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Her strength had ebbed discernibly as the days passed A slight doard adjustruel of soy or corn and oversmoked strips of meat hardened to the consistency of leather, their unstated intention being to keep her alive so that they could enjoy the as possible, but without the otherswell She made a silent vohen at last she tasted huuous final act of her transformation, the blood would be theirs To surrender her , but there was soht She would drink the bastards dry

There was no way to gauge the march of days Left to herself, she adopted the h herthe watch at First Colony; her journey with Peter and Ae, arid childhood with the Colonel She had always called him "sir," never "Daddy" or even "Niles"; from the start he had been her superior officer, not a father or friend Strange to think of that now Her rief and happiness and exhilaration and loneliness and to so She was her et to keep theun to wonder if all they had in mind for her was an endless repetition of their painful ministrations when the rhythm of her captivity was disrupted by the arrival of a e He did not introduce hi at all, just stood before her where she was suspended fro her with the expression of so book He was dressed in a dark suit and tie and stiff white shirt; he didn’t look a day over thirty His skin was pale and tender, as if it never saw the sun But it was his eyes that told the real story Why should she be surprised?

"You’redifferent" Stepping closer, he breathed sharply through his nose, darting it at the air around her like a dog

"Yeah, I get that a lot"

"I can smell it on you"

"Can’t say I’ve had rin "And you ht be ?"

"I’ll ask the questions"

"You know, you shouldn’t read in the dark like that It’s hell on your eyes"

He reared back and struck her, open-pal her jaw "Ouch That kind of stings"

He ain and violently twisted her upraised ar?"

"That’s a nifty outfit you’re wearing Makes a girl feel a little under-dressed"

Another blow to the face, like the crack of a whip Alicia blinked her watering eyes and ran her tongue over her teeth, tasting blood "You know, you guys have been doing that a lot It’s not very welco I don’t think I like you very etting sos a bell"

He struck her again Little scraps of light twinkled in her vision She could tell that he was saving the full th He would dole it out one drop at a time, a slow escalation

"Why don’t you cut me down from here and we can have us a real chat? Because this obviously isn’t working for you"

Wha hit by a board Alicia shook it off, spitting blood

"Tell ut Her breath froze in her chest as her diaphragm compressed like a vise The airless seconds passed The ain

"WhoisSergio?"

Alicia was having a little trouble focusing Focusing and breathing and thinking She braced herself for another blow, but none arrived; she becaures stepped through They were carrying a kind of bench, waist-high, with a broad frame at its base

"I’d like to introduce you to a friend of mine This is Sod You’ve actually alreadyrong with the man’s face Or, rather, one side of his face, which looked like a slab of inconsistently cooked es Half the man’s hair had burned away, as had most of his nose His left eye looked ed to reply

"Sod here was in the holding area when you decided to shoot a tank full of liquid propane He’s not so happy about it"

"All in a day’s work Nice to meet you, Sod That’s quite a name, ’Sod’ "

"Sod is a man of special enthusiasms You could say the name is well earned He has a bit of a bone to pick with you" The man in the suit addressed the other two: "Tie her down On second thought, wait a second"

The blows fell and fell The face The body By the ti any of it Pain had becoue A rattle of chains and a release of pressure on her wrists She was facing the floor, her waist straddling the bench and her feet bound to its frame, spread wide Her trousers were yanked from her body

"A little privacy for our friend here," the first , and then the sound, o in the lock

Chapter 51

Every night, as Aast So in a car, the little towns and the green spring countryside flowing past,with ice Tonight they were in Oregon, at the ca across fros folded Indian-style, and on the floor between them was the Monopoly board with its squares of faded color and ast’s little auto his piece forward to St Charles Place, site of one of Amy’s six (six!) hotels The room arm fro through the velvety darkness and the deep winter cold

"For Pete’s sake," he groaned

He doled out the bills His exasperation was false; he wanted to lose He told her she was lucky,it so with his words You’re lucky, Aed hands Park Place, Illinois Avenue, Marvin Gardens, the hilariously naast’s shrank toward zero She bought railroads and utilities, she had built her houses and hotels everywhere, a gauntlet of ownership that enabled her to erectaast confessed

"Try the bank" She was grinning with victory Once he borrowed money, the end would fall swiftly; he would toss up his arms in surrender Then they would assume their customary places on the sofa, a blanket drawn up to their chests, and take turns reading to each other Tonight’s book: H G Wells, The Time Machine

He spilled the dice onto the board A three and a four He moved his car ahead and landed on "Luxury Tax," with its little diaain" He rolled his eyes and paid up "It’s so wonderful to be here with you" He lifted his eyes past her, to the"It sure is snowing out there How long has it been snowing?"

"I think it’s been snowing a long ti a kid It always feels like Christmas when it snows"

The wood in the stove crackled All through the dense forest the snow fell and fell Morning would break with a soft white light and silence, though in the place they were,would not come

"Every year my parents took , they’d find a theater and takeawful He wore the chains he forged in life It’s so sad But beautiful, too So ht for a moment "Sometimes I wish I could stay here forever with you Silly oflasts forever"