Page 113 of No More Spies

Another laugh, though this one closer. He was moving towardher. She went still, trying to focus. Maybe she could see his shadow hovering.

“And that is why you fascinate me. I find it hard to believeBenjamin has feelings for you.”

“I think Ben’s feelings concerning me can be defined asconfusion,” she replied.

“Yes, I agree. He’s more attracted to your twin. Your lighthalf. Does it hurt to know she got all the light?”

She hadn’t. It was just Kala’s own light didn’t always shineas brightly. And the darkness didn’t always mean something bad. “She’s the sun.I’m more like moonlight.”

The sun could burn, but the moon was silvery and illuminatedthe darkness. Not as showy, but every bit as important.

He hesitated. “That might be the first naivety I’ve heardfrom you. I don’t think I like it.”

“I don’t care what you like or don’t like,” Kala admitted.“I don’t care what you think of me.”

“Which is perversely why I find you fascinating. I’ve beenwondering if it wouldn’t hurt your father more if you were dead or if you weretrapped here with me. Like my own tiger to train. I wonder how much pain itwill take to turn you into what you could truly be.”

She had questions, too. “I wonder how much force it willtake to kick your dick back into your body cavity.”

The lights came on suddenly and Kala blinked, the brillianceoverwhelming her. He was right. It made her feel sick again. It was far, fartoo much, but then that was his point. She tried to look at him, but he wasstill a hazy shadow as her eyes desperately attempted to adjust.

“You know I like to be a bit dramatic. This place came onthe market a few years ago. I know what happened here, so I bought it out ofsheer sentimentality. Another place where the Taggarts ended lives, though Ithink in this case her brother was on your side. So sad. I didn’t know when Ibought it how much it meant to you.” His voice was low and soothing.

The world was becoming clearer now. Where the hell…

She was in the house Julia Ennis had brought her to, in thecell she’d shared with Kyle.

Emmanuel Huisman stood in front of her wearing slacks and awhite button-down and expensive loafers. She saw what she hadn’t been able tobefore. They weren’t alone. Two large guards with big guns stood by the twoways in—the door that led up to the house and the one to her left that led tothe tunnels her parents had saved her through the first time she’d been here.

She’d been right. She was back in Hell.

“Couldn’t even come up with something new, could you, Doc?You lack imagination.”

“And you lack respect. I need some information from you. Ineed to know how to communicate with Captain Reed,” he said quietly, and sherealized he had something in his hand.

“Can’t help you, asshole.” She couldn’t. He was supposed tocontact her, but she wasn’t going to let him know that. And hey, she couldn’tunless Lena had stopped and picked up her cell. So Zach was fucking safe, butshe and Devi had real problems. She had a thought. It worked once. “I don’tsuppose you would order a pizza for me. I’m very hungry.”

The first time she’d been held here, she’d managed toconvince her captor to order pizza. Like most things in life, she was a weirdowhen it came to pizza. No sauce double anchovies. It grossed most people out,but her cousin’s wife had used that order to pinpoint where she was being held.

Not that anyone would look here this time.

“Starving you will be one of the fun activities we canshare.” The man sounded positively chipper. “We’ll see how long you hold out.You see, while I’ll enjoy raping you, I would also find it amusing to turn youinto a pet.”

She felt a nasty smile cross her face. “Oh, I can be yourpet right now.”

The door came open, and Lena’s heels clicked down thestairs. She was back to her normal perfection, but she couldn’t quite hide thecrazy in her eyes. “Oh, look, you’re up. I was kind of hoping you would die.”

It was always good to make friends. She didn’t reply, merelyoffered up her middle finger.

Devi was brought down after Lena, her hands in zip ties andan armed guard at her back. She’d obviously been crying but she didn’t seemphysically harmed.

“You okay?” Kala asked.

Devi nodded. “Apparently they want me all pretty and whole.They didn’t do anything while you were asleep. Although listening to that onetalk was torture. She thinks she’s intelligent, but she’s one more narcissisticasshole. Why is the world filled with them?”

Kala stepped back, allowing them to open the cage door. Shewatched the hand movements of the guard. It was how she’d gotten out of herethe first time.

But they’d changed the locks. Now they used biometrics, soshe would need someone’s thumbprint. The good news? It didn’t have to beattached to a living hand.

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