Page 58 of Fighting for Mallory

“I’m in pain and don’t want to talk anymore. Do you have any pain meds?”

“You do not wish to know why you were chosen?”

“I know why. Because you’re a psychopath.”

“You do not care if you insult me?”

“No. Not a whit.”

Neheb snapped his fingers, and Ali stepped forward. “Give her the pain medication, for tomorrow she must prepare for the ritual on the night of the harvest moon.” He turned on his heel and left with Omar following behind him.

Ali asked Mallory to open her mouth, and he placed a pill on her tongue. After she swallowed it with a large sip of water, she asked, “What day is it, Ali?”

“It is the twenty-seventh of September.”

“I’m hungry. Will you bring me some food?”

“Yes. Later tonight. First, I must face my punishment. I have accepted the scourge.”

His revelation horrified Mallory. “Oh, Ali, no! You don’t have to submit to your punishment. You can go to Luca, and he’ll protect you. The quickest way to find him is to call Detective Martin Scope. He’ll know exactly where Luca is. Or better yet, you and I can leave together right now. I can make it, Ali. Then, we’ll both be safe.”

Ali shook his head. Sadness filled his deep brown eyes. “I am sorry, Mallory, but they are watching me closely now. I will take my punishment to purify my transgression. I will bring you food.”

“Be brave, Ali.”

“I will try.”

The pain pill dulled the fiery stinging in her back and made her drowsy. Staring at the river of flames mesmerized her, and she fell asleep.

The tantalizing aroma of food crept into Mallory’s subconscious. A vision of the last meal she shared with Luca teased her, and she muttered his name.

“I am not Luca, Mallory Hayes.”

She opened her eyes and barely recognized Ali. He’d been badly beaten. His entire face was a swollen mass of contusions. “Oh, my God, Ali! What did they do to you?”

“They purified me. Look, I have brought you a cheeseburger and French fries.”

“Thank you, but I want you to show me your back.”

Ali’s fingers trembled as he unbuttoned his shirt and gently removed it. He turned away from her, and when Mallory saw the bloody crisscross stripes on his back, his flesh flayed open, she let out a gasp of outrage.

“Barbarians!”

Ali didn’t reply as he shrugged back into his shirt, wincing with pain.

“Ali, let’s take care of each other. Fadhel left his medical bag. You need to change the dressing on my back, and in return I will cleanse your wounds. Please cut me loose. Trust me, I only want to help you.”

“I believe you, Mallory.”

Ali used a pocketknife to cut the cable ties. Mallory rubbed her sore wrists and rolled onto her side. She bit her lower lip when Ali pulled the dressing off her wound.

“Tell me what it looks like. Is it bleeding? Does it look red and angry? Is there pus draining from it?”

“It does not look good. It is red, and yes, there is also pus.”

“It’s infected. Check Fadhel’s medical bag for oral antibiotics. Clean it as best you can and redress it.”

Mallory gritted her teeth and bore her pain. When Ali finished his ministrations, she rose to her knees and swabbed his bloody, mangled back with alcohol pads. Every so often he gasped in pain.

---