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| IMPOSTER BY MARIQUA |
CHAPTER 19 |
His mouth bore down into hers with a ferocity unlike any she had experienced -- even with Pete. He pinned her arms out to her sides -- his hair draping across her breasts and his wild, piercing eyes meeting hers in a kind of dare -- a dare that she could ever hope to match his intensity.
Tea knew that this was the primal beast within him that was calling him back to his baser desires. This lonely, isolated man who had shown an aloofness to the world was anything but aloof now. Inside of him burned the fires of an ardor and need to love, which she had always suspected were there and just needed a catalyst to release them.
As he held her there on the brink of an explosion of passion, she felt her own hidden desires rise to the surface. She had thought that she knew all about herself and what she wanted from a man, but Todd Manning was no ordinary man. Everything about him had been mysterious from the moment she met him, and that mystery had fueled her intense need to know him as no one else had. There were men out there, she knew, who would be much easier to know. Andrew had been one of those men. But I don't want an easy man. I know now that I never did.
After all the speeches she had made to him about wanting him to be a better man, she realized with a shock to her system that she had never really wanted him to be anything but who he was. His appeal to her was not based on what others thought of him, for she had always known that he would never be completely accepted by the majority of people in Llanview. It's because you throw their hypocrisy in their faces and have always been the master of your own fate. You and I feel the same, but you were so much more honest with yourself, weren't you? I'm the one who sacrificed what I believed in to fit in. Why on earth would you love someone like me?
Tea's mind began to comprehend more fully the facade of her own making which she had constructed for others to see -- the capable female lawyer who was appalled by the actions of this nefarious man who should have done things in a more legitimate way. Her self-righteous beliefs crumbled within her, and a more honest woman appeared before him -- matching his own brutal honesty. We are the same, querido! I couldn't admit it to you because I wanted to feel superior to you, but your love for me has shown me who I really am.
Todd knew that he had lost his last vestige of control with her. He was waiting for her to cringe in fear with the force of his sexuality. She had insisted that she wanted to "see" into the core of his soul -- where all his secrets were safely tucked away. That was what she had said, but did she really mean it? I could terrify you, Tea. You have never really seen this in me before. It is very strong.
As his lips crushed against hers -- bruising her skin -- he waited for her to fight him off and retreat from his tempestuous nature. A few moments passed and something happened that unnerved him. Her teeth bit into his lips with a matching ferocity and her body pushed against him and responded in kind to his aggression. The woman lying beneath him had mysteriously transformed into a kind of untamed siren whose sexual appetite countered his own. Her deep earthy-brown eyes were vibrant with pure lust as her long, polished fingernails dug into his back -- urging him on.
"...and the Llanview police are being assisted by the FBI in their search for the missing Sun publisher and his wife."
Viki hit the off button to her car radio as she finished listening to the local news report concerning her brother. She and Sam were on their way back to Llanview, but during the time between their initial call to Sykes and now, the police had apparently jumped into action. He was out there somewhere in that countryside and the police and FBI would be setting their traps for him. Anything was possible now, and she didn't trust the authorities not to do something stupid and push him over the edge. Sykes had given them a direct order to go home.
Viki put on her turn signal light and began slowing the Continental down.
Sam Rappaport's brow wrinkled in disbelief as he saw what she was doing.
"Oh, no! No...Viki! You're not going to go against Sykes...are you?"
"Like hell I'm not!" Viki retorted and swung the Continental around in the middle of the deserted highway.
As she pulled a similar maneuver as the one on the cabin road, Sam's face broke into an awkward grin This was the mischevious side of Viki Carpenter he was just getting to know, but he kind of liked what he was seeing. I should be telling her to turn back, but the strange thing is -- I agree with her!
She peeked over at him slyly out of the corner of her eye and winked at him conspiratorially as the car sped in the opposite direction and back to the area where the police were looking for Todd. Her face was flushed with a rosy pink color and her pearl-blue eyes sparkled. Sam looked at her somewhat longer this time -- really noticing for the first time how soft and pretty she looked in the dim light of the car.
Edwards saw Officer Maloney approach him with the two Doberman pinschers trained especially for tracking criminals. They were sleek, muscular animals with vicious-looking white fangs and an impatience to be off on the chase. Maloney looked at them proudly as he spoke, "Damn fine canines, aren't they Edwards? Best tracking dogs in five counties! Manning doesn't stand a chance of shaking these beauties!"
Edwards laughed to himself as he listened to Maloney. You would think the sun rose and set with those dogs of his. Well, Maloney did train them personally and took a lot of pride in the fact that they had never failed to find their target. It remains to be seen, though, Maloney. This is no ordinary fugitive either. From everything I've heard about Todd Manning, he's cunning enough to find a way to outsmart even these "fine canines".
Maloney opened up a plastic bag and pulled out a man's shirt, which the police had taken from the penthouse. He held it up in the air for a few seconds -- his eyes flashing with pleasure at the thrill of another hunt. The dogs' eyes locked onto the article of clothing and they lurched forward on their leashes to get to the material being dangled over their heads.
"Okay, okay...you're gonna get your chance! He's all yours, guys!" Maloney said and lowered the shirt quickly down to the dogs' noses. With rapid movements, the dogs sniffed all over the fabric and then with final snorts, yanked powerfully on the leashes to begin their race to find the owner of the smell. Maloney signaled to the other men who were to go with him and his dogs on the hunt. As he waited for the men to come over, he tightened his grip on the leashes of the straining dogs and said with relish to Edwards, "This is gonna be a piece of cake!"
The men gathered around him, and he nodded again to Edwards as the team of trackers began their cross-country forage into the darkened landscape of the rural area. Edwards shook his head as he watched them leave. We'll see, Maloney...we'll see.
John Sykes stood outside his car pulled alongside the first roadblock he had ordered set up. He had agreed to Delgado's demand for an infrared helicopter and the FBI had dispatched it immediately. Llanview did not have one, but he had seen them in action before. These infrared devices had a scanner that zeroed in on the body heat of a person -- allowing the police to track and locate anyone on foot. They were much more sophisticated than the traditional beam of light used to spot escaped criminals in the past. With this equipment, it was only a matter of time before the fugitive would be pinpointed and caught. Sykes didn't like to concede anything to the FBI, but in this case, he had silently agreed with Delgado that this would be the most efficient and quickest course of action. Surveying the blue flashing lights all around him for the roadblock, he felt much more confident that he had done everything by the book to make sure that Manning was apprehended. Looking skyward as he waited for the appearance of the helicopter in the expansive night sky, he wondered where Todd Manning was at this moment. Manning , you haven't got a prayer!
The degree to which she responded to him stunned him momentarily and he was awed by the release of unadulterated passion fusing with his own A jolt of excitement coursed through his veins with this new discovery of her, and he gripped her to him with unyielding strength. Todd had never seen such longing in the eyes of any woman who had looked into his eyes. Only a few women had said they loved him, but he knew from inside his closed heart that their love had been based on selfish motives and not entirely pure. He had been worried that he would be too much for her, but in reality, he realized that the force of her love was almost too much for him.
Tea saw only his hazel eyes burning into hers and his wild, tousled hair resting loosely over her chest, but she could feel him running his hands over her with a strange, agitated kind of energy. In seconds she had crossed over into his world where he shut the door behind her. Still, she was not afraid and she knew she would follow him anywhere that he would lead her. I'm on a journey to know you, Todd, and nothing outside of us matters anymore!
A ghostly calm seemed to hang over the remote area of outstretched land around them. At another point not far away, a new, bizarre sound interrupted the false serenity of the sparsely populated farmland. An object appeared in the glittering sky like a giant insect -- approaching the barricade of cars on the ground with a thunderous sound of whirring and droning.
Edwards looked up into the sky as he felt the earth shake below with the
arrival of this new means to trace the whereabouts of Todd Manning. He
braced
himself for more FBI contact and thought with years of background in
police
work behind him, "It's party time!!"
2001 Copyright by Mariqua
