Chapter Seventeen


It was shortly after 8:30 a.m. when Jonny slammed through the door into the office on the 27th floor of the Garrett J. Blackman Corporate Plaza. After one look at his face, several people who had been about to greet him, immediately looked the other way and became extremely busy. He went straight to his cubicle without saying a word to anyone. He flung his jacket into the guest chair sitting nearby and threw himself into his desk chair. The trip from the apartment to the office had only served to exacerbate his already flayed temper. The streets had been crowded when he exited the building and, short of throwing people to the ground, he had not been able to move quickly though the congestion. As a result, he'd just missed his train. While he waited, the fight with his father continued to replay itself over and over in his mind. And the more it repeated, the angrier he got.

His train finally arrived and it was already packed. Normally, crowds didn't bother him, but today, he felt like he was suffocating. There were no seats, so he was forced to stand and cling to one of the steadying straps. During the 15-minute ride to his stop, he was stepped on, elbowed, jostled, and even smacked in the jaw once. By the time he finally got off, he felt like he wanted to dropkick the lot of them. He climbed to street level only to discover that overnight, a road crew had begun tearing up a section of the street to fix a leaking water main. The noise of the jackhammers was incredible and the decibel levels beat into his already throbbing head until he thought it was going to explode. He'd given up any thought of getting a cup of coffee and made a beeline straight for the office. When he arrived, he discovered that he didn't have his company I.D. on him . . . he must have left it either on the dresser or clipped to the shirt he'd been wearing the night before . . . which meant he had to go through another 15 minutes of bureaucracy to get a temporary one issued.

Now, he was finally at work . . . with so much to do he didn't even know where to begin . . . and his head was throbbing so badly he couldn't even think. He propped his elbows on the desk and rested his head in his hands, praying that the pounding ache would subside.

"Hey, man, you look like shit."

Jonny jumped violently, causing the ache in his head to intensify sharply. He glared at Blake sullenly and demanded, "What do you want?"

Blake leaned one shoulder against the outside wall and surveyed him critically. "Well, it started as a friendly trip in to say good morning. From there, it progressed to serious concern about the state you're in. And finally it ended up as hurt feelings that you didn't call me to go along with you when you decided to go out and tie one on last night. I'm always up for a good drunk fest."

"I didn't go out and get drunk last night . . . as you damned well know. I was here until almost 3:00 in the morning trying to get that stupid presentation put together."

"Well, what then? Jess shut you out of the bedroom for coming home so late?"

"No!" he snarled. "Would you just go away and leave me alone? I have a pile of stuff to do today and if I don't get started, it's not going to get done. And I'd really like to get to go home sometime before I have to give that damned presentation tomorrow."

Blake straightened abruptly. "Wait a minute. What presentation? At staff meeting this morning, Stan told us that something had come up and that the internet presentation was going to have to be postponed. Isn't that the one you've been working on so hard?"

"Postponed? What do you mean, postponed?" Jonny demanded. "No one said anything to me about it being put off."

Blake shrugged. "I can't help that. All I can tell you is what Stan said at staff meeting this morning . . ."

"Don't keep reminding me about the damned staff meeting! I slept through the stupid thing. God knows what I'm going to tell Stan! Why the hell Jess didn't get me up when she left this morning . . ."

"What are you doing here?" Stan Knight demanded, appearing at the entrance to Jonny's cubicle suddenly. "I told Jessica you were supposed to be allowed to sleep in this morning."

"What?!" Jonny stared at his boss, stunned. He scrubbed at his face desperately, trying to make his brain work. "You told Jess to . . . when did you talk to her?"

"This morning. I'd heard through the grapevine that you'd been spending 18 to 20 hours a day in this place again, so when Garrett let me know that he'd decided to postpone your presentation, I talked to Jess and told her to let you sleep. I figured there was no way we'd see you until sometime after lunch. This has got to stop, Jon. You don't have to work this hard." Stan stepped forward and caught Jonny's chin, tilting his head back and staring into his eyes sharply. "Are you all right? You look like shit."

Jonny pulled away and rubbed his eyes again. "Everyone agrees on that point, at any rate. Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. Short on sleep, no breakfast, and a headache fit to split my skull, but other than that, I'm just dandy." He levered himself to his feet again. "I'm gonna go down to the cafeteria and see if I can get a very large cup of the stuff they claim is coffee and something to eat. Once I do that, I should start coming back to life again."

Stan didn't say anything, but his expression was clearly worried. Finally, Jonny gave him a half-hearted smile. "No, really. I mean it. This is not a big deal." He sighed at the skeptical look. "Look, I know I haven't gotten much sleep recently, but that's not the problem this morning." He hesitated briefly and then shrugged. Lowering his voice, he said, "While I was getting ready to come into work, the phone rang and it was my Dad. We got into the worst fight I think we've ever had. I was furious when I left home . . . " He snorted slightly. "I'm not sure I'm a whole lot less angry now . . . but that doesn't have anything to do with work. Jess probably left me a note and I just didn't see it." His eyes glazed slightly as he stared blankly at the cubicle wall, trying to picture the bedroom as he'd last seen it. "Yeah," he said slowly, "I think she did. There was something lying on her pillow. I just didn't notice it at the time."

Stan looked resigned. "All right. Go down and get something to eat. And on your way back up, check in at the nurse's office on the 5th floor and get something for that headache. I'll let you stay, but you are to leave by 2:00 and you're off tomorrow and the weekend. Garrett's had a change of heart. We've been working to set up that team to start looking for the causes of the file corruptions we've been suffering, and it's the team's unanimous decision that they want you heading it up. So we're rearranging your workload and next week, you begin working on that project. We've put the internet demo on hold for now. I want you rested when you come in on Monday. Clear?"

Jonny nodded wearily. "Got it."

"Now go get some breakfast."

Jonny followed the two of them out of his cubicle and, on his way to the door, stopped briefly to say something to Lin-Su. While he was talking with her, Garrett Blackman came in the door briskly. Spotting Stan heading back for his office, he called, "Stan, has Jon come in yet?"

Jonny stuck his head out of Lin-Su's cubicle and said, "Right here."

"You have vis . . . "

"Geezus!" Jonny exclaimed, looking past Garrett Blackman. Garrett stepped back just as the glass door burst open and Hadji came striding through it. If Jonny looked bad, Hadji looked worse. His clothes were filthy, his hands and knuckles were cut and scraped, and there was a huge bruise developing across his left cheekbone. Behind him was Kefira. He clung to her hand fiercely as she stumbled after him. She looked even worse than both young men combined. She, too, was filthy and blood streaked her clothing. There was a long, shallow cut along the back of one arm that appeared to have been hastily doctored, she was limping slightly, and she had a huge bruise on the left side of her face. In addition, there was a makeshift bandage on the right side of her head that ran from her cheekbone up into her hairline. The skin around the bandage was blackened and looked raw. Jonny had been in enough firefights in his short life to recognize powder burns when he saw them. He met them in the middle of the room, putting out his hands to steady his brother. "What the hell happened?"

"We have a problem," Hadji said grimly. "Is there somewhere we can talk?"

Jonny looked around, suddenly aware of the crowd of staring people. Garrett Blackman caught his eye and gesture toward the conference room. With its glass front wall, it might be a fishbowl, but at least it was enclosed and had a door. "Come on," he said economically, and without wasted effort, he reached down, picked Kefira up, and carried her toward the room.

As the door closed behind them, Garrett turned to Stan Knight and said quietly, "Stan, call down to the nurse's office and tell her that I want her up here on the double. Then get your people back to work. Those three don't need an audience. I'm going to . . ."

At that instant, the door burst open again and Jessie Bannon came striding in. She looked extremely upset. "Stan! Is Jon here? I looked for him at home, but he wasn't there."

"In there," Garrett said and Stan stepped aside so she could see to the other end of the room.

Jessie's face turned white, then just as quickly flushed an angry red. "That goddamned bastard," she snarled and pushed past everyone to join the others in the conference room.

Garrett's eyes flashed around the room again, taking in Jon's avidly staring co-workers, and made a quick decision. Stan was just hanging up the phone in his office when Garrett strode in.

"Nurse is on her way up," he said.

"I'm going to get those four of out there. When she arrives, send her straight up to the penthouse. Also, call Barry Solomon. Tell him that I need him over here pronto and that he should bring his medical bag. And for the love of God, keep this quiet! I don't know what's going on, but I don't think it's good."

"That girl needs a hospital."

Garrett looked troubled as he stuck his head out of the door and gazed down at the four young people, all of whom appeared to be arguing violently. "I have the feeling that if they could have taken her to a hospital, she would have been there a long time ago."

"But why couldn't they . . ." He trailed off, as he came to stand beside Garrett and stare at the four in the conference room again. "A gun shot wound," he said softly. "It would get reported to the authorities."

"If they were jumped and someone is looking to finish the job, you can bet that they're going to be keeping an eye and ear out for reported shootings or treatment of gunshot wounds. Get Barry Solomon. He owes me more than a few favors. I'm just about to collect on one of them." Garrett walked quickly toward the conference room, sending a sharp look at the remaining people still lingering in the open center of the room. "Get back to work," he snapped. He went up and knocked sharply, then opened the door. They looked up at him with shuttered expressions. "Come on," he said. "Let's get you all out of here. Jonny, you lead the way. We'll use the penthouse elevator. I'm taking you upstairs." Seeing their looks of reluctance, Garrett stepped in and closed the door. "The nurse should be here any minute, and there's a doctor already on the way. You don't want either one of them examining you in front of all of Jon's co-workers. Upstairs, you'll have more privacy."

"No arguments, Hadji," Jonny agreed immediately. Rising, he went to Kefira. "Come on, your ride is here."

"I can walk," she protested weakly.

Jonny grinned at her, trying to appear lighthearted. "Yeah, but why should you?"

"I can take her," Hadji protested.

"You can barely stay on your feet," was Jonny immediate response. He picked her up without any apparent effort and said, "Let's go."

Garrett Blackman opened the door, and the four young people preceded him out. As they passed Jonny's cubicle, Blake stuck his head out and called softly, "Anything you need, bro', just say the word." Jonny flashed him a quick look and a nod, and then they were gone.

As Blake turned back to head for his own desk, Lin-Su and Ted appeared at his elbow.

"Nothing interesting about his life, huh," Lin-Su said sourly. "If that's 'nothing interesting', I'd hate to see his definition of lively!"


~ ~ ~ ~ ~


The five of them exited the penthouse elevator into an office of spectacular proportions. It was shaped something like a football that had the pointed ends flattened. The elevator opened in the center of one of the long walls and the room extended approximately 15 feet in either direction from that point. The walls were made of highly polished slate gray granite slabs that were mounted in a carefully interlocking pattern. At carefully spaced intervals, alcoves about four feet high by three feet wide by about three feet deep were set into the walls. Each alcove held a piece of sculpture. The floor was granite also, but rather than being dark gray, this was of a pale, silvery gray shade. The spark of crystal came from its depths. Across from them, the city spread out in a breathtaking view all the way out to Boston Harbor. The entire arc of the far wall was made of glass and the panorama made the room seem even larger than it actually was. There was a large, modern desk in golden oak tones on one end of the room, and a huge conference table with chairs on the other. Three multi-faceted chandeliers hung evenly spaced across the ceiling, and careful inspection showed Jonny that recessed track lighting along the ceiling probably allowed for islands of light over both the desk and the conference table at night.

"This way," Garrett said, and led the way past the conference table to a door at the far end of the room. This opened into what were obviously Blackman's personal living quarters. They had only the quickest impression of large, leather furniture, glass and chrome tables, and more artwork before they moved into a large bedroom. A king-sized bed was the centerpiece of the room, and it was there that he gestured for Jonny to put Kefira. Jonny laid her down carefully, stepped back, and was immediately replaced by Hadji. The other three moved back into the living room, giving the young couple some privacy as they waited for the nurse to arrive.

"Mr. Blackman, I . . ." Jonny began, but Garrett cut him off with a shake of his head.

"I'm asking for no explanations, Jon. I know they wouldn't have come here looking for you if it weren't important. Right now, our first priority is to get Ms. Subramanian some medical attention. I'm going back out to the office to wait for the nurse. I'll be back as soon as she arrives."

Jessie waited until he was gone, before turning Jonny and demanding, "What happened?"

Jonny shook his head. "I don't know. Hadji hadn't had the chance to tell me before you got here, and then Mr. Blackman interrupted, so I still don't know what's going on."

"Well, I can tell you one thing that is," she said grimly, and handed him a folded up newspaper. When he opened it, a picture of Hadji in full royal regalia jumped out at him. He scanned the story quickly.

Last Sultan of India Slated to Wed

The Royal Palace in Bangalore City announced today the official engagement of His Royal Excellency Hadji Singh, Sultan of Bangalore, to Kefira Subramanian, the second daughter of mining magnate Rajeev Subramanian of Panjal Province, Bangalore. The Royal Regent Neela Singh, mother of the Sultan, announced that a firm date for the wedding has not been set, however, tentative plans are for the function to occur around the first of the year.

The Sultan is currently attending Columbia University in the United States, and plans to continue his education following the wedding. Ms. Subramanian was unavailable for comment as she is being kept sequestered until after the wedding, following the ancient tradition for the future wife of the Sultan in Bangalore.

Government officials in Bangalore, India, and other surrounding countries expressed delight about the Sultan's choice, stating that the marriage was sure to assist in stabilizing this volatile area and once again establishing the clear line of succession within the Sultancy.

In recent months, world leaders have expressed growing concern regarding the continuing unrest in the country. Set amid the political turmoil of northeastern India, for many years Bangalore was an island of peace amidst other warring factions. However, a political coup fifteen years ago by Deepak Singh, younger brother of then Sultan Haresh Singh, caused the borders to be closed. Following ten years of isolation, the return of the rightful Sultan, Hadji Singh, only son of Haresh, marked an end to the isolationist policies of the country.

This event marks the first royal wedding this country has seen in 32 years, and is expected to be a lavish affair.

"Oh boy," Jonny said. "Hadji is gonna be seriously pissed about this. If he wasn't getting along with Neela before . . ."

"You can say that again!"

"Here we go," Garrett Blackman said, coming back into the room. A middle-aged woman with brown hair and eyes and a warm smile trailed after him.

Jonny smiled at her. "Hi, Nancy."

"Jon. Where are my patients?"

"This way, Nancy," Garrett replied, and led her on through the living room and back into the bedroom. Jonny and Jessie didn't follow, choosing to stay out from under foot. Both knew that Hadji would join them once he was certain that Kefira was being properly cared for.

"What are you doing here, anyway, Jonny?" Jessie demanded. "You're supposed to be at home asleep."

"Yeah, so I've been told." He told her about waking up abruptly and not finding her note. "You did leave one, didn't you? On the pillow? I just didn't see it before I left."

"How could you miss it?" she demanded. "It was lying there right by your head!"

"Well, I wasn't exactly with it this morning when I woke up. And then there was the phone call from Dad . . ."

"Dr. Quest called?" Jessie said, surprised. "This morning?"

"Yeah. Said he'd called yesterday and left a message but no one called him back. Do you remember a message on the machine when you got home last night? I don't, but then I didn't check, either."

"To be honest, neither did I. I didn't get in until after midnight and I was beat, so I just went straight to bed. What did he want?"

"What does he always want?" Jonny asked rhetorically, but Jessie could see the anger flare in his eyes again.

She looked at him thoughtfully for a minute and then said softly, "Was it bad?"

Jonny sank slowly down onto a nearby chair and rested his head in his hands. "Yeah, it was. Worse than it's ever been before. I'll tell you, Jess, I just don't know any more . . . "

Jessie came over and stroked his hair gently, but before she could say anything, they heard a voice call from the direction of the office. She hesitated, glancing from the bedroom door to Jonny and then back again, before shrugging her shoulders and walking swiftly across the room to the office door. There she met a tall, rangy man in his late 40's carrying a medical bag. He stopped in surprise when he saw her.

"Hello. I'm looking for Garrett Blackman. He called me . . ."

"He's in there," Jessie replied and gestured toward the bedroom door.

"Thank you," the man responded briskly and then left her to join the others in the bedroom.

A few minutes later, Hadji appeared. He looked disgruntled, however, a substantially cleaner face and bandages on both hands testified to the fact that he'd at least been looked at by medical personnel.

"They will not allow me to stay. They say that I am in the way."

Jessie grabbed him by the arm, led him over to the sofa, and forced him to sit down. "Leave them alone," she directed him firmly, settling beside him. "She's better off if you just let them do their jobs."

"Absolutely," Jonny agreed, sitting down on the coffee table facing his brother. "Now, tell us what's going on."

Hadji was silent for a long time, staring sightlessly down at his hands. "They tried to take her from me," he said finally.

"Who did?" Jonny prompted him gently, but Jessie didn't miss his instinctive flinch at that comment.

"I do not know who they were," Hadji replied, shaking his head. Weariness seemed to be settling over him like a blanket and he sagged perceptibly. "They claimed they were sent by my mother, but I cannot believe that. Mother and I may disagree at times, but I cannot believe that she would resort to violence to get Kefira back into the country."

"Since when has she been asking that she return?" Jessie asked. "I thought you had settled that issue, and she'd agreed to let it go until after she finished school."

Hadji's tone was bitter as he replied, "That was before Mr. Birla began working on her."

"Birla?" Jonny questioned, exchanging a knowing look with Jessie. "As in the head of your Advisory Council?"

"Yes. Mother says that he has been encouraging her to get Kefira to return to the country. But to resort to kidnapping?"

"I think you need to go back and start at the beginning," Jonny directed him. ". . . or, more precisely, go back and start at this past weekend, because I think that's where this started. What was it that happened that you simply wouldn't tell us about?"

Slowly, Hadji began telling them about the fight with his mother over the weekend. He stumbled over Neela's comments about Jessie, but she just waved them aside.

"Different cultures, different mores," she replied. "Furthermore, I gave up worrying about what others thought about our living arrangements a long time ago." Jonny didn't look quite so forgiving, but he kept his mouth shut.

From there he told them about Ambassador Tilak turning up at his apartment and then of his phone call to his mother. "I did believe that she finally understood and that she would not try to interfere in this any longer," he said in bewilderment. "I simply do not understand this."

Reluctantly, Jonny held out the newspaper to him. "I guess you better know about this, too."

They watched as Hadji read through the story, then went back and read through it again. Suddenly, in a low, flat, uninflected tone, he began to swear. He systematically went through every single cussword he knew . . . in every single language that he knew, finally ending in English with a heartfelt, "Son of a bitch!" as he flung the newspaper across the room. "She swore she would not do this! She said that she understood how dangerous it was for Kefira to be exposed to the politics of Bangalore in this way. Why would she do this? WHY???"

"Maybe Birla got to her again . . . convinced her to do it," Jonny ventured.

"Or maybe it was done as another goad," Jessie suggested. "Another way of trying to get you to go back."

"Well, if that was the goal, they have accomplished it," Hadji said bitterly. "I no longer have a choice. Now I must return."

"You can't!" Jessie exclaimed. "If this really is a ploy to draw you back to where your enemies can get to you, you'd be walking right into their hands."

"You do not understand, Jessie. I no longer have any free will in this decision. I must return to Bangalore and I must stand up in front of my people and openly renounce Kefira as my future wife. If I do not do so, she will be exposed as being out of the country rather than being sequestered as she is supposed to be. That will be considered tantamount to adultery and she will be condemned to death. If she remains out of the country where they cannot get to her, then the lives of her family are forfeit in her place. My only choice is to go home and declare that the announcement was premature, that a marriage contract had never been made, and that I have no intention of marrying her. Since there was no contract, neither she nor her family is in default."

"And you are forced into walking away from the only woman you've ever loved," Jessie said softly.

"I have no choice." He sat with his head in his hands and said nothing else. Jonny and Jessie looked at him for a long moment. Jonny rose and gestured to Jessie, pointing toward the office. She followed him silently, leaving Hadji sitting on the sofa in dejection.

"He can't go back there alone," Jonny said, when Jessie had closed the door behind them. He walked over and stared out the window. "If he goes without someone to help him, he won't get out alive."

"I know," Jessie agreed. "We have to go with him."

Jonny turned and looked at her. They stood together in the morning sunshine that streamed in through the windows. It turned her hair to flame and her eyes to deep green fire. His heart contracted painfully. For him to go with his brother was one thing, but to put her at risk, too . . .

"Jess . . ."

"Don't say it," she warned him. "I don't want you going in there, either, but if you have to, then I'm not going to be left behind!"

He sighed softly. "I wish you weren't so stubborn," he said.

"I could say the same about you," she replied. Then she reached up and caressed the side of his face gently. "You look so tired," she said remorsefully.

"No, my co-workers assure me that I look like shit," he said with a wry shadow of his old, familiar smile. Turning his head, he kissed the palm of her hand.

She caught his head and drew it down so she could kiss him. Finally, their lips parted and she said regretfully, "Well, let's go find out what really happened so we know what we're up against."

Returning to the living room, they found it empty. Continuing on through the room, they found everyone in the bedroom. Hadji was sitting on the bed next to Kefira, while Garrett Blackman stood on the other side of the room with the two medical personnel. Hadji and Kefira were not talking, but he clung to her hand tightly. There was a fresh bandage on the right side of her head near her hairline, and her face had been cleaned and the powder burn looked substantially better. An ice pack had also been produced and Hadji held it against her bruised cheek gently.

With a quick glance at the couple on the bed, Jonny and Jessie moved to join Garrett Blackman. As they came up, they heard Jonny's boss say, "No, Barry, I just want you to keep quiet about it."

"Damn it, Garrett, that's a bullet wound. You know that I'm legally required to report it."

"I know what you're legally required to do. I'm asking you, as a friend, not to do it. The only ones who know about it are those in this room. Nancy will keep her mouth shut, and I promise you that these four won't utter a word about it."

Solomon eyed Jonny thoughtfully. "Was this a political move against him?" he asked finally. Blackman stirred involuntarily. At the narrowing of Jonny's eyes, he added hastily, "I saw the story in the newspaper this morning . . . recognized him by the picture."

Jonny sighed and finally nodded. "Yes, as close as he can tell, it was. Please, Doctor," he said quietly. "These are desperate men and now that they've made an open move against him, they don't dare quit. If you report this, you put both of their lives at risk. "

The doctor sighed. "All right. But don't make me regret this decision." Turning to Garrett, he said, "If you don't need me any longer, I'm going to head back to the office. Call me again if you have any more trouble."

Jessie reached out and laid a hand on his arm. "She'll be okay?"

Dr. Solomon smiled and patted her hand. "Yes, she'll be fine. I'd say she was a very lucky young lady."

Garrett glanced at the two young people and then said quickly, "Come on, Barry, I'll take you down." He turned the man toward the door and continued, "I think you can go back to work, too, Nancy. Jon knows how to reach you if he needs your services." He looked at Jonny and Jessie again. "Make yourself at home, guys. I'll be back in a while."

The two of them remained standing where they were until they heard the living room door close. Jonny crossed and checked to be certain they were alone, and then the two of them moved to the bed.

"How are you doing?" Jess asked, sitting down on the opposite side from Hadji.

"Better," Kefira replied with a weak smile. "My head hurts less than it did before." Hadji reached out and brushed her hair away from her forehead. He massaged her temple gently and brushed his thumb over her eyelids as they drifted shut. The gesture was so loving that it caused both Jonny and Jessie to catch their breath. Jessie's eyes locked with Jonny's and she could almost read his mind as she saw the bleakness reflected there.

"Okay, I don't mean to be pushy," Jonny said briskly, "but I get the impression that we've got very little time. So let's have it . . . what happened?"

Hadji sighed, but it was Kefira who replied. "We were attacked outside of my apartment building."

"Do you know why?"

"The man said the Regent had sent him to take me back home. I just do not understand it. If the Lady Neela wanted me back in Bangalore so badly, why did she not just ask me? I would have gone if it was so important . . ."

As one, Jessie and Jonny turned to stare at Hadji. Kefira looked from them to Hadji and back. When she spoke again, her voice had a dangerous edge to it. "What has happened that you have not told me about, Hadji?"

The young man shook his head. This caused Kefira to yank her hand away and struggle to sit up. When he reached out to try to make her lie down again, she slapped his hands away and scooted across the bed out of his reach.

"No!" she snapped. "What is it that you are not telling me?"

"It does not matter," he replied in a low voice. "Things have changed." He looked at her with a gaze that seemed both alive with pain and yet dead at the same time. "Everything has changed. You cannot go home, Kefira. If you do, they will kill you. And you cannot be my wife, either. No matter what we have said or done . . ." They all saw him shudder. "I must go back . . . renounce you . . . "

"NO!!!" Anguish saturated that denial. "I do not care about this, Hadji. It does not matter. I said I would stand with you, and I will . . ."

"It is no longer just us," he said harshly. "It has all become political now and we are both pawns . . ."

"They announced your engagement," Jessie told her regretfully. That statement struck Kefira dumb.

"If I refuse to go back, your family will pay the price," Hadji said heavily. "I can not permit that. At least, if I renounce you as my wife, your family will be safe and you still have the chance to complete your education and return . . ."

"Hold on!" Jonny said sharply. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Hadji, you've always told me that I should never make decisions until I've got all of the facts. Well, there's a lot of missing facts here, so let's start there. You still haven't told us what happened. Go back and start with this weekend again, since it's obvious that Kefira doesn't know about that." When Hadji started to protest, Jonny shook his head and continued, "No! No more trying to protect anyone, particularly Kefira. If we're going to get you out of this, we're going to need all of us. So tell her or we will."

Giving in, Hadji started over and detailed everything that had happened. He concluded with, "I realized what she planned just an instant too late to stop her. When the gun went off, and I saw her fall, I was certain she was dead."

The tone of his voice caused Kefira to scoot back across the bed and put her arms around him. "I could not let them take me," she told him. "I refuse to be a weapon to be used against you. Better dead than that."

He clutched her fiercely and buried his face in her neck. "No!" he responded in a muffled tone. She rubbed her chin against the top of his head and held him tightly, making soft, comforting sounds.

After a minute, Jonny cleared his throat awkwardly and asked, "Forgive me if I sound ungrateful, but how is it you aren't dead?"

She sighed. "I am very quick. When he pulled me to my feet, he had moved the gun a short distance away. I dropped my head to one side an instant before I attacked him, and dropped immediately. His instinctive movement jerked the gun up slightly and so the bullet only grazed me along the hairline. It stunned me, but that was all."

"Did you kill him?" Jonny asked his brother matter-of-factly.

Hadji's eyes met Jonny's across the top of Kefira's head. "I do not know," he replied in a low voice. "He was unconscious by the time I realized she was still alive. I abandoned him where he lay to go to her, and once I knew she could move safely, we ran."

"Initially, we thought we would return to Hadji's apartment," Kefira said, taking up the narrative again," but when we got there, we discovered another group of men waiting for us. There was simply no way to get in without being seen."

"We could not keep running," Hadji continued. "Kefira needed medical attention badly, but we also knew that we couldn't go to a hospital. There would be too many questions we couldn't afford to answer. So we headed back toward campus. We found a quiet place for Kefira to wait . . ."

Kefira grinned suddenly, a spark of her old spirit surfacing again. "I hid in the shrubbery nearby."

". . . while I went into a convenience store and bought first aid supplies. I did the best that I could and then we decided to come here to you."

Kefira shot him a veiled look, while Jessie frowned, "I don't . . .

Hastily, Hadji cut her off. Turning to his brother, he said, "I must ask a favor of you, Jonny. It is extremely important. I must return to Bangalore as quickly as possible. There is still a chance that I can avert the worst of the repercussions. But Kefira is still at great risk. I need your promise that you will protect her while I am gone."

"NO!!!" The response was resounding and came from all three of them at the same instant.

"You cannot go back there," Kefira cried. "It is what they want you to do!"

"I have no choice," he repeated patiently. "If I do not go, your family's lives are forfeit. And from what your father tells me, I have more support from the people of Bangalore than Arun Birla realizes. I can do this . . ."

"Not alone, you can't," Jonny replied grimly.

"Absolutely not," Jessie agreed. "Jonny and I are both going with you."

"That leaves no one to care for Kefira," Hadji said, his temper flaring. "I cannot leave her here alone. If those men find her again . . ."

"I am not staying here!" Kefira exclaimed hotly. "If you return, then I go with you, also!"

"No!" Hadji snapped forcefully. "You cannot return without being put at great risk, and I cannot allow that. Jonny and Jessie can ensure that no one can reach you."

"I told you," Jonny replied flatly. 'You aren't going in alone. We'll send Kefira to Maine. She'll be safe enough at the Compound."

But Hadji shook his head. "No, we do not dare do that. Father pays too much attention to the situation in Bangalore these days. If we send Kefira there, he will know there is a problem. With his questionable health, I do not believe it is wise to add the stress of realizing that I am physically in the middle of it."

"Well, that leaves only one thing left to do," Jonny said. He turned and looked at Jessie levelly.

"Oh, no!" she exclaimed. "You're not leaving me here."

"It's our only choice. You and Kefira have to stay here while Hadji and I go in and see if we can clear this up."

"It's women and children to the lifeboats again," Jessie retorted angrily.

"No, it's not," Jonny insisted. "I wouldn't argue with you if Kefira was 100%. But she's been hurt and needs time to recover. And Hadji's right . . . with Dad's health being if-y, we can't dump this on him. Hadji's my brother, and I'm not going to stay here and let him go in there alone. That only leaves you. You have to stay here and make sure she's safe. If we leave for Bangalore only to have them take her and use her as leverage while we're over there, we're screwed."

She still looked angry, but she could also see the logic of what Jonny was saying. "All right," she said reluctantly, "I'll stay. But I don't like it."

"Do not do this, Hadji," Kefira said intensely. "We will warn my father. He can take my family and get them to safety until this can be resolved."

Hadji brushed her hair away from her forehead again. "You know that will not work, my love. You know our traditions even better than I do."

He could see her eyes fill with tears of frustration. Finally, she looked him squarely in the eyes and asked, "Do you love me?"

"You know that I do," he replied

"I am your wife," she said intensely. "You pledged it."

"That was before all of this. Would you condemn your family?"

For an instant, her eyes fell, but when they rose to his again, they were determined. "You said that I know our traditions even better than you do."

"Yes."

"And you still insist that we follow tradition in this matter."

"Yes."

"Then the choice has been made. A wife follows her husband, not her family. We do what we can, but . . ."

"Kefira . . ."

"You married me. I will not allow you to deny it or pretend it never happened!"

"He WHAT?" Jonny gasped, suddenly realizing that Kefira wasn't talking metaphorically. Jessie just stared at the two of them, open-mouthed.

"It has not been consummated. It can be dissolved . . ."

"Then we will consummate it right now," she said fiercely.

"Wait just one minute!" Jonny said loudly. "What are the two of you talking about?"

"Where did you go last night?" Jessie demanded, grasping Kefira's arm. She looked from one to the other. "It doesn't take all night to get from New York to Boston. You said the attack occurred about 8:30 last night. You didn't get here until after 8:00 this morning. What did you do in the meantime?"

Kefira looked at Jessie seriously. "We went to a judge that Hadji knew in New York City and were married."

"How?" Jonny demanded. "What about the blood tests and waiting period?"

"They have no required physicals or blood tests in New York, and the waiting period can be waived," she replied.

Jonny grabbed Hadji by the shoulder and jerked him around to face him. "Why?" he questioned, staring at his brother with a hurt expression. "You had to know that I would want to be there . . ."

"I was trying to protect her," he explained desperately. "The men who attacked us said that the reason they were not trying for me was because whoever is behind them fears the political repercussions of trying to remove me from the United States by force. I may be the Sultan of Bangalore, but I am also a U.S. citizen with a very powerful father . . . a father who would cause a great deal of trouble if I simply disappeared from American soil."

"So you figured if you married Kefira, she becomes a U.S. citizen by default, affording her the same safeguard."

"Yes," Hadji acknowledged wearily. "We thought to keep the marriage quiet unless it became necessary to use the knowledge to protect her. But now . . ."

Jonny looked up. Jessie and Kefira had slid to the far side of the bed and Kefira was speaking urgently to Jessie in a low, inaudible tone. Jessie nodded once and then looked up.

"Hadji, do the people in Bangalore know where we live?"

Hadji shook his head. "No, I do not believe so. I have taken great care never to mention it to anyone. It was one of the reasons that I felt relatively safe in bringing Kefira here."

"Then I think that we need to head back to our place. I'm the only one of us that's gotten any sleep to speak of in the last 24 hours. We can't make any kind of decisions until the three of you have gotten some rest." She consulted her watch quickly. "It's almost 9:30. That makes it about 8:00 p.m. in Bangalore. They'll be settling down for the night. Let's recoup and then think about this again."

Jonny shook himself. "Good idea. You guys wait here for a few minutes more, and let me go clear the decks with my boss. I'll be right back." Hadji nodded wearily. Jonny looked at him for a long moment and then thumped him on the shoulder gently. "Chin up, Hadj. We're not done yet. We'll figure something out."