by Doyle, S.
I didn’t see her but that didn’t mean she wasn’t there. As my father’s nurse, she was remarkably adept at surveillance. Given I knew what that creepy feeling on the back of my neck meant, I wasn’t fooled I’d completely lost her.
Would she think I was looking to leave the city? The country?
Would she stop me?
Curious, I made my way toward the ticket counter, lingering in line, gradually moving up toward the kiosk as each person in front of me purchased a ticket and moved out of line.
I was three people from the kiosk when I felt the subtle pressure of something hard and round pressing into my lower back.
“Is that a gun or are you just excited to see me?” I quipped.
I heard the soft chuckle behind me and instantly recognized the tenor of his voice.
“You’ll step out of line now, yes?”
I glanced over my shoulder and was struck again by how handsome Ivan aka Dmitri was. Liam was right, though, he was probably shit in bed. I didn’t argue with him but just moved in the direction he guided me with a motion of his chin toward the exit.
He’d seamlessly hid his gun so it was doubtful any security would be alerted to his presence. If I made a fuss, I had the feeling he’d take the expedient option of disabling me before removing me from the station.
How easy had it been back in Florence to abduct me from the restaurant? With a hand on my shoulder, he moved me through the crowds funneling into the station until we were headed in the opposite direction.
Outside at the curb there was a black sedan parked and running. Dmitri opened the back door, and with a tilt of his head and a smile that suggested he was harmless, even though I knew he wasn’t, he was telling me to get in the car willingly.
Running wasn’t an option and he knew it. He’d be on me too fast.
But screaming…screaming might attract some attention.
“Help! Help! Liam! Someone tell Liam! Douchebag is kidnapping me again!”
I could see Dmitri tense, then his face turned from that smile into something more sinister. He came around behind me and started shoving me into the backseat of the car.
“Help!” I shouted louder. “This douchebag is kidnapping me!”
I could feel the crowd around us shift with unease. At least I’d gotten the attention of some people. If Gare Du Nord was anything like 30th Street station in Philadelphia, there would at least be security cameras around to capture the event.
Although I wasn’t exactly sure who would care.
With a final shove he pushed me into the backseat of the car, climbing in immediately behind me to cut off any attempt at escape.
“Are you stupid? I have a gun. I will shoot you.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I gave him a look that suggested he was full of horse shit.
“You doubt me?” He seemed outraged by the idea.
“Yep,” I said, pretty confidently. “You need me to get to my father. You’re not going to kill me before that happens.”
“Dmitri doesn’t need anything.”
I looked around the headrest into the front seat and identified the driver as Marta. Of course they were working together. I knew that because if Marta’s only job in Venice was to kidnap me and bring me to my father, then there was no reason to seduce Liam and distract his attention.
“You knew where my father was all this time,” I said, throwing my arms up in the air. “Why do you need me?”
“Your father doesn’t trust me,” Marta spat. “Not really. All these months of wiping his ass and I’m no closer to finding his work. But his time is running out. We can’t wait any longer. Fortunately, we now have you.”
“Fortunately,” I muttered.
“It was never about using you to find your father. Only about using you to get your father to turn over the work,” Dmitri said, resting the gun on his thigh. “Now we’re all here together and it’s time to get on with it.”
“Yeah, well, he didn’t turn over anything to me except for a few Euros and a credit card.” I tossed the purse to Dmitri, who opened it and immediately started digging around inside. He found the cash, the single black Amex. Then he pulled out the padlock.
“What’s this?”
“I bought it at the Pont des Arts. I’m sure your girlfriend saw me do it.”
Marta grunted from the driver’s seat.
Dmitri rolled his eyes. “Stupid romantic gestures. Like your boyfriend did for you.”
That had me raising my eyebrows. “What do you mean? What do you know about Liam?”
Dmitri smiled smugly. “Liam? Is that his real name then? And he told you. Interesting. Yes, I know he lost his job over you. The respect of his comrades in the community. They see him as weak now. And this is certainly not a job for the weak. He should have tortured you for answers. At the very least used you as bait. Instead he was trying to protect you. Blah.”
Dmitri said protect like it was a bad word, but I felt it all the way down to my toes. Liam found me after I ran away. He got me to the airport in Rome. He believed he’d put me on a plane back to the United States.
Now he’d lost his job because of it? Was I upset for him? It was hard to tell because I didn’t really know how much he liked being a spy. Surely torturing people wasn’t a fun thing to do.
I turned my face to the window and watched the scenery pass before me. I didn’t ask where we were going. It didn’t matter. I didn’t have my father’s work, so there was nothing they could get from me.
I only hoped they realized that before I lost my thumbnails. But I had a sense I simply needed to hang on. Liam had to know by now I hadn’t made it to the States. Now there might be video out there of a woman being kidnapped at the train station shouting his name.
He’d come for me. I had to believe that.
Eventually, Marta turned into a parking garage and the car became dark as well as silent. After a few turns, she pulled to a stop. I tried to open my car door but, of course, it was locked.
Dmitri made a disgusted sound. “I have a gun.”
“But we’ve already established you’re not going to shoot me,” I reminded him.
“I can shoot you in the foot.”
I watched as he aimed the gun towards my foot, and I squeaked. “Dude, that is not cool.”
“It is not meant to be cool or not cool,” he said, clearly frustrated with my lack of whimpering. “It is meant to incapacitate you and cause you pain.”
“Whatever. I think it’s rude.”
“We’re here,” Marta announced. She turned in her seat and directed her gaze on me. “You will cooperate, or he will hurt you. Do you understand?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I get it. Torture and mayhem. You both know I don’t know anything, right?”
She sneered. “You think you’re clever. Maybe Liam and his pierced dick made you feel more confident than you should be.”
“Hey!” I said, outraged. “How do you know he’s got a pierced dick?”
“Yes,” Dmitri said, scowling at Marta. “How do you know this? Is it true?”
“Oh, it’s true,” I muttered.
She shook her head at Dmitri and got out of the car. Dmitri also exited and waved his gun at me in case I wasn’t cluing into the fact that I was supposed to follow.
I scooted over and exited the car, taking the small purse with me. Dmitri and Marta flanked me on either side. I tried to look for any indicators that might tell me where I was, but it looked like any other creepy parking garage.
They directed me toward an elevator, and we rode all the way to the penthouse. It wasn’t until we exited the elevator, crossed the hallway, and stepped into the extravagant apartment with the view of the Eiffel Tower, that I realized where we were.
Back at Gino’s. Only he hadn’t had the penthouse apartment. I’d taken the stairs when I’d left his place earlier. What felt like days ago, but was, in reality, only hours ago.
“Sit.” Marta directed me to one of the chairs
in the apartment. “Dmitri, tie her.”
“Of course,” he said silkily. “As soon as you tell me how you know Liam has a pierced dick.”
“Really?” Marta snapped. “We’re really going to do this now while we are this close to obtaining the information we’ve been searching for, for months?”
Marta had pinched her fingers together about an inch apart when she’d emphasized this.
I took the seat she’d indicated earlier. Burnished green silk, ornate design, something that looked quintessentially old and French.
“Oh Dmitri, that’s about the size of his piercing,” I said, pushing my fingers together to show him. “I just felt like I should defend his dick honor. You can corroborate that, Marta.”
Not that I was thrilled Liam, at some point, had done the nasty with Marta, but if I could sow mistrust between these two, that had to be to my advantage.
“You said you weren’t attracted to him. You said he was too skinny,” Dmitri mumbled even as he pulled out a piece of rope from an inside pocket of his leather coat. I wondered what else was tucked inside his coat. Guns, rope, pliers maybe? Great for removing fingernails?
First, he took the purse from my hand and stuffed it into his pocket pants. Then he tied the rope around my wrists and tugged at it hard, but not so hard I was going to lose circulation to my fingers. I did everything I could to give myself as much wiggle room as possible, but even if I could free my hands, it wasn’t like I had anywhere to go.
“He kind of grows on you,” I whispered to Dmitri. “Just gets under your skin until the next thing you know, you want him so much, you’re willing to suck his cock, piercing and all.”
“Shut up,” he grumbled, stepping back from me. “Shut your filthy mouth. I’m going to enjoy making you suffer.”
“It sounds like you’re the one who is suffering,” I pointed out. “Suffering from a heartache.”
He pulled on the rope tightly, and jerked my hands down so that it felt like my shoulders were going to pop out of their sockets. I bit my bottom lip and tried not to make a sound, but I knew he’d heard my whimper.
“Dmitri, go get Gino. Let him try to hold out now that we have his precious legacy.”
Dmitri snarled, not sure if that was for me or for Marta, but he did as ordered.
“Figured he was the two to your one,” I said nodding. “He’s not very smart, is he?”
Marta walked in front of me and crouched down. She was wearing a simple pair of jeans that probably cost a fortune and a midnight blue, V-neck sweater that showed off her ample cleavage. I hadn’t noticed before when she was playing nursemaid to my father, but now I could see she didn’t do anything without a sexual purpose.
Even dressing to tail someone for an afternoon.
“You’re going to want to save your energy, little bird. Once daddy sees what I plan to let Dmitri do to you, he’ll sing like a canary. Whether you survive it, I can’t say. You’re rather puny. One wonders what the American saw in your skinny, bony frame and your flat chest.”
“Bitch, I’ll tell you what he saw. My much finer pussy. Were you bummed that he’d decided to knock you out rather than bang you silly? I assume you know about the piercing from surveillance photos because you and I both know he wanted nothing to do with your skanky Russian ass.”
Her face crumbled from smug to bitch face.
“You are tied to a chair. You’re going to be tortured until your father speaks. If he does, we’ll kill him and you. If he doesn’t, we’ll simply torture you longer. You should understand the precarious nature of your position.”
I took in a breath and tried to look solemn, but I’d been on such a roll lately. “Good thing, then, my last pleasurable memory on this earth is going to be getting fucked by Liam and his awesome dick. I didn’t even like sex very much until he showed me what it was all about.”
The quick backhand should have been expected, but it still stung. This was my life now. Trading quips with sexy Russian spies, being tied up and smacked around. Jared certainly couldn’t accuse me of having no life now.
The door to the apartment opened and Dmitri rushed inside.
“He’s gone,” he announced to Marta.
“What do you mean, gone? He’s an invalid. He can’t go anywhere,” Marta insisted.
“He’s not there,” Dmitri spat. “The apartment was empty.”
“You idiot! Did you check every room? Maybe he tried to get up and fell.”
Dmitri got up in her grill. “You question me as if I’m some boy? I know what the fuck I’m doing.”
She backed off and they both stared at me.
“Don’t look at me. I didn’t take him. You were following me all day. You know exactly where I was and what I was doing.”
I could see Marta thinking back over the day. “The internet café. You warned him.”
“Nope, try again.”
“You messaged someone. You told them to circle back and remove Gino from the apartment. I have to admit, I didn’t give you enough credit for being so clever. Was it the American?”
“Nope, try again.”
This time I got a backhand to the other side of my face.
“Who teaches you how to do that?” I asked her. “Instead of playing with your dolls as a child, did you just whale on them until their heads came off?”
“I don’t like this. We’re vulnerable. We need to leave and come up with a plan.” Dmitri grabbed Marta’s wrist, but she pulled free as if rejecting his suggestion.
After consideration and knowing that she had no choice, finally she nodded. “Untie her. She’s coming with us.”
“No. I don’t think she is.”
We all heard the voice, but none of us saw him.
Liam! He was here. Somehow, in Paris, in this building, in this apartment. I should have been surprised, but I wasn’t. It was like I knew this whole time that, somehow, he would find me regardless of how crazy it seemed.
Dmitri growled and Marta pulled a gun from an ankle holster under her jeans and held it up to my temple.
“Make a move on us and she dies,” Marta called out.
“You can’t do that,” Liam said calmly from somewhere. In the large apartment with the high ceilings it was hard to get a sense of where his voice was coming from. And there were at least three doors that led out of the main room. “She’s the only who knows where Gino’s Legacy Project is.”
“She doesn’t know shit,” Marta countered.
“On the contrary, Gino gave her the project when she walked out the door. And you let it happen, Marta.”
“Fuck!” Dmitri raged. “Where the fuck is it?”
He started running his hands down the front of my dress and, with a hard rip from the neckline down, separated the dress right down the front, leaving me in bra, panties and destroyed fabric.
“Yo! Douchebag, I didn’t stuff it in my bra.”
Marta snorted and pressed the gun harder against my head. “Enough of this. We’re two to your one. Show yourself and we’ll spare you and the girl as long as she cooperates.”
“It’s woman,” I corrected her. “As women we need to move away from the word girl when referring to grown women. We don’t refer to grown men as boys, do we?”
“I refer to all men as boys,” Marta replied in a way that actually made me believe her. “Now where is it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I said entirely unconvincingly. “I already told you. All Gino gave me was some cash and an Amex card. An Amex Black because if you’re trying to buy back the love of your daughter, that’s the way to do it.”
It took her a second, but then her eyes lit up. “Dmitri, do you have the purse?”
He pulled it out of his pants pocket. Marta grabbed it and took out the Amex and dropped the purse on the floor. Black, just as I’d described.
“The chip,” she murmured. “It must be in the chip.”
“Let’s take it and go,” Dmitri said, his head on a swivel, waiti
ng for Liam to make his move.
She pulled the gun away from my head and held it out in front of her. “I could shoot you, but it would just be a bother to get the blood out of my clothes.”
And with that, Boris and Natasha, aka the Russian twins, aka Douchebag and Bee-otch left.
Stepping out from the shadows of the one of the closed doors, Liam was whistling as he walked over and locked the door and bolted it just in case they decided to come back.
“That seemed a little too easy,” I said as he walked over to stand in front of me. Damn, he looked good. Jeans and a tight gray Henley. Had there ever been a time when I didn’t think he was the sexiest man alive?
His lips twitched. “A little. The power of suggestion is an incredible thing. Nice job reminding them about the credit card.”
“How did you find me?”
“I have my ways,” he said, still smiling.
Expecting him to move behind me to untie the ropes, I looked up and saw that he was checking out the view, which was mostly me in a wrecked dress and my bra and panties.
“Yo! Dude! You going to untie me, or what?”
“I’m considering it,” he said with his hand under his chin like I was an experiment he was studying. “I’m thinking we didn’t have a lot of time to get into the extras during our one night together. This tied-and-helpless look is really doing it for me.”
I scowled at him. “Are you getting a boner right now?”
He cupped himself in the crotch. “Yup. But in fairness, I’ve had it since you told Dmitri how you like to suck my cock.”
“I was trying to rile him up, keep my enemy off guard,” I said. “This was a fairly dangerous situation. They were going to torture me.”
“Nah. I would have rescued you long before that.”
Deciding I was going to have to get myself out of this mess, I started squirming in the chair, creating a little separation in the rope around my wrists. Then with a twist to the right and to the left I felt my right hand come loose.
Proud of my accomplishment, I showed him my free hand. “See, I didn’t need you that much.”
