AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You’re wasting your fucking breath. Tell me this.” He reached down, grabbing Kody’s arm to pull her to stand. “How do I know it ends at the exchange? What’s stopping you from doing this to me again?”
My head lowered the smallest amount as I took in the guarded expression on his scruffy face. He was older. Mid-fifties and starting to bald. The red flannel he wore wasn’t wrinkled. His jeans appeared clean.
“You’re going to have to trust me. If I wanted you arrested, I could have handed over your information to the FBI days ago. I just want the girl. I even told you I’d pay generously for her.” I looked down. “You have less than a minute.”
David hesitated. With a powerful step forward, he jerked Kody with him as he made his way to me.
“You better not be fucking with me. You said there’s more money in the trunk?”
I didn’t answer as he placed her at my feet. My hand lifted, and Kody whimpered and flinched as I traced my fingertips over her swollen cheek.
“You’re going to wait right here for me to get back.” I took the clip from my pocket, letting the thin rope that was attached fall to the ground. It was nothing more than a security measure on my part. I had the rope tied to my beltloop. If she ran, we were connected. I’d feel the jerk.
I spun her, fastening the clip through the hemp. “You’re not going to move. You’re not going to run. Do you understand?”
“Y-Yes.”
“Good. Stay.”
Only then did I turn back to David. He had the gun in his hand, watching me…waiting. I lifted my phone and hit the button over the dungeon, letting him see the window pop up for the passcode. I turned it back to me, putting it in to stop the timer. The time for the next screen was set at four-minutes-thirty-two-seconds. “I’ll turn the rest of these off when you’re gone. Fifty thousand unmarked bills for a security deposit, and when you’re out of sight, the Bit will go to your account. I don’t need your information; I already have it.” I took out my keys, popping the trunk of the rental as we headed to the back. The black duffle bag had his gaze cutting over to me.
“Generous? Do you know the risks involved in what I do? The time it took to find the perfect girl? She didn’t even get the worst of it. I could have made double this for her death.”
It was a lie and we both knew it, but he didn’t care to continue arguing. He reached forward, unzipping the bag. At the stacks of cash, his expression transitioned from angry to greedy. He picked up a stack, sliding his thumb down the one-hundred-dollar bills. When he was satisfied, he picked up another, and another. His smile grew by the second, but so did mine.
Tightly, I gripped around the handle of my knife. How I’d already pulled it free, I didn’t know. That aching desperation called, singing violently in my ears. Blood. I wanted his pouring free of him like rain. Spraying and running a river over my gloves. My hands would have been nice, but I was willing to sacrifice my needs to have him dead.
“This’ll work.” He nodded, shifting as he zipped up the bag. When he stood, his eyes were level with my chin. His stare met mine. He was unaware until his expression said ‘he suddenly was’. His eyes went wide, and heat spilled over my wrist: warm, wet. Gargling and raspy gasps filled the space, and his hands flew to his throat. I grabbed the front of his hair, pushing the blade deeper into the side of his neck. Blood poured over his lips. The horrified, silent scream in his gaze drew back the side of my mouth as I jerked my knife free and plunged it into his throat again. And again.
“If only I was your devil for the night. I’d make you suffer so much more than this. I hate that I can’t.”
His legs buckled as his mouth stretched wider. Weight pitched backwards, and I pulled my knife free letting him crumble to the ground as he gasped like a fish out of water. Lowering, I pulled off my mask, showing him my face. David was raking down his neck, barely holding on to life as he stared up at me.
“Can you feel it? Do you feel their fear?”
Leaves scattered, sticking to his blood-soaked hand as he went to roll. The action ended just as fast as he came jolting back to hold over the wounds.
“Don’t worry, you don’t have to tell me. I know you do. I can see how terrified you are. Just so you know—”
Pressure tugged against my belt from Kody so hard, I nearly fell back. My teeth ground through rage as I stared down. I didn’t want this to end so soon. I wanted to take my time with this piece of shit.
“I’m going to take good care of her. I’m going to fix what you broke.”
My hand lunged forward stabbing into his chest as he convulsed and let out a wispy cry. Once. Twice. Over and over. Each micro-movement fed me visions of Kody’s beatings. They drove me to nearly punch my fist through David’s cratered, shredded chest. A deep grunt left me as I reared up, slicing open his throat. More warmth. More wetness. It fountained over my gloved hand, but I didn’t get to enjoy it as my concern over Kody grew. I grabbed his lifeless body, throwing it off to the side, amongst the trees. No grave. There wasn’t time for that. I didn’t care whether he’d be found or not. All my focus was on the one reason I was here. On the one person I couldn’t get out of my head since I’d seen her.
Chapter 6
Kody
“She’s lucky. No. I think it’s mostly cuts and bruising. She has a shitload of stitches over her body. Her hand was shattered pretty good. They have some device-thing around it, keeping the pins in place. She was in surgery almost all night. She’s been sleeping a lot since then.” A pause. “Yeah, she woke up a little to talk to them, but she wasn’t able to tell the detectives much. She could barely stay awake enough to speak. The only thing she said was the man who took her, tortured her, and then gave her to another man who dropped her off at a gas station. They called her an ambulance. No one really knows anything.” Another pause. “Yeah, exactly. She’s lucky as hell. I’ve got to go, she’s stirring. I will, okay, bye.”
“Don’t…tell me Greg…wants me back to work already.” I groaned, wincing at the light. Each word was hard to speak. I felt like it was taking an eternity to finish the sentence. My head was throbbing; my throat ached. I attempted to smile as my best friend leaned in for a hug.
“He’s worried about you. Everyone at the office is. How are you feeling? Any better?”
A straw was put to my lips, and I greedily took a drink of the water as I tried to recall the last day or two. Everything was a blur.
“On a scale from being hit by a train…to a fist…I’m a bus. My entire body aches. How bad is it?”
