CHAPTER 47
MELANIE
I DIDN’T KNOW HOW LONG I’D BEEN IN HERE.
There wasn’t much to do when you were bound tightly to a chair in a relatively empty room, so I spent my time taking notice of all the small things.
Like the way the sun came in through a slit at the bottom of the door and moved to indicate the time of the day, or the way I could clearly hear the crickets and toads when they started up their usual nightly song and the birds during the day. Or the way El Cachorro- the nickname had stuck- seemed to grow angrier with each passing day.
“Why has he not come for you?” he finally exploded one morning when my slit of sun was particularly bright. The night had been colder than before and, with me still in the off–shoulder dress I’d worn for my date with Blaine, I’d started to sniffle and sneeze.
“I told you he wasn’t going to come, you didn’t listen“.
I said with a shrug. I couldn’t say for sure if he was looking at me, because he still had the stupid mask on, but his head turned in my direction and tilted.
“What is wrong with your voice?” he asked like he didn’t know. Irritation spiked my next words. “Oh nothing much, just that some two–bit greedy, kidnapping, psychopathic little man left me without a blanket throughout the night” I snarled.
His head jerked back like he was actually surprised. “You were cold? You talk such a big game, I hadn’t realized it was actually possible” he said and laughed his stupid laugh.”
I regarded him thoughtfully; I hadn’t spotted any serious muscle on him all the times he’d come in here. I was certain I could break him like a twig in a fight.
I mentioned this to him with a smug smile and he sighed. “I have been taking it easy on you because I respect women” I scoffed at this “but it seems like you have mistaken my kindness for weakness. Perhaps I should send in Bolt; he’s been keeping your boyfriend company.”
I gave him my full attention after he said this as irritation gave way to anger, “I hope for your sake that you don’t mean what I think you mean”
I kept my voice ice cold. He flicked an imaginary piece of lint off his suit.
“Well, since it looks like our friend is not coming, I have to benefit from this waste of time one way or the other. So I asked him to share some business secrets with me while we waited.
The bastard, however, refused and even spat on my face.” His voice registered disgust with a hint of anger. “So I brought Bolt in to see if he’d be more open to talking with Bolt’s special brand of persuasion” he ended with a casual shrug, like he didn’t just order someone to torture someone else.
I felt somewhat proud that Blaine had spat in his face, but still. The anger that ran through me wasn’t hot or explosive, it was more of a cold flame. Blaine was somewhere right now in pain, and I’ll be damned if this tiny man wasn’t going to pay. I leaned forward as far as I could go with the ropes and looked him dead in his wolf mask.
“You better kill me and make sure that I am really dead, because if I ever get out of this chair, I will rip your miserable excuse for a dick off and force–feed it to you until you choke. When you’ve swallowed it, you will step it down with chemicals that will rip you apart from the inside out. Then, and only then, will I grind your bones into dust and turn it into a collectible. But I’ll keep your skull and use it as a shot glass because it’s so tiny seeing as it contained no brains.”
The little man had kept moving back during my short speech, and his breath was now coming out in short pants “W.. What kind of woman speaks to a man like that?” he said, trying for outrage but the quiver in his voice said fear.
I flashed the barracuda smile. “Why don’t you come untie me and find out?” then I dropped the smile.
“Lay one more hand on Blaine, and the fate I’ve just described would look like bliss compared to what I’ll do to you” my voice, somewhat muffled due to the cold, was flat.
He tried to regain composure, tugging on the end of his suit jacket. “You know you could just make it stop by telling me what I need to know, instead of delivering threats you can’t act on,” he told me.
My responding laugh was devoid of humor “Look me in the eyes, cachorro. Do I look like someone inclined to tell you
Setting
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CHAPTER 47
anything, even if I knew? And do I look like I give empty threats?” when he didn’t answer, I leaned back. “That’s what I thought“.
From the little skin the mask didn’t cover I could see the flush creep up his neck.
“I refuse to be threatened by you. I’m the one in charge here, not you. Just you wait and see” he blustered then left the room, slamming the door.
I didn’t get to bask in the peace and quiet that followed, however, because about five minutes later he came back in, this time accompanied by a huge man who reminded me of Julio the chef. He looked like he hadn’t smiled a day in his life.
The tiny man was smug again “Have you stopped to wonder how he got the nickname Bolt?” the question was directed at
- me.
I rolled my eyes “I’m not scared of you, or your shit for brains attack dog” I said. My eyes narrowed when the big guy carried in a camera on a tripod “I had the most brilliant idea” Tiny Man said as Bolt set the equipment down directly in front of me. “Perhaps if we send Jordan Alonso a video of you getting battered, he’d be more inclined to come to your aid“.
This time when Bolt came in he was carrying a folded cloth which, when he set it down and spread it open, revealed a set of what was likely all the torture devices known to man. From thumb screws to brass knuckles to scalpels, the list was endless. A knot of apprehension formed in my throat. I had a high pain threshold but that didn’t mean I enjoyed it..
“You’re just pissing in the wind at this point because you’re out of options,” I said. The man, still smug, shrugged as he said “We’ll see about that. After all, scientists don’t give up after one experiment.”
I watched as Bolt activated the camera, consoling myself with the fact that since he was here he wasn’t torturing Blaine anymore, so I’d scared the tiny man at least a little.
“Enjoy your session, Melanie Hayes. I’m sure you’ll find it interesting,” he called out from the doorway before disappearing. I looked at Bolt as he selected a sharp scalpel which already had blood on it and approached me.
Well, that’s one way to get HIV.
A
