Brenda shuddered and slid as far as she could to the other end of the bathtub, out of Rashid’s reach. "Stay away from me, you filthy b*stard!" she hissed.

Rashid shook his head and clucked his tongue like a parent scolding a naughty child. "Now…..angel! Is that any way to speak to the man you’re going to marry?"

"I told you before, Rashid……it’s over. I don’t want to marry you anymore. I just want to go home." Brenda tried to sink lower into the bathwater to protect herself from his devouring gaze.

But Rashid just rose to his feet and continued to shake his head. "No…no. You won’t be returning to the United States." He strolled away, stopped abruptly, and looked back over his shoulder at her. "You notice I said "United States" and not home." He turned to face her and spread his arms to the sides. "That’s because *this* is your home now, my sweet. *This* is where we will be married ….." He turned back to gaze out the window. "……tomorrow, I think." He clasped his hands behind his back and still faced away from Brenda as he spoke. "Yes, tomorrow. Tomorrow we shall become man and wife."

Brenda’s voice was low and laced with venom. "When pigs sing!"

Rashid laughed and turned back to her. "Ahhh, my sweet angel! What a sense of humor she has!" He quickly reached to the side and took a large bath sheet from a stack on the shelf. As he walked back towards the tub, he shook it out. "No, I don’t think there will be any singing pigs at our wedding."

"You’re crazier than I thought you were if you believe I’ll marry you tomorrow, Rashid," Brenda argued. "You can’t make me."

He stopped when he reached the edge of the tub and lifted his eyes to the ceiling. "Yes, it will be a beautiful ceremony. Late in the day, I think. The Drakarian sunset always provides such a magnificent setting for a wedding." He gave Brenda a malicious grin. "I sincerely hope that you will have recovered by that time from your punishment for running away from me."

Brenda’s face grew pale. "My punishment? And what about Mr. Jacks? Will he be punished, too?"

Rashid clucked his tongue again as he held the bath sheet out, inviting Brenda to step into it. "Well, Brenda, I’m afraid that Mr. Jacks won’t be able to attend our wedding."

Brenda suddenly grabbed a bar of soap and launched it at Rashid’s head. "What have you done with Jax? Is he dead?"

Rashid ducked just before the soap hit him and it sailed harmlessly into the stack of towels. "Now, angel – temper, temper!" Brenda’s chest was heaving. "Outbursts like that aren’t good for you – or for Mr. Jacks’ continued well-being." Brenda closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself. "Come – you should get out of the water. Your delicate skin is becoming as wrinkled as a prune."

{Play the game. Maybe he hasn’t hurt Jax – yet. Maybe you can save him.} Brenda eyed Rashid warily as she rose from the water. His eyes immediately traveled up and down her nude form, and Brenda turned her back to him as she accepted the ends of the towel he wrapped around her. "So…..where is Mr. Jacks?"

Rashid’s fingers lingered on her shoulders and Brenda felt them tighten when she mentioned Jax’s name. "His …. accommodations….are in a different part of the compound." He lifted a finger to run it up and down the bare curve of Brenda’s neck, wrapping his other arm around her waist when she tried to step away from him. "Why do you care?" Brenda could feel his hot breath on her neck as she almost choked on the bile in her throat. "Have you and he become lovers again?"

"No." Brenda tried to keep her breathing even so that Rashid wouldn’t know she was lying. "I didn’t tell you before, but …. there’s someone else." Rashid’s finger stopped in place. "A man back in the United States. Sonny hired Jax to come in and bring me back home to him. He knew I had changed my mind about you and that I wanted to marry him."

"Then Mr. Jacks’ fate should not matter to you – if you are truly in love with someone else."

Brenda tried to shrug her shoulders indifferently as Rashid’s finger began to trail up over her shoulder again. "I was just curious." When his finger dipped toward her breast in the front, she closed her eyes in a silent scream. "What do you plan to do with him, then?"

Rashid’s voice was as calm as if he were discussing the weather. "The same thing that will happen to any other lovers you might take after we are married, my angel." His finger slid beneath the towel to brush the first swell of her breast. "He will die at first light tomorrow morning."

Any attempt at calm was shattered as Brenda spun around with hot tears in her eyes. "You can’t kill him, Rashid!" She looked down as Rashid smirked. "I told you that he means nothing to me!" Rashid was silent. "This won’t go very far in convincing the Western world that Drakar has stepped into the 21^st Century!"

But Rashid just continued to shake his head and smile. Brenda summoned all of her courage as she pressed her still-damp body against Rashid’s. "Please, Rashid – I’ll do anything you want – just please don’t kill him."

He looked up and took Brenda’s chin between his fingers. "You say you don’t love the man, yet you would endure my touch to save his miserable hide? You would play the wh*re for a man you care nothing about?" He pushed Brenda’s face away from him in disgust as tears ran down her cheeks. Suddenly, he gripped her shoulders and forced her to look into his face. "You should not lie to me, Brenda. You are not good at it, and it will only add to your punishment." His eyes narrowed. "You had sex with your former lover, didn’t you?"

Despite what Rashid had said, Brenda tried her best to keep a poker face. "No."

His fingers bit painfully into her shoulders. "I *told* you not to lie to me, angel," he spat. "Are you so foolish to believe that I don’t know what is going on in every nook and cranny of Drakar? My people told me of your passionate response to his attentions."

Brenda’s face lost color but she valiantly tried to keep up the charade. "Your people lied to you."

Rashid pushed her away from him with a grimace. "*You* are the only one who lies to me, Brenda." He straightened his jacket and tried to regain his composure. "Mr. Jacks *will* die at dawn, Brenda, just as certainly as you will become my bride at sunset and lie in my bed tomorrow night."

"I will *not* sleep with you!" Brenda hissed. "I hate you!!"

Rashid shrugged. "Hatred is not necessarily a bad thing, as I have told you before. It can add……zest…..to our physical relationship." He took a deep breath. "Now -- drop the towel." Brenda’s eyes widened in defiance. "I said," he hissed, "drop the towel."

"You wouldn’t….." Brenda whispered. "Not here……not when your guards and other wives could hear my screams……"

"I’m rapidly losing patience, Brenda," Rashid replied coldly. "And you’ll find that there are very *few* things that I *wouldn’t* do. NOW DROP THE TOWEL!!!"

Tears sprang to Brenda’s eyes but just then, there was a very soft knock at the bathroom door. Brenda almost ran and hugged her when Robei entered the room without waiting for an answer. The young woman carefully kept her eyes averted as she scurried to Rashid and whispered something to him. Her message delivered, Robei returned to wait by the door, her eyes still lowered.

Brenda looked back at Rashid and saw that he still was furiously waiting for her. But she seriously doubted that even a twisted pervert like Rashid would rape her with Robei standing there. So, she lifted her chin a notch and then dropped the towel to the floor, standing proudly nude before him. "There," she whispered with venom. "Are you satisfied now?"

Rashid walked slowly to where she stood. Brenda had to bite her lip to keep from screaming when he traced a finger down the valley between her breasts. "No, my sweet," he murmured, "I am not *nearly* satisfied." Then he straightened up and clasped both hands behind him. "But my presence is required in another part of the compound." He glanced quickly over his shoulder at Robei. "Robei will take you to the room you occupied previously. You may dress as you please until I call for you."

Brenda slowly let out a sigh of relief as she realized she wouldn’t have to suffer Rashid’s advances for a while. But rather than leave immediately, he stepped back and bowed slightly at the waist, gesturing with his hand that Brenda should leave the bathroom before he did. When Brenda bent her knees and reached down for the towel, Rashid firmly planted his foot on it. "You will leave now," he glowered. "As you are."

Brenda’s hand didn’t move and neither did his foot. "Rashid….."

"I said ….. AS YOU ARE!" Brenda straightened up, her eyes locked with his in defiance. When she realized she wasn’t going to win the battle, Brenda shifted her shoulders proudly and then walked past him with all the dignity she could muster. Bitter tears threatened to spill down her cheeks when she felt Rashid pass his hands over her derriere as she passed. But she didn’t give him the satisfaction as she continued to walk towards Robei, who had opened the door to the hallway.

Brenda tried to remain detached from her surroundings as Robei took her the short distance back to her suite. As soon as she was inside her former bedroom, Brenda’s shoulders slumped and the tears started to flow. She spun back to see Robei closing the door behind her. "Robei – wait!"

The small woman shook her head. "No, Missy Brenda. I come back – bring food. No talk." Brenda tried to bolt for the door but before she reached it, Robei had closed and locked it behind her. The tensions of the day finally overwhelmed Brenda as she sank to the floor, still naked, and sobbed hysterically.

*^*^*^*

"OK – you didn’t like that one. Let’s try a different one." Jax sat on the filthy floor of his cell cross legged. His eyes lit up and he smiled. "How about this – SIT!"

A rat the size of a Pekinese puppy eyed Jax warily from the other side of the cell. He twitched his nose but otherwise, didn’t move.

Jax grimaced and shook his head. "Well, Falco, I really don’t know what to say. You won’t do "sit," you won’t do "fetch"……" He looked around the cell, with its tall ceiling and miniscule window. Then he rattled the chains that connected cuffs around his wrists and the wall. "…….and there sure as h*ll isn’t enough room in here for us to try "heel" or "roll over."

The rat suddenly lost interest in Jax’s games and ran towards an untouched food tray. He nibbled on something that Jax had decided was a variation on peasant fish stew but then came up quickly and snorted. "I don’t blame you, Falco," Jax murmured sarcastically. "It smelled rancid to me, too." The rat sniffed the air and then disappeared into a corner.

"So, Mr. Jacks…..talking to yourself now, are you?" Rashid’s voice came from the hallway outside Jax’s cell through barred window in the door. Jax heard a clanking sound and then the door creaked open. Two large guards entered the cell and then Rashid stood between them, framed by the doorway.

"Well, well, well….." Jax drawled. He looked around the cell and shrugged at Rashid. "You just missed him."

Rashid frowned. "Him?"

"Your twin brother." Jax smiled. "I offered to share my dinner with him but he turned me down."

Rashid bristled. "I’m not here to play games, Mr. Jacks. Miss Barrett claims that you were hired by a man in the United States to bring her back….a man she cares for. Someone named Sonny."

"I tried." Jax studied his fingernails, silently thanking his stars that Brenda had followed his instructions. He hoped that she hadn’t concocted *too* elaborate of a story so that he would inadvertently contradict part of it. "Sonny paid me a lot of money. He wants her back very much." He glared at Rashid. "He won’t be happy that I failed."

"Yet you made love to her." Rashid watched for a change in Jax’s expression but there was none. "Don’t try to deny it, Mr. Jacks. I have eyes and ears in every corner of Drakar."

"Brenda’s an attractive woman." Jax was stone-faced. "I seduced her."

"She didn’t fight you?"

"Maybe a little, in the beginning. But then…." Jax grinned lewdly. "……well, you know how it is. When you start touching a woman in that one spot, and all of a sudden the "no, no" turns to……" He stopped and looked Rashid up and down very slowly, and then shrugged. "…..well, on second thought, maybe you *wouldn’t* know after all….."

Rashid inhaled loudly, his chest puffing out with anger. "I’ve heard enough." He looked down at the tray of food in the corner and then gave Jax a smug smile. "You really should have eaten more, Mr. Jacks. You Americans have a saying about a condemned man’s last meal, do you not?"

"We also have a saying about a last request."

Rashid cocked an eyebrow. "And you have one?"

"As a matter of fact I do." Jax smiled just as confidently at Rashid. "I’d like a bath, and a change of clothes." He looked Rashid up and down again. "Some of yours would probably do." Then he suddenly frowned. "But then again…." He stared pointedly at Rashid’s lap. "….they might not be large enough in certain areas to fit me."

Storm clouds gathered in Rashid’s eyes. He barked some orders at the two guards and then gave Jax one last look. "You will have your bath and change of clothing – tomorrow at dawn. Just before you die …… while Miss Barrett watches."

Rashid disappeared as quickly as he had come, leaving Jax alone again in the dark, damp cell. He looked up at the ceiling and prayed silently. For the first time in his life, Jasper Jacks prayed for a miracle.

*^*^*^*

Brenda stared at her reflection in the dresser mirror. She pressed cold, wet tissues to her eyes, trying to reduce some of the puffiness from her crying spell. {Come on, Brenda. You survived three days, running from Rashid’s men. The food was lousy and the water was probably contaminated. You smelled bad enough to scare any dangerous animals away. You can make it another 24 hours. Just another 24 hours, and Jax will find a way to get us both out of this.....}

She took a shaky breath as the tears threatened to start again. The hopelessness of their situation had finally hit Brenda once she was locked in her room. She lost track of how long she cried, but when she looked out her window, the sun was setting. Giving herself a strong mental shake, she pulled herself up and went to the dresser. Brenda put on some old jeans, a T-shirt, and some sandals. She pulled her hair back into a messy French twist and then began to search her room for something -- anything -- that might help Jax live to see another sunset.

When Brenda came to her desk, the urge to chronicle the past few days was too strong for her to ignore. She pulled out some paper and began writing about everything -- from the time Jax took her down the side of the palace to their capture by the rebels. She tactfully left out any references to the time when she and Jax made love in the cabin. Another 45 minutes passed before Brenda heard noises outside her door. She folded the sheets of her makeshift journal and hastily shoved them inside her shirt. Just as she adjusted her bra straps to allow for the bulk, Robei opened the door to her room.

"Robei!" Brenda tried to sound chatty and glad to see her former lady-in-waiting. "I was hoping you would come back soon."

Robei kept her eyes downcast. The bottom half of her face was hidden by the veil that many women in Drakar customarily wore. She carried a large tray with a steaming teapot and some bowls towards a large table. When Brenda came to stand next to her and placed her hand on Robei’s arm, the smaller woman pulled away as though she had been burned. "No talk. Robei bring food to Missy Brenda and leave."

Brenda eyed the teapot warily as she remembered being drugged by Rashid’s harem. "Where’s Rashid?" There were some noises in the hallway and Brenda cringed involuntarily. "Is he coming to .....join me?"

Robei shook her head. "No. Rashid leave."

Brenda frowned, but then she heard more noises, this time in the courtyard. When she went to her window to look out, she saw a large helicopter, its motor running at a low speed. While she watched, Rashid and another woman came from a door at the side of the courtyard. The woman was dressed in a long silk gown that was a stunning shade of blue. Metallic threads made the gown sparkle in the setting sun. Her face was not veiled and Brenda could see the gaudy colors of her lipstick and eyeshadow.

Rashid and the woman walked briskly to the helicopter and then got inside. Brenda couldn’t help but notice that as the woman got into the helicopter, Rashid caressed her backside before following her. "Who is that woman -- leaving with Rashid?" Brenda asked, turning to look back at Robei. The small woman didn’t reply. Brenda looked back into the courtyard, squinting as she tried to see inside the helicopter.

Finally, Brenda turned back to Robei. "She’s another one of Rashid’s wives, isn’t she?" Her voice was hushed.

Robei nodded quickly. "She is his favorite. Number one wife."

Brenda slowly walked back to the table until she stood directly in front of Robei. "Wait a minute....." She reached up and gently unclasped Robei’s veil, revealing the tears that coursed down her cheeks. Brenda gasped in realization. "You’re.......you’re one of them too, aren’t you? One of Rashid’s wives?"

Another quick nod. "Not a favorite." Then Robei smiled shyly. "But he still cares for me. Rashid give Robei good life."

Suddenly, Brenda grabbed Robei’s arms. "You can give *me* a good life, too, Robei!" She tried to pull her closer, but Robei hung back. "Do you know where my friend is?" Robei turned her face away, but Brenda persisted. "The man that was brought in with me? Is he somewhere in the palace......alive?"

"Rashid told you. Friend dies tomorrow at dawn," Robei whispered.

"But he doesn’t *have* to, Robei," Brenda urged. "If you just ....." Brenda shrugged. "........*forgot*, and left the door to this room unlocked, I could go down and get Jax out, and we could leave here tonight."

Robei shook her head violently. "No! Rashid would be angry with Robei!"

"But just think!" Brenda continued, trying to hold Robei in her grasp. "Then I wouldn’t marry Rashid tomorrow night! There would be one less bride for you to compete with for his affections!" {And God knows you’re welcome to him, honey!}

Robei just continued to shake her head. "No. I cannot." She successfully pulled away from Brenda and scurried towards the door. When she got there, she re-fastened her veil and looked back at Brenda. "You eat. I bring favorite tea cakes. I go."

"Robei! NO!!" Brenda tried to rush after her but before she got to the door, she heard the lock click behind Robei. She swore softly to herself and then wandered slowly back to the table. Despite being angry with herself for failing to convince Robei to help her, the growling in her stomach reminded Brenda just how hungry she was.

She was munching on some tea cakes when she heard noise in the courtyard again. Brenda walked slowly to the window and when she looked outside, she dropped the tea cake she had been holding. Several of Rashid’s men were hauling something from one of the doors towards the center of the enclosure. She watched as they met several other men and then went back to drag another large object to the same spot.

Brenda wasn’t sure whether or not she wanted to continue to watch. She was fairly certain that whatever they were building had something to do with Jax’s and her punishment. But morbid curiosity got the better of her. A few minutes later, Brenda’s hands flew to her mouth as she realized what they were doing. Two large wooden posts had been lifted into place in the center of the courtyard. She watched as the men hammered them into the ground and shook them to make sure they were securely anchored.

She instantly knew what they were. Brenda would be tied to one and forced to watch as Jax was tied to the other. Then, at dawn, she would watch Jax face his punishment for loving her and wanting to keep her safe – a firing squad.

*^*^*^*

If Jax stood on the narrow cot in his cell, he could just barely manage to peek out the window. Shortly after his interview with Rashid, two more burly guards had come and released him from his shackles. They took him up to a remote room in the compound where he was allowed the luxury of a bath. Jax couldn’t believe that Rashid was being this humane. Obviously, the panty-waist dictator was worried about the perception the rest of the world would form when they learned that he had executed one American and was detaining another against her will.

As he carried on some inane conversation with himself in the tub, Jax even shaved away the blonde stubble that had grown on his chin. But his reprieve had a time limit, and far too soon his two guards let him know that it was time to return to his cell. Again, Jax was surprised when he was provided with a pair of brown corduroy trousers, a pale blue denim shirt, and floppy sandals. The two guards returned him to his cell and to Jax’s complete astonishment, they left him without re-fastening the wrist shackles.

He had begun to pace almost as soon as they left. {You haven’t been out of the loop for that long, man. You should be able to figure a way out of this.} Jax raised his head when he heard noises in the courtyard. He climbed up on his bed, not sure if it would support his weight. When he managed to glimpse the same work detail that Brenda saw erecting two wooden posts in the courtyard, he swore loudly.

{You HAVE to think of a way out of this. You’re the best operative the WSB has, Jax.} He turned around and sat back down heavily on the cot. {Not *has*. HAD. You’ve gone soft, old man. What fit of vanity possessed you to think that you could waltz in here, single-handedly, and bring Brenda out without a scratch? When you haven’t seen active duty for almost a year?}

Jax sighed loudly as he buried his face in his hands. Then he rubbed his eyes briskly with his hands and jumped to his feet. Anger made his face a mask of determination. {The sick b*stard knows Brenda can see those posts the same as I can. Physical torture isn’t enough for him – he has to play games with her mind, too.}

As he climbed up on his cot one more time, Jax looked out the window and gnawed on a finger in thought. {Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if you can’t figure a way out of this after all, Jax. Maybe it would be better for Brenda to die than to have to spend the rest of her life married to that piece of ……} Jax turned away from the window and sat back down on the cot, grinding his right fist into the palm of his left hand. {There HAS to be a way out of this. Brenda deserves to live. So do you. There are too many things that haven’t been said……haven’t been discussed…….}

As Jax remained awake for the balance of the night, he made a vow that as soon as they got out of Drakar, the first thing they would do is say those things to each other. A naughty smile curved his lips. {Well, maybe not the *first* thing we’ll do…….}

*^*^*^*

Brenda had never been an early riser in her life, but nothing prepared her for being roughly awakened before dawn. She was surprised she had managed to get any sleep at all the night before. Noises in the courtyard and her worry for Jax kept her pacing the floor of her apartment until the wee hours of the morning. But then, the exhaustion from her crying spell and tensions of the day finally won out and she fell into a troubled sleep.

Robei was silent as she waited for Brenda to put on some fresh clothes. She donned a clean pair of jeans, a sweatshirt with some witty saying about handguns and PMS written on the front, athletic socks and a pair of tennis shoes. The lack of pain in her injured right knee continued to amaze her. Brenda let her hair hang loose and skipped applying makeup when there was a knock at her door. Robei admitted two menacing-looking guards and then watched as they seized Brenda’s arms and pulled her out of the room and down a hallway. The last thing Brenda saw before she rounded a corner with her "escort" was Robei, her face filled with a combination of pity and genuine affection.

The two guards pulled Brenda into the courtyard’s bright sunlight. She tried to put her hands up to shield her eyes, but they insisted on dragging her across the area towards one of the wooden posts. Brenda was shocked that the rest of the courtyard was empty. The guards shoved her back against the post and pulled her arms around to the back, tying her wrists to a metal ring at waist level. As they finished securing her, Brenda saw Rashid emerge from another door of the palace. When Brenda squinted against the morning sun, she could see the bright-colored costumes of the rest of his harem behind one of the screened doors. Apparently their presence was commanded – so that Rashid could prove to his other wives what would happen to them if they betrayed him as Brenda had.

Rashid walked to stand directly in front of Brenda. "Good morning, angel. I trust you slept well."

"I won’t sleep well again until I’m back in the United States and you’re rotting in some miserable jail cell, Rashid," she hissed. Brenda flexed her hands, but the guards had tied her tightly.

Rashid clucked his tongue. "Now, Brenda! You really shouldn’t waste so much of your energy on useless fantasies." His face became deadly serious. "Mr. Jacks told me that he seduced you. That you were not a willing recipient of his amorous advances. Is that correct?"

Brenda stiffened her spine. {Why lie to him anymore? He’s going to kill Jax no matter what I say, and at this point, I really don’t care what he does to me. A bullet to the heart would be a lot better than having to endure sex with him for the rest of my life.} "No. He lied. We both lied."

Rashid’s eyes narrowed. "You let him make love to you?"

Brenda leaned forward as far as she could. "I *wanted* him to make love to me, you pig!" Brenda laughed a little and leaned back against the pole. "There wasn’t any man back in the United States! Jax came here to get me out before I made the worst mistake of my life! And thank God he tried!"

Rashid inhaled deeply, puffing out his chest. "Very touching. You lied to try to save each other from suffering my wrath, no doubt."

"And I’d do it again in a heartbeat!" Brenda smiled smugly and then, before Rashid could pull away, she spat in his face.

The guards all sprang towards Brenda when she spat at him, but Rashid held up a hand. "No! Her punishment is yet to come. She has sealed her own fate, as well as that of Mr. Jacks."

Rashid had no sooner finished speaking than a door opened and Jax was pushed through into the courtyard. Brenda’s breath caught in her throat at the sight of him. Then she smiled in relief as she heard him chattering at the guards. "Now, you guys, I told you to take it easy! If you don’t like Pokemon, we can talk about a different cartoon!" They held his arms tightly as they dragged him towards the other wooden post.

As soon as Jax’s eyes adjusted to the sun, he spotted Brenda. He had never been so happy to see her in his entire life. She still looked healthy, and even at a glance he could see that Rashid hadn’t broken her spirit. The two guards pulled him towards the post and when they reached it, they shoved him against it, chest first. Jax’s arms wrapped around the post and the guards immediately grabbed his hands and fastened them to a ring on the back of the post at the level of Jax’s shoulders.

"Well," he drawled softly, "good morning, duchess!"

But Brenda was too angry at Rashid to say anything to Jax. "You b*stard!" she shouted. "You’re such a sick pervert that you’re going to shoot him in the back?!"

Rashid didn’t answer Brenda but turned away as one of the guards came and spoke to him in a low voice. She looked at Jax with tears in her eyes. "Are you alright?"

Jax shrugged with a cocky smile. "I’ve been better." He looked around at the deserted courtyard. Only Rashid, the guards, and Rashid’s empty helicopter were in the enclosure. "So," he sighed, "you about ready to blow this popsicle stand?"

Brenda fought back tears. "Jax…..there’s so much I want to say……I never told you……"

Jax shook his head. "Not now, duchess. We’ll have plenty of time for that, later." He glanced back over his shoulder at Rashid. "Don’t give him the satisfaction."

Brenda looked back at her former fiancé just in time to see him nod silently at the two guards standing on each side of Jax. As soon as he did, the guards reached out and grabbed Jax’s shirt, ripping it down the shoulder and side seams so that it hung loosely from the waistband of his pants. The muscles in his bare, tanned back flexed as he shifted his weight against the pole. "Hey there, guys!" Jax shouted. "Watch the fabric!" He gave Brenda another brazen grin. "Just because they’re Sosa fans and I prefer Maguire, they get all bent out of shape."

Brenda was confused until she looked back at Rashid again. He was standing about 15 feet from Jax, and when a guard handed him something, she screamed. "NO!!! YOU CAN’T!!!!"

Rashid shook out the thick, black bull whip with an evil smile. "This is my country, angel. I can do anything I like." He walked slowly over to a sobbing Brenda. "I will make Mr. Jacks pay for taking you from me, Brenda. And not only will you watch, but you will be close enough to feel the blood and sweat that will rain from his body!"

"You can’t make me!" Brenda growled, her mouth a thin line. She turned her head away but Rashid just nodded at a guard, who came up behind her. He gripped the sides of her face with his large hands and turned it so that she faced Jax. When he squeezed tightly, her eyes shot open with pain.

Rashid snapped the whip in the air and Brenda’s tears flowed down her cheeks. "You will do as I say, my angel. For the rest of your life." Then he turned and walked to stand behind Jax.

Jax’s bare shoulders glinted with perspiration in the sun as he flexed his straining arms. "Go ahead and get it over with, Fathead," he quipped. "Hit me with your best shot."

Brenda’s scream was so loud it drowned out the first slap of the whip against Jax’s body.

To be continued……..