In the Still of the Night:Sexy Romantic Suspense (Book 2 The Blonde Barracuda's Sizzling Suspense Series) (28 page)

The words died in her throat when the goon next to her slammed his fist in her stomach. Only years of practice allowed her to stifle her groan.

The slender man shook his head.

“I’m impressed, Ms. Beloi. Surrounded by eight armed men, you still think you are in charge? That you control the situation? We shall see. But in answer to your question, Ming is slightly indisposed at the moment.”

Lexie forced herself to speak calmly, as if she wasn’t about to throw up from the blow to her gut.

“I want to see her. Now.”

He quirked a brow. “But, of course. After Hong and Chul restrain you.” He nodded to the two men standing beside her. “Please tie her hands behind her back. Tightly. Remember who she is. She can take both of you blindfolded. However if she tries, her friend will be even less comfortable than she is now. Also remember our leader will not want her bruised unless absolutely necessary.” As he turned to go back down the hallway, he said, “And Hong, remove that hideous wig. The least we should expect when eliminating the Blonde Barracuda is that she be blonde.”

Hong ripped off her wig. Lexie fought the urge to cry out when he compounded the insult by jerking her off her feet by her hair and shoving her to her knees. He planted a hard kick between her shoulder blades knocking her flat on her face, her cheek scraping across the rough carpet. Chul pulled her arms tight. Lexie winced at the pain shooting through her shoulders both from the vicious kick and the way Chul had twisted her arms as he tied them. She’d seen Hapkido fighters demonstrate their masterful rope techniques. Usually as part of a sexual bondage scene. Apparently Chul was a master. She hoped to hell he limited his techniques to restraining her, not to preparing her for sex with these animals.

Hong hauled her to her feet, yanking on her twisted arms, causing pain to shoot through her neck and shoulders. She promised herself when she got free, Hong and Chul would wish they’d bound her feet. As clever as she was with her hands, arms and elbows, it was her legs that were the powder kegs. Jake had whistled in admiration at her flying kicks. He said they should make her register those legs of hers as a lethal weapon. Not only because they were vicious, but because they were beautiful. The thought of Jake brought tears to her eyes. Even if he was able to track her here, there was no way he and his men could avoid the surveillance cameras. She reminded herself that both Brady and Jake had run hundreds of undercover missions, most of which relied on their ability for stealth. It was a comforting thought. In her heart, she knew he would come for her, that he would fight his way through a hundred men to get to her. She could only pray that somehow they would all survive. But the odds were against them. And it was her fault.

Each of her tormentors clutched one of her bound arms and dragged to the bedroom at the end of the hall. The slender man that she now remembered Peter called An-kor was in the doorway. She closed her eyes preparing for the worst. When she saw Ming, a shudder of fear strummed across her nerves. Ming lay spread-eagled on a big bed, her arms and legs shackled to the bedposts. Lexie was relieved to hear her moan. At least she was alive. Ming had been beaten and she’d clearly fought back. There were bruises on her face, her lip was split. Blood from the cut had dried on her chin. No doubt she’d have a black eye tomorrow. If there was a tomorrow, Lexie reminded herself.

Ming cried out when she saw her.

“Oh no, Jai Li. No! I didn’t want you to come. I knew they would hurt you too. And they will never let me go. Or you either.” Ming sobbed uncontrollably, her tears choking her.

Lexie kept her voice calm.

“Ming. Remember our motto. Strong Women Survive. We are strong women. And we will survive. Whatever you do, don’t give up. Do you hear me, Ming? Do you?”

Ming nodded through her tears.

An-kor stood in the doorway, watching the two of them.

“You are right, Ms. Beloi. Strong women often do survive. But not always. And sometimes, particularly after the evening that you are about to have, surviving would be a curse, not a blessing.”

Glancing at the man beside Ming’s bed, he nodded to sobbing girl. “Ming appears agitated. She will only become more so when she hears what is happening in the other room. Please give her something to help her rest.”

Ming screamed. “No, no, please don’t give me more of that. It makes me dizzy, sick!

Please!”

The huge man by the bed, who looked like a Sumo wrestler, said in broken English. “I gag her first?”

An-kor smirked. “Why yes, Myon, actually that is a good idea. Forget the drug. Perhaps it is best that Ming hear what is happening to her friend. What do their boy scouts say? ‘Be prepared?’ Perhaps that is best that she knows what awaits her.”

Jerking his head at Hong and Chul, he pointed at Lexie, “Take her to the front room and hang her from the ceiling. I understand that the boss plans to have a little fun with the cane and our honored guest. I would say strip her, but she has essentially done that for us. And Hong, put her on the circulating hook. We will want to work on both her front and her back.”

Ming’s screams became choking coughs when Myon shoved a ball gag in her mouth, and jerked the straps tight around her head. Lexie growled at the sight of Ming struggling against the leather tongs binding her arms and legs, and shaking her head from side to side desperately trying to dislodge the gag. Seeing Myon leering at the bound woman, Lexie added another asshole to her list. She knew just where to strike men Myon’s size—one of the few places where their disparate sizes didn’t weigh in his favor. They rarely got up if the kick hit the target, and Lexie made it a point never to miss. And they remembered her for months afterwards.

~~~

Lexie closed her eyes to shut out the sight of the thin bamboo cane resting against the wall. She knew what was coming. They’d tied her hands above her head and hoisted the rope through a large hook hanging from the ceiling. As An-kor ordered, the hook they fastened her to was on a circular track. Depending on the skill of the person wielding the cane he could strike her back, her stomach and everything in between. They’d stripped off her boots and her bare feet barely touched the ground. She fought for purchase, inching her toes to the floor, anything to take the agonizing pressure off her arms and shoulders.

One of the men who’d been focused on the screen watching the surveillance cameras, leaned back in his chair and squinted up at An-kor.

“Who’s going to whip the bitch?”

An ugly grin spread across his face and sent a devilish gleam to his eyes. “Someone who has been looking forward to marking this woman for weeks now.”

A rush of air chilled Lexie’s sweating flesh when the front door sprung open. The chill turned to ice when she saw the man who entered. An ironic smile quirked the corner of his mouth. It didn’t reach his hard eyes. Peter’s voice was soft, almost gentle.

“My, my, Alexis. You do get into the most challenging positions, don’t you, my dear? But we really must stop meeting like this. People will talk.”

Chapter 28

Jake reached for the overhead ledge and heaved his muscular body over the window sill. The sliver of light at the base was just wide enough to see inside. If an enraged demon drove a stake through his heart it could not have been as shocking or as painful as the sight of Lexie strung up on a hook, her nearly naked body twisting in a slow circle. The rope tying her hands was looped over a hook raising her off the ground. He could see the strain on her arms and shoulders as her bare feet struggled to reach the floor.

Standing in front of her, his arms folded across his chest surveying her with a quizzical smile was Peter Kim.

Jake sunk to the ground, his legs useless rubber. He buried his heads in his hands, willing the gorge threatening to suffocate him to settle.

A slight rustle and Brady’s gasp confirmed he’d glimpsed inside. The vitriol in Brady’s murmur was as harsh as his voice was soft. “If it is the last thing I do, I will kill that man.”

Jakes eyes gleamed. Raging sapphires in the black night.

“No, Brady, he is mine. Only mine.”

Tapping into a reserve of strength that had saved the lives of countless team members, Jake went into commander mode. He signaled to Brady it was time to begin. They relied on the hand signals that had served them well in innumerable operations. They’d expected the surveillance cameras. Sliding on his belly, Brady found the adapter leading to the camera covering the front of the house. He inserted a chip that displayed dummy footage. The inside observers would see the front yard, but not the team due to converge at any minute. Jake tossed Brady a surprised frown when a black town car pulled into the driveway. Acknowledging Jake’s signal, Brady moved to the rear of the house to rejigger the back camera, leaving Jake crouching in the bushes preparing to greet the newcomers.

When the car door opened and the driver emerged, Jake’s shock stole his concentration. He’d later confess he didn’t hear the asshole who came up behind him. He only knew that he’d been had by one of the most agonizing pressure point locks he’d ever endured. Before he recovered the use of his arms, three goons piled out of the car and rushed to aid the fighter who had immobilized the mighty Jake Gardner. The garrote threatening to choke him relieved him of the temptation to fight the four men binding his hands and feet. It took all four of them to drag him to the door. Dalila’s cool voice sent shockwaves to his gut. “As I’ve said before, ‘when the mighty fall, the crash is the loudest.’ Welcome, Jake. We’ve been expecting you.”

~~~

Lexie took a deep breath, fighting against the giant wave of fear shuddering over her. Seeing Jake bound hand and foot by four huge men was more terrifying than the bamboo cane resting innocently against the wall. Watching the burly men shackle him to a chair at Dalila’s command, Lexie was consumed with dread. She knew Jake would come for her. Nothing would stop him. But now that he was here, he faced a cadre of armed warriors intent on killing them both. Even in his vulnerable state, Jake looked powerful, strong. His black t-shirt hugged his massive chest and rock hard abs. His eyes were hard, gleaming with anger. When he met her gaze, a wave of heat sizzled through her jangled nerves. He was angry, enraged. But she knew it was due to his helplessness, his inability to strike at their captors. Beneath the anger she saw his fear for her. Knowing that her actions had brought them both and Ming to this hideous place was more painful than the agony searing her body.

Peter’s arrival didn’t surprise her. Deep in her subconscious mind, she’d suspected Peter was involved in the vendetta against her. She’d fought her suspicions. Argued with them. Tried to square the camaraderie, the respect she felt for the handsome man with her certainty that he was not what he seemed. When he walked in and saw her hanging from the ceiling on a torture hook, he’d merely given her an aggrieved smile as if he wasn’t surprised that she’d put herself in such a dangerous position. Seeing his slight nod acknowledging the gang of deviants who’d captured Ming and her and their respectful response, the puzzle pieces fell in place completing an ugly picture she’d resisted seeing.

But Dalila? Lexie had known from the first time she met her that Dalila was evil. Evil in a catty, devious way. Lexie had dismissed her as a woman intent on doing damage, horning in on past lovers, stirring up trouble, brittle with jealous anger. But Dalila as part of an undercover team of Korean thugs, the
Kkangpae
, no less? Hell, no! Seeing Dalila dressed in a black long-sleeved turtleneck, tight black stretch pants and knee-high steel-tipped boots brought the picture into focus. The open hate in Dalila’s eyes when she sneered at Lexie, made the image of a vicious cane-wielding torturer all too likely.

Dalila and Peter together didn’t make sense. Lexie’d known they had a past. Peter had said as much. But she’d assumed they’d been lovers, not partners. Lexie forced herself to study the unlikely pair, looking for chinks in their armor, for any signs of vulnerability. The glare Dalila threw Peter’s way was ripe with hostility. But there was another element underlying her antagonism. It looked like fear.

Once Jake was securely fastened to the chair in the center of the room, Dalila pranced over to him. Waving her hand in an all-encompassing circle, she crowed, “And look, Jake, we have a welcoming committee. Of course Alexis is here. You know Peter, who happens to be my colleague and thorn in my side. These other gentlemen are what you and I might call ‘enforcers.’”

Dalila sauntered by him and strode across the room to stand in front of Lexie.
She tsked in disgust. “You simply cannot avoid the spotlight, can you? But the clothes, Alexis. Really. Owning up to your inner slut, dearie?”

When Lexie glared at her, Dalila tossed her head as if she had more important issues and turned to Peter. Her voice was syrupy sweet but her words were triumphant.

“Yes, Councilman? Was that a ‘high five’ I heard? Or at least an ‘atta-girl’? Come on, Peter, admit it. You told Young-soo that I wasn’t up to the task. That I wouldn’t be able to lure the lovely Alexis Beloi and the devastatingly handsome Colonel Jake Gardner to our lair. But look, Peter. Here is Alexis trussed up like a Christmas goose, ready for my cane. And Jake, poor baby, was so surprised to see me here, he fell, literally, for Wong Fu’s infamous don gong pressure lock.”

She glanced over her shoulder with a derisive grin. “Don’t feel too badly, Jake. No one has ever resisted it.”

Turning back to Peter, she sneered. “You may have noticed, Peter, that we have no fewer than eleven
Kkangpae
witnesses. Perhaps this is the time for you to apologize to me.”

Peter didn’t change his stance. If his smile widened, it wasn’t noticeable.

“And what would you like me to apologize for, Dalila?”

“You could start by admitting you told Young-soo that the only thing I’m good for is my willingness to spread my legs. For such a ‘distinguished man,’ that was crude thing to say.”

Peter did grin this time. “We both know that Young-soo doesn’t appreciate dissembling. My sense is that you are quite proud of your ability to bring most men to their knees. Or do I have that wrong, Dalila, given that you are the one on your knees?”