Todd isn’t ready yet. Ken needs him, so he’s secured to a chair in the corner with a good view, his wounds bandaged to keep him from bleeding out. We want him alert, or at least conscious.
Cathy pulls harder, shaking her head. Her attention focuses behind me on Ken.
“I think she’s scared of that cattle prod you’re holding.” I run my finger along her jaw. “You want to start there?” I ask him, looking over my shoulder at him.
“Dolly, what did she request most often of you?” Ken asks me, his gaze glued to Cathy. He stripped her when he secured her, so we have her entire body to play with. Nice blank canvas as Bossman would say. I know, because it’s what he said to me whenever he gave me enough time to heal between sessions.
“Queenhearts loved to see me dangled from the ceiling. She was particularly fond of my ass being used.” I recall the pings from the playroom. How fast they would dance around the room. The times when she was the special bidder, the pings were louder. Maybe it was because the pain was greater or because she was relentless in her requests.
Ken snorts. “Maybe that’s why she had me fuck her ass.”
“The camera’s on. We can start,” Ken says to me, pressing a kiss to my temple.
“Do you want to go first?” I ask him. She hurt me. I’ll have the scars for the rest of my life, but the hurt she caused him isn’t visible on his skin—and that’s worse.
“I promised you’d get to have your say with Queenhearts, and here she is.” Ken’s voice dips. “Take your time, Dolly. Don’t rush this.” He squeezes my shoulder and steps away, the prod still in his hand.
I stare at my gift, unsure where to start unwrapping.
“Who did Bossman work for?” I slip my knife between her cheek and the fabric of her gag, ripping through it.
She spits out the balled-up cotton and coughs. “No.”
“Really?” I ask, piercing her cheek with the tip of my knife. A pearl of blood forms and I lick it away. “Tell the truth.” I twirl the tip of the blade again, bringing forth another drop of blood, but I let this one slip down her face. It makes a pretty trail, following in line with her dried tears.
“Stop. Please,” she breathes out.
“Stop?” I pull back, as though the word is foreign to me. “Didn’t I beg for them to stop? Didn’t I beg all of you to stop? Didn’t Ken ask that?” I point the knife at her lips. If this woman doesn’t start giving us information, I’m going to cut out her tongue and dissect her organs.
“Brian, don’t do this.” She ignores me.
I won’t be fucking ignored!
“His name is Ken!” I jab my knife into her bicep. The blade hits her bone. I pull back and stab again until I make it all the way through her flesh, pinning her to the cross.
Her scream bounces off the walls, but no one will hear her. The walls have been sound proofed for her own playtime down here.
“Tell me who he worked for,” I demand, taking my knife back. There’s a bag full of toys for me to use, but I like my knife. It’s simple, easy for me to handle.
“I don’t know for sure,” she cries out.
“Then guess,” I snap.
Ken is quiet behind me, watching. Just having him here fuels my strength.
“I never worked with them directly off the web. I only interacted through the webpage.” Her words rush out as the tip of my blade touches her nose. Her eyes converge, focusing on my actions.
“How did you work out handing me over?” Ken asks from behind me.
“Online chat. I never saw them before that night.” She hurries with her explanation. “I paid—” Her eyes close, and she swallows hard. “They paid me—”
“You handed me over for cash?” Ken’s voice barrels down a dark tunnel. I’ve never felt such rage from him before.
“No! I—fuck,” she cries. The blade pricks her skin again, and she pulls back. “I just wanted a night of fun. It wasn’t meant forever. They weren’t supposed to keep you.” She opens her eyes, releasing streams of tears. “You were going to be left, high as fuck in an alley. You were supposed to wake up with little memory. You shouldn’t have remembered it.”
“The bag of blood?” I ask, remembering what she told him upstairs.
“He was supposed to think he was fucking a dead body,” she wails. “I was supposed to lay limp. I—fuck!” she screams as I twist the blade into her cheek again. This isn’t so bad, putting little pin holes in her face.
“Go on!” Ken demands.
“They fucked me over too!” she screams.
“And all your little requests?” I take a small step back, inspecting her cheek to see if I’ve left any open spaces.
“They already had him. Getting him back wasn’t going to happen without exposing myself too.”
Ken grunts.
“So, since they had me, you figured why not get your rocks off?” He steps forward and jams the prod into her side, sending jolts through her body. She cries out, and her body shakes before he releases her.
“I’m…I didn’t think…fuck.”
“Why me? What the fuck did I do to you that you wanted that shit to happen to me?” Ken asks, the prod only an inch away from her tit. He wraps his other hand around her throat and squeezes until her cheeks ripen to a deep red. “Answer me.” He yanks his hand away. A bright imprint of his fingers lingers on her skin.
“George Romero.” She gasps for air.
He releases her and steps back, his gaze searching hers.
“Because of his fucking daughter?” He barks.
“I didn’t know why. He just gave me the order.”
“You work with him,” I cut in, walking around the basement. “You two play down here?”
I turn to glare at Todd. There’s tape over his mouth, his arms and legs are bound to the chair. Blood covers his pants from the knees down. He’s awake, but there’s been a lot of blood loss even with Ken’s patch job.
“The three of you?” I point my knife at him. “Who’s Dragonmate? You or the other guy?”
Todd shakes his head in a lame attempt to answer.
“Dolly,” Ken says my name softly, calling me back to him to stay on task. Todd has a purpose. I can’t end him yet.
“If there’s a third…” I try to explain my thinking, but he shakes his head at me. I sigh. There’s no dealing with him when he gets bossy.
“Is Todd or Romero Dragonmate?” Ken asks Cathy.
“Todd doesn’t—he’s not involved, not really. He just helped with the tech shit for me,” Cathy admits. “He’s—”
“You’re boytoy,” I fill in for her. “The little pussy who does what you ask in hopes of getting his cock in your cunt.”
“Dolly.” Ken’s voice hardens.
“Fine.” I step behind him. He can have his turn with her, but then I’m taking over.
“Romero wanted me handed over, and Todd helped you cover the site. He led the taskforce away from it, didn’t he? He was able to track Dolly for Hire, but never handed over the information.”
Cathy shakes her head, her lips trembling too hard for her to speak. She’s running out of information to give us, and that means the real fun is about to start.
“How’d you get us put on the taskforce? Richards hates you—or is that a bullshit lie too?” Ken sparks the prod and jabs her tit with it. She jumps in her binds, putting pressure on her feet, and releases a blood-curdling scream. Another one for my memory banks. Maybe hers will erase my own.
“Romero.”
“What about Pierce?” Ken asks.
She’s sobbing.
“Cathy. Pierce. Does he play a role?” Ken growls, grabbing her hair and pulling her head back.
Her eyes are swollen from all the crying. Tears have mingled with her blood. If she wasn’t such a cunt, she might be pretty.
“I don’t know. I just did what Romero said to do. You don’t understand what kind of people are involved in this. Powerful people, Brian. I couldn’t go against him. He would have de
stroyed me. I had no choice.” Her whiny voice is nothing more than a pathetic attempt to gain his sympathy.
“You’re a victim?” I seethe. Ken moves over so I can get closer to her. Grabbing the prod from him, I flip up the setting. I want it on high. I want her to feel every bit of the currents racing through her body before I finish her off.
“No… I didn’t…please.” Cathy begs, her wide eyes fixated on the prod in my hand.
“I’m tired of her. Are we done?” I ask Ken, but don’t look at him.
“I think I have everything I need,” he says softly. “Very disappointing.” He tsks, stepping back. “Dolly, you can go ahead.”
Cathy’s mouth opens, another plea on her tongue that never gets out. I jam the prod into her belly, letting the electric heat run through her entire body until she’s shaking from the pain. Only then do I pull it back.
“You enjoyed watching me bleed.” I prick her torso with my knife. Not deep enough to kill her, just enough to see the trickling of her blood down her chest.
“You asked for Ken to be hurt.” I charge up the prod again and press it to her cunt. Her scream deafens my left ear.
“End it,” Ken commands me.
I look over my shoulder at him. His steady gaze on me, he gives me a small nod. I’ve had my fun, but our work isn’t finished. I can’t play all night.
“Please,” Cathy begs again, though I’m not sure she’s pleading to be let go.
I drop the prod to the floor and switch my knife to my right hand. I press her back against the cross, and she raises her chin, squaring off with me, fear dancing in her eyes.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Cathy.” I press a soft kiss to her cheek. “You’re safe here. You know what’s going to happen.” I hold fast to her chest, keeping her body as elongated as I can. “You’re going to die.”
A sob breaks loose from her chest.
“What was scary was all those days living in that cell, not knowing if I would die, if I would live, if I would be tortured or raped or hurt. Would I eat? Would I get to sleep? Would I be too drugged to be able to do anything to stop them? Would I get to clean myself? That is real fear.”
Cathy’s eyelids flutter along with her trembling lips.
“Dying isn’t scary.” I lean close to her ear. “But it is inevitable.”
Sinking my knife into the lowest part of her belly, I rip it upward, slicing her open before I remove it. Pulling back, I release her and let her stomach open wide, spilling the contents onto the floor.
Her scream loses power as she slumps forward on the cross. Blood drips from the wound. She gasps. Another sound, a gurgle, and then, nothing. Held up only by the binds on her arms to the cross, she hangs limp.
“Dolly.”
I drag my gaze away from the mess on the floor.
“It’s easier to breathe now, isn’t it?” I ask Ken.
“It is.” He nods, holds out his hand for me, and pulls me to his chest. I’m covered in her blood and ruining his clothes, but he hugs me tight. “You did good.”
“What about him?” I ask, not wanting to leave his embrace, but we still have to deal with Todd.
“He’s going to help us,” he says, pressing his lips against my head. “Then he’s going to die.”
Twenty-Six
KENDOLL
Todd’s sniffling grates on my nerves, but he hasn’t taken his fingers off the keyboard, so I don’t get on his ass about it.
Yet.
I have him set up at Cathy’s kitchen table with the laptop I swiped from the playhouse and Cathy’s lined up beside it.
“Think he’ll be able to help?” Dolly asks, sipping a glass of water.
“He better,” I say loud enough for him to hear me. I think he’s come to terms with what’s going to happen when he’s done working, but the carrot keeping him on task is he won’t suffer.
“I-I’ve found three so far,” Todd announces.
I check over his shoulder, looking at the face recognition software still running on his screen.
“These girls are reported missing?” I clarify.
“Yes, all three have a report on file. One is from a year ago, one’s only a few months, and the third is five years old.”
Five years she’s been missing.
Dolly puts the glass down on the counter. “Can the FBI track them down? I mean, isn’t there a way to hack into my father’s financial records and cross reference things to find out who took these girls?”
“It’s possible. Yeah,” Todd says, but I hear the underlying current of doubt. Getting her hopes up isn’t fair.
“It could take them years to go through all the data. Especially if your dad was smart enough to keep his personal finances out of this. Shell companies, overseas accounts…it takes time to uncover those,” I tell her. “Once you find out who these girls are, I want you to search the dark web. Find the latest uploads with them involved.”
“I—what? I can’t do that from here. I need to get into my computer at the lab. Cathy’s—” He pauses a moment. “Her computer doesn’t have the login credentials I need.”
“Then do the best you can with what you have, ’cause you’re never seeing the inside of your fucking lab again.” I shove his head and join Dolly near the sink.
Todd’s fingers start clicking the keys again.
“Can he help us? Maybe George Romero can give us better information. He seems to be a top player in all this,” Dolly says.
A droplet of blood has dried on her chin. I wet my finger with my tongue and wipe it from her face. She’s changed out of her clothes into some of Cathy’s yoga attire and cleaned herself up a bit, but she probably could use a long soak in a hot bubble bath.
“Our visit with him needs to be well planned. Right now, I think it’s safe to assume I wasn’t reported missing because of his pull with the department. I want to find out what Pierce was doing at the motel.”
“This girl, I recognize,” Todd announces. His face pales when I line up my gaze with his. I can guess how he knows the girl.
“It’s not like that,” he tries to assure me. “I never—I didn’t do what they did.” He leans away from me as I make my way back to his side.
“Right.”
“I didn’t. I just—fuck—” A sob tears from his chest, and he wipes his sleeved wrist across his nose. “I didn’t mean to get so fucking involved. These girls…the younger and younger they got, the worse the shows got, but I was so fucking deep...Cathy said she’d turn me over, tell them I was behind it, that I knew where the girls were but was blocking the taskforce from finding them.”
I slam my hand on the table. “You were blocking them!”
“No!” He shakes his head, frantic. “Not really. I told them the signals were pinging to different locations each time. But I gave them locations.”
“Not the right locations.” How had I thought joining the police force would ever result in being able to catch the bad guys? The people who are supposed to be around to help sort out shit, to help find the assholes, are the very monsters I was hunting.
“I gave them the locations of the first pings. Most of the time, the signal would bounce. If Cathy gave me the okay, I relayed it.” His fingers fluttered as he wiped a drop of sweat from his forehead. “I think she only said to give a correct location once she was sure they wouldn’t find anything once they got there.”
“Pierce is a piece of shit detective or he’s in on this bullshit too.” The list of people needing to die grows longer every day.
“As far as I know, he’s not involved. Cathy gave the directions. She was playing Pierce.”
And me. So easily she’d played me. I know her daughter for fuck’s sake. The rift between them is becoming a bit clearer to me. There could be more there than just a girl outgrowing her mother.
Putting my focus back on the problem at hand, I pull the laptop from him and spin it around so I can see the poor kid. “Who’s this girl?”
“Her real name
is Candace Lindenhurst. Missing person’s report filed six months ago. Cathy had her…she taped her a few nights ago.”
“You mean you taped her a few nights ago, then sold the footage for her,” Dolly states. She’s gone calm since she dealt with Cathy, but she’s also getting tired. She needs rest, to gain her strength if we are going to take on Romero.
Todd nods silently, fat tears rolling down his cheeks.
“Where did Cathy get her?” I ask.
“A guy. I don’t know who he is. She talked to him on the phone a lot that night. He’ll be in her records.”
I glare him down. “Then get his fucking information.”
“R-Right.”
Dolly tosses me Cathy’s cell phone from the counter, and I drop in front of Todd. “Make a file. I want all the girls’ names you can find and their last known locations. I want the names and numbers of anyone Cathy ever worked with to get the girls, transport the girls, or paid to watch them.” I clench my teeth and take a calming breath.
“I can do that.” Todd picks up a pen and drags a piece of paper closer to him. His movements are slow. He’s beyond exhausted from blood loss, but he’s too smart to stop doing what I demand of him.
“I’m going to put the TV on,” Dolly says.
I follow her into the living room and plop down on the couch while she flips through the channels. Todd’s tapping starts up again from the kitchen.
“He can get away if we don’t watch him.” Dolly waves the remote toward the kitchen.
“I can see him fine from here.” I point to his reflection in the large mirror on the wall. “Besides, his legs are useless. I’m sure we can catch a man trying to army crawl across the floor.”
Dolly smiles, then turns her attention back to the television.
“Wait. Stop.” I lean forward and tug on her shirt.
“What?” she asks, flipping to the next channel.
“Go back two channels.” I stand from the couch. I could use a break—a long ass sleep, a hot bath, or a few beers. Something’s going to give soon.
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