“I have the power, and the world can do nothing.” He tapped his temple. “The only code to stop it is locked in my mind.”

“Shannon.” It was Tanya, speaking in that soft, milky voice again. “Forgive me. I’m so sorry.”

Abdullah jerked his head toward her. “Shut up!”

Shannon blinked the mist from his eyes, feeling as though he might crumble from the insanity of her words.

Tanya ignored Abdullah. “I know some things now, Shannon. I know that I was made to love you. I know that you need me to love you. I know that I always have loved you, and that I love you desperately now.”

Abdullah took three leaping steps to her and brought a heavy hand across her bare cheek. The air resounded with the sound of flesh smacking flesh.

Crack!

Heat flared up Shannon’s neck. He grunted and jerked against the bindings in sudden rage. Tanya’s face turned a bright red. But her smile didn’t waver.

“Leave her alone!” Shannon screamed. “You touch her and I’ll rip your heart out!”

Pain shot down his spine and his head swam, and he knew now that it was Sula’s doing. He closed his eyes against the agony.

“Shannon.” She was speaking again and her words flowed like a balm flows. “Shannon, do you remember when we used to swim together, in the pool?”

He opened his eyes.

The Arab stood, dumbstruck.

Shannon remembered.

“Do you remember how I fell into your arms? And how you kissed my lips?”

Her deep blue eyes held him.

The Arab spun his head to Shannon, off balance now.

Tanya ignored him. “Do you know that it was for today that we loved each other then? It was beyond us, Shannon. Our parents—they died for this day.”

The words made no sense to him, but her eyes and her lips and her voice— they all crashed in on him at once. Her breath seemed to flow to him again.

She was loving him with an intensity he did not know could possibly exist. The blood drained from his head, and he let her words wash over him.

Something she had said made Abdullah step back.

“We’re a part of God’s plan, Shannon. You are. Like Rahab. God’s trump card.”

Shannon’s mind spun in wild circles.

“Those bonds of love have never been broken. Tell me that you love me, Shannon. Please, tell me.”

The pressure on his chest felt like a dam set to burst. Tears ran down his cheeks. Blood roared through his ears, and his face twisted in anguish.

“I love you desperately, Shannon.”

I love you, Tanya.

A ball of anguish rolled up his chest, swelling as it rose.

Kill her— “No!”

The pain roared in his ears, and for a moment he thought he was passing out. Tears spilled from his eyes and his face contorted in agony.