097:

The door was opened without a knock and Melia was dragged from her deep sleep by her hair. She screamed and fought, but there were two of them. One had her hair, and the other had secured her hands behind her back with a cord, and then grabbed her feet, which were already kicking. "What are you doing? Give me my babies!" She'd screamed, waking said babies on the bed and causing them both to wail in exhausted annoyance.

"Carlos want to talk wi' you." One of them said in broken English.

Carlos? She thought vaguely, the porn guy.

The guy who had hired the thugs to kill Jerry and then had come after her, the guy who had played Liv Sinclair the double agent, the guy Micharichio A was supposed to have got rid of.

That Carlos.

She quit struggling, realizing in that instant that she had a thing or two to say to him and the sooner she said it the sooner she'd get back to her babies. Yes, they had been left in the room alone, and that was bad, very bad.... But she had no choice. If she let her heart be frozen with fear and lost her wits.... She tamped down that wall of fear that kept threatening to paralyze her and forced her mind to stay focused on her rage. This guy had really pissed her off!

They shoved her into a room with a large computer screen, and couches all around the edges. There were windows but they were curtained and closed. It was cooler in here than in the room she'd shared with the girls. The screen lit up as her arms were released.

"Melia." Said a voice, one she'd never heard before, but one she knew nevertheless.

"Asshole." She said amicably, although she knew she'd never said it that way before in her life. She was rewarded with a huge slap on her right cheek from one of the thugs and she went flying to her knees against the left hand couch, her hands couldn't stop her fall, and she rolled with the slight yaw of the boat. Before she could even react to this fall, she was yanked up by her hair. her eyes watered.

"Shut up and listen to me." Said the voice now as soon as she was standing again, and now she stared at the screen through a swelling eyelid and a tearing and runny nose. A man was looking at her. He was small. Very small, dark balding, and pierced. His nose was flat against his Indian cheekbones, his lips were pulled into a gamin grin, sneaky and serious at the same time, and his eyes were brooding, bored.

"You have no idea why I want you, do you?"

"Money." She spat through her bleeding gums.

He shook his head, as if at an impossibly naive child.

"I have even taken Kell Stevak and your sister, the twin, who is already being prepared. You are only the backup contingency plan at the moment, and my original fantasy will be fulfilled this day."

The voice was sticky sweet and smooth, unlike the face which was normal, small and mean. Melia felt a loathing overcome her, not necessarily fear, as she was too frightened for feeling it, but hate, which came from the depths of her heart, and that was even more scary. Her head ache blossomed, her eyes unfocused and she thought for a brief second that she really would pass out, she had before...

"You sent the porn pictures. Is that your original fantasy?" She sneered with clinical interest, her voice trembling under the weight of staying conscious. It was her primary objective at the moment. She had to stay conscious, her two little girls depended on her ability to do so. Be momma and daddy right now, she told herself. Think. Concentrate!

A negligent wave of his hand. "A fantasy, to be sure. I harvested three of the five that I sent pictures to. They were easier to harvest than you and your sister. They were unprotected. Unfortunately they weren't close enough matches, and they had to be eliminated."

"So, your plan is to kill me and my sister?" She gagged, thinking about three other people who she now knew had shared her fate, and had been as terrified and at the mercy of this monster.

He chuckled. "Kell thinks this is because you witnessed the murder of Jerry Antonucci." Another negligent wave of a ringed hand. "That had very little to do with it. The plan to take you was already in order before that ever happened. It was coincidence that you happened to be working with him when the hit took place. Coincidence only. I needed... and still may need you for something far greater and nobler than to forestall a witness on a hit. Would you like to know why I need you, Melia?"

She could only nod now, the pain and the effort was too great. She could barely comprehend anymore, her focus had shattered into a million pieces, and she knew she was swaying, as she thought only of her children, and how to keep them safe.

A young man stepped into view. His age was indeterminate, Melia squinted at him, as Carlos pulled him close, wrapping an arm around his waist as he sat and the younger man stood next to him, his wasn't very tall, and he had a very distinct look to him... already his hairline was receding.... He had to be related.

Carlos confirmed this. "My grandson, Manuel." He introduced, and Melia felt her inner shrug, yeah, so? "Does he look familiar?"

Melia shook her head. "He looks like you."

"His parents are dead." He said dispassionately. "His mother, my daughter, was in a fatal car accident with her twin sister. Isn't that ironic. Twins, sisters.... Like you and your sister, eh?"

The eh? made it sound like he had an accent, but he didn't, his English was very good. She felt herself gagging again, inside. How long would this story last? How long until she knew why this was happening and then could figure out a way to make it un-happen?

He went on. "His father was an American military officer, he'd been stationed here when he was very young, and very stupid, and very vulnerable to the beauty of this place. All the beauty. He left my daughter pregnant and never looked back."

A sad story, she thought, but what has it got to do with me and Megs?

Is it because we're twins?

She studied the young man carefully.... There was something about his eyes.. yes, something familiar. His face was somehow, slightly... it reminded her of---she swallowed, knowing before Carlos voiced the words....

Knowing... she felt stunned as the realization hit her....!

"His father was killed in a house fire, saving a son, I'm told, or trying to, after saving three other children....he threw his twin daughters from an upstairs window... but... I digress, you know this already, don't you Melia?"

She swallowed again. This time a nod came involuntarily and she stared at Manuel in what amounted to horror. This boy... this strange and challenging boy... was her half-brother.

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