by Misty Evans
Heart and head beating a death march in time with one another, Sophie headed back out into the storm.
Chapter Twenty-nine
A single black eye watched him.
The albino python slithered across the floor, fifteen feet of scales and muscle checking out its next dinner entree.
Nelson was pretty sure he was that entree.
He’d taken out Xavier, nicked Sanny with a bullet to his hip. The guy had appeared immune to pain, coming after Nelson and sending both of them tumbling down the stairs.
On the way down, something had snapped in Nelson’s ankle when the meathead landed on it. He’d also received a nice blow to his head. At some point, he must have blacked out, waking up to a blinding headache and strapped to a chair in the snake pit.
As Rodrigo Morales did a good job imitating his freaky pet, circling Nelson and fingering a knife, all Nelson could do was think about Sophie.
The Sophie who cooked him meals and looked at him with those big, doe eyes from across the table and made his libido go Code Red. The Sophie who curled into him when she slept. The Sophie who handcuffed him to her bed and teased him with her lacy bras and garter belts.
The Sophie he’d once dreamed of being a daily part of his life if things had been different.
The amazing food and the kitchen table and the handcuffs paled in comparison to the other, very nontraditional Sophie who lived and breathed outside his dreams. Who, if he didn’t turn this snake pit adventure around in the next few minutes, would be at the mercy of a sick, but very clever, cartel leader.
“When Guido—Agent Blue—came to me,” Rodrigo said, “I didn’t believe him. Maria-Sophia an FBI agent? You, an immigration officer?” He made a disgusting noise in the back of his throat. “All of you playing me? A joke, si?”
The disgusting noise morphed into a humorless chuckle. “My father was a smart man. He said I wasn’t cut out for this business.”
What had happened to Sanny? He was nowhere to be seen. The snake inched toward Nelson’s leg. Blood dripped on the floor from a wound Morales had cut into his upper left bicep, pooling and drifting toward his front right foot.
Morales flicked his thumb across the edge of the knife’s blade. “The business, however, has grown on me.”
“Snakes don’t eat people,” Nelson said, even as the python flicked its tongue at him, seemingly sniffing at his pant leg.
Could he smell the blood? Did snakes even have the ability to smell?
Rodrigo wiggled the blade at the snake. “Technically the constrictor family can eat adult humans. Specifically, the reticulated python, African rock python, Burmese python, and the green anaconda. But even if they don’t eat you, they constrict and kill you if they deem you’re prey. I’ve raised mine to enjoy human flesh, and yet,”—he leaned forward and smiled a heartless smile—“it is the kill they seem to enjoy the most.”
The snake’s head slithered onto Nelson’s lap, the heavy weight speaking to its massive size and strength. His balls shriveled up so hard and so fast, it nearly gave him a head rush.
The python’s head angled to Nelson’s right, where his cut bled, and coiled around behind the chair. Morales, enjoying the sight, sliced the knife through the air and took a chunk out of Nelson’s left thigh.
The pain was intense. Blood soaked his wet jeans. The snake in the terrarium across from them hissed as it watched.
If it was just the two of them, Nelson could get the upper hand. If the giant python got itself wound around him, he didn’t stand a chance.
He couldn’t stand up, but he could rock the chair over, maybe give the snake a dose of its own medicine and squeeze it. “Snakes don’t scare me,” he lied. Snakes absolutely freaked him out. “And neither do you.”
He rocked to the left, or tried to. The damn snake’s upper body had to weigh at least thirty pounds and stopped him from tipping. He felt it slide around his back as blood gushed from his wounds.
“Rodrigo!” Sophie suddenly burst into the room, throwing the door back on its hinges and wiping rain out of her face as she stormed inside. “What are you doing?”
Morales whirled, knife still in hand. “Maria-Sophia. Or should I say, Agent Diaz? So glad you could join us.” He motioned her to come farther inside. “I promise I wasn’t leaving you out of the party, but I have more…captivating…plans for you.”
Morales winked, stroked his knife.
Nelson had to give her credit. Sophie didn’t so much as flinch. “What are you talking about? Who is Agent Diaz?”
“The gig is up, as they say.” He started for her. “Time for your friend to face the music. Or the snake as the case may be.”
Her eyes darted to Nelson, then the snake. “Stop with the American sayings and tell me what you are doing. Why is Nico tied up and that…that…snake loose?”
For half a second, Morales seemed to sway in his conviction that Sophie was an undercover operative. “You know why.”
“I’m sure I don’t.” She stomped across the floor to get close to Morales, ignoring the knife and jabbing a finger into his chest. “What I do know is you scared your poor sister to death. She heard men arguing, gun shots. She was worried sick about Nico and came out in this horrid weather to wake me. She insisted I find you and Nico. What in the world is going on?”
Morales was totally focused on Sophie. Silently, Nelson rocked to the right, using the snake’s weight as leverage.
But there was too much of the extended albino body on the ground, countering his momentum.
Need. More.
Morales grabbed Sophie by the wrist, jerking her to him. Her chest bumped into his, one of her feet catching on the tail of the snake.
The python hissed and jerked its head, knocking into Nelson’s injured thigh. Its tongue poked out and it turned its gaze on Sophie.
The distraction didn’t keep it from continuing to enclose Nelson in its grip, however. Another slide of its massive body and it formed a complete circle around his ribcage, tightening, tightening, tightening…
“I offered you a life you could only imagine.” Morales held Sophie tight. He bent his head and spoke close to her lips. “Twice. The world will be ours if you come to Europe with me. I will build a new empire and make you queen.”
He’d switched gears on Sophie so fast, going from accusing her of being an agent, to trying to seduce her again, Sophie’s head spun. Wasn’t this his way, though? He never did what she expected.
The python was gaining real estate on Nelson’s battered body. Someone had beat him up good. Blood ran over the floor, and Sophie felt sick. But her queasiness over the blood was nothing compared to how freaked out the snake made her.
Play along. She swallowed past her fear and derision. Pretended to be interested in Rodrigo’s offer. “All I’ve ever wanted is a family.”
“Alexa and I will be your family, and I will help you find your lost sister. Alexa told me all about her. My father had many contacts throughout the world. All you have to do is come with me and I will put out the word on her.”
She would do almost anything to find Angel, even trade her future.
But not to a man like Rodrigo.
With the ledgers, they had a good chance of figuring out where Angelique had ended up. She might not be there anymore, might even be dead. All Sophie could do was pursue the lead and see where it took her.
Rodrigo, however, wanted to be the hero. “You would do that for me?” she asked.
He smiled down at her, brushed her lips with his. “All you have to do is one thing for me.”
The touch of his cool lips made her want to recoil. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nelson rocking his chair from side to side. She gripped Rodrigo’s arms and held him in place so he wouldn’t notice. “What?”
Rodrigo rubbed his cheek against hers. In a quick movement, he turned her around, bringing her arm behind her and pulling her back against his chest. She felt the sharp edge of his knife at her throat. “Prove your loyalty.”
As Rodrigo shifted her to face Nelson, Nelson quit rocking his chair. The python had now coiled itself around Nelson’s throat and its head bobbed next to his temple.
The tongue flicked out at her, and a shudder ran down her spine. From the scrunched expression on Nelson’s face, he was losing the battle for air.
“Prove myself how?” she asked.
Rodrigo released the arm behind her back but didn’t lessen the knife’s contact with her throat. Her back was still against his front, and she felt a solid lump poking her in the back.
Eww. He had a hard on.
He handed her a gun. It must have been tucked in the back of his waistband. “Kill him.”
Had he really just handed her a loaded weapon? Surely he knew better, even if he was holding a very sharp knife to her throat.
And then on the heels of that thought, came another. Thank you.
He’d just handed her the solution to her problem. She only hoped the gun held at least two bullets.
One for the snake and one for Rodrigo.
Clearing her mind of Nelson’s red face and struggled breathing, she accepted the gun. “You promise to help me find my sister?”
“I promise.” The pressure against her throat grew unbearable, the knife edge drawing blood. Rodrigo’s breath was hot as it tickled her earlobe. “Now shoot him.”
Nelson gave her a funny look as she raised the gun and pointed it at him. Or maybe that was simply the look of someone being strangled and crushed by a python.
Her headed pounded. The storm raged, battering the windows with rain and tree limbs. Sophie cocked the hammer.
Nelson’s eyes widened. He shook his head and tried to speak, but all that came out was a muffled whisper. A whisper that sounded a lot like “don’t.”
The snake circled the front of his face, tightening its grip on his neck.
She would only get one chance to hit her target. If she didn’t shoot the snake in the head, it wouldn’t die instantly. It could still suffocate Nelson to death before she could save him, assuming Rodrigo didn’t slit her throat the moment he realized she didn’t intend to do as instructed.
But if she missed, she’d kill Nelson instead.
Taking a deep breath—as deep as she could with a blade cutting into her throat—she let it out halfway and held it. Eyed her target.
One.
Shot.
Nelson was gasping for breath and once again desperately trying to rock the chair. Rodrigo was holding her tight. Warm blood ran down her throat and over her collarbone.
Outside, the wind howled. The window panes shuddered.
One…
She put her finger on the trigger.
Shot…
The snake serpentined its head toward her.
Time stopped, noise and light and feelings fell away, her focus coming down to a single spot.
Sophie pressed the trigger.
Bam!
Her arm jumped, the knife sank deeper. A small hole appeared in the snake’s head, the impact from the bullet propelling it backward where it hung, suspended for a second. It dropped like a cement brick, taking Nelson over with it.
“No!” Rodrigo shouted, but before he could slit her throat, she jammed her booted heel down on the top of his foot. His hold loosened. She dodged away from the knife and spun.
He was fast, grabbing her by the hair and jerking her off balance before she trained the gun on him. Fighting through the pain—get to Nelson—she reared back, Rodrigo’s grip still firm in her hair, pulling it out at the roots.
One more shot!
She fired.
Instead of the sweet sound of a bullet exploding, all she heard was a click.
No.
She pressed the trigger again. Click, click, click.
One bullet. The fucker had only loaded it with one bullet.
Not so stupid after all.
The knife swung, burying itself deep into her side and cutting her down. She dropped to her knees, then fell sideways. Rodrigo’s foot caught her in the ribs, struck again in the stomach, the groin. He threw down the knife and punched her face.
Head reeling, the room spinning, she coughed up blood. He shoved her onto her back and stood over her. “I could have given you everything.”
She spit the blood from her mouth. “No, you couldn’t. Because the only thing I want is…” Lifting a finger, she pointed at Nelson, still tangled up with the snake. Was he alive? “Him.”
Rodrigo spit on her, then walked off. A moment later, she heard the motorized sound of a terrarium door opening.
Medusa. The anaconda. He was letting her out to play.
He walked past Sophie, careful to avoid stepping in the blood running from the cut in her side. “Enjoy a nice, slow death,” he said before grabbing the black gemstone case and heading out the door.
She heard the lock click into place.
Locked in with a monster of a snake and bleeding out, sick laughter bubbled out of her mouth. Nice job, Soph.
Nelson still wasn’t moving. Sophie flipped herself over and tried to stand. She couldn’t even get to her knees.
Coughing up more blood, she reached one hand forward and started crawling.
At the same time, Medusa emerged from her cage.
Chapter Thirty
Nelson came to with a suffocating weight on his stomach.
He sucked in air. At least he could breathe again.
Breathe he did. A heaviness rested on his chest, but it was no longer the vise grip it had been, and his throat was no longer being squeezed.
Air—oxygen—was good.
He was lying on his back, his hands pinned behind him, but seemingly not crushed. The python’s body had cushioned the fall and the top of his body hung suspended a few inches above the floor.
He blinked up at the stark overhead lights and drew another sweet lungful of air. When he tilted his head to the side, he saw the dead snake’s beady eye staring back at him.
Where was Sophie?
She’d shot the snake, and thank the Virgin Mary for that, but two inches from his head? Jesus.
“Sophie?” he called, but it came out hoarse, scratchy. His vocal chords refused to obey. Clearing his throat, he tried again. “Sophie!”
Better, but still not normal.
There was no answer and his vision was limited to what he could see when he lifted his head.
No Rodrigo, lots of blood, and… Oh, God. A body lying face down with one arm stretched out toward him.
“No.”
His heart tripped over itself and he called to her again. She didn’t answer and he zeroed his focus in on her chest. Held his breath, even though his body was still screaming for more oxygen.
There. Either his eyes were playing tricks on him—his mind refusing to believe she was dead—or he’d seen her upper back rise ever so slightly.
He wiggled harder, managing to shift the snake’s body and letting gravity help. A meaty section slid toward the floor, freeing his chest.
As he shimmied his body, the blood that had seeped out from his arm and thigh lubricated the snake’s skin. He felt the lower half shift and he jerked his legs as hard as he could. His ankles were still tied to the chair leg, but something sharp nailed him in the calf. The chair leg had splintered during the fall.
Using as much force as he could, he tipped his body to that side, putting stress on the chair leg until he heard it snap completely. His leg sprung free, taking a piece with it. A few more contortions and he was free of the snake.
And he was almost free of the chair when he heard the sound of something slithering up behind him.
He knew that sound, and once again, his balls shriveled up inside him. Ever so slowly, he picked up the busted chair leg and firmed his hand around it. Then he turned his head to look over his right shoulder.
Fuckin’ A, I hate snakes.
Staring back at him not more than two feet away was the green anaconda.
Chapter Thirty-one
When the anaconda lunged, Nelson jabbed it in the mouth with the sharp end of the splintered chair leg. The snake’s head went up, its mouth opening wider, fangs on full display.
He wedged the bottom of the stick into its lower jaw.
With its mouth jacked open and unable to close, the snake reared back, shaking its head.
That should keep him busy for a few minutes.
Hustling over to Sophie, he gently turned her over to examine her wounds, keeping a close eye on her chest.
In.
Out.
That little bit of movement kept him from losing it.
She was a mess of bruises and sticky blood. He located the cut in her side and applied pressure.
“Stay with me, Soph.”
Removing his T-shirt, he tore it into several strips. The snake was still busy trying to get the stick out of its mouth. One strip he folded into a bandage. The second he used to secure the bandage to the cut, tying it around her waist.
Her cheek was split and the previous bruise from Blue was lost under a new, fresh one. Nelson swore under his breath, vowing to kill Morales if it was the last thing he ever did.
Sophie’s chest rose in a deeper breath. She blinked her eyes open. “Nelson?”
“You’re going to be okay. I’m going to take care of you.” He didn’t know how exactly. Her wound needed stitches and she might have internal injuries. There was little chance he could get an ambulance here in the storm. Checking his pocket, he realized he’d lost his phone.
“Rodrigo?” she murmured.
“Gone to the house, I imagine, to get Alexa and leave.”
“Go…after…him.”
“And leave you? No way. He won’t get far in this storm.”
Her hand touched his arm. “Help me…up. Have to get him.”
“Lie still. I’ve patched up the knife wound, but you need a doctor.”
She angled her head and looked down at his handiwork. Blood was already seeping through the layers of cotton shirt. Her head dropped back and she looked at the ceiling. Then she seemed to catch sight of the anaconda writhing around on the floor to her left. “Cristo! I hate blood, and snakes, and…”