Page 13 of Cast in Shadow
His hand tightened, causing bright lights to pop in and out of her vision. He leaned in until she could feel his breath on her face and spoke menacingly. “I’ll start with your feet. Then your hands. Then your eyes.”
He shoved her into the wall one more time for emphasis, then released his hold. She fell to the ground, gasping for breath.
“You,” he barked, presumably to the younger guy, “keep working. If she tries anything, use the Taser. She’s quite fond of it.”
Her head pounded. Her cheek and jaw were numb. Her body ached all over, and her ankle was swelling around the zip tie, resulting in a loss of sensation.
Still, she’d been in worse situations.
“You should just tell him, you know,” the younger man said, his voice softer and quieter, almost soothing compared to his partner’s.
Aggie squinted and made out another figure standing several feet away. He wasn’t nearly as tall or as wide as the other guy. Pale. Unkempt hair but clean. Glasses. The resident geek, she presumed. He didn’t have the same air of malice her abuser did, but he didn’t seem particularly bothered by violence either.
“I told you, you must have me mistaken with someone else. I’m a bartender at McTavey’s.”
“Bartenders don’t have five-thousand-dollar laptops.”
“They do if they steal them from their cheating, drug-dealing ex,” she said on a groan.
He snorted. “You expect me to believe that?”
“Look, I stole the thing and ran, okay? Why else would I be hiding out in a place like Parryville and working under the table for lousy tips? I don’t know what’s on there, only that it was important to him.”
“What’s your ex’s name?”
“I can’t tell you. He’ll kill me.”
“If you don’t, he’ll kill you,” the guy said, inclining his head toward the door where the other guy had gone through.
Aggie thought back on the names she’d gathered over the last couple of months, searching for one that might instill fear in a lower-level grunt. “If I tell you, will you cut the ties around my ankle? I can’t feel my toes.”
He looked at her feet, his brows pulling together, as if considering it, then shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Dude, look at me. Look at my ankle. It’s not like I’m going to be running anywhere.”
When he continued to shake his head, she called forth the waterworks. Aggie wasn’t above shedding a few tears. She needed him within arm’s reach, and time was of the essence. She had no idea when the other guy was coming back, and once he did, escaping the situation would become considerably more challenging. This might be her only chance.
“Please. Just ... get me some ice or something. That’s not against the rules, is it?”
This time, he nodded. He went over to an ancient-looking refrigerator and pulled two ice trays out of the freezer. He opened a few drawers, found a box of plastic zip bags, and popped the cubes into one.
Aggie did her best to look defeated or, at the very least, nonthreatening. She made a show of struggling to sit up. He helped her, his touch much less abusive than that of Harvey Wallslammer’s.
“Thanks,” she said softly, sniffling.
His lips thinned, but there was a flash of sympathy in his eyes.
When he turned his gaze downward to put the bag of ice on her ankle, she jackknifed forward and looped her bound wrists over his head. At the same time, she raised her knees and smashed them into his face. She tugged around his neck, keeping up enough pressure to restrict his flow of oxygen. He struggled, but she used leverage until he went slack.
When she was sure he was out, she released her grip and heaved him to the side. Then, she crawled, hungry-caterpillar style, toward the kitchen in search of a knife. She had no idea if more men were stationed outside.
One thing at a time, Aggie. Being armed and unbound was her immediate goal.
She pressed her back against the cabinets and pushed on her feet, gritting her teeth against the pain that shot up from her ankle, until she was standing, leaning heavily against the counter.
She found a steak knife and propped it vertically in a drawer, using her body weight to hold it upright and in place while she sawed away at the zip ties around her wrists.
She’d just cut through when her senses went on high alert. Someone was disabling the lock.
