AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Well, in control of her mind, at least.
Because this guy was very much in control of her body.
The impact of being slammed against the wall still reverberated through her bones like a shockwave, but Indy noted that the man had done it with such control that she hadn’t hit her head on the concrete, wasn’t bleeding, wasn’t broken.
Just overpowered in a way that sent a message.
You can’t win against me, so don’t fucking try.
“That’ll do,” he grunted, releasing her so suddenly it took her breath away as his weight on her body was suddenly gone. “Don’t turn until I say so. Hands above your head, palms flat against the wall, please. Do it now.”
Indy obeyed. She stayed facing the wall, her hands flat against the concrete, legs slightly parted. Her breath came hot and heavy, sending tiny puffs of concrete dust into the air around her nostrils, making her nose itchy and sneezy, her eyes blurry and watery.
She heard the man retrieve her gun from the floor. Then she sensed him approach her from behind. He stopped not far from her ass, his position and proximity sending a deadly ripple of something more than just fear through Indy’s body.
“I’m going to search you for weapons,” he said softly, his voice closer than she’d expected, his warm breath against her neck making her shudder. “This goes easier if you come clean with what’s hidden where.”
“Um, there’s nothing hidden anywhere,” Indy said, blinking twice and gasping silently at the sudden image of this shadowy beast of a man searching every part of her, probing every nook, poking every cranny, examining every crook, sniffing every crevice. “My phone, wallet, and ID are in my cargo flaps. I’m not carrying any weapons.” She hesitated. “Any other weapons, I mean. You already have my gun.”
The man grunted again, then stepped right up to her ass, pausing for one long dangerous moment before quickly patting her down. He did it hard and rough but with what almost felt like professional courtesy. His hands didn’t linger in her crotch, didn’t grope beneath her breasts, didn’t slide between her buttocks. He touched all those parts but with the clinical precision of a surgeon, the emotionless efficiency of a robot.
“Turn around, O’Donnell.” His voice came from some distance behind her now, far enough away that she was surprised he’d backed away that fast.
Maybe even a bit disappointed.
The thought sickened her, made her wonder if the rush of panic had flooded her system with all sorts of chemicals and hormones, messing up her mind, playing havoc with her body.
She forced herself to breathe. In and out, long inhales with extended exhales, sending messages to her heart that things were all right.
On her third long exhale relief finally washed over her.
She wasn’t going to be murdered just yet, her bodily instincts informed her.
But her body was also still informing her of some other instincts that appeared to have been shaken awake by the sudden violence.
Thankfully Indy was too busy fighting back a ferocious sneeze to pay much attention to any secret messages from her throbbing body.
She lost the fight against the sneeze-attack. It came hard and ferocious, deadlier than she feared and about twice as wet.
Indy staggered back, sneezed twice more, then sniffled noisily and opened her eyes just in time to see two large dollops of her fresh nasal wetness slobbered on the man’s sunglasses.
Slowly the man removed his glasses and frowned down at them. He examined the carnage, wiped the lenses off with the bottom his black tee shirt, then slid the glasses back on.
But not before he glared at her with burning green eyes that shone like emeralds on fire.
“That sneeze qualifies as a weapon,” he informed her crisply, an edge of amusement in his voice that Indy sensed he was trying damn hard not to reveal. “But now that I’ve been forewarned, go ahead and sneeze it out so we can begin.”
Indy rubbed her nose, sniffled again noisily, then shook her head to indicate she was sneezed out for now. She blinked the sneeze-tears from her eyes, then blinked twice more when her gaze fell upon the man properly for the first time.
He was tall like a tree, broad like a bridge, with neatly cropped hair and day-old stubble. His arms were thick like pillars beneath his long-sleeve tee, his legs like tree-trunks beneath the black combat pants. She glanced down at his boots, which seemed bigger than her head, then looked back towards his eyes which were now hidden behind those sunglasses again.
“You’re American,” she said, wincing and touching her cheek where it had scraped the concrete wall. It burned but wasn’t bleeding. She wasn’t going to be scarred for life. “Who the hell are you? Where’s Moses?”
“Forget Moses. And I’m the one asking questions here, O’Donnell.” He grunted lazily in her direction. “But I shouldn’t even have to ask any questions because you know the answers I need. So just tell me. Don’t make me ask. I don’t like talking more than necessary. It makes me grumpy. And you donotwant to see me grumpy, O’Donnell. Trust me on that.”
Indy stared, not sure if she’d sneezed herself into some other dimension. She touched her cheek again, the burning pain bringing her back to the harsh reality of this strange new dimension where a muscular American man in sunglasses had just burst into her life, slammed her into a concrete wall, and was now informing her that he was asking the questions but no, he didn’t want to actually ask the questions, just wanted her to answer questions that weren’t asked, like she was a mind-reader, a sorceress, an Indian guru-woman with access to secret knowledge of the universe and its mysteries.
Oh, and he wasn’t even grumpy yet.
