I can’t go back there—I can’t—I won’t!
But how was she going to get out of going? How could she get away from her ex and his angry mistress when she was cuffed up and helpless?
She supposed she could try running away with the cuffs still on, but how would she open any doors and how far could she get in the forest in the middle of a freezing cold night with her hands behind her back? No, it would definitely be better to try and get Chuck to take the cuffs off first.
“All right, I’ll sign,” she said as calmly as she could. “But how am I supposed to do that with my hands cuffed behind my back?”
Just at that moment, Amanda came stomping back in the house. In one hand she carried a big red plastic gas container and in the other she held a lighter.
“Manda, baby, what are you doing?” Chuck stared at her blankly.
“As soon as she signs, I’m burning this place to the ground.” There was a crazy gleam in the woman’s eyes. “I’m burning it to the ground with her inside it!”
“What?” Torri stared at her. “Are you nuts? You want to kill me because I put Nair in your shampoo?”
“I knew it—I knew you did it!” Amanda shrieked. “I found the empty bottle of hair remover but I couldn’t figure out how it got in the shampoo—now I know for sure you did it because you just admitted it!”
“Now, Manda, baby…” Chuck looked at his mistress uneasily. “We already agreed what we’re going to do with her—she’s getting tied up and put in the trunk of the car so we can take her right back to St. Elizabeth’s.”
“She already escaped from that place once!” Amanda shouted, waving the gas can so that its contents made a sloshing sound. “And it’s not enough to lock her up. She ruined my hair—I want her dead!”
Torri felt sick. Was Chuck really going to go along with this? Were they going to force her to sign the paperwork and then burn the cabin to the ground with her in it? Well, who was going to stop them?
Oh Vic! she thought, feeling like she might cry, she was so frightened. I wish you were here! I wish you could save me like you did back in St. Elizabeth’s and on the Fathership! I wish you were with me instead of frozen in stasis!
But as Nana had always said, “If wishes were horses, then beggars might ride.” Which meant, there was no point in wishing for the impossible.
Still, what was Torri going to do?
Fifty-Nine
Deep in the interior of the Mother Ship, the green light on Vic’s hyperbaric stasis chamber suddenly turned red and the glass panel at its front slid up. A cloud of fog filled the chamber and when it cleared, Vic was blinking and rubbing his eyes.
It must be my next mission. He wondered what kind of planet the Kindred needed him to go to this time. And more importantly, how much time had passed. Was Torri still alive? Would she want to see him if she was?
He knew he ought to be thinking of the upcoming mission but the organic part of his brain just couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything but the Earth female he had left behind when he went back into stasis.
Also, where were the Kindred leaders, who ought to have greeted him upon his waking? Who had woken him in the first place? Someone must have pushed the button on the stasis chamber, there was no other way he could have been brought out of stasis. Vic frowned—where was everyone?
Suddenly, a warm, feminine voice filled the chamber.
“Warrior, it is I who have awakened you.”
“Goddess?” Vic looked around, but she was not visible, though he could feel her presence everywhere. “What would you have me do—why have you awakened me, Mother of All Life?” he asked.
“Your female is in danger,” the Goddess informed him. “She will be killed if you do not go to her at once!”
“Where is she?” Vic was already on the move. Leaving the stasis chamber behind, he ran down the corridors, heading for the Docking Bay.
“At the cabin in the mountains,” the Goddess told him. “Hurry!”
Her voice and presence faded but Vic’s sense of urgency only grew. The Goddess hadn’t said what kind of danger Torri was in, but he feared the worst. Remembering how isolated the mountain cabin was, he knew that anyone or anything might be attacking her but no help would come to her screams.
Hang on, sweetheart—I’m coming! he thought as he slid into a sleek silver ship and took off for Earth. I swear I’ll be there soon!
He just hoped he would be in time…
Sixty
“She ruined my hair—not even five million dollars is enough to pay for that! Amanda was yelling. “I’m going to burn this shitty little cabin to the ground with her in it!”
“Now, Manda baby—be reasonable.” Chuck frowned worriedly at her.
“Yes, be reasonable,” Torri chimed in. “You know they can tell the difference between arson and a fire that started naturally, right?” She nodded at the plastic gas tank that Amanda was still gripping in one hand. “And don’t you think it’ll look kind of suspicious if I sign all my money over to you and then I just happen to…to die?”
She was trying to keep her voice steady but it went a bit high on the last word. She was very aware she was arguing for her life.
Should have been a lawyer instead of a bank manager, I guess, she thought and had to swallow back a jagged, hysterical laugh that bubbled up in her throat.
“She has a point you know, Manda,” Chuck said. “And anyway, I’ve already got everything worked out with Dr. Burrows. She’s going into the Violent Offenders Ward with all the rapists and the murderers—she won’t last long in there. That’s almost as bad as being burned alive.”
“Gee, thanks, Chuck,” Torri muttered dryly. She had known her ex was an asshole, but hearing him talk about how she was likely to be raped and murdered so dispassionately gave her a whole new window into his nasty little soul.
“I don’t care—I just want her dead,” Amanda snapped.
“Well, dead women can’t sign paperwork.” Torri worked to make her voice more steady this time. She couldn’t let herself panic or she was lost—she had to get out of this situation herself because nobody was coming to save her! “And neither can handcuffed ones,” she added, looking pointedly at Chuck.
“Fine.” He glared down at her. “I’ll un-cuff you but I’m standing right over your shoulder the whole time while you sign the paperwork. And afterwards, the cuffs go right back on!”
“Fine…fine.” Torri nodded in agreement, though she had no intention of letting him cuff her again once she was free. She tried to look meek and frightened while he took the key out of the pocket of his black jeans and leaned down to unlock the cuffs.
“Now sign!” he demanded, pointing to the stacks of paperwork and the black ballpoint pen that had been laid on the table beside it.
“No problem.” Torri picked up the pen and reached for the stack of divorce paperwork first. She started to sign it slowly and methodically, very aware that Chuck was hovering just over her shoulder, watching every stroke of the pen. If only there was some kind of distraction, she might be able to get away!