[Wildcards 10] - Double Solitaire Read Online Free PDF Page A

should be able... to... to handle... this."
    "Why?"
    She panted, trying to draw air into her stricken lungs. "I'm... I'm a man --"
    "So that's supposed to make you tougher? Have you ever met a male rape victim? Well, I have. The emotions are the same no matter what your plumbing happens to be. You go through the same shame and rage, guilt, the enormous fear, the depression." Cody couldn't control it. Her eye slid down to the bandages that cuffed Tachyon's wrist. Cody stripped off her surgical gloves, removed the I.V., closed her case. "Do you want me to stay?"
    "Yes, please."
    Cody's arm around her waist was a welcome support as they walked to the bedroom. There was a brief moment of awkwardness, then they both noticed the blood staining the sheets.
    "That won't do..."
    "I'll get fresh linens..." they said simultaneously. It was a strangely cathartic action... making a bed together. Sheets billowed tentlike, corners were tucked. Then abruptly Cody asked, "Have you cried once since this happened?"
    "Which part of it?" retorted Tach wryly.
    "Take your pick."
    In a low voice she said, "I wept after the first rape. Then he came a second time, and all the tears died."
    "It's a release you need."
    "It's an escape I used too often, I think... in my old life."
    Cody tossed the down comforter onto the bed. "Don't be a tough guy."
    "I'm not," said Tach shrugging out of her robe. "I'm not trying not to cry. I just can't. All the pain has jammed up somewhere, and I can't let it out."
    They curled up beneath the comforter. Sleep had almost claimed Tachyon when Cody's voice pulled her back, saying softly, "It's not quite how I envisioned my first time in your bed."
    Tachyon levered herself up on one elbow, leaned over, and gently kissed Cody on the cheek. "I do love you..."
    They put their arms around each other, huddled close.
    "What are you going to do now?"
    "Go after Blaise."
     

Chapter Four
     
    The monastery nestled like a bamboo-and-rice-paper pearl in a setting of verdant green hills. Gnarled pines held poses against the pale blue sky like tortured, yet graceful, Kabuki dancers. As Tachyon trudged up the road toward the front gates, spume from a small waterfall was carried to her cheek by a short-lived puff of wind. Then the sleepy August heat returned. Crickets droned dully in the trees and bushes. Tach struggled to keep her eyes open. And her sense of misuse deepened. Fortunato would agree to a meeting at precisely the time she most desperately needed her afternoon nap.
    A monk was waiting at the gate. In his dark robe he had seemed just another huddled root at the foot of a gigantic pine. Tach swallowed a gasp as he suddenly unfolded from his meditative pose and stood up.
    The welcoming, toothless smile metamorphosed into a frown of confusion.
    "I'm here to see Fortunato," said Tach slowly. She touched her breast. "I am Tachyon."
    The monk brightened at the sound of her name, but then a distressed murmur of Japanese began. The little man's ears were large and stood out from his almost completely bald head like flaring mushrooms. Like semaphores they made it very clear that she was not entering the monastery, as the old man vigorously shook his head.
    "Look, I am Tachyon. I know you were probably expecting a man, but I promise, your virtues are quite safe with me." The man was still shaking his head. Tach's patience snapped like a tightly wound guitar string. "Look! I've had a really difficult four days. I would have been here two days ago, except a moron at Tomlin wouldn't let me on the plane because my passport picture was a little out-of-date. " She briefly covered her eyes with a hand, reliving the humiliation of the moment. "Like the wrong sex. And I'll tell you right now -- long airplane rides are hell on pregnant women." Communication was not occurring.
    "And you're not understanding a word I am saying, are you? Maybe you'll understand this... if you do not let me through this gate, I'm going to... " Her voice trailed