Tara The Great [Nuworld 2] (12 page)

open.

Darius led the way, with Tara behind him. She turned when the door slid closed

behind her and realized the guards had not followed. The two of them were alone in the

room.

“Now where are we?” Darius grumbled as he turned in front of Tara and glanced at

their surroundings.

It was a small room. Dark green carpet stretched from wall to wall; flowery paper

spanned from ceiling to floor. Large pictures hung on the walls.

Each picture was a skyline view of strange cities. Names underneath each picture

identified them. Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Sydney, and Buenos Aires.

Tara wondered where these cities were. The pictures appeared very old, and the

blue of the sky in each shot was all wrong.

“Well, here you are.” The tall woman who had instigated their capture on the street

entered the room from a metal door on the other side. “Let’s go in here where we’ll be

more comfortable.”

She led them into a large office. A man sat behind a desk at the end of the room

violently typing away at a computer. He focused on his work, and Tara couldn’t see his

face.

“Please, sit down.” He waved his hand toward several leather chairs facing the

desk, not bothering to look away from his monitor. “I’ll be with you in just a second.”

“Where are we?” Darius asked without sitting. “And why have you brought us

here?”

“Who else would we bring here?” The woman smiled as she plopped into one of

the chairs. She seemed more attractive without her long robe and hood. A gray pantsuit

fit nicely over her thin frame. Her eyes were as pale as her skin however, which made

her gaze appear haunted.

The man’s features were similar. His hair was white with blond streaks running

through it, offering little highlights to a complexion otherwise void of color. But when

he looked up from his work, his eyes compelled Tara, drawing her to stare into them.

They were the lightest blue she had ever seen. Almost clear, as if she could look straight

through to his thoughts.

“I apologize for having you wait.” The man’s clear eyes probed Tara. He glanced at

Darius, then looked quickly down at his hands. “As to where you are,” he waved his

thin arm across the room, “we call this place New Luna.”

“You are the colonists from the moon?” Tara asked.

The man looked impressed and gave the woman a triumphant smile. “You’re

right.”

“Why are you here?” Darius asked.

“This is our home,” the woman answered, appearing to be surprised by the

question.

The man silenced her with a look, then focused on Darius and Tara. “Let’s begin

again.” He smiled, got up and walked over to a shelf in the wall. He lifted an ornate

glass bottle filled with blue liquid from the shelf, and set it on his desk. He then grabbed

four small glasses and turned to face Tara and Darius. “I am Brev, and this is my wife,

Polva. I am an advisor for Luna. We’ve been sent here to meet you.”

“You’ve a strange way of meeting people.” Tara didn’t look away when Brev met

her gaze and appeared to study her for a minute.

His expression didn’t waver, but when he turned his attention to the glasses, Tara

noticed his hands shake. She watched him steal a quick glance toward his wife, then

focus on pouring the drinks. A nervous tension seemed to fill the room as Polva

watched her husband prepare the drinks.

Darius’ hands rested gently on Tara’s shoulders. His fingers tightened ever so

slightly. He’d noticed it too. Brev and Polva were afraid of them.

“I apologize for any inconvenience.” The look of authority had returned to his face.

He passed out the small glasses of blue liquid. “It was necessary in order to meet with

you. Everyone will suspect the cave people captured you.”

Darius flinched at the word captured. “Why do you want to meet with us?”

“We know through your marriage…oh, you call it a claim…you two rule the largest

group of people on this planet. It made sense to contact you first.” Brev ran his hand

through his hair, then shot a glance at Polva.

Darius’ hands tightened again on Tara’s shoulders. Just slightly, enough for Tara to

know he was getting ready to do something.

“Now that you have your captives,” Darius stated, “what do you plan to do?”

Brev flinched at the growl in Darius’ tone. “Sir, you’re not our captives.”

“Good,” Darius said quickly, not allowing Brev to continue. “My claim is injured,

she is. Return our weapons to us. You may contact us in Gothman, yes.” He indicated

with his hands that Tara should stand, and she did.

Brev also stood, quickly. He reached his hands out, and they were shaking. “Please,

we would be honored if you would stay with us, just tonight, as our guests. We will

personally escort you to your trailer tomorrow.”

“The escort will not be necessary, no.” Darius’ tone was low and quiet, the

authoritative voice he used to command. “We’ll stay, but only tonight. You’ll return our

weapons and allow us to contact our people, in order to prevent an attack.”

Brev scooted around the desk, past both of them, and hurried toward the door. His

wife looked as if she would follow, but kept her chair. He opened the door where two

guards were positioned outside. “Please escort our guests to the south wing.”

Tara and Darius were led to a large, comfortable room. No sooner were they alone

than a light began to beep on a desk in the middle of the room. The light was on a small

square black box with a receiver on it. Tara picked up the receiver and the light

disappeared. She brought it up to her face as she sank into a chair.

“Hello?” A voice spoke from the small oval-shaped device in her hand.

“Yes,” she responded.

The voice explained to her how to turn on the landlink, then walked her through

setting up a transmission with a Gothman link. “I can’t believe they did it,” Tara

muttered under her breath.

“Of course they did it.” Darius grinned. “Move over, I’ll do this, I will.”

Tara hardened. “I’m not yours to command.”

Darius spun her around in the chair, reached under her arms, and lifted her up,

squeezing her sore ribs. She flinched but maintained composure. Her eyes met his and

he stared at her intently.

His mouth was inches from hers as he whispered, “Maybe not, but you are mine.”

He brushed his lips against hers and lifted her higher. She closed her eyes as pain

racked her body. He walked over to the incredibly large bed and tossed her down on it.

She bounced against the softness and instantly he was on top of her. Again he

whispered, “You know as well as I do that they are scared of us. They aren’t telling us

everything. And they view us as a superior power because we’re together, they do.”

“Which shows how much they really know about us.” Tara mocked him. “I wonder

if they know how many other women you are together with.”

“You put any personal vendetta you have against me out of your head right now.

These people have a reason for contacting us, and we’re going to find out what it is, we

are. Don’t let yourself be distracted.” Darius then softened his whisper and added,

“You know they’re watching and listening to everything we say and do, they are.” He

took his hand that had been resting on her neck and moved it slowly down her body.

“We have to be convincing. If they feel our unity is in danger, they may not have an

interest in us, no. At this point, we don’t know if that would jeopardize us or not.” As

he spoke, he ran his hands gently over her breasts and down to her crotch, where he

stopped and squeezed.

“You’re hurting me. Get up.” She ignored his hand.

Darius rolled onto his side and propped himself on his elbow. Tara exerted a lot of

effort trying to sit up. He finally placed his hand gently on her back and helped her sit.

She returned to the landlink.

* * * * *

Darius lay back on the bed, exasperated, then slowly got up and moved toward her.

His thoughts leaned toward wrapping his hands around her thin neck and teaching her

some respect in a discreet manner. His thoughts stopped however, as he focused on the

landlink’s screen.

She’d managed to link with a Runner transmission and quickly flipped from screen

to screen, moving so fast anyone monitoring would have a hard time figuring out how

she got to where she was. When the screen stopped flashing, a program began

immediately.

First they saw a maze of hallways.

“We went down this way.” He pointed to the screen. “And through those doors.”

“To here.” She pointed the clicker to give them information on their specific

location.

A floor plan appeared on the screen and Darius quickly identified it as the room

they were in. Several red spots blinked within the schematics of the room. They’d found

the screen providing locations for microphones in their room. There was one above the

entrance to the room, one above the table they both hovered over, and one in an

adjoining bathroom.

Tara deleted the program, hopefully preventing anyone from copying it by sending

a bug through the save portion of the menu. She then pulled her small laser from her

shoe and shot above the door. She stood up and both of them backed up as she shot at

the ceiling above the landlink.

* * * * *

Darius bent over and pulled up his pant leg, then slid a small laser out from his

boot. Without speaking, he moved into the bathroom.

Tara saw white chips fall from the ceiling as he shot the laser. She quickly ran a

variation of the program and verified the room they were in was now secure.

“Well done, my lady,” Darius said, as he returned from the bathroom. He ran his

hand through her hair, then cupped her chin with his hand. “We need a layout of this

place, we do. Go back to that screen.”

“We don’t have to convince anybody now. Keep your hands off of me.”

He grabbed the back of her hair and pulled tightly, forcing her head back. His

expression turned hard with scorn. Then just as quickly as he’d acted, he loosened his

grip on her hair and his face softened. He let out a slow sigh and stared into her eyes.

“Keep yourself focused on this mission,” he said the words almost as if he were

commanding his own thoughts as well as hers. “We need a layout and we don’t have