She stopped and stared at him. “Are you saying that all of this has been done to get back at you?”
“I believe so, yes.”
She sat down hard at the dining room table. Ice was still here, as was Levi. She blindly stared at the both of them. “What did I ever do that would make someone think they could use me as a pawn?”
“I don’t think you did anything,” Terk replied, “but, for one reason or another, you were perfect for their needs.”
She stared at him and swallowed hard. “Jesus, would sure help if I could remember something,”
“Maybe we need to do something to shake that loose.”
“Shake what loose?” she asked, staring at him.
“Your memories,” Terk replied.
Ice frowned at that.
“There are some noninvasive methods, no drugs involved,” he immediately told Ice. “Even hypnosis could probably give us a solid lead.”
“I don’t like the idea of anything happening to me while I’m not aware,” Celia cried out. “It’s already bad enough to think that I ended up in this condition somehow, and I don’t know anything about it.”
“Of course,” Terk agreed, with that same unflappable spirit, “that’s perfectly understandable.” After pausing for a moment, he continued. “Would you trust Ice to watch over you?”
Celia nodded. “More than anyone else, yes. Maybe with a recording done that I can hear afterward? Still … afterward worries me.”
“Yet don’t you want answers?” Terk asked.
“Of course I want answers.” She stared at him. “I really do.”
“Then here’s the deal,” Terk said. “We need to trust each other and to do whatever we need to do to get some answers.”
*
The men stepped out of the room to have a more private conversation. Terk wanted to do the hypnosis himself, but he was getting flak from both Levi and his brother.
“It’ll be much harder for her to relax around you,” Merk declared, his voice very stern. “You need to understand that. She already feels like she has been taken advantage of in the most intimate way, and interrogation is making her vulnerable.”
Terk stared at his brother, hating the logic of his answers. “Then you do it.”
Merk looked at him and then shrugged. He had been gearing up for more argument and was glad that Terk could see his point. “I can do that, no problem, but you’ll need to follow my lead.”
“That’s fine, as long as it’s one of us,” Terk replied. “I don’t trust anyone else with it, and the last thing we need is other people brought in.”
At that, Levi nodded. “I don’t disagree, which is why we hadn’t pursued that avenue already. We’ve got enough uncertainty and questions without complicating things further.” He looked over at Merk. “Are you comfortable with doing that?”
Merk nodded. “Yep, as long as she’s okay with it.”
When they approached her, she frowned and looked over at Ice.
“Stay calm,” Ice stated. “We’ll all be here with you.”
That reassurance seemed to aggravate her even more. She turned, then snapped, “What? All of you?” she asked bitterly. “Like I’m some kind of a show?”
“Who do you want with you then?” Terk asked.
“Not you.”
“Too bad,” he replied immediately. “I’m the one who has to be there in order to sort through the questions and answers, looking for connections. We need to see where this is going.”
She took a deep breath. “I want Ice with me then, as my advocate.”
“You know you’re not in trouble with us, right?” Merk asked.
“Doesn’t matter if I’m in trouble or not. I’ve already been taken advantage of once. I don’t want it to happen again.”
“That’s fine,” Ice agreed. “I’ll be with you for sure, every step of the way.”
Celia looked over at Terk. “Are you sure you need to be there?”
He frowned. “I don’t have to necessarily be right there in the same room, but I do need to give Merk the questions and interact with him.”
“Well, if you have to do all that, then you might as well be there. Let’s just get it over with.”
He gave her a ghost of a smile and shrugged. “I agree. We need to do this soon.” He looked over at Levi. “You ready?”
“Yep, I sure am. What’s the deal with your team anyway?”
“I don’t know. I suspect they’re on the way here.” Terk paused. After a moment he added, “Even though I told them otherwise.”
“I don’t think everybody’s coming,” Ice stated, looking at him. “Damon and Calum are, at least.”
Terk nodded. Despite the fear that they would be in danger again, it was nice to know that they cared enough to come and lend a hand. He looked over at Levi, “Do you have room for them?”
He snorted. “We have loads of room here. We could potentially house the entire team.”
“Well, don’t say that.” Terk laughed. “I wouldn’t put it past them all to ignore my directions and to show up. They hate missing anything.”
Levi laughed too. “Wouldn’t surprise me in the least. You have a good team for good reason.”
“It presented quite the problem, as they came out of their comas, one by one,” Terk shared. “Barely able to move, they each woke up, ready to fight and pissed off because they’d missed out on the earlier action.”
“That’s funny, but I’m not surprised. They’re good men, and, when something happens to one of them, you know it happens to all of them.”
“I was trying to keep them all safe and shielded, while they couldn’t protect themselves.” Terk groaned, sounding a little choked up.
“It’s amazing you were even able to do that,” Ice murmured. “We could have lost you then, if you’d gone too far, you know? Now they’re just trying to make sure you’re okay.”
“I know.” With a shake of his head, he took a deep cleansing breath and turned his gaze to Celia.
She stared at him with a haunted look.
“Look. If you don’t want me in the same room, it’s fine. I understand. Maybe Merk and I can talk through headsets,” he suggested, “but I’d like to see your facial expressions, your body language. There’s a chance we’ll have to do it again, if I can’t get the questions the first time.”
At that, her shoulders sank. “Fine, we can just do it with you there, but I want it taped.”
He looked at her and then nodded like he understood perfectly. “That’s fine. Then you can see the recording afterward, if you like.”
She hesitated, and he needed to get it out there, “Look, Celia. You’ve trusted Levi and Ice this far. Just keep trusting a little bit longer.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s not easy at all. I know what miserable shits people can be. Everybody in this room has been through a lot and has seen the results of what horrid people will do to another human being,” he explained, his voice soft. “Trying to protect the innocent, always working within the parameters of reasonable and acceptable behavior, well, that’s not easy either.” Then he looked at Celia, with a small smile. “So, how about we go forward on trust and get through this as quickly as we can?”