The Bounty Hunters: The Marino Bros.: Box Set (133 page)

He followed her gaze. “Oh, that’s a root cellar. Storage. And it goes outside too. But that’s locked. I always keep it locked.”

She just remained quiet after that. Glancing behind her once at the door to the outside; she knew it was the only way.

He saw her look at that door. “Oh, let me take care of this.” He turned, locked it from the inside. Slid the deadlock into place, and then pocketed the key.

He turned around and clapped his hands. “So, you must be hungry. I have some soup. Let me warm that up. You go sit, and relax,” he pointed at the sofa. She walked slowly towards it, but glanced at the rocker instead. “Or the rocker. That’s fine, Catarina. I want you to feel at home.”

She chose the rocker. Although he had untied her feet when he came to get her from the car, her hands were still tied together. As she sat quietly she examined the room more closely while she also watched Spiro put a few pieces of kindling in the stove. He opened up the cupboard under the sink, and took out what looked to be an old pot. He placed the pot in the sink and pumped water into it, rinsing it out. From a box on the table, he pulled out two cans of soup.

“Mushroom, okay?” he asked.

Cat shrugged her shoulders and nodded, never having tired it before. Her mouth was dry again. She would eat anything to prevent whatever he had planned next.

“Could I have a drink?” she asked tentatively.

“Oh, of course. Where are my manners?” He laughed nervously.

He pulled out a bottle of water from the same box. He brought it over to her, and then looked down at her tied hands. She saw a flicker of doubt pass his eyes. He looked away. “I’m sorry. I just can’t trust you yet.” He twisted off the cap and brought the bottle to her lips. She took a small sip. He smiled, and put the cap back on. “Just let me know when you want more.” Pivoting on one foot, he turned back to the kitchen to prepare the soup.

Opening up the pop top cans, he dumped the contents into the pot and placed it on the stove to warm, stirring it with a large wooden spoon. She watched as he set the table with two bowls, and two spoons, and he also put a bottle of water in front of one of them. He left hers beside her on the floor.

“This won’t take long.” He lifted the lid on the pot and gave it another stir.

Cat cleared her throat. She glanced at the bathroom. “Um, can, I go . . . to the restroom?”

Spiro glanced at her. Then the bathroom. He let out his breath through clenched teeth. “There is no window in there. No way out.”

“I just have to go. I’d like to wash my face and hands too.” His eyes narrowed and she didn’t look away.

“I’ll untie your hands, Catarina. But as soon as you are finished I need to tie you again.

“Okay?” He hated being so suspicious of her, but he didn’t want to risk losing her either.

Cat nodded, and rose. She walked towards him, and when she got near, he pulled out a pocket knife from his pants pocket, and cut one of the ropes. The cords unraveled when he tugged on it. Dropping her hands to her sides quickly, she flexed her fingers, and the red marks on them burned with the release. “I’m sorry,” he said looking down at her hands. “I won’t tie it so tight for dinner.”

He ushered Catarina over to the bathroom, and opened the door for her. “Don’t be long, okay.” She nodded silently, and turned into the tiny room. He shut the door for her. And she glanced at the back of it. There was no lock. And no window. Just a toilet and sink. Her dread grew.

She heard him call out, “Just pull the chain to flush.” She nodded, even though she knew he couldn’t see her.

*     *     *

For dinner Spiro
tied only one of her hands. He bound her wrist with the cord, and fastened the other end of it securely to the table inviting her to sit down afterwards.

“You’ll be able to feed yourself,” he smiled at her like he had just given her the greatest of presents, his face stretching awkwardly. His eyes were overly bright. He turned to fill her bowl, and then set it on the table before her.

Sighing, he sat across from her, his mood had brightened since she came out of the bathroom. He uncapped her water bottle, and when she looked down, she noticed he had buttered a slice of bread for her and folded it in half. It was placed beside her spoon.

“Oh, Catarina. You do not know how many times I’ve dreamed of this.” He picked up his spoon, slid it into his bowl and took his first taste. He savored it a moment before going on. “So many times I’ve dreamed of having you here. Sharing a meal together, like this.” He used one hand to indicate the room before them.

She couldn’t help but to glance. She saw the bed. The nightgown. She shuddered.

“Eat,” he commanded. “You have not eaten all day, and you will need your energy.”

She tore her head away from the bed and focused on Spiro. He was staring at her hard. She nodded, and reached for the water bottle taking a small sip. Her stomach was in turmoil. “Eat,” he repeated. This time his voice dropped to a deadly whisper. She picked up her spoon, and jerked it into her bowl trying to disguise the tremors.

“Eat, Catarina. Please,” he urged again. She was terrified. It was the way he was looking at her. She brought the spoon to her mouth, her hand shaking the whole while. She couldn’t hide her fears any longer, although she knew seeing that was making him angrier. She saw the flare of his nostrils. But something within her told her she was running out of time.

His hand hit the table hard, and everything on it shook, her water bottle almost toppled over. She popped the spoon in her mouth, and swallowed the thick brew. She forced herself to swallow it even though she felt like she wanted to gag. It was thick and vile. She dropped her spoon. Reached for her water quickly. Took a longer swallow, some dribbling out the side of her mouth. She tried to wipe it away as he watched her, but she forgot that her other hand was tied. Seeing his frustration rising, she was quick to apologize. “I’ll eat the bread.” She put the bottle down, picked up the slice of bread and took two small bites. Her hand shook less.

“You don’t like the soup?” His eyebrows drew together in question.

She glanced at it. She didn’t think she could manage to eat it. “I’m sorry. I never had it before. But I tried it. For you,” she added hastily. Taking another bite of the soft bread she chewed and swallowed. She didn’t want to think him ungrateful.

“Well, if that’s it, then I won’t make it again.” He pushed his own bowl away. He looked at the bed, and smiled at her.

She just kept her eyes on him, trying to gauge his next step. She chewed and swallowed taking smaller and smaller bites. She was desperate to delay the inevitable. “Could I have another piece of bread?” she asked.

He smiled and jumped up to get her one. “Of course.” He handed it to her. He had smeared butter on this one as well. Then sitting across from her he just watched her eat. His chin leaning against his hand, elbow on the table.

Cat nibbled her bread, and Spiro watched her. She prolonged it as long as she dared taking occasional sips of her water.

It was nearly midnight when she glanced at her small wristwatch. He saw the small movement. “You can’t be tired?” He laughed at his own joke. “You slept all day.”

The meal she consumed threatened to come up. The terror she felt at what might come next was beginning to break her down once more. She could think of nothing else to do in that moment, other than to beg. “Spiro, please,” she beseeched. “Don’t force me. Don’t do this.”

He pushed back out of his chair, the wood creaking as he stood up unfolding himself from his former position. His eyes became hard.

“Catarina, you loved me once. I know you did. And you’ll love me again. I’m sorry, but this,” he indicated the bed with a sweep of his hands, “our consummation of this love, is long overdue.” He stomped over to the bed, picked up the nightgown, and came back. He pulled her up from her chair, jerked her towards him, so she was forced to lean into him.

His voice had gone from childlike, to plaintive, to rough in an instant. “You will spread those legs for me tonight, Catarina. Knowing that you let Andreas there still burns me. But, I’ll forgive you. After.” He crushed his lips against hers. The feel of his wiry longish hair and the smell of his breath had her trying to turn her head, but one of his arms came up to pull her face to his so that she could not turn from him. He held her head in a very powerful vise. She felt his tongue seeking entrance, and heard his growl of disappointment, so with tears streaking down her face, she opened her mouth. He immediately plunged inside, and tasted her. She moved her head in time to his movements. And his tight grip began to relax.

When he pushed his hard cock against her abdomen, she willed her body to not move back as he ground himself into her. When he broke the kiss for a breath, he was heaving, gasping for breath. “Catarina, that was better. Much better.” He began to untie her hand. “Go change while I clean up. No underwear though. You won’t need it.” He turned from her and began to clean up the kitchen area. Slowly, she turned and walked to the bathroom, her hand instinctively reaching towards the ring hidden underneath her shirt.

Her heart was breaking. This was not supposed to be how this day ended. Not at all.

She was at her breaking point, and she felt the darkness closing in around her. Only thoughts of Andreas kept her growing. She loved him, and because of that love, she knew she could not be stone again.

Alvarez Security

A
s soon as
the doors to the private jet were open, Andreas and his brothers were off the plane walking down the steps to the Tarmac. The cold blast of air that met them failed to reach Andreas. He had only one thing on his mind. Getting his woman. Getting Cat.

Off in the distance were three large black SUVs, and a half dozen very large men, from the looks of it all former military. He could see one of the men break from the pack and begin to approach. It was Tony. Andreas and his brothers headed in his direction.

As he got closer he began to recognize some of the other faces. They were part of Tony’s team. He knew they had served with him in his Special Forces unit back in the Middle East. Andreas went straight to Tony, who took his hand and shook it firmly while swirls of snow pelted them.

“Thank you for doing this. Thank you for finding her.” On the flight, they had been relayed a message via the pilot. Tony had been able to confirm that the rental car they saw outside was from Florida, rented under yet another assumed name, and that satellite imagery had detected two people inside. One female, and one male.

“We got lucky.” He turned to his crew. “This is BJ, he is a tech, and he was the one who was able to enlarge the photo enough to determine a partial plate. Putting it into the database, he found the car by accessing rental car databases and going on the hunch that this was our guy.”

“Good work, thank you, BJ.” Andreas owed them all. He would remember, and he would help if he could.

BJ gave him a quick affirmation and then focused on his boss. Tony continued, as he shook hands with Nikko, Blaze, and Gio. “I also have Gabe, and Vinny here. Gabe is also a medic, in case things get messy. Then Jobe, he’s one of my best. I also brought along Matt and Shane, good friends who we work with from time to time; they are Richland PD. Out of their jurisdiction, we know, but they wanted to help.”

Andreas shook the men’s hands. He was grateful to all of them.

Tony didn’t waste a second. Time was too precious. Each minute wasted meant Cat’s life was at greater risk. He went right into the plan he and his team had come up with. He was all about the mission at hand. “When we called the pilot with the new Intel, we also got permission for you to land here instead. This is a small airfield, but it’s about twenty five minutes from the target, and we figured time is of the essence.” Andreas nodded, relieved to know he was even closer to Cat.

“We have the specs of the cabin in the car. It’s small, one large room and a bathroom. Getting in is going to be tough. One window, small, and one root cellar that leads into the house. The plan is to create a distraction loud enough to lure Spiro to the window and get a shot off, shoulder hit, we hope, to take him down. Then we all hit the cabin hard. We got our infrared to be sure Cat’s not in the way. We want to get a couple of us in the storm cellar; we got small charges to take out the lock as soon as we hear that Vinny has taken his shot. The rest of the guys will surround the house, storm the front door, and come in through the window.”

“I want to be in the root cellar.” Andreas wanted to be the first one in. This was his girl. He needed to be the one.

“I figured as much. You’ll go with me. We will take Jobe as well. It’s always nice to have a brick wall beside you,” he joked about the man’s humongous size.

“What about us?” Gio asked, sizing up the other men. He and his brothers were here to back up Andreas. They wanted in and to do their parts.

“Gio, and Blaze, you guys will be on circumference, and come in the front door with Matt and Shane. BJ is staying in the lead car, we’ve got our radio equipment there, he’ll keep us all connected. Nikko, you and Vinny will go through the one window after the shot is taken. You will also be making the distraction. Go fast. Clear the glass, and subdue the perp if you can get to him first.” Nikko nodded looking at his brothers.