Lust by Francine Pascal Page B

Jake Montone.” He turned to Gaia. “We need to get the snowmobiles and get back to Oliver. I don’t like how this thing is going down,” Jake said, as he departed for the makeshift fort.
    â€œOliver?” Tom gasped. He wheeled around, yanking his arm out of Gaia’s grasp. “Please don’t tell me you’re working with my brother. Is that who brought you here?”
    Gaia looked at her father, horrified that Jake had let the secret slip so soon. He would have had to find out sooner or later, but she’d thought she’d have the trip up the mountain to soften the blow. “Dad, this isn’t the time. Let’s just get up the—”
    â€œWhat kind of a deal did you make? Do you have any idea how much danger we are in right now?”
    â€œYeah, Dad. There’s a riot going on and—you hear that? Those are gunshots. We need to get on the snowmobiles now.”
    â€œI’m safer inside that compound than out here with Loki. He’s using you, can’t you see that? He must have lost control of my abduction, and he used to you get me back—now he’s going to kill all of us.”
    â€œIt’s not like that,” Gaia shouted over the increasing noise of the riot. “He was in a coma. He had some kind of brain conversion while he was under. Sometimes when people suffer loss of oxygen to the brain they emerge from their comas a gentler version of their former selves. In this case, Loki just went back to his Oliver personality. He helped us put this trip together—he put it together for us. Dad, I know it’s hard to believe, but he’s really sorry.”
    â€œSorry?” Tom asked, with an incredulous stare at his daughter. She almost withered under its heat. He didn’t raise his voice, but his body language was unmistakable. He was furious.
    Jake buzzed up on a snowmobile. “Is everything all right?” he asked. “Mr. Moore, can you ride on the back of this with me?”
    Tom turned to Jake. “Thank you for your help—but my daughter and I aren’t going with you.”
    â€œWhat? Dad!” Gaia said.
    â€œThere’s no way you’ll get back without the snowmobiles,” Jake said. “And the rations. And the supplies.”
    â€œWe’ll manage,” Tom said, taking Gaia’s arm protectively.
    â€œDad, listen,” Gaia said. She turned to face him.“Jake’s right. We’re dead meat on our own. Even if you’re still suspicious of Oliver, you’ve got to trust me enough to know we’ll be all right. If we go with him, maybe something will happen. But if we don’t, there’s no chance of survival. And there’s no turning back,” she added, with a toss of her head toward the now-mounting flames inside the prison walls.
    Tom gazed into Gaia’s eyes as if he were trying to gauge whether she’d been brainwashed or not. It was a legitimate question. Loki had been a master of manipulation—Tom himself had been fooled by Gaia doppelgangers, though not from this close up. But there was no time to think it over carefully. He had to act quickly.
    â€œSir?” Jake asked. “If one of those bullets hits my gas tank, we’re going to have some trouble.”
    â€œAll right,” he said. “I’ll go with you.” He climbed on the back of the kid’s snowmobile while Gaia buzzed on ahead. She was right. He had no choice—for now. But he was going to watch carefully for a chance to grab his daughter and get away from Loki. Or use this opportunity to get revenge.
    He didn’t know what Loki was up to now, but he was about to come face-to-face with his old nemesis. What did Loki want? What was his plan? Tom wasn’t sure. But he knew that, bottom line, it had to be evil. And being this close to Loki was going to give Tom the opportunity for revenge he’d always wanted. The temptation was beyond