Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 47615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47615 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 238(@200wpm)___ 190(@250wpm)___ 159(@300wpm)
“And now he’s got you.” Rat Man’s voice hardened. “Found himself a pretty little piece of ass and thinks he deserves a fresh start.” He stood abruptly, the chair scraping loudly against the concrete. “But old debts need paying. That’s why you’re here.”
He paced in front of me, gestures becoming more animated. “Gunnar’s the main prize. That fucker’s father’s had it coming for years. I kill Gunnar, I hurt Cain.” Suddenly, he stopped, turning to face me. Then he smiled again, sitting across from me once again. “Until we have company, though, you and I can get to know each other.” He licked his too-thick lips. “Real well.”
I kept my breathing steady, even as my heart raced. “You know they’re going to kill you,” I said quietly. “Right?”
Rat Man grabbed my throat in one swift motion, fingers digging painfully into my skin. “Probably. But I don’t really care what happens to me. Kiss of Death was my life. And that bastard took it from me.” He gradually loosened his grip, like he wanted me to know he held my life in his hands. “So my life ended a long fuckin’ time ago. I’ve only now found a way of strikin’ back to hurt Cain the most. I’m old. Ain’t got long on this earth. So, if I’m goin’ out, that fucker’s going out with me.” He released me with a shove that rocked the chair. He stalked away toward his men.
The moment his back was turned, I began working my wrists against the zip ties, ignoring the pain as the plastic cut deeper into my skin. I twisted my right hand, feeling blood well up and slick the plastic. There was no way I was slipping a hand through the loop. He’d cinched it too tightly. I was trying to keep blood flowing even a little bit through my fingers. The only thing I had going for me at the moment was that he hadn’t tied my hands behind my back.
With my legs apart, my hands hung in front of me. I rested my forearms on my knees, lowering my head to try to stop the spinning. The side of my face where Rat Man had struck me throbbed painfully enough that I had black spots dotting the edges of my vision.
I took deep breath after deep breath. It was so tempting to give in to the blackness, but that stubborn streak I had wouldn’t let me allow this bastard to break me.
When I finally got myself under control, my vision cleared… And I noticed a place in the steel between my legs that had been bent back and split, creating a sharp edge, except the zip tie was so tight I didn’t know if I could make contact with the edge without slitting my wrists. While I had no doubt Jag and Knight would find me, I was a firm believer in being able to rescue myself. I had no intention of sitting passively while these fuckers hurt or killed me.
I shifted my hands in front of me, keeping my gaze on the men where the three of them met near the door. They appeared to be in some kind of heated argument, though they didn’t raise their voices. I took the opportunity to see if I had any hope of freeing my hands so I could use my phone.
I maneuvered my wrist, pressing the zip tie against that edge, then began to saw back and forth as carefully as I could. Each movement sent pain shooting up my wrist, but I kept going. The blood made my grip slippery. When I managed to get through enough to free myself, the thing shot away almost like a rubber band snapping.
Across the warehouse, Rat Man gestured angrily at the two guys. None of them paid me any attention, thank God. I could feel the increasingly manic energy radiating from Rat Man.
“I’m tellin’ you, they know where we are.” The slimmer guy raised his voice, poking Rat Man in the chest. “You want to stay here, fine. But I’m not gettin’ killed for you, old man.”
Slowly, so my movement didn’t catch someone’s attention, I pulled my phone from my back pocket. Knight’s was my emergency number, so calling him took little effort. I left the line open so Knight could hear and turned the volume down so these men couldn’t hear anything Knight, or anyone else, said. If nothing else, it could maybe give them an idea of how many people were in the building. I lay the phone under my chair behind my foot. Even if he noticed my hands free, he might miss my phone since it wasn’t in ready sight.
“You’ll do what I paid you to do!” Rat Man full on yelled at the guy, not even trying to keep his voice down. “These guys are nothing!”