Mystique Rogue (7 page)

             
“I know.” The Rogue grinned, then nibbled her lower lip. “C’mon, at least you’ll have a good view of the audience, just in case something happens.” He lifted her up to set her on her feet. “Outstretch your arms, and you’ll feel the harness.”

             
Carmen allowed him to step behind her, running his hands up her ribs to lift her arms in the position he wanted. The touch of his fingers left a firestorm molten heat in their wake. Finally, he left off the torment and teasing, nipping her earlobe before stepping back. Now she could feel the cables as they took up the slack so her arms were supported. Telling her hormones to stand down, she held a seductive smile while her mind began to sort through and watch the audience.

             
“Rise to the darkness, My Lady. Soar to the stars as they become your guiding influence.” He made the dramatic hand motions while he mouthed the words, “
Trust me.
”

             
He so much as pulls another stunt like this
,
and I’m going to either fuck his brains out and then kill him, or maybe I’ll just kill him. I hate unexpected shit like this.
These thoughts carried Carmen high into the air, leaving her body looking like she’d been crucified without the cross behind her. The view
became a panoramic scene of the entire audience up to the nosebleed seats.  

             
Suddenly, a cage descended to surround her, interspersed throughout the metal were tiny flames to represent stars.  When Carmen looked up, the instructions were taped to the top of the cage; 

             
When the flames flare hot, don’t move. The curtain will surround the cage to contain everything. When
it
happens, my assistant will open the back of the cage and substitute a panther in your stead.

No fears,

Rogue.

             
“No fears, my ass, he’s not the one sitting in the cage getting ready to be torched.”

             
The moment the words left Carmen’s lips, the flames roared to life, surrounding her. Controlled pandemonium reigned on stage as his team began their routine of rushing around with fire extinguishers while
Rogue
pretended to be distressed. “Ladies and Gentlemen do not be alarmed, the flames will be contained in a moment. We have a medical team standing by.” 

             
On cue, the heavy blue curtain with stars dropped over the cage and the flames died out. The moment they did, the back of the cage flipped open and she slipped out of the wires and crawled out over the small catwalk. The moment she was safe, the panther stalked over and into the suspended container.  The animal’s handler quickly crawled out and secured the cage. 

             
Safely back into the darkness of anonymity, Carmen tore off the mask and hurried back to the side of the stage to see how he worked the last of the trick.

             
At a motion from the
Rogue
, the chaos calmed and everyone watched worriedly as the cage was lowered to the stage floor. “Those of you who are faint of heart may want to look away. The lady of the night may not be a pretty sight.” He walked up to the curtain and took a handful of fabric. Looking at the medics and stagehands, he yanked.  In a flourish which would have made a matador proud, he swirled the lightly singed fabric off to one side, revealing the snarling panther.

             
Carmen smiled at the reaction of the audience, their gasps at what should have been a badly burned body turned out to be just another illusion. A tap on her shoulder made her turn to look at Paul, who wore a grin the size of Texas on his face. “I suppose you were giving my crew a detailed account, Paul?”  At his nod, she shook her head. “I’m never going to hear the end of this one.” 

             
“But, where is The Lady? Is she the panther before us? Is she somewhere in the audience?”              Groaning, she donned her mask once again. Paul handed her a black cloak. “You get to tame the panther and you both go to the center of the stage to be revealed.” He chuckled and bowed. “My Lady of the Darkness.”

             
She swatted him on the head, then swirled the cloak around her shoulders, pulling the hood over her head. The snarling of the beast and the clanging of the bars rang in her head, bringing forth a memory of another day and another big cat. Slowly, Carmen shook off the nervous twitch and she walked across the back of the stage near the curtains while
Rogue
did his job of keeping the audience’s attention. 

             
Carmen attempted to be the silent, a mysterious wraith, yet she almost lost it when Michelle caught her attention on the far side of the stage. Her cool and collected right hand lady was trying very hard not to howl with laughter at her friend’s predicament. Sighing, she knelt at the cage and offered her hand to the cat.  Slowly, it sniffed it and took in her scent before playfully bat batting the fingers with its claws retracted. “Good kitty. Now, let’s get on with this performance so I can get back to doing what I was hired to do, eh?”

             
The cat apparently agreed, showing her by rubbing his head all over her hand. Reaching up to unlatch the handle, she stood up and waited for him to come out. As if choreographed, they paced up behind the
Rogue
like two wraiths in the night. Reaching up, she stopped his performance with a soft hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw the two who waited. “And who are you, to have magically appeared before me?”

             
The panther showed his teeth in a snarling menace, before Carmen laid a hand on its head. “I am the Lady of the Night which you seek.”  She grinned and pushed back the hood of her cloak, revealing herself to the audience.

             
The
Rogue
knelt and gave the cat a big belly rub before standing and taking her hand, kissing it like a true gentleman he was, then presented her to the audience. “Give this woman a round of applause. She’s earned it.”  He pulled her down into a bow as the audience stood and began to applaud wildly. 

 
              As she raised her head, Carmen noticed one person who looked out of place in the front row. Not only was she not applauding, she seemed to be scowling. But the glimpse
was brief as the Illusionist swept her off the stage and back into the anonymity of her job. He paused briefly to get a big gulp of Gatorade before heading back out to do his next piece of mystery for the audience.

             
Paul silently handed her equipment back and vanished into the chaos to get everything set up for the rest of his show. 

             
Carmen donned her gear and activated the mike, “Okay kiddies, we’ve had the laugh at the boss’s expense, shall we return to work?”

             
Snickers and a good hearty laughter met her ears, then everyone checked in.

             
“Michelle here. Everything’s fine on my end, nothing going on except the normal hustling around.”

             
“Logan calling. We’ve caught a few attempts to sneak in through the side doors. Mostly kids trying to get into the show for free, or fans trying to get a forbidden peek at his dressing room.”

             
Carla’s voice enter the conversation, “Louis and Carla are on the job. There are several camcorders out in the audience and at least one digital transmitter sitting out there, logging it for a website.  Logan? You on it?”

             
Logan sighed. “The only thing they’ll be getting is a bunch of static and white noise.”

             
Carmen nodded. “Pinpoint everything for the guards and let them handle the physical part of it. Michelle, soon as you think it’s safe, backtrack to
Rogue’s
dressing room and guard it. Louis, Logan, I want copies of  the front row audience on disk and time stamped after the performance finishes.”

             
“You got it boss.”

             
Moving through the performers and the rest of the props, she kept checking.  Slowly, she worked her way over to Michelle. “How’s it going on this end?”

             
“Fine. But I have to say, you two looked so hot out there.  Even I could see the chemistry.”  Michelle arched an eyebrow. “You sure you two didn’t do anything when you were in Scotland? Ian mentioned you called him and checked out of your room the same day we talked. Something about you two looked pretty cozy out there.”

             
Blushing, Carmen looked away and turned off her mike, but left the earphone on. “You have an uncanny way of making me feel like a kid with a porno magazine. What do you want me to say? The man has a primal quality about him. Believe me, the chemistry is there, but I won’t break my cardinal rule about getting emotionally involved.”  Yet her eyes wandered over the man performing on stage.  He had just made the move of getting Khan to go up on his hind legs and dance with his forepaws on his shoulders.  Muscles rippled on both man and beast, trapping her gaze in the motions.

             
After a few moments, the woman beside her leaned against the wall support and grinned. “Mmm hmm. Girlfriend, anything  which struts his stuff like that in front of me would be enough incentive to take the man to bed and screw his brains out.”

             
A movement off to one side of the front row caught Carmen’s attention. The place where the scowling woman sat was now empty. Glancing around, she spotted the woman making her way up the aisle towards the exit. Several figures in the back of the audience separated themselves from the shadows and followed her out. Without taking her eyes off of the departing figures. “Michelle, get back to
The Rogue’s
dressing room and guard it.  No one is to enter his room no matter what.”

             
“Got it.” Michelle frowned. “Your radar going off again?”

             
“Yep. Get going. I’ve got back stage covered.”

             
Nodding, Michelle quickly disappeared, weaving her way through the darkness, leaving Carmen to gaze out at the audience once more. The rest of the performance went on without a hitch.  Her team continually kept her up to date on the happenings around the building. She moved onto the stage after the last person had filed out of the auditorium and moved to the edge of the raised flooring.  When the last person finally left, Carmen sat at the edge of the stange, visualizing where her target sat.

             
   Descending the steps, her gaze went to the right hand side of the front row.  Moving slowly, she took in every nuance of the seat.  Including the sprig of Jasmine placed there next to a stuffed tiger in full bondage.

             
Another sick individual to contend with.
  Carmen pulled on a pair of latex gloves. Carefully, she picked up both items and bagged them, noting the date and time on the bags. She left them in place and checked the adjoining seats, finding nothing.  Suddenly, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, seconds before her earpiece chirped.

             
“Boss?  You’d better get to
Rogue’s
dressing room, pronto,” Michelle murmured.

             
“On my way.” Carmen arrived to find the corridor blocked by a crowd of people looking outraged. “Make a hole people!”  Her voice parted the bodies like a wedge, allowing her access to the door.  She had a good idea what she’d find, but the view didn’t make it any better.

             
The room had been totally wrecked. Every piece of furniture had been destroyed.  Images had been painted on every available wall space. It appeared to be a strange mixture of Egyptian Hieroglyphs and Arabic. The center of the room had been left spotless so the contents would not be missed.  Kneeling beside it were Khan and
Rogue.
Both were quivering with barely suppressed rage. 

             
The chained body of a white tiger cub lay next to a pair of jeweled collars. At a glance, the cub didn’t seem to be alive, it just lay there in a pitiful pile under the metal links. Just the sight of the whole mess made Carmen’s blood run cold with fury.  Beside everything else, a branding iron sat.  Its surgical stainless steel design gleamed evilly in the light of the only surviving lamp. Her lips peeled back in a silent snarl of rage. Turning, she looked at those waiting at the door. “Out.” Her words sounded almost like a growl. It made people cringe and move away from the door. “Don’t disturb us until I say you can.”

             
When they were alone, Carmen removed her radio and switched it off.  Coming over to Sean, she knelt and stared at the strange scene before her.  “Okay. We’re alone, Sean. Talk to me.” She waved a hand at the items on the floor. “From your reaction, I’m assuming you know what this means?”

             
“Yes, I do.  It means the person who created this whole scene still wants me to submit to them as their personal slave.”  He looked over at her,
tears flowing down from beneath his mask. “I must bring Khan and myself before her, collars on, and allow the both of us to be branded with her sigil, or she’ll kill Khan by torturing him to death.” He waved a hand at the cub. “This was her way of getting my attention.”