Phantom Warriors: Linx (12 page)

She
nodded and tears filled her eyes.

Tabby
felt no triumph as her twin finally realized the truth. She wasn't dating the
monster. Taylor was.

*
* * * *

Chapter
Eight

"Did
you think you could hire a mercenary to come in and mess with me and I wouldn't
retaliate?" Sergei asked. "Did you?" He growled in fury.

Before
Tabby could open her mouth and respond, he backhanded her hard across the face.
She cried out. Her eyes began to water as blood trickled from her nose.

"Sergei,
baby. The guy’s a total stranger. I swear," Taylor cuddled up next to him.

He
shoved her away. "Only whores fuck strangers." The disgust he showed
her was palpable. "Unlike you, your sister is no whore."

"No,
she isn’t,"
Taylor
murmured, shrinking down in
the seat.

Sergei
glared at her. "I suggest you shut up and don't interrupt me again or maybe
I’ll start to
tink
that you were in on the plan, too," his accent thickened with his rising
anger.

Taylor’s
eyes widened. “I wasn’t…I’d never…I love you.”

Sergei
snorted. “Do you hear that, Boris? She loves me.”

A
chill of fear started in Tabby's stomach and slowly spread to her limbs,
numbing them. By the time the cold reached her head, her teeth were chattering.

They
drove in silence to the strip club. Normally open seven days a week, the closed
sign on the front door only added to Tabby’s sense of dread. She shouldn’t have
sent Linx away. Pride and fear had kept her lips sealed and it was about to
cost them everything. They circled around back to the alley.

No
people. No witnesses.

Boris
stopped the car and stepped outside. He quickly surveyed the alleyway,
then
signaled to the vehicle behind him. Viktor and Alexei drove
forward and cut their engine. They continued to scan the darkness, searching
for unseen threats, while Boris opened the back door.

"Come
on, ladies." Sergei shoved Taylor out the door,
then
tightened his grip on Tabby. "Let's go." He yanked her hard, pulling
her off balance.

Tabby
fell to her knees on the pavement, scraping her hands.

Sergei
jerked her to her feet and hurried her to the back door. Tabby looked around
for any means of escape. She knew if they got her inside, she wouldn't walk out
again. But Sergei's grip was strong and even if she did manage to break his
hold. His men would be on her before she made it twenty feet.

He
shoved her through the door into the blackness. The lights flickered on a
minute later. Tabby found herself at the front of the stage. The tables and
stools had been cleared out. All that remained were two chairs, which had been
placed on enough plastic to wrap a house in, and a long thick rope. It was also
the perfect amount of plastic to wrap two bodies in without having to worry
about the messy cleanup afterwards.

Her
heart leapt into her throat, choking her. Tabby struggled in earnest; using
every move suggested in the books she'd read. None worked.

Sergei
shoved her into one of the chairs. She tried to leap up, but Viktor pulled out his
Glock and pointed it at Taylor’s chest.

"Sit
down," he spat. "Or she's dead."

Tabby
glanced at her sister. Tears streamed down Taylor’s face, smearing her makeup.
She said nothing, but her eyes spoke of sorrow and regret. Tabby sat.

Alexei
slipped the rope around Tabby's ankles and tied her hands behind her back.

"What's
this for...
ahh
!" Tabby managed as she was yanked
out of her seat and hoisted up into the air upside down. Her hair brushed the
floor as Alexei tied off the rope and quickly removed her shoes.

Sergei
looked at Boris. "Turn on the music. As we know, this one is a real
screamer."

Boris
nodded and strolled off to the D.J. booth. A few seconds later, a familiar thumping
beat poured through the speakers. Tabby’s chest tightened as memories of her
one perfect night with Linx flooded her mind. The pain of ‘what might have
been’ sharpened them, leaving her raw and empty.

“Please
turn off this music,” she said, fighting back tears.

Sergei
laughed. “I thought you liked this song. It looked like it on the video.”

“Turn
it off!” she screamed.

“
Nyet
! I like it,”
Sergei said.

Tabby
thought for sure that her heart would explode in her chest. She now understood
that they weren't simply going to kill her as she'd suspected earlier. They
planned to torture her first. Her mind filtered through all her reference
books. She'd never read anything about torture. Tabby had no idea how to combat
it. Did you meditate? Brace? Did it help to scream? She couldn’t think with
this song playing.

"What
do you want?" she growled, ignoring the blood pounding in her ears. Her
nose was bleeding again. Tabby choked on the blood as it ran down the back of
her throat.

Sergei
stepped forward and tilted his head until he was almost upright in her vision.
"I want you to tell me all about the
Merc
you
hired, so that I can hunt him down and kill him."

Tabby's
heart slammed against her ribs. "I didn't hire anyone. I’m a librarian. I
don’t have that kind of money," she said. “I barely know him.” Even if
that wasn’t the truth, there was no way she’d give Linx up to these men.

Sergei
made a show of scratching his head,
then
he glanced at
his men. "Did it look like she didn't know the man on the recording,
Viktor?"

The
big man shook his head. "
Nyet
, boss."

"What
do you think, Alexei?"

Alexei
rubbed his chin. "I'd say she knows him well...unless she's a whore."

Sergei
looked back at Tabby. "Are you a whore?"

She
grit her teeth. "No."

"Then
I expect you to tell me everything that you do know," he said.

Tabby
tried to twist around. The blood throbbing in her head was beginning to mess
with her vision. "I don't know anything."

"Hear
that, Boris? She doesn't know anything about the man who crushed the bones in
your hand. Do you believe her?" Sergei asked. “Perhaps we should cut her
down and let her go home.”

Boris's
gaze hardened.
 
“She lies. I think
she just needs her memory jogged."

"Perhaps
you’re right. Give me the bat." Sergei held his hand out. Alexei stepped
forward with a wooden bat and placed it in Sergei's loose grip. "I am
going to ask you one more time. Who is he?"

Tabby
whimpered. "I don't know." She refused to betray Linx.

Sergei
swung the bat onto the bottoms of her bare feet. A shock of pain sliced through
Tabby, jolting her spine, making it hard to breathe. She gasped,
then
screamed in agony.

"I
want his name," Sergei said.

Tears
dripped down Tabby’s forehead as her feet and legs throbbed.

Taylor
surged to her feet. “It’s Linx! Now let her go.”

“Taylor
no!” Tabby shouted.

“Sit!”
Sergei pointed to the chair, then reached down and yanked Tabby up by her hair.
"A last name, please."

"He
doesn’t have one," she grit out between clenched teeth.

“Who
does he think he is? Some kind of pop star?” Sergei released her and she fell
back. He tapped the top of the bat on the ground three times like a batter
preparing for a fastball,
then
he swung.

The
bat hissed, arcing high through the air, a second before it made contact with
the bottoms of her feet. This time the pain was worse. Something in her knee
shifted, dislocating the joint. Tabby screamed. The breath rushed from her
lungs and she nearly blacked out.

Taylor
stood. "Stop it! Please, Sergei, stop hurting her!"

Sergei
nodded to Viktor. The man fired a round into the wall. "The next one will
be in your chest. Now sit the fuck down."

Taylor
trembled and dropped onto the chair. She covered her face with her hands and
her shoulders began to shake. Tabby could hear her muttering, “I'm sorry…I'm
sorry…I'm sorry,” under her
breath
, as she rocked back
and forth.

Sergei
shoved the bat into Tabby's abdomen, knocking the air back out of her lungs.
"Pay attention. Where did you meet him?"

Tabby
gasped, then gasped again. Before she could recover, Sergei hauled back and
punched her in the face, sending her spinning in circles.

Something
in her jaw crunched and light exploded behind Tabby's eyes. For a second she
was blind,
then
the world came rushing back in a
flurry of color and pain. "Here," she choked. "I met him in your
club."

"Now
why don't I believe you?" Sergei asked. "Boris
get
the board."

"
Da
, boss."

A
minute later, Boris ambled over and placed a small table next to Tabby.

"Untie
her left hand," Sergei said.

Boris
did as he was told.

"Alexei
hold her arm. Viktor you keep Taylor covered in case Tabitha decides to attempt
something foolish."

"
Da
, boss."

Alexei
held onto Tabby's arm, pulling it toward the board until her hand was flat upon
the surface.

"I've
told you everything I know," she cried.

"I
don’t think so. I ‘
tink
’
you’re holding back on me. Either way, someone has to pay for what your friend
did. Since he’s not here…looks like it’ll have to be you." Sergei's voice
faded as he handed the bat to Boris. "An eye for an eye, a hand for a
hand. You get the picture."

Boris
took the bat and slammed it down onto Tabby's fingers, breaking them instantly.
This time the cry that was ripped from her throat was more a tortured yowl. He
swung the bat again, hitting her ribs, cracking them.

Tabby’s
eyes rolled back in her head and the world faded around her. Her last thought
was of Linx. She hoped he’d gotten far, far away.

*
* * * *

Linx
sat in a bar surrounded by beautiful women, who were going out of their way to
catch his attention. Yet, everywhere he looked, he saw Tabby's face. He'd left.
Abided by her wishes, but that did nothing to ease the ache in his chest or
quiet the beast within.

He'd
been here for two hours. Had plenty of opportunity to lose
himself
in another woman's body, but every time he went to act on his instincts something
pulled him back.

Damn
her! What had she done to him?

They
were not bound. There should be no ties of any kind preventing him from
choosing another. He felt his beast’s claws sink into his spine.

Linx
tossed back the last of his drink and threw a few bills down on the bar. He never
liked the sensation of being unsettled. And things felt very unsettled with
Tabby. She may not want to speak to him or see him again, but she was going to
have to. He couldn’t leave things as they were. Maybe if they had it out once
and for all, he’d be able to move on.

It
didn't take long to reach Tabby's house. He sat outside, staring at its little
windows and perfect flowerbeds. Linx had never backed down from a fight in his
life, yet he found himself hesitating, afraid of a woman with long, glossy red
hair. He had no idea what she might say and that alone kept him inside the car.

Everything
looked the same as it had when he’d left.
Everything, but the
front door.
Linx frowned and stepped out of the car. When he approached the
house, he saw that the door was ajar.

"Tabby?" he called out,
carefully scenting the air.

There
was no sound from inside. Linx reached out a finger and pushed the door open.
The smell of gun oil and sweat hit him first. Followed by the sour odor of
fear.
Tabby’s fear.

Linx's
hearts began to pound. He recognized that odor. Knew
who
it came from. He tore through the house, checking every room, but Tabby was
nowhere to be found. Neither was Taylor. He inhaled again. The various scents
filtered through his sensitive nose, leaving no doubt who had them. It was his
fault that they were gone, his fault that they'd been taken.

If
he lost Tabby now, he wasn't sure what he'd do. Blood rushed through his veins.
Linx threw his head back and let out a roar that shook the windows and rattled
the doors.

He
ran out the door and jumped into Sergei's car. Linx threw it into gear and sped
out of the driveway. He pressed a button to roll down his window and allowed
part of his body to shift. He didn’t care who saw him.