Vengeance: Chapter 4

               He dragged me, not to the woods like I first thought, but to a nearby building. As he pulled me in, I realized that it was the school, the same school where Henry had worked. Why would I be brought here? I first realized that Jude was my attacker as we went through the door.

                “Figures it would be you. Asshole,” I hissed through my teeth. We went through a door, into a classroom. As soon as he turned to close the door, I shoved at him, trying to break free.

               

                “Stop it,” he shouted. “Just stop, let me talk. If you don’t settle down, I’ll tie you up.” I didn’t want to acquiesce but I felt I had no choice. I perched cautiously on the edge of a desk.

                “I’m not the enemy. I’m a double agent.”

                “Why should I believe you? You somehow found me in the woods, you’re meeting with Henry’s killer, you’ve kidnapped me again. I don’t trust you,” I cried, fighting to hold back the hot tears of anger.

                “What choice do you have? I’ve got you now.”

                I ran for the door again. I couldn’t just sit there and let him use or hurt me. I had to fight with everything I had. I felt myself slam into the wall in front of me. He spun me around and there he was, pressed close again. Without summoning or desiring it, I felt that hot rush again. I must be a masochist for wanting my jailer to ravish me.

                “I’m not who you think,” his words came out strangled, as if admitting this was physically painful. I looked him in the eyes and suddenly, I saw him. I truly saw him for the first time since our meeting in the woods.

                “Henry?” His almost imperceptible nod confirmed my suspicion. I shoved him, shaken that the man in front of me was the same man I had married and the same one I thought dead. Mostly though, I was disgusted with myself for still wanting his burning kiss, even knowing his betrayal. Not expecting my reaction, this time he ended up on the floor.

                “Please, just listen,” he begged without rising.

                “How could you have done this to me? How are you alive? Why are you working with Rockwell?” I had so many questions and didn’t know which I wanted him to answer first. He moved to a chair and sat dejectedly.

                “We never should have been together. I’m neither Henry nor Jude. My father was killed, when I was a teenager, by the efforts of this terrorist cell. I vowed revenge. I changed my looks, became Henry. Trying to get intel, I was led to your father and, in turn, you. You and I, we were always forbidden love.”

                “So, you married me, just like I thought, as part of a way to get information,” my tears ran freely now.

                “No,” he cried out. “I fell in love with you. And when I found out that they planned on using you, I knew I had to take drastic measure. Never take an oath unless you're sure you would rather die than break it; that is the creed I live by. My oath to you was real and I would surely rather die than betray that or let harm come to you.”

                “But…how…,” I asked, not understanding.

                “I’ve been undercover all along. Only the police commissioner knows of my involvement after suspecting inside cohort within the department. A drug dealer, about my size, was killed giving me the ability to fake my death with fire and dental records. They had to think I was out of the way. ‘Jude’ took care of Henry, simultaneously earning trust and saving my ass.”

                “You look different? Why do they need me and my father? What are you going to do?” The questions continued to tumble out of my mouth.

                “They need more material. They’re planning a bomb at the diamond mine, to prove their outrage.” His tone leaked sarcasm.

                “Why do you say it like that?”

“It’s never been about the environment.”

“Then what’s it about,” I asked, confused by everything now.

“What’s it always about? Money. It’s never been about the environment. If a bomb goes off just right, they can clear the mine and quickly insert some operatives to gather millions of dollars. They’re uncut meaning untraceable so they’d never be linked. As for my appearance, light plastic surgery, contacts, hair dye. All simple changes that go a long way.”

               

                I felt the layer of ice I had built around my heart melt. I stepped over to him, put my hands on his face. Again, my heart started an erratic staccato against my ribcage. I gazed into his eyes and could tell this was the truth. I don’t know how, but I knew. The stress, the fear, the emotional turmoil of the past few weeks built into a passionate storm, there in the classroom.   

                Our frenzied lovemaking was unlike anything in our marriage but I understood: Henry had only been a part of the man I loved. Now, he hid nothing and gave everything.

                “What now,” I asked, as I lay in his arms on the floor, after we had exhausted ourselves.

                “Now, we get revenge.”

                We went back to the woods, which I started thinking of as ours. Each day, Jude would trek through town to meet with Rockwell while I stayed behind. Each night, we sat around the campfire, discussing our plans and making love. It felt good to have my husband back. I found that, though he was not the person I had married, he was more in so many ways. I loved him even more, knowing all of his secrets.

                He didn’t tell me his real name and, honestly, I didn’t care. I understood his need for revenge. He spent one night telling me that, until the cell had been put away, he was only whatever man he needed to be. So for now he was Jude, no one else.

                Finally, it came time to set our plan in motion. Jude tied my hands together, as gently as he could, but tight enough that it would be believable. 

                I was to be delivered to the cell and used as leverage so they could get the materials they needed. Once the bomb was ready, Jude would help the cell set it up and the commissioner would be looking on to catch the key members in the act. If things went according to plan, everything would end and Jude and I could start a real life together. If not, well…we just had to hope they would.