Poisoned Pawn (22 page)

“Somewhere around thirty, and maybe a week.”

“You arranged this on purpose.” She ripped open a package.

“I’ll let you think that if it helps.”

Trey came barging through the door, clipboard banging on his leg. “Why haven’t you fixed breakfast yet? It’s three hours late. My schedule is…”

Jasyn told him where he could put his schedule. His mouth opened in shock. Lowell smothered a laugh by coughing.

“Just cook it soon, and don’t be late with meals again,” Trey said in full retreat out the door.

“Let me help,” Lowell said. “Just give me a spoon and tell me what to stir.”

She handed him a spoon and pointed at the pot that was now steaming. “Keep stirring. And I hope I’ve got this right. I usually cook for a lot fewer.” She poured the contents of the packet into the pot. The mixture bubbled as it thickened. Lowell stirred, watching Jasyn with a curious look. She rummaged through the pile and picked out three more packets. She measured out a handful of brown spice from one packet and added it to the pot along with the dried fruit in the other two packets. Lowell kept stirring.

Jasyn searched until she found eating dishes, a stack that looked as if they hadn’t been used much. She stuck them on a table and then went to the door.

“Food,” she announced.

The men followed her into the shelter. Lowell cheerfully dished up the stuff in the pot. The men ate it and seemed happy enough. Trey came in last, frowning and banging his clipboard until he tasted it.

“Real food,” he murmured. “Next time, Lowell, you have to provide me with a cook. Forget the scientists. They can’t keep a schedule and they definitely can’t cook.” He wandered away, clipboard forgotten while he ate.

“I get extra for this,” Jasyn told Lowell. “Do you do dishes, too?”

“Today,” Lowell said. “Tonight we are moving out to the study areas.”

“What’s at the red star?” Jasyn asked.

“A house, or so the report says.” He dished up the last of the stuff in the pot, two bowls, and handed one to Jasyn. “You stay here. I’ll send for you if I need you.”

“As long as you do dishes, today,” she said.

He grinned and ate his breakfast.

Rinth came for me at lunch. I hunched in the chair. I didn’t want to face Luke.

“You will come now,” Rinth said in his high monotone.

“Tell Luke I won’t come. I’m through playing his game.” I pulled my knees up, tucking my chin onto them.

“You are late. You will come now.”

I stared stubbornly out the window.

“You will come now,” Rinth repeated. He shuffled his large hairy feet.

I ignored him.

He came down the steps and took my arm. I glared, pulling back. His hand was like a station grappling arm. I couldn’t budge him. He pulled me off the couch, dragging me up the steps.

“You will come now,” he repeated over and over as he dragged me down the hall.

I scrambled next to him, my arm screaming in pain in the grip of his thick-fingered hand. I managed to make it to my feet. I had to hurry, half running just to keep pace. Rinth pulled me as if I weighed nothing. He dragged me into the dining room and deposited me on the carpet inside the door.

Luke frowned from his seat at the table. Lopei was there along with three other men I didn’t know. I got to my feet with what little dignity I could muster. I was barefoot, dressed in the most concealing clothing I could find in the closet. There wasn’t much that wasn’t low cut or sleeveless or slit up the sides. I did my best.

“Go change, Miya,” Luke ordered. “You displease me, and embarrass me in front of my guests.” He dismissed me with that cold comment.

“Rinth gave me no time to change,” I said. It was true enough.

Luke glanced from me to the furry lump behind me. He smiled, a calculated look that left his eyes cold. “Then you may join me. Rinth will be punished.”

Rinth gave off high pitched whining noises and scuttled away. If he’d had a tail, it would have been between his legs.

I took a seat at the table, as far from Luke as I could get. His smile turned to a leer.

“Miya, you look tired. Did I wear you out last night?”

Lopei gave me a suggestive grin. Another man at the table sniggered.

“No, Luke, you couldn’t wear out a…”

“You will regret this.” He cut me off.

“No more games, Luke. I want to go home.” I stabbed the food that had been placed in front of me, shoving it across the plate.

“Perhaps your father would pay more quickly if I removed a part and sent it to him.” He leaned back in his chair and looked me over coolly. “Perhaps a finger or a toe.”

I put my fork down, my appetite, small as it was, quickly disappeared. What little I’d managed to force myself to eat threatened to come back.

“I will keep you if I choose,” Luke promised. “I will make you beg for me to come to you. If I choose.”

I shivered and stared down at my plate.

“I felt you responding, Miya, my ice maiden. You will thaw, eventually. Until then, you will do well to remember who you are offending.” I heard him rise from his chair. He came to stand behind me. He leaned down. “You would be wise to please me,” he whispered in my ear, his breath hot on my neck. He stood and walked away from me.

“Lopei, tell me what my associates on Kiju are doing,” he ordered, leaning against the open window.

I sat while Lopei talked. I knew I should be listening, I should be remembering all of the names and places. If I were an agent, I would be, despite what Luke had done to me. I wasn’t an agent. I hated what I was becoming. I hated knowing what I was capable of doing. I wanted out.

Lopei finished his report. Luke made a frustrated noise. Apparently things were not going well for him on Kiju.

“Nuev, report,” Luke commanded.

The second man began talking.

I picked at my lunch until it was cold and unappetizing. The other two men gave their reports. About then it dawned on me that Luke was never going to give me up, no matter how much money Hom Daviessbrowun paid. He would never have let me sit through a meeting with his top men if he planned on letting me leave alive.

I closed my eyes, praying to whatever god existed that Lowell was out there, looking for me. And that he would find me very soon.

Luke gave his men their orders, walking out with them on the patio and talking to them where I couldn’t hear. Luke came back in alone and walked past me, preoccupied with whatever plans he was making.

“Go to your rooms, Miya,” he ordered me. “And remember that it displeases me to see you in such a state.” He continued out the door of the dining room, disappearing in the mansion beyond.

I sat for a moment, gathering my courage before I got up and left.

Rinth was nowhere in sight. I started along what I thought was the right hallway. I spotted an open door halfway down the hall. I crept close. I heard voices raised in anger. Luke was upset. I leaned against the wall, listening.

“Find the traitors and eliminate them,” his voice came through clearly. I couldn’t hear the reply, he must have been talking on a com. “I want a full report on that ship, then. And send someone I can trust to Kiju. Keep an eye on Lopei. He’s developing ideas.”

His voice stopped. I panicked at the thought of him discovering me in the hall outside his office and hurried back to the wide foyer where the hallways met. I picked a different hallway and hurried down it. It was the right one. I found my rooms and let myself in.

I gripped the door, unwilling to let it close and lock behind me. It took every ounce of self-control I had to let it swing shut. I knew an escape attempt right then would be futile. I needed a diversion and a plan to get through the grounds and over the wall. I couldn’t just run and hope for the best. Luke would find me too easily. And then I would pay for my attempt. I shuddered as my imagination created all sorts of horrible ways Luke would exact his payment.

I went to the bedroom and pretended to sleep while I tried to find a way out. I had no resources, other than a very full closet. Sometime during my planning, I drifted into real sleep.

I dreamed. I walked along a very busy street calling for help, but no one saw me. I was invisible, a ghost, a forgotten thing discarded. It didn’t take a psych tech to tell me what it meant.

I woke as sunset gilded the sky out the windows. I thought about hiding from Rinth. It wouldn’t do any good. I had to dress for dinner. I had to keep Luke as happy as I could stand to make him. I had to keep him from suspecting me. Until I found a way to escape. Or until I went mad and gave in. It wouldn’t take much longer.

I picked through the dresses and found one with sleeves. It was a slim sheath, with a very high slit in one side, a pale yellow color. I swallowed what little pride I still had and dressed in it. And then used the cosmetics and combed my hair. It wouldn’t do to displease Luke. I tried to make myself numb inside. I forced myself to wait near the door for Rinth.

Lopei came to fetch me. He leered openly when he saw the dress. It didn’t matter. I let him take my arm and walk me to the dining room. Luke was frowning as he stabbed a handcomp with his finger. He glanced briefly at me and dismissed me as not worth his time.

I ate as quietly as I could, trying to melt into the shadows where I wouldn’t attract any attention. I may as well not have bothered. Luke spent the meal grumbling at his handcomp. Lopei spent the meal leering at my leg, fully exposed by the slit skirt.

When the meal was finished, I rose from my chair, thinking to escape back to my rooms. Luke looked up and snapped his handcomp shut. I stopped, standing next to the table. He looked me up and down. When his eyes met mine again I could see the beginnings of suspicion there.

“Why is your father hesitating?” he asked. “Could it be his daughter is not worth what I’m asking? Perhaps he is not as rich as people believe he is. Or is there something else I don’t know, Miya?” He waited, he wanted an answer from me.

“What ransom are you asking for me?” I knew what the news had reported. I wanted to hear him say it.

“If he chooses not to pay the full amount, I will take my payment from you. In full.”

“He can’t take all of the cash from his businesses,” I said, relying on my own experience as a trader. Money was rarely lying around, it was tied up in inventory and merchandise. “He would go broke. It takes time to liquidate assets.”

“Perhaps,” Luke said. His eyes were still watching me, too closely for my comfort. “He has had time. And I wish him to go broke as quickly as possible.”

“You are trying to bankrupt him,” I said.

“You, or his businesses. It’s the choice I’ve given him,” Luke agreed, then smiled a very cold smile. “I have been neglecting you, Miya, when I should have been spending time with you. Tomorrow, you will be at my side all day. It will be a pleasure for us both.”

The last statement was not speculation, it was an order. It would be a pleasure for me, or at least I’d better pretend it was, or I would suffer. I forced a smile. It seemed to be what he was waiting for. He dismissed me with a wave of his hand.

“Lopei, take her to her rooms,” Luke said as I reached the door. “She seems to have lost her way without Rinth.”

He knew I’d been wandering earlier, it was a veiled threat that I wasn’t to do it again. I waited by the door until Lopei took my arm. At least he didn’t try to take anything else.

I woke sweating and screaming from nightmares that night. Over and over, I dreamed I was choking. I tried to block the rest of the dream but it didn’t work. I dreamed Luke kissed me again. I felt tendrils exploring my mouth. And woke gagging and choking, screams building in my throat. I curled up in a ball on the bed. I was close to breaking. I couldn’t stay here and stay sane.

Luke hadn’t done anything physical to me other than that obscene kiss. Everything else had been a form of calculated mental and emotional torture. I thought I was tough, I thought I could handle anything after surviving the orphanage on Tivor. I’d been finding out ever since that I was weak, that I hadn’t even begun to experience pain and suffering.

I started to cry, unable to stop. I sobbed until I was too exhausted to move. And then I lay with my eyes wide, afraid to sleep, and watched the night turn slowly to day.

I moved slowly, dragging myself from the bed as the sun poured light through the windows. Luke was waiting. Luke would be angry with me if I was late. Or if I was not dressed properly.

I went through the motions of getting dressed in a fog. I was like a sleepwalker, one trapped in an endless nightmare. I put the last touches of cosmetics on my face, then stood by the door to wait.

Rinth came to fetch me. His expression, what I could see around the fur, was as bland as usual. He moved the same. I saw no evidence of punishment. But then Luke was a master at tortures that left no physical evidence. I should know by now.

“You will come now,” Rinth said.

“I will come now,” I agreed. “I am sorry you were punished, Rinth.”

He shook his thick hands in an odd gesture. “You will come now?” he said, inflection making it a question.

“Yes,” I said.

Rinth took my arm in a carefully gentle grip and led me through the halls to the dining room.

“Miya,” Luke greeted me with a broad smile, one that didn’t touch his eyes.

Rinth let go of me. I walked across the room to stand in front of Luke. It seemed to be what he expected. He studied my face, lifting my chin with one finger. I suppressed a shiver at his touch. And hated the part of me that responded to him.

“You are pale,” he said, softly. “Are you not sleeping well?”

I didn’t bother to answer. He knew. I read it in his cold eyes.

“Fresh air does wonders,” Luke said. “Let’s dine outside this morning.”

He stroked my chin a final time and turned away. I closed my eyes, fighting a surge of nausea at the caress.

“Are you coming, Miya my sweet?”

I made my feet move, made myself step through the sliding door onto the wide patio. It was in shade, the morning sun poured over the far side of the house and bathed the gardens below in light. I caught sight of a black shape, vicious and muscular, slipping through the far bushes.