Deadly Secrets by M J Marlow (best novels for teenagers .TXT) 📕

but she could never see it.” He stroked Elis’ hair and missed the lieutenant’s look of censure. “We’re taking her back to her family in England. They’ll help her come to terms with her brother’s death.” He helped Elis sit up and she tried to pull away from him, but she was too weakened by the beating and the sedative to fight to effect. “We’re going home now, lady Elissa. Your family is waiting for you.” “You’re not taking me home,” Elis whimpered. “You’re taking me someplace where you can keep lying to me!” She tried to pull free and ended up on her knees, shaking and sobbing. The lieutenant helped her up before Zeller could touch her. “Please,” she looked at him in desperation, “find my brother. He’ll tell you the truth!” She backed away from Zeller as he came towards her. She passed out unable to fight the horror of what was happening any longer. The lieutenant followed the doctor and his men and their pretty patient wanting to rip their heads off for what they were doing to the girl. He sensed the man stepping up next to him a second after he was already there. A look of outright respect appeared on the lieutenant’s face. This was the master spy he had been dealing with all of these months. “Your sister is very brave to allow herself to be subjected to such torture,” he said simply without taking his eyes off the retreating carriage. “Are you certain this was necessary?” “I needed someone close to them they would underestimate,” Alexei replied, his eyes hard with anger as they followed the carriage. “It’s not over yet, Franz,” he said with some regret. “They’ll take her to England and force her to turn over the files.” A hunter’s smile appeared on his face. “I have a boat to catch.” Elis was kept just aware enough to be guided from one point to another and feed herself. She could not fight what Zeller was doing to her but that was not important. He was supposed to think he was winning. It was the only way she was going to escape from him. She looked down at her dogs and wished she could help them break their training. Since Zeller had been their initial trainer, they were quite willing to do as he asked and keep her protected or herd her along to wherever he wanted her to go. She was at dinner with Zeller when the next phase of Alexei’s plan began; one she was completely unaware of. She saw her brother and she screamed. “Alexei!” she sobbed as Zeller came running. She pointed out the porthole, whimpering in fear. “Out there!” She tried to go to him. “He’s not dead! I told you he wasn’t dead!” She shoved him away and tried to open the door. “I have to go to him!” Elis was out of the cabin and running along the gangway as the other passengers watched in horror. She climbed up on the railing. Zeller yanked her back and she struggled and struck out at him. “Let me go! I have to go to him!” She looked at him in desperation. “Don’t you see? He needs me with him!” His men arrived and they held Elis as he gave her the sedative. They carried Elis back to the cabin, locking the door and standing guard on it. The other passengers commiserated with him over the little lady’s fragile state of mind. Zeller wasn’t so certain she was as fragile as she wanted him to think. He went to the cabin and sat with her. When she began to come back to lucidity, he gave her another drug. “You’ve been playing games with me, lady Elissa,” he said as she looked at him in confusion. “Haven’t you?” “Yes,” Elis nodded, telling him only what little she knew. “I needed you to think you were winning so I could escape.” She glared at him. “I need to find someone who will believe me,” she sobbed. “My brother is dead because of your lies!” She turned her back on him and her grief was real. As far as Elis was aware her brother was dead. “You killed my brother!” Zeller gave her a sedative and removed the straightjacket, then went to the bar. He had damaged that glorious child. He drank a half bottle of Scotch before he stopped and he didn’t feel any better. When this was over, he was going to make certain the child was put into the hands of a competent psychiatrist; someone who could help her find her way home. Elis woke up while Zeller was drinking himself stupid and she got up slowly. She was still in a great deal of pain from the beating she’d been subjected to. She saw the dogs and they raised their heads and watched her. She tried to open the door and it was locked. Elis looked around for some other way out of the cabin and saw the connecting door. She opened it and saw that it was Zeller’s cabin. She pulled on her robe and slipped through quickly and locked the door before the dogs could stop her. She went to the door as the dogs started barking. She watched the two men enter her cabin and locked the door with the key she found on Zeller’s dresser. Then she ran. She had no idea where she should go; her only thought was that she had to get away from the man. He was going to break her mind for real with his drugs and she did not want to lose herself. She had already lost her brother because of him. She hurried towards the bridge. She got to the radio room and was relieved to see he had stepped out. She went into the cabin and locked the door and sent a wire. Short and to the point and repeated over and over again until a reply came through. She confirmed that the message was genuine and then sank down in the corner and held the pillow from the operator’s bed in her arms, rocking back and forth slowly. If that didn’t bring her help, she was never going to be free. “Lady Elissa!” Elis jumped as she heard her name called and saw the door opening. She stayed in the corner and watched as Zeller walked in. He sank down on the bed and looked at her rocking. “What are you doing in here, child?” She nodded at the wireless and he cursed. “You sent a wire?” She nodded and he yanked her up to her feet. She looked at him numbly. “What did you send, my lady?” Elis just looked at him and didn’t say a word. She wasn’t going to tell him. He’d just do something to make sure help never arrived, and she needed help. He slapped her across the face and she looked at him and remained silent. He couldn’t hurt her any worse; only dead was worse. Alexei would know. “I want my brother!” she finally broke. She pushed him away and ran out the door and directly into his companions. “Let me go! I want my brother! He’ll make you stop hurting me!” Zeller took out his handkerchief and pressed it over her nose and mouth until she passed out. Then he picked her up in his arms and turned to find himself looking into the muzzle of a gun. “We’ll take the little lady to the Infirmary, sir,” the ship’s steward said stiffly. “Now.” Zeller did as he was told and he found himself and his men being escorted to the Brig. “You’ll be staying here until the frigate arrives.” Elis woke up and looked around the Infirmary in confusion. She’d been in the Radio Room and Zeller had found her there. She heard someone moving around in the other part of the cabin and got up slowly and cautiously. She saw a man in a white uniform seated at a desk reading the paper. He closed it and got up slowly, smiling at her gently. “Feeling better, little lady?” he asked her kindly. “The crew put Zeller and his men in the Brig, so you’re safe now.” He saw the wariness in her eyes. “I don’t blame you for being wary, child. From all accounts you’ve been through hell the past several months. He nodded to someone sitting in the corner behind her. “I’m Captain Leonard. I’ve been having a very interesting talk with your brother.” “Alexei?” Elis shook her head and backed away from him. “No,” she said softly as the darkness came to claim her again. “You’re not here. You’re dead!” She wailed as she collapsed. “Why can’t I be dead, too?” “Ursa,” Alexei cried as he caught her before she hit the deck. He held her to his chest and stroked her cheek. “Wake up, little bear.” She remained immobile and he sat down with her in his lap, rocking her and crooning to her in Polish. “What have I done to her?” he cursed and prayed and pleaded. He laid her down on the bed then he leaned close and began to hum the family song. She sighed and a slow smile warmed her face. “Be strong my Ursa.” She whimpered as the sedative was given to her. “We’ll be together again one day.” “You’re not staying, Major?” the Captain asked in surprise. “I need to stay dead just a bit longer,” Alexei told him. He stroked her cheek and smiled down at her. “My fierce little sister is going to be just fine now.” Elis was out on Titan when she saw a familiar silhouette. She was off the horse and running. She could hear his laughter, as she got closer and feel his strong arms around her as they clung to each other and held on for dear life. But then she looked up and it wasn’t her brother who was holding her; it was Zeller, or Marston, or Thaxton, or any of the other men who had hurt her over the past year. She would wake up screaming and sobbing and Charlotte would have to give her the laudanum. She wanted it to stop but her mind would not let it go and she didn’t know why. “I know he’s out there somewhere,” she said to her cousin, Daniel, while they were out riding one morning two months after she had been rescued from Zeller. “Why won’t he send word just to let me know he’s all right?” “He probably can’t, Monkey,” Daniel said to her and laid his hand on hers. She looked up at him with such pain in her eyes, he wished they would let him tell her the truth. Her brother was so deep in the organization he had dedicated his adult life to bringing down even his contacts didn’t know half the time if he was alive or not. “You know he wouldn’t want you worrying about him like this.” “He’s my brother,” Elis replied. “I’m going to worry whether he likes it or not.” “Now that sounds more like our girl,” Nicholas laughed as he rode up to join them. “How are you today, Monkey?” “Ready to hit the next person who asks me that question,” Elis snapped. He looked wounded and she was instantly contrite. “I’m sorry, Nicholas.” She sighed. “I need to do something to take me out of myself,” she suddenly decided. “How about riding down to town with me?” “You’re supposed to be having a fitting, aren’t you?” Daniel reminded her. “Oh God!” Elis choked. “Aunt Patricia is going to have a fit!” She pressed her knee to a certain spot and Titan turned and took off at a full gallop. She was nearly to the ground before the horse came to a complete stop and on her way into the house. Natasha was in the conservatory with