Chapter Twenty-Two
Adam
––––––––
MY KNEES HIT THE HARD decking below, my lungs pushing the remaining air out of them as my gaze lingered on the shine of Ian’s shoes.
Once upon a time, I’d worn shoes that shone that way—black, polished, and spotless.
As I remembered, I used to have my little girl clean them for me on her hands and knees, with her tongue.
Yet as the cold breeze of the channel whipped past me, suddenly I was the one kneeling with everything to prove.
“Commander General Harper has returned.” Ian clapped his hands together, his voice raised as though he wanted as many of the assembled men to hear his elation. “We have been so worried about you, Adam.”
“It’s so good to be back, Mr. President.”
Playing it safe, I kept my gaze low, but I knew that at any moment, Ian was about to have a surprise when Kaspar stumbled on board. The sentry on duty had mentioned there was someone following me, but the last person Ian would be expecting was a woman.
“I missed you.” He took a step forward, and I noticed how the volume of his voice lowered. “I missed my friend.”
I risked a glance at his face, trying to assess his sincerity, but it was impossible to tell if he truly meant it. He spent so much time lying to himself that I’d begun to think he believed the lies, as though if he said the statements often enough, then they would become the truth.
“It hasn’t been the same.” He shrugged. “Not without you there at my side, heading up Fortorus and keeping me sane. I put Commander Mitchell in charge of the place, of course, but he is not you.”
He certainly fucking isn’t.
I bit back on the frown that threatened to appear at the news that the worm who’d hardly been able to run Gamma camp had been assigned responsibility for the whole site.
What was Ian thinking?
“You don’t approve?” Ian laughed, the noise louder again.
“It is not for me to say, Mr. President.”
“No.” His expression was serious in an instant. “It isn’t. Not after you fled everything we achieved to save one sorry whore.”
“I am genuinely sorry for betraying you.” I held his gaze, conscious of the click of cameras coming from what sounded like multiple angles.
It seemed Ian’s minions were everywhere, but then, I was back on his turf again.
I’d anticipated as much. “I should have known better, should have done better, but I—”
“Was only thinking with your cock.” Ian cut me off and finished the sentence for me.
“Right.” That wasn’t quite how I would have put it, but I wasn’t about to counter his analysis. Arguing with him wasn’t going to get me anywhere.
“Which is understandable.” He threw his arms out at either side of him. “You know how much I love pussy, except that you had access to more of it than nearly any man I know.”
He chuckled as though the idea of thousands of women being subject to my sexual whims was nothing more than amusing, after-dinner jocularity. In the new order we’d created, that was what a woman’s worth had become; cheap and disposable.
“So, why would you need to risk it all for her?” He stepped even closer until the toe of his shoe grazed my knee. “What was so fucking special about her?”
Kaspar’s head appeared over the side of the ship at that moment, her hair bedraggled and stuck to the side of her face where it looked as if the raging waves had smothered her.
Her exhausted yelp drew Ian’s attention, saving me from needing to provide him with an immediate answer, but she also attracted three of his guards, who rushed to form a line between their president and the disheveled newcomer.
“And who is this?” Ian barked, his focus flitting between Kaspar and me. “You brought a woman with you!”
“This is Ms. Kaspar, Mr. President,” I replied, watching as she panted in a heap to my left. “She is the Swiss envoy assigned to present me to you.”
“Present you to me?” Ian snorted. “In the state that she’s in? And why on Earth would I take any notice of a woman?”
I had made that precise point to Kasper, Akari, and the others, but my warnings had gone unheeded.
I supposed they just couldn’t imagine the misogyny that was currently in control of Great Britain.
It was one thing to hear accounts and conceptualize, but quite another to have to live the reality.
None of them had ever known anything like it.
It wasn’t their fault, but their privileged worldviews had sent Kaspar into tangible danger.
Clearly disgruntled at Ian’s language, Kaspar rose to her full height, smoothing down her drenched clothes as best she could. One glance assured me that she’d borne the brunt of the waves far worse than I had, an experience that was etched into the glare she cast my way.
“Mr. President.” Kaspar took a step toward Ian, intending to offer him her palm, but the wall of muscle between them moved, pinning her against the side of the ship in one fell swoop.
“If you would just let me speak. I am here on behalf of my country!” she squeaked as one of them wrestled her arms behind her back while another began an overly intimate search of her damp clothing. “You have no right to do this!”
“You’re on my ship now, Ms. Kaspar,” Ian sneered.
“So, it’s my rules that apply, darling. Here.
..” Reaching into his jacket pocket, he produced the standard type of ball gag I’d liked to use on Caroline and thrust it toward the nearest guard.
“Get this in her gob and shut her up. I can’t think with a woman’s constant wailing. ”
I watched as the man allocated the task went to work, forcing the plastic between Kaspar’s lips despite her vocal protests.
Had she not been my one advocate on board the ship, I might have found the sight of her plight stimulating.
Certainly, past versions of Adam Harper would have.
Kneeling in the cold, though, all I could muster for her was sympathy.
I’d tried to tell her what a monster Ian was, yet with her egalitarian mentality, she’d assumed she knew better, that I was hyperbolic, and as a cop, she could handle herself.
She was wrong.
But Ian was right.
Envoy or cop, Kaspar had no jurisdiction on board the Traditional Values. In Ian’s realm, there was only one master.
“Is she secure?” Ian asked, when one look at the writhing, gagged woman, who was being held back by two men twice her body weight would have conveyed the answer within seconds.
My logic, of course, missed the point entirely. Ian hadn’t asked because he hadn’t known the answer, he’d asked for effect. Because there were numerous cameras still rolling both on board the ship, and from the air above, and because to do so was all the more degrading for his newest prisoner.
I cringed at the scene, wishing Kaspar had seen sense and taken my advice. Staying behind would have seen her safe, warm, and dry, but kneeling on the deck at the behest of Ian’s whims, there was little I could do to protect her.
“Let’s see what we’re working with here.” Ian shrugged out of his green jacket, leaving it pooling at my feet as he rolled up his sleeves and stalked in the direction of the captured Kaspar.
Her eyes widened at his approach, fear flickering in them as she understood, too late, just how much trouble she was in.
“Mr. President, I swear she is here in an official capacity only, to present me to you,” I interjected on Kaspar’s behalf, knowing at once that the plea would fall on deaf ears and yet needing to try, regardless.
The man Caroline had melded couldn’t just witness a potentially horrific assault whilst doing nothing to disrupt proceedings. I had a dozen reasons to dislike Kaspar, but on balance, she’d looked after Caroline and me, and there was no way she deserved to be manhandled by the odious Ian.
“Oh, you swear?” Ian’s mocking tone was back as he glanced behind to look at me. “The man who cut and run, leaving with a whore who he should have sacrificed for the sake of our great nation now vouches for his latest whore.”
Behind the gag, Kaspar screeched at the insult. It was seemingly the first time she’d ever been called a whore. Her indignation faded fast, though, when Ian spun back to glare her way.
“Right.” Stepping in the middle of his paid muscle, he unfastened the buttons of her suit jacket, taking his time for good measure. “You’re older than my usual type, but you never know, maybe you’re hiding a decent pair of tits under this clobber.”
He laughed, and right on cue, all the men around him did the same, as though they’d been conditioned to parrot the response whenever Ian was around.
My brow furrowed as I struggled to recall what my life had been like before Caroline.
Was that what I’d been like then? An indoctrinated prick who jumped through whatever hoop Ian had held aloft for me?
No, I convinced myself as Ian released the final button. I played my part, but I was never sold on the propaganda.
I never once believed that women were inherently deferent to men.
I’d stood apart from the rest of Ian’s sycophants, staying at Fortorus as much as possible and only flying to London whenever Ian had insisted.
I’d never been a trained flunkey, devoid of all critical thinking, and for that, I was grateful.
It had made my transition to life beyond Britain so much simpler.
Kaspar’s scream demanded my attention back to her ordeal, and by the time I’d glanced back, Ian had opened her blouse and foisted her bra aside to reveal her breasts.
Averting my eyes, I swallowed back the bile rising at her obvious trauma.
I’d been privy to that type of sickening behavior all the time in the past, but there was something deeply unsettling about witnessing it all over again.
I might not have been on the run with my little girl for long, but it seemed that time had irrevocably changed me.
I was no longer able to accept the things I’d put up with before.
Committing to a consensual relationship with Caroline had taught me about respectful and healthy boundaries, about crazy things that the country had once taken for granted but had all but abandoned, like human rights.
“Mr. President!” I raised my voice, my irritation more evident than it should have been, but in my mind, a myriad of angry questions smothered any concerns I might have had.
Why the fuck is he doing this? I heaved in an angry breath. This is supposed to be about humiliating me, not Kaspar! Why doesn’t he just leave her alone?
Ian froze, turning slowly to address the man who’d dared to interrupt his alleged fun, and by the time our gazes locked, I could see he’d taken the bait.
His so-called lust for Kaspar had been overshadowed by his desire to degrade the one man who’d been a thorn in his side for most of his adult life.
“Who do you think you’re speaking to?” he growled as he closed the space between us.
My gaze flitted to the terrified face of Kaspar as I answered. “You, Sir.”
I wished one of the morons holding her would have just covered her up, but naturally, they seemed to enjoy denigrating her almost as much as their glorious leader.
“You and I have got some serious catching up to do, Adam.” He practically spat out my name as he approached.
“Yes, Sir.” That much I’d been expecting.
“We’re not going to have that little chat on deck, but don’t worry, the entire thing will be broadcast live, so everyone back at home can see what happens to traitors.”
Traitor. The word resonated through me like a streak of lightning. Was that what I was?
I supposed I’d defected, but I hadn’t intended to collaborate with Ian’s enemies. Those officials had come to my door. I’d have been happy to just be left alone with the woman I loved.
“Search him.”
Ian gave the gruff order, and two sentries rushed to my side on command, searching my damp jacket and pockets for evidence of weapons. Naturally, they found nothing. Bringing a gun on board would have been literal suicide.
Apparently satisfied with the search, Ian stepped in my direction.
“Get up and come with me.” His enormous belly loomed by my head as he gave the order. “I could make you crawl, but it always seems so ungainly to have a man do so. Crawling was really made for the lithe female form. They just do it so much better.”
Rumbles of approving laughter echoed from the men around us as I climbed to my full height.
Ian’s gaze narrowed as he regarded me. He’d presumably forgotten how much taller than him I was once I was on my feet, and being the shortest in our friendship group had never failed to give him a chip on his shoulder.
Glancing past me, he signaled to the guards still holding the shivering Kaspar.
“As for our unexpected guest, take her to my room. I’ll decide whether to play with her later, but don’t worry, boys.” He peered around at the assembled uniformed throng. “If I change my mind, you can all have first dibs.”
A roar of appreciation rose at his alleged generosity, and I heaved in the cold sea air as two of his goons forced Kaspar forward.
Led away with her chest still bared, our eyes locked fleetingly, and the shame, embarrassment, and anger in hers were the same mix of torrid emotions I’d seen from countless women before her.
Like Caroline.
My little girl’s face burst into my mind’s eye as two new sentries pressed the barrels of their weapons into the small of my back. I straightened, glancing back to see their smug expressions before Ian’s words coaxed me forward.
“Come on, Adam.” His tone was etched with disappointment, like a parent whose child had failed to make the team. “We have lots to discuss.”