“But—”
“Nothing you say will change that. Keep your trap shut and don’t annoy me. When he gets here, you’ll give him whatever he wants. You’ll give him everything you have. Count on it, bitch.”
She stared at the flat emptiness of his eyes. Her ears roared. That nightmare was coming due. She’d tried so hard to outrun it, but it was here.
She had no idea if she could open Lydia’s safe at all. Caro had urged the woman to change her training image sequence to something new and private. It was sloppy and dangerous to leave an interface coach with potential access to goods and secrets that others would kill to have. Changing the sequence protected everyone.
But Lydia had been reluctant. What a freaking idiot.
“They say you killed a colleague of mine,” the guy said. “With a boxcutter. Hard to believe that a dumb cow like you could pull that off. Did you wait until he was fucking you? That makes some men stupid, but not me.”
He bent down and kissed her, clamping his hand over her nose and thrusting his tongue into her mouth. It was muscular and slimy and huge. He slid it to the opening of her throat. No air.
She’d almost blacked out when he lifted his face.
“You know what? I can think when I fuck,” he confided. “When Olund’s done with you, I’ll show you.” His grin showed his eyeteeth before he attacked with another vile, smothering kiss. This time, he grabbed her crotch, groping and squeezing. Her muffled shriek was lost against his mouth as his long tongue thrust into her mouth.
She bit down on his tongue with frantic force and clawed wildly at his face.
He yelled and tried to pull away. She bit down harder. Hot, coppery blood flooded her mouth. He whacked the side of her head and freed himself, but she kept on moving. She slid off the slippery plastic and onto the floor. Sprang to her feet.
He dove after her with a shout. She bolted through the communicating rooms, bare feet pounding. Two men in the front room turned startled faces toward her as she ran at them, screaming. One of them stumbled back. The other tackled her.
She staggered at the contact. Hit the floor hard, the guy landing on top of her. Gasping for breath, screaming and clawing and squirming. The other guy piled on, too.
Too many of them. Too much rank, stinking dead weight. She was immobilized, but she was possessed. She could not stop shrieking and twisting.
Another blow to her head stunned her. Her vision swam back into focus to see the big, thick-faced guy who had kicked her down the driveway rubbing his jaw. Angry.
“What the fuck was that about?” he demanded. “Why’d you hit me? Asshole!”
“I told you, dipshit. She’s not supposed to be harmed. Olund’s orders.” The man with the goatee again. “That kick would have knocked out all her fucking teeth!”
“Don’t think she’ll need teeth where she’s going,” the third man observed.
“That’s not our call. Shut up, you asswipe moron. Olund wants her intact for whatever he has planned, and if she looks like hamburger when he gets here, he’ll kill us. Here, help me. Get her legs. And hang on tight. This bitch can kick.”
She started screaming and flailing again as the three of them hauled her back into the bedroom and flung her onto the bed. This time, they jerked her arms up and immediately fastened them to the iron bedframe with a zip tie, yanked brutally tight.
The three men stood there, panting. The goateed man had flecks of blood on his lips, his cheeks, his chin. Her fingernails had left angry stripes down his cheeks, and his eyelid was bloody and reddened. As their eyes met, his lips stretched in a horrifying smile, showing bloodied teeth. He moved forward, holding up his knife.
She couldn’t shrink back, just cringed away as he slid it into the fabric of her layered Tshirts and sliced through necklines with a twist and flick of the blade.
He then tore the shirts open all the way down, wrenching them wide.
All three men stared at her bared breasts. That fixed, hot, mindless stare.
The knife tip was cold, tracing and then piercing her skin at the collarbone. Then again, and again. She clenched her body, and made no sound as the knifetip dug in. A trickle of hot blood made its way slowly down her chest. Then another.
“You scratched me,” the guy said softly. “Now you have to bleed. Whore.”
The big one licked his heavy lips until they gleamed wetly. “Nice tits,” he said. “Can we, uh . . .”
“No,” the goateed man said. “Olund said no damage.”
“It wouldn’t damage her.” The big guy’s voice was sulky. “Not much, anyhow. Besides, you’re cutting her. Fucking hypocrite.”
“Maybe after, when Olund’s done. If there’s anything left.” He dipped his finger in the blood pooling in her navel. “I’ve seen that guy work people over,” he told Caro. “He knows all about pain. And he’s got something special planned just for you.” He wiped the blood off his mouth with his sleeve. “I just hope he lets me watch.”