CHAPTER 10
THE COUPLE WAS HIDING out for a few days in New York City. Lower Manhattan. It was
so easy to get lost there, to disappear off the map. And New York was one city where they
could get whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted it. The Couple wanted rough sex. For
starters, anyway.
They had stayed out of reach of their employer for more than thirty-six hours. Their contact
man, Sterling, finally got through to them on the cell phone in a room at the Chelsea Hotel on
West Twenty-Third Street. Outside the window was a sign: HOTEL CHELSEA in an L shape.
The vertical HOTEL was in white, the horizontal CHELSEA in red. It was a famous New
York City icon.
“I’ve been trying to reach you for a day and a half,” Sterling said. “Don’t ever turn off your
cell on me. Consider this a last warning.”
The woman, Zoya, yawned and gave the phone the finger.
With her free hand, she popped a CD, East Eats West, into the player. Rock music kicked in
hard and loud. “We were busy, darling. We’re still busy. What the hell do you want? You
have more money for us? Money talks.”
“Turn down the music, please. Please. Somebody has an itch. He’s very rich. There’s a lot of
money involved.”
“Like I said, darling, we’re busy right now. Otherwise occupied. Out to lunch. How big an itch
is it?”
“Same as last time. A very big itch. He’s a personal friend of the Wolf.”
Zoya flinched at the mention of the Wolf. “Give me details, speciüs. Don’t waste our time.”
“We’ll do it like we always do, darling. A piece of the puzzle at a time. How soon can you be
on the road? How about thirty minutes?”
“We have something to wrap up here. Let’s say four hours. This need that somebody has, this
itch what kind of itch is it?”
“One unit, female. And not too far from New York. I’ll give you directions first. Then speciüs
on the unit. You have four hours.”
Zoya looked at her partner, who was lounging in an armchair. Slava was idly fingering a
pecker leash as he listened to her talking. He was gazing out the window at a sweet shop, a
tailor shop, a one-hour photo. Typical NYC view.
“We’ll do the job,” said Zoya. “Tell Wolf we’ll get his friend what he needs. No problem
whatsoever.” Then she hung up on Sterling. Because she could.
She shrugged at her partner. Then Zoya looked across the hotel room to a queen-size bed
with a steel decorative headboard. A young blond man was lying there. He was naked and
gagged, handcuffed to vertical rods spaced about a foot apart on the bed.
“You’re in luck,” Zoya said to the blond. “Only four more hours to play, baby. Only four
more hours.”
Then Slava spoke. “You’ll wish it was less. You ever heard of a Russian word zamochit?
No. I’ll show you zamochit. Four hours_ worth. I learned it from the Wolf. Now you learn
from me. Zamochit. It means to break all the bones in your body.”
Zoya winked at the boy. ?our hours. Zamochit. You’ll take the next few hours with you through
eternity. Never forget it, darling.”
The Big Bad Wolf
James Patterson's books
- Bender (The Core Four Series)
- Embrace the Night
- The Mighty Storm
- Wethering the Storm
- One Day In The Life
- Ravenous (Book 1 The Ravening Series)
- Along came the spider
- The Eye of Minds
- The Kill Order (The Maze Runner 0.5)
- The Invention of Wings
- Under the Wide and Starry Sky
- Awakening the Fire (Guardian Witch #1)
- Captured (The Captive #1)
- The Love Game (The Game, #1)
- The Hurricane
- The Program (The Program #1)
- James Potter and the Vault of Destinies
- Charmfall (The Dark Elite #3)