BEYOND THE PALE: ( The Outlander ) (20 page)

“Stop it” he yelled at
her.

“Leave that restraint
alone and lie still and I will” she countered as she continued to strike any
vulnerable areas of his body with more lashes. River had little choice but to
comply and lay face down and still. The whipping stopped but Audrina now
insisted that he place his left hand back in the open cuff.

“NO! I want you to
release me, and I won’t get angry with you,” River was lying still as
instructed, although his left hand stayed firmly at his side, and he began to
pull harder on the right restraint. He continued pulling as he started once
again to feel the strike of a cane on his bare buttocks. Audrina swung the cane
down mercilessly again and again until his spirit began to falter and he
stopped trying to free himself.

“Put your left hand
back in the cuff. I won’t tell you again,” she said as she relentlessly reined
the cane down on his backside. River had no course other than to comply and as
he slipped his fingers through the left cuff, Audrina quickly pulled it on to
his wrist and yanked it tighter. Without any warning she slipped a gag in his
mouth and fastened the strap behind his head. Although she had started in the
spirit of fun, she was now getting carried away, as she was got more excited by
the power exchange between them.

“You can shut up now
and just listen to me,” she said with clipped anger. “I am going to make you
learn how to obey me. When I tell you to do something you will do it without
arguing with me.” Audrina had switched to using a riding crop as a milder
instrument of coercion and had struck him a few times to emphasize her
instructions. “If you fight me, I am going to hurt you,” she said striking him
across his thighs, knowing it would hurt. “And if you are a good boy, I will
make it pleasant for you.” To illustrate this point she had reached between his
thighs and started to rub and caress him. “But first, I am afraid that I am
going to have to hurt you some more because I like doing it, and you will need
to beg me to stop … and then I may let you pleasure me before I let you come
with me to the party.” Audrina was talking in a slow and pronounced way in
between delivering strikes of her crop. She was lost in some sadistic head
space. The narcotic high that she was experiencing was acting like a rush to
the head, and her sexual lust and erotic thoughts were now dominating her
emotions and impelling her actions.

 In her preoccupied
state she did not notice the great strain that River was applying to the chain
that secured his right wrist. Neither did she notice that he had dislocated the
thumb on his left hand and was working his way out of that loose restraint.

Audrina had left him
for a minute or so and was tightening the straps on a strap-on harness that she
had just put on. She had also picked up a long whip to practice with. She had
only managed to wield it once across his back, and as she excitedly watched his
body contort in pain, she witnessed the chain break that secured his right
hand. She had not yet noticed that his left arm was already free as he spun
around and jumped up from the bed. She felt herself being violently pushed to
the ground as River held one hand to her throat; he held the other in reserve
seemingly wanting to punch her. It surprised her how quickly she had accepted
this turnabout of dominance. She was still feeling highly sexually aroused, and
this only served as a new erotic disposition for her. “Hit me, go on hit me.
What are you waiting for?” she snarled, and then beseeched him, “I want you to
hurt me, and I want you to rape me.”

 River found himself
disgusted by her words and her actions as well as his own. He removed his hand
from her neck, and dropped and unclenched his other hand whilst getting off
her. Staring down at her he said, “You are sick in the head. Get up and get
dressed. I am taking you home.”

Audrina looked up at
him showing an expression which was part frustration, part shame and part
anger. She stood up, making a point not to look at him, nor say anything.
Instead she busily searched for her clothes, and hurriedly put them on. River
did the same, quickly getting dressed and getting ready to leave. Audrina
however was ready first and already heading towards the door.

“Hold on Audrina. I am
taking you home.”

“You!” she spat out the
word. “You are not taking me anywhere. I am going back to Style Seekers to find
Stannis. He can take me to the party,” she sought a reaction from River. “Or
back here. He is probably more of a man than you are, and a better lover.”

 River constrained his
emotion and stared blankly at her. Audrina did not return his stare but simply
walked out the door.

She left River behind
and feeling very sorry for himself. He considered going after her but chose not
to. He also considered going home but didn’t want to arrive home so late
without Audrina. He was so angry with her right now. But he didn’t hate her; in
fact he knew he loved her. However the part of her character that he loved was
hidden under too many complex layers of dysfunction that he could not fathom.
He decided that sleep was the best option, although he could not find out how to
turn the light off or where a duvet was stored. It was a miserable night to
follow a bad date and a dreadful day.

River made sure not to
return home before everyone had left for work the next day. Emotionally he was
feeling delicate, and he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to talk with anyone.
The sanctuary of his own room was what he needed, and apart from conducting his
exercises out on the roof terrace, he stayed there until Valerie came home. He
had to consider what he was going to say to her when and if challenged about
the other night. He assumed Audrina would have gone straight into work, based
on her reliance upon amphetamines to counter lack of sleep. It was usual for
her to burn the candle at both ends, but he was unsure as to what state of mind
she would be in when she arrived home. 

River chose to tell
Valerie a half truth. When she asked about the all night party, he told Valerie
that Audrina had got upset with him and that they had spent the night
separately. He said that he assumed Audrina had gone to work early and he had
not yet had the chance to clear the air and make up. He didn’t mention the box
hotel or Audrina’s bizarre behaviour. He didn’t want to alarm her or embarrass
Audrina or himself. Valerie expressed some sympathy for River telling him that
Audrina had always been temperamental. She said that she believed Audrina would
soon get over being upset, as was her bipolar nature.

However things were not
going to be that easily resolved here. When Audrina came home, she made a point
of ignoring River and didn’t speak to anyone before disappearing to her room.
She seemed to want to keep to herself and didn’t come out to join the family
when Valerie announced that Dinner was served. For Valerie, who ruled the
dining table with an iron rod, this was unacceptable behaviour. She went to
Audrina’s room, and ignoring her pleas to be left alone went inside to talk
with her.

Nathan, Anton and River
waited on Valerie to return before eating their meals. But when she finally sat
back down at the table with Audrina still noticeably absent, she remained
sullen for the rest of the meal which set the mood for everyone else. River
felt guilty and responsible in some way. It was an awkward feeling. After
excusing himself, he went out on the roof terrace and remained in deep
consternation out there.

Later on, Nathan joined
him there. River’s gut reaction wanted to retreat to his room because it was
obvious that Nathan was troubled and wanted to discuss the situation with
Audrina. He stayed though out of respect.

“Valerie tells me that
Audrina and you have fallen out.”

“She is still upset
with me over yesterday.”

“It seems more than
that River. Audrina has told Valerie that she will not eat or socialise with
the family if you are there,” said Nathan looking concerned.

“So that is simple, I
will stay out of her way until she feels differently.”

Nathan wanted the
truth, “You can do that if you want, but that is not the answer I am looking
for. I want to know what is going on with you two.”

River looked troubled
as he weighed up the consequences of telling his friend the truth, against
offending him as her father. “There is nothing going on, We are just friends,
and we were fond of each other, until I upset her in some way the other evening.”

“Well I can understand
that. I appreciate how easy it is to annoy or upset her. However Valerie
doesn’t feel quite the same way as I do. She seems to think that there is
something deeper going on here and that this is more than a tiff between
friends.” Nathan rested his hand on River’s arm to reassure him, but also to
stress a point, “She’s still my little girl, River. And I don’t want to find
out that you have acted inappropriately with her. Remember you are my guest,
and you will always remain welcome as such as long as you do not hurt my
family.”

River fully appreciated
this. He nodded in complete agreement, and in his heart he felt that he had
acted treacherously to his host and benefactor. He had broken the code of
acceptable behaviour for a guest as unbrokenly practised by his community. 

“I am sorry that I have
upset your daughter, and I am sorry that I have disappointed you. I want to
make amends. Please let me ride along with you tomorrow?”

“No River, I would
prefer if you didn’t.”

River was taken aback
by this outright rejection. He worried that his friendship with Nathan was in
jeopardy. It upset him how Audrina was able to destroy his whole standing in
this family, if she didn’t get her way.

He resolved to go and
talk with Anton and make sure that their friendship still remained strong. He
realised though, that he would need to address the subject on what Anton had
seen a few days back; the day when Audrina and himself had openly expressed
their love in front of him.

“I should have really talked
to you before about what you saw,” River was purposely vague for both of their
sakes. “Audrina and I were very fond of each other before I went natural
free-running with your father. She thought that I wasn’t coming back. What you
saw that day was our elation at seeing each other again.”

“Why did she think you
weren’t coming back?”

“Because I wasn’t meant
to be; your father was helping me return to my people at Avana. We met some of
my family out there at a place you call the Garden of the Gods. I was meant to
go with them but I wasn’t ready to go. I wasn’t ready to say good bye to
Audrina, or to you Anton.”

“Why didn’t you tell me
on this the day you came back?”

 “Because I promised
your father not to involve you, and nobody knew about my relations with your
sister. But it was wrong for me to keep secrets from you, and I apologise for
that. Later, I will tell you every thing that happened out there. No more
secrets.”

“And what about Audrina
and you?” asked Anton.

“I do care very much
for your sister even though I don’t really even understand her. But I offended
her the other day, and she feels that I have rejected her. But I still care for
her, and I want you to know that I would never hurt or harm your sister,” -Anton
nodded but reserved his opinion- “I am glad that we had a chance to discuss
this and clear the air.” Anton and River were now in full agreement. Taking
advantage of Anton’s better mood, he asked him whether he could come to work
with him tomorrow. Anton agreed, and River was grateful for the small mercy of
not having to spend tomorrow alone.  

Departing Anton’s room,
he decided to get a drink of water before he retired to his own. As he
approached the kitchen he heard somebody boiling a kettle, and assuming it was
Valerie, he steeled himself for the encounter. It wasn’t Valerie; it was
Audrina, and she immediately stopped what she was doing and went to leave the
kitchen empty handed. River’s eyes pleaded with her to stay, but all he could
say was her name as he grabbed hold of her left arm above her elbow. She tried
to break free of his hold twice, but he held her tightly. Then in total
frustration she cried out, “Let go off me. Let go of my arm.” River tried to
make her look at him, but he realised that it was a lost cause and he released
his hold. Audrina ran away from him and slammed her bedroom door shut. River
remained standing in the kitchen looking disconsolately at the floor. When he
looked up he realised that Valerie had been standing in the darkened Dining
room and she had seen the whole episode. She held an expression of realisation,
but she also looked angry and turned quickly to go to her own bedroom. River
wondered just what she thought she had perceived.

Major Carlson had only
been on duty for an hour before he received the invitation to join Dr Mercer
and Citizen Naighal on the 9
^th
floor. He noted that it was an
invitation rather than a couple of Internal Security guards coming to escort
him. He speculated though that this was definitely a power play. The 9
^th
floor venue spoke volumes. The 9
^th
floor although not restricted,
was not usually accessed by most officers in the Interior Office division of
the CPS -Headquarters’ building. It was comprised mostly of unused board rooms
and some of the CPS Commanders had their offices there. However it was the
presence of senior rank officials from the Interior Office who made it
exclusive. These were not serving officers but part of the political elite who
directed the affairs of the Metropolis’s largest and most powerful government
office. They were not addressed by quasi military rankings, but instead as
ordinary citizens. The difference here being the insignia of government that they
exclusively wore. It was usually a small metallic badge which bore the emblem
of a 33 tiered pyramid. This insignia was normally worn on the collar but
sometimes as a chest badge. Nathan assumed that Citizen Naighal was likely one
of these government officials.

Nathan accepted the
invitation for a meeting at eleven. This gave him a little time to postpone his
other commitments for the morning and to research the names of the two men that
he would be meeting. Of course he had seen both their names before on the
original warrant that had been used to detain River. He had also addressed them
that day down in the medical lab on sub level B6. But he hadn’t seen them at
all, because they were standing behind blackened glass. He had assumed that
they were Psych-Ops because they were working in B6. Sure enough Dr. Mercer
came up as a member of Psych-Ops, but Citizen Naighal’s details and position
were restricted. Seeing as he was searching a CPS database logged on as a Major
and an Intelligence officer, the fact that his search was restricted gave
testament to his assumption that Citizen Naighal was a ranking government
official. Nathan had very minimal contact with any government officials. Sure
he reported to them, but only through a chain of command. That would be through
Colonels, Deputy Ops, and Commanders. It was unlikely that any commander
reported to Citizen Naighal because if that was the case, Leo Weiss would never
have countermanded the warrant on River. No this Naighal was probably in
government, but not in a direct role of responsibility over the CPS or Interior
Office. Nathan would bear this in mind in his dealings with him. He would of
course show due respect, but he didn’t have to abjectly comply or concede to
him.

Nathan walked into the
unused board room promptly at 11am. Being neither late nor early sent no
discernable message. Citizen Naighal and Dr. Mercer were early and were sitting
at the corner of a long cedar board room table. Nathan recognised Dr. Mercer
from his department profile. He was a thick set black man in his late forties
with a shaved head. The smaller man sitting beside him with the bleached white
hair had to be Naighal. He looked about the same age as Nathan who had joined
them at their end sitting at the other corner. It looked like his assumptions
were correct; Naighal was wearing the pyramid insignia of the government on his
collar. He also wore a similar sized enamel emblem of an owl beside it. This
was the insignia of the Society of Moloch. As far as Nathan knew, they were a religious
and charitable foundation whose membership was both exclusive and highly
represented amongst the plutocrats and oligarchies that made up the elite
powerbase of this and other Citadels.

“Major Carlson. Thank
you for accepting my invitation,” Naighal gave emphasis to the word ‘
invitation
’.
“Our conversation the other day was a little one sided, and we didn’t get the
opportunity to meet face to face.”

Nathan was not really
surprised that Naighal and Mercer had failed to introduce themselves, nor qualify
their positions or responsibilities, “So this is about me countermanding your
warrant?” 

“Not exactly; but it does
concern the young man who now is protected by your custody. An asset of yours I
am led to believe.” Naighal had a creepy way of speaking, no doubt practiced as
a tool of intimidation. Dr. Mercer seemed content to stay mute; and he stared
intently at Nathan which added to the sinister overtone.

“I have seen Dr. Khan’s
hospital record for River,” stated Nathan. “I can only imagine that this is the
reason for Psych-Ops interest in him. He is a man with a different biology and
immune system to ours. I guess you would like to run some experiments on him;
open him up and look under the hood so to speak. Well I am afraid that he is
more useful to me and my division alive, than as some dead lab rat.”

“Your hyperbole serves
no purpose here Major,” Naighal reprimanded the Major. “It is true that the
young man shows some strange mutations which are of interest to the Psychology
and parapsychology operations and biomedical research division.” Naighal
clearly didn’t like the commonly accepted abbreviation of ‘Psych-Ops’. -“However,
our interest actually lays with You, Major,” Naighal cleared his throat, almost
melodramatically. “We are concerned that this young man called Eli River who
was so prematurely processed into citizenship, is living effectively within
your home and trusted as a family member.”

 “He is registered at
my apartment. Other than that, this is of no concern to you,” Nathan angrily stated.

“Ah but it is Major.
This is of much concern to us. Perhaps, you are not aware that this Eli River
has committed a number of misdemeanours and felonies. These will not only lead
to convictions against him, but possibly to your daughter as well, and to
yourself. Before any arrest warrant is raised, I would like you to look over
this dossier that has been compiled on his crimes and the allegations against
your daughter and yourself.” As Naighal spoke, Dr. Mercer pushed a thin folder
across the table to Major Carlson.

Major Carlson took hold
of the folder but did not open it. He was already thrown by the implied
severity of the situation, but he realised that he was dealing with Psych-Ops
here. That was most probably the intention. In fact the reason that he was
currently suffering from a thumping headache was more than likely attributable
to the provocative staring from Dr. Mercer, or possibly a chemical agent
sprayed in the air to cause consternation, to which of course they would be
immune. These were all tricks known to be used by Psych-Ops. The Major steadied
his resolve to not be browbeaten into a defensive position by the government
official. His first play was to act unfazed by Naighal’s rhetoric, and so he
feigned non interest in the contents of the folder.

“What exactly are these
allegations?”

“Are you aware that
your daughter is pregnant?”

Nathan did not believe
this for one moment, “Pregnant, how could she be? What makes you say that?”

“You may be aware that
she had her annual medical two days ago. Her Internal examination revealed that
she is a few weeks pregnant. The medical report was passed to our department as
a matter of course. We linked her case file to that of Citizen Eli River, as we
have evidence of the both of them engaging in a sexual relationship which may
or may not be known to you.  As far as we know this relationship has been
ongoing since you introduced this young man into your household and is still
ongoing. In the dossier you will find a booking confirmation in both their names
made for a sex suite at the Rest Assured box hotel in district 5. His DNA has
been identified in the foetus.”

 Nathan was at a loss
for words, ‘
Ongoing since you introduced this man into your household
’;
those words cut Nathan deeply. His mind raced and he started connecting the
dots. So this was why River wanted to return to New Denver. Right now he felt
very much betrayed by Nathan’s duplicity.

“I didn’t know about
this. I assume that your facts are correct, but sex is not exactly illegal
between consenting adults. I do not see your involvement here.”

“Sex with consent is
not an offence, if that is the case here. We won’t know for sure without
consulting your daughter. However unauthorised conception and pregnancy without
a license is a felony. They are both culpable and the burden of proof lies
against them to show that this was not predetermined and intentional. If that
is the case, then this is no misdemeanour and your daughter will hold a
conviction which may impede her being allowed any future license to conceive.
If she holds a conviction, this will reflect badly on your own, your wife’s,
and your daughter’s careers.”

“What do you want?”
asked Nathan.

Naighal outlined the
options, “In similar cases, where unlicensed pregnancy is involved we advice
termination of the pregnancy. In cases where the unauthorised conception was
proven to be intentional, and used to circumvent the clear guidelines on
population control, we demand sterilisation of both parties.”

Nathan reemphasised his
prior question, “I believe I said WHAT do YOU want?”

“We see Citizen Eli
River as a foreign contaminant. We would like you Major Carlson as his
authorised custodian, to sign papers which allow for his arrest and detention.
If your daughter confirms that she had no knowledge or intention of conception,
we will pursue no felony in her case. If she agrees to a termination of the
pregnancy we may drop some charges against her or reduce them to a
misdemeanour. If she confirms that she was raped, we will treat her as an unwilling
victim and recommend termination of her pregnancy and will drop all charges
against her. She will be completely exonerated of the charge of complicity; and
so will your wife and yourself.”

“What would then happen
to River?”

“That will no longer be
your concern, Major.”

“I cannot give you an
answer right now. I have to talk to my wife and daughter about this.”

“There is a copy of the
warrant for his arrest in the folder. It cannot be authorised whilst you
already hold custodial responsibility. You have 24 hours to relinquish that
right and authorise our arrest warrant. If you fail to meet this deadline, we
will hold you in contempt and complicit, and will request that your custodial
warrant be revoked. We would then request that you be suspended from duty until
your situation had been investigated by Internal Security investigators.”

Nathan picked up the
folder and walked out without taking his leave or expressing any intention. He
did not like being threatened. One way or other they would get their answer
from him. Right now he had to get home and talk to Valerie without delay. As
for River, he had not decided what to do. He was angry with him, but he had to
be careful what he said or did in the next 24 hours because his actions and
words were certain to be scrutinised.