ROMULUS (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 1) (28 page)

He knew! No one knew exactly how their love-making had been except her and Dennis. Could he have guessed? Could he be telling the truth? Why would Dennis have confided such a private thing to this beast? Unless...

"We had a good thing going, your Dennis and me. An associate of mine turned me on to him. I bought all the product he could confiscate on his little drug busts. Then he had to get greedy. He wanted double his prices or he'd turn me in, as if everything he had done was part of some undercover operation."

Aster's confusion mounted. She didn't understand why this man was so angry with her. Had she done something and forgotten what it was? He didn't seem to like Dennis very much either. It was all very strange.

"Do you know what José and I did to him then, bitch? We tied him up and blindfolded him in his own apartment and while he was on his knees begging for forgiveness, I blew his fucking head off. It made such a mess I had to burn the clothes I was wearing. Splattered brains don't wash off very easily." His voice crept higher and his laugh mutated into a shrill giggle.

Aster's mind crawled through a field of muck. It was all around her. The man was stark raving mad. She screamed in her silent world. Victor murdered... somebody. Or was it that terrible nightmare again of Cherry's blood gushing uncontrollably?

Victor watched her gradually stop straining against the clamps. When her face muscles relaxed, he knew it was time. First he would take his payment from her then he would call her lover and let him know just what the ransom would be for the bitch's release.

As he came down from the platform, he admired his handiwork on Aster's devastated body. Her battered condition exhilarated him. Sweat oozed beneath his moustache as he urgently pulled at the closure of his pants.

Chapter 15

The laboratory door slammed against the wall, exploding its glass window on impact. Falcon pounced into the doorway, pointing his weapon directly at Victor.

Victor hurled himself to the ground, rolling toward the platform as a lightning bolt shot across the room and burst in the spot where he had been standing. Falcon fired again as Victor scrambled up behind the platform.

It took only a moment for Victor to recover from the shock of being found. "Drop the gun or she's gone!" he shouted menacingly.

Falcon glanced sideward at the grotesque sight on the operating table then stared into the panel sheltering Victor. He saw the man's hand resting on a control, read the violent emotions cowering there and lowered his paralyzer to the floor with a clatter. Victor stood up and nodded at the meddler.

"Why don't you come in too, Chief Romulus? I should have guessed you might not need an invitation."

Romulus stepped cautiously into the room. His eyes took in the bloody mess Victor had made of his love. A growl thundered out of him as he moved toward Victor. Instantly, the intensity of the light increased and at the same moment Rom heard Falcon shout inside his mind.

Stop, Romulus. Stop the anger. Do not look at her. She is alive, but we cannot help her until you regain your self-control.

When Victor saw Romulus halt in his tracks, he lowered the light to a less harmful level.

Romulus hammered down his rage and kept his eyes riveted on Victor.

Victor leaned nonchalantly against the control panel. "You might have noticed I've had some fun with her before you got here," he taunted.

Fight it, Romulus. Use your control.

"I didn't ruin her, but I may have spoiled her for lesser men... or aliens." Realizing that he could not provoke Romulus further, Victor changed his tack. "I'm sure you're familiar with that light over her head. My hand is on the control dial and is going to stay there while we have a very short conversation. Right now, she's just very relaxed, slipping layer by layer into deeper states of unconsciousness. She can be brought out of that eventually without any permanent damage.

"But if my hand should slip and accidentally knock this dial to full power, like it did a moment ago, I'm afraid the sexy lady's brain gets fried. Poof! She's a vegetable with no memory. Personally, I would keep her that way. As long as she's a good fuck, who needs her brain? Then again, you could have her reprogrammed, like they did my friend, and just fill in the blanks any way you like."

Rom lowered his eyes for a moment.
Falcon, does he know how to do that?

He believes he can. It is a possibility.

Victor instinctively sensed something was going on and raised the light to its full beam once again.

"Hold it!" Romulus clenched and unclenched his fists. "Get to the point. What do you want?"

Victor turned the beam down again. "It's simple really, at least for you. I want out of this stinkin' place and back to the United States. I don't know how it's done but I know you're the man who can make it happen. I also know all about your foolish codes of honesty and nonviolence. Give me your promise that you will send me back, alive and in one piece,
tonight
, and I'll walk away from this control panel."

Rom was momentarily stunned by Victor's extraordinary demand. "If you know so much about us, then you also know we cannot allow anyone to return to Outerworld once they learn of our existence. We have unlimited resources. There must be something else that would satisfy you."

The light flared again.

"
No!
" Rom shouted and the intensity of the light softened. "This isn't something I can do on my own. There are details that have to be worked out."

Victor recognized the stall and flipped the dial again.

"All right! Whatever you want. I'll figure out a way. Now shut that damn thing off and get down here."

"Sorry, Chief, but I'd like to hear you say exactly what it is you're agreeing to before I move one inch."

Rom's heart pounded in his chest as he ground out the words. "If you will leave Aster alone and come down here, I promise to send you back to the United States, tonight, alive and in one piece. I believe that was your precise request."

Victor looked disgustingly triumphant as he turned off the overhead light, stepped down and strode across the room.

At the last possible second Rom lurched forward. Powered by his unleashed fury, his fist smashed into Victor's face.

Victor's shocked expression registered the deception as he stumbled backward. Blood streaming from his broken nose, he bent forward and charged Rom. In one continuous move, Rom connected his bent knee with Victor's chin, followed instantly by a powerful kick to his groin.

Victor staggered but didn't fall. In desperation, he unsheathed his knife from inside his boot and swiped at the air in front of Rom's chest.

The appearance of the deadly weapon in Victor's blood-encrusted hand raised Romulus's temperature to the boiling point. With an ear-splitting cry, he attacked and grappled Victor to the floor, prepared to kill or to be killed.

Falcon struggled to shut out the violent emotions bombarding him. Finally regaining control, he retrieved his paralyzer and shot Victor whose body collapsed on top of Romulus.

Flinging Victor aside as if he were weightless, Rom turned on Falcon with all his pent-up anger. "Why did you do that?" he shouted.

"Because you would have killed him and I could not let you face the consequences of that action. He is only stunned. You will have to decide what to do with him rather quickly." Falcon glanced toward Aster. "I will call for a medical team."

As Falcon walked away, Rom went to Aster's side. He stared at her blood-streaked beautiful face. He had to know what she had been through. His fingers moved to her temple.

Warden Zenton and two guards accompanied Falcon when he returned and the guards hauled Victor's body away.

Falcon placed a comforting hand on Rom's shoulder.
I know.

"I told her I would protect her from him." Romulus spoke quietly as he pulled himself together. "Reading about such evil existing outside our world was one thing. Having it here, touching us... Drek, Falcon, what he did to her. I can't stop this ache in my gut. I know it's against everything I ever believed but I could have strangled him with my bare hands even before I saw everything he'd done. Now... maybe if I could take that knife of his and cut out his heart I could repair the hole in my own. What am I going to do?"

Falcon did not need to be told how Romulus felt. His anguish made itself known to the sensitive man. "I can help you. I have some arrangements to make and then I will wait for you to come with me when you are ready."

Romulus removed the restraints and tape from Aster's mouth then covered her abused body with a sheet. Holding her lifeless hand in his, he found no pulse. He had never felt so helpless in his life. The sickness inside him threatened to drown out the last remnants of reasonable thought.

When Doctor Xerpa arrived, she recognized the chief standing next to the patient but he did not respond to her greeting. Gently, she drew down the sheet to examine her patient. An unprofessional gasp escaped her and she cringed at the malicious destruction before her. She had been told something awful had occurred but no words could have prepared her for this. As a woman, she was nauseated. As a doctor, she was repulsed but challenged.

Romulus did not move a muscle as Doctor Xerpa went to the control panel then returned to her patient. "The light was on a low-medium setting and, as such, she should sustain no permanent brain damage, but she is in a deep coma. We will run some tests and repair her body. My prescription for you is a long, brisk walk—away from here. You look wretched. She won't be conscious for at least another twelve hours."

Rom's lungs burned in his chest as they filled with air again. He firmly clasped the doctor's hand then asked Warden Zenton to take that walk with him as he quickly presented his suggestion for handling Victor.

Within an hour, the Rehabilitation Board convened by vidcom and an urgent call was put through to Governor Elissa. Rom's suggestion was unanimously approved.

After checking with the doctor once more, he followed Falcon out to his speeder. His need to avenge Aster was a bitter pill lodged in his throat.

When they pulled up to the Arena, Rom sighed. "Falcon, I know you mean well, but I'm not up to a game."

"Trust me, Romulus. Something unusual is awaiting you."

They took a tram to a small playing area where a rack of medieval weapons stood on each side.

Falcon explained, "Tonight you will have no games of skill. There will be no play or audience to cheer you on. Whatever happens will go no further than this room. My healing gift to you is a fight to the death—no armor, no protective tips. Your opponent is entering the field."

Rom turned in the direction Falcon indicated. His mind reeled. Coming toward him was his diamond-toothed nemesis. Now they could finish the battle begun at the Clinic. Rom's gaze was drawn to a glint of steel. The moment Rom saw Aster's dried blood on the man's knife and hand, he bolted into action.

In a heartbeat, Rom grabbed a sword. He swung and caught the hilt of Victor's smaller weapon with his own. Nose to nose, hand to hand, the weapons were only an accessory to the brute strength of the two men. With a violent jerk, Rom twisted Victor's wrist and the knife flipped out of his grasp. When he dove to retrieve it, Rom's sword arced down on the rolling body, slashing Victor's arm. Blood gushed through his sleeve.

Victor's disadvantage was short-lived as he rolled in the opposite direction and leapt up fast enough to reach his own rack of weapons. He grabbed the mace. With a bloodcurdling scream, he swung the deadly ball over his head and ran toward Rom. Rom's sword caught in the circling chain and as it was yanked from his grip, the iron ball grazed his forehead. Victor quickly untangled the chain and prepared for another attack.

Rom took up his battle axe, hoisting it in the air just in time to halt the oncoming mace with a horrendous clang. Immediately, he closed in on Victor, eliminating the space required to swing the mace. Victor retreated, trying to reach another weapon. Rom locked his eyes onto Victor's, his axe poised in mid-air. He was not thinking strategy now. All that mattered was putting out the savage fever in his brain.

Vibrating with hatred, Rom swung the great axe down on his victim, slicing through the jugular vein, the spinal cord, and out the other side. For one obscene moment, Victor's head teetered on its severed neck then tumbled to the ground. A red fountain bubbled from the body as it collapsed.