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Gradually I come to.I’m in great discomfort and confusion. The hood over my head is gone. I’m sitting on a chair in a cold, brightly-lit room with no windows. A basement, I guess. It looks empty.
When I try to lift myself from the seat, the chair lifts off with me.
Oh great, I’m attached to it!
The door opens and my kidnappers walk in. They’re still masked. One of them is wearing a black turtleneck. The other has his long hair tied in a high man bun. They’re less rough and more suave than you’d expect. These aren’t your grandmother’s tattooed gangsters, but elite villains, the kind that can blend in anywhere.
“What do you want from me?” I ask.
“Straight to business, huh?” Turtleneck says. “I like it!”
Man Bun nods. “Our boss has been looking for a certain Joseph Peneloux. You may know him by a different name.”
“I don’t know any Josephs,” I say.
Turtleneck cracks his knuckles. “Don’t lie to us! There’s been chatter that you and your husband found him. We need you to point us in his direction.”
Damn!Kurt’s spies in Pombrio have already picked up the news.
“I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
Man Bun squats next to me. “Somehow, you were able to connect him to what happened to your sister Jeannette Mussey. You’re good, you know?”
“And you’re crazy.” I pull a face to illustrate my statement. “Do you think I’m a trained agent, or something? Until a few weeks ago I lived in a trailer! But you know that, don’t you?”
“It is our job to know everything about Mount Evor’s new emissary’s wife,” Man Bun says.
“What kind of fucked-up issues does Louis de Valois have with his folks?” Turtleneck asks me. “I’ll bet he married you to spite them.”
I push my chin up. “It was love at first sight.”
They trade an amused look. Man Bun snorts.
I decide to appeal to their rational side, “Please let me go! I know nothing about anything. If you keep me here, Louis will move heaven and earth to find me. You kidnapped me for nothing but trouble.”
“I don’t think so,” Man Bun says.
Turtleneck points at the ties around my wrists. “This was pure improv, by the way, and I’m damn proud of it. When you burst out of your gated residence at night all alone, I saw an opportunity, and I seized it.”
“Was the scooter that almost killed me another one of your improvs?” I ask.
“What scooter?” He frowns even more. “Must’ve been some local moron. Why would my boss order a hit when you have information he wants?”
It’s a small consolation, but I was right about that.
I give both men a weary look. “How many times do I need to repeat that I know nothing?”
Man Bun glances at his colleague. “Shall we find out if it’s true?”
Turtleneck nods. They untie me from the chair and drag me to a sink by the wall. It’s filled with water. Turtleneck twists my arm until I bend over it. My face is almost touching the water, and I begin to shake, realizing what they’re about to do. They’re going to drown me!
“Let me go!” I scream.
Turtleneck squeezes my throat. “Shut up! You’ll talk only if you have something valuable to say.”
Together with Man Bun, they force my head into the sink and hold it down. The cold water swallows my face, hair, and neck. The metal edge of the sink cuts into my throat. I scream into the water, releasing precious air. My lungs are on fire, and my vision blurs. I’m drowning. I can’t take this anymore… My lungs are going to burst any minute…
