Seek and Destroy (47 page)

    She prayed he was wrong.

    "Your hands are cold." He rubbed the vigorously, roughly. It hurt and she tried to pull them away again. He grabbed her shoulders and gave her a firm shake. Her head pounded, blurring her vision.

    Before her vision came back into focus again, the back of his hand came down and connected with her cheek. Hard. The explosion of pain made her eyes tear up. Not from fright. No, having this man lay any part of his hands on her pissed her off.

    Okay, and maybe a little bit from fright.

    When he came back into focus, his eyes looked hard and cruel as they assessed her. She imagined hers didn't look any friendlier. "You need to snap out of it, sweetheart. He's no longer a threat."

    
Wanna bet?

    "Now lay down," he ordered and pushed her down on the bed, and not gently. She couldn't stop herself from trembling. Not from the cold. The rage building inside her scared her. No way would she let this man touch her again.

    
No way
. Sitting back up, she swung her legs around to scramble to the other side of the bed. She screamed out when he grabbed a handful of her hair and threw her back down on the bed.

    "You aren't going anywhere." His hand still pulling painfully at her scalp, he forced her toward him. As his lips crushed hers, she felt sick. She tried to push him away, but it only made his hold on her tighten. He hurt her, which really pissed her off.

    And scared the hell out of her.

    "Don't touch me!" she screamed and finally found enough strength to push him away. Covering her mouth with a shaky hand, she looked at him.

    The crazy bastard smiled. "I know you like it rough, my love. I just didn't think you'd want it rough so soon after your kidnapping."

    "Kidnapping? Thomas,
you
kidnapped
me
."

    "No. That's just what he had you believe. You and I have been together ever since I chose to leave ICE."

    "You didn't choose. I had you arrested." Holy cow. What would it take to get through to this man?

    He slipped off his shoes, then his socks. What did he think he was doing? No way would she have sex with him. She scooted to the other side of the narrow bed. It didn't give her nearly enough space between them. She would have preferred different continents. Or, better yet, thick metal bars.

    "I know what you need. I always know what you need." As he undid his pants, she closed her eyes.

    
Oh God.

    "You and I need to make love. I know as soon as you feel me inside you again, the rest of this nightmare will fade away."

    He didn't have her tied down in any way. Apparently he really was crazy. She jumped up off the bed and searched the walls for the door. Spotting one on the opposite side of the enormous room, she didn't waste any time.

    Surreal just sat on the bed and continued to undress as if having her run around the warehouse trying to escape was nothing out of the ordinary. He removed is pants, then his shirt, leaving him in nothing but his tighty whities. He then straightened out on the bed and watched her. Every glance back toward him told her he enjoyed watching her. His rock hard erection pulled at his underwear.

    Screw this. She reached the door and tried to open it. Locked. Swearing under her breath, she searched the walls for another door and ran over to it. Her heart pounded in her ears as she hurried from door to door trying each one. Locked. Oh no, they were all locked.

    She would not let that stop her. She kicked at the closest door, pounded at it. She screamed and even attempted to ram it with her shoulder. As she ran into the door, it didn't budge. Her shoulder took the brunt of the impact, exploding in pain. She cried out.

    This wasn't happening. David would be here, barge in with his big guns and save her. He would. He had to.

    "Are you through?"

    She ignored him and kicked the door again. In bare feet, it hurt like the dickens, but it didn't stop her from trying again. This had to work. The good guys never fell prey to the bad guys. It didn't work that way.

    "Charis, come over here."

    "Go to hell," she snapped breathlessly and ran to another door. Maybe if she pounded on this one harder...

    "My love, what are you doing?"

    "I'm not your love!" she screamed and spun around on him. If she couldn't get out, she'd just have to kill him. With her bare hands. The way she felt, it wouldn't take her long. He rose off the bed and approached her, his disgusting hard-on swaying as he approached.

    "Don't say that."

    "I. Don't. Love. You!" She charged him, her fists swinging. She got off a few good hits before he had her wrists in his hands. With as much strength as she could muster up, she thrust her knee into his groin. It would have hurt under normal circumstances. With his hard-on, it had to be incapacitating. He roared and dropped her wrists, doubling over.

    She turned to run. He grabbed her ankle and down she went. The cement broke her fall, and every bone it came into contact with, at least it felt like it. She felt herself being flung onto her back. Surreal jumped and landed on top of her.

    The wind whistled out of her lungs from the weight of him on top of her. He ripped at her teddy, exposing her breasts. Kneading them greedily, painfully, he tried to kiss her. She moved her face from side to side, successfully avoiding his lips. Not able to see him without her glasses, she hoped her struggles were enough. He removed his hand from her chest and grabbed her face at the chin.

    "Kiss me, you fucking bitch."

    She spit at him.

    He brought his hand back and doubled up his fist. She widened her eyes as she watched it come down at her in slow motion. As it landed, she felt her lip split. Oh dear God. She'd never been hit like that before. It rattled her brain, temporarily dazed her into a weakened state.

    "Goddamn it, Charis. This wasn't how I wanted our reunion to be." Surreal grabbed her by the hair and forced her to her feet. She brought her hand to his to try to loosen his grip. She dug her nails. She punched and pinched.

    He tightened his grip until she cried out. "Get on the bed." He threw her down on the bed and climbed on top of her.

    "Get off of me!"

    He went back to kneading her breasts. It hurt so badly to be touched by this man, both physically and emotionally.
David! Where are you?

    As he crushed his lips down to hers again, she opened up. He thrust his tongue into her mouth. She bit down hard. Tasting blood, she gagged.

    "God
damn
it!" He jumped back off the bed. She scrambled to escape to the other side. He grabbed her ankle and pulled her back to him. "If you want it this way, fine. I was willing to forgive you, to forget your little affair with
him
."

    "Let me go!" She struggled, but he still got a hold of her other ankle and yanked until she slid back over to him, her legs on either side of his.

    While his hands still held her ankles, she sat up and started pummeling him. Left. Right. Another left. Over and over she hit him. He staggered back after an effective left hook to somewhere on his face.

    He charged her and tackled her back onto the bed. Her stomach tightened as he punched her over and over. The icy fear started washing over her as she tried to defend herself against his beating.

    She heard a loud crack and realized it had been her head against the headboard. The pain, all consuming and now the center of her focus, enveloped her entire body. The blows continued relentlessly.

    "Thomas," she managed to choke out in between blows. Weak, in pain, she didn't have any strength left to fight him. He'd kill her if he didn't stop beating her.

    Another especially hard blow sent her spinning. Literally. She rolled from the force. He didn't waste any time rolling her back over and starting in again. Oh, God. Such unrelenting agony.

    She tried to cover her face, tried to block his fists. It was futile. His strength overpowered hers. His stamina apparently overpowered hers, too.

    The terror gripped her heart. She couldn't breathe. She could no longer see. She tasted her own blood. She was in so much pain it hurt to even think. Her adrenaline forcing her heart to palpitate still didn't give her the strength she needed to fight him off.

    "Please." She was weak. Weaker. Her voice didn't sound like her own as she pleaded with him for her life.

    Not even having enough strength to cry, she closed her eyes, spent. The blows sent her head thrashing back and forth, back and forth. She wondered what the human threshold was for pain. How much longer could she endure this?

    And then, the beating stopped. Silence. Everything hurt. Even though he'd stopped beating her, she still felt fists against her flesh, her bones. It hurt. Dear God. Her entire being throbbed in excruciating, blinding pain.

    "Open your eyes."

    Not wanting to do anything to provoke him into another rage-filled beating, she did. Glancing around, nothing registered. How did she get here?

    He grabbed her chin and forced her to look up at him. She blinked and tried to focus. "I want to look in your eyes as I finish this."

    She tried to gasp when she realized his fingers tightened down on her throat. She'd never been strangled before. Choking on a breath, her eyes filled with tears.

    "Thomas," she rasped. Sobbing, she begged, begged for her life. It sounded like someone else as she pleaded in a weak voice. "Please stop. You're hurting me."

    "Tell me you love me."

    She sobbed, which tore at her, the pain so intense it brought darkness to her vision. "I can't."

    Growling, he tightened his grip. She coughed and took one last breath before he cut off her air. Little black dots started dancing in front of her. Then stars. Now they both danced together.

    As she fought to take a life-giving breath, her only thought rested on David, and on the fact she'd never see him again.

    

    

    "There it is."

    David eyed the warehouse from inside the bird. Charis was in there. He had to get to her. While the tracking device worked beautifully, it stopped transmitting almost two minutes ago.

    He looked down at his watch. Shit! Make that
three
minutes ago.

    "Get me down there," he ordered the pilot.

    "Too many trees, sir."

    "Screw the trees. Get me down there!"

    "When was the last time you rappelled out of a helicopter? Do you even remember how?"

    It didn't matter. If it meant the difference between finding her alive and finding her... He shook off the thought. He'd sprout wings and fly if he needed to. He
would
find her. He had to.

    "Get me into gear." He worked with the two men in the bird with him. Keller was small and swift on his feet, and one of the top rappellers in NASSD. He gave David a quick rundown of the gear as the other man suited him up. James, the other man, acted as the eyes and ears of the bird. He relayed the order to rappel out of the helicopters, as given by David.

    "Once on the ground," Keller continued, "disengage. Got it?" David nodded. "Ready? One. Two. Th-"

    He jumped out and rappelled down. He hadn't had the opportunity to rappel in years. The feeling of absolute weightlessness felt exhilarating. Looking around, he saw the rest of the team rappelling down as well. Oh yeah. What an awesome sight.

    
I'm coming, Charis. Hold on, sweetheart. I'm coming.
Once he hit the ground, he disengaged his restraints and motioned for the team to follow him toward the warehouse. Signing for half to take the left, the other half to take the right, he turned and stopped at the group of trees twenty feet from the main entrance.

    "Team A in place."

    "Team B in place."

    He tapped his earpiece to acknowledge. Until they had Charis safely away from the psycho son-of-a-bitch in there, they were now reliant on the lip mics and hand signals.

    He couldn't wait to give Surreal a hand signal.

    The first order of business was to cut the power. During the chaos they'd charge in and take out the target
after
securing the hostage.

    Hostage. Shit.

    "Be ready to move in three..."

    He brought the cutting dykes up to the wire.

    "Two..."

    Securing the wire in the opening of the dykes, he started to pinch.

    "One..."

    "I wouldn't do that," Surreal's voice came over their transmission.

    "And why not?" David rasped. How did he tap into their goddamn frequency?

    "Because if you do, she dies."

    "I think you’re lying."

    "Try me."

    He dropped the dykes and grabbed for his pistol. He ignored the weakness still lingering in his system, threatening to take over if he allowed himself to rest even a few seconds. His body screamed at him to give it a break.
Too bad
, he told himself.
You can rest when Charis is safe.

    
Fine, asshole. You want it your way? Just fine and dandy. You're still going to die.

    "Drop the weapon, Snyder. You, and only you, step in front of the door."

    "You think I'm fucking stupid?"

    "I
think
you want her back. I
think
you'll do just about anything I say to get her back. So, yes. If I ask you to do something stupid like blindly stand in front of a door, you'll do just that."

    "Screw you," he muttered sharply. But he did as Surreal told him and dropped his weapon. After standing up, he walked over and stood in front of the door.