This had to be Lucien Vaughan—the man behind the deaths of those people in the shipping container. He was also the one who had taken Alana hostage.
Kimo tried to move her arms and legs. They didn’t respond to signals from her brain. Though she was awake, she had no control over her body. Then she remembered the needle jab in her neck. The man who’d helped her when she’d stumbled had drugged her.
How long would it take for it to wear off? If she focused, could she work through it and regain the use of her limbs? She concentrated on her fingers and toes, trying to wiggle them. At first, they reacted like her arms and legs, refusing to respond. Then her big toe on her right foot moved.
A door opened somewhere, and booted feet clomped across a hard surface before becoming muffled as if they’d stepped onto the white carpet. Sounds of grunting and cursing came to Kimo, but she couldn’t turn her head to see the source.
Then a familiar voice cried out, “Kimo! Oh, sweet Jesus. Not you.”
Alana lunged across Kimo, tripped and fell face-first onto the white carpet, unable to break her fall with her hands secured behind her back.
She rolled onto her side, her gaze on Kimo. “Not you, too,” she whispered. She wore the soft green bikini she’d had on beneath her wetsuit. The fabric appeared to be spotted with dark stains, which Kimo realized were blood.
Her heart pinched hard in her chest. Her sweet Alana. What had they done to her?
“Now that I have both of you here with your undivided attention,” Vaughan said, “we begin your indoctrination. By the time I’m finished with you, you’ll be compliant and ready to go to one of my clients in Saudi Arabia, who prefers hula dancers. You do hula, don’t you?” He nodded toward someone standing just out of Kimo’s view.
A man with black boots leaned over Alana, hooked her under her arms and hauled her to her feet.
She stood with her arms behind her back, her long, beautiful black hair in tangled disarray.
“Dance, Lolita,” Vaughan commanded.
Alana glared at the man. “Fuck you.” She spit in his face.
Vaughan’s face turned a mottled red. He wiped the spittle from his cheek and reached for a long, metal rod with a yellow handle and a black forked tip. He pointed the rod at Alana. “Dance.”
When she refused to move, he jabbed the rod at Alana. She cried out and leaped backward.
“Dance,” Vaughan commanded.
Alana glared at the man yet still refused to comply. “You’re a pathetic excuse for a human,” she said in a low, angry voice. “Is your dick so tiny that you have to abuse women to get off? Does it make you feel powerful picking on girls who can’t fight back?”
“You’ll shut up, or I’ll shut you up.” He jabbed her again.
She jumped, but bit down hard on her lip, refusing to cry out. “Feel like more of a man yet? You’re a pathetic piece of shit.”
Oh, Alana, don’t make him any madder.
Vaughan hit Alana with the stick and held it on her. When she backed away, he followed until she hit a wall. The cattle prod pressed into her, making her jerk and twitch until she finally cried out.
Kimo forced air past her vocal cords. “Stop.” It came out barely above a whisper. She lifted her fingers, though her hands barely moved. “Please. Stop,” came out a little louder, capturing Vaughan’s attention.
He lowered the cattle prod and advanced on Kimo. “Your friend needs to learn manners. She can’t be cursing and calling men names where she’s going. They don’t tolerate that kind of attitude. They’ll cut out her tongue.”
He turned back to Alana, where she slumped against the wall. “Is that what you want? Do you want your new owner to cut out your tongue? That will guarantee you won’t sling curses at anyone ever again. Maybe I should do him the favor and remove your tongue before I deliver you to him.”
“No,” Kimo said. “Don’t. Hurt. Her.”
“No?” Vaughan sneered down at her. “If punishing her doesn’t change her behavior, punishing her friend will.” He jammed the cattle prod into Kimo’s side.
The jolt blasted through her.
Kimo cried out.
“You bastard,” Alana yelled. “Leave her alone.” Alana pushed away from the wall, bent over and charged at Vaughan like a bull, yelling as she did.
Before she reached him, the man in the black boots caught her around her middle and lifted her off her feet.
