Tess Awakening (24 page)

Amir brought her to his house and had his
doctors bring her back to health. He became infatuated with the
tall, dark eyed beauty and kept her at his house. She did not have
anywhere to go. He soon found out that Kejal blamed him for the
death of her family and the destruction of her house and village.
He could not get her to accept that this was the unfortunate
consequence of an awful war. She refused to believe him and kept
trying to escape. Finally, Amir decided to take her as his slave.
He was confident that after she experienced the pleasure that his
sexual prowess could bring her, she would become willingly
available to him.

He forced her into his bed and made love to
her, fully expecting results. Kejal resisted him; Amir was facing a
woman whose hostility to him was so strong that she did not succumb
to his skill.

Initially, he sadistically took pleasure
subduing her, but she never welcomed his possession of her body,
remaining cold and passive throughout the abuse—her way only way to
resist. Amir made it his business to break her will. He wanted to
make her want him. He had always reveled in his power to overcome a
woman’s reticence, to use his talents to have her implore him to
possess her and give her pleasure. Yet Kejal kept defying him.

He kept on breaking her like a horse. He
thought of tying her naked to the bed, arms and legs apart; perhaps
helplessness would break her resistance. He dropped the bondage
idea; it was not worthy of a great lover.

He then proceeded to use every technique in
his vast erotic repertoire to force repeated orgasms on the
desperate woman; she remained passive and did not respond. Finally,
he changed his approach. He made love to her gently and with
affection; when he detected a response, he penetrated her, finally
feeling her spasm inside, revealing that she finally was going to
climax. He thrust into her, sensing her contractions and the thrill
of her orgasm. He involuntarily climaxed deep inside her.

Amir rarely spent his seed inside his women;
rather, he withdrew at the last moment spilling his pleasure on
their bellies and breasts. He was very much aware that some women
would want to become pregnant by him to benefit from his wealth.
His more important consideration however, was one of lineage. He
would have a child only with a woman that he thought would be
worthy of him and his heritage.

Kejal became pregnant. When the child Aara
was born, he accepted that she was the fruit of his body, a fine
offspring. He developed increasing affection for the child and came
to love her.

Kejal still hated him and wanted to remove
the child from his influence. That is why she betrayed him by
helping Tess escape, in return asking her to try to get the child
away from him. This promise compelled Tess to come into his orbit;
he cynically used his daughter to lure her to him, not expecting
that such deceit would lead to her leaving him forever.

“Forgive me, Kejal.”

He would never return to this house. He gave
some money to the caretaker and returned to Baghdad.

Chapter 36

Jake was working hard in physical therapy.
Slowly walking on a treadmill, he still hurt like hell all over.
His leg gave him fits, occasional stabs of pain reminding him that
he had a way to go before returning to health. His ribs were on
their way to healing, and his lung had slowly recovered from the
bullet wound.

Tess walked in the room. Jake felt like the
sun had risen. She signaled the therapist not to stop supervising
the workout. She gave Jack a peck on the cheek. “How are we doing,
champ?”

“Hi, Tess; I will live.”

“Good to know.”

“Tess, are you taking care of yourself? Are
you careful out there? They tell me there is still a lot of
shooting going on.”

“Yeah, there are still a lot of bad guys out
there. Al-Qaeda is cheerfully massacring as many of the locals as
they can, for no discernible reason other than to create chaos, I
guess. Most what we do now is to try to find them and neutralize
them.”

“They have a lot of RPGs, you know.”

“I sure do, but as long as I don’t lose more
than one chopper every two weeks, I come out a winner.”

“Tess, how long are you going to be able to
do this? I really would like to see you around, and not in a
box.”

“It’s what I do, Jake. In any case, you also
have some explaining to do. Was it worth getting shot for
nothing?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone knows what you tried to do, but so
far, nothing has happened to the corrupt bastard that got you
shot.”

Jake stopped walking, visibly upset.
“Interesting; I will talk to my chief.”

“You do that. I will come to see you as often
as I can. I want to make sure that they are patching you up
properly. I got to go.” She gave him a slight kiss on the
mouth.

***

Jake savored the thrill of touching her
lips. It reinforced his will to get better. He desperately wanted
to be with Tess again.

Paul Saunders, the CIA chief, came to see
Jake in the cafeteria. They found a table and Paul updated him on
recent news: nothing much other than business as usual — shooting,
bombing, and death.

Jake cut to the chase. “Paul, what’s
happening with the corruption case? Why didn’t they arrest the
bastard yet? What the hell are they waiting for?

“I am sorry to tell you that nothing will
happen, Jake.”

“Are you kidding me? I collected irrefutable
evidence of corruption, not to mention it was our money that he
handed over to Al-Qaeda.”

“The problem is that the Iraqi government
will not pursue this, and Washington agrees. The guy is a top
minister in the local government. He used the money to ransom
another minister held by the terrorists. There is no evidence that
he kept the money for himself.”

“Are you going to tell me that the Iraqis
were in on this?”

“It’s murky, but the problem goes much deeper
than this. Many government officials are dipping into the ton of
cash that the U. S. provides. If they convict one of them, the rest
would be subject to prosecution. The sad fact is that the culture
of bribery and corruption is still alive and well.”

“Paul, are they going to do something about
this guy’s thugs shooting me?”

“I am afraid not, Jake. Their position is
that you were trying to trespass, and they were just defending the
premises. They also made a big deal that you and Harvey shot their
men.”

“Did you say that the U. S. is going along
with this? That we are condoning corruption with our money?”

“I am afraid so. Now more than ever we need
people to work with us to help us out of a quagmire. The fact that
we are aiding and abetting corruption to achieve national
priorities is nothing new. We are faced with hard choices, none of
them good.”

“So, we are going to keep our own soldiers in
harm’s way, and for what? How are you going to explain this to the
families of the dead and wounded? I got myself shot for God and
country, and the woman I love could get killed any day. In the
meantime, the people at the top keep making appallingly cynical
decisions while dining on filet and lobster. They have contempt for
the troops, using them as cannon fodder. They apparently subscribe
to the medieval notion that soldiers are expendable, because they
are so stupid that they buy into the idea that they should be
willing to die or be maimed for the good of the country.”

Paul remained silent for a moment. “I am
sorry about all this, Jake. I will do everything I can to make sure
you are going to be well taken care of you. They are going to send
you to the military hospital in Germany; what happens after that is
up to you. Goodbye.”

Jake remained seated, appalled about the
cynical power plays carried out by people with no real skin in the
game. What worried him most was that he would have to leave the
theater of war, but Tess would remain, facing increasing danger. He
could not contemplate living a life without her.

Chapter 37

Amir and two of his officers boarded a Black
Hawk and shook hands with an American officer inside.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, General
Collins. I am anxious to see what you brought us.”

The chopper lifted off and headed toward the
staging area when the U. S. Army had lined up weapons and vehicles
for turnover to the Iraqis.

Tess and Carmen had been assigned to fly the
helicopter, and they saw the flight as routine. When she saw Amir
boarding the craft, all of the anger and heartache of their past
confrontations came to her consciousness. She was wearing a flight
helmet that partially concealed her face. Amir was busy talking to
the American General and did not even glance at the pilots.

Tess landed the chopper at the site, and the
passengers debarked. The group started to walk past the vast
inventory of war equipment. General Collins showed Amir the
material that had been prepared for turnover. It was a large
assortment of tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, artillery pieces,
Humvees, machine guns, rifles still in the box and tons of
ammunition.

General Collins explained as they walked to
inspect the equipment, “As we worked it out, this equipment mainly
outfits several brigades, General. Everything has been properly
serviced and ready to be used.”

Amir inspected some of the tanks and heavy
weapons. He had been training new recruits and was getting close to
assigning the hardware to the various units so that they could
begin proficiency trails on the use of the equipment. After that,
he planned a large mobile exercise before deploying the newly
qualified units in the field.

Tess and her crew had jumped out of the
aircraft to escape the searing heat. The group of officers walked
back to the chopper. Amir saw Tess. His heart skipped a beat. There
she was, standing straight and confident, woman as the warrior. He
excused himself and asked for a moment to talk with Major Turner, a
good friend, he said.

General Collins went to her. “Major Turner,
General al-Saadi said he is a friend of yours and would like a few
minutes to talk privately.”

Tess didn’t really want to talk, but agreed
to do so when she realized that a lot of eyes had focused on
her.

Tess walked toward Amir and saluted. Amir
returned the salute and smiled. “How nice to see you, Major Turner;
how have you been?”

“I am fine, General; and you?”

“I am much better now that I see you that you
are well.”

“How is Aara?”

“She is fine but sad all the time. She misses
you.”

“Please tell her that I miss her too and that
I love her.”

Amir could not stand the formality of their
conversation. “Tess, is there a chance we could talk some more once
we get back to Baghdad? We could have dinner together. There is
much that I would like to discuss.”

“I don’t see the point of meeting again,
Amir. I am still trying to recover from what you did to me. I need
to forget if it is at all possible.”

“Do you really need to forget everything,
Tess? I recall our wonderful experiences together. I can’t forget
having loved you. I still love you.”

“Amir, the people are starting to get
impatient. We need to go.”

“Can I see you again Tess? I will do anything
you want to earn your forgiveness.”

“We need to go, Amir.” Tess started to work
toward the chopper. She boarded the craft and Carmen started the
engines. The passengers on board, they rapidly returned to
Baghdad.

Walking back to the barracks, Carmen could
not resist digging for the juicy details.

“Tess, I got to give it to you. The guy is
gorgeous! Are you going to see him again?”

“No, Carmen, I am not. You know what he did
to me. I will never forgive him.”

“
Never
is a condition that changes
over time. It’s obvious that he still adores – no, worships you.
Yes, he deceived you by not telling early on that the girl was his
daughter, but he did it so he could have you. Most women would be
flattered by a man going stupid for love.”

“I will never forget his manipulating me. I
need to trust the man that I choose to be my mate for life. He is
not it — Jake is.”

“Isn’t Jake leaving for Germany soon?”

“Yes, he needs to finish his rehab there. I
plan to be with him. My tour of duty here is almost over.”

“It’s your life, hon. I hope that you are
making the right decision.”

***

Lying on her bunk at night, Tess could not
sleep. Face to face on the tarmac, she had felt Amir’s sexual
intensity boring though her body. The pulsing sensation in her womb
had surfaced again, intensifying a craving to have Amir invade her
body. Her resentment about his deceit still loomed large in her
mind, but she despaired that her need for him was overcoming her
principles.

“Damn you, Amir!”

She spent the night fitfully until she fell
asleep. Her recurring dream came back: babies playing with puppies.
The next morning, her stomach acted funny again.

Chapter 38

Jake opted out of boarding the ambulance and
had Tess drive him to the airport. He still had a severe limp that
needed medical attention but at this point he didn’t care. He did
not want to be away from Tess, and he worried about her safety.

While waiting for the plane, she told him the
good news: Her deployment was almost over. She could leave Iraq in
two weeks. Jake was overjoyed.

“Jake, I would like to clear the air before
you go. I want to be with you, but I need to know how you feel
about our problem. I don’t wish to live under a cloud. I have
deceived you, and I am sorry about it, but I don’t want your
resentment to surface the next time we have a fight.”