Page 111 of Koroleva

"Look, you fucking Chinese..." The back of his hand hit my face again, this time towards the other side. Not being able to fight back and squirm was killing me alive.

"I'm the one who talks here, so you better address me with respect or I'll fry your boyfriend." He raised one of his hands, and the one holding the shock baton pinched Andrey’s nose with his fingers to stop him from breathing. The Russian held on as long as he could without opening his mouth and when he did, the idiot Chinese stuck the baton in to give him a shock that reached his throat.

My partner's body convulsed. Seeing him like that, so big and unprotected because of me, was screwing me over more than if it were done to me. I showed them my weak point and now they were going to attack it to the last consequences.

"Do you really think that because he has jerked off to this, it fucks me up?" The Chinese pressed his flat nose against mine.

"I believe it fucks you up, even though you want to pretend it doesn’t."

"If you continue with this, you're dead," I threatened him.

"You're all out of options, you're not in a position to say things you can't fulfill. Besides, we are offering you all our hospitality, right, Liú?" The one with the rod finally took it out of the Russian's mouth, and his head drooped forward. Damn them all. "No one needs to die, we just want to get back what you took, you know, something Mr. Cheng values and appreciates a lot. Where is it?"

"If you mean his lack of shame and poor judgment, I have no idea where that is, maybe you should file a lost and found claim yourself." He laughed and elbowed me in the jaw, making all my teeth rattle.

His accomplice returned to Andrey to place the baton on his groin. My partner couldn't suppress the scream. I was going to kill these damn bastards as soon as I could get free from the ropes!

The Russian got on his tiptoes, trying to move that curse away from his balls.

"We can do this all night," the Chinese murmured in my ear. "Your friend won't ever get hard again, and you... I'll shoot you in the mouth if you don't start talking. Where is Xia?"

So that was it, about damn Miss Wang. The very one Koroleva switched to their side and who was now missing from everyone's radar. Except for hers. Great!

"I have no idea where that bitch is. If you have so many resources, look for her yourself instead of wasting time with us, who have no clue where she might be. I'd also have taken off if I had to be on the side of a loser like you."

My response earned me a straight punch to the abdomen. My ribs hurt like hell, surely some were broken.

"You kidnapped her and took her against her will. We managed to restore the backup of the exterior cameras; we have you controlled, we know who you are and every move you make."

"Then find her and leave us alone! I'm sick of you never being straightforward, you always resort to subterfuge because you're cowards who know otherwise you'd all be dead. Why does your boss never show his face? Why does nobody know him? Because he's a damn coward who hides behind losers like you!"

My captor looked at me with hatred, waved his weapon in the air, and Andrey received a much longer shock than before. Those bastards were going to fry him.

I pulled hard at the bindings without success. The knots were too tight. Sweat ran down my spine and a sharp pain pierced my temples.

"We're not going to stop until you sing," he clarified. "You can struggle all you want but you're not moving from here."

If only I could reach one of the blades integrated into my shoes... Three blows to the abdomen made me start coughing and cursing at him.

"Speak!" he shouted nervously.

"Was it you who shot Koroleva this morning?" I asked. He looked at me strangely.

"I'm the one asking questions!" The Chinese was getting impatient.

"Answer for answer, if you're honest, maybe I'll recover the memory I lost thanks to the blow and can tell you something of interest."

He weighed my answer. I could lie to him, give him a location, and buy some minutes.

"That order has not been given by our organization. You might have more enemies than you'd like. You've pissed off a lot of people, and that comes back to bite you sooner or later. Now answer: where is Miss Wang?"

I looked at Andrey and clenched my hands on the armrests of the chair. I wanted to know how he was, but I couldn't ask him. His body emitted an occasional spasm, the result of the multiple doses of electricity he had received.

"Alright, I'll talk," I conceded, thinking of the perfect answer to keep them entertained for a while.

43

3, 2, 1

---