Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 39540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39540 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 158(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
“On my life, Knuckles. I’ll get her back and keep her safe. If I die, one thing I know with absolute certainty is that Cain would never let an innocent suffer once he knew of it. Torpedo was his second long before I was born so I’ve known him my whole life, too. I know them all. Once I get them on this, as long as one of them is still alive, they will never stop trying to bring Pippa home.” It was as big a promise as I could make, but I knew my dad and his club. Even in fifteen years, they might not accept me back into the fold, but their integrity would never break.
“Then get your ass outta here. You tell me when she’s safe.”
“I’ll give you regular reports. We’ll have to research and plan, but I won’t take any more time than strictly necessary before going to bring her out.”
“Plan it well, brother. Get her out safe.”
“You have my word.”
* * *
Pippa
They were coming. I could hear heavy footfalls and raised male voices. It was part of the torture I’d endured for the last month. At least, I thought it had been a month. I’d scratched a notch into the wooden floor for each day I’d been there. Might have missed a day or counted one twice. It was hard to tell with the drugs and the fact that there was only one window and I wasn’t even sure if it faced the morning or evening sun. I never knew what my captors were going to do, but it was never pleasant. Usually, it meant someone was drugging me or a beating when I fought the drugging, but things had been escalating recently. I got the impression they were waiting on something. I wasn’t sure what, and the natives were getting restless, so to speak.
“Is Boss lettin’ us play with the bitch today?”
“Not yet.” The voices were distinctively different. While the first one had a squeak and a whiny tone, the second voice was deeper and more sinister. It was the man who came in to shoot me up every few hours. While I sometimes got a little dizzy, whatever they were using wasn’t as strong as I’d have expected. I was never completely under and had, so far, been able to fight them off whenever they got handsy. Probably more because they obviously didn’t have the go ahead to do whatever they wanted. As to who “they” were, I had no idea.
The door opened and I huddled into an even tighter ball on the floor in the corner. There was only a dingy mattress for me to sleep on and a bucket in the corner for me to go to the bathroom in, and that was it. Not a blanket or pillow or anything. I was naked, cold, and filthy, my hair a tangled, nasty mess. If I made it out of here, I was sure I’d have to cut it. Which was the least of my worries.
It was dark, and the light spilling into the room hit me squarely in the eyes. I whimpered and lifted a hand up to block out the light. Which was exactly what the man wanted. He snagged my arm and extended it so my elbow wasn’t bent.
I struggled but he didn’t smack me around this time. Probably because I was no match for his greater strength. Plus, they hadn’t been feeding me regularly and it had been a couple days since I’d had any water. The fight was rapidly running out of me. Rather than waste energy on a futile effort, I did my best to conserve my strength. Unless he hit me with a lot more than he usually did, I would still have enough awareness of everything around me to be able to fight if this was a prelude to another assault. What these guys didn’t know and what I’d taken great pains to hide from them, was I had never been overly susceptible to narcotics. Why? No clue. But other than taking away the pain, I didn’t get high. Which, in this situation wasn’t exactly a blessing.
There was a sharp prick in the bend of my elbow as the guy found a vein, even without a tourniquet. He pressed the plunger and the sharp burning sting left in its wake made me cry out. Every time they did this, I was certain my arm was going to turn black and fall off. A few seconds later, euphoria warmed me from the inside out. They’d definitely hit me with a stronger dose, but it still wasn’t enough to put me out. I wasn’t sure if being awake was a blessing or a curse, though.
The second he pulled the needle from my arm, the guy let me go and stomped out, just like always. The whiny-sounding guy lingered, but the other man snagged him by the upper arm and dragged him to the door. He slammed the door shut and I heard the click of the outside lock. Once again, I was alone.