Iris Johansen - Pandora's Daughter

Grady muttered a curse. He knew Harley was right but he was damned if he did and damned if he didn't move quickly. "Why the hell didn't Renata find him before this? We've run out of options."

"She did her best. It was difficult as hell for her."

"Not as difficult as it's going to be for Megan. Molino just opened the game at the helicopter by shooting Darnell in the head. That should tell you what kind of mood Megan's facing now." The thought of her with Molino scared him to death. He'd known it would be a nightmare and he had been right. "I'll try to give it a little time. I'm not going to blunder up there and get her killed. I'll call you when we're in the area." He hung up.

But how was he going to avoid putting Megan into danger if the house was as hard to access as Harley had said?

It's in your court, Megan had said.

His court, his responsibility, his job. Not much of a responsibility at all. Just keeping Megan alive.

"YOU LOOKED SHOCKED," MOLINO said to Megan as the helicopter took off. "And I thought you'd be happy to see me blow Darnell's head off. After all, he's the one who made a vegetable of Phillip Blair."

"You're the one who did that. You gave the order." She shrugged. "And I don't care if you killed Darnell. It's just one less scumbag to walk the earth. Speaking of scumbags, where is Sienna?"

"He's waiting eagerly for you at the house. I thought you should have a proper welcoming committee."

"I assumed you were joined at the hip."

"We have a mutually beneficial relationship. However, lately I've not been very happy about his attitude. That's why I was comfortable about throwing Sienna to the lions."

"I'm no lion."

"I know. What a disappointment." He chuckled. "You made me look foolish in Sienna's eyes. It wasn't what I had in mind at all. He was still full of ugly thoughts about my Steven when we left you last night." He waved a hand. "But I forgave him before I left to pick you up today. After all, I did promise to let him have you for the first night and I always keep my word."

"I find that hard to believe."

"Well, I keep it when it suits me." He looked out the window. "We're almost at the house. It's almost time for the game to begin. Are you frightened, Megan?" No.

"You're lying. I can see the pulse beating in your throat. If I touched your hand, I'd bet it would be cold and clammy." He smiled. "But I'll wait to touch you until I have you properly tied and ready. Do you know, I learned a great deal from reading the priest's trial accounts of your ancestor, Ricardo Devanez? The tortures used by the inquisitors were both innovative and very satisfying. I used a few of their methods on Edmund Gillem. I can hardly wait to expand my repertoire. There's a particularly exciting one called 'the chair.'"

"What a ghoul you are." She added. "And your son must have been the stupid schizo Sienna thought him. I doubt if my mother did anything to him. He was probably carrying a recessive gene from you that caused him to go off his rocker."

The smile faded from his face. "Liar."

It had been a shot in the dark but she had evidently hit the mark. "Yes, that must be it. Is there insanity in your family? It's clear you don't have all your marbles. You had to have an excuse because you felt guilty that you'd destroyed your Steven. He was as nuts as-" Her head snapped back as he backhanded her with all his strength.

Darkness. The interior of the helicopter was spinning around her.

"Bitch," he hissed. "Whore."

"You did it." The coppery taste of blood was in her mouth. "Sienna proved I was no Pandora. Neither was my mother. You killed your son."

He hit her again. "I'll kill you, bitch. You foul liar. I'll tear you-" He stopped and took a deep breath. "I won't let you do this to me. I'm not going to make it quick." The helicopter was almost on the ground. "You just made the pleasure more intense for me. I can't wait to turn you over to Sienna."

"GRADY'S ON HIS WAY," HARLEY SAID to Renata. "He said he'll call when he's in the area. I'm landing now." He paused. "We'll be lucky to get her out of there alive."

That's what Renata had been thinking for the last thirty minutes of her drive. "What's Grady going to do?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure he knows. I guess we'll have to brainstorm and come up with the safest way to-"

"There's no safe way," she said fiercely. "And he'll kill her if we keep talking and not acting."

"Grady and Venable won't let the time drag-"

"To hell with Grady. I can't wait around until you all form a damn committee to decide what's to be done."

"And what's your alternative?"

"Stop talking and get her out." She hung up.

She didn't answer when Harley called her back a moment later. He would question and argue and she didn't want to hear either one. She was too tense and scared and she had to clear her mind of both emotions before she could start doing what she did best.

Weigh the odds of the different scenarios, estimate cause and effect to predict an outcome that would guarantee Megan would live and Molino would die.

She'd already started the initial process on the drive here when she'd realized that it was going to be too late for any ordinary assault on Molino's stronghold.

She looked down at the pink dress she still had clutched in her hand. "I have to leave you now, Adia." She carefully folded the dress and placed it in the briefcase with gentle hands. "Thanks to you, we know where he is. Now we have to go get the son of a bitch."

"STRAIGHT AHEAD," MOLINO'S hand on Megan's back shoved her forward down the curved steps just inside the door. "You mustn't keep Sienna waiting."

She was shaking. Sienna. She felt sick as she remembered the warm, softness of his big hand. Then the softness had turned to brutality.

"You're not talking now," Molino said softly. "You're afraid of him, aren't you? Women are so soft and breakable. Almost as breakable as the children. It's laughable when they try to fight us."

"Is it?" How could she get hold of that gun? If she could catch him off guard there might be a chance. She had been able to push his buttons earlier and she might still be-

"In here." He opened a door at the foot of the stairs. "Sienna always demands his own quarters away from the rest of us. He likes his privacy. I have no problem with it. We're not all that compatible." He stepped aside to let her enter. "Sienna, here's the gift I promised you."

Megan didn't move.

"Don't be shy." Molino shoved her into the room. "He's waiting." He waved his hand to the corner of the room. "Say hello to him."

Oh, God. Don't scream.

Sienna was tied, pinned, to the wall. He was shaved bald, his skull bloody and crushed. His eyes were wide open, his features frozen, twisted, in a death rictus.

"How do you like his new haircut?" Molino asked. "Women sometimes find a bald head sexy, I'm told."

"You murdered him." She said hoarsely. "Why? Because he didn't believe your son-"

"I've lived with his skepticism for years. I could have tolerated it if I'd seen a future use for him." He shook his head. "It's really too bad that I had to dispose of him before I could keep my promise to him about you. Of course, I have other men who would accommodate you but none of them have the talent that Sienna had. Sienna understood pain. He was magnificent with Edmund Gillem."

She couldn't keep her eyes away from Sienna's face. "Did you torture Sienna too?"

"Oh, no. Well, perhaps a little. He kept pulling at his hair so I had his head shaved. He didn't like that at all."

"Pulling at his hair?"

Molino smiled. "Screaming and pulling at his hair and knocking his head against the wall. He was in great pain, so I decided I had to help him. In fact, I became so involved with Sienna that I forgot all my interesting plans for the little boy."