I shake my head and open the front door to look around the neighborhood. It’s quiet; not a soul’s on the street.
The car is parked fairly close to the house, and Emily walks out close to me, concealing the rifle between us as best we can.
We get in the car and drive to Joshua Jamison’s house.
He’ll have a welcoming committee upon his arrival home, just not the type he wants to encounter.
Ben
“Can you hear me?” I whisper. I’m sitting in the rented Camry waiting for Joshua Jamison to come home.
“Clearly,” Emily replies in a hushed voice.
“Where’s the best shot?”
“Get him in front of his gate. I’ve got a bird’s eye view from here and can make the shot if needed.”
I sit in the driver’s side of the car to wait and watch for Jamison to arrive home.
My cell rings and I answer it, “Talk to me,” I say knowing that it’s Agent.
“He’s on his way to you. He’s driving the latest model Volvo S80. I’ve got the GPS in his cell and on his car and he’ll be turning into his street in approximately six minutes.”
I start the car and move it to block his driveway, so he has to approach me. I get out of the car and go lean against the front gate.
And right on time, I see a silver Volvo coming down the street. The car slows and puts on its directional signal to indicate a turn into the driveway. But when the driver realizes a car is blocking his turn, his car stops in the street.
I can see the driver look at my car, then toward his house. He catches sight of me and frowns, his eyebrows knitting together.
He rolls down his window and looks straight at me.
“Is that your car?” he asks as he points to the rented Camry.
I tilt my head to the side and give him a look that makes him think I don’t understand what he’s saying.
“Mate, is that your car?” he asks again, but with more agitation in his voice.
I turn around and get my cell out of my pocket and pretend I’m thumbing through it. “You got him?” I ask Emily in a very quiet voice.
“Yeah, but he’s in the car. Get him out and moving toward you. I don’t have a clear shot and I might miss him.”
“Can you move your car?” Jamison says, now clearly pissed at me.
I turn and look at him, still giving him the same perplexed look.
It works, because within a few seconds his door flies open and his tall frame comes over to me. “Hey, don’t you understand English?” he says as he pushes a hand against my shoulder.
I turn to look at him and grab his elbow, pulling him two steps closer to me, so Emily will now have a better view.
“Got him,” she says through the earpiece.
“What the fuck?” he shouts as I turn us and push him up against the front gate, pulling one arm behind his back.
“The whorehouse you frequent has put off your visit for the American girl,” I say in a low, deadly tone.
His face turns ashen and he looks toward his house. I can feel a visible shiver rip through him and his chest heaves heavily up and down. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You sure that’s the game you want to play? Your son and daughter will be home soon, along with your wife. I can wait here until they’re home, and we can talk about it as a family, or you and I can discuss it now. Either way, it’s your choice, but you may not want my associate around your children.”
“I really don’t know what you’re talking about,” he shouts. Sweat is beading on his forehead and rolling down the side of his face. Although the humidity is ridiculous, I doubt that’s why he’s sweating so profusely.
“Go ahead,” I give Emily the green light.
A single shot is heard echoing through the street. It could be excused as a car back-fire, and if she doesn’t shoot again most people will assume it’s just that.
The bullet tears through the front tire of his car and the car angles down, compensating for the shredded rubber. “Are you sure you don’t want to play my game?” I ask him.
“Shit!” he squeals like a freaking girl. “Alright, alright. Yeah, they put me off for a couple of days.” He runs his free hand through his hair and then over his face. His eyes are wild and looking everywhere, trying to determine where Emily is.
“Call them right now and tell them you’ll pay whatever they want to meet with the girl tonight.”
“I can’t. The bitch that runs the place told me she’s got something else in store for the American girl before I can have her.”
“Make the call. And you’d best make it convincing, because I wouldn’t want to leave your son and daughter orphans.”
“Fuck!” he yells, and takes his cell out of his pocket.
He dials a number while I lean against the fence and listen to his one-sided conversation.
“Yeah I know you told me to wait, but I need to see her tonight…” He pauses. “Whatever you want…” He pauses again. “Fifty? You cannot be serious,” he says into the phone, but his eyes fly up to look at mine and I give him a small nod. “Fine, I’ll be there at seven, but I don’t want her touched. I want to watch her beautiful, unmarked skin as I slice into it.” There’s an obscene passion and hunger in his voice when he says that sentence.
It makes me feel sick to my stomach, so much so that I’m almost ready to give Emily the order to kill him and find another way to get to Anna.
But, I fucking need him to get in, for now.
He presses the end button and puts the phone back into his pocket, “Fine, I did what you want. Now leave,” he tells me a warning with his tone.
I smile and clap my hand on his back, “Oh no. Now you give me your phone, you move your car, and you come with me.”
“That’s not part of the deal,” he spits at me.
“This isn’t a negotiation. Either you comply with us and live, or you refuse and you and your wife die while your children watch. The choice is yours, of course. I’m fine with it either way. But the man pulling the trigger, he sure likes them young.” Of course, neither Emily nor I would hurt the kids, but this piece of shit doesn’t need to know that.
It doesn’t take him long to decide what he wants to do. “Fine,” he says as he takes his phone out of his pocket and holds it out for me. “If you hurt one hair…”
“You’re not in a position to issue any ultimatums. Now move the car down the street.” I look in Emily’s direction and put my fingertips to my ear. “Keep your eyes on him and if he tries to leave, shoot him,” I instruct Emily.
“Happily, Boss.” She chuckles and I know she’ll want to end him once we’ve got Anna back, regardless of my verbal agreement with Jamison.
Jamison moves his car and I sit in the Camry waiting for him. He knows there are other eyes on him and he’s heard me give the go-ahead to kill him if he tries anything, so he won’t run.
“Now what?” he asks as he slides into the passenger seat and puts his seat belt on.
“We wait until it’s time for your meeting. But for now, I need a coffee.” I start down the road and stop to wait for Emily, who gets in the car with her rifle partially concealed.
“You’re a fucking chick?” Jamison howls in total surprise.
“Yes I am, and I’m glad you noticed. I’ll fucking gut you then go back and slide my knife across your wife’s throat, nice and slow, just the way you like it. Try your chances and run. I need some fun.” Emily sits back in the seat with a smirk as she conceals the rifle from sight but keeps it pointed to our guest.
At this close range, the bullet would tear through him like a hot knife through butter and go straight through to the engine compartment.
But fuck it. If he wants to try and get away, both Emily and I would be happy to kill him.
“Who the hell are you people?” he asks as he looks carefully over his shoulder at Emily then back out the front window.
“We, my friend, are the family of every girl you�
�ve sliced and killed, come to take revenge.”
“They were nobodies, whores plucked from the street. No one will ever miss them, no-hope loser junkies. I’ve freed them,” he preaches to me, and the worst part is he actually believes what he’s saying.
“They never had a choice, and now, neither will you.” I keep my eyes on the road, still trying to get the hang of driving on the wrong side of the damned road.
“Where are we going?” Jamison asks as he looks out the window.
“I told you, I need coffee and we need to keep an eye on you until it’s time. So we’re going back to our place.”
“But aren’t you frightened I’ll lead police back there once you let me go?”
Is this guy really that dumb? He’s a banker, which means he had had to have some intelligence to get as far as he has. And he thinks we’re going to let him lead the police to our safe house?
“By the time they find you, we’ll be long gone.”
“Find me?” he whispers as he gulps a huge intake of air. “You’re going to kill me either way, right?”
I smile and look in the rear-view mirror to Emily. I see the corners of her mouth turn up as she suppresses her own laugh.
“I have no intentions of killing you.” But I can’t promise the same thing for Emily.
He expels a huge, ragged sigh, and nervously rubs his palms up and down his thighs as his chest heaves in short, deep gulps of air.
“So you’re not going to kill me?” he asks, to reconfirm what he thinks he knows.
“No,” I answer.
But I know what’s going around in Emily’s mind; not yet.
Anna
“Seems my very good friend is extremely keen to get his knife into the American trash chained to my wall,” Mistress – dead bitch – says to me. “He’ll be here soon. And he’s willing to pay big for you, my little slut. Hopefully, you’ll survive and then I can have my taste of you too.”
If I wasn’t bound to the damn wall down in this hell hole, I would’ve happily snapped her neck by now.
But the damn drug running through my body is keeping me weak, a prisoner in my own private hell. It’s confining me more securely than any chains made of metal; the more I try and fight it, the more the sickly sweet stench of it cooking calls to me. Begs me to give my control over to it. Teases and provokes me.
The bitch stands before me and waves a spoon in front of my hurting, aching body. It’s been more than twenty-four hours since I last had a hit.
Fight it, Anna. Don’t give in.
Just one little taste.
“Oh, my slut wants this. Are you going to be a good girl?” she asks as she drags a chair over to me and sits close enough to make me drool, yearning for the white powder she’s tipping onto the spoon.
“Don’t give me that,” I whimper, sounding weak even to my own ears. I close my eyes and start counting in my head, trying to overcome the craving as it clutches at my body, tightening its grip around every drop of blood pumping through me.
“But it’ll feel so good. You know you want it. Just enough to take the edge off.”
I’ve been fighting the need for it, the craving, the God damned desire has clutched its claws so tightly around me that I’m struggling to breathe.
“No,” I say consumed by pain.
Yes, my body screams at me.
No, my mind yells back.
Just one little taste.
“Open your eyes, slut,” the bitch says in a menacing tone.
I scrunch them more tightly closed. Fuck, I can’t detox in a place like this. I can’t make myself better here.
A rubber tourniquet is wrapped around my left arm. I try to buck the bitch off me, but the way I’m chained to the wall, I don’t have any room to move.
“That’s it, fight it. The more you fight, the better it will feel when I pump this into you.”
“You will die by my hand. Your suffering will be my pleasure. Your screams for mercy will fall on deaf ears, and I’ll be the one to take your life.”
“Yes, I’m sure that’s going to happen, right after you’ve been fucked and sliced by one of my best customers.”
She slaps on my arm to make a vein protrude. My body betrays me and the veins greedily stick up, seeming to reach for their medicine.
No, I silently scream.
I don’t want it.
But the craving is too strong.
The needle pierces my skin and my body hums with appreciation as I feel the warm liquid spread through my veins.
My mind doesn’t want it, knows it’s poison. But it feels so good.
My eyes close on their own and my head lolls forward, filling with clouds as everything is forgotten. “Hmmm,” I purr as my body is filled with a black ecstasy.
I can hear the muffled sound of a bell. My muscles relax as the poison mixes with my blood. A stifled mumble niggles at my ear, the deep voice of a man. I try to open my eyes, but my lids fight me, wanting to remain closed as the intoxicating lull of the drug seeps deep inside me.
“Leave us,” he roars to the bitch I’ll kill as soon as I get the chance. His voice is so loud that I jolt before relaxing again. “Baby girl,” he says quietly. His voice has become smooth, a stark contrast to the directions he just boomed.
Did I hear him right?
“Baby girl,” he says again as he slaps me on the cheek to rouse me. “Wake up.” He slaps me again and I try to focus on his face. But he’s blurred and contorted, and I can’t make out his features. “Baby girl.”
He doesn’t sound like Ben. He doesn’t have Ben’s sweet cinnamon scent.
“Listen, I’ve been given instructions. There’s an American guy with a girl that told me to tell you they’ll get you out soon. He told me to call you ‘baby girl’.”
I force my eyes open and try to look at him, “What?” I say, and my voice comes out as a strangled, choked rasp.
“Although I really would like just a few moments to watch your skin turn that fine red at the edge of an incision. Just maybe one little cut, right about here.” He runs his hand from my shoulder down to my collar bone. “Fuck yeah, that would be sexy as hell. I’d cut just enough for you not to bleed to death.” He leans down and seals his mouth over mine.
He forces his tongue in my mouth, but my reactions are slow and I don’t respond as I usually would. He keeps probing his tongue into my mouth, and he reaches his hand down to my breast and palms it roughly through the thin material covering me.
He weaves his fingers into the hair at the back of my head and keeps my face glued to his, as his tongue keeps delving into my mouth.
In my single second of clarity, I bite down on his tongue and head butt his forehead causing him to abruptly stop his assault.
“Fucking bitch!” he screeches as he stumbles back, though he doesn’t fall. He regains his footing and charges toward me and backhands me twice before he stops himself. “You’re fucking lucky that guy is here for you or I would’ve sliced that pretty face of yours up by now.”
I meet his smug gaze as he wipes at his forehead where I managed to split the skin. The right hand side of my mouth curves up in a sneer. I watch as he paces the floor in front of me. My self-control will slip soon, the drugs are already screaming at me to submit to them. “You’re only breathing because I’m chained,” I say as I feel myself losing control again.
“Yeah right, whatever you think, honey. I’ll be back soon,” he says. He walks to the dungeon door and slips through it.
I close my eyes and wait.
I wait for the drugs to recede, to come down from the high I’m currently riding.
And I wait for Ben. For the first time in my life I can’t get myself out of a situation without the help of someone else. Anyone else. Ben.
A tidal wave of exhaustion overtakes me and I begin to feel myself drifting off into a bleak headspace curtained in darkness.
I feel my breathing start to even out, and my body goes lax against the restraints, not feeli
ng any of the pain, although given my position, my body must hurt.
Seconds pass and a thick silence envelops my sense of hearing.
Moments tick by and the darkness grows cold in the dungeon.
Time slows and I feel nothing.
A fine drool escapes my parted lips as I struggle to stay lucid. My body leans forward and even the shackles that were cutting into my wrists no longer hurt.
“Anna.”
I try to open my eyes, but a peaceful twilight is closing in. If I can just let go, it will take me over.
“Anna.”
Who’s calling me? I can’t see them. Who are you?
Hmmm, a gentle, pleasing scent of cinnamon drifts by my nose and clings tightly to my skin.
Ben’s here.
“Baby girl, I’ve got you.”
I can let go now.
Anna
The weightless, serene feeling of floating through the air takes over my body. I feel so happy and comfortable as I drift off into a beautiful sleep.
“Help her!” Ben yells at someone.
Who are they helping? Who’s hurt? I try and force my eyes open to see what’s going on, but I can’t find the strength them to open.
“15, squeeze my fingers if you can hear me,” Doctor says in his soothing baritone voice.
I think I can feel something in my hand, I’m not sure. I just need to let go of all that’s happened and sleep.
“She’s not responding,” I hear Doctor tell someone.
“Help her! What the hell are you here for if you’re useless?”
“Watch it, son. I’m here for her, but that won’t stop me putting you on your ass.”
“Are you kidding me? You think you can?”
“Stop it,” I try to yell at the two immature imbeciles, but the words won’t leave my mouth as crisply as I want them to.
“Did she just try to say something?” Ben asks.
“15, we’re on the way back to the house, you need to fight it with everything you’ve got,” Doctor says. “I’ve got some things to help you when we get back there. Squeeze my hand if you can hear me.”
The HiT Series Page 46