Secrets of New Pompeii (6 page)

She gasped and shrank back against the wall.
“That’s a horrible thing to say.” Her gaze softened and her lips
trembled. He wasn’t sure if her distress was real or cleverly
acted, but it was effective. “Why are you being so crass? Have you
changed that much since I saw you last? You were dominating and
unpolished, but you were never a bully.”

So she did remember him. His body stirred at
the memory of all they’d shared, and he thanked the Benevolent
Maker for the darkness. “Everyone changes,
Vanda
. You
miraculously morphed from a breeding slave into a royal princess.
I’m pretty sure my crassness can’t hold a candle to that!”

Dario returned, postponing her reply. He was
dressed in a short tunic and leather sandals, and he tossed Max a
bundle containing similar garb. Perhaps more planning had gone into
this strategy than Max originally thought. While Max wiped the oil
from his skin and dressed, Dario bound Naloni’s hands behind her
back and draped a wide
palla
around her shoulders and over
her head, creating a hood that cast her face into shadow. Then he
lowered the hood and held up a length of cloth, obviously intending
to gag her.

“That’s not necessary,” she said calmly. “Max
has a pistol. Do you really think I’ll risk my life by drawing
attention to us?”

“Absolutely,” Max countered. “She’ll die
before she willingly cooperates. You have no idea how stubborn she
can be.”

“And you do?” Dario challenged as he tied the
gag behind her head. “You keep offering advice as if you know
her.”

“Our paths crossed before,” Max admitted. “A
very long time ago.”

Dario looked intrigued. “Now there is a story
I’m anxious to hear, but we’ve a long way to go before it’s safe
enough for conversation.”

“There is nowhere in the city where we’ll be
safe,” Max finally pointed out.

“Which is why I’m taking you beyond the
barrier.” Dario offered no more information. He pulled Naloni’s
hood back into place and wrapped his arm around her waist. “Let’s
go.”

Having burned his bridges behind him, Max
followed Dario into the unknown.

The door burst open to Emperor Sineth Olla’s
private dining room, causing his attendants to jump. Sineth tossed
the piece of succulent
larinta
fish in his mouth and glared
at the intruder. “What the hell is wrong with you, Firdose? You
know I hate interruptions when I’m eating.”

“This is important, Your Majesty, or I would
not have bothered you.”

Not only had Firdose entered without
knocking, he rushed across the room without waiting for permission.
Something must be very wrong. Nothing rattled Firdose. Sineth set
down his fork and swiped his mouth with his napkin. “What’s going
on?”

The chancellor moved to the companel and
activated a global news feed. The image materialized on the
standard viewscreen until Firdose switched it to holo-mode and
transferred the broadcast to the tabletop reflector.

“One of the chamber maids brought this to my
attention,” Firdose told him in a tight, agitated tone. “As close
as I can figure, this happened less than an hour ago.”

In shocked horror, Sineth watched as two
naked wrestlers jumped from a small stage and terrorized the
onlookers. He was about to ask Firdose why he should care about a
disturbance in New Pompeii, when the black-haired wrestler grabbed
a young woman and placed his sword against her throat.

Sineth’s heart lodged solidly in his throat
and he leaned closer to the silent image. “Is that… Please tell me
that’s not Naloni.” As if in response to his deepest fear, the
accomplice attempted to remove her wig. His efforts were
interrupted by a charging guard, so the brigand holding her
finished the job. “Is this some perverted joke? Why has no one
reported my daughter’s abduction? Where the fuck is Tarhee!”

“I pinged his comstation the moment I saw the
feed,” Firdose assured him. “But audiocoms are forbidden inside the
barrier. All we can do is wait until he responds.”

“I wait for no one, not even my son,” he
shouted. “This is outrageous!”

The vid began to loop, so Firdose deactivated
the channel. “I’ll try again, Your Majesty. One moment please.”
With shaking hands the chancellor paged the prince and then paged
him again.

“I’m a little busy right now,” Tarhee snapped
a moment later.

“Activate video, you worthless piece of
shit!” Sineth stomped across the room and shouldered Firdose aside.
“Where the fuck is your sister?”

The vidscreen flickered and then an image of
Tarhee’s pale face materialized. “Hello, Father.”

“Don’t play coy with me! I’ve seen the news
feed.”

Tarhee’s eyes rounded and he said something
to whoever was just off screen. “I was unaware there was a news
feed. We are scouring the city for her even as we speak. She was
taken by a couple of malcontents. They could not have gone
far.”

“I saw those ‘malcontents’. They were armed
gladiators. Am I wrong?”

“No sir,” Tarhee admitted. “But I don’t
believe they’ll hurt her.”

“Why the fuck not?” Sineth shook his head,
unable to believe any son of his could be so naive.

“It was not a spontaneous act. She was
intentionally targeted.”

“I am well aware of the situation. I watched
it happen. They will demand some sort of ransom. Of that I have no
doubt, but why would you presume she’s safe until negotiations are
concluded? They could pass her back and forth until—” His voice
broke and he clenched his fists, infuriated by his loss of control.
“She must be found as soon as possible.”

“Everything that can be done is being done.”
The assurance sounded hollow and Tarhee’s terrified expression
hinted at his doubts.

“She’s chipped, you imbecile. Have you
scanned for her location?”

Tarhee fidgeted, adjusting the drape of his
ridiculous toga. “The noninterference clause makes such scans
complicated.”

“If anything happens to her, I’m holding you
responsible.” He waited until the weasel looked him in the eyes and
then he added, “Whatever they do to her will be done to you!”

“Father, I—”

“You have until morning then I storm your
precious city with all the resources available to
me
. Your
noninterference clause means nothing when my daughter’s life is on
the line.” Without another word, he terminated the
transmission.

Hating the weakness revealed by her actions,
Naloni clung to Max’s thick upper arm. Dario had untied her hands
and removed the gag, which only made her more uncomfortable. If he
wasn’t worried about her causing a scene, they must be isolated in
deed.

They’d passed through an abandoned work
space, a smithy or some sort of metal shop. It was hard to tell
from what remained of the ramshackle building. Max slung her over
his shoulder and carried her down a ladder, much to Dario’s
amusement.

And then the endless tunnel. Dark and dank,
the passage meandered and dipped with no apparent rhyme or reason.
“Where are we?” she asked for the third time.

“Don’t worry, Princess. We’ll protect you.”
The sarcasm in Dario’s tone belied his assurance, so Naloni tried
to ignore him. He carried a torch aloft, casting eerie shadows on
the rough-hewn walls.

There were no mines in New Pompeii, so this
had to be a smugglers tunnel or some primitive escape route. But
escape to where? Once they were beyond the barrier, how would an
occupant of New Pompeii survive in Fedoros?

“I had no idea this was down here,” Max
muttered. “When and why was the passage dug?”

Her attention perked as she waited for Dario
to answer.

“It was completed about a year ago and the
team that dug it returned to their homeworld.”

Their homeworld? Naloni tensed. Dario
suddenly sounded less like a gladiator and more like a Fedoran
spy.

“We’re almost there,” he told Max.

Almost where
? She wanted to scream.
Did they intend to keep her locked underground like some sort of
animal?

Would that be any worse than the conditions
in which they were kept? She was fighting to change their
circumstances. Of course they were unaware of her efforts.

“I’m female,” she blurted, grasping for
anything that would help Dario see that he needed to cease this
nonsense before anyone was seriously harmed.

“We noticed, Princess. Believe me, we both
noticed.”

“Within the Fedoran royal family that means
my only real purpose is to produce a male heir.” It was a
ridiculous exaggeration, but she could think of nothing else to
motivate her release. “You should have taken Tarhee. He is worth
far more to Father than—”

“Are you suggesting we kill you and try
again?” Dario spun to face her, his features almost demonic in the
flickering light. “Or shall we spread those royal legs and get
started on an heir?”

“That’s enough,” Max cautioned.

Dario’s only response was a scathing
glance.

Her shoulders began to shake and keeping her
teeth separated was the only way to prevent their chattering. She
had dressed for the crush of a party, not a cold, musty tunnel
leading to who knew where.

They emerged in a rounded chamber a few
minutes later. Dario lit a second torch then shoved his into a
sconce driven into the rock wall. The room was obviously manmade
and offered little in the way of amenities. One wall was lined with
trunks that looked faintly military. Dario unlocked the first with
the key hidden in the crevasse above and to one side of its
lid.

“Are we staying here?”

Dario’s dark brows arched with sardonic
humor. “Not quite what you’re used to?” He pulled out a blanket and
gave it a violent shake then draped it around her trembling
shoulders. “Can’t have you dying of hypothermia. That would be
counterproductive to my plan.”

“Which is?” He’d said “my plan” not “our
plan”. Did that mean Max was only along for the ride?

Dario returned to the trunk without answering
her question and drew out a snyth-leather case. Opening the case,
he removed a small device. Was it a scanner or some sort of weapon?
If he’d wanted her dead, she’d be dead. But there were other uses
for weapons.

What was a Pompeian gladiator doing with
electronic gadgets? “Where did you get that?”

“Out of the trunk.” He motioned over his
shoulder with his thumb as he returned to her side. “Pull up your
hair and bend forward.”

“Why?”

“Because if you don’t, I’m liable to pull up
your skirt and bend you all the way over. Your choice.”

“Are you Fedoran?” she asked in her native
language.

“I was born in Rome, just like Max,” he
responded in the same language.

“Then how do you know so much about my
world?” She switched back to Latin just to remind herself she was
dealing with the enemy.

“I know lots of things. Now are you going to
assume the position or would you like Max to help you? Something
tells me it wouldn’t be the first time Max has bent you all the way
over.”

Ignoring his insinuation, she pulled her hair
away from the nape of her neck and bent forward enough to keep it
out of his way. She heard a faint hum as he maneuvered the device
back and forth and up and down. Her eyes widened. “You’re searching
for my GPS chip.” She started to straighten, but a strong hand
pressed against the back of her head, keeping her in place. It had
to be Max. Both of Dario’s hands were occupied with the
scanner.

“This is going to hurt, so take a deep
breath.”

She was halfway through her inhalation when
pain stabbed into the back of her head, branching out like
lightning across her skull. Her knees buckled and her stomach
heaved, her breath releasing in a sustained moan. Max caught her
around the waist before she crumbled to the stone floor.

“Can’t say I didn’t warn you,” Dario muttered
as he walked away.

Max turned her and pulled her into his arms.
Her legs shook so badly she had no choice but to wrap her arms
around his back. Dario was an asshole, but Max was working with
him. She couldn’t let herself forget they were partners.

“What did you just do to her?” Max’s arms
tightened around her with his agitation. He wasn’t hurting her,
just molding her intimately against the front of his body.

“She figured it out. I fried her GPS chip.
You’re next, so get over the warm fuzzies. We’ve got work to
do.”

“Are you all right?” Max asked after an edgy
pause.

“I didn’t throw up all over you.” She
groaned. “I guess that’s progress.”

His warm chuckle was familiar and far more
soothing than it should have been. “Let’s get you settled somewhere
more comfortable.”

She bit her lip, refusing to confess how
comfortable she’d found his embrace. He helped her to the makeshift
bed Dario had spread on the floor. Several blankets topped a thick
foam pad. It was worlds away from her usual mattress, but anything
was better than the cold stone floor. She scooted back toward the
wall and he adjusted the blanket around her shoulders.

With obvious reluctance Max returned to Dario
and bowed his head. Dario repeated the procedure, only Naloni could
see what he was doing this time. The device had a small screen that
allowed him to pinpoint the identification-locator chip. Once he
had the chip centered in the screen, he triggered a concentrated
beam of… She had no idea what the turquoise beam contained.

Max’s reaction was less dramatic than hers.
His arms flexed and his body tensed. He waited for Dario to step
back then he straightened and rubbed the back of his neck, his
features blank and cold. He’d been blocking out pain for years.
This was part of his everyday life. The realization made her
discomfort seem insignificant. For a moment. Then her head started
pounding again.