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She attempts to shake her head against the pillow. “They didn’t act or talk like the people I’ve dealt with before. I don’t think these men have anything to do with my contacts on the darknet.” Her eyes close for a brief moment as a sudden spasm hits. My frown deepens. “But you can check it out yourself,” she adds when it passes.
She gives me the password to her laptop and rattles off some other screen names and access codes. I jot it all down in my notepad and then stand to get started, relieved to have something constructive to do. Despite my limited input on the case while here, I should still be able to investigate her darknet connections.
Another wave assaults her, and I come to a stop. “Is there anything I can do?”
Her brown eyes snap to mine. “You shouldn’t ask that.”
I force down the knot in my throat as her hungry gaze devours me. A lesser man would wilt under that gaze—would surrender to the temptation. And god, but Avery is tempting.
I clear my throat, avert my eyes to the floor. “What I mean is, if you explain how the drug works, maybe I can—”
She laughs. “Still detecting, detective? You want to know just what is being unleashed out there? What these fiends made me create…a drug that, as we speak—” she shifts to get more comfortable “—could be spreading out there right now?”
I huff my aggravation. “Yeah. Something like that. I have a responsibility to report it and take action to get it off the streets. Especially to keep it out of the hands of rapists.”
She nods weakly. “That’s the only logical conclusion, isn’t it?” Her eyes spear me. “That I’ve designed a drug which will be used by men so wretched…so vile…they want to cause physical pain to a woman until she succumbs to her desires.” She chokes back a cough, then pulls air into her heaving lungs. I’m moving toward her, but she holds up a hand. “Please don’t. The last thing I deserve is sympathy. I’ve created the ultimate date rape drug, Quinn. And what’s more terrifying…? I can’t even fathom the full evil this drug can achieve.”
It takes all my strength not to go to her. She’s not just suffering the effects of the drug; she’s punishing herself. And when she buckles over from the pain, it’s more than I can stand.
I toss my notepad aside and yank off my coat as I rush toward her kitchen. Rolling up my sleeves, I locate a washcloth and run it under the tap. I wrap a few ice cubes in the cloth, my focus clear. The case can wait.
As I enter the living room, I don’t give Avery a second to argue. I sit down beside her and pull her against my chest. “Lay your head back,” I say, taking note of the fierce tremble in her body.
She’s on fire. Her skin flush, her clothes damp from sweat. Even as she does what I ask, laying her back against my chest, I can feel her hesitancy. I stretch out my legs on either side of her and smooth her hair away from her face, then lay the cool cloth along her forehead.
“Just try to relax,” I say. “You don’t deserve this punishment, Aves. You didn’t set out with this outcome in mind. Some very fucked up people used you.”
Her chest rises as she sucks in a sharp breath, struggling to suppress a ripple of pain. “They knew they could, Quinn. They knew they could use me.”
I brush her hair away from her neck, trying to alleviate the heat blanketing her. “I once worked a case where a stalker found his victims online. It was way above my head. Somehow, he was using programs he coded to locate these women by their search history. Certain keywords…sites they visited…the clues were in the metadata. I was just a regular detective, hunting a ghost on the Internet.”
“Did you find him?” she asks, and I can hear the throaty pleading in her voice. She’s building again. My jaw clenches as she wriggles to get some relief.
“Yeah, I did,” I say, working through my own brand of punishment. “I had to learn a lot of shit that I never cared too much about before. Stuff I never thought would do me any good out in the field. That was what the techs were for, right? But we caught him in the end. Set up a whole operation to lure him out of cyberspace and I made the collar.”
“That’s a nice story, Quinn. But what does it have to do with what I’ve done? With what we’re facing?”
“That’s what I’m going to figure out,” I assure her.
We believe the killings started with the first dead pro, but what if she wasn’t the first? What if there are other vics outside of the city who suffered a similar fate? Avery didn’t give these bastards the idea for the drug; they were already in pursuit of it. Once I get the techs on the right trail, I’m sure we’ll discover a connection. I’m almost damn certain this goes deeper than some new designer drug to sell over the black market.
Unfortunately, Avery was hunting a cure for her own personal dilemma in the wrong neck of cyberspace. It snagged the attention of the wrong people. That’s where they found her, and that’s where I’m going to use their own resources against them.
“Quinn…”
Avery’s desperate tone breaks through my heavy thoughts.
I tug her more securely against my chest. “Honestly, Avery. What will make this better? There has to be something—”
“Touch me.”
My eyes close against the onslaught of arousing thoughts her breathy words illicit. I bite out a curse. “Not happeni
ng, Aves. Not like this.” I wrap my arms around her, offering her as much comfort as I can, but my hands stay locked in tight fists. Not even a pinky allowed to roam.
Her body racks with shivers. “It’s the only way. I have to relieve the pressure. Every time it mounts, the pain gets worse. If I don’t…” she trails off, but her unuttered words ring clear. If she doesn’t come—if she doesn’t grant her body the release it needs—this torture will continue, becoming unbearable.
I suck in a deep breath past the blazing ache in my chest. “Will once even be enough?”
