Chapter Eight
Rebecca moaned as she turned over, finding herself in a strange bed. She sat up, scanning her surroundings. From the fluorescent lights, she assumed they took her back underground.
Seeing the robe she wore the night before slung over a chair, she wrapped it around her body. Rebecca felt better having something else covering her in addition to the flimsy gown. Knowing she’d find it locked, Rebecca approached the door and jiggled the handle.
Turning around, she searched for something to use as a weapon.
The cameras blinked in the corner, reminding her they watched her every move.
A buzzer sounded, and the lock disengaged, allowing Jim into the room.
He narrowed his eyes and a sly smile appeared as he stepped inside.
Harrison followed behind him and shut the door.
“I’m not telling you where Avie’s located,” she spat, braced for whatever her former partner prepared to do to extract the information from her.
Harrison leaned against the wall, watching her like prey.
“Director Jackson insisted you deserved the job he passed me up for,” he said jealously.
“Do you know how humiliated I felt when he announced your promotion after I worked my ass off for the last two years? You’re only a woman who used her assets to gain your position.
I often wondered if you slept with Jackson as an incentive, but the douche seemed devoted to his wife until the very end.
Tell me how he thought this when you didn’t even connect me to the organization? ”
“You knew our every move,” she gritted out. “How can you do this?”
Harrison moved toward the center of the room and she took another step back, putting space between the two men.
Harrison took a cigarette from his jacket and lit it. “Poor Jackson didn’t stand a chance. I came up with the brilliant idea of blackmailing him. He didn’t want to go along until I ordered Jim to hold a gun to his wife’s head. Don’t worry, she never knew a thing.”
“He said Trish’s condition improved,” she said, confused.
Harrison chuckled. “Oh, I forgot about the part where we took her stiff body with us. You can do a lot with AI these days. The idiot believed we sent her to Switzerland for treatment. We sent him videos. He asked me to have them authenticated. Yet he didn’t feel I was ready to take the lead. If only he could see us now.”
“You did all this because of a job promotion?” she asked incredulously. “Maybe Jackson saw this part of you more than you believed. It sounds to me like you’re the one he fooled.”
Harrison’s nose crinkled in a snarl as he grabbed for her throat.
Rebecca dodged him and then punched him in the stomach.
He turned and swiped at her feet, sending her to the floor.
She rolled, getting caught up in the thin lingerie.
Harrison laughed as he gripped the material, ripping it.
Rebecca kicked out, knocking him backward.
He growled as she stood, untangling her legs from the material.
He nodded behind him, and Rebecca turned to see Jim stalking her.
Determined to at least maim Harrison, she reared back and swung with all her might, hitting him in the jaw.
Jim’s arms wrapped around her waist. She let her weight fall.
He let go long enough for her to elbow him in the ribs.
When he bent to hold his side, she socked him in the eye, making him grunt and stumble backward.
Suddenly, she got jerked back by her long hair as Harisson wrapped it around his fist. When her head hit his chest, he smiled.
“You’ll pay for that,” he said, promising retribution. His hand went to her chest and ripped the garment down the front. Harrison grabbed one breast, twisted, and squeezed.
Rebecca refused to give him the satisfaction of crying out, swinging her fist into his dick. Harrison’s grip loosened as he coughed and held his balls.
“Stay away from me,” she seethed.
Jim grabbed her from behind, locking her arms behind her back. She reared her head back and busted his nose.
“Fucking, Bitch,” he spat.
“Get another man. It’s time Rebecca learns who she belongs to,” Harrison ordered, still trying to catch his breath.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Rebecca warned him. “You’re holding a federal agent. You know the penalties for this.”
“It’ll be worth it,” he gloated. “To see the fear in your eyes and I’ll take you down a peg.”
Another man joined Jim in the room. Feeling outnumbered, she kept her back to the wall as they approached her, leering.
“It’s no use, Rebecca. You chose the wrong side and now you’ll pay the price,” Harrison gleaned. “You’re one of the stipulations I made with them. I get first dibs,” he said coldly.
Stark fear ran down her neck as the men surrounded her, grabbing at her, pulling, and tugging on her. She heard the rip of what remained of her clothing and fought with all her might. They tied her hands and lifted them to the headboard. She kicked, refusing to give them an inch.
“Do you want me to sedate her?” Jim asked.
“No. I want her aware of everything,” Harrison growled, capturing her ankles. “Bring it here.”
Rebecca twisted and screamed her fury at him.
One of the men disappeared and returned moments later as she struggled against the other men holding her down. They pinched her skin, gripped her tightly, as Harrison sat on her legs, right below her thigh.
“Hold her tightly. This one will buck,” he ordered.
Then, she saw it. Harrison held a black, metal rod used for branding cattle. He placed it against the outside of her thigh, making her scream. The smell of burned skin filled the room as her scream pierced the air. Her thigh throbbed and burned as he passed the rod to his buddy.
“Get out,” he commanded. “She’s mine first.” Harrison swiped at his mouth as if salivating at what he planned to do.
“No, no,” she screamed, attempting to fight the inevitable. Harrison grinned as he leaned over her, gripping her breasts.
“Don’t make me gag you,” he said.
Rebecca spit in his face. Harrison slapped her, sending her head reeling.
Her body went numb as he positioned himself over her.
He grunted as he entered her, enjoying his conquest. It didn’t matter.
Rebecca no longer existed in the room with him.
Her mind floated elsewhere to Texas where the love of her life lived.
Julio grimaced as he watched the traffic below on the tiny balcony of her New York apartment.
“How can you listen to this all day and night? Don’t you miss the fresh air, the sound of peace and quiet? Not to mention there’s a man walking practically naked across the street and nobody seems bothered by it.”
Rebecca grinned as she finished packing her bag to fly to Texas for a long weekend with him.
“You get used to it.”
Harrison slapped her, jolting her from the memory. “Stay with me, bitch,” he grunted as he leered at her. She stared through him, refusing to cry and give him the satisfaction.
Julio pulled out a picture of a lovely two-story farmhouse with bright, colorful flowers in window boxes. “Can you imagine it? You can even pick the color.”
Rebecca focused on the picture. She’d pick anything as long as it wasn’t white. It showed all the dirt and imperfections. Harrison continued battering her body as she decided on cranberry or maybe blue.
Heaving himself off her, Harrison stood above her as he put on his pants.
“It’s my turn next,” one of the men insisted. “We tossed a coin.”
They roughly flipped her over and set her on her knees. When her limp body refused to stay in position, they propped her with pillows as the man slammed into her, making her insides ache.
Drawing on her training, she slipped back into her fantasy as the second man ravaged her body.
Rebecca walked into the dream home, imagining the sunny yellow kitchen, her favorite color.
A vase of daisies sat on the kitchen table, and the scent of Julio’s signature dish of pork barbacoa wafted throughout the home.
“Move over,” Jim ordered the second man as he shoved him away from her broken body. The coppery scent of blood filled her nostrils, confusing her senses as she opened the oven door. Julio’s dish disappeared as Jim turned her on her back.
“I want you watching me. You’re our property now,” he said as he entered her in one thrust and clutched her neck, choking her.
Rebecca struggled to breathe, the ropes loosened allowing her to claw his hands away.
Harrison punched Jim hard. “Don’t fucking kill her, she’s mine,” he growled as she gasped for air.
Julio took her hand and led her to their bedroom. He opened the patio doors and grinned as they viewed the peaceful surroundings. “Doesn’t this seem perfect?”
Yes, it did.
The door slammed, indicating they left her alone. Rebecca curled into a ball and closed her eyes. She needed to stay in the safety of Julio’s arms a bit longer before reality set in.