Page 51 of Prisoner of War
“You were asleep when I came in and you murmuredthe name,” he added, almost as if he were answering her silent question. He moved around the bed, coming up to her side. “You murmured the name with longing and your body was aroused. This Duardo is your lover, no?”
She shivered. “Duardo is dead,” she said flatly.
“Who was he, then?” Zalaya’s one good eye gazed into her own.
Instinctively, Minnie stuck to the fundamental truth. “He was a Vistarian.”
“You are not a stranger to this land.”
“Not entirely.”
Zalaya gripped the cane. “He was in the army,” he said flatly.
“I didn’t say that.”
He smiled. “You do not have to. It is written all over your face, your body and in every answer you give. Your Knight Errant mission to break into the Presidential Palace was no coincidence, was it? Your Duardo must have been posted here at the palace.You proposed the mission to your fellow knights.”
He was guiding her answers, giving her hints on how best to construct her story so it would withstand probing.
He turned and moved back to the end of the bed, putting himself back into the shadows again. “I have done some research on this group you claim you belong to. ‘Knight Errant’ has a specific definition and my English is good enough todistinguish the subtleties. The quests your knights set are both chivalrous and quixotic. They’re romantic, noble deeds that are at best unreachable. A modern version of tilting at windmills.”
She phrased her answer carefully. “You can think that if you like.”
Again, the long study and consideration. Then, “Take off your clothes,” he said, his voice low.
Her heart jumped. “No.”
He pulled therevolver from the pouch on his hip. “Understand this. Your future depends upon obeying me for as long as I command it.”
Remember, he must be Zalaya...and you must behave as if he is Zalaya. “Go fuck yourself,” she said and added, “Literally.”
“A physical impossibility,” he assured her.
“You won’t shoot me,” she told him. “It’ll end all the fun you have planned.”
He fired and Minnie recoiledsideways as the heat and friction of the bullet stung her upper arm as it passed by. She was too shocked to even utter a scream. The roar of the revolver in that small room was like a thunderclap.
She could smell something burning behind her and swiveled enough to see the edges of the wallpaper where the bullet had buried itself in the wall were glowing red and smoking.
She turned back to him,shaking badly. The urge to pee was almost overwhelming.
“Rest assured, a bullet in the body doesn’t have to kill.” He motioned with the revolver, pointing to different parts of her torso. “There are a dozen places where a bullet will only inflict serious pain. Pain will only discommode you, not me. Besides, I am a crack shot, as I just demonstrated. There are ways of grazing the body that willachieve the same level of pain and not seriously disable you.” He cocked the revolver with his thumb and Minnie felt ill as she watched the barrel roll around, bringing the next bullet into the chamber.
“Do not insist on a demonstration,” he finished. “Take off your clothes.”
Minnie reached for the zipper of the suit she wore and the cuff jingled against her arm. “I can’t get it off over this.”
He dug in his pocket and tossed the small key onto the bed next to her. “Unlock it and throw the key back.”
She obeyed and tossed the key back onto the floor at his feet. The gun and his gaze did not waver as he bent and picked up the key and pocketed it again.
She stripped the foul-smelling plastic suit from her with a degree of eagerness and dropped it on the floor.
He pointed with the gunto the cufflink. “Put it back on.”
She returned the cuff to her wrist.
“Tighter,” he said. “I won’t have you working your hand out of it when I’m gone.”
