The Asset (28 page)

“Sure, boss,” Samuel croaked.

Red released his grip and gestured with his chin to the bundle on the floor. “Get to it.”

Samuel straightened his collar, cleared his throat and pulled out a knife. He cut off the ropes and rolled out the tarp. A beaten-up body tumbled out, covered in blood and torn clothing. Samuel prodded him with the tip of his boot. After a harsh poke the man gulped in air and broke into a coughing fit.

I tried to make out the face beneath the crust of blood. His eyelids fluttered, and all of a sudden, the blue eyes that had pierced through my life’s darkness fastened on Red like a pair of laser range finders.

No, no, no,
a voice keened hysterically in my mind. My heart dropped into a bottomless canyon. The broken man sprawled at Red’s feet was Ash.

Chapter Twenty

Ash showed no hint of fear or alarm. That is, until he saw me. For an instant, I caught a flicker of surprise in the slight, almost imperceptible widening of his eyes. Then his stare was back on Red and his expression turned blank.

I fought back tears. Ash’s hands were cuffed behind his back. His feet were shackled with chains. His T-shirt was torn and his pants ripped at the knees. He wore no coat. The puffy eye, the swollen lip, the bruises on his arms. He’d been beaten. It was exactly what I’d tried so hard to avoid. I swallowed a moan of despair and cursed a world where the good suffered and the wicked thrived.

Red clasped his hands behind his back and paced around Ash.

“You could’ve lived,” he said. “You could’ve had a long, productive life, but on the day you touched her, you died. You just didn’t realize it.”

“We all have to die sometime.” Ash pushed himself up on his elbows and leaned against the wall. “Some of us just go sooner than others.”

“A philosopher?” Red chuckled. “The Navy Cross. The Purple Heart. I can see that you’ve had occasion to consider death closely.”

Ash tilted his head. “You read my file?”

“Getting your military file was a piece of cake for my guys,” Red said. “I like to have the advantage of knowing my enemy before I destroy him.”

I shivered with gut-chilling fear.

“It must rankle you a bit,” Red said. “Despite all your precautions, I found her because of you.”

“There’s a lot about you that rankles me,” Ash said, perfectly calm. “That you found me is a minor irritation in the big scheme of things.”

“A minor irritation?” Red let out one of his awful caws and pulled out a knife. “We’ll see what you think when I’m done with you. I hope you’re a fan of blades?”

“I respect blades,” Ash said. “I like them even better when my hands are free.”

“What are the chances of that?” Red said.

“I’d thought I’d give it a try.” Ash flashed a furious smirk. “On the off chance you craved a fair fight.”

“A fair fight?” Red laughed. “A uniquely American concept. Allow me to clue you in. If you take the fair out of the fight, you win. And just in case you haven’t figured it out, I always win.” Red motioned to Samuel. “We’ll start with his toes.”

Samuel crouched next to Ash and fiddled with his boots.

“Wait.” I leaped to my feet. “What are you doing?”

“My dear Rose.” Red tsked, keeping his eyes on Ash. “She’s so damn sensitive, always has been, since she was a little girl. I try to save her the grief, but she has this annoying habit: she’s curious. It’s like she welcomes the suffering that comes with the knowledge.”

He smiled and turned to me.

“Allow me to enlighten you,
querida
,” he said. “First, I’m going to cut off your friend’s toes, one by one. Then I’m going to geld this stallion. That should make him less mouthy and better behaved. When I’m done, I’m going to rip out his eyeballs and make him eat them, to make sure he’ll never dare to look at something of mine again.”

My stomach turned in horror.

“When he’s gelded and blinded,” Red said, “I’m going to very carefully carve out his heart and lay it on his chest while it’s still pumping, so we can all witness it quaking during the grand finale as I cut off the filthy cock he used to trespass on
my
property. At that point, I’m going to slice his heart like a ripe tomato and watch the motherfucker die.”

I stared at Red, terrified. My stomach ached. His sick mind was capable of all of that and more.

“Red, please,” I said. “You can’t—”

“What?” Red said. “You didn’t think I was going to let this son of bitch get away with fucking you, did you? And just to add to this teachable moment, you’ll watch the whole thing, right here, with me.”

I felt the blood drain from my face. The room spun around me. My stomach had turned into a heavy chunk of concrete. I tugged on the duct tape, praying for superhuman strength. The tape held up.

Samuel took off Ash’s boot and ripped the brace from his foot but, before he could peel off his sock, Ash’s body snapped like a rubber band. His knees crashed against Samuel’s head. The man careened backward and crumpled against the wall. Red whipped out his gun and centered it on Ash.

“No!” I cried out.

“Shut up.” Red kept his gun on Ash. “What the fuck was that about?”

Ash smirked. “I don’t like strangers messing with my stuff.”

Samuel stumbled from the floor, holding his gun in one hand and his forehead with the other. He groaned when he spotted the blood on his fingers. “Motherfucker.” He grabbed his gun by the muzzle and was about to bring it down on Ash’s head when I stopped him.

“Don’t hurt him,” I said. “He’s not part of this. I’m the one you want.”

“Hey, lady.” Ash squinted through his swollen eye. “Stay out of this one. Will you? Let me take care of these clowns.”

“Who the fuck are you calling a clown?” Samuel looked to Red.

“If you walk like a clown and act like a clown, then you’re a clown,” Red said. “Do you think you can manage to do your job without fucking it up? I told you he was a marine.”

And a SEAL, but Red didn’t say that and neither did I.

“Red, please,” I said, when Samuel approached Ash again, this time with a lot more caution. “I swear, if you let him go, I’ll give you the flash drive.”

“Oh?” Red said. “What do we have here? She suddenly remembers she does have it after all.”

Ash sneered. “She doesn’t have shit.”

“I do too.” I had to convince Red that I had the drive for sure. “Without it, I was of little value to the Feds. It was the only way I could ensure that they would offer me witness protection and deal with me fairly. And if you hurt that man, you’ll never get it back.”

Red’s voice oozed with glee. “Is that so?”

The blow caught me between the ribs and slammed me against the couch with the force of a Mack Truck. All the breath swooshed out of me. Thirty seconds was a century when one couldn’t breathe, when every nerve in my body screamed and every cell begged for oxygen.

“Have you forgotten,
querida
?” Red said pleasantly, grabbing a fistful of my hair. “I can be very persuasive in person.”

My scalp burned under Red’s grip. His fist got me again, this time across the face. My brain rattled in my skull. My mind struggled to grapple with the misplaced sound filling the room. It was getting louder.

Red’s fist froze in midair. A few drops of sweat glimmered on his flushed face. His head swiveled as his black eyes shifted from me and fixed on Ash.

Ash’s face split into an unrecognizable grimace. Was he...laughing?

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Red said.

Ash laughed louder.

“Didn’t you hear me?” He stomped across the room, dragging me along by the scruff of the neck. “Shut up.” He landed a foot between Ash’s ribs.

Ash made a strangled sound and curled around his knees, convulsing on the floor with more laughter.

“Why won’t he stop?” Red said. “Stop laughing.” He hurled me at Ash. “Make him stop.”

For a moment, I just lay there, catching my breath. My scalp smarted and my face throbbed, but Ash’s body heat warmed my cheek and the scent of him appeased my lungs. His heart drummed hard against my ear. I lifted my face until we were eye to eye.

“Ash?” I said. “Pay attention. Stop laughing. You’re making Red mad.”

“I’m trying.” He slid out from under me and sat up between chuckles. “I’m really trying. It’s just that...” He laughed some more and this time, when he shifted his body, I ended up behind him. “It’s so funny.”

“What is it you find so funny?” Red demanded.

“You,” Ash said. “You pathetic, wretched bully. You think you’re shit-hot and instead you’re hot-shit. You make a living off preying on the weak and the helpless and beating on women. What you saw in that clip? It was a woman enjoying herself, a reaction you’ll never get.”

He was provoking Red, funneling his attention away from me. But Red wasn’t used to anybody challenging his authority. His lips trembled with rage that usually led to murder. I gritted my teeth and begged God with all I had to spare Ash’s life.

I suppressed a gasp when Red grabbed a fistful of Ash’s hair, switched opened his blade and pressed it against Ash’s exposed neck, right above the spot where his pulse beat steadily.

“Please,
mi amor
.” I knelt on the floor and kissed Red’s feet. “I beg you. I’ll get you the flash drive. Right now. You were right. It’s in the cottage. But nobody will ever be able to find it except me. It won’t take but a moment.
Por favor
. Let me get it for you.”

Red’s kick sent me reeling backward. “This motherfucker’s not going to survive me.”

I bounced off the wall, shook off the impact and crawled back to Red on my knees.

“I can get you the drive,” I said. “And the day after tomorrow? I’ll tell the judge whatever you want me to say. I’ll tell him that you’re right and I’m crazy. I swear, I’ll never try to run away again, but please, don’t kill him.”

I kissed his calves, his thighs and pressed my face against his groin, giving up the little that I had left, my pride, self-respect and dignity, willing to turn into the lowliest creeper in the universe if it meant Ash’s life. Ash’s eyes were beaming with defiance, but I kept groveling. I had a mission too. He was
not
going to die today.

“I’ll do whatever you want,” I said. “I mean it, Red. Whatever. Tie me, cut me, bleed me, beat me; I swear, I’ll beg for more if it pleases you. But if you want the drive, if you want me, you must let this man go.”

I managed to shock Red into a stunned silence. In all my years of captivity, I’d made a lot of concessions and I’d done a lot of things I loathed to do, but I’d always fought him. Never before had I offered him what he wanted most: complete and total submission.

The offer must have enticed him, because his eyes fell on me and his groin visibly hardened. I knew he needed that thumb drive. He couldn’t return to business as usual without it. He didn’t let go of Ash, but the cold tip of his blade slid down my cheek and crept across my chin.

“Remember your oath, Rose.” The blade tickled my trembling lips. “I’m going to enjoy everything you promised me.” He sheathed his knife and released Ash, flinging him against the wall.

Ash slumped in the corner. Our eyes met. A warning gleamed in his stare. He and I both understood that I’d only bought him a little time. Deep in my heart I knew that Red would keep him alive, but only until he had the drive. After that, Ash was a dead man.

“To the cottage,” Red barked.

Samuel hesitated. “I’m waiting for the all clear.”

Red snarled. “We’re leaving right now.”

“But—”

“Now!”

That sound. Ash was at it again. This time, his chuckles were full of scorn. “You’re upset, Red, I get that,” he said. “I’d be upset too, if I were you.”

“Shut up.”

“You wonder how she performed so well for me,” Ash said, “especially when you can barely get her to react to you. You wonder why she liked it so much with me, while she hated it so much with you.”

“You have a death wish.” Red glowered. “You like to run your mouth. Your gloating is premature. I’m not done with you yet.”

“Nor I with you,” Ash said. “You and I? We have unresolved issues.”

“And you need to learn some respect.” Red moved quickly. He leaped in the air, only to tramp down on Ash’s injured foot with his body’s full heft.

The crunch of bones breaking resonated beneath the acoustic cupola. Ash’s foot crumpled beneath Red’s brutal stomp. With a groan, he rolled onto his side, curled into a shuddering ball and went still.

I opened my mouth to scream but wailed instead. I crawled on my knees over toward Ash, but a pair of sturdy legs blocked my way.

Red spat on the unconscious man. “Speaking of unresolved issues...”

He lifted me up and forced me to stand on shaky legs. My entire body shivered in shock. My knees refused to hold me and my swollen ankle throbbed with jolts of pain. And yet my pain was nothing compared to Ash’s agony. He’d tried so hard to heal his foot.

“I’m tired of this bullshit,” Red said. “We’re going. Bring him.”

Samuel balked. “But, boss—”

Red barked. “I said bring him!”

Red dragged me out of the room and through an expansive living room. He surprised the armed men lounging about, who rushed to pick up their weapons and follow their boss across the house to the back door. My eyes struggled to adapt to the brilliant sunlight streaming through the windows. I blinked to clear my sight. Ahead of me, I spotted a guard flanking the inside of the glass-paneled door and beyond it, a trio of Suburbans parked on the driveway.

“Grab the keys,” Samuel commanded and the guard rushed to follow his orders.

I craned my neck. Samuel and another man carried Ash between them. Pain distorted his face, but his eyes were open. Thank God. At least he was conscious. My eyes welled with tears. His foot dangled listlessly from his leg.

“Hold on, boss,” Samuel said. “We need a security sweep.”

“No more delays,” Red said. “We’re going now.”

Red threw the door open and stopped in his tracks. Standing right before us, dressed in a white coat embroidered with the High Mountain Veterinary Clinic logo was Jordan Meddler. Our eyes met briefly before his expression changed.

“Hello.” He smiled brightly, taking us in as if the sight of a half dozen armed men surrounding two tattered prisoners was commonplace in this neck of the woods. “Sorry to startle you. I’m looking for one of my patients, a scrawny Maltese with a shabby coat, a sour disposition and an injured paw.” He put his hand in his pocket. “Let me show you a picture.”

The clicks of a dozen safeties echoed in the room.

“Easy, boys,” Samuel muttered behind me.

Jordan seemed blessedly oblivious to the danger. “Ah, here it is.” He whipped out his cell and, after scrolling through the screen, held up a picture of a mutt. “Have any of you seen it?”

Red tightened his hold on me. “Out of my way.”

“That’s not a Maltese,” Samuel pointed out.

Several of the other men grunted in agreement.