn’t alone in his private bedchamber.
He wasn’t alone and the faces looking glaring down at him were unfamiliar.
“Mm-Marcella? Brogue?” He hated the waver in his voice. He searched for and found his exasperation.
“What the hell is this?” He worked up his own glare for the unfamiliar faces in the room. They were all strangers with the exception of Marcella, Brogue...and Hilliam Tesano.
A sallowness penetrated his already ashen complexion. The hope that had fueled him mere seconds earlier, soured. “Marcella-” he didn’t need to finish, noticing the syringe moving before his eyes. He understood why he’d slept so well.
“Rise and shine jackass,”
Hill said.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-FOUR
Betrayal wasn’t a concept he was unfamiliar with, but he went to great pains to ensure that it was a thing he didn’t have to suffer regularly.
Betrayal came from a place of trust. One could only betray or be betrayed if trust was given or received. Jacob Shelanon went to great pains to ensure that trust was a concept he would never subscribe to. Taking great pains, however, was never a foolproof method. Trust was a concept that heavily involved the heart.
Trusting Brogue Tesano, well...that had been business- a head decision. It had been the man’s uncle Vale who had been thinking with his heart-his diseased heart-when he urged Jake to give his nephew shelter.
Jake, knowing Brogue’s impressive pedigree, believed it would be a fine arrangement. Besides, he needed someone to replace his former right hand Luke Baker. Baker and ‘impressive pedigree’ would never be interchangeable.
Nevertheless, Jake knew that for Brogue to betray him was not that far of a stretch. Marcella on the other hand...every decision concerning her had been made with the whole of his heart.
He knew that curiosity flooded his eyes as he watched her. She stood in the arms of a dangerous looking man whose jet gaze promised murder. Who was he? Not the man whose arms he would’ve expected to find her in.
He’d seen the secretive looks of longing pass between she and Brogue. He hadn’t disapproved. They would make a fine match when the time was right and they were sure to produce stunning offspring. Marcella looked as though she had guessed the trail of his thoughts and didn’t approve. She turned her face into the dark man’s chest as he rocked her.
Jake was standing then. They had pulled him from warm, crisp covers and stripped him bare. A humiliation attempt? He laughed silently. He’d seen, done and been subjected to things he doubted the tough looking, undeniably gorgeous group before him could scarcely imagine.
When they’d shoved him from his bedroom and into the spacious front room of his elegant subterranean digs, humiliation began a gradual simmer. The faces greeting him then were familiar ones, but not entirely familiar. He did recognize his work though. These were the Acquisitions-a mix of boys and girls ranging in height and age from 7 to 13. Though they were clothed, it was clear that their young bodies had been altered for rapid anatomical development.
“You know what this is,” Hill began once Shelanon stood in front of the group a good five minutes. The man was then shoved to a ladder backed chair and strapped in. Hill was eager to have the moment over and done with. He’d seen Persephone finger a tear from her eye as she looked upon the damaged children. Hill sent her an encouraging nod when she looked his way to indicate that he understood. Guilty relief coursed through with reassurance that their own children weren’t standing among this doomed lot.
The chair Shelanon sat strapped in was clearly not part of the furnishings that added to the room’s Spartan allure. The man’s discomfort was evident in the wince he gave.
“What?” Shelanon gritted past the pain of splinters piercing his bare, flaky skin. “Death by humiliation? You’re wasting your time.”
“Agreed. That does sound like a big time commitment.” Hill noted. “Luckily, that one wasn’t on the table when we had our big pow-wow up on the surface. I didn’t think we’d ever agree on a way to kill you.”
“Then get on with it!” Shelanon spat. “Won’t be the first time I’ve been tortured. Growing up black in this godforsaken part of the country that was like a rite of passage.”
“That’s a shame,” Hill said in a manner that proved he didn’t really think it was. “Too bad we don’t have time to hear about it. Besides, I never said anything about torture. I said kill. I gotta tell you though, these kids are tough customers.” Hill chuckled in a cordial manner that was so obviously a deception.
“We offered them every way we could think of to put you in your grave-firing squad, bullet to the head...hell we even offered to let them do the shooting or the stabbing...had quite a few interested in cutting you into little pieces.”
Shelanon smirked, undaunted. “I had no idea you were such a talker.”
“Well yeah…” Hill began to pace a short path. “I tend to get talkative when I’m disappointed. I was hoping one of my suggestions would carry, but in the end the kids came up with something that would be much less work for us.”
