by Stormy Glenn
That was a plus.
"Kaito, where are you?" Ian shouted into my head.
Oh, thank god.
"Those men we saw in the sedan. They shot me with a dart. I don't know what was in it, but I can't move. I left the dart on the sidewalk. Find it and figure out what they shot me with."
"Fuck the dart, Kaito," Ian snapped. "I want to find you."
"Yeah, well, I don't know where I am, so the dart is our best lead to finding me."
"Can you shift?"
"What part of 'can't move' don't you understand?"
"Just asking."
I heaved a breath and tried to calm myself. I shouldn't be shouting at Ian. He was just trying to help. "No, I can't shift. I can't even move my fingers. I can't move any part of me except breathing."
"Hank wants to know if you can tell anything about where you're going, like railroad tracks or traffic lights. Noises that stand out to you."
"Bread," I said. "I smell fresh-baked bread."
And it was making me hungry.
"Okay, that's a start. Tell me if anything else that stands out to you."
"Well, I think we're going fairly fast. The street lights I can see out the window are passing by at a very fast pace." I was lying down in the backseat of the car. What I could see out the window was pretty minuscule. I could just see out the top of the window and the sky above.
"That probably means you're on the highway."
Probably.
I was so going back to Massachusetts after this.
I rocked a little when the car slowed. "I think we're getting off the highway."
"Hank and Jack are in the car trying to catch up with you."
I didn't think they'd catch up in time.
"Okay, the car just slowed. We're pulling into somewhere. I see a cement ceiling." I swallowed tightly. Fear was clogging my throat. "We're going down."
"Like a parking garage?"
"Yeah, maybe."
How the hell would I know? It was darker than it had been a moment ago, and I could definitely see cement above me. We could be in a parking garage or driving into hell, or both.
I was going with both.
"Okay, we're stopping now. If you could find me soon, that'd be great." I was pretty sure I wasn't going to like whatever was coming my way.
I was pulled out of the backseat of the car as if I were a bag of potatoes. I grunted when I was tossed over someone's shoulder. The man's rigid shoulder dug into my stomach until I thought I was going to puke.
My head hung down and my arms dangled, swinging as I was carried through a door and then down a long hallway. All I could see was the cement floor as it passed.
We went through another doorway and I was laid down on something soft, but hard. I wanted to scream in protest when the two goons who had taken me started stripping my clothes from my limp body.
"Ian!" I screamed silently since I couldn't do it out loud. "They're taking my clothes."
"What?" Ian shouted right back. "Are they hurting you?"
"Not yet, but…" I had a feeling it was coming. "Please hurry."
"We're coming, Kaito. Don't give up."
I wasn't sure that was a choice I had.
It enraged me that I couldn't fight back. I couldn't even lift a finger in protest or cover my bare groin once my clothes were stripped from my body. I just had to lie there in all my naked glory.
Normally, I didn't mind being naked, but I usually got to choose when that happened. I didn't like it when the choice was taken away from me. I especially didn't like the lustful leers aimed in my direction from the two goons taking my clothes. They were clearly enjoying themselves. I just couldn't tell if it came from looking at my body or the control they currently had over me.
I wasn't sure it mattered. Anyone who could get aroused from having an unwilling body under their control was a rat bastard in my book. They deserved to go to hell right along with Atkins.
A collar was locked around my neck and my wrists were placed in restraints attached to the side of whatever I was lying on. I clearly wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
My mind screamed in denial when something cold and inflexible was fitted around my penis and balls. I couldn't lift my head to see what it was, but I knew I didn't want it on me. When my legs were pulled apart and something just as cold and inflexible was shoved into my ass, I couldn't stop the tears sliding out of my eyes and down my face.
I swore to myself, if I made it out of this alive, I was going to find these two goons and rip their balls off. They had no right to touch me let alone cage me up against my will.
When one of the goons moved up to fiddle with the collar around my throat, I glared up at him. I hoped he saw the hatred in my eyes. The man didn't even acknowledge I was alive. He just hooked something to the collar.
My eyes widened when I saw him hold a syringe of blue liquid in the air. He squirted out a little bit. A moment later, I felt a painful prick in my arm. I screamed silently when fire lit up my veins. It felt like hot lava. The pain was indescribable, burning through me and taking away my ability to breathe.
By the time it lessened, I was panting for air.
"The ceiling is cement," I sent to Ian absently as I stared up. "I think I'm in some sort of underground room. It's large and sounds kind of hollow. I can see pipes going across the ceiling."
"Can you move yet?" Ian asked.
"No."
"Keep trying."
Oh, I had every intention of trying to move until I actually could. I refused to stay strung up like some BDSM slave any longer than I had to.
I don't know how long I lay there before I heard the clop clop clop of shoes on the floor as someone approached. I had some movement back, but not much. I could wiggle my fingers and toes. I hoped that meant the rest of me was coming back. I wanted the hell out of here.
"Mr. Hayashi, how nice of you to join us."
Crap.
I couldn't see him, but I knew who'd taken me. I knew it when I was taken. I knew who the goons worked for the first time I'd seen them in their car, sitting at the end of the block. But, not until that moment, had I truly believed I was in hell.
Now, I knew I was.
Chapter Seven
I was in no way surprised when the man I knew as Robert Atkins came into view. "Mr. Atkins."
Well, apparently my ability to speak was back, even if I did sound a little squeaky.
The man smiled. He could be considered handsome if he weren't such a rat bastard. "You know who I am. How delightful. That will save us a lot of time. Where is my pet?"
Really?
"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied. "What pet?"
I screamed as electricity arched through my body, starting at my groin and going straight up to my throat. My entire body went stiff as pure agony ripped through me. I felt as if I was going to die, or explode.
"Shall we try this again?" Atkins asked once it stopped. "Where is my pet?"
Fear and anger knotted inside of me as I swallowed hard, lifted my chin, and boldly met Atkins' gaze. Man, this was going to hurt. "What pet?"
I screamed as pain ripped through me again. We did this over and over again, with Atkins' always asking, "Where's my pet?" and my replying, "What pet?" until I was trembling nonstop and covered in sweat and tears.
"Mr. Hayashi…Kaito. May I call you Kaito?"
I couldn't even shrug.
"Kaito, I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot."
You think?
"It is not my intention to cause you pain, but I need your cooperation. I simply must know where my pet is, and I believe you have the answer. My associates have informed me that you are good friends with Daniel. You would know where he is."
I would, but I wasn't about to tell this jackass.
"I considered giving you a truth serum to get the information out of you, but I don't like the idea of administering drugs that might have an adverse effect."
I couldn't believe I could be grateful to
this asshat for anything, but I truly did not want to be shot up with drugs. Or at least, not any more than I already had been.
"You already drugged me."
Atkins shook his head. "The drug that incapacitated you was simply a form of tetrodotoxin created by one of my pharmaceutical companies. Once the drug is fully out of your system, there should be no lasting effects."
Should be? Why wasn't I hopeful?
"Puffer fish?"
Atkins smiled. "Yes, but not to worry. Given in small doses, it's not lethal. My associate gave you a shot of fampridine to counter the tetrodotoxin, which is why we are able to talk."
"Why are you doing this?" I asked. The longer I could keep Atkins talking, the longer I could go without being electrocuted again.
"It's very simple. Daniel belongs to me and I want him back."
Oh right, I'd forgotten. Psychotic megalomaniac.
"Danny belongs to Danny, and no one else."
Maybe Abe, his fiancé, but definitely not this guy.
Atkins sighed. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Kaito. I had hoped this could go easier for you, but I see I was wrong." He patted my arm. "We'll talk again in the morning, see how you feel then."
When Atkins started to walk away, I thought I'd have a small reprieve.
How wrong I was.
So, so wrong.
"See that he's convinced to cooperate before you settle him in his room for the night," Atkins said. "Don't mark him if you can help it. I have a buyer interested in him, and he'll bring more money if he's unmarked."
No!
"Ian, he's going to sell me!"
"Atkins?" Ian asked. "Are you with Atkins?"
"Yes, and he said he has a buyer for me." I didn't mention the electrical shocks or the contraptions I seemed to be trussed up in. Ian and the others didn't need to know about them. They would only feel guilty. "You need to hurry."
I didn't think I had a lot of time left. I'd fight to the death before I allowed myself to be sold off as some slave. I was no one's pet.
"He's after Danny," I added. "You have to keep him safe."
"He's securely locked in his bunker with Abe."
At least that was a relief.
Danny was the sweetest of all of them, the most innocent. He had to be protected at all costs. I suspected that was one of the reasons Atkins wanted him so badly. Danny had a submissive personality, unless you pissed him off. He didn't resort to violence. He used his impressive computer skills to wipe you from existence.
He'd been working on finding Atkins for ages, but the man had proved to be slippery. Every time Danny thought he had Atkins pinned down, the guy disappeared again. He wouldn't give up until Atkins was behind bars or dead.
None of us would.
"Help me turn him over," one of the guards said as he unbuckled one of my wrists restraints. "I want a chance at that ass."
"Boss man said not to mark him," the other guard insisted. "We should just put him in his room."
I was with him.
"I brought lube," the first guard said. He was a big guy with dark brown hair and brown eyes. There wasn't anything remarkable about him except a half-moon scar under one eye.
He didn't put my wrist into the restraints when he flipped me over.
Idiot.
When he moved up behind me, I kicked out with my foot. There wasn't much power behind my kick as my limbs were still hard to move, but aimed in the right spot…the guy groaned and dropped to the floor, holding his nuts.
The other guard chuckled. "I warned you, dude."
When he came over to the table, I quickly moved around it, but I couldn't move far. Not only did I have to hold on to it to keep standing, but I still had one wrist cuffed to the table.
The guy held up his hands. "I just want to release you and take you to your room. I'm not going to do what he did."
"I don't believe you."
"And you probably shouldn't, but I'm telling the truth."
"Why would you help me?"
"I'm not helping you. I'm helping me. If anything happens to you before that buyer arrives, the boss man will have me killed, and I kind of like living."
I did too, which was why I didn't trust him.
"Will you come quietly if I release you?" the guy asked. "If you don't, they are just going to shoot you up with more of that puffer fish shit, and I don't think you want that."
"I want to go home."
"You and I both know that's not going to happen. The only thing you can do is make the best of your situation."
Fuck that!
I wasn't making the best of anything.
As soon as my other wrist was free, I started hitting out at the black-haired man. I felt one punch connect before I was swung around and driven onto my stomach on the floor. My hands were grabbed and pulled around behind my back, handcuffed.
I growled as I struggled to get free. My growl turned to a whimper when I felt a prick of pain in my arm and my body went lax without my permission.
"I'm sorry I had to do that, but you left me no choice."
"Li…ar."
The guy didn't say anything. He just picked me up and carried me out of the room and down a long hallway. I did notice that the walls went from cement to cream-colored. I don't know why I noticed that, but I did. The ceiling was painted as well.
The guard carried me into a small room and laid me down on something soft before pulling a blanket up over me. He sighed heavily as he stared down at me.
"This is going to go a lot easier for you if you stop fighting it. The boss man will get what he wants, and there is nothing you can do to stop that from happening."
The guard walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him. I heard the lock turn a moment later. I huffed as I stared up at the ceiling, unable to move a single muscle.
This sucked.
"Ian?"
"I'm here, Kaito."
"They shot me up with that damn drug again. I can't move a muscle."
My cat was pissed.
Loopy, but pissed.
My fingers were starting to go numb.
I tried not to let my growing despair lace my voice when I said, "It would really great if you guys could get here soon. I really want to go home."
I don't think I was successful.
"I know, Kaito," Ian replied in a soothing tone. "And we're coming. I swear. Just hang in there."
I wished I could believe him, but my faith in being rescued was dwindling by the second. Despite the clues I'd been able to give my friends, I knew they didn't have much to go on. I could be anywhere. I didn't have a clue.
None of us did.
I must have dozed off because when I opened my eyes again, I could move every part of my body. My fingers were beyond numb.
I rolled over to my side then let out a little whimper when a hundred million needles started poking at my fingers as they filled with blood again. I had no idea how long I'd been lying on them, but I was lucky I could still move them.
The rest of me wasn't in too much better shape. I kind of felt as if I'd been run over with a truck. A really big truck. My muscles ached as if I'd overused them. Considering how many times I'd been shocked, that wasn't surprising.
The door opened and the two guards from before walked in. I whimpered and tried to wiggle back when they crossed the room to me. It did me no good. They grabbed me and dragged me to my feet before leading me out of the room. I was taken back to the room I'd been in before then strapped back down to the table.
"Now, Kaito, shall we try this again?" Atkins said as he stepped into view in front of me. "Where is Danny?"
Even knowing what was coming, I replied, "I don't know."
I screamed as my entire body went stiff with pure agony, electrical currents racing through my body. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't think. I couldn't do anything even though I felt as if I was dying.
When the current stopped, I slumped on the table.
"Where is my pet, Kaito?"
/> Tears leaked from my eyes. "I don't know."
I could barely raise a cry when I was shocked again. This time it seemed to go on forever. It was probably only a few seconds.
"Where is my pet?" Atkins asked again. "I know you know. My men have watched you. I know you are friends with Danny. Just tell me where he is, and all of this can end."
I had no doubt it would end, but Danny's life of torture would go on and on. I couldn't do that to one of my best friends. I didn't care what it meant for me. Danny was too sweet and innocent to spend a lifetime as Atkins' pet.
"I don't know."
I closed my eyes mere seconds before several volts of electricity ripped through my body. Tears leaked out from under my closed eyelids, trailing down my cheek. Even if my hands had been free, I didn't have the ability to wipe them away. I doubted I could lift my arms.
"Take him to his room," Atkins said. "We'll try this again in the morning."
"Do you want us to get him cleaned up for the buyer, sir?" one of the guards asked.
"No, I've delayed our meeting until I get what I need. Once Kaito has told me where my pet is, I'll call the buyer to come get him."
I hated him.
"You've sold him then?" one of the guards asked. I think it was the black-haired one, but I wasn't positive. It sounded like him.
"Yes, an associate of mine in the Middle East has expressed an interest in him. If it doesn't work out, I'm sure he'll have someplace to dispose of him."
Dispose…what a way to word killing someone.
Or worse.
I was unbuckled and carried back to my room. This time, my hands weren't restrained behind me, but it wouldn't have mattered if they were. I didn't have the strength to lift them. I was dumped on my bed, and then the two men walked out of the room, shutting and locking the door behind them.
I don't know how long this went on. Time melted together, hours turning into more hours, possibly days. I went through a never-ending cycle of being shocked then questioned, then shocked some more before being given time to recover before it started all over again. I vaguely recalled being given food and water, but most everything was a blur of pain and agony.
I was positive I was going to die.
I couldn't have shifted even if I'd wanted to. I just didn't have energy. All I could manage to do was lie there waiting for them to come for me again. And come for me they did, over and over again. The questions never changed, and my answer was always the same. I didn't know where Danny was.