The Second Betrayal (26 page)

Chandra expected the men to take her up the stairs, probably to the room on the second floor where Steele had found the room Jenika had probably been interrogated and beaten in. But Stalder slid his hand down one of the metal rails of the staircase.

A click and then a grinding sound as the four-foot-wide wall to the right of the staircase rose and revealed a staircase leading down to a basement. A wave of cool, musty air pushed its way toward her. A damp scent that included the

smell of rust.

What? This part of the basement wasn't on the schematics.

Chandra closed her eyes. She and Steele had missed this altogether. Jenika was probably down there and that was why they hadn't been able to find her. If she was still alive.

And this was where she and Jenika could both die. Since this part of a basement hadn't been on the building's

schematics, RED would never find them.

She'd figure out her escape for herself.

Chandra opened her eyes as the blond guy drew her toward the basement entry. Stalder stared at her with what she

thought was the hint of a cold smile. The first sign of a real expression from him she'd seen.

She let herself be guided toward the entrance to the basement, then Blondy helped her walk down the rickety staircase.

The stairs swayed and made it difficult to walk in her high heels. She might have fallen a couple of times if Blondy hadn't kept a good hold on her arm. His grip was firm, but he didn't press his fingers too hard into her flesh. He was acting more like an escort than someone who might be about to torture her.

She and Blondy finally stepped onto a filthy dirt-and oil-spotted concrete floor. They paused at the bottom of the

stairs. To their left, a series of single lightbulbs ran the length of the basement.

The damp, rusty smell obviously came from the multitude of pipes running along the walls, many of which had water-

moistened rusted joints, showing small leaks. Some of the pipes themselves were covered with rust, too. A dusty, dirty, and oily scent made it difficult to breathe until she got acclimated to it.

Stalder was on the step behind Chandra, and his cold voice made her spine stiffen. "Take Chandra to the girl so that she can see what happens to spies who don't cooperate."

"Spy?" Cold prickled her skin. Chandra put as much
what the hell are you talking about
into her voice as she could.

"You think I'm a fucking
spy?”

No one answered.

Blondy guided her farther into the basement, past crude oil heaters and containers of fuel. Odds and ends were tossed or arranged everywhere, but there was no method to their madness as far as she could tell. Deteriorating cardboard

boxes were stacked randomly, the box labels long since faded and unreadable. Blondy took her past piles of wooden

planks, and near a new white chest freezer that had to be at least twenty cubic feet.

Rusted tools were tossed in a pile on some baling wire next to the freezer, and she cataloged those she could define. A pair of pruning shears, flathead screwdriver, ball-peen hammer, and heavy-duty pipe wrench.

After Chandra notated the tools, she fixated on the freezer. Oh, God. They hadn't put Jenika in there, had they?

Blondy guided her on. Then they came to a full stop.

Horror swept through her at the sight of Jenika on a bare mattress, flat on her back, naked, and unmoving.

Most of her face was bruised and swollen, and there was an indent where something small but brutal had been rammed

into the side of her head.

An image of Giger's three-carat diamond ring rushed to her mind. Anger at the sight of Jenika's un-moving body swept through Chandra.

She wasn't supposed to know anything about Jenika so she tried to keep the fury out of her voice, even though it was burning her up inside. "What did you do to this girl?"

"She is in a coma. I'm sure you already know her name. Jenika, I believe." Stalder walked close to Chandra as Blondy made her face him. "Who is she to you?"

"I've never seen her before." Chandra didn't break eye contact. "Goddamnit, what's this all about?"

Stalder studied her with what seemed like an impartial expression. "This is your one and only warning. Tell me who you work with."

Chandra shook her head. "This is crazy. I don't know what you're talking about."

Stalder gave a slight nod to the blond guy who'd been so gentle with her. Blondy stood in front of her and her heart plummeted as he pulled back his arm, his hand balled into a fist. Instinctively she wanted to use her skills to protect herself and dodge at the same time.

The Japanese guy gripped her upper arms from behind.

Blondy's fist headed straight at her face.

Chandra couldn't hold back the cry of pain as his fist slammed into her eye and cheekbone.

Black spots and white sparks burst behind her eyes.

With her hands cuffed behind her back, she would have fallen if the Japanese guy didn't have a good grip on her.

"Are you ready to talk?" Stalder looked her over as if he were assessing a work of art.

"What the fuck is going on?" She had to give it to Blondy. That had been a good one. Chandra felt tipsy as the faint tickle of blood rolled down her throbbing cheek from where the skin had split under her eye. "I don't know this girl.

This is all crazy. I—"

Stalder gave another nod and Blondy slammed his fist into the side of Chandra's head.

Her knees buckled. Her mind swam. Images of blowing off these three bastards' dicks circled her head like chirping

birds.

They were so dead.

If they didn't kill her first.

Fuck them. She'd had enough.

Before Blondy could punch her again, she jerked out of the Japanese man's loose grip and slammed her head against

Blondy's forehead.

At the same time, she hooked one of her ankles around his and jerked.

Blondy fell hard and started to get up but she rammed her stiletto heel into his scrotum. She jammed her heel so hard it ripped through his suit pants and probably pierced one of his balls.

He screamed and held his hands to his now bleeding crotch. His throat worked like he was about to throw up.

As Chandra immediately went back into a defensive position, Stalder nodded to the other man.

The Japanese darted around so that he was facing her, definitely in a martial arts offensive pose. At least he wasn't attacking her from behind.

Honorable, then. Good. She wasn't.

His first move was a strong kick toward her thigh. Chandra anticipated it and dodged to the side while going-on the offense and darting close to him, something she could see he hadn't expected. She twisted just enough to ram her

elbow into his sternum.

He didn't make a sound, just reacted with a fast blow to her collarbone. The blow would have broken the bone if she hadn't adjusted her position in time. But the pain from where he'd struck her made her stagger and she cried out.

Then another burst of adrenaline made it easy to focus on him, not the pain.

In time with his strike, Chandra dropped and rolled away on the filthy cement floor, toward the rusted tools.

Blondy was still screaming. The Japanese followed her at a confident, sedate pace.

She twisted during her roll and with her limber body was able to bring her arms from behind her back, under her feet, and then her bound wrists were in front of her. Years of yoga came in handy. Having practiced this move a hundred

times made it fast and easy.

Chandra was on her knees in a second. The Japanese guy looked surprised, but she didn't have time to use the jewel on her ring with the narcotic. He came at her too fast with a side kick. He struck her temple, and the power of his kick sent her reeling, tumbling backward. The back of her skull struck the freezer. More Tweety dicks circled her head.

She rolled onto her belly, close to the tool pile. She twisted and with her bound hands reached above her head to grab the closest tool. The ball-peen hammer. She gripped it tight.

This time the man kicked her ribs. If he'd been intent on killing her, she'd have several broken bones by now, and it was very possible she'd be dead.

But the Japanese guy was toying with her. She met his gaze as he shook his arms and legs, limbering up for another

round. A slight but almost crazed smile was on his face.

She'd been wrong about the young guy possibly being a black belt. He was too slow. He was an overconfident

wannabe. Perhaps a brown belt, working his way up, but he was no expert.

He moved toward her as she got to her knees, her side facing him and her body holding the hammer.

Hold. Not too fast. Not prematurely.

When he started to put weight on his back foot to lash out at her with another kick, she twisted her upper body and put her own weight behind her swing as she went after his ankle with everything she had.

Satisfying cracks from the sound of bone shattering in his ankle.

The young man screamed and screamed. Ankle injuries were among the most painful injuries anyone could suffer.

There were fourteen ankle bones and thirty-two foot bones. She slammed the hammer down on his ankle again and

shattered a few more of them.

The man screamed long and loud as he held his knee tight to his chest.

Chandra gasped as the ball-peen hammer was jerked out of her hands in a motion that caused her to fall onto her back.

Pain shot up her spine. She looked up to see Stalder's icy expression as he swung the hammer toward her head.

Her movements were automatic. She ducked as she rolled toward his legs, but only in time to avoid getting her head

smashed in. Instead, the hammer struck her collarbone, which snapped.

Chandra cried out as nearly blinding pain ripped through her. Only her adrenalized body kept her from losing

consciousness. Barely.

She ground her teeth against the pain as she twisted again so that she was half under Stalder. She brought her knee up hard enough to hit the back of one of his knees. At the same time she levered herself so that the top half of her body pushed against the front of his at an opposite angle.

Stalder gave a furious shout as he dropped. Breath rushed out of her lungs when his legs landed half on her waist and half on her hip. The movement rocked her whole body so that more pain shot through her collarbone, bone grinding

against bone.

Chandra reached out with her bound hands and tried to grab the screwdriver. Stalder was still lying on her, but from her peripheral vision she saw him reach beneath his suit jacket.

He was going for his gun.

Fear gave her the strength to reach higher for the rusted screwdriver.

Slow motion.

Stalder had his hand on his gun and was drawing it.

Chandra gripped the screwdriver in both hands.

A click as he undid the safety catch of his handgun.

Chandra screamed the pain of her broken collarbone as she turned her upper body.

Stalder started to push himself off her.

She didn't give him a chance. She jabbed the screwdriver with enough power to ram the tool into Stalder's eye. And

buried it in his brain.

He collapsed on her body, his deadweight pinning her legs. The other men were whimpering, but not screaming

anymore. They probably had guns, too.

With her still-bound hands, Chandra grabbed Stalder's .380-caliber handgun and pointed up just in time to see Blondy, his face oxblood red, as he lurched forward and started to raise his own handgun.

She nailed him in the heart with three rapid shots.

He dropped. Soundless until his body thumped against the concrete.

The young Japanese man was sobbing and cursing in Japanese. He sounded closer now. Chandra tried to keep

consciousness; her mind wanted to fade to black due to the pain in her shoulder.

She cried out as she worked her body to get Stalder off her legs. Finally she was free. But she didn't take time to congratulate herself. She rose just enough to see the young Japanese crawling toward her, involuntary tears flowing from his eyes but deadly determination in his gaze. He probably intended to break her neck with his bare hands

because he didn't have a gun.

Chandra forced herself to her knees even though she wanted to collapse.

The man kept coming toward her. She had the strange flashback of an old movie she'd seen called
The Terminator,
where the humanlike machine kept going and going, even with his body in pieces.

This was no Terminator.

And she was finished screwing with these bastards.

She aimed the handgun at the Japanese and shot him between the eyes.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

China dolls and the bull in the shop

Oh, shit. The handgun the man pointed at my chest was a wicked-looking Sig Sauer P210-3, the kind issued to the

Swiss police.

Hagstedt.
I would bet this man's life on it. Hell, I'd kill him just for intending to abuse these girls, even if he didn't turn out to be Hagstedt.

But there wasn't a doubt in my mind who he was. In my gut I
knew
it.

"What is going on?" I laid on the Swedish accent really thick, as well as giving the best look of innocence and confusion I could muster. Well, innocent for a woman who oversaw prostitutes.

He narrowed his snow-pale blue eyes, and I saw a flicker of indecision in them. Kill me now or kill me later?

Not a chance in hell I'd let him do it one way or another. Since I wasn't already dead, he likely wanted to drill me with questions about the organization

I worked for—yeah, whatever—before drilling me with a bullet. Plenty of time for me to come up with a plan to get

out of this mess as I faked innocence and stalled. Takamoto would have RED agents here in no time, too, thanks to my response text.

I'd forgotten to text Takamoto the room number after I checked Jianjun's messages. At least RED could pinpoint me

with the GPS tracking device in my mini cell phone.