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Good.
He groaned. She ignored it. It was exactly the kind of sound effects the guard outside the door would expect if he was having sex. Well, if he was having bad sex. She was pretty sure she made way better noises than that. She glanced at her watch. Twelve minutes. Megan tugged the ring off his finger and ran to the laptop, pressing buttons randomly to boot it up.
“Come on, come on.” She removed the hidden USB cable from the hollow heel of her modified shoe, where it had been made to look like part of the shoe design. After she attached it to her MP3 player, she connected it to the laptop.
Ten minutes. Her fingers flew over the keyboard as she typed in the commands Elle had drilled into her. Music from her MP3 player filled the room. Good. That was good. She laughed loudly and called Rudi’s name for the guard listening outside the room. All the while she typed, opening the programme Elle had installed into her modified MP3 player. Using Hope’s directions she hit the secret button on Rudi’s ring to reveal the micro USB connection. She plugged it into the laptop. Elle’s programme would do the rest. It would copy the information, wipe the ring clean and upload a virus that would be transferred to Rudi’s cloud account—and hopefully downloaded to his secure information box in Switzerland as well.
Eight minutes. Elle said the programme would take at least six.
She glanced back at Rudi, only to see he was sliding off the chair. Running barefoot back over to him, she knew there wasn’t enough tape on the roll to secure him to the seat. There had to be another option
. He wasn’t wearing a tie. There were no cords or sashes in the room. She glanced down to check the time and it hit her. She whipped her dress over her head, then removed her bra, before putting the dress back on. Pulling tight, she wrapped the bra around Rudi and the chair, straining to clasp it. She felt particularly grateful that the cheap elastic stretched far enough. Done. She hoped the elastic left a mark. With his jacket draped over the back of the chair, you couldn’t see it at all. Perfect. She even tugged the cups up to make it look like he was wearing it. Just because.
Dance music thudded through the room. Megan added some Meg Ryan orgasm noises into the mix as Rudi’s head lolled and his eyes closed. Nope, that wouldn’t do. She wanted him awake for this part. She smacked his cheek to get his attention. When his drugged eyes looked up at her she held his chin to keep him in place.
“Just how many women have you raped and killed, Rudi? How many have you let other men rape and kill? You really didn’t give a crap about any of those women, did you? I know you didn’t and you deserve to pay for everything you’ve done. But, see, here’s the thing.” Megan pulled the last elastic tie out of her hair, letting it fall loose to her shoulders. “I can’t kill you. Mainly because I’m not a killer and I honestly don’t think I could live with your sorry death on my conscience. No matter how much of a service I would be doing the world. In saying that, I really do think you deserve to be punished.”
She held up the elastic ring. “See this? It’s my version of a docking band. We use docking bands in the Highlands to remove sheep tails. The ring tightens and tightens until the appendage falls off. This one was made just for you. Can you guess where I’m going to put it?”
He shook his head, but it lolled around on his shoulders. She checked her watch. Five minutes. With an air of detachment, she unzipped his trousers and pulled him free. Hope was right, he was tiny. She snapped the band on at the base of his penis, tugged it as tight as possible and fastened it, the same way you would a zip tie. Okay, so it was nothing like a true docking band, but it would certainly do the job. The only way that sucker was coming off was if it was cut off, but doing that would cause some serious damage. Although, to be fair, probably not as much damage as leaving it on. She fastened the trousers back up. Hopefully nobody would find the ring until his penis had fallen off.
The computer beeped behind her and Megan ran over to it. Done. Good. She tapped some more keys and Rudi’s voice rumbled out of the machine, repeating the short conversation they’d had earlier. She left it on a low loop. Loud enough for people to know he was talking, but not so loud they could make out what was being said.
She quickly unplugged her MP3 player and cables, and stuffed it all back into her bag. The ring was forced back onto Rudi’s finger, knowing that the drugs would mean he didn’t even remember her taking it off. Lastly, she fished around in her bag for the permanent marker. The casing might have been pink and sparkly, but the ink part was jet black.
It was so tempting to write the truth about him across his face. Rapist. Murderer. Slave trader. Wife beater. Oh how she wished the words could be tattooed into his skin. The ugly core of this man should be evident on his exterior. Unfortunately, she couldn’t risk anyone seeing the words and guessing she’d messed with other parts of him.
Opening his shirt wide, she wrote her warning across his chest: leave Claire alone or else. Not exactly Shakespeare, but he should get the message. A cold rage overtook her as she remembered the woman in the photos from the day before with words sliced into her body. Her hand twitched with the need to grab a knife and do the same to Rudi.
A noise outside the door reminded her she was on a schedule. She fastened Rudi’s shirt. Fluffed her hair, wiped her lipstick off with the back of her hand and pinched her cheeks to make them look flushed.
Two minutes.
She arranged Rudi’s clothes so they would look dishevelled from behind, then opened the door. The stony faced guard immediately blocked her exit.
She forced a smile. “He’s on an important phone call. He told me to come back another day.”
The guard frowned. He looked over her shoulder at Rudi while Megan held her breath. This was it. Life or death. The moment of truth. He would either see a man rumpled from sex and making a call, or he would see a scene staged for him. If he saw the latter, her life was over. Her palms began to sweat and there was a strange tingling in her legs, which she thought might be her body preparing to run. Breathing was hard. Waiting harder. Eternity. It was an eternity.
“Okay.” The guard nodded and Megan almost passed out from relief. “I’ll escort you out.”
“Thank you.” She kept her eyes down and tried to look helpless.
Hope was right. Rudi had been too arrogant to let his minions know who she was and how much he wanted to own her. Otherwise they would never have let her walk out of the house.
“He said he’s not to be disturbed until he’s done with the call. He seemed kind of mad.”
The guard nodded once, held her arm and escorted her out. Heart pounding, muscles tingling and fighting the urge to hyperventilate, Megan let him lead her through the building. When she walked out of the door, she winked in the general direction of Callum’s hiding place and hoped he got the message.
The bodybuilder was waiting at the gate for her. “I’ll call you a cab,” he said.
She shook her head. “Don’t bother. I fancy a walk.” She ran a fingertip down the centre of his chest and her heart pounded so fast she thought she might pass out. “It’s been very nice meeting you.”
Her stomach was flip flopping continually and she felt like she was going to vomit. Or pass out. Neither option was a good one. As she turned towards the gate, she spotted someone out of the corner of her eye and her world stopped dead.
Reynard Durand.
The guy she’d shot in the backside in Scotland. The guy who’d terrified Hope. The guy who knew who she was and wanted to get his hands on her to win favour with Rudi.
