“And now he’s got you.”Rat Man’s voice hardened.“Found himself a pretty little piece of ass and thinks he deserves a fresh start.”He stood abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the concrete.“But old debts need paying.That’s why you’re here.”
He paced in front of me, gestures becoming more animated.“Gunnar’s the main prize.That fucker’s father’s had it coming for years.I kill Gunnar, I hurt Cain.”Suddenly, he stopped, turning to face me.Then he smiled again, sitting across from me once again.“Until we have company, though, you and I can get to know each other.”He licked his too-thick lips.“Real well.”
I kept my breathing steady, even as my heart raced.“You know they’re going to kill you,” I said quietly.“Right?”
Rat Man grabbed my throat in one swift motion, fingers digging painfully into my skin.“Probably.But I don’t really care what happens to me.Kiss of Death was my life.And that bastard took it from me.”He gradually loosened his grip, like he wanted me to know he held my life in his hands.“So my life ended a long fuckin’ time ago.I’ve only now found a way of strikin’ back to hurt Cain the most.I’m old.Ain’t got long on this earth.So, if I’m goin’ out, that fucker’s going out with me.”He released me with a shove that rocked the chair.He stalked away toward his men.
The moment his back was turned, I began working my wrists against the zip ties, ignoring the pain as the plastic cut deeper into my skin.I twisted my right hand, feeling blood well up and slick the plastic.There was no way I was slipping a hand through the loop.He’d cinched it too tightly.I was trying to keep blood flowing even a little bit through my fingers.The only thing I had going for me at the moment was that he hadn’t tied my hands behind my back.
With my legs apart, my hands hung in front of me.I rested my forearms on my knees, lowering my head to try to stop the spinning.The side of my face where Rat Man had struck me throbbed painfully enough that I had black spots dotting the edges of my vision.
I took deep breath after deep breath.It was so tempting to give in to the blackness, but that stubborn streak I had wouldn’t let me allow this bastard to break me.
When I finally got myself under control, my vision cleared… And I noticed a place in the steel between my legs that had been bent back and split, creating a sharp edge, except the zip tie was so tight I didn’t know if I could make contact with the edge without slitting my wrists.While I had no doubt Jag and Knight would find me, I was a firm believer in being able to rescue myself.I had no intention of sitting passively while these fuckers hurt or killed me.
I shifted my hands in front of me, keeping my gaze on the men where the three of them met near the door.They appeared to be in some kind of heated argument, though they didn’t raise their voices.I took the opportunity to see if I had any hope of freeing my hands so I could use my phone.
I maneuvered my wrist, pressing the zip tie against that edge, then began to saw back and forth as carefully as I could.Each movement sent pain shooting up my wrist, but I kept going.The blood made my grip slippery.When I managed to get through enough to free myself, the thing shot away almost like a rubber band snapping.
Across the warehouse, Rat Man gestured angrily at the two guys.None of them paid me any attention, thank God.I could feel the increasingly manic energy radiating from Rat Man.
“I’m tellin’ you, they know where we are.”The slimmer guy raised his voice, poking Rat Man in the chest.“You want to stay here, fine.But I’m not gettin’ killed for you, old man.”
Slowly, so my movement didn’t catch someone’s attention, I pulled my phone from my back pocket.Knight’s was my emergency number, so calling him took little effort.I left the line open so Knight could hear and turned the volume down so these men couldn’t hear anything Knight, or anyone else, said.If nothing else, it could maybe give them an idea of how many people were in the building.I lay the phone under my chair behind my foot.Even if he noticed my hands free, he might miss my phone since it wasn’t in ready sight.
“You’ll do what I paid you to do!”Rat Man full on yelled at the guy, not even trying to keep his voice down.“These guys are nothing!”
“You keep sayin’ that, yet the men we saw moved like they know what they’re doin’.Wouldn’t surprise me if they’re watchin’ us right fuckin’ now.”
“No one saw me nab the bitch.I was careful.”
“Yeah?Did you search her before you tied her up?Because, while the woman has a fine ass, I was more interested in the phone in her back pocket.”
“So she has a phone?”Ran Man waved the guy off.“She can’t call nobody.I got her hands tied.”
The big guy snorted.“No, you don’t.She got herself free a good ten minutes ago.”
Rat Man spun to look at me and I froze.His face contorted with rage.Rat Man crossed the short distance to me and swung out with his hand, cracking across my face with enough force to snap my head sideways.The movement knocked me off balance and my momentum tipped the chair, and I fell to the concrete floor with a jarringthud.Pain exploded through my cheekbone, bright lights flashing behind my eyes.I tasted blood, copper-tangy and warm, filling my mouth where my teeth had cut into the inside of my cheek.
“What the fuck did you do?!”he screamed at me, leaning over to get in my face.“Who’d you fuckin’ call?!”
Pain made my eyes water.I spat a mouthful of blood onto the concrete between us.“Who are you afraid of most, Rat Man?”I asked, my words slightly slurred through my swelling lip.“Cain?Or Jag?”
With a roar of anger, Rat Man kicked at me.He missed my torso but connected with my thigh and I yelped out before I could bite back my cry of pain.
Something broke inside me then, a dam of terror and tension giving way to a strange, wild freedom.I started to laugh.The sound burst from me raw and untamed, echoing off the warehouse walls.If I sounded slightly maniacal, I thought I had a right to be.
Rat Man took a step back, momentarily thrown by my reaction.His confusion only made me laugh harder, even as tears of pain leaked from the corners of my eyes.
“You think this is funny?”he continued to yell, his face darkening.“You think I won’t fuckin’ kill you right now?”
I couldn’t stop laughing.The absurdity of it all, the terror, the pain, the way this pathetic man thought he could win against Jag, against Knight, against the combined force of Kiss of Death.My laughter grew wilder, verging on hysteria.
Rat Man’s face contorted with fury.His hand went to his waistband, pulling out a gun.He raised it, pressing the barrel against my temple.The cold metal dug into my skin, but somehow, I wasn’t afraid anymore.“Maybe I should just end this now,” he snarled.“Send your boyfriend your brains as a welcome gift.”
I smiled through the blood in my mouth.“Fuck.You.”
His hand trembled slightly, indecision flickering across his face.Before he could decide, a new sound cut through the warehouse air.The distant rumble of motorcycle engines, growing louder by the second.
