Hot Revenge Box Set 4

Chapter 39

Back in the lounge, Cara is sitting on Mitch’s knee. “Getting into practice?” I ask.

Hope and tears war in her voice. “I suppose.” Then as Cara stretches chubby arms out to me. “I think she wants a hug.”

My baby daughter gives me a gummy smile as I pick her up, cradling her to my chest and bouncing her a bit. “You been a good girl then?”

A burble is my only reply, but Georgie looks at me a little oddly. “You never used to do that with me.”

“In fact, Georgie, I did. But your mother didn't like it. She always took you away from me when she could.”

She frowns. “Mom stopped you picking me up?”

“That’s right.”

“But…why would she do something like that?”

I shrug. “I suppose she wanted control of you.” I speak off-handedly, but suddenly, the conversation is uncomfortable. “Mitch I’m making tea. Peppermint for you?”

*****

 

Klempner

Nightmares…

The world spinning…

A face… Juliana, grinning at me… Her teeth sharp and pointed, like a cat’s.

Pain… Something gnawing at me, some monster biting at my ankle.

I know I’m in a nightmare, but I can’t jolt myself out of sleep. Sickeningly, the world spins and wavers around me. I want to retch, but my sleep-bound body won’t let me.

*****

Harsh white light filters through my lashes to stab at crusty eyes. The world still revolves. Or is it me that’s turning?

Consciousness returns only slowly, one sensation after another settling enough to make sense of them.

The spinning around me slowly dies and my world settles. I’m chilled and numb. Pain stabs behind my eyes and as I move, my stomach threatens rebellion. Gradually, it comes to me that, while my shoulder muscles burn, my hands are free.

A male voice: “He should be awake now, shouldn’t he?”

A female voice: “Yes. I didn’t give him much. He should be awake by now. He’s probably faking it.”

Just lie here…

Eyes closed…

Listen…

I’m lying on some cold, hard surface, slick with damp, coated with Christ-knows-what unnamable muck. And for some reason, I’m stretched out full-length, one arm reaching out above my head.

The male voice again: “Wakey, wakey, Larry.” And something plants itself in my ribs, whoofing the air out of my lungs.

Instinctively I roll, snatching for a foot, a leg, a fist: but I catch only empty air. Then I pull up short, with the clink of metal and something biting into my ankle.

What the hell…?

The air stinks. A fetid smell; stagnant water and the rank scent of decay, washes over me. All without meaning to, I react, covering my mouth and nose with my hand before realising that my hand is part of the smell, foul with slime and muck.

Somewhere close by: a trickling sound, and the slap of water against hard sides.

Where the fuck am I?

Oddly out of place, the smell of fresh paint tickles my nostrils.

The male voice again. “He’s awake for sure. He opened his eyes just then, but closed them again.” The words sound far away, as though carried through a tunnel. My eyes won’t focus properly. Nor my head: stuffed and unclear.

to see you awake again. How it’s going?” The female

pain at my ankle competes with the rebellion of my

mouth and spatters my chin. Wiping it away with the back of my hand succeeds only in smearing

Someone giggles.

realise my fingertips too are sticky with something besides the filth: white, already drying, crisping at the edges.

?

My thoughts too. Nothing makes sense. Every part of me screams protest as, stiff-muscled, my body torpid,

my ankle again, something clinking as

eyes still unfocused, I reach for my ankle, finding a steel cuff, snapped closed. And as my vision clears, I see a padlock. With leaden fingers, I feel at the metal, probing sluggishly:

I look up and around,

fades, illuminating only a small area around

her. Between them and me, trickled over muck and slime, a thick white line

her lips. “You won’t escape

smile broadening, she holds something up, dangling it in her fingers, glinting dully: a small brass key: She passes it to Jose, who hangs it on a nail banged into the concrete wall, clearly visible, but well beyond

nausea will pass… Or…” She sweeps an arm around… “Or maybe it won’t. I’d

a channel containing an uncertain depth of oozing water. Rusted metal grates obstruct narrow black unknowns: some dry, some trickling into the

Sewers?

bulb, marks out the confined space with sharp dark shadows. And set in the wall behind Juliana, towards the ceiling, a camera eye aims at

Juliana. I’ll say that for you. You imprisoned Jenny below ground in primitive conditions. Now you plan

Larry. I’ve done it.” She squats down,

Jenkins…” Her lips curls…”That fucking perv you put in charge… Whenever either of you felt like handing it out to

snarl washing from her face. “Oh, yes, you like cellars. I remember that about you. I remember those cellars so well. We all spent time there; with the rats for company and

I don’t comment, don’t

see you do remember. Since you’re so fond of tunnels and dark places, this is your life now… for as much of it as you have left.” She leans closer, hissing the words. “What goes around,

spit the words at her, trying to inject some venom, but it’s

still have his gun in

“Of course.”

“Give it to me.”

pocket, passing it across grip first. She turns it over in her hands, examining it, as though she has never seen such a thing before. Then, holding it loosely, almost negligently, she waves it through the air, the

She won’t shoot…

She’s a gloater…

she doesn’t want me

Not yet….

But my breath holds…

swings, apparently randomly, first one way, then the

do with you? I haven't decided properly yet, you know.” She aims at my forehead. “I might just shoot you dead. Bang! Bang!…” She mimes firing… Fake

at me, as though it were a genuine question, as though, waiting for an answer. She doesn’t

the other hand…” she muses… “… I could take you a piece at a time.” She stares upward, as though addressing the ceiling. “What do you think, Larry? A foot maybe? Perhaps the one in the

force myself to

In… Out… In… Out…

games: making the

drifts between my feet. “Which will it be, Larry? Left or right? If you don't choose, of course, it will

Fuck this…

Larry?

Keep calm…

Don't panic…

Baxter…

“… It's not as though you’re going to need it again. I'll leave you the

streams cold. “Leave me with gunshot wounds down here, Juliana, and they'll be infected within hours. I'd be dead of sepsis or gangrene within days. I'm guessing that would spoil

of the Glock. “Quite right, Larry.” She gives a quick, sharp nod. “It's good we understand each other...” She looks

akimbo; radiating machismo.

toward me… “You’re only alive as long as Solana chooses to keep you that way. I don’t think you have more than a

I’m the one in trouble, Jose? If your only use to Juliana was to make me

like some teenager told he can’t stay out late. “… Sola can do what she wants with you. No one else knows

slides one hand over his cheek, then around his neck, as though to kiss him. “As you say, Jose, only we know he’s here.” He doesn’t watch her other

can he

around her, smiles in

Dumb bastard…

“Hey, look out. She's...”

wrapped

I’m too

the Glock pressed into his

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