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There wasnothing to do but listen and shift her focus between the five different parts of her body that hurt. The blindfold was too tight and flattened her ears painfully against her skull. Behind her back, clumsily tied ropes squeezed the base of her thumb so much she had lost all feeling there. Her back ached badly from the awkward position into which she had been tied in this uncomfortable, wooden chair. Her ankles pressed together painfully due to another hasty piece of rope-work.
But the greatest pain was mental.What’s going to happen? There was some information, but not nearly enough. Would they use her as a hostage to make Hank give himself up? Would they force the money out of Ridge and then kill them both anyway? Would the gang panic once the police came for her or use her as some kind of human shield?
It was pointless to guess, she knew, but her mind had nothing else; blindfolded, sitting in silence, her thoughts became almost uncontrollable, a disaster movie of her own making, unfolding and repeating and circling back in a soul-crushing web of speculation.
There were snatches of conversation between two men, an excitable younger man and another with a dull-sounding middle-aged voice who seemed the more professional of the two. The younger man wanted coffee and something to eat but was told to wait. Then he wanted to know if they wouldreallyhave to wait seventeen more hours before there would be some action. The older man, exasperated, told him to take a cold shower or something, and that he couldn’t control the passage of time.
Then the young hotshot launched into an extended monologue about his past conquests, all of them redheads, like Raven. There was the girl he met on vacation in Cancun who had ended up in his hotel bed for a few nights after a fight with her husband; then there was a graduate student in Vancouver who had done “everything a guy could ever want.” Finally, he boasted, there would be Raven, the “hottest of the bunch,” who he would love to introduce to his giant manhood.
There was acrackand the conversation stopped. Raven analyzed the sound and decided the older man had struck a wooden desk with a metal ruler or something similar.They’re pissed at each other, she observed.Makes it harder to cooperate, to defend yourselves, to stop Ridge and Corbett and the whole DEA coming in here and kicking your ass...
An hour passed in silence, and for a while she was unsure whether the two men had left or were sitting quietly. Then she heard a door open and the younger man returned. “Charlie’s got pepperoni and three cheese,” he announced. “Why don’t you go get a slice?”
A few seconds passed, and then she heard, “Why, what areyougonna do in here on your own withher?”
“Nothing,” the younger man protested. “I ain’t gonna donothing. I’ll sit here and make sure she doesn’t move or run off. I’ll be right here when you get back.”
The older man seemed unconvinced. “If you try anything, the boss will find out. Know what happens to people who don’t follow his orders?”
“I ain’t gonna donothing,” he repeated. “He don’t fuck around, everyone knows that. You think I wanna get my pecker cut off and thrown off the roof of his building, like that other guy?”
There was a sigh. “I’m serious. If I see anything out of place when I get back...”
The door closed and she heard a chair scrape on the stone floor, coming nearer to her. He sat a few feet from Raven’s chair and spoke to her in a low, soft tone.
“We haven’t been introduced,” he began. “I’m Pete.” Raven didn’t move. “I’m sorry this is such a one-sided conversation. You heard him, though... I’d love to untie you, to pull off that tape, but I’d be in trouble.” Raven simply breathed deeply, part of her mind ignoring this imbecile, the other part analyzing every word he said.Keep talking, idiot. The more I know, the weaker you become.
He slid the chair closer. “They got some pizza back there. Want me to see if they’ll let you eat a slice?” Another foot closer. “Maybe we could get you some clothes, too. You must be cold.” Even in her big red t-shirt, she would have preferred an extra layer; she hadn’t been wearing a bra when they had burst into Ridge’s place, but at least she had put on her panties and jeans. Pete went quiet for a second and Raven could have sworn she heard a familiar sound... a low, slow rasping... like a...
Like a zipper being pulled down.
Oh, fuck.
“No, I have an idea,” Pete was saying. “Why don’t we make a deal?” He waited each time he asked Raven a question, as though she were able to answer.Are you imagining my reply, you sick fuck? Or just jerking it?“Let’s say that I take off that tape over your mouth. How about that?” Another pause. Some of the sounds that filled it were unmistakable. “How about I put something in your mouth that’s better than pizza?”
Raven tasted bile. She considered his threat.I’ll bite your dick so hard you’ll never do anything like this again.Raven’s resolution built as he began to ease up the tape from the corner of her mouth. “I’ll be gentle, don’t worry,” he assured her. “All you have to do is open wide and I’ll do the rest. If you’re good, I’ll let you swallow it all.”
There was a strange, muffled, agonized sound from outside. Then another.
Pete jumped up, froze, and then yelled, “Curt?” There was silence. “Hey, Curt, what’s goin’ on out there?” The only answer was another, much quieter moan. “Curt, hey man...” The zipper sound returned but very obviously being yanked upward this time.
Pete reached the door and turned to his right, following the sound, but in the darkness of the hallway it was impossible to see until his eyes adjusted. Then there was a sudden movement, an object swinging towards him, and he reeled backward under the weight of a sickening impact.
“Clear!”
“Secure that one... that’s Curt,” came a different voice, one she knew. “Get these ropes off, then get her outside. Take this.”
“Hey... Just wait, OK?” There was a pause, filled only with scuffling sounds and some muffled whimpering. The voice was louder this time. “Hey, you need to...”
“Do it. I’ll follow you out.”
The debate seemingly ended. Raven heard a door close somewhere and then Pete’s chair being kicked away. “Raven? Can you hear me?” Raven tried to nod, straining against ropes and tape. “OK, I’m going to take this tape off your mouth. Ready... one, two, three...” She reeled, gasping from the pain of much-abused lips. Her blindfold followed. “Can you speak?”
“Yeah...” she said faintly. “Where’s Ridge?” She saw that Corbett was in full combat gear, green camo and Kevlar helmet, with his pistol now back in its holster.
“He’ll be right out,” Corbett said, a little uncertain.
“Clear!” came another voice from down the hallway.
