by Natasha Deen
Good news: the longer you were at a location, the more of a footprint you left. Bad news: the fact that this location was secure enough to be home base meant they had probably blocked cell signals somehow. Or there was something unique about this spot that ensured no one could find them. It was underground, maybe, or reinforced with concrete.
“Jimmy’ll give you a few days,” she said. “To get…comfortable. Then he’ll make you fight. Bad things happen if you don’t.”
The way she said that made my skin feel like a thousand insects were crawling over it.
“After the fight, they’ll take care of any cuts and injuries,” she continued. “The girl-on-girl bouts are popular, and they want to keep the regular fighters around for as long as possible. So they’ll be good to you.” Another dark laugh. “You wanna hear something funny? Between the food and the vitamins, this is probably the best care my body’s had.”
“Till they make you fight.”
“Like I said, they have meds and doctors.” She shifted, her form shadowy in the dim light. “Letting you go is a last resort.”
“They’re killing kids.”
“No, my dear.”
I jumped at the male voice overhead.
“Jimmy,” whispered Amanda.
“The kids are killing each other,” the voice declared.
I let go of Amanda’s fingers, went to the cage door and craned my head up. No one was visible, and the echo in his voice told me he was using speakers. Which meant the room was set up with video cameras and microphones so we could be monitored from a separate location.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Your new best friend. I think you girls have had enough time to chat, don’t you? I let you have rooms next to each other—”
“You call this a room?”
“I can always provide other accommodation,” said Jimmy.
I went quiet.
“Good girl. Now. Scoot back from the metal. Wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”
Something in his voice—twisted delight—kept me from challenging him. I scooted back and took a spot in the center of my cage. A second later I heard a sharp click, then the crackle and hum of electricity as it thrummed through the bars. Amanda was right—we were never getting out of hell.
THIRTEEN
Jimmy doused the lights, and the space went pitch black. No source of natural light meant no windows. With my focus now on my surroundings, I realized the floor seemed to heave and move under me. So we were on a ship. No wonder they hadn’t moved location. If the ship was out of port, there was no one to track them except the coast guard, and they had enough to do without random spot checks across the ocean.
And now I knew why we hadn’t been able to find Amanda. She hadn’t been on land. That’s why her phone had last been used on the beach. She’d probably dropped it when they grabbed her.
I lost track of time. The shuffle of kids slipping under their covers eventually quieted to a creepy silence where I couldn’t even hear them breathe. I tried to stay awake, and fear was the best kind of caffeine. But eventually the exhaustion took over, and I fell into a restless sleep.
FOURTEEN
A sudden sway in the ship jolted me awake. I heard the whir of mechanics and frowned as my senses told me we were going down. How was that possible? A dull thud sounded as we stopped moving. Geez. These guys didn’t mess around. The cages must be in a bigger storage container. Maybe a shipping crate. And they’d hung it up in the air. Even if a kid could escape the kennel, they’d never survive the fall to the ground.
I heard the metallic ching of a lock disengaging. Footsteps sounded, and soon two black boots—military—came into view. And stopped in front of my kennel. They were followed by more black boots. Then the sound of multiple cages opening, ceramic bowls hitting cement flooring.
I crawled to the door, careful not to touch the bars, and looked up. The tarp on top of the cage made it difficult to see much.
“Get back.”
That voice. Jimmy.
“Why?”
“A girl who likes to challenge the guy with all the power, huh? We got a live wire, boys,” he said, then turned back to me. “I like you.” He sounded amused.
And interested. I swallowed the revulsion rising in my throat.
“But we don’t have time right now for your curiosity, kitten. Get back so I can feed you.” He crouched, giving me a view of chiseled jaw, dark eyes, thick hair.
“I’m not hungry.”
“You’ll eat.”
“Because?”
“I’ll hurt Amanda if you don’t.” He said it matter-of-factly, and I knew he meant it. And that he’d made good on the threat before.
“I’m suddenly famished.”
“Good kitten.” He smiled and waved me back.
I did as instructed.
Jimmy looked over his shoulder and waved. There was a loud click. The electricity being turned off. He unlocked the door and slid a plate at me. “Eat.” Another smile. He sat, yoga style, in front of me.
I took the plate. Roasted chicken. Mashed potatoes with garlic. Grilled asparagus and squash. For sure, there was bad stuff in the food—valium or speed—but the smell was tempting.
“Go ahead.” He smiled again. “Eat.”
I glanced at Amanda.
“It’s safe,” she said. “They need us to fight.”
“Did I say you could talk?” Jimmy asked her.
She flinched and bent over her food.
I took the fork and reached for the potatoes.
“No.” He was enjoying bossing me around. “Eat the chicken first.” He held his thumb and index finger a few inches apart. “Little bites. I want you to enjoy your meal.”
I did. Then, as I went to take a second bite, he told me to take some potato. That’s how the dinner went. Me eating according to his instructions, he clearly enjoying the control he wielded over me. As I continued to eat, the other members of the gang left. And then it was just me, him and the rest of the imprisoned.
“That was nice. Our first meal together.” He waved me closer.
A power move to show he was so strong and secure he didn’t care how near I got to the door of my cage.
“Time to earn the dinner you just ate,” he said.
“You want me to fight on a full stomach?”
His smile was predatory. “You fight when I tell you to fight.”
I shook my head. “I’m not beating up some girl.”
“Like I said, a live wire. I like girls with charge. Especially smart ones. You ate for Amanda. You’ll fight for her too.”
“I’ll eat for her. I won’t beat up one person to prevent you from beating up another.”
“What if it’s more than a beating? What if it’s her life that’s on the line?”
Now it was my turn to smile. “We’re all dead anyway.”
Jimmy laughed. Slapped his thigh. “He told me that’s what you’d say.”
He? Who was he? No way was I going to ask. I’d just have to play along and hope he’d drop the name.
Jimmy wagged his finger at me. “You and me? We’re going to have a lot of fun.”
“I doubt it.”
“Come on, kitten. Get up, and let’s go.”
“I’ll just wait for the cops, thanks,” I said. “Phoned them before I left for the park.”
“You’re cute, you know that? Smart, gorgeous. The whole package. I guess being that hot takes time, and you haven’t had a chance to watch TV.” He smiled that creepy smile and continued. “Didn’t you hear about the swatting that’s been going on?”
“Are we talking mosquito season? ’Cause you lost me,” I said. I knew what he was talking about, but I needed to delay him as long as I could.
“Swatting. Making prank 9-1-1 calls. There was a bunch, and all of ’em claimed to be the location of illegal fighting rings.”
Crap. This was not going well. “Fine. Scratch the cops. I have backup—”
; “Your little buddies? They’re not coming for you, kitten.” He reached back and pulled out my phone. “You’re sentimental, and that’s your downfall. You should never have saved those texts from Amanda, ’cause now I’ve got a record of how you talk.”
Stupid. I had been smart enough to delete the texts from Raven, Jace and Bentley, and I had been smart enough to delete Bentley’s apps. Too bad I hadn’t been smart enough to delete the messages from Amanda.
“I’ve got all your adorable little slang here at my fingertips.” He typed in a code, and I heard the click of the phone opening.
How did he manage that?
He thumb-flicked along the screen. “Your friends—”
“I don’t have any friends.”
“Give me some credit, kitten. I know how to find the ones you love.”
My skin went cold.
“They got a text from you. The location was a bust, you said, but you did manage to find Amanda. You’re at the hospital with her now, and then you’ll be with the cops. And you’ll be offline for the next few days.”
“And in a few days?”
“Oh, another text. Still with Amanda. Taking time away.” He grinned. “It’ll go like that for a while.”
This could actually work in my favor. Every time he used my cell, it would ping off the cell towers. Which meant Bentley could track me. Maybe I wasn’t so stupid after all.
Jimmy scrubbed the underside of his jaw. “Learned from my mistake with Amanda. Lost her phone. If I still had it, I could’ve been texting you. And no one would have been the wiser.” He wiggled my phone. “I’m nothing if not a fast learner. Now it’s time to get going. The fans are waiting.”
“I told you, I’m not fighting.”
“Take a look at all these cages,” he said, waving an arm in a wide circle.
I didn’t look. Just stared him down.
“I got seven girls here right now. I’ll make you a deal. For every six fights you do, I’ll let a girl go free on the seventh. Here.” He pulled a small piece of cardboard from his pocket. “I even made you up a card like those coffee shops do. Six punches”—he laughed—“and the seventh’s free.”
I looked at the card, at six tiny images of boxing gloves. Amanda had called Jimmy crazy. But the time and care this guy had taken to make the card, the fact he had cut off Ian’s fingers…Jimmy had gone past crazy and landed in the world of deranged. And, lucky me, it looked like I had prime real estate in his kingdom.
“You’re precious merchandise.” Pivoting, he swept his arm around the space again before adding, “But these kids. You could save them. And if you don’t help, we both know where they’ll end up.”
“Oh boy. You must be new at this,” I said. “Trying to blame me for their deaths is as stupid as those shoes you’re wearing.”
“He totally undersold how feisty you are.”
And another reference to he. Had I been wrong the whole time? Was there someone even higher than Jimmy?
“How about this?” Jimmy suggested. “You fight. And I don’t kill your friends.”
“Told you—”
“What are their names?” Jimmy pretended to think. “Raven, Jace and sweet little Bentley? Think they can survive a sniper’s bullet?”
That stopped me.
“Good. You’re thinking. That’s a smart kitten.”
I swallowed. “I have no guarantee you’ll keep your word if I fight.”
“True. You can’t guarantee I won’t kill them if you fight, but I promise I will shoot them if you don’t.” He grinned. “In the back of the head. Sever the spine from the body. Quick and painless.” He sat back.
“I’ll use a small-caliber bullet, so they can have open-casket funerals. Then again,” he said into the silence, “I could just catch them and use them for other things. Bentley, for example. He’d fetch a handsome price. You wouldn’t believe the money some people will pay for a—”
“Stop!”
He leaned in. “What do you say, kitten? Do we have a deal?”
FIFTEEN
“Not that I don’t trust you,” I said, “but I don’t trust you.”
Jimmy laughed.
His constant grin was unnerving. The guy was a lunatic. But also so arrogant it would never occur to him that he ever had anything other than complete control. I had to figure out a way to throw him off his game. “I’m still not doing it.”
“Think I won’t honor our deal?”
“I think you’ll just replace those kids with others. I think you’ll kill my friends ’cause you like killing.” I leaned back, faking a calmness I didn’t feel. “I think no matter what deal I agree to, you’ll find a loophole.” I smiled. “I think I’m not fighting.”
He didn’t like that. I could tell by the way his jaw tightened. “Well, I think you’re wrong. You’ll fight.”
“This conversation isn’t just circular. It’s boring.” I scooted away from the opening. “Lock the cage on your way out and shut off the lights, would you?”
“Whatever you say.” He locked my cage, then moved in front of Amanda’s and wrenched open the door. “Get out,” he commanded.
“Stay there,” I told Amanda.
“I’m sorry, Jo,” said Amanda as she crawled toward Jimmy. “But you don’t know what he can do.”
I crouched to get a better view. Amanda climbed out of the cage and stood beside Jimmy, shaking.
“Here’s your choice,” Jimmy said to me with a sneer. “Come out and play with me”—he grabbed a handful of Amanda’s hair—“or I play with this one.”
Logic said he’d hurt us both. Logic said that my giving in meant he would torture and torment us. But logic was nothing compared to the memories of Amanda and me.
I moved toward the door.
SIXTEEN
Jimmy tossed a zip tie my way. “Tie your hands.”
I did, but in front of my body. He either didn’t notice or didn’t care. But I did. Having my hands in front of me—even if they were tied together—still gave me a fighting chance.
“I appreciate the jewelry, especially on our first date,” I said. “But I have no intention of running.”
“We’ll see.”
He didn’t bind my feet. I wasn’t sure if that meant bad or even badder things for me.
“Ready?” Jimmy asked.
“Like, totally.”
He pushed Amanda to the side. “Step out.”
Because of my height—five foot nine—I had to duck as I crawled out. Which was why I didn’t notice the needle until I felt it in the back of my neck. I jerked, then rolled crab style away from him and the cage. “What the—!”
“Just being careful.” Jimmy had stepped a safe distance away from my feet and fists.
I struggled to stand. Whatever he’d given me, it was fast-acting. My brain may have been full of pudding, but it was still working. As Jimmy grabbed me and hauled me to my feet, I wrenched myself free. And since time wasn’t on my side, I went for a low blow. Literally. I kneed him as hard as I could in the crotch.
I grabbed Amanda and pushed her to the door. “Go! Go!” We ran through the exit of the container and stumbled into a warehouse of some kind.
“My vision’s going blurry,” I told Amanda. So was my speech. “Where’s an exit?”
“What?”
“An exit!” I slipped, and she caught me.
Holding on to me with her unbandaged hand, she pushed me in the correct direction. “Left. Run left!”
I twisted free of her. “Go! I’ll follow!” I let her go ahead of me. Tried to blink away the blurriness and was glad to see that all three of her were running in the same direction.
Amanda slammed to a stop. “Clem! Oh god, Clem’s here!”
“That’s fine.” I did a slip-slide-stumble to her, then pushed her to keep going. “I told him all about this. He must have been keeping tabs.”
“No, Jo, you don’t understand—”
“Clem!” Since Amanda wasn’t moving, I st
epped—tripped—around her. Squinted at his form and what seemed to be a weapon in his hand. “Take her first.”
He came toward us. “Didn’t I tell you this was stupid?”
“Yes, but—” I shook my head, trying to clear the thickening fog. “Bu…but…” I couldn’t remember what I wanted to say. Couldn’t seem to get my legs to stay upright. I wobbled. Shoved Amanda in his direction. “Take her. I get him.” My words were slurred.
I heard Jimmy behind me, sounding as though he were underwater.
“Are you totally stupid?” Clem asked.
“That’s not nice,” I said.
“Don’t point that thing at me—” Jimmy pushed Clem.
I couldn’t see what Clem was pointing, but I hoped it was something with an electric charge or a sharp end. “Point it,” I said to Clem, my words sliding together. “Keep pointing it.”
“Didn’t I tell you to be careful with this one?”
Clem’s question, coldly spoken, cleared some of the fog from my brain. But not much. Not enough. I shook my head, then shook it again. Nothing was making sense.
Amanda grabbed my hand.
“Lecture me later,” said Jimmy. “Take care of them now.”
“I should take care of you,” said Clem.
“What?” said Jimmy. “I covered my bases.”
“You should have covered more. You better forget about having kids after that kick she gave you.”
“You were spying on me? With the videos?” Jimmy—all four of him—swung toward Clem.
“More like watching over you. I told you she was trouble. Told you to take care. But you’re so arrogant,” Clem said. “If you’d tied her feet as well as her hands, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
Betrayal is like adrenaline. It clears the brain and clarifies the mind. And everything was suddenly making horrible sense.
“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Amanda whispered. “Clem is Jimmy’s boss. He’s the one behind the fight club.”
SEVENTEEN
“She’s resourceful and smart. And she’s working with a team,” said Clem. “You moron. You think they’re not tracking her?”
