Rachel awoke from a dream where she walked on a beach, hand in hand with Adam, and it took a moment for her to get her bearings. When she remembered, she rubbed her eyes and looked at the clock. Rachel groaned. It was seven in the morning. She’d been freed from her cell not even a week ago and she had yet to sleep past eight AM.
Someone pounded on the door.
“Coming, coming,” she grumbled when it became clear that whoever it was wouldn’t go away. Hopefully, it wasn’t Inquisitor Jackass or Good Doctor Campbell, here for more tests. She slid out of bed and shuffled to the door. Opening it, she found a blood-shot, stern-faced Simon on the other side.
“Good... morning?” she greeted him, wary of his mood.
“Get ready for training,” he barked. “You have two minutes to change, or I’ll drag you out.”
Rachel gaped.
“Now!”
She jerked and nodded. Wondering what had made him so grouchy this morning. When she'd last seen him, he’d sounded down-right jubilant. “O-okay,” she stammered. Her hands shook as she closed the door. Dashing to her dresser, she yanked out clothes and put them on. Rachel had barely finished dressing before Simon returned to pound on her door. She opened it and followed him to the training room next to the stairs. Their steps echoed ominously in the empty hallway, and Rachel’s sense of impending doom grew.
As soon as they entered the training area, Simon stormed to the center, spun, and barked, “What training have you had outside of the Order?”
“I have a Second Dan black belt in Aikido. Did four years of Yoga. I jogged five miles every other day, and last winter I picked up some Parkour classes.”
Simon sneered at her comment, “Parkour?”
“Yeah, Adam’s a good teacher. I learned a lot in his classes.”
“I bet you did.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rachel asked.
He dismissed her question with a wave. “We’ll start with some stretching and then do some strength training.”
“Okay.” That didn’t sound too bad.
They spent the next forty-five minutes doing different exercise routines like Tai Chi and Yoga. The only conversation came from Simon’s clipped instructions or her tentative affirmations. After nearly a month of inactivity, Rachel’s muscles quickly protested her effort, and she kept daydreaming about the hot tub in the women’s communal shower room.
Simon interrupted her thoughts, “You are not paying attention.” With an aggravated sigh, he added, “You know Aikido?”
Rachel nodded slowly.
“Second Dan, correct?”
Again, she nodded.
“Prove it,” he spat.
Rachel never saw the attack coming. One second Simon was across from her, the next, she was on the mat. She landed hard on her side, rolled, and clambered to her feet before dropping into a ready stance. Her body ached from earlier exertions and muscle memory was the only reason she avoided his punch before it smacked into her nose. Immediately, Simon attacked again.
As the mock battle wore on, Rachel noticed increasingly more instances where it seemed as if Simon was intentionally copping a feel. Finally, she’d had enough. “What gives, Simon?”
“What?”
“Why are you feeling me up?” she asked, calling him on it.
“I thought you liked that sort of thing? Isn’t that what Adam does when you spar? It’s what he used to do… with the others.”
Rachel didn’t like how Simon sneered when he talked about Adam. And truthfully, she felt a bit put out to thinking of Adam touching someone else so inappropriately. “No. He’s professional,” Rachel defended, determined to not think of all the jokes and snarky comments he would make to his class while his students ran his course. When he was in training with her or Zach, he had been nothing but professional.
“Oh, professional. Like this?” Simon asked as tackled her to the mat, he sat on her hips and grabbed her breasts. He gave them a quick squeeze.
“Get off me,” she growled, shocked by his audacity.
“If you don’t like it, then do something about it,” he said, giving her breasts, another fondle before releasing them. Sliding his hands from her chest to her shoulders and then the floor, he leaned down and said, “I’m disappointed. I thought you could do better than this.” Rachel bared her teeth and he released her, standing. “Attack me,” he commanded.
Rachel followed him up and readied herself. For the next several minutes, Simon pushed her hard but stayed within her skill level. It was nearly impossible to keep ahead of Simon and his years of training, and unlike Grace or Adam, Simon had neglected to set a tap-out safe word before he attacked her. She didn’t know what she could say or do to have him stop long enough for her to catch her breath. He seemed determined to make her suffer.
Simon, as if hearing her thoughts, launched yet another vicious kick, straight at her ribs. She threw herself into a roll and scrambled to her feet in a desperate bid to avoid it. As she stood, he grabbed her from behind, patted down her ribs and stomach before he threw her against the matted wall. She smacked against it hard, rebounding. Her fingers snaked up to clasp her aching nose, and her fingers came away bloody.
“Again,” he barked.
After a long moment of hesitation, Rachel turned. This wasn’t training. This was something else entirely.
This was personal.
Simon swung his arm, feigning a punch, and following it up with a roundhouse kick which sent her to the ground. She landed hard, gasping as the wind was knocked from her.
Simon snorted. “And you were recruited? Pathetic.”
She shook her head. She wasn’t pathetic. Just outclassed.
Simon sighed and yanked her to her feet so hard her shoulder popped. Rachel bit her lip to hold back her yelp of pain, concerned that any show of weakness would set him off.
He dropped his hands to her shoulders. “Again,” Simon ordered, and Rachel wondered when would the torture end?
Backing up, she tried to put distance between them, but he chased after her. In a lunge she should have expected, Simon caught her about the hips, hoisted her off the ground, and wrapped her legs around his waist, before pressing her into the wall. “You’re not very good at this,” he whispered into her hear. “If I were a rapist, I’d already be inside you.” He punctuated his statement by grinding his pelvis into her crotch.
Her mouth dropped open in surprise, and she pushed ineffectually at his shoulders. “That’s-that’s,” she stammered.
“Don’t believe me?” he asked, his words more sinister for their lack of volume.
“That’s-that’s crude and unnecessary,” she finally bit out.
“Is it now,” Simon said, grabbing her ass, and squeezing. It made her almost sick with relief to note his complete lack of arousal at his actions and as quick as he’d caught her, he let her go.
Falling to the floor, Rachel pulled her knees to her chest. She gulped air in a futile attempt to hold back her tears. Today was turning out to be a nightmare!
An open palm smacked her, catching her on the side of the head and making her ears ring. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself and get up.”
“But—”
“Would I give you a break if I were the Org?”
Rachel eyed him from her place on the floor. “No, but—”
“Would I let you ‘catch your breath’ if I were determined to molest you?”
“No, but I—”
“Then get off your fat, ugly, ass and attack me.”
It took his threatened backhand to get her to comply, and he didn’t wait for her to be fully upright before she saw his punch. She dodged it, but she didn’t know how long she could keep it up. One, two, three jabs flew at her face and stomach. She blocked the first two but missed the third. Simon’s fist collided with her sternum and she folded over.
Wheezing for air, Rachel glanced at the door and the hallway beyond. Once there would have been people—agents, Hashashin—coming and going, but now, it was quiet and still. She was stuck. She couldn’t leave, and yet staying was foolish. She didn’t stand a chance if he decided to not hold back. Her inattention was rewarded with a fist colliding with her eye socket, and she felt more than heard a sickening pop before the spot where she’d been struck built to a throbbing burn.
“What does he see in you?” Simon muttered. “You can’t even protect yourself. Stand up straight and fight!” A knee entered her line of sight and she whimpered, bracing for impact.
She was going to die.
He was going to kill her.
And aside from the fact she was dating Adam, she had no idea why.
“Simon, Stop! Stand down!”
A woman’s voice.
Oh, thank God! Someone’s here. Rachel tumbled to the ground.
“Go to your quarters. Immediately, Hashashin,” the newcomer commanded, and Rachel thought it was Ella.
Rachel tried to raise her head, but her entire body hurt. She was also having trouble seeing out of her left eye.
Knees.
Rachel flinched. Then yelped when the motion made her injuries scream in protest.
“Look at me Rachel,” the soft voice instructed, and Ella came into focus. She tucked her arm under Rachel’s shoulders and helped Rachel to her feet. Rachel squealed, a high pitched, frantic sound, which didn’t even sound real. Ella hugged her close. “Let’s get you to the infirmary,” she said.
Slowly, Ella led Rachel out of the training room to the stairs. “You’ll need ice,” Ella said after a long silence. “And I want to make sure Simon didn’t cause too much damage before I got there. Can you straighten?”
Rachel tried. “No. It hurts.”
“Okay. Don’t push it. Lean on me. We’ll get you checked out.” She braced Rachel against her side as they made their way to the infirmary downstairs. “I’m so sorry you have to walk. I wish we had a lift.”
“S’okay,” Rachel slurred through a swollen bottom lip.
The journey took a few painful minutes before Ella finally guided Rachel into the infirmary, where she helped Rachel sit on a cot. “I’ll find Dr. Campbell. Will you be all right for a few moments while I track him down?” Rachel nodded; speaking hurt and she didn’t want to admit it to Ella.
She wasn’t sure how long she had been alone in the infirmary before both Adam and Dr. Campbell entered the room. Adam scowled as he hurried to her side. Dr. Campbell joined him a moment later and began his examination.
“Your eye will be fine, no broken bones,” Dr. Campbell told her after a quick inspection. “Let me see your ribs.”
Rachel tugged up her shirt and Dr. Campbell palpitated her side and stomach.
“Broken?” Adam questioned as he observed them.
“No,” Dr. Campbell replied as he finished his examination. “She’ll be fine. Only bruised.”
“Good,” Adam retorted.
Dr. Campbell patted Rachel on the shoulder. “I’ll get you some painkillers.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
As the doctor walked away, Adam turned to her. “I need to know what happened.”
Rachel took a steadying breath before replying, “Simon. At training… He said I needed to prove my Aikido skills. He—” her voice hitched, “—he was too fast. I couldn’t keep up.” She tried to moderate her voice, but it continued to waver when she said, “And he was groping me.”
“Groping you?”
She nodded and regretted it immediately.
Letting her hands fall to her lap, she stared at Adam, willing him to explain why Simon would do such a thing. After a long while, Rachel prompted, “It felt like he was punishing me. Could he have been?” Another beat, she added, “Punishing me?”
There was silence between them for a long time before Adam finally reached forward and took her hand. “You know about the mission that ended badly? The one where I was injured and sent to St. Louis?”
Rachel swallowed. “Yes.”
“We were a team, Simon, Lee, and I, and we were tasked with infiltrating Mark’s mansion. It was known that Mark always had two teams of four with him acting as bodyguards. Two Hashashin could have easily taken them out and my team had three.” Adam sighed. “The idea was to pick off the guards and then go after Mark. At the last minute, I was informed Mark actually had four teams of four and not the two we originally thought.”
“What did you do?”
Adam shook his head, “I disregarded the intelligence.” He paused, and his gaze strayed far away from the present as he reminisced. Rachel had no problem believing it was a painful story to tell, even after three years. She already knew how much his failure to protect his fellow Hashashin—Lee—still gnawed at him. “I was too arrogant to think there could be anything I couldn’t handle,” he eventually added.
“What happened?” she whispered, almost afraid to learn the rest.
“I led the team into Mark’s compound despite my superiors’ request to wait for backup. Mark was a threat and he needed to be eliminated. End of story.” She heard him take a deep breath, “I led the charge, but there were too many guards and we were overwhelmed. They separated us, weakened our defenses. In the end, I had no choice, and I called for a retreat. I didn’t see the guard, the one closest to Mark, level the gun at Lee in time to do anything about it. He was shot. Point blank. In the face.”
Rachel inhaled sharply.
“After that, Simon went berserk. I was wounded, yet I had to fight off the Org to drag Simon away. He wanted revenge. He wanted Lee’s body. He wanted death. He was inconsolable.” Adam’s expression was pinched.
“I don’t understand,” Rachel said. “I mean, I get the whole ‘brother in arms’ mentality, but why did he lose control? And why does he now take out his grudge on me, instead of you?” Rachel realized that sounded a bit harsh, “I mean, I don’t—”
Adam cut her off. “He takes out his grudge on you because—” He paused again. “You see, Lee was a really good friend of mine. He had my back for years. He was a year behind me during training and ended up being a third year to Simon’s first. They met during Lee’s last year of training, while they were both stationed in South Africa. They hit it off right away. Once they were both free and clear of training, they petitioned Istanbul. In a surprise move, Antipolemarchos Valis granted their request. He doesn’t formally accept homosexual couples. At least, not usually. He tends to follow the older, stricter rules in that regard, even though he personally doesn’t have an issue with that form of sexuality. But things change even here, and the news was cause for us to celebrate. They were together for six years, until Lee’s death,” Adam concluded, and sighed.
“And now he’s angry because I’m here and Lee is gone?”
“Yes.”
At that moment, Dr. Campbell rejoined them. In his hand, he had two pain pills, and in the other, was a glass of water. “Here,” he told her, giving her both. “They are fast acting. I’d prefer for you to rest here for a few hours while they’re in effect. They are quite strong.” Again, he walked away, returning to her side with the blanket. “I’ll come back to check on you in a bit,” he told her before leaving the infirmary.
Adam adjusted the blanket over her feet and legs. “Are you comfortable?” Rachel nodded. It was only a tiny white lie. “I’ll be back after you rest,” he added. “Right now, I have to take care of something.” She frowned slightly, wondering what it could be, but in the end, she let him leave without a word despite the sinking feeling that Adam was about to confront Simon whether she wanted him to or not.
Comments (0)
See all