(See important disclaimers at the beginning of Part 1)

Jess heard Renee's voice first, which was good -- the rest of her awakening was distinctly less pleasant. She lay face-down on the restrainer, which had been adjusted to lie flat. Her shirt was still off, Jess noticed, but she wore her pants. Nothing below her waist mattered much at the moment -- her flogged back felt wrapped in sheets of flame.

Renee had been telling a story. Jess didn't remember most of it, but it had been interesting.

"Can you tell me how bad it is, Jess?" Renee's voice was soft.

Jess frowned, eyes still closed. "How do you do that?"

"What?"

"Know when I'm awake." Jess opened her eyes in stages. "I just found out myself."

"Your body tenses up. Whoa, yeah, like that." Renee threw her arm across Jess's hips as the pain hit in full. "Yell if you need to, Jess, it's okay."

"Amazons don't yell." The nausea receded, and she craned her neck to see the younger woman. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Then Renee smiled, unwillingly, because she knew how fine she looked. "I'm going to finish washing your back, Jess. It's just water, it's all I can do, but it's better than nothing. I'm not putting that tecathenase acid on this."

Jess rested her chin on her crossed hands. She could feel the warmth from the arc lamp on her flayed shoulders. "How much time do we have?"

Renee checked her watch. "About twenty-four hours." The strain was back in her voice. "You're not going to be able to fight tomorrow, Jess. I doubt if you'll be able to walk by then."

"I'll walk." Jess's eyes closed. Renee continued sponging her back, and for awhile there was only the sound of water being rinsed from the cloth. Jess felt tears rising, and made no effort to stop them. She was bone-weary and tired of being alone, and there was no end to it in sight.

"Jesstin?"

"Nothing," Jess said. She scrubbed her face on her forearm. "Just homesick."

Renee rinsed the cloth in the basin, and watched the water swirl with red. "You were out of it, for awhile. You said a few things. Names, like Kyla, and Shann -- a few others I didn't catch."

It doesn't matter, Jess thought. The military had Shann's name years ago. But if she was spouting off like that, she was losing control, and that scared her.

"Was anyone else around?" Jess asked casually. The new tension in her shoulders started an unfortunate chain-reaction, and soon her muscles were locked again.

"We were alone, now will you settle down, please?" Renee waited until Jess was able to relax again on the chair's padded surface, and then she rested her hand on the thick hair at the base of her neck. "Jess, just lie there for a second. Don't go on until you feel better."

Jess complied. "I feel better," she mumbled.

Renee nodded, and lay the wet cloth against a welt high on her shoulder. "Cam and Kyla -- they're the girls being kept in another part of the Clinic. Right? And they're both like you, they're Amazons?"

"We're from Tristaine." Jess's rich voice was subdued. "Long story. Amazons will do. Yeah, Cam and Ky were in prison with me. They were transferred here the same night I was." She paused as Renee patted the cloth across her raw shoulderblade. "I told you two other women were murdered, right?"

"Yes. And you told me you didn't do it."

"One of them was Hannah -- she was Cam's younger sister. The other was Dyan, she was Kyla's older one."

"Christ, Jess." Renee let out her breath. "Did you know their sisters, too?"

"Dyan was a friend." The dark woman's tone was still expressionless. "Cam and Kyla heard I was arrested, and they knew it was bogus. They started poking in the wrong places, until they got caught. This hurts like a bitch, Renee."

"I know it does. Keep breathing, you're doing great."

Jess's back and shoulders were cross-hatched with lashmarks, of varying severity and without any discernible pattern. The bullwhip had cut deeply enough to draw blood several times, and there wasn't a hand's-span of tanned skin unmarked. Renee felt again the brutal sting of the single whipmark across the base of her own breasts. She tried to multiply that by forty.

The fingers holding the cloth kept moving, inexorable but gentle. Renee's other hand still rested in Jess's dark hair, scratching her scalp lightly. "I don't know why you're not screaming, anyone else would be."

"Too tired," Jess mumbled.

Renee started probing the tight muscles at the base of the Amazon's neck. "Jess, who's Bri?"

"Who?"

"Bri. You called me that, twice."

"I don't know any Bri's." Jess shifted. "What are you going to do about Caster, Renee?"

Renee's fingers stilled. "Don't worry about that now. I can take care of myself."

"You haven't done very well so far," Jess pointed out.

"Uh, Jess, you need to back off a little." Renee's tone had gone formal. "I got by for twenty-three years before you showed up, and my life hasn't been the fun little potluck you seem to think it has." Not a speck of the girl's annoyance showed in her hands; her touch on Jess's scourged back remained light and careful.

"I don't doubt that. I'm sitting up."

"No, you're not. Jesstin, damn it!"

While Renee argued, Jess pushed herself up on her arms, then shifted, very carefully, until her legs dangled over the side of the recliner. The dark woman rested her hands on the leather surface and took a deep breath, waiting for dizziness to settle again. Then Jess looked up into stormy green eyes, and she was stunned.

"Have you been crying?"

Renee's professionalism had been restored by the white labcoat, but she was almost as pale as Jess, and her face was ravaged by tears.

"I do this all the time, it's just nerves." Renee scrubbed her eyes with one hand, an endearingly childlike gesture. "Am I going to have to tie you down to get you to hold still?"

"I won't obey you anymore, Renee."

The young medic blinked.

Jess let that newsflash sink in. "Do you believe me, about the murders?"

A dozen replies occurred to Renee, but when her mouth opened only the truth emerged. "I don't know what to believe anymore."

Jess studied the younger woman, and she felt a weak tendril of compassion for her. Twenty-three years under this regime would be a heavy load to shake off in one week. "I hope you're as strong as I think you are, Ren." She lifted her chin toward the door. "You need to get home."

"What?"

"You should have left an hour ago. You need to keep up appearances for now, until you know what you're going to do. Right?"

"Right." Renee swallowed. She walked around the restrainer, and rinsed the cloth out in the sink. Then she rested her hand on the cool porcelain and turned to Jess.

"Look, I still have two rules, here." Renee cleared her throat. "First, don't get me into any more trouble than you already have, Jess. I've decided I want to help you if I can, but I have to protect myself, too."

"Agreed," Jess nodded. "Second?"

"Second, don't touch me again without my permission."

The steady blue light in Jess's eyes dimmed a little. "Okay."

Renee looked at the tall woman. Jess's chest and belly gleamed with sweat, and she was trembling visibly. Then she smiled, and for a moment Jess looked heartbreakingly young.

Renee felt tears fill her eyes again. "There's nothing more I can do for you tonight, anyway." She hesitated. "I'm afraid to leave you, I think."

"I'm kind of afraid to see you go, but you have to. Watch your back. And stay sober, Renee."

Renee nodded. She was stalling. "Will you be able to sleep?"

"Sure." Jess made a deliberate effort to relax her shoulders.

"Watch your back, too, Jess." Renee clicked off the arc lamp, and left.

Stuart came for Jess in the morning, which was the first oddity that keyed off her internal alarm. She was cautiously satisfied with her mobility as she followed the orderly to C-wing, but it came at a high cost -- her head was swimming. Basically, though, Jess was surprisingly functional when she entered C-6. In a moment her blue eyes focused, and she wished she weren't.

Renee had been stripped and tied onto the X-frame. Jess stared at the bound woman in shock.

Renee's expression reflected Jess's horror. She hadn't yet summoned a protective mask of detachment, and her lush body moved in unintentionally erotic efforts to free herself from the restraints.

Jess's blazing eyes darted to Caster.

The doctor smiled at Jess, her beautiful hands folded in front of her. "Your nurse here told me you're too badly hurt after that flogging to take on any additional trauma, Jesstin. I had to agree. Frankly, I'm afraid we might kill you soon, if we aren't more careful. So, I changed today's protocol."

"She comes down." Jess took a step toward Caster, who calmly drew her stunner in warning. "Caster, what can you possibly prove with this?"

Caster's bright eyes studied Jess. "Renee, you were exaggerating again. Just look at your studly and protective patient, all hulking butch in sinister black. I'm almost afraid of her. You're getting this, Stuart?"

"Always," Stuart mumbled behind the videocamera.

"Maybe Jesstin's strong enough to participate today, after all."

"She's not," Renee said clearly. Both women turned to look up at her. The young medic's breasts and face were still flushed, but she held herself still now against the weathered wood. "Jess, it's all right. I know what's going to happen, just -- shut up."

"My God, Jesstin, look at her." Caster folded her arms and regarded Renee's spread-eagled body with wonder. "I'm straight as a stick, mind you, but if I weren't, I'd be in seventh heaven. You're a delectable little piece, Miss Renee! Get some close-ups, Stuart."

"Caster," Jess breathed.

"The breasts and crotch, especially," Caster continued, watching the monitor. "But pull back often and get all of her too, please, her expressions are lovely. Heavens, Jesstin, how are you standing this?"

"Don't know," Stuart volunteered, watching the monitor avidly as Renee turned her head and closed her eyes against the harsh wash of morning light from the skylight in the ceiling.

Caster held up a hand when Jess took a step forward, and spoke to her as she would a peer. "The point of this project is to develop a model to overcome an Amazon's resistance, Jesstin, correct? You haven't willingly surrendered in sustained combat, or under sexual humiliation. I've had many frustrated, sleepless nights because of you, may I add."

Caster inclined her head toward Renee. "This young tart just walked into my dreams, to tell you the truth. I really was beginning to think I would have to kill you before you could do me any practical good."

"I'm not dense, Caster." Jess's tone was dangerously low. "You want me to surrender? You got me. I give up, I'm all yours. I'll sign anything you want."

"You offered to surrender that superficially in prison, too," Caster chided, "whenever we threatened your -- Amazonlettes. That wasn't genuine capitulation, Jesstin, because you were being -- " she tweaked the air with two pairs of raised fingers, "adannish, as you would call it. The military needs to be able to hit you Amazons in your gut, where you live, don't you see? I have to break you legitimately."

"Cut her down, Caster, I'm not raping her."

Caster smiled, and Renee closed her eyes.

"I think you will, Jesstin. Or we'll call one of the guards to stand in for you, while you watch."

Jess saw Renee shudder with horror.

Caster held out a string of small metal balls. "Put these in her first, Jesstin. Carefully. Then pull them out. That will help Renee stretch a little, to accommodate your wrist."

Jess looked up at the blonde woman watching her. "Renee, I can't."

Renee swallowed. "It's all right, Jess. I'll be -- it's okay."

Caster's face was becoming skeletal again. "Jesstin, two young women I know might want to persuade you otherwise."

Jess shook her head. "Camryn and Kyla wouldn't want me to do this."

Caster's lips pursed as she studied her prisoner. "You might be right. Damn this adannin shit anyway, Jesstin. Why in hell you have to apply it to this little . . . . " She spun and went to the frame. "Sorry, Renee, but she just pissed me off."

Abruptly, Caster began to poke the polished silver balls into Renee's vagina. Renee gasped raggedly and bucked, but the shelf pressing into her lower back kept her tightly arched and spread.

Jess watched Renee's sweating face as another silver ball was thrust up inside her. A myriad of emotions washed through her. Renee looked at Jess's eyes, and her groin tightened in a carnal rush as she watched her own heart play out across the angular planes of Jess's features. The hatred and anguish that filled her eyes mirrored Renee's own emotions, every time Jess had been hurt.

Caster punched another steel ball into Renee's straining cunt and she groaned, helplessly. Renee knew Jess was aroused -- to her despair, the humiliating assault was heating her own blood -- but that took nothing away from their fear.

"Take a good deep breath, hon." Caster straightened, holding the end of the string of polished balls. "Stuart? I think we're ready for her close-up."

The doctor pulled the string, yanking three balls out of the girl's vagina with a series of obscene, sodden plops. Renee thrust her hips out repeatedly, with a guttural groan. Caster plucked the remaining balls free more slowly, apparently enjoying the task.

After the lush hips gave one final, convulsive twitch, and the last of the shiny spheres emerged between Renee's red-furred labia, Caster dropped the chain. There was a concussive jangle as the metal balls hit the cement floor.

"That'll get you started, Renee." Caster slipped the slender fingers of one hand between the suspended girl's nether-lips and rubbed her clitoris in absent circles -- at the same time, she pulled a cell phone out of her labcoat pocket and clicked it on. Caster shook the small handset, frowning. "Damn, there's no reception in this crypt."

Caster removed her fingers from her assistant's snatch, and walked away from the frame, fiddling with the phone. "Mr. Dugan? Mr. Dugan, can you hear me? It looks like we are going to need you in here after all -- hello? Say again?"

Tears brimmed in Jess's blue eyes as she walked toward the X-frame. "Renee, this has to end now."

"Jess, stop there."

"She's not going to stop. This is happening to you because of me." The Amazon's voice was tight with grief. "You're not even Tristaine . . . I promised you I'd look out for you."

"Whatever you're thinking, Jesstin, just stop it."

Stuart was still filming avidly, hearing every word. Jess knew it, but ignored him. Caster continued enunciating into her cellphone.

"Look, you're going to owe me for this." Jess stepped closer to the rack. "Talk to Benton, he and his wife are helping Camryn and Kyla. Promise me, Renee."

"Fuck you, Jess!" Renee's whisper all but hissed. "You're going to get yourself killed, now back up and shut up, I'm warning you!"

Caster was turning and drawing her stunner in the same movement. She saw Jess in front of the frame, her uplifted gaze on Renee's face. "Stuart," the doctor said. Then she yelled into her phone, "Dugan, get in here, now!"

"Fuck you back, young bitch." Jess's usually gentle eyes had gone arctic, but the hand she laid on Renee's cold stomach was gentle. "You owe me. You help my friends." Jess bent and rested her full lips against Renee's soft mound, saying goodbye.

"Jesstin, don't make me do this." Caster skidded to a halt beside Jess and jammed the stunner against her upper arm. "You're not in any shape for it!"

Jess turned toward Caster in her own time, and, not without relish, snapped a stinging slap across the doctor's elegant cheek. Caster gasped and would have fallen, but Jess hauled her erect by one arm.

Stuart stood where he was, frozen and useless, the camera whirring on.

The stunner Caster had intended to activate against Jess's arm ended up in Jess's grasp instead. She pushed its muzzle into the open collar of her black shirt, and pressed it hard between her breasts, smiling at Caster's bulging eyes.

"Jesstin," Renee called.

Jess pressed the stunner's switch. She wouldn't let go of it, and Caster wasn't strong enough to break her grip, so the current shot through her heart muscle in successive bursts.

Caster screamed for Dugan again, who finally entered Suite C-6 on the run. Dugan was basically a thug, but to give him credit, he assessed the situation accurately and he acted fast. His billyclub hit the back of Jess's dark head with a sickening crack.

Renee went witless with shock as the tall Amazon crumpled -- Jess seemed to fall to the floor in a slow-motion glide. A sudden image of a Roman courtyard flashed into the young woman's mind, then vanished.

Caster had regained her composure, and she snapped off orders like uzi-fire. "Stuart, camera OFF! This tape goes nowhere but in my safe! Dugan, cut Renee down, I need her! Stuart, get a crash-cart, stat, stat!"

Caster knelt beside the fallen Amazon and pulled her roughly onto her back. Jess's body turned easily. Caster tore her black shirt open. The third-degree burn covering Jess's upper chest was ugly, but the tall woman's utter stillness frightened Renee far more.

"Get me down!" She hissed.

Dugan took an ungodly time getting her off the frame, but finally Renee was free. She didn't even feel Dugan's hands groping her breasts before she squirmed out of them. She took a running step toward Jess and collapsed -- the ropes had slowed the circulation in her wrists and ankles, and they were useless. Jess couldn't wait, so Renee crabbed herself across the floor to reach her.

"No respiration, no pulse." Caster spoke rapidly. She opened Jess's mouth and bent over her to begin rescue breathing.

Renee's eyes were tearless and fierce as she shook out her hands, trying to restore feeling to her fingers. After a series of breaths Caster straightened, and Renee slung one leg across Jess's waist, straddling her. She positioned her hands on her patient's chest and began cardiac compressions, numbering them aloud automatically.

Most of Renee's focus had narrowed to carrying out this single, life-saving function, and she worked with flawless efficiency. The small part of her mind not thus occupied was filling with static. Renee was terrified.

Stuart secretly zoomed in with his camera because he liked the way the young woman's naked breasts bounced when she thrust against the prisoner's chest. Stuart was a little sweet on the blonde nurse, but he hadn't told her yet.

"She can't do this to us," Caster muttered, then bent for another series of rescue breaths. The doctor was haggard with fear, and strands of dark blond hair wisped around her head as she blew into Jess's mouth and straightened again..

Renee sat on Jess's waist, panting, staring hard at her unresponsive face. "Jess, come back here," she said. Her voice was almost conversational, but then it rose. "Don't you leave me here. Jess? Don't you leave me!" Her fist pounded the valley between the Amazon's pale breasts.

Jess's dark-lashed eyelids fluttered on her ashen cheek, and then her long body convulsed. She came to with a heaving gasp, and Renee grabbed her shoulders.

Caster hovered, as if not willing to believe her good luck. Then she pulled herself to her feet, her expression transforming from relief to disgust.

"Dugan, take this Amazon bitch, and her naked little puta, and toss them in a dark closet somewhere! I don't want to look at them again today." Caster put her hands on her hips and glared at the two women on the floor. "Your file says you live alone, Renee, so I doubt if anyone will miss you for one evening. I want you to talk Jesstin out of her little death-wish by tomorrow morning. And, Renee, remember how easily I can arrange your incarceration on a more permanent basis." She spun on her sensible heel and stalked out of the suite.

Jess remained conscious, but disturbingly passive. Dugan carried her out of C-6, and her stillness in the big guard's arms told Renee more than she wanted to know about Jess's physical condition.

Dugan took Caster's orders quite literally. He didn't allow Renee to dress, and he didn't return them to the detention cell. He found a large, empty storeroom in B-wing instead, and set Jess down, none too gently, on the concrete floor.

"Hey hey, Renee." Dugan grinned, jostling the keys in his pocket as he paused at the door. "Can I come back in the morning, and give both you girls a wake-up call?"

Renee looked up at him dully, not even tempted to respond. Dugan chuckled, and locked the storeroom door securely behind him, plunging the large room into murky darkness.

Renee could see nothing until her eyes adjusted -- the only light came from a shuttered window high on the opposite wall. Her hand slid across the floor and found Jess. She lifted the Amazon's head and slid her thigh beneath it, then leaned back against the swirled-plaster wall, cringing a little at it's cold roughness on her bare shoulders.

Renee lay her hand lightly on Jess's chest, to monitor the even rise and fall of her breathing. Jess flinched, and Renee realized she was touching the burned area above her breasts. She lifted her hand quickly and murmured an apology.

"You should have let me die," Jess said.

"That's a bloody stupid thing to say. I didn't know Amazons were cowards, Jess. Here, turn on your side." Renee helped the tall woman roll off of her scourged back, to a less painful position. "Is your pride really so important you have to throw away your life for it?"

"It's a little more complicated than that." Jess's voice was lifeless. She closed her eyes as Renee's fingers drifted through her hair. "Did she hurt you?"

"No. I was hardly a virgin." Renee's bravado touched her. "How do you feel?"

"Like I died and someone jumped up and down on my chest."

They rested in the cool, shadowed room. Renee felt oddly peaceful. Jess's dark hair warmed her bare belly, and the darkness made her nudity more bearable. As for Jess, her head seemed to hurt her less, pillowed on the girl's muscular thigh. She was not unaware of Renee's nakedness.

"Jess, tell me about Dyan."

"Dyan of Tristaine." Jess smiled drowsily against Renee's leg. "She was a wonder, Ren. Big as a house, but she moved like a dancer. Dyan was the best weapons' master Shann ever had. She taught me how to fight. Her little sister, Kyla, is her polar opposite -- slender -- girlie. Dyan protected her like a mama bear."

"There really aren't any men in Tristaine?"

"They come and go." Jess was finding it hard to focus -- the clout Dugan dealt her had left her disoriented. "What are you going to do about Caster, Renee?"

"I don't know."

Hours passed.

Jess lifted her head, listening intently.

"What?"

"Get me up."

Renee helped Jess sit erect just as a key turned in the lock. Light spilled in from the corridor, and for a moment Renee was blinded.

"Jesus," a dismayed male voice muttered. The door closed and darkness fell again. "What in blue hell happened to you two?"

"And you are?" Renee asked. She thought she sounded absurdly like the Clinic's snotty receptionist, and she had to snort back half-hysterical laughter.

"Today, I'm an Amazon's son." The man turned his flashlight on his own face. Probably a mistake; Benton's features were pitted and scarred, and it was a ghoulish image. The beam momentarily illuminated Renee's nakedness, and he averted the light quickly.

Jess sounded alarmed. "Ben, are they -- "

"The girls are fine." The big man moved further into the room, shining the beam briefly on Jess's face again before clicking it off. "Lord, Jesstin, I didn't think you could look any worse than you did in the arena!"

"The arena where I tromped you," Jess pointed out. "What are you doing here, boy, it's risky enough planning a -- "

"It's getting riskier," Benton cut in. He was younger than Renee thought at first, closer to her own age. "Listen, I met that dickless Dugan on the way in. He's bragging about how he gets to -- hurt -- this young nurse, you've been worried about." Benton nodded at Renee. "Dugan told me about this trial tomorrow. It sounded intense, Jess -- I'd rather not go into details, but she's going to get bloody. If you want to take her with us, it's got to be tonight."

Renee's brow furrowed. "Take me where?"

"Emily's getting Camryn and Kyla in six hours." Benton put his large hand on Jess's knee. The dark woman sat very still, measuring his words. Renee could see the intelligent blue glint in her eyes even through the gloom.

"This place is all but deserted after midnight," Benton continued, his voice shaking a bit. "Mac, the night guard, he's okay with the money. He'll help Emily get the girls out. I'm coming back for you, just as soon as I see them head for the hills. You can meet the girls at the river."

"You're going to the mountains?" Renee whispered.

"Benton," Jess said. "We're a good three weeks early. Are we ready?"

"At least as ready as we would be three weeks from now," Benton shrugged. "It's got to be tonight, Jesstin. By the looks of you, neither of you can wait."

Jess knew that was true.

"Jess, I'll help." Renee touched Jess's wrist. "Tell me what to do."

"Come with me," Jess said.

Renee's mouth fell open.

"I don't know what kind of life you have on the outside, Renee, but it's probably gone." Jess's voice was kind. "Without me, the project's finished. Caster will be more dangerous without it, she'll be bitter. Do you believe she'll let you transfer quietly out of military research?"

"No," Renee said. "Do you believe you can escape up a mountain in six hours? Your heart stopped, Jesstin."

"I can do it." Jess smiled crookedly. "And I can do it without you, but it wouldn't hurt any of us to have a good medic along."

Jess waited, and so did Benton, through the interminable silence that followed.

Renee didn't know her decision until she heard herself speak. "I'm going with you."

Benton let out a sigh of relief, and then he grinned at Jess. "I can't believe this. You be sure my mother knows her son, the man, was the one who rescued you, Jess. No fair saying Emily did it all."

"You'll get all due credit, Ben." Jess was looking at Renee with smiling eyes.

Benton looked from one woman to the other, suddenly curious. "If Renee had said no, Jess, would you have bonked her over the head, and carried her out of here over your shoulder?"

"No," said Jess. "Renee's not a child. But if she had chosen to stay, I wouldn't have gone, either." She glanced at Benton. "Get out of here, Benton, you're late for your shift. We'll see you tonight."