Gate Deadlock (35 page)

The same tour to the Squad’s headquarters took
place the next morning, after Lian had served me breakfast. She
didn’t speak much but the expression on her face made me think she
was expecting my comment on the food.

‘That was exactly like British breakfast Lian.
You’ve really done it.’ I told her.

She bowed her head to hide a smile.

Denzel was waiting for me in the same,
impersonal room. Only this time he was sitting in an armchair with
his back turned to me. The circular wall in front of him was
transformed into a huge screen where a video was on. It was like
silent movies, the volume had been turned off and I didn’t really
pay attention to it as I was expecting to see Christopher in any
moment. The abandoned building in which some people were running
frantically in their effort to protect themselves from their
pursuers was probably a show of force by Denzel. I didn’t know that
he hadn’t played his last card yet.

‘Are you ready to leave us, Miss Ioannou?’

‘Yes, I am ready.’

‘And you’re anxious to meet your old friend I
guess. He’ll join you in a few minutes. But I’m afraid you’ll have
to accept another one of my men to come with you. Just in case you
run off again. Which of course if you’re clever, as I think you
are, will not cross your mind.’

The people in the video had reached a dead end.
They were desperately looking for a way out but they must have got
to the basement of the building and their faces revealed pure
horror as they realized that the only way out was behind their
pursuers. It was a sickening film.

‘I believe you like adventure films, don’t you?’
Was there anything about me they didn’t know?

‘Consider this as my farewell present to you. I
just wanted you to be fully aware of the potential of the man who
will be next to you until your mission is over. I don’t believe
that ignorance is bliss, you see. To consider him as just a soldier
would be an understatement. That he has the makings of an
executioner is certain. See for yourself. ’

I thought he was talking about the man he was
sending to spy on Christopher and me. I was sure this man was going
to be Tex. But, before I had time to protest, the video camera had
turned towards the other side of the room where I was able to see
the face of the condemned people’s pursuers. The man whose ponytail
hair and unshaved face carried a wild attraction as he smiled to
his victims before shooting at them with something that looked like
an advanced machine gun, was the man I loved, the man who I had
considered to be my guardian angel, the man whose soul I was trying
so hard to save. It was Christopher who was laughing after he had
executed those poor, unarmed men and women. I could see his
distorted features, his mouth wide open and his head moving
backwards in a horrible silent laughter the echo of which I was
certain I could clearly hear in my head. The video camera turned to
the mass of dead people and started zooming in to the bloody parts
of their lifeless bodies. Among them I saw the dead body of a
child.

I didn’t want to watch anymore. I realized I was
sobbing and the laughter was so loud now. But it wasn’t coming from
the video. It was coming from the man in front of me who was
laughing out of delight either for the images before him or for my
reaction to them.

‘Show our friend out. And make sure
she’s not given an overdose this time. ’ he ordered Tex in a
threatening manner.

If I hadn’t been in shock I’d have enjoyed
the humiliation on his henchman’s face a second before putting on
my glasses. The sooner I got out of that room, the better for the
plan and for my sanity. What I had feared the most had finally
happened. I was paralyzed out of shock. But I never expected this
to be caused by Christopher.
You’ll deal
with this later,
a voice whispered in my
head
. There must be an explanation for
this. It has to be a lie. Fake videos come up all the time even in
your world. He’s obviously trying to drive a wedge between you and
Christopher. It has to be a lie.

‘You’re in really deep water now, sugar!’ Tex
whispered to me in an amused, nasty voice as he walked next to
me.

He took me to another room. Behind my dark
glasses I was able to see three figures moving. Someone made me sit
on a hard, uncomfortable chair. There were two other similar chairs
on my left that were now taken by the two dark figures. I knew one
of them had to be Christopher. Normally, I would feel safe being so
close to him. That was before Denzel’s farewell present. I wished
Susan could have prepared me for this. I wondered if Susan and
Plato knew about the dark part of Christopher’s personality.

I remembered his cold face the day I was
captured by Tex on that mountain. I had chosen to believe that it
had all been an act. I had decided not to even think that
Christopher, my Christopher, had become the cruel criminal the
Squad wanted him to be. It wasn’t making any sense. How
double-faced could he be? How fool did this make me?

The third figure was next to me. ‘You won’t feel
a thing.’ he said. I recognized the voice of the “doctor” I had
heard the previous day before going into convulsions. He must have
thought I was afraid of becoming sick by the drug he was injecting
me. But I had bigger problems than that.

17.

DISILLUSIONMENT

This time waking up
was much easier. Yet, trying to sit up, I felt a fleeting spell of
dizziness. I looked around. Okay, I was in the back seat of a car.
A big car. Probably the black jeep that I’d seen the Squad guys
drive when they were after me two years ago. I heard music coming
from the radio. Christopher was behind the wheel and next to him
there was a young, black man I’d never seen before. I was relieved
to see it wasn’t Tex. His head was shaved, reminding me of Denzel,
but the smooth curves of his face and the well-shaped lips revealed
a handsome face. Of course, he too was wearing black glasses.

‘Good! You’re up. It’s about time.’ The new guy
said. ‘I’m Mateo and of course you know Christopher.’

My angel didn’t take his eyes off the
wheel but, despite the fact that I could only see the right side of
his face, I could tell by the pounding vein on his temple and his
clenched jaw that he was really tense.

‘Where are we?’ I asked, trying to get rid of
the familiar feeling of the lump in my throat.

‘Outside Pylos.’ Mateo answered. ‘We’re heading
to our lodgings. We’re almost there. See that cluster of houses?
That’s where we’re staying. It’s all ours.’ He laughed.

‘We’re the only residents.’

The car stopped and I followed my
companions as they got off. The sky was dark and, suddenly, a bolt
of lightning lit it, followed by a deafening clap of thunder that
promised a storm. I was surprised to see that my luggage was in the
trunk, even the huge, black suitcase I had left in the house in
Corinth.
That’s one of the benefits of
working with
them
, I
thought.

They carried my luggage into one of the
low houses that I guessed would be mine. Mateo put the suitcases on
the floor and went back to the car leaving Christopher and me in
the living room. Christopher opened the windows and dim daylight
flooded the room. Then he looked around the house, opened the
wardrobe and cupboards and examined them as if he was expecting to
find something inside.
A very familiar
image
, I thought, as my heart was about to
explode.

I stared at him, thinking how much I had missed
his kisses that used to take my breath away, hoping desperately for
him to make the first move. He didn’t have to pretend anymore.
Mateo could not hear us. Suddenly, I realized the silence had taken
too long. Something felt wrong. Really wrong. Again.

It was then that he spoke to me for the first
time. But what he said seemed so irrelevant to the situation and
his voice so unbelievably detached, that I could not believe my
ears.

‘We’ll be staying in the house right next to
yours. You’d better take some rest. We’ll meet you in a couple of
hours, to get organized.’ He looked at me in perplexity. ‘Do you
need anything else?’ he asked, making me furious. I couldn’t take
it any longer.

‘Do I need anything else? I don’t believe you!
You must be joking!’

He didn’t say anything. He just watched me
impassively, taking no pains to make it easier for me.

‘Come on Christopher! It’s me!’ I shouted,
bewildered by his attitude. Had it been wishful thinking to assume
that he’d take me in his arms at once and forget about everything
that kept us apart? ‘What is wrong with you? Have you been
lobotomized? Do you know what I have been through to get you back?
Didn’t you want this?’

‘Get me back?’ His smile was very wrong.
‘There’s no such thing. You shouldn’t have done anything. I’ve
warned you not to.’

‘Is this what you have to say to me after… after
all this time?’

He shrugged, as if he was stating the most
implicit fact in the most nonchalant manner. ‘I thought I’d made it
clear. But I’ll go over this again. This is who I am. Who I really
am. You’d better erase the past because the time for romance is
over. I’ve turned over a new leaf and you should do the same. So,
let go off your fantasies and concentrate on your mission. The
sooner it’s over, the better for all of us. So many lives are at
stake!’ A cruel smile twisted his sweet lips. ‘I really hope I’m
not the reason for such a folly! It’ll be the biggest mistake in
your life.’ His words could as well have been bullets aiming at my
heart. I was sure I could feel the pain in my chest.

‘You said you’d always be with me. That I was
your top priority, that …’

‘Look, I’m really sorry it got so personal. It
happens sometimes, when attractive women like you are involved in
our missions. The mistake was all mine. I shouldn’t have let things
get so far. But, have no doubt. It was all part of the game. Again,
nothing personal.’

‘Is everything all right?’ Mateo asked behind
him.

‘What about your message? Was that a fantasy?
Have you forgotten about it too? You wrote that your heart will
always belong to me.’

It was a bit below the belt to remind him of the
letter in front of Mateo, but I could not control myself anymore. I
was hoping that somehow I would be able to find that soft part in
his heart, the part that he had decided to hide under the disguise
of his cold face and his cruel words. The whole world had shrunk
once again to my microcosm, which was now threatening to blow
up.

‘I’ve tried to make it easier for you. If you
still like to believe in fairy tales, it’s your problem. But I’ve
got to say, this whole situation leaves me cold.’ he said in the
same, unbearable tone, like he’d lost his patience with me.

He turned around and left. I stood
aghast on the same spot, until I heard the car speed off.

So that was it. It was all done in vain.
Christopher had taken me out of his life. Forever. The man I had
brought back was someone else, a stranger with a cold, grim face
and a cruel voice. I had tried to find on his face the slightest
trace of the man I had bound my life to, but it had been useless.
And I would have to live with this, to suffer this torment for the
following days, weeks or months since we were supposed to be
working together on this mission.

I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t even think about
it anymore. My mind refused to accept it. Suddenly, I was panicked,
certain that I was about to go insane. I had to go away from him. I
wanted to run. I wanted to hide. I wanted to die.

And that’s exactly what I did, the only thing I
knew well, without realizing the repercussions of my impulsive
reaction until much later. The voice in my head, synchronized with
the ear-splitting rumble of thunder, kept shouting one word, over
and over again.

RUN, RUN, RUN!

Keep reading for the first
chapters of

5starred time-travel romance

BEGUILED

The Gate Deadlock Series #2

www.amazon.com/dp/B00CS5MS3M

Synopsis

The war between the present and the future has
started. Compelled to cooperate with the forces of the future in
order to gain Christopher back, Emma has taken on a new mission.
The portal that connects the two worlds must be relocated otherwise
there is no hope for humanity. But there are so many obstacles she
has to overcome; Christopher has given up on their love, her best
friend has been kidnapped and the life-changing truth about her
family is revealed. Worst of all, a new, unexpected menace under
the name Frederick, Christopher’s evil double, threatens their
lives. 

Will she be able to secure the future of
mankind and claim the love she has fought so hard for? What if
Christopher has decided to sacrifice himself again in order to save
her? 
In “Beguiled”, the second book of the “Gate
Deadlock” series, love knows no deadlocks.