Payback (13 page)

"WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?"
Charlie asked in what Gaia was sure was his best husky whisper. He sounded like a hoarse dog. Gaia pointed to a relatively clean corner in the tiny "yard" behind the brownstone. It consisted of a small patch of dirt and an even smaller patch of dead grass. There was a rusted-out barbecue against a splintering wooden fence.

"No one will come out here, right?" Gaia asked, trying to sound like an ingenue.

"Don't worry," Charlie said, leading her to the corner and spreading out the blanket. "I have a friend watching the door." He pulled his sweater off over his head, revealing a T-shirt beneath, and immediately shivered. Still, he tossed it into the corner and ran a hand over his hair. "A little cold out here, isn't it?"

Gaia just plopped down onto the blanket and looked up at him, trying to invite him along with her eyes. She was sure it wasn't coming across because the last thing in the world she wanted was this asshole touching her. She had to remind herself of Mary. This was for Mary and everyone else who hadn't been as lucky as her.

"I guess we'll just keep each other warm, huh?" Charlie said, dropping to his knees.

Gaia tried not to wince as Charlie placed one hand on either side of her body and leaned into her, bringing his lips down hard on hers. She really wished Sam would call and clear up the details of Thanksgiving.

Because she really didn't want this to be her first kiss.

CHARLIE'S LIPS TRAVELED DOWN
her neck.

When should she tell him to stop?

He pulled off her sweatshirt, and his eyes hungrily took in the slight tank top underneath.

Did she have to really get him into it before he would lose it? Before he would be unable or unwilling to stop himself?

He pushed her down against the hard ground, holding her shoulders with his hands as he kissed her roughly.

Okay, that felt like the start of something.

His hand traveled down from her neck to her shoulder and hovered right over her breast.

Gaia pushed him back by the shoulders.

"Stop." Enough, after all, was enough.

"YOU'RE KIDDING ME," CHARLIE SAID.

He was pulling away. Why the hell was he pulling away? Wasn't this where he was supposed to start with the violence?

"I --"

"God, Gaia," Charlie said, standing up and grabbing his sweater, which was now covered with dirt. "I never would have pegged you for a tease."

Gaia racked her brain for a response. He was taking no for an answer? This was definitely not part of the plan. She scrambled to her feet as he shook out his sweater. This didn't make any sense. He could grab a girl off the street and try to force her to have sex, but someone teased him into it and said no and he just stopped?

Was she just that bad at this?

The flash of a streetlight on Charlie's silver watch caught her eye, and Gaia instantly remembered Mary's words about the fight. The blood under her nails. Gaia quickly took in Charlie's forearms just before he pulled on his sweater. Not a scratch. He was innocent.

Gaia didn't know whether to be relieved or pissed. "Charlie, I'm --"

"Save it," he said, grabbing the blanket and heading inside. "You can go home now."

Her eyes narrowed as he walked into the house, letting the door slam behind him. She was glad she didn't get the words out. He was still a big asshole. Gaia picked up her own sweatshirt, desperately trying to come up with the appropriate next move. If it wasn't Charlie, who the hell was it?

It suddenly occurred to her that it could have very well been a random attack. The guys in this sex ring, while being beyond perverted, might not be rapists. Ed could still be wrong. Gaia was completely confused. It was time to grab Mary and regroup.

She was lifting her sweatshirt above her head when she heard the back door close again. Maybe Charlie had changed his mind and decided to jump her after all. Gaia started to turn but didn't even make it all the way around before a powerful punch to the side of her face sent her reeling in the other direction.

Gaia's whole body slammed into the fence, sending a shock wave of pain down her left side and stabbing splinters into her chin. She pressed her hands into the raw wood and started to push herself away, but she was grabbed from behind, spun around, and slammed back against the fence again.

The attacker wasn't that strong, and he was very sloppy. Gaia could have taken him down with any number of her favorite moves. But she wanted to find out who it was first.

His face snapped into focus just as he uttered his telltale greeting. "Gaia the Brave."

She couldn't believe the little runt had the balls.

"Sideburns Tim," she said calmly.

He blinked, obviously confused that she wasn't whimpering, writhing, screaming, and begging. He was probably even more confused when she pulled back and head-butted him so hard that the cracking sound was almost deafening.

Tim slammed into the ground hard and raised his hand to his forehead with a guttural moan. Gaia wouldn't have been surprised if he'd given in right then, but he didn't. Somehow he was on his feet within seconds.

"Gaia the Brave is also Gaia the Stupid," he said, spitting as he said the words.

"Not as stupid as most," Gaia answered. Another cloud of doubt passed over his face, but before it even cleared, Tim lunged at her, grabbing her wrist, twisting it behind her, and sweeping her legs out from under her in one seamless motion.

Gaia couldn't have been more surprised if he'd delivered an expert karate kick to her neck. She was on her face, and his knees were bearing into her back, and she was tasting dirt. Breathing it into her half-crushed nostrils.

"What was that about not being stupid?" Tim said, reaching up one hand to hold her face down. Between the pressure of the ground against her chest and her face full of filth, Gaia could barely take in a breath. And without breath she couldn't fight. She had to strain the muscles in her neck, but she managed to twist her head aside.

She could hear Tim struggling with his belt, the buckle clanging as he undid the closure.

He didn't waste any time, did he?

Gaia twisted her legs to the side and used all the power she had to flip herself over, knocking Tim aside from the force. He was on her again instantly , pushing down her arms.

His belt buckle was smacking against her knees, and Gaia realized he'd successfully pulled down his pants. She couldn't look. He must have had a lot of practice at this to do it that fast. The thought made her ill.

"You're it," he said, his face disgustingly close to hers. "You're the one I need."

For what, she didn't want to know. Somewhere in the recesses of her mind she recalled the fact that in order for it to be actual rape, she had to say no, stop, don't. Say something instead of just beating the guy to a pulp.

"You ready?" Tim asked.

"Don't even try it," Gaia said evenly. "I'm saying no." Tim smiled gleefully. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

He released one of her hands for a split second and went to cover her mouth, but before he got anywhere near her face, Gaia delivered one swift hook to the right side of his jaw and followed it with an uppercut that sent him sprawling on his butt. Before he could get to his feet, she slammed her sneaker under his chin, holding down his neck.

Luckily Tim had never gotten his tighty whities off.

Tim coughed pathetically. She was crushing his windpipe.

"Get . . . off. . . ." He tried to talk but couldn't get out the words. Keeping the pressure on his throat, Gaia bent at the waist and pulled up Tim's sleeves. There, practically glowing in the dim light, were three long, bloody scratches.

Gaia frowned with disgust. "We have a winner."

She pulled Mary's cell phone out of her pocket and dialed the local precinct. She only wished she could be there to see Mary's face when the call came through.

"GAIA, WHO THE HELL ARE YOU
calling?" Tim asked, still pinned to the ground by her sneaker. The little diamond pattern on the sole was starting to make indentations in his neck. Gaia kind of liked it. Damn, she had a sick mind. "Can't we talk about --"

He wheezed to a stop when Gaia pressed harder into his throat. She thought she heard him mutter the word
bitch
. There was no reason to let up if he was going to keep talking like that. Too annoying. The line rang twice, and then a gruff female voice answered the phone.

"Fifteenth Precinct." She sounded beyond bored, and there was the distinct crackle of popping gum.

"I need to talk to whatever detective is in with Mary Moss," Gaia said quickly, shoving her free hand in her pocket. She pulled out a wrapped peppermint. Something to get the Charlie taste out of her mouth.

"Oh, you do, do you?" the woman said, the grogginess leaving her voice as it was replaced by an edge of amusement. Gaia's request was apparently a good source of entertainment. "Detective Rodriguez is a very busy man. What makes you think you can just --"

"I have his perp or his collar or whatever," Gaia said, rolling her eyes. She looked down at Tim as if she just couldn't believe the incompetents at the police department. Tim lifted his head slightly and glared at her. He squirmed, but she didn't budge, so he cursed in defeat and slapped his head back onto the ground. Gaia unwrapped the mint and popped it into her mouth.

The woman on the other end of the line cleared her throat and then audibly shuffled through some papers. "Are you Gaia Moore?" she asked finally, sounding a bit chagrined.

"That's me," Gaia answered, rolling the candy around on her tongue.

There was a brief pause. A sigh. "He's expecting your call. I'll patch you through."

Gaia smiled slightly. It was kind of nice, being important among the incompetents. She looked up at the black sky while she waited on hold. Tim started to struggle a little, so she pushed down again, causing a strangled hacking sound to gurgle from his throat.

"Gaia?"

It was Charlie, along with a couple of friends, barreling out the back door. The wooden steps groaned like they wanted to buckle under the combined weight. Gaia checked them over to assess whether or not she could take them if they decided to defend their friend. They were big, but probably slow. She could deal, but that would mean putting down the phone. And just when things were getting good.

"What do you think you're doing?" Charlie spat, his black eyes glimmering in the semidarkness. His raw-from-the-cold hands were clenched into fists.

"Charlie, thank Go --"

Gaia slammed her foot down again. She really had to pay more attention to keeping the captive silent.

The three guys lined up in front of her, holding their arms out slightly at their sides like a bunch of linebackers. Gaia could see their breath as it steamed from their mouths and noses in quick, short bursts. She could only hope they didn't know about Tim and his escapades. Maybe, just maybe, they'd be disgusted enough not to interfere.

"Sideburns Tim tried to rape me," Gaia said in a matter-of-fact tone. She held the phone out about an inch from her ear. "I'm in the process of turning him in."

A cloud of confusion settled onto Charlie's features, and he looked at his prone friend. His fists relaxed. "What?" he said, his brow a mass of wrinkles. "You . . . you tried to rape --"

In the middle of his sentence one of Charlie's side-kicks took off at a sprint, ripping open the back door so fast, he nearly took it off its hinges. Gaia heard a girl inside shout indignantly as he careened through the living room.

"Who was that?" she asked Charlie, raising her chin toward the back of the house.

"Chris Parker," Charlie answered, his face still drawn with shock.

"Detective Rodriguez," a voice snapped from the other end of the line.

"Yeah," Gaia said. "I have a rapist here by the name of Tim Racenello. And his accomplice is running up Horatio right now. His name's Chris Parker, and he has a really uneven buzz cut."

MARY GRINNED WHEN DETECTIVE
Rodriguez picked up the phone and a surprised and indignant expression fell over his face like a curtain. He was definitely talking to Gaia. She was the only person in the world who inspired that exact reaction.

"Yes," the detective said, glancing at Mary from under his bushy eyebrows. "She's right here." He paused to listen and then turned in his chair so that one big, beefy shoulder was staring Mary in the face. She looked down at his gun in his leather shoulder holster, just below the ugly patch of sweat under his arm. She had a clear shot at the pistol. Not that she cared. But she wouldn't mind seeing his face if she stuck the barrel in it. He'd just spent fifteen minutes grilling her like she was the one who'd just kicked the shit out of someone for no reason.

"Yes, she told me the whole story," Rodriguez stage-whispered, his back hunching.

Not that he'd believed it.

"You have the perp there?" he asked, sitting back in his chair now. It creaked loudly in protest. Mary figured he'd decided there was no longer any point in keeping the truth from her. That her story was confirmed. That he was going to have to eat all his doubts with a shovel.

"We'll send someone over to pick him up," the detective said, making a few notes on a big yellow legal pad that was stained with old coffee rings. "Yes," he said, looking at Mary again. He almost looked like he wanted to hurt her. Some people just couldn t deal with being proven wrong. "Yes, I'll tell her." He paused and wiped a pudgy hand over his brow. "Thank you, Miss Moore."

He hung up the phone and let out a wet-sounding sigh, staring at the address he'd scrawled in front of him as he wiped his palms on his thighs.

"That's Ms.," Mary said with a cocky smile, tossing her curly red hair back from her face. The motion sent a pain through her skull, but she refused to wince.

"Huh?" Rodriguez asked.

"
Ms.
Moore," Mary repeated, crossing her arms over her chest and kicking out her legs. "You said Miss."

His face turned bright red, and for a second Mary thought he was going to reach out and strangle her, but a moment later he composed himself and ripped the page from his pad.

"Callahan!" he shouted, prompting a skinny little rookie in a pressed blue uniform to appear at his side like a hungry puppy. Rodriguez snapped the paper in the kid's face. "Take Robinson and go get this Racenello guy. He's at this address under the supervision of a Gaia Moore."

"Yes, sir," Callahan said, almost smiling as he took the paper and scurried off in search of his partner. Apparently this was a big thing for him. Mary hoped Gaia didn't give him any grief.

But it wasn't her problem. Her problem right now was that sometime in the next hour or so, she'd have to face the guy who attacked her. At least see him as he was dragged in. A big part of her didn't want to see his face. She didn't want to match a person with the animal that had attacked her. She didn't want to look into those eyes.

Mary leaned back in her uncomfortable chair, every bit of her body aching. Still, somehow she couldn't help smiling. Under the supervision of Gaia Moore.

She liked the sound of that.

Even after spending the last hour in the police station, it was the first moment she'd felt safe since the attack.