JINXED: (Karma Series, Book Two)

by Donna Augustine

  I kept a close guard on my expression, but that wouldn’t always be the way. One day, I’d be the one smiling as I ripped his head from his neck. It wouldn’t be a quick death, though. There was a debt that could only be repaid in pain.

  That thought was one of the things that got me through this: Kitty, and imagining the pain I’d inflict. Today might have belonged to him, but tomorrow was wide open. It lurked just around the corner, and the opportunities were endless. Every morning I woke might be the day I’d get my revenge.

  He tilted his head toward a back area, his smile never faltering. I didn’t want to follow but did anyway. No matter what was to come, in my mind there was no choice. Kitty was worth a beating, or worse.

  I’d discovered I could handle the pain. A blow here and there wasn’t as bad as it looked. It was the day-to-day loss of control, and the eyes I knew were always on me, that kept me from sleeping. It was Kitty, imprisoned under the control of a sadist like him, that woke me in the middle of the night. When I did step into that room though, I’d thought whatever was going to happen would happen to me.

  The far wall was lined with black curtains. Luke pressed a button on the wall and they drew back automatically, to reveal a window to another area. Kitty sat tied to the chair, blindfolded. This wasn’t where they normally kept her. I was positive of that.

  A man entered to her left. He stopped behind her and loomed. He was so large; he made her appear the size of a child in comparison. I might still be paying part of the bill today, but it was clear I wouldn’t be the only one picking up the tab for my earlier misstep.

  There’s a huge difference between taking a beating and watching someone I cared about take it for me. I could handle the pain but not this.

  “No. This isn’t the agreement.” I moved in front of Luke, my back to the window. “I work for Malokin and she remains safe. That’s what I was told. That was the agreement.”

  Luke shrugged. “Unfortunately, you haven’t been working that well. I thought you needed a little inspiration.” He motioned to my hand, which was already digging out my phone. “You can call Malokin. I assure you, he knows.” He rocked back on his heels, waiting for me.

  I slipped my phone back into my pocket. I knew he was right; I didn’t even doubt it.

  “This isn’t fair. Whatever you plan on doing, do it to me.” There was desperation in my voice, but I didn’t care. This is what he wanted. Control. He had it.

  He was still smiling, and that’s how I knew the answer was no without him having to speak. He knew what this was doing to me, and he reveled in it.

  “Let’s see, we had the issue of him answering the phone.” He held up a single finger to the man.

  I ran to the door that connected the two rooms, but there was no surprise it was locked. Even if I could break it down, I knew there were men behind the other door across the room. I could smell their rotting skin. I’d never get Kitty out. They’d kill her before I did.

  “Stop. I’ll do whatever you need.” If I had to beg and grovel for her, I would.

  “Too late. Come.” He pointed to the space next to him, like I was a dog he was bringing to heel. “You’ll need to witness this, so that I know you are fully aware of the ramifications of your actions. We don’t want to have to do this every day, now. I’ve got a busy schedule.”

  “I’m not watching.” That’s what this was about. Inflicting pain upon me. If I didn’t watch, he wouldn’t care what happened with Kitty, and maybe I’d just catch the beating I now so desperately wanted.

  “You’d deprive her of food and water on top of what’s coming? Would you condemn her to sit, tied to that chair, in her own filth?” He didn’t blink or budge from his spot. He meant every word. He’d do it. “I will leave her there, until she dies like that. Of course, I’ll move her to a new location you’ll have no hope of finding, but you’ll have this lovely last image to remember.”

  My spine stiffened. “No, you won’t. Then you’ll have nothing to keep me in line.” This was not going to happen, I wouldn’t let it. Somehow, I had to stop this.

  “If she dies, we’ll just get another one of your friends. That Murphy guy looked like an easy mark.” He looked up at the ceiling, as if he was pondering some great thought. “Or maybe Lady Luck? I bet she’d be a lot of fun to break. I know the guys would enjoy trying.” He smiled, as if he were picturing it in his mind.

  I tried to keep my breathing calm and not attack him right where he stood.

  “You think we can’t? We took her easy enough. We can take others. We know everything.” He gave up his physical position and walked over to me, and then let his fingers trail along my shoulder and down my arm. “Or maybe we should bring in Fate? How would that make you feel? Would that bother you? You act like you don’t care that much, but I think differently.”

  He slowly walked back to his spot in front of the glass. The soles of his dress shoes hit heavy and rang in my ears like a death toll. He pointed to the spot next to him.

  My first step toward him was the hardest. The short walk to stand by his side represented something I couldn’t wrap my brain around. There wasn’t a name for it; not yet, anyway. But it was dark, unnatural and made me feel like I’d walked a mile in a swamp and didn’t think I’d ever feel clean again.

  One final step and I was standing beside him. I kept my eyes on the large man as he reached down to where Kitty’s hand was tied to the chair. He made jerking motion with her right hand. When he let go, her thumb was jutting at an unnatural angle.

  She hunched over as much as the ropes tied around her chest would allow. Although her eyes were covered, I knew she was crying, because of the sobs coming from the speaker by the door. She might not be able to hear us, but I could hear everything.

  “Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?” she cried desperately.

  My chin notched up even as my stomach clenched.

  “Are you finished?”

  Luke didn’t answer right away, just looked at the watch on his right hand. “No. That would’ve been it if he’d only answered the phone, but this little issue we had today cost me an hour.”

  He held up another finger to the man inside the room.

  All reason disappeared and I snapped. My hands went around Luke’s neck before another thought had a chance to take over.

  Sometimes in life, you reach the limit of your tolerance, whether it’s physical pain, or worse, mental. At that moment, you snap. You revert to the most animalistic instincts that still dwell in your core, the basest part of you that always lingers deep inside. It lies dormant, waiting for opportunities just like these.

  Logic ceases to matter. You become a creature without higher thinking. You attack because it’s all you have left.

  We were falling to the ground and I had the best of him until a Taser gun hit me from behind. I’d known they were waiting in the shadows, from the moment I’d walked in the room. But the beast inside me—the one that had grown a little more every day since this ordeal had started—didn’t care. It had urged me forward, no matter the price.

  My body stiffened and I couldn’t control my limbs as I fell. When it finally stopped, two sets of hands gripped both of my arms and his goons hauled me to my feet.

  Luke, still prone on the ground where I’d knocked him, wasn’t smiling anymore. If I’d had half a second longer, I would’ve killed him. As it was, the damage was already apparent. Blood marked his nose where I’d gotten a good blow in, and there was a gouge where I’d almost taken out his eye. Once I had him on the ground, a few moments more and I would’ve been able to overpower him and snap his neck.

  “Put her front and center,” he said as he regained his feet and picked up his cell phone, which must have slid during our tussle.

  Since my legs weren’t working well, I was dragged to the middle of the glass and supported in place.

  Luke dialed a number and said three words that crushed me worse than two goons ever could. “Break them all.” He slipped hi
s phone into his pants pocket and crossed to where I was now, with one of his men on either side. I found little satisfaction in him keeping some distance.

  “Now, let’s watch what you’ve done to your friend.”

  By the third break, Kitty was crying in agony. The tears burned at my eyes but I wouldn’t let them fall. I moved my stare to a spot over her head but a hand yanked my hair and forced my gaze to her again. So instead, I forced my eyes to go out of focus.

  At the beginning, each break was punctuated by a scream. I counted down, knowing there’d be an end and clinging to it in my mind. After the fourth, there was only a soft mewl marking the breaks. I told myself that it wasn’t Kitty in there. It was a stranger who meant nothing to me.

  My spine stiffened as my eyes burned. If I wanted to get through this, I couldn’t feel. I had to be like them, cold and empty, a machine.

  The noises finally stopped and the room went black, turning the window before me into a makeshift mirror. All the horror I felt turned toward the image reflected before me. My hair was tousled and my clothes were wrinkled and stained. It took most of the energy I had these days just to continue on. The girl in the mirror was weak.

  Where was the strong attorney, the woman who could handle anything? Nothing had scared her. She’d never backed down from anyone, ever. She was her father’s daughter, a Marine with steel in his bones. Or she had been.

  Luke walked forward to stand in front of me, but I held my ground, no matter how pathetic I felt. The disgust for the woman in front of me held this new person I’d become in her spot. I would not let them break me.

  “Next time, it’ll be worse.” He stared at me and I could see him searching for something, a softness. He could look all night. It wouldn’t matter. It wasn’t there anymore. Any emotion that wouldn’t get me through this, or help Kitty, would be squashed as soon as it appeared.

  He stood still in front of me, neither of us moving or saying a word. He stared into my eyes, a small smirk lifting the corner of his mouth.

  He took a couple of steps around me, but I remained staring straight ahead. “Shame, really. I thought you’d offer me a much better run for my money. You’d started out with such promise. Who knew how easy it would be to break you with the right tools.” His hand trailed over my back. “I didn’t even know our kind could lose weight. You look so bad lately, you aren’t even worth the effort of rape.” His fingers grazed across my hip. “But you never know. Maybe if I get bored enough.”

  He was wrong. He wasn’t breaking me; he was honing me. His words didn’t matter anymore. His threat of rape didn’t faze me. Even if he did do it, it wouldn’t change anything. He couldn’t take something from me I’d already shed myself. If that meant giving up all I had been, so be it. I’d deal with what I was becoming after I got Kitty out of this. Or maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe I was better off like this, an animal like them.

  I didn’t budge; just let him grope me as he pleased. Luke seemed to become more agitated the more I didn’t react. “I’ve got plans. Drop her off somewhere,” he said to the two men at my sides.

  The Taser gun hit me again and I lost consciousness.

  Chapter 25

  Almost Miracle Grow

  When I woke, I was lying in a muddy field in the middle of the reserve. My purse lay next to me in a puddle. I guess they’d forgotten my address, this time.

  I coldly surveyed the damage. My knee would require a lot of wrapping before it would be able to take any weight at all. From the feeling of my midsection, Luke or his goons had given me a couple parting kicks to the ribs.

  It took some effort to push myself up out of the mud. A hard glove under my elbow startled me, and I jumped back to see the guards there. One of them was holding out a polishing rag for me to wipe the mud from my eyes.

  “Thank you,” I said, as I took the offering.

  “Bad,” the guard said, looking at me as his word reverberated through me.

  “Looks worse than it is.” And not as bad as Kitty was doing right now. “I didn’t call you guys. How did you know I was here?”

  “Paddy.”

  Paddy; the only person I felt might be able to handle this situation, and I couldn’t find him. He clearly knew what was happening, though. For someone that had been so interested in the beginning, he’d shown his true colors quickly.

  “Where is he?” There was an edge to my voice I couldn’t hide.

  They shook their heads and then dropped them, as if sad they couldn’t help.

  Fuck Paddy. I didn’t need him. I was handling it myself.

  I struggled to get to my feet to move forward, allowing myself to lean on the guard who walked beside me.

  ***

  After staying at a hotel in my effort to avoid Fate, I swung by the building I’d met Luke at yesterday as soon as I could get out of bed. It was abandoned.

  The window that had framed Kitty being tortured was smashed. The chair she’d sat in was there, the ropes still hanging from it. They knew I’d come back and were sending me a message. They wouldn’t use it again. I looked through the place from top to bottom anyway, all the while knowing I wouldn’t find her.

  Mid-step into the other room, the phone vibrated in my pocket, area code from nowhere calling. I hesitated for a split second before I answered it, as my distaste warred with my duty to Kitty.

  “What?”

  “Why so angry?” Luke mocked.

  I closed my eyes for a second and calmed myself before I asked, “What do you want?”

  “There’s a job to be done, as soon as you finish chasing your tail.”

  “Text me the details.” I hit end on the phone before he replied and left the building.

  ***

  Another “save” job; a new person to keep alive for Malokin’s grand plan, which I was still unable to fathom. I could live with those on my conscience. Keeping someone alive could be undone. Killing them was final and a line I’d avoided crossing so far.

  If I knew why he needed them alive, maybe I’d change my mind, but one job at a time was my motto. Still, I dreaded the day when I’d understand his purpose.

  I was hidden behind some bushes when they walked into the clearing. Two guys pointing a gun directed some other guy they called “Tom” on where to go. As far as karma, it was a close call on who was the worst of them. They were all dull and had cracks running along their skin.

  “Move it,” one of the guys with the guns said.

  “Please,” Tom pleaded. “Don’t do this to me. I didn’t do what he said.”

  Tom kept talking, but I didn’t bother listening. It would be easier to save him if I didn’t know what he was being accused of. Didn’t look like the henchmen were listening, either.

  They were five feet past where I was crouched when I jumped out. I nailed the guy closest to me with the hilt of my knife to the back of his head. He landed flat on his stomach, alerting the other two to my presence at the same time.

  The second henchman spun, his gun aimed at me, now. Their hostage froze, not knowing what to do. Seriously, did I have to do everything for this guy? I kicked the gun out of the guy’s hand and yelled to his hostage, “Run!” since he didn’t seem to have the instinct to do it himself.

  Tom took off into the woods and I was left with the last conscious henchman. “I don’t know who you are, but you’re going to pay for that.”

  “If I were you, I’d leave now.” This was one of those times I wished I looked like a linebacker. Even in my all black “don’t mess with me” clothes, no one took me at my word. Seriously, how could he miss my “I mean business” ponytail?

  He circled me and I followed, keeping him in sight. “You dumb bitch, you don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

  “You need to leave this alone.” I watched his face get angrier as I spoke. “I’m really not looking for a fight. I don’t want to have to kill you.” I held my hands up. See?

  It didn’t matter what I said. He came at me. I ducked his swing and too
k out his legs in the process. I turned back and saw him already getting to his feet. His friend started to moan, alerting me he was awake now, too. That would complicate things. It was harder to keep two of them off me without doing any mortal damage.

  This went on for a while. One would swing and I’d take him out and then the other would come at me. I could’ve done it all night, until there was a gun pointed at my head. Somebody had been a bad henchman and found it while I’d been busy trying to not kill his friend.

  “You don’t understand, I’m trying to let you guys go. Don’t do this.” I kept shaking my head, hoping they’d eventually catch on that I’d been going easy on them and leave.

  “Who do you work for?” The one holding the gun asked.

  “Name’s Malokin.” I found a perverse humor in telling them. Good luck doing anything with that information.

  One guy’s face scrunched in concentration. “You know that name?” he asked his friend. When the guy shook his head, he turned back to me. “Who the hell is that? And why’s he getting into our business?”

  “I have no idea. I’m just the hired hand, but I think it’s time to call it a day.”

  They decided not to, and the next thing a bullet that I barely managed to dodge was whizzing past my ear. Then it really got ugly. They had a friend. There was a punch in my kidneys and then a kick to my shoulder.

  It became crystal clear once I felt the stab in my side that it was going to come down to them or me. If I didn’t start playing for keeps, I wouldn’t be walking out of this forest; I’d be buried in it, fertilizing the trees.

  Chapter 26

  What a fate.

  My elbows dug into the soil as I dragged myself on my stomach into same brush I’d jumped out of. It wasn’t far enough away to do me much good, but it was all I could manage at the moment until I recouped some strength.

  By time it was over, it had become a blood bath. I’d only narrowly escaped with my life. So much for not killing anyone. I’d taken out three humans who shouldn’t have died, even if they might have deserved it.