Chapter 33
“Do you like the house? I just recently came into it.”
Allie just glared up at her kidnapper from the chair he had forced her into when he’d brought her here last night. It wasn’t like she could answer the man. He had duct-taped her mouth and zip-tied her hands together in front of her.
She’d made a study of the man and those with him since being brought in. There were at least ten men throughout the property. It was a lavish-looking home nestled in the mountains. She’d seen large windows and a chandelier in the foyer before being escorted into an office and pushed into a chair.
For hours, she’d sat like this. No one had talked to her. They’d barely paid attention to her. She was hungry and thirsty. Her mouth was dry and her throat scratchy.
The office had large windows as well. There were three of them.
The room was bigger than her own bedroom.
A built-in wooden shelf covered the wall behind the desk filled with miscellaneous photos, awards, and several medical books.
A doctorate degree hung on the wall. There was a leather couch and chairs on the opposite side of the room with a TV mounted on the wall and a small wet bar set up.
A large ornate desk was between her and her kidnapper. There was a computer on one side and a cordless phone on the other. A picture frame was next to the phone, but Allie couldn’t see what it held. In the center, there was a stand for a black pen. A letter open rested in front of it.
Allie didn’t believe this was this man’s home for a second, and there were too many furnishings to mean the previous occupants were dead.
Allie would guess neighbors were sparse up here, otherwise this man wouldn’t have picked this spot. She didn’t know exactly where she was since they had put a covering over her head, so she hadn’t been able to see where they were going. But Allie did remember it being a long drive.
The whole drive she feared they were going to rape and murder her and then simply dump her body along the side of the road like trash, but no one had touched her besides when they had come into her home.
She had tried running to her bedroom to lock the door and call the police, but they had been too quick, and she’d been slammed into the wall before being tossed against her couch.
Her shoulder was sore, and no doubt bruised, but she knew it could have been worse.
She hadn’t fought back as they’d taken her.
She knew she’d never overpower three men.
She had also seen guns tucked into their pants.
Allie knew the smartest thing to do was to go with them and fight as little as possible.
She was hoping she could find a window of opportunity to escape, but so far, they had been watching her like a hawk.
Sandy would notice she wasn’t at work this morning and raise an alert, but what good would that do her?
Police wouldn’t have any clues to follow.
Carson had walked away from her. No one would know where she was.
She didn’t even know. Even if she managed to escape, she could be walking in the mountains for days or in the opposite direction of a town and end up in the desert.
Her kidnapper, who’d introduced himself as Yurgio, came around the desk and stood just in front of her legs. Allie tensed, not knowing what he was going to do. He reached toward her face; Allie held perfectly still as he grabbed the corner of the tape and pulled it, ripping it off in one tug.
Allie turned her face away from him and clamped her mouth shut to keep from crying out at the burning pain spreading across her lips. As the sting eased, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and looked back up at him.
“You have a good tolerance of pain. That’s good.” Yurgio smiled coldly at her. “I can’t wait to test it out.” He stepped back and leaned against the desk. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“It’s a very nice home. Am I allowed a drink of water?” she asked nicely, when she really wanted to be snarky.
Sandy would have been, but this looked like a man who took great pleasure in causing pain, and she didn’t want to give him an excuse to hit her.
“Of course.” Yurgio snapped his fingers, and a bottle of water was handed to her. The lid was already off. She looked up at Yurgio in question.
“It’s safe. If I wanted you dead, kleine maus, you would already be dead and your carcass along the side of the road.”
Allie didn’t speak Russian, so she didn’t know what he had said, but she didn’t think it was a compliment.
“How comforting,” she mumbled before bringing the bottle to her lips and drinking slowly.
The cold liquid instantly revived her parched throat.
She used the back of her hand to wipe the water off her lips.
The person who’d handed her the water instantly took it away.
Wow, these guys were paranoid. Like she was going to cause any damage with a water bottle.
“I’m pretty sure you didn’t kidnap me to ask about your recent house takeover. So why am I here?”
Yurgio folded his hands over his chest. “You are a lesson to your boyfriend.”
“I don’t understand.” What did Carson have to do with this? She’d just assumed this was a random attack or hoped they’d taken the wrong person.
“Carson Payton Townsend killed my little brother,” Yurgio said without any emotion.
“I’m sorry for your loss. Things happen in war—”
“This was no war accident,” Yurgio snapped, voice cracking like a whip. “This was cold-blooded murder. He stabbed him in the heart with this.” Yurgio pulled a knife out of the breast pocket of his blue suit and held it up for her inspection.
“How do you know it was Carson?” That knife could belong to anyone.
“Because he and his friends were chasing my brother down. My brother gripped his hair as he died. I had the hair analyzed, and it came back as his.”
Allie had felt the bald spot on Carson’s head. This wasn’t a vendetta from years ago when he was in the SEALs. This was more recent. “Killing me won’t bring your brother back.”
Yurgio pushed off the desk and walked around behind it to take a seat.
“No, but he’ll know what it’s like losing someone close to him.
” So, he did still intend to kill her, but slowly and painfully.
She could see the murderous intent in his eyes.
He enjoyed killing people and inflicting as much pain as he could before he finally ended them.
Allie couldn’t wait any longer hoping for rescue. She had to get out of here now. She’d rather die starving in the woods or desert than at the hands of this man.
“There’s only one problem with your plan.”
“And what’s that?” he asked, still appearing casual. Why wouldn’t he be? He had the upper hand. Her hands were tied, and she was outnumbered.
“I have no intention of dying today,” she said, braver than she felt. Allie had no false hope that a rescue was coming; she’d have to think of a way out of this herself.
Yurgio laughed and pushed up from his seat to stand before her again.
One hand rested on the armrest of her chair and the other still held the knife.
His face was right before hers. His legs braced hip-width apart in front of her.
“I do admire your spirit.” The hand holding the knife lifted and stroked along her cheekbone.
She could feel how sharp the blade was as it glided along the length of her cheek.
She turned away as it reached toward her ear, slowly so she didn’t cut herself.
“I’m really going to enjoy breaking you, kleine maus. ”
Yurgio could laugh all he wanted and threaten her. She’d be the one laughing when she got out of here. She’d been compliant before because she knew she’d been outnumbered, and they had the vantage.
But now they’d underestimated her. Only two people were in the room; Yurgio and the guard. Yurgio pushed away from her before she could act, looked at the guard, and nodded. “Take her to the cellar,” he ordered before looking back at her. “I’d hate to get your blood on the floor.”
The guard non-too gently pulled her to her feet. She could feel his pistol against her side. It was in a holster in his inside jacket pocket. It was now or never. Her brothers had taught her what to do in hostage situations.
She hadn’t paid as much attention as she should have since she’d thought it was a moot point. She owed her brothers an apology when she got out of this.
But one lesson she remembered was never to let them take you to a secondary location.
Allie took a step and then kneed him between the legs.
She pulled his pistol out of its holster before head-butting him in the nose.
The guard fell back on the ground like a sack of grain. Allie spun back to face Yurgio.
He smiled broadly, not at all intimidated that she’d just incapacitated his guard and now had a gun aimed at him. She knew it was loaded by the weight of it. Her thumb slid up to the safety to make sure it was off.
“I really do love your spirit. If you weren’t for revenge, I would think about keeping you a little while longer.”
“I am walking out of this door, Yurgio, and you’re not going to stop me.”
“Kleine maus, how do you plan to get past all of my guards? You do not have enough bullets in that gun to kill us all.” Yurgio chuckled, thinking he still had the upper hand.
“All I really need is to kill you.” She was proud of how steady her hand and breathing were. Inside, she was quaking even as she took small steps backward toward the exit.
Yurgio chuckled at her again as if he didn’t believe she could kill him. “You won’t shoot, kleine maus. You’re not a killer like me.” It was true. She wasn’t a killer, but if it was to keep herself alive, she would.
Allie’s finger flexed on the trigger. She knew he was baiting her. Trying to get her to pull the trigger and alert his guards. If that happened, she wouldn’t get out of there alive.
Allie felt the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. Someone was right behind her. She spun around as a man was creeping up on her. She fired off a shot, hitting the man high in the thigh. It wasn’t a mortal wound, but he wouldn’t be chasing after her.
An arm snaked around her chest and pulled her back against Yurgio’s chest. He was shorter than her by a few inches. “Drop the gun.” Allie knew he still had the knife. She’d never get out of his grip to shoot him before he stabbed her.
Allie released the gun, letting it fall next to her. Yurgio shifted, and she heard the gun sliding back across the hardwood floor. “You should have killed me when you had the chance,” he hissed into her ear. His hot breath fanned the side of her face. It smelled of cigar smoke and whiskey.
“Death is too good for you. You deserve to rot in jail.” Yurgio’s arm around her chest slid away only for his hand to grip the back of her head and turn her to slam her into the desk.
Allie grunted in pain only to cry out when Yurgio pulled her back up.
The knife appeared next to the left side of her face.
“After I cut your tongue out, I’m going to carve out your heart and leave it as a souvenir for your boyfriend.”
Allie slammed her head back into his nose, feeling the crunch of cartilage breaking under her. Yurgio stumbled back away from her as he howled in pain. She spun around and brought her hands down across her stomach, breaking the zip-ties in half.
Yurgio looked dumbfounded as blood dripped from his broken nose.
His shocked look didn’t last long before he came at her with the knife aimed at her middle.
Allie shifted to the side as her hand grabbed his wrist and used his momentum to carry him forward before pulling back on his arm and bringing him back the other way as she bent his arm back.
He cried out in pain, and Allie watched the knife clatter to the floor. “You fucking bitch!” Yurgio howled at her.
Allie pushed him away and dove for the knife then brought it up as Yurgio lunged for her. She thrust the knife forward, stabbing him in the lower abdomen. They both stared at the wound in shock. Allie pulled out the knife, and Yurgio dropped to his knees before falling over completely.
Allie jumped to her feet and glanced down at the ground for the gun, wanting another weapon, when she heard a commotion out in the hallway. Several men started yelling, and guns were firing. Not wanting to waste another second, Allie ran to the window and jumped out.