Page 65 of Brody
“You do it. I don’t… I don’t think I can.”
Brody just nodded and turned back to the door. He didn’t demand any further explanation. He didn’t need one. He alreadyunderstood how many different emotions I had tied up in that key.
As Brody lined the key up with the keyhole, I took a step back to give him and the door space. It was the first time since entering the tunnel that I’d been more than an arm’s length away from him.
Surely, I thought, nothing bad could happen in the time it took to unlock a door.
I was wrong.
That one brief moment of distance between us was my downfall.
A sharp yank on my hair snapped my head backwards while at the same time my feet were kicked out from under me. I fell, landing hard on the floor and smashing my knee down hard on the stone as I struggled to keep myself upright.
The grip on my hair forced my head back farther, and something hard and cold pressed against the underside of my jaw.
I’d become familiar with what the barrel of a gun felt like, unfortunately.
The key dropped to the ground as Brody pointed his own weapon and the unknown person standing behind me.
“Let him go.”
My captor’s gun dug harder into my skin.
“You know I can’t do that,” the man holding me hostage said with a voice that would have been pleasant if it wasn’t filled with such malice. “But I can promise not to hurt him if you hand that key over now.”
With my head yanked back, I could only see Brody out of the corner of my eye. I couldn’t see the expression on his face, but I could feel the tension filling the stale air of the tunnel as Brody kicked Poppy’s key over toward my captor.
More people stepped into view from behind my back, weapons trained on Brody as one of them picked up the key.
How many people were there?
I could almost understand one person sneaking up on us while Brody was distracted with the door, but so many?
It didn’t make sense.
Pulling against the grip on my hair, I managed to snatch a look behind me. There was a small doorway off to the side that definitely hadn’t been there before. It must have been hidden or disguised to look like just another part of the wall. Even I wasn’t careless enough to overlook an entire door.
The hand in my hair pulled harder, forcing me to look forward again.
“Eyes up front,” my captor ordered.
I hissed at the stab of pain. This was nothing like when Brody pulled my hair in bed. That pain was soft. It blended with pleasure, and most importantly, it was wanted. This wasn’t wanted, which instantly made it a thousand times worse.
Gritting my teeth together, I looked up into my captor’s eyes. “So, which cult are you with? You obviously know these tunnels, so you might belong to theMothers of the Mountain. But you were willing to sabotage the tunnels, so you might belong toThe Tamed Souls. Which one is it?”
The man holding me captive was disappointingly ordinary. He was the kind of person I wouldn’t have looked at twice if I passed him on the street. Even now, I wouldn’t have found him very noteworthy, even as he shook my head so hard I feared it would snap right off my neck.
“Don’t you dare lump us in with those sanctimonious little whores.”
“Right,” I said while desperately trying not to bite off my own tongue. “So,The Tamed Souls,then. I should have guessed. You seem to have a fetish for taking me hostage.”
Brody took another step closer, and every gun except the one digging into my chin aimed right between his eyes.
“Let. Him. Go.”
Even without seeing Brody’s expression, I could feel the heat of fury radiating from him with every word he spoke.
My captor merely laughed. “No need to get so angry. If you need to blame anyone, then blame his traitor of a brother. We wouldn’t have needed to resort to such measures if that bastard hadn’t stolen from us.”
