Page 6 of Mistaken
I tried to chuckle but it lodged in my throat. The gargantuan thug expertly spun the poker once and I stifled a scream as I felt the heat pass by my face. “It s- seems to me, that you went to a fair amount of trouble to drug and kidnap me-”
“Oh, and I did,” he interrupted sourly. “I had to stab your driver for losing you so easily.”
“Is he okay?” I almost slapped the back of my own head for that idiotic comment.
“No, Rachel. He’s dead. But I stabbed him in the stomach, so it took a while. Do you know how excruciatingly painful it is to die from a stomach wound? How long it can take in the hands of someone who knows how?”
“N… not personally, Maksim,” I managed.
Casually twirling the blazing-hot poker again, he grinned a little, watching me stifle a shriek. “The point here, is had you been a man, I would be using this poker on you right now. But since you’re a woman…” He shook his head, “There are some things that are against our code.” He was strolling around the room, still keeping between me and the door.
“Can you explain exactly what it is you’re looking for, here?” Now that I was - sort of - sure the red-hot poker was no longer the main threat, I had to find out who he thought I was and why he was calling me a traitor. My big mouth just had to open again. “Why do you think I’m a traitor? Is this wartime? Am I a spy?”
Shockingly, this just makes him smile at me. Fondly. Like he’s picturing all the tortures that they must save up for women. His massive shoulders shrugged. “So many more serious repercussions can be avoided if you tell me now where you’ve hidden my weapons that you stole from the bodega’s basement.”
Okay, just when I think this couldn’t get any weirder, he just took a left turn into What The Hell Is Happeningville,I thought. “What weapons? What are you talking about?”
Am I insane?I thought,Is this some kind of mental break?
He shook his head, as if deeply disappointed with me, “you’re wasting time. Youwilltell me where the weapons are - and if you’ve offloaded them already, you will tell me who has them now. If you give me the location, and the weapons stash is there, I’ll let you live. If they’re not…” he smiled at me fondly, “it will be so much worse. I will have to make an example of you, darling.”
I was seconds away from sobbing and flopping on the floor like a terrified, boneless chicken. “I feel terrible about your dilemma, and your uh, your weapons stash, but you’ve got the wrong girl. Check my purse. There’s ID. For Ella Givens.”
He shrugged negligently, “Anyone can make a false ID, Rachel. But as we review this evening, you’ve lied to me, you won’t tell me where my weapons are and you ran away from me. That was bad. Very bad. So…” Maksim twirled that poker again and the iron tip was still a sullen, glowing red. “So, I will reevaluate my plans. If you’re a runner, why then, let’s play.”
“You’re clearly athletic,” he was walking and talking in his lecturing voice again, “you’re still in great shape after rolling out of a car and walking a few miles on bare feet.”
Swallowing, I wished I had another bottle of water as my dry throat made a clicky noise. “So what’s the plan here, Maksim?”
He absently stirred the cheerfully burning wood in the fireplace. “Well, Rachel, I’m going to give you a chance. You like running.” He was in front of me in an instant, backing me up against the wall. “I like chasing,” he continued with an unholy gleam in his eyes. “I used to track men through the forests around St. Petersburg, it makes the blood sing.”
I know my mouth dropped open and I’m making little gasping noises. I probably look like a goldfish. This certifiable hoodlum was vibrating with some dark, insane energy. The idea of chasing me through a forest wasmaking his blood sing?I was looking at a tall, gorgeous bag of crazy.
“I’ll give you a head start of say… thirty minutes,” he continued pleasantly. “Then, I’m coming after you. If you make it to the highway first, you will tell me where the weapons are and you will go free, with no repercussions. Of course, I’ll blindfold you so you can’t tell anyone about this location, but I will let you go. If I catch you, we’re going to do all of those things I talked about before.”
“Is there a second option here?” Could I talk him out of this? This lunatic was built like an offensive lineman for the New York Jets. And what was his blathering about weapons? Why wouldn’t he listen when I told him I knew nothing about them?
“Yes,” he offered, “I begin your questioning now. It will be very unpleasant. Youwilltell me what I need to know, though you may not last long after that. Unless you would prefer to go with option one.”
My chest began to heave in that ridiculous paramilitary outfit. “Yeah, I think your original plan is a good one.”
Dropping the poker back into the fire, he spread his arms wide. “Excellent! I thought you’d agree.” Turning to the curtains, he pulled them back and opened a set of French doors leading to the garden. Tapping his stainless-steel Rolex, he looked up at me. Grinning in a way that showed off all of his white, even teeth, he inclined his head to the open door.
“Run, Rachel. RUN!”
Chapter 3 - This is a very-self destructive way to avoid me.
In which Ella asks the question; why does this stuff always happen to me?
Maksim…
Rachel was a good little actress, she looked genuinely confused when I questioned her. Why did she bother to deny knowing anything about the weapons theft? But this was dragging on, and I was in the mood to play. I’d been trained - along with several others under my father’s command - in escape maneuvers in the thick forests on the family estate near St. Petersburg, First by being the prey, and then the predator. The consequences for being caught were severe; I still had a burn mark on my lower back to prove it. But I was never caught, and I never lost my quarry again.
This chase, however, would actually be enjoyable.
Ah, clever girl, I thought, watching her make a speedy loop around the lodge. She’d successfully deduced which direction was east, which was also a straight shot to the highway. Not that she’d get there. Lacing on my boots, I stood and stretched. Grigoriy was finishing the vodka we’d shared while counting down Rachel’s thirty-minute head start.
“You know, sir, that I am absolutely certain you will catch the thief before she can make it to the highway, but should I have a couple of men stationed along the property line, just in case?”
