Malina's Revenge (4 page)

I took the envelope and stared at it. “Thank you very much, Tom.”
He took my hand in his. “I"m very sorry, Mrs. Pearl. I hope you find him soon.”
I smiled at him as he turned and walked out. I sank into the chair, setting the envelope on the desk in front of me. “What do I do Carlos?” I said.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry kiddo, don"t have any answers here. Besides, I"m lousy at surprises.”
I shoved the envelope over to him. “Here,” I said, “you look.”
He pulled the envelope down into his lap, opened it and looked inside. It took him a few minutes to figure out what he was looking at. His eyes went huge. “Holy shit,” he said.
“What?!” I said. “What is it?”
He looked up at me and grinned. “Gee, Sarah. Maybe I shouldn"t tell you.”
I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest. “I"ll just get it out of you, you know,” I said.
He stared at me, tilting his head to the side, then nodded. “You"re probably right. But I"m going to take my chances. Let me say this: It won"t help us find him, so there"s really no need for you to see it now. I"ll tell you when the time is right or I"ll let him tell you.”
I frowned at him. “Okay,” I whispered, “you win… for now.”
I printed the letter from Matt that was on the CD and tucked it into my back pocket. I wanted to carry it with me always. “Okay,” I said, “what"s next?”
“Ummm, I think you"re done for the day,” he said.
My head snapped up, panic filling my face. “What?!? NO! Carlos, I fall apart when there"s nothing to do! You have to find something to keep me busy. Please?”
He stared at me for a second, then grinned as he stood up and stuck his hand out to me. “Come on,” he said.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Outside. You are going to have your first flying lesson,” he grinned.
“Carlos, is now really the time for that?” I said.
“Why not?” he asked. “We can"t leave for Washington until after we see Musetta tomorrow, you don"t have any more appointments today, and it just may come in handy someday.”
“Okay,” I whispered, not sure I was ready for this.
We walked out into the shaded part of the courtyard. He stood behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I felt his chest pressing into my back. For a brief second my heart jumped in my chest. I shook it off– it must be because of how fragile my emotions are right now. “Okay,” he said, “close your eyes. Good, now imagine that your body is like an empty shell. It"s weightless, like a balloon.”
I smirked. “Or like the blow up doll in your closet?”
“Ha ha, very funny,” he said. “Okay, Sarah, now open your eyes.”
I did, and completely lost my concentration. We were floating fifty feet above the ground, and Carlos" hands were just lightly resting under my elbows. He gripped tight when he felt me as I started to fall. “Whoa!” he said as we floated back to the ground.
“You could"ve warned me,” I said.
“Well, consider yourself warned. Now close your eyes and try again,” he said as his arms again wrapped around my waist. Once again there was another flutter of the heart, and another dismissal by me. I closed my eyes again and felt my body become lighter. “Now open your eyes, Sarah.”
“I"m afraid to,” I said, squeezing them tighter.
“Sarah, you"re lighter than air, just keep that thought firmly in your head. Come on, open them.”
I opened one eye, and saw Carlos about six feet in front of me. I felt the panic forming.
He saw it too. “You"re fine, Sarah,” he calmly said. “You can do this.”
I nodded and locked my eyes on his. He floated a little closer and held his hands out, barely touching my fingertips when I reached back. He grinned his goofy grin. “I told you, you could do this.”
I finally looked down, trying not to panic. We were at least seventy-five feet above the ground this time. “You"re fine. Now,head for the roof.”
“You"re kidding me right?” I said. “How the hell am I supposed to
head
for the roof?”
“Face the roof, and lean towards it,” he said as he pulled up next to me. The roof was about two hundred feet from me. I tilted slightly forward, and was surprised that I moved about six feet closer. I straightened up and floated, turning to grin at Carlos. I leaned toward the roof and started floating towards it again. I was about twenty feet away and beginning to think I could do this when a squeal from below sent me tumbling toward the ground. I braced for impact, when Carlos swooped in and caught me, a few feet from the ground. He hesitated just a moment before he released his arms and in that moment, our eyes met, and there was something (longing? desire? what?) there, as my heart fluttered again. Don"t be ridiculous, Sarah, I thought, he"s your best friend, nothing more.
Stacy ran over to me. “Sarah, I"m sooo sorry,” she said. “I just got so excited when I saw you flying.”
“It"s okay Stacy,” I said, smiling. “I need to be able to work through distractions anyways. Obviously Ifailed miserably that time.”
“Do you want me to go inside?” she said.
I shook my head. “No, it"s okay.”
We stayed out practicing, until long after the sun went down and Stacy had gotten too tired and gone inside. I was completely exhausted, this was really hard work, but I didn"t want to face not having something to do. Finally, exhausted himself, Carlos floated over and put one arm around my waist and pulled me gently toward the ground. He didn"t have to say a word. I took a deep breath and nodded. We stopped by the kitchen and ate first, then he walked me to my room to gather a few things, including Matt"s pillow, one of his shirts to sleep in and clothes for the next day. I was really missing his scent. I was pretty proud of myself, as I made it all the way back to Carlos" room, changed and climbed into bed, before I lost it. And, once again, his warm, soothing, loving embrace, his calm, loving words, and his gentle fingertips on my forehead helped me to find my way back from the sadness and to the, thankfully, dreamless sleep that I so desperately needed.

I was surprised when I woke the next morning with the sun streaming in through the window. I must have been totally exhausted to have slept this late. For a brief moment, I forgot what I was going through. For a brief moment, in my half-asleep stupor, I thought that it was Matt"s incredible body pressing in to mine. I thought it was Matt"s leg that was draped across mine and his arm that was firmly across my chest– big surprise there, I thought as I grinned. Just how it is every morning when I wake up. And just like every other morning, I began running my fingers through his hair and pressed my hip into his crotch, which I felt respond almost immediately. I was definitely more awake now. I turned my head to kiss him and quietly gasped when I quickly realized that it wasn"t Matt. “Carlos,” I whispered. He groaned slightly in his sleep and pulled himself
closer
to me. I could feel his entire body pressing into my side, his chiseled abs, his sculpted leg, his hard excitement trying to escape his shorts, everything. For a confusing split-second I had to fight the urge to turn
toward
him. Not good I thought. “Carlos!” I said, a little louder.

“Huh? What?” he mumbled then he opened his eyes and looked at me. He followed my glance as I looked at my chest and quickly pulled up his arm and moved away from me, turning quickly so that I wouldn"t see (too late) the bulge under the sheet. “Mmmm, sorry,” he whispered.

“It"s okay,” I said as I sat up. I looked back at him. “I"ll be okay for a little while if you want to go see Stacy.”

He stared at me. “Geez Sarah,” he said. “I was
sleeping.
”
“No, I know that,” I said, unable to tell him that part of what happened was me. “I"m just saying that I don"t want you to give up… everything to take care of me.”
He stared at the ground but I could clearly see the hurt in his eyes. “I"m not always about sex, Sarah,” he said. “You"re the first woman that I"ve ever met that I
wanted
to take care of. You need me, Sarah. That"s new for me. It"s different, and I kind of like it.” Then he suddenly grinned the goofy Carlos grin. “Of course, if you want to take care of me… I certainly won"t stop you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Keep dreaming,” I said, hoping he didn"t hear the slight shake in my voice. Why the hell did I just want to say„okay"? It confused me, and more than that, it scared the hell out of me.
He lay back on the bed and closed his eyes. “Okay,” he grinned.
I smacked his stomach. “Come on, pervert. It"s time to get up.”
“Okay, okay,” he said as he climbed out of bed.
“Stefan knows we"re going to Seattle first?” I said.
He nodded. “Yep, right after we talk to Musetta.”
“Good. I"m going to shower and get ready for the assembly,” I said as I headed to the bathroom.
I felt okay. I desperately wanted to get to Seattle to look for Matt, but I knew we had to see Musetta first to try to have some sort of way to stop the pain. So I was okay, anxious, but okay, as I climbed into the shower. I shampooed my hair and washed my body. Turning around to briefly relax under the cascading hot water– I let out a surprised, “Oh” then, “Oh shit,” as the sorrow wave came out of nowhere and hit me. Who knows what triggered it– the fact that I rarely showered alone, the way that Matt and I always enjoyed our showers together so much, the fact that I was alone, the fact that he was missing, the fact that I was broken – it could have been any one of these things or all of them. But the fact was– here I was, alone, in the shower, sobbing, consumed by fear and grief, and unable to move or speak. My knees gave out and I sank to the floor, curling into a ball as I sobbed. At least ten minutes past before I finally heard the tap at the door that I knew was coming.
“Geez, Sarah, how long of a shower do you need?” Carlos said. He waited for a moment. “Sarah?” he said. “Sarah, answer me right now or I"m coming in.” A few more seconds and the door flew open. “Oh crap!” he said as he grabbed a towel and ran over to me. He turned off the water, wrapped the towel around me, scooped me up and sat down on the bathroom rug, pulling me onto his lap. I was consumed with grief, but at the same time, I felt completely safe in his arms. They just felt so good. He waited patiently until my sobs quieted, then he started bringing me back. “Come on, honey. He needs you Sarah,” he whispered as he rubbed my back. “I need you, Matt needs you. We both need your strength. He needs you to find him. You have to find him don"t you?”
I nodded and whispered, “Yes.” I started taking deep breaths, thinking of Matt and of finding him. I missed him desperately which must be why I was having these weird feelings whenever Carlos was near me, even when we were sleeping. Matt needed me to find him, he needed me strong. “Okay, okay, okay, okay, I"m okay now,” I gasped as I clenched and unclenched my fists. I raised my head up. “Sorry, I didn"t see that one coming at all,” I mumbled.
“You should be,” he said, then he grinned. “Now, I"m going to have to be in here when you shower. Geez Sarah, you really make me do some awful things sometimes.”
“Oh, shut up, dork,” I said and I leaned my head on his shoulder, unable, or
unwilling
, to get up for a brief moment. Something about feeling his arms around me felt…
right
. Again, I dismissed the feeling. “I really am sorry, Carlos”
“What on earth for, Sarah?”
“Well, first of all, I got you all wet.”
“I was going to get in the shower after you. You just gave me a head start, so don"t sweat it. Next?”
“I"m sorry I"m freaking out a little about us. I mean, I need you with me, but this shit that keeps happening when we"re sleeping. I don"t know what to do about it.”
“I"m freaking out about it too, Sarah. I"m sure it"s just a fluke thing because we"re both so stressed out right now. From now on, you sleep under the sheet. I"ll sleep on top of it. Just like we did that one time in New Orleans, okay? Next?” I had to bite my lip to keep from telling him that it wasn"t necessary, that I wanted him next to me without a sheet between us. I mean, we"re just friends and I really needed the support of my friend right now, right? But did that support really have to include us rubbing up against each other while we slept? Probably not.
I tried to climb out of his lap while keeping the towel around me. I wasn"t having much luck though. Every way I turned meant a big gap in the towel. Carlos finally said, “Here,” and put his hand over his eyes.
“Should I trust you to not peak?” I smiled.
From behind his hand, the goofy Carlos grin made its appearance. “No,” he smirked.
“Thanks,” I laughed as I jumped up, leaving the towel in his lap, and grabbed my robe. I pretended that I didn"t see the gap in the fingers, and I pretended that I wasn"t glad that I did.
“I still feel bad that I keep falling apart on you. That one came out of nowhere. I thought I was doing okay. I guess I"m not handling this very well,” I whispered.
“Sarah,” Carlos said, “you"re doing awesome, considering what you"re going through. Stop being ridiculous. Now, get dressed so we can meet up with the others to prepare for the assembly, okay?”
I nodded and went and grabbed my clothes. I had to push Carlos out of the bathroom to get dressed. “I don"t know Sarah,” he grinned. “I"m not comfortable leaving you alone at all.”
“Go,” I said, “I"ll leave the door unlocked. If I"m not out in two minutes, come in and rescue me, okay?” I closed the door, dressed and was out in one minute. As I walked out, I grinned and stuck my tongue out at Carlos, making him chuckle behind me.
We met Billy, Bahiti, Aduviri, Ramon, Rashidi, Stefan, Penelope and Missy in the Grand Hall. “Good morning everyone,” I said. “My plan for this morning"s assembly is first to announce to everyone what"s going on. I"m going to tell them that Carlos and I will be gone a lot, and when we"re gone, that Billy is in charge.”
Billy shook his head. “Sarah, you don"t have to do that.”
“I know I don"t, but I want to. I want everyone to know that they have someone here to turn to if they have a problem or an issue.” He nodded and I continued. “Stefan, can you take over Carlos" duties while he"s away?”
Stefan nodded. “Of course, Sarah.”
“Thanks, just work with Rashidi on anything you want posted to the site, or any changes you want made, okay?”
“Sure thing,” he said. “I think the site should remain business as usual though. I don"t think it"s wise to let the outside world know about the security breach and kidnapping.”
Heads nodded all around. “Agreed,” I said. “Ramon, you"re acting head of security now. You"re the eyes and ears of this place. It"s up to you to keep her from getting back in. My suggestion is to step up security at the gate. Give everyone inside a code word that they must say to enter, and change it weekly, or daily even. We have no idea what she"s capable of, if she can change her appearance to look like someone else, or if it"s just me. Are you up to this?”
Wide eyed, he took a deep breath and nodded. “Definitely, Miss Sarah. I won"t let you down,” he said
“I know you won"t Ramon,” I said. “The other item I want to show everyone is the DVD of Malina, or Malina looking like me actually. I want to point out to everyone the differences between us, so they can look for them. That"s all I needed to cover, did anyone else have anything?”
They all shook their heads then Billy answered for everyone, “This is your meeting Sarah. If we have anything to cover, when can do it later.”
“Thanks everyone,” I said. “Rashidi, can you please make sure the video is set up, and lower the screen? And Ramon, station your people at each door, please check everyone carefully. If anyone seems… off… or doesn"t know someone"s name or anything, remove them until you can thoroughly check them out, okay?”
They both nodded. “Okay,” I said as I took a deep breath, “let"s get everyone inside and seated.”
Ramon walked to the center of the room and motioned his guards over, speaking to them briefly before sending them back to their posts. He nodded and they opened the doors. One by one, the guards whispered something in each person"s ear then nodded when they answered and let them in. It took about twenty minutes to get everyone in and seated. I walked over and took my place at the podium that had been placed in the front corner of the room and the talking quickly died down. “Welcome everyone,” I began. “Thank you all for coming. I wanted to update all of you on what most of you have already heard about. Two days ago there was a serious security breach here at the compound. There was a break in, and Matthew,” I hesitated when I said his name, “was taken. He was kidnapped.” I heard a few gasps, but mostly I saw heads nodding, obviously the word had gotten around. I went on, “There hasn"t been a ransom demand, and we don"t really expect one. He was taken by someone who despises me. He was taken to punish me. He was taken by someone most of us know well: Malina.” There more murmurs and gasps as I continued, “Until he"s found, both Carlos and myself will be absent frequently from the compound, but please be assured that we will keep in close contact, and that you will all be in the very capable hands of Billy. And Ramon will be initiating some increased security measures to keep you all very safe.”
Several voices in the crowd spoke up,“Be safe in your travels, Miss Sarah,” said one, and I heard several, “We hope you find him quickly,” and even, “Is there anything we can do to help?” said another.
“Thank you so much,” I said. “I will carry your good wishes with me always. At this point, the best thing you can do to help is to keep yourselves safe. We really have no idea what else she"s up to. And most of us who have dealt with her know that she"s capable of great evil and horrendous pain. Now, I have a video showing the break in and the kidnapping. I need you to watch it very closely, study her movements, listen to her voice. Malina got in because she was somehow able to change her appearance to look like me. But, while she may look like me, if you look closely you can definitely tell it"s not. And her voice does not sound like mine,” I pressed play on the remote, pausing it at strategic times to point out her differences. I paused it just before she entered our bedroom and just stared at the screen for a few seconds. I heard Carlos" chair shift slightly as he started to stand up. He stopped, halfway up, and we stared at each other for a second. Finally I smiled slightly and mouthed, “It"s okay.” I thought to myself„I can do this," and I turned back to the screen. I forced my eyes to watch the final scene play out. I took a deep breath and turned back to the crowd. “You all know my voice. I know everyone"s name and will always greet you by it. And she can"t duplicate my scar, so please don"t be afraid to ask to see it. I"d rather you be safe than sorry. I"ll gladly raise my hand anytime to show it to you,” I said as I did just that. Confusion filled my face as I heard loud gasps from the crowd. Carlos sprang to my side as my head turned to look at my hand. My brows furrowed and my head tilted as I slowly brought my hand down onto the podium in front of my face. I stared at the blood trickling out of my scar.
Carlos leaned down to the microphone and said, “Thank you all for coming.” He turned and quickly led me out of the room.
“Carlos? Why? Why is my scar bleeding?” I mumbled as I stumbled out of the room while Carlos steadied me. Once in the hall it hit me. “Musetta! I have to speak to Musetta right now, Carlos. I know what she"s doing!”
Ramon spoke up, “She"s waiting in your office, Sarah.”
I ran down the hall with Carlos by my side, and burst into my office, startling Musetta and her daughter Marie. “I"m sorry I scared you,” I said as I held my palm up. “But it"s Malina, she"s trying to duplicate my scar! Can you do something to stop her? Please?” She took my palm and ran her finger over the scar then she sat down and started chanting and digging through her large bag. She pulled out a mortar and pestle, poured a few items in it and ground them up. She lit some incense and let the smoke fill the room as she sang. She dipped her finger into the bowl and spread the concoction over my scar. I felt it burn slightly. She stopped singing and touched her hand to my forehead– this was how Musetta communicated with others because she was unable to speak. She sat back and I stared at her. “Really?” I said. “It"s invisible to her now, she can"t even see his scar anymore? Huh. Will it stay like that always?”
She touched my forehead again, then sat back and pulled a small bottle from her bag. She pulled the cork out of the top of it and poured the mixture into it. Then she handedit to me. “How often?” I said. Again, she touched my forehead. “Okay,” I nodded. Carlos looked at me. “Whenever it starts bleeding, I have to add more.”
“Oh, okay,” he nodded.
I looked back at Musetta. “Can you help us stop the pain she puts in our heads?”
Musetta looked at her daughter and Marie spoke for her, “She needs you to describe the pain, tell her everything about it.”
Carlos said, “It"s like a balloon is expanding in your head.”
Stefan, who had joined us in my office, spoke next, “It"s an unimaginable pain. You can"t move or think when it"s there. It"s a blinding pain, like a red hot vise squeezing your head in reverse.”
Every face in the room turned to me when I said, “It feels like a snake.”
“What?” I said. “It does. The first time she used it on me, she was searching for information and I felt it moving through my brain and then down into my heart, just like it was a snake.”
Musetta became very animated. She pulled a notepad and pen out of her bag, wrote something down and showed it to her daughter. Marie nodded and turned to me. “She"s using a serpent spirit to cause the pain. Mother can make something to stop it, but she needs the blood of a mongoose, does anyone know if there are any around here?”
Stefan jumped up. “Probably not around here, but I"ll bet Bahiti knows where to find one. I"ll be right back.”
“Once we take this, it will always stop the pain?” I asked. Musetta nodded her head slightly. “Okay,” I said, “but we"ll need enough for everyone, can you do that?”