Page 30 of A Light in the Darkness
She more than understands it, judging by her cynical laugh. “Help? Man doesn’t help.” She speaks with an accent that suggests English is her second language, but she seems to know it well. “Man hurts. Man takes. Let me go.” Her eyes flicker to the door behind me as she assesses whether she has a chance of slipping past me.
“I will.” I tell her, taking the key from the lock and shutting the door before locking it again. Her eyes narrow, her anger grows, and she steps back away from the bed and away from me.
“I am not afraid. I will kill you.”
“Don’t kill me.” I say slowly, slipping the ring of keys between my fingers as I go back to removing my jacket. When I hold it out for her, she stares at me with disdain, refusing to step closer. I can’t exactly blame her for that, so I toss it gently to her, letting it fall at her feet so that she doesn’t have to come closer to pick it up. I tug the buttons free of my shirt with my other hand, slipping quickly out of it. Her eyes watch me with utmost hatred as I slip out of my slacks, and I notice her breathing increase as her chest rises and falls faster.
She does a damn good job of acting unafraid, and I’m certain that someone—or multiple someone’s—have made it a point to let her know they get off on her terror.
Interest begins to take over as she watches me stop at my boxers, not going any further or any closer to her as I bend down to begin stealing the guard’s clothes. Undressing another man is not the highlight of my life, but I make quick work of it, pulling his shoes off before taking his pants and shirt. He’s a little larger than I am, so I take his belt too, notching it on the last hole, and stand to look at her as I fit the cap on my head.
“Doesn’t suit you,” she says coldly.
“That’s not very nice.” I muse. “My jacket would probably suit you, if you wanna suck up your pride.” When she doesn’t move, I shrug and stoop to take the only weapon the guard had on him—a taser—and stuff it into my pocket. “If you want to make a prison break naked, be my guest.”
She laughs, and that makes me laugh, too. Both of us stop when I point at the knife in her hand. “I’m gonna need that back now.”
“I’m not stupid.” She laughs. “Man tries to trick you. No.”
“I have no interest in tricking you,” I tell her. “I just need to makesure he’s dead.”
Her eyes flicker to the man in his boxers on the ground. “Check for pulse.”
“No, I want to be very certain. I need to see his blood.”
“I can do that.” She smirks, thinking she’s got me in check. But I have no interest in playing with her life. I gesture to the body and take a step back, giving her space to do her thing. A glance at my watch shows that fifteen minutes have passed since I last checked, and we are running out of time. I guess it really does fly when you’re having fun.
She doesn’t take her eyes off me as she gets closer, dropping to her knees still nude, making me look away until she presses them together. “One clean slice across the throat should do it.” I tell her.
But she reaches for his boxers, her long fingers slipping under the material and yanking them down his thighs. His small dick is flaccid even when she picks it up in her hand. I narrow my eyes on her.
“I’m in a bit of a hurry…” I tell her as delicately as possible. I hate to deny a woman the chance to return the torture she’s endured, but mutilation isn’t on my agenda. She tuts her tongue, looking annoyed with me, but seems to take the hint. Her hand falls away from him and she moves her arm back, gathering momentum.
There’s a squelch as she drives it straight into his dick, and I cringe, my whole body clenching at the pseudo pain.
“Lots of blood,” she says, glancing up at me from under thick lashes. “Happy?”
I’m certain that no one could have survivedthatwithout reacting, and the lack of spurting blood assures me his heart has already stopped pumping.
“Mm.” I nod. “Something like that.” I glance at my watch. “Time to go. You coming? Or would you rather stay here?”
She narrows her eyes at me before stepping back to grab my button-up off the floor. It’s a better choice, and she fastens the middle buttons quickly before slipping the jacket over top of it. I watch her free her wild hair from the collar, and then she bendsdown to wrap her hand around the blade still sticking out of the guard’s cock. I think she caught a testicle under that blade, too.
I manage not to wince this time when she pulls it out, unlocking the door and ushering her ahead of me. Her eyes make her distrust obvious, and I can’t exactly blame her, but I’m not letting her walk with a blade at my back. She’s not willing to walk in front of me because she just saw that I don’t need a weapon to take down a man the same size as me. And, probably, because the weapon she is most afraid of is my favorite appendage.
I nod, recognizing my mistake, and settle for walking ahead of her while keeping her close. “We have to meet someone on the second floor,” I tell her. “Do you know where the masters are?”
“Top floor.” She shudders, wrapping my jacket tighter around her. “That’s where they initiate us.”
I don’t care to know what the initiation process entails, but this is useful knowledge. Hopefully, they stay out of the way, and we can break away in silence before they ever have a chance to realize I stole their prisoners right out from under them. Rich has got a grenade back on the plane that he’s dying to pull the pin out of, and that’ll taker care of the masters.
I press my finger to my lips, warning her to stay quiet as we move to the staircase. I keep my head on a swivel, my eyes sweeping back and forth over every surface as we descend. I wish I had a gun, but without any ammunition, it would have been useless. Hopefully I can take one from one of the guards in the communications room.
The woman next to me freezes on the steps when she spots Kent, standing in the same uniform as me, outside the door to the communication room. Natalia is nowhere to be seen, and I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about that.
“It’s okay,” I tell her in a quiet voice. “He’s a friend. He’s safe.”
I can tell she doubts at this point whether any man is safe, but she tightens her grip on the knife and continues moving. Kent’s eyes snap up to mine almost as soon as we spot him, but he doesn’tlet any emotion pass as we approach. I glance at my watch. Two minutes.
