Her world became white. White, as in the white explosion of pain that replaced her arm. The white wave of pain that crashed into her, only to return i... an even stronger wave, shook her entire body, bound as it was to the cross, by her arms and knees.Her shriek of horror, scattered the birds from the trees, and drew an unheard ovation from the crowd. Manu's strike was true, strong. It drove the nail cleanly through her wrist, and partly into the wood. Well bound at the palm and forearm, her arm. His eyes swept the scene once more, the massage oil, the blindfold, and the massage pillow were still waiting to be of service but the sound of her footsteps upstairs testified to the emptiness of the room. His mood plunged into an abyss of loneliness. She had turned away from him and walked out of the room. His world contracted to that single fact. The one who hated him when he did the same thing had now done just that. She had rejected his amorous advances, offered a half-hearted substitute. He was feeling the economic pinch already and you were still barely penetrating the Chinese market. He is already facing severe famine due to mismanagement of production in the face of floods and drought. Internally, he needed an external threat or victory to cement his leadership. We have the proof of why. We can tie the plan to him and a cadre of military planners. We’re working on how to sanitize the information to a point we can share it with the Chinese and Russians to ensure they follow. The bar was a typical north woods restaurant, with moose and deer heads mounted on the wall, various neon signs advertising beer hung on the log cabin structure. Most of us sat at the bar, which went across the back wall. Some of the staff found tables nearby. Once again, before I knew it, Nan was on the stool right next to me with her whole body turned toward me. We got our drinks and started chatting.She was bright and fascinating. She told me about the high school kids she taught and the.