“Besides, the whore on the bridge was inconsequential.”
Not to me. Colin fought the urge to grind his teeth in frustration. “We traded in good faith. She didn’t deserve to die.”
“Did you truly expect good faith from me after all your lies?” Luis Montoya emerged from the shadowy darkness and into the meager light amid a swirl of smoke, like the boogieman from his worst childhood nightmares. The difference was that Colin was too angry to be frightened.
He pulled hard on his cuffs making them rattle against the headboard to punctuate his words. “She had nothing to do with what went on between us in Columbia.”
“I beg to disagree. We are here today because of what she did for you in Columbia.”
“What?”
“Rachel released you from your bonds. Yes?”
Colin clamped his mouth shut. It was beyond foolish to argue with a psychopath and more so to feed him information.
Montoya approached slowly. “No response. Then you must agree with me. Good.”
A thought occurred to Colin. “Was Rachel the blue dress you went looking for after our drink at Ortega’s bar?”
“No.” Montoya grinned. “She was, what you’d call, my runner up.”
Colin didn’t acknowledge his light-hearted response. He stared for a few seconds longer then slid his gaze to the window and chair beneath it.
“Now that I know your name isn’t Tommy Callahan, I must congratulate you on an amazing performance during your time with us at the compound in Columbia.”
Colin allowed a smile to form.
“You had me completely fooled. I told my partner you couldn’t possibly be a government agent. I wasn’t convinced even after we arrived in America. Tonight at the exchange on the bridge, I was proven wrong.”
“Partner?” Colin didn’t give a shit about who he was working with, but it was a good idea to keep him talking.
“I’ll let you see for yourself. But first I have a surprise for you.
“Here’s a hint.” Montoya took a couple steps closer to the foot of the bed. In his hand, he held a small piece of paper about the size of a business card.
“Guess where I found this?” He moved along the side of the bed and put the card close to Colin’s face.
“Shit.” Colin stared at his own business card. The one he’d given to Laurie the last time they’d seen each other. The one she’d slid inside her bra.
Montoya laughed and pulled the card away. “I must tell you that I enjoyed removing it very much. She was feisty, at first.”
Colin reacted futilely yanking on his bindings. The pain shooting down his arm from the bite of the handcuff’s metal strengthened his resolve to escape so he could kill Montoya.
Montoya merely smiled. He turned and gestured to the doorway behind him. Leaning down, he snapped on the light next to the bed. The figure in the entryway was not immediately visible.
Colin heard a few shuffling steps and a figure emerged from the darkness. Mussed blonde hair escaping from her ponytail framed her face. Colin’s heart shot to his stomach when he realized that it was Rachel.
She was alive.
A white and red cloth gag ran through her teeth and tied behind her head. A path of dried blood trailed from one side of her nose, over her mouth and soaked into the cotton stuffed between cracked lips. Another nosebleed. Shit. Her eyes were puffy and moist from recently shed tears staining her cheeks.
She was absolutely the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
Colin asked the first stupid question that came into his mind. “Are you okay?” Obviously she wasn’t.
Rachel nodded once. Her focus remained glued on him for only a second before glancing to the left at the open door where Montoya had come through.
She did it again. Was someone else there?
Colin nodded at Rachel and smiled. Without looking at Montoya he said, “Let her go. I’ll cooperate.”
“No. I don’t think so. Chained to the bed as you are, I expect you’ll cooperate regardless. Besides, my partner has changed her mind and wants your woman to stay and watch.”
Colin didn’t want to ask the question, but did anyway. “Watch, what?”
“I believe the main attraction will be your long-awaited seduction.”
He squinted and played along. “My seduction?”
Rachel’s expression became frantic. Her eyes opened wide. She shook her head from side to side.
“You see my partner has had a very focused agenda for the past several months. I, myself, am standing here in your country today because she wants you so desperately.”
Slowly, a slim female shape came into the dim light of the doorway to the room. Her steps made clicking sounds as she crossed the room to the bed. And then he saw her.
Representing his worst nightmare and dressed in a kink-to-the-max outfit complete with studded collar, skin-tight black leather vest and pants, six inch stilettos and coiled whip attached to one hip, Serena Ortega strolled along the side of the bed sporting a sadistic smile.
* * * *
The girl on the bridge was dead. Cold dread circled Paul’s heart replacing the hopeless fear at losing an agent this way, even though he was ninety-nine percent sure the woman they’d traded Colin for wasn’t Rachel.
Paul squatted next to the body. He pulled the burlap from her head and threw it to the side, making him one hundred percent sure. “It’s not her,” he said out loud.
Next to him, Ken nodded.
Several strands of long, stringy, dirty-blonde hair spilled onto the wooden planks on the bridge. Her emaciated frame carried the now whip-shredded clothing that Rachel had worn in St Louis. Three bright red welts marked her bony back along with the single bullet hole next to her prominent shoulder blade. Her open eyes stare sightlessly past them.
Ken sighed deeply and stared into the darkness towards the other end of the bridge. “When did you know for sure?”
“When I pulled the bag off of her head.”
“Bullshit. Even I knew before then. This woman was a walking scarecrow.”
“Doesn’t matter.” Paul stood up. “I didn’t know in time to save Colin.”
As the pungent stench of thick smoke from the still-burning debris filled his lungs, he heard Ken’s phone ring.
Ken answered wearily, “Davenport.” He turned his back and launched into a lengthy conversation.
Paul took the opportunity to call Frankie and check up on her progress.
After a half a ring she picked up, “This is Frankie.”
“Tell me you have something to go on.”
“I do. Based on local maps of the area, I guessed the most likely path to the airport from the mission location. I found an ATM five blocks away with camera footage of Rachel leaving the mission area in the government vehicle you secured. I believe she may have been followed.
“So I ran the license plate of the rental car that followed way too close. Two blocks later Rachel’s vehicle should have passed another ATM I had access to, but neither car passed by. The block in between has no discernable camera coverage.
“So using the license plate on the rental car, I identified the rental company and hacked into their files.”
“Excellent work.” Paul was continually amazed by what Frankie could accomplish when motivated and left alone to complete her task.
“I almost have the name on the credit card used for the rental.”
“Almost?” Paul tried not to sound ungrateful, but needed results. “When will you have it completely.”
“Soon. It’s a company card. I’m trying to come up with an actual person’s name. It’ll be any second,” Frankie said quickly.
“Good.”
“Is Rachel okay?” Frankie’s worried tone came through the line. He heard the clicking noise of her fingers rapidly typing on a keyboard in the background.
“Don’t know. The trade didn’t go as planned.”
The typing stopped. “Where is she?”
“Wi
th the kidnappers wherever they are and they have Colin too. Get that information pronto.”
“Roger that.”
“One more thing.” Paul already knew the answer to the next question but he asked it anyway. “Anyone seen or heard from the driver of Rachel’s government vehicle?”
“No. Nothing. I sent a team to the last known location. I haven’t heard from them yet.”
“Okay. Keep in touch.” Paul severed the connection.
Ken finished his call at the same time. “Zack got the name of who helped Luis Montoya escape. And he has an address for the U.S. contact that shuttled Montoya into the country.”
“Who got him out of prison?”
“Raoul Ortega’s daughter, Serena.”
“How much do you want to bet she’s behind everything?” Paul laughed mirthlessly.
Ken snorted. “Nothing. I’d lose.”
* * * *
“I’ve waited a very long time to get you in my bed, Tommy.” Serena stalked over to Colin as Rachel quietly struggled against her bindings. They were loosened, but far from dropping away to free her hands. Montoya gripped her elbow and pulled her along.
Colin frowned. “I can’t imagine why.”
The whip hanging on Serena’s belt swung back and forth with each step. Rachel wanted to strangle her with it. Her mouth felt like a dust pit from being gagged so long. She’d listened for hours to Serena yammer about all the things she was going to do to ‘Tommy’ once he was awake.
“Can’t you? Let me explain.” Serena grabbed his chin between forefinger and thumb. She sporting long blood-red nails and jerked his attention up to her kohl-lined eyes. “No man gets away from me after I have decided that I want him. Not even a spy like you.” She pursed her shiny dark lips into a tight ‘O’ shape and kissed his lips. Colin didn’t move.
Serena pulled away a few inches. “You disappointed me, Tommy. I’ve never understood. Why did you run from me?” She caressed her whip as she spoke.
Colin tugged his chin out of her grasp. “Because I don’t fuck crazy women. That’s why.”
Serena snarled and Rachel thought she would strike him, but she stopped before connecting with his face. “But you will.” Leaning in close she whispered, “I can’t wait to hear you scream my name.” She licked his cheek with the tip of her pierced tongue. Rachel fought the urge to cross the room and rip Serena’s tongue from her crazy mouth.
“Serena. Time wastes.” Montoya spoke. Rachel got the impression from his tone that he was impatient. She’d covertly listened to their conversation since before Colin had been brought here.
Serena was crazy, single-minded in her quest to get Colin in her bed for some blood sport.
The worst part was when they’d tortured the poor girl from Salerno’s apartment. Under threat of killing the frightened girl housed with her, Rachel had volunteered a few names along with the phone number to the black ops building switchboard. Using Rachel’s Protocol issued cell phone, they’d called the headquarters command center and whipped the girl to set up the trade for Colin.
From their conversations she understood that Montoya was in a precarious position. Serena had helped him escape from prison and he was now obligated. However, now that he was free and long gone from Columbia, it didn’t sound like he wanted to help her any longer.
“Think a moment,” Montoya pleaded. “His fellow agents are surely looking for them.”
“You said you removed both transmitters. Stop being foolish.”
Montoya released Rachel’s arm, crossed the room in two strides to stub out his cigarette on the stone mantle and threw it into the small, unlit fireplace built into the corner. “They are not to be trusted. We should leave them both here to die and escape while we can.”
“I pay you to do my bidding, Luis. Not the other way around. I want him and I’ll have him. Tonight. All night.”
Rachel seethed with anger. All this because some crazy bitch wanted sex? A powerful need to protect Colin enveloped her. She pulled at the ropes behind her back, hoping that they were truly loosening.
“What about her?” Montoya looked across the room and the two of them turned to stare. Rachel stopped moving.
Serena grinned maniacally. “Leave her. She can watch.”
The first time Rachel and Colin had met, he’d been bound to a bed in Columbia because of Serena Ortega. They’d come full circle strangely enough.
Colin turned away from Serena and pegged Rachel with a concerned stare. He scanned her face probably seeing the bloody nose. Serena had struck her earlier to gain her cooperation with the cell phone calls. She’d started out with sarcasm and bravado then slowly pretended to crumble after repeated threats of violence.
After spending a few quality hours with Serena, Rachel was glad she’d saved Colin in Columbia, even though it hadn’t been part of her mission. She needed to find a way to save him again tonight. And herself.
Pulling earnestly on the ropes securing her wrists, she vowed to stop Serena. Whatever it took.
* * * *
“Luis, put her in the chair. She’ll have a ringside seat.”
Colin had lost his shirt sometime while he was unconscious. Resting on top of the bedding, he rattled the handcuffs and experienced an evil sense of deja vu. Trapped.
Serena climbed on the bed and straddled his hips. Colin tried to buck her off but he lacked the movement needed. She ground her crotch over his groin and laughed. “Are you so anxious to fuck me?”
“Not even close.”
“Are you enjoying the view, precious.” Serena called out to Rachel. “Perhaps you can jot down a few notes on how to fuck a man properly.” She leaned down and licked Colin’s chest.
“You disgust me. Put your nasty tongue back in your mouth. Your breath stinks as bad as the rest of you.”
Serena grabbed his chin with thumb and forefinger. “Behave. Or I’ll punish the little quivering bitch over there. Nothing will stop me from having you this time.” She glanced over at Rachel now seated in the chair next to the window.
Colin mentally sighed. “Just let us go.”
Flipping her hair back she shook her head back and forth. “Not until I’m satisfied.” She reached both hands to his belt and worked to unbuckle it.
“I don’t want you, Serena.” Colin wished logic wasn’t a useless practice. “I never wanted you.”
“I don’t care.” She stopped tugging at his jeans and slapped his face.
The sting across his cheek only fueled his anger. “You’re wasting your time. Get off of me.”
Serena’s shiny blood-red lips puckered into an asshole shape. She squinted and leaned over putting her mouth inches from his face. “I’ll suck your cock until you’re hard and ready to burst for me.”
“That just makes you a cocksucker. I’m not interested.” Colin rested his head back on the pillow and for the first time in his life wished his dick would remain flaccid. He didn’t want Serena’s mouth anywhere near his cock.
“Liar.” Serena grinned and unzipped his pants and the faint stirrings of his cock coming to life made him want to vomit. “You’ll beg me to finish sucking on you once I’ve started.”
“Trust me, I won’t beg you for anything, you sick bitch.” He closed his eyes unwilling to watch.
Having Rachel watch another woman suck his dick until the crazy bitch got him hard so she could then rape him was about the worst thing he could dream up.
Unfortunately, no matter how much he didn’t want Serena, having any woman’s mouth on his cock was going to have an expected result.
And no amount of baseball statistics running though his mind would prevent the physical aspects any blowjob would produce, even an unwanted one.
Chapter 15
Since being abducted, Rachel had put on what she considered an Oscar-worthy performance for Serena and Montoya.
After briefly starting out as brave in the face of torture, she’d then met each threat with tearful resignation and did her very best to a
ppear weak and beaten over each request they demanded. They were fools to ever believe she was fragile.
Seated primly in her chair, arms bound behind her, Rachel glanced at Colin. He was flat on his back on the bed bound exactly as he had been in Columbia. They’d cut his shirt off before they’d secured him to the bed.
Serena was currently astride him licking his chest and unzipping his pants. Suppressing a feral growl, Rachel crunched her bound hands into fists and prepared to surprise her captors. The ropes were nearly loosened, but Montoya stood too close. She didn’t want him to hear her.
“Should I call you Tommy, or should I call you Colin?”
“Either way you’re wasting your time.”
As if he hadn’t spoken, she said, “Hmm…I like Tommy better.”
Colin’s head lifted from the pillow and he sneered at her. “Should I call you Crazy Bitch or Crazy Whore? Hmm…I like both equally well.”
Rachel could see Serena’s spine stiffen. Montoya moved away from her a few steps so she tugged at her restraints with gusto.
“Before tonight is over you will beg me to fuck you, Tommy!” Serena grew angrier as each second passed.
Colin beautifully fanned the flames of her insanity with each word he spoke in defiance. “I’ll beg you to bring me a barf bag first.” Colin’s teeth were gritted tight as he spoke.
Serena’s shrill scream of rage startled Montoya. He stepped closer to the bed and cleared his throat.
“If you don’t need me, I’ll be in the other room.”
Serena turned startled as if she’d forgotten he was in the room. “No. Stay and keep an eye on the kitten.”
The ropes binding Rachel loosened a little further as Montoya said quietly, “I don’t particularly want to watch you fuck him, Serena.”
“Are you jealous?” Serena abandoned her unbuttoning task and straightened her spine. She turned to face him as a sly smile washed over her crimson lips.
Montoya sighed deeply and the ropes binding Rachel fell away.
She was free.
Rachel stood up ready to kick some ass. Both Montoya and Serena turned their attention to her. She advanced a step towards them before realizing that her ties had merely widened a few more inches.
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