LOGAN (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 5) (17 page)

He watched her remove what looked like a cigar from her pocket and point it at him. Before he could avoid it, she sprayed a mist in his face.

Instantly his eyes blurred and he tried to wipe them, only to discover that his hands didn't respond. In fact, his entire body was paralyzed where he stood.

She had one final order for him before she departed. "Until I tell you otherwise, do not drink any of the water or eat any food cooked in it."

* * *

Nadia ran as fast as she could toward the barrier. At the medium setting she had used, the paralyzer spray only immobilized a large creature for a few minutes. She had kept the canister of deterrent after her last safari into the wilderness, though at the time, she hadn't any idea that she would be using it on a very different sort of beast. Hopefully, it wouldn't harm the man in any permanent way.

Her lungs burned from the unusual exertion but she didn't dare slow down until she reached the barrier. Barely pausing to extract a thin, rectangular box from her pocket, she created a narrow opening, hurried through and closed it again. That box was another object she had kept without reason, except as a souvenir of her stint with Protective Services. The tool's main function was to detect, repair and reinforce any weakness in the barrier, but it could also work in reverse to cause a flaw just as well.

Now that she was safe, Nadia stopped to catch her breath. She couldn't believe how perfectly splendid the adventure had gone. Closing her eyes and hugging her body, she wallowed in the remnants of pleasure still skipping through her. What was most exciting about what she just experienced was knowing she could have more whenever she liked. It simply required a certain boldness and relying on her intuition to hone in on the Earth male's fears as well as his natural urges.

She hadn't found the scarred man as she had hoped but Ray Higgs was quite adequate for her purposes... at least until she tired of him.

She recalled how she had called herself Parisia and laughed aloud at how mortified the Imperial Prefect would be if she learned how her name had been used. Nadia thought it made a delightful private joke, but it was also a slight precaution against being correctly identified if Ray Higgs ever managed to reveal her activities to anyone.

As she neared her residence, she considered taking a long, hot bath to soothe her strained muscles and cleanse the man's leavings from her body. She could wake Fulton and—No. She didn't want that half-man's hands on her tonight. Not after having the real thing. She would see to her own bath, and her need, which was already creeping back to life.

Tomorrow night couldn't come soon enough for her.

* * *

Higgs slowly regained control of his muscles along with his vision. He was so anxious to tell someone about what just happened, he'd taken several steps before realizing he was still nude. Between his nerves and natural lack of coordination, it took him longer than usual to get himself clothed and headed toward Major Cookson's tent.

Geoffrey heard someone approaching and got up from his cot. He was disappointed to see that it was only Higgs.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Major, but this is of urgent importance."

"Come in," Geoffrey said, immediately wondering how long it would take to get the man out again. He was tense enough waiting for news of Logan's team without having to deal with Higgs. He lit his candle lantern and made himself ask, "What's the problem?"

"It's the water. There's something in it."

"That possibility occurred to us. That's why you were ordered not to eat or drink anything all day."

"It's not the food. She only told me not to drink the water."

Geoffrey could see Higgs was upset over something but he was making less sense than usual. "She who?"

Higgs waved his arms in the air and tried to pace within the small tent. "A female alien... from beyond the invisible wall. I was just with her out in the field."

Geoffrey turned away so Higgs wouldn't see his look of disbelief.

"I'm telling you, she came for me. She... she wanted to... she forced me to... to
copulate
with her... that's what she called it... right out there."

Geoffrey couldn't hold back the chuckle at that one. "Are you trying to tell me you were just raped by an alien woman?"

"
Twice!
" When he only got another laugh at that, he tried harder to be convincing. "She was
huge
, and strong, and she tortured me first, and she had a weapon that paralyzed me."

Geoffrey nodded with feigned comprehension. "An amazon used a stun gun on you then took advantage of you while you were helpless."

"No, no," Higgs said, getting more frustrated by the second. "She used me first
then
paralyzed me while she ran off."

"Just out of curiosity, Higgs, how did you happen to be in the condition necessary to be used?"

"She... she must have used some sort of mind control. I couldn't resist."

Higgs clearly believed what he was saying but Geoffrey could hardly accept the truth of such an outrageous tale coming from a man who had been whining about aliens and androids from the moment they'd arrived. There was a strong possibility that this was just another attempt by Higgs to get others to accept his point of view.

"I'm not crazy, Major," Higgs insisted. "She said her name was Parisia, that there were humans on the other side of the wall, and that their men don't...
function
like Earth men. We landed in an alternate dimension. Actually, she said it's a mirror planet to Earth called Heart."

"Heart?" Geoffrey asked sarcastically. "I suppose it's a coincidence that Heart is an anagram of Earth."

"Maybe. Why not? Maybe it's not an
identical
twin. It could be like Earth, but twisted—like the green sky and blue grass, and men that can't have sex. But you don't have to believe me. You can see her for yourself. She said she was coming back tomorrow night... for more. The last order she gave me was not to drink the water. I'm sure that had to be because there's something in the water that would relax me too much to be able to service her."

Geoffrey was no longer certain that Higgs was off his nut. The more he talked, the more believable his story seemed. He needed another opinion. "Come with me," he said and led him to Tarla and Robin's tent.

The flap to their shelter was pulled back, but he didn't presume to enter unannounced. Standing to the side, he spoke in a hushed voice. "Tarla? It's Geoffrey. May I speak to you?"

"Of course," she replied, and a moment later, she and Robin stepped outside.

Geoffrey's gaze automatically slid from Robin's mussed hair to her long legs exposed below the large shirt she was wearing and, for a moment, he was rendered mute. Only by turning his full attention on Tarla, was he able to get back on track. "Higgs just came to me with a rather extraordinary story and I'd like you to hear it from him."

Higgs shifted from one foot to the other, looking extremely embarrassed, but he managed to relate his experience to the two women. Geoffrey noted that it came out in better order this time and with more colorful description. Also, the alien female had become more monstrous and terrifying with the second telling. Whatever truth there was to Higgs's claims would probably be completely obscured in exaggeration by the fourth or fifth time he told it.

Tarla noted the skeptical expressions on both Geoffrey's and Robin's face. Higgs had a tendency to let his imagination take over whatever logic he might have in his brain, but there was no question they were in a world alien to Earth. Under the circumstance she didn't think any story should be dismissed, no matter how crazy it sounded or who was telling it.

When Higgs finally ran out of details of his close encounter, Tarla asked, "Is there a possibility that you had a hallucination? If they could tranquilize us without our being aware of it, couldn't they also administer a hallucinogenic?"

Higgs shook his head. "No way. It happened. I'm positive."

Geoffrey had another thought. "Is there any way it could have been one of our women and you mistook her—"

"Geoffrey! That's ridiculous," Robin stated with annoyance. "There are only ten of us, two of whom are with Logan's team and another two of whom are standing here."

"Robin's right," Tarla said. "I'd vouch for the other six. None of them are thinking of fun and games right now."

Geoffrey shrugged. "I'm just trying to cover every possibility. No offense meant."

"None taken then," Robin said with a smile of forgiveness. "So what's the verdict?"

Tarla looked to Geoffrey but he was waiting for her to speak. "I think we have to assume it happened as Ray said. In which case, we can trust the food and fruit juice but not the water."

"Thank God!" Robin said with a laugh. "I'm starving! How much longer are we supposed to pretend everyone's tucked away for the night?"

Geoffrey glanced at his watch and made a face. "Logan's team went into the tack room nearly two hours ago. We agreed to give them until sunrise before taking any further action. But I have to admit, I'm worried."

Tarla wished he hadn't said that. It made her identify the queasiness she'd felt for the last hour—a combination of worry and guilt. Now she wished she had spoken kinder words to Logan before he left. It might not have meant anything to him, but it would have made her feel better now.

After Geoffrey and Higgs said good night a second time, Robin and Tarla went back inside their tent to wait for sunrise. Sleep was out of the question.

In spite of her support of Higgs's story, she still thought his mind may have been playing tricks on him. The drug, or whatever it was, obviously had the power to drastically alter one's personality. It had turned a cold-hearted soldier into a gentle Romeo, complete with a fabricated memory of sensual fantasies and delusions of unrequited love.

That considered, Higgs's eight-foot tall, sex-starved alien could have seemed completely real to him.

"I think he's attracted to you," Robin said, abruptly breaking into Tarla's thoughts.

With her mind on Logan, Tarla automatically thought that was who Robin was referring to. "It was just the drug. Nothing else."

"I don't think so. Right from the start, he kept his eyes on you. He barely
glanced
at me. The only time a man
doesn't
look at my legs when they're showing is when he's in love with someone else... or he prefers male companions. Oh dear. I hadn't thought of that. You don't think that's it, do you? I mean, wouldn't that be simply
too
depressing?"

Tarla squinted at her friend. "What are you talking about?"

Robin sighed. "He seems very gentle and soft-spoken for a man. If he prefers men, that could explain why I haven't been able to get through to him."

"Wait a minute," Tarla said holding up one finger. "Who do you think prefers men?"

"Geoffrey. Who did you think I was talking about? Higgs?"

Tarla chuckled at the face Robin made. "No. I'm sorry. I guess I was only giving you half my attention."

"That's all right. I'm not making any sense anyway. This waiting is driving me nuts."

"Me too," Tarla admitted. "I can't help but wonder where they are and if they're safe, or in trouble, or—" She wouldn't say her worst fear aloud.

* * *

Logan opened one eye a crack to peek at the candle in the lantern. Judging by the short stub left to be burned away, he guessed it was nearly dawn. He was proud of this team. No one had moved or made a sound in hours. Unfortunately it had all been a waste of effort. Somehow the caretakers figured out what they were up to and chose to ignore them. He hated to think what that meant.

A lifetime of imprisonment
. Of course, he'd been facing that anyway, and the farm was considerably more pleasant than Leavenworth would have been.

Being drugged and having no defenses
. He had to admit, the time he'd spent with Tarla while both their defenses were down was like a taste of heaven. It was only after their minds cleared and they both remembered that he wasn't good enough for her, that he was sorry he'd been given that taste. At least with the drug in his system, he didn't feel the ache in his chest.

All in all, he wasn't sure which was worse—remaining on the farm and becoming one of the puppet-people, with Tarla, or returning to his own dismal world without her. It wasn't so confusing when he put it that way.

"Okay, everybody," he said, stretching his arms and legs. "There's no sense putting in more time here. They didn't fall for it."

A harmony of groans accompanied the unbending of stiff bodies.

"Damn!" Gianni muttered. "I think I need some medical treatment for real now. How do you think they knew?"

Logan shook his head. "For all we know, they could have heard us planning it. The main problem is, we have no idea how closely we're being watched. But it was worth a try. And we'll keep on trying till we get out of here." The sad faces around him brightened a little from his attempted pep-talk, but it was hard to sound optimistic when he didn't believe a word he was saying.

As he had estimated, the sun was just topping the horizon when they exited the barn. In a matter of seconds, they were surrounded by people who were relieved to see them unharmed and anxious for a full report. However, the relief was quickly buried beneath the news that the mission had been a complete failure.