My cell is the last one before the stairs. No one to witness my disappearance. To notice that I didn’t take my meager belongings with me. Then again, all I really had left was that tube of deodorant and a bar of soap.
On the first level, they steer me past another pair of guards, through the dining hall, and into the kitchen. “Aww, Romey, are you going to cook me dinner?” I ask.
Muñoz twists my left arm behind my back, hard enough I stifle a yelp. “Say another word, and we’ll fire up the grill for your pretty face.”
“I don’t think your boss would like that much, Muñoz.” My voice isn’t steady, and I try to shift to lessen the pressure on my shoulder, but the asshole pulls my wrist even higher.
“If we’re late, the Colonel is going to have our asses,” Romey mutters. He waves the Taser in front of me. “This is still an option, bitch.”
“Tell the Neanderthal to stop trying to dislocate my shoulder.” I may be about to die, but I don’t need to be bullied first.
Muñoz shifts his grip, and the two march me to the back of the industrial kitchen, through another door, and into a dimly lit hallway.
“Where are we going?”
Silence. It’s like a maze back here. Too many twists and turns for me to figure out where the hell we are—or how I’d ever get out.
Kerr and another man stand guard. “He’s waiting,” Kerr says, steps aside, and opens a heavy metal door.
Muñoz shoves me inside, where Doherty and Collins grab me.
Oh, God. There are too many of them. Bowen tells Muñoz and Romey to wait outside with the other two, then puts his back to the door. Across the room, Doc wavers on his feet, his hands bound with flexi-cuffs and secured to a pipe high overhead with a length of rope. Sutton and Bastian flank him.
“Natasha.” His hoarse whisper shatters what little control I have left. I can’t tear my gaze away from his face. From the blood staining his forehead and chin, the fresh bruise on his cheek, and the prison guard uniform he’s wearing. What did they do to him? What are they going to do to me? To us?
“Doc, I’m sorry?—”
Bastian nods at Sutton, who jabs Doc’s side with a stun gun. The man I love screams in pain. His body jerks and sways. His eyes roll back in his head. I struggle to get free, but Doherty kicks the back of my knee. Only the iron grip on my arms keeps me upright.
“Enough!” A man I’ve never seen before steps out from behind Bastian with a tactical knife in his gloved hand. “You’ll get to have your fun, Montgomery. But I want mine first.”
“Sir? I thought we agreed…” Bastian looks from the man to me. “She has to watch him die.”
In my ear, West’s tense voice doesn’t reassure me. “There are at least nine hostiles in our way. Stall.”
I force my shoulders back—as much as I can with Doherty and Collins holding my arms—and glare at the stranger.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Colonel Nathaniel Sapian.” He stalks toward me. I try to shrink back, but Doherty and Collins don’t let me move an inch. “You cost me millions, Winters. Time to pay up.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Natasha
“Youoweme.”Bastian grabs Sapier’s arm, and the Colonel stiffens like he’s about to swat away a fly. “For eight years, you promised you’d get me out—get all of us out.”
Sapier whirls around, the tip of the knife nicking Bastian’s jaw. “If it weren’t for her, I’d have made Brigadier General at least two years ago. You’re lucky I got you out at all. The bribes alone cost me half a million. If we hadn’t found her, you’d still be languishing in Leavenworth.”
“Sapier?” If nothing else, I have to tell West who this asshole is. The name is familiar, though his face isn’t. Then again, eight years can do a lot to a person. “Have we ever met before?”
The Colonel shoves Bastian away from him and advances on me. “This is the first time you’ve had the pleasure. Trust me, Winters. You’d remember.” The knife kisses my cheek with a feather light touch, trails down my neck, and stops at the top button on my orange shirt.
“Get the fuck away from her!” Doc grits out.
Sutton shocks him again, while Sapier ignores everything but me. I keep my gaze pinned to Doc’s face, tears in my eyes, as the Colonel slices through one button at a time until the shirt falls open.
“Maybe we will try it your way, Montgomery,” he says, leaning closer andsniffingme. “But I get to be the one to have her.”
