A Warrior's Return (22 page)

The ride was bumpy taking off and I shifted
slightly on Talaric’s lap and noticed a problem. Cautiously I
turned my head slightly in order to get a look at Talaric. He
wasn’t looking at me, but instead he was looking out the window as
if his eyes were glued to it. The muscles of his neck were sharply
tensed. I straightened back around forward and tried to hold myself
still, but it was nearly impossible to.

I felt sorry for his obvious discomfort.
Truly I did, but I couldn’t help derive some amusement from his
predicament. Carefully I scanned around the faces of those in the
cargo hold to see if they had noticed Talaric’s impassioned
tenseness.

The three men across from us were completely
engrossed with the blond laying across their laps and she with
them. The warrior beside us was fully engrossed in showing Rafael
how to whittle an animal out of a piece of wood with a small knife,
which wasn’t something I considered safe as bumpy as the fight was,
but I let it pass upon seeing how engrossed Rafael was in what the
man was showing him.

My eyes drifted over to Roric only to see
him also looking out the window his neck muscles acutely tensed.
Father like son apparently, I thought to myself with a quirk of an
eyebrow.

My eyes flickered to Krista to see that she
was looking directly at me, with a knowing smile. I blush slightly;
it was awkward that she knew what I knew, especially since it was
her son I was sitting on.

She gave me a suggestive wink and shocked me
completely, when she deliberately shifted her rear resting on her
husband’s lap, ever so slightly. The visible pulse in Roric’s neck
pounded hard for several seconds, but his focus remained on the
window.

My hand flew to my mouth to help hold back
the chortling laugh that I managed to turn into a believable hacked
out cough. I hoped that everyone else would think my cough was the
cause of my red face. I avoided looking at Talaric’s mother again.
She was so bad!

What she’d done was almost mean. The truth
though was that I could barely resist tormenting Talaric in the
same way Krista had her husband. Talaric wasn’t my husband yet so I
had to resist the impulse to torment him in such a fashion, but
when he was my husband….. Oh how I wished that he was mine to
openly torment and be tormented by in return by him! It was going
to be a long flight.

Several days later we were in Switzerland. I
had never heard of the place before. Geography had never been my
strong subject in school.

Switzerland was the governing voice of what
remained of Europe, as it was the location of the European
Coalition’s Headquarters.

Sparky, Talaric, Ellanara, Roric, and I were
sitting around a café table in a small alpine town. We were
pretending to be merely interested tourists.

We studied the castle chalet that lay posed
against the surrounding mountain slopes that rose above the
town.

“The castle chalet masquerades as the home
of a wealthy Swiss businessman, but the man purported to own it has
never even set foot in it. It is a research and development base
that masquerades as a picturesque tourist attraction. What you see
currently was constructed over four hundred years ago overtop of an
even older Castle that was dated back into the medieval era. The
current structure is perfectly legit and is rented out for state
receptions and private get together functions. The research
facility is located in the renovated ruins of the castle that was
before the structure that you now see. It is impregnable for the
most part, as it was first built remodeled as a bomb shelter, by a
group of Swiss businessman during World War II. There is only one
entrance from the chalet above the facility and it is closely
guarded and has an extremely tight security clearance requirement.
The only other means of access to the facility is by a high-speed
rail that runs through the mountain that connects to a military
base on the other side of the mountain. As you may have gathered
this is not a place that we can go in all cowboy with guns blazing.
No we must practice patience and the fine art of deception, if we
hope to rescue our friend and the crystals. Timing will be
everything as well as luck. We’ll need lots of luck.”

We as a group stared at Sparky in
questioning shock. He had been tasked with gathering intelligence,
as he was the only one familiar with the area.

“You found out all this from a local
contact?” Talaric asked sounding openly skeptical.

“No, truthfully I asked no one as I have no
need to. Once a long time ago I worked as a scientist in the
facility beneath the castle. I loved my work, but the focus of its
application got to dark for me to tolerate any longer and I was
fortunate enough to escape the place. My brother did not feel as I
did however, and he stayed behind, which is how I plan to
infiltrate the facility.”

“You trust this brother of yours to help
us.” Ellanara asked doubtfully.

“Goodness no my dear! No, we loath each
other. I intend to impersonate him. You see he and I are identical
twins. There is a ball coming up at the chalet, which my brother
will be attending. I will enter the facility from the military base
side of the mountain with Ellanara, who will be dressed as my date
for the ball. Talaric you will serve as my bodyguard as my
brother’s never seen outside of the facility without one. While my
brother is above at the ball, Ellanara will take over the control
room and lock down the entire facility, while directing Talaric and
I to where there holding Eleanor and the crystals. Meanwhile Eva
and Roric will be at the ball. You both are tasked with keeping my
twin brother at the ball. He can not return to the facility or the
game will be up! One thing about the ball, it’s not a very nice
ball. The ball is a chance for wealthy magnets of society to take
their mistresses out for an evening without worrying about their
wives left at home finding out about it. I have an identity picked
out for Roric, one Reginald Worthy. Eva, you will play his alluring
mistress.”

Roric and I both looked at each other
uncertainly, as we considered what Sparky was planning for us.

“In addition to keeping my brother at the
party, you two will have to cover our retreat from the facility. Do
you understand what your part in all this is then?” Sparky asked,
looking from Roric to me.

I swallowed and nodded. I didn’t have a good
feeling about this at all.

“We only have two days before the night of
the ball. So we need to do our shopping and have our wits about us
and pray that Eleanor has that much time left.”

I stood in my gown in front of the others
hating what I was being made to do as my part of the mission. Why
couldn’t I just shoot people, anything but play my old
lifestyle!

“Now my dear I know it’s difficult, but
Roric’s credibility, as well as keeping my brother at the ball all
hinges on you. The gown and your makeup are perfect, but your
attitude isn’t what we need it to be for this to be a success.
Please try.”

I bit my lip slightly and glanced at
Talaric. I saw him nod slightly.

I was doing this for Eleanor and her alone.
I relaxed and let my body flow, as I let the mask of interested
sensuality fall over my face. I smiled a smile full of the promise
of wicked delight, even as my soul cringed inside of me at the old
affectation. I could tell that I’d shocked them all, except for
Sparky and Talaric.

“Thank you my dear and I’m sorry.” Sparky
said softly.

The look abruptly dropped from me and I
brushed past them not wanting them to see the tears that I couldn’t
hide. I walked to the end of the hall and stared out at the rainy
day beyond. I felt Talaric behind me, even as I felt his big hands
settle possessively on my hips.

His lips brushed my ear and he whispered, “I
love you. The real you and your past doesn’t bother me Eva, because
I’m holding the future right now.”

I turned and pressed my face against his
chest and found acceptance and even loving security, as I felt his
arms close around me. I could do this. He believed in me, the real
me. I could do this charade.

I stared at myself in the mirror knowing I
looked good and wishing this ball was a nice one, amongst good
people, and that my escort was Talaric instead of his father. There
was a knock at door and I called out to enter.

Surprisingly it was Katie that peeked her
head in, “Can I come in for a moment?”

“Sure Katie what’s up?”

“I got you something.”

It was the impish light in her eyes that put
me on guard.

“What did you get me?” I asked
uncertainly.

“Oh relax you’re going to like this!” She
said, as she moved, stiff legged, into the room.

She sat down by a table and put a little
case down and opened it. There was a squat snub-nosed little pistol
resting in the velvet lining of the case.

“Thanks Katie, but you know how bad I am at
aiming pistols and besides where would I put it?”

Katie just grinned bigger and picked the
little pistol up. She flipped a lever and broke the barrel down and
pulled a shotgun shell out of the small barrel.

It shot shotgun shells!

Now this could work!

“How does it work?” I asked breathlessly
wanting to play with the pistol myself.

“It only takes one shell at a time; another
shell is slid up the butt of the pistol. Slide the butt plate out
to the side and the second shell will fall out. You break it open
with this little side lever. Simple trigger mechanism. It will just
pepper stuff at any distance from you, but up close and personal
it’s all you need to do the job.”

“Where am I going to put it Katie? You see
how formfitting this dress is. I don’t have any pockets or a purse
to carry it in.”

Katie pulled out a soft looking holster with
elastic straps, “It’s soft so it shouldn’t chaff your thighs too
much. Hike your dress up.”

I pulled my dress up along with my
undergarments and spread my legs slightly, as Katie painfully got
down on her knees. She strapped the holster with the pistol in it
high up on my inner thigh towards the back. The handle lay against
the back of my thigh just below the cheek of my butt.

Letting the dress fall back down I turned
and glanced at the mirror behind me. No bulge was even detectable.
I walked a few steps. It was slightly uncomfortable and alien
feeling, but entirely doable.

“I thought you would be able to pull it off
with your wider set hips!” Katie exclaimed clearly quite pleased
with herself.

I hugged her tightly, “Thank you Katie! This
helps relax me a lot!”

She hugged me back, “Well I thought it was a
good idea to try at least. I know I’d want something if I had to go
marching into a den of vipers like you are and besides what are
friends for right?”

“Right!” I said squeezing her tight with
friendship.

Talaric peeked into the room and looked
curiously at us with a half smile.

“What are you two up to?”

Me and Katie glanced from him to each other
and said in unison, as if we were sisters, “Nothing.”

The chauffeur who had been hired for the
occasion drove away toward the parking area. Laying my hand on
Roric’s arm we began to head toward the tall flight of white marble
stairs decked out with a crimson runner down the center of
them.

Huge urns full of flowers flanked the
elevated stairway to either side of it. More urns sat on elaborate
pedestals further out from the stairs. The world had gone to pot,
but there was no lack of finery for the elite, who could still
afford their high lifestyles, thanks to the suffering of the many
they helped to oppress by means of restrictive government policies
and taxes.

Mask in place, I swayed provocatively along
beside Roric, clinging sensually to his side. I glanced up out of
the corner of my eyes to inspect him. Roric all cleaned up was a
good picture of what Talaric would look like some day when he got
older. The problem was that along with being a handsome man his
innate sense of character and strong moral fiber was also shining
through. Such noble aspects of morality and honor were alien
concepts among the people we would be mingling with this
evening.

As we were walking along, with no one paying
us attention, I tried to reaffirm some last-minute points of focus
for him, which would be critical if we were to pull this charade
off.

“Remember to focus on looking dominant and
in control. It’s your best appearance to pull off, as you don’t
look like you have a dishonest bone in your body. Whatever you do,
do not smile! Your smile is too nice and genuine for a place and
people like this. Don’t look disapprovingly at anything you see
taking place here tonight. Expect to see almost as many male on
male and female on female relations as mixed couples like us.”

I saw his poised demeanor slip some and I
quickly added, “Try to go for regal and indifferent. It’ll appear
as if you’re a workaholic and that I drug you to this affair
against your will. They’ll think you’re wealthy and that’s all
people like this respect, wealth and power. Don’t let your guard
down for a moment, especially not around the women! They are more
perceptive than the men and even more cutthroat. Expect to receive
offers for the use of me.”

He glanced at me slightly shocked, “What do
I do if they ask that?”

“Do whatever seems best; even agree to the
proposal if the arrangement is set for some time other than
tonight.”

“I’m not sure I can do this!” Roric intoned
softly.

“If you don’t we’re all dead. No
pressure.”

We started climbing the stairs and Roric
asked, “Should my hold on you be more lustful or forceful
looking?”

I could tell he’d been studying the couples
ahead of us on the stairs. One man’s hand was squeezing the butt of
his female companion, while another gripped his companion by the
upper arm and appeared as if he was dragging her along to the
party.