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Part 2

I dozed, I’m not sure for quite how long. It could have been hours or days, I had no way of knowing. The sound of the warehouse door being pushed aside awoke me. I was feeling much stronger, and the majority of the nausea had passed. I pushed myself upright with my free hand and squinted against the light which was shining into my eyes. I could see a silhouette in the doorway, but nothing else. My pulse sped up; my captor had returned. The door closed, and I could hear the patter of swift footsteps across the concrete floor of the warehouse.

“Gwen?” came a fierce whisper, barely audible. No one called me Gwen, no one. No one but him.

“Oh, no,” I croaked, “what are you doing here?” My throat was parched, my legs felt like lead, but suddenly I wanted to jump for joy. “And what the hell took you so long?” The familiar form and face of Agent Pendergast swam out of the shadows like an avenging ghost. “Your brother is a real charmer, you know?”

Pendergast was at my side by then, agile fingers working around the cuff on my wrist. A second later, my hand was free, and he was helping me stand. I clutched at the fabric of his suit.

“Come on, pull yourself up, Gwen,” he urged. “We must get out of here before Diogenes gets back.”

I fell back against the bed. “Diogenes? His name is Diogenes?” My jaw dropped in shock. “You know, I’m not sure he doesn’t have a legitimate gripe after all!”

Silver eyes met mine, and for the first time I noticed that Pendergast was in what, for him, was almost a state of panic. “This is not the time to discuss it!” He hissed sharply. “And keep your voice down, I do not know where he has gone.” I noticed his deep southern accent was almost gone, and wondered how much of it was natural and how much was for show. When it came to this man, nothing would ever surprise me.

“Salve, frater.” The voice was as smooth as the silk still wound around the handcuff on the pillow. “I see you’ve joined our little party.” The dark figure of Diogenes condensed out of the shadows. I slumped back a little, and Pendergast turned to face his brother. I looked at the two of them, so alike and yet so different. Suddenly, I realized that in this situation, I was very outside the loop in terms of importance. I had served my purpose—to lure Agent Pendergast out of his hiding—and now I was to be ignored. I wasn’t sure whether that pleased or irritated me, and that surprised me. Why did I want to draw the attention of either of these men?

I pulled myself along the bed until Agent Pendergast was no longer between me and Diogenes. “Excuse me.” I said. “Excuse me? Do I get any last requests?” Both heads swung toward me, irritation on Pendergast’s face and amusement on Diogenes’. I was ignoring the agent at present, though.

“I believe you will have a last request. But your end is not yet at hand, my dear.” Diogenes’ gaze moved back to his brother. “First, we must tie up this loose end.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. Just tell me this—your name is Diogenes?” He looked back at me, and nodded shortly. “Alright, then what’s his name?” I pointed at Agent Pendergast. Silence rose between the three of us, and a faint pink tinge came to Pendergast’s cheeks. Diogenes, who was closely watching his brother, began to smirk.

“Well?” I said, “I’m waiting.” I narrowed my eyes, suddenly musing over a possible solution to our dilemma. “Surely you wouldn’t be the sort of man who keeps a lady waiting, now are you?” I flirted gently. It helped greatly that I was still rather loopy from the head injury—I’m sure I wouldn’t have been nearly lunatic enough to try what I was thinking of trying if I hadn’t been nearly concussed.

Diogenes looked back at my face, his eyes widening slightly at my tone. “Did he never tell you?” He looked back at his brother. “Why, Aloysius, how ungentlemanly of you!”

I was silent for a moment, and then it hit me. Aloysius. I began to giggle. The newly named Aloysius turned a very annoyed gaze on me, which merely sent me into actual laughter. I fell back on the bed and laughed until I cried, until I began to worry I was becoming hysterical. Finally, the laugh petered out, and I managed to push myself back up again. Both men were staring at me as if I’d lost my mind, which made me laugh again, but this time only briefly.

“Ah, Christ, you are a pair, aren’t you?” I said, wiping tears from my eyes with the back of my hand. “I take it your mother was hitting the ether during labor? Or at least I hope to God she was, otherwise those names constitute abuse.”

“My mother was a good woman.” Diogenes tone and face were cold enough to freeze vodka.

I shrugged nonchalantly. I was a dead woman anyway, what did I have to lose? “OK, your father named you then. It was still unkind. I bet you both have something like eight middle names, each more snooty and high-toned than the last, am I right?” I shook my head at them both. “Who would have thought it; I’m going to meet my end at the hands of an over-named, over-bred rich boy with an Oedipus complex.” I heaved a deep sigh, deep enough to lift my breasts in their push-up bra almost to the level of my collarbone. “What a waste.” I deliberately let my tone sink deeper into my chest as I almost purred at Diogenes, “and a crying shame.”

He glanced over at his brother, and then a rather jaunty smile lit his face. “I wouldn’t say I had an Oedipus complex.” He said, in a teasing tone. “And I hear,” he drawled, “that most women prefer Mamma’s boys. Supposedly they make better pets.”

I tilted my chin down and glanced coyly at him through my lashes. “Who says I want a pet?” I pulled myself up, sliding my body up along the bedpost, arms sinuously twined around it. It had been years since I’d made a living in the ‘flesh trade’, but the skills come back to you very easily.

Diogenes gazed at me, wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and then he burst out into laughter. He looked back and forth between his brother and me, and I finally noticed the oily glint of lamplight on the gun in his hand. So that’s why Aloysius had done nothing!

“Why, brother!” Diogenes crowed, “Your taste in women improves by the day!” He smiled at Aloysius, who was still standing in the same spot but watching me very carefully out of the corner of his eye. I could tell he was doing rapid mental math, trying to figure out what I was doing. I hoped he wouldn’t.

Diogenes stepped towards me, just one step. He was switching his gaze back and forth between Aloysius and me, trying to keep us both in his field of vision at once. There was a very strange expression on his face, one of almost child-like glee. My heart was pounding behind my breastbone, and I was sure he could see the pulse in my neck. Strangely, I think it was exciting him.

He stopped, and pressed his hands together, gun between the palms, and rested the barrel on his lips in an attitude of deep thought. He sighed deeply and released the breath slowly between his fingertips.

“I can see, Gwendolyn,” he murmured around the gun, “that we are going to have to become better acquainted. But my brother,” he glanced over at Aloysius, “is very much in our way.” He tilted his head to one side, and pulled the nose of the gun down to aim at the wall somewhere in the gloom behind and between his brother and I. “What should we do about that?”

I blinked, surprised. Really, I hadn’t expected him to be so... willing. That stopped me for a moment, and I had the feeling suddenly of being caught in my own nets. Then I looked over at Aloysius, who was finally facing me, a fine sheen of sweat on his forehead. His eyes had gone blank, and I knew that I was playing this hand alone. I did my best girly squirm and pointed at the cuff still dangling from the headboard.

“Can’t you just tie him up out of the way, then?” I moved so that the bedpost was behind me and pulled my arms around behind my back. Most men would have been impressed by the chest-up-and-out aspect of the pose, I got the feeling Diogenes was enjoying the martyr-tied-at-the-stake aspect much more. “I’m sure he’d be nice and quiet.”

Suddenly, Diogenes aimed the gun at Aloysius. “Why don’t I just shoot him in the head? He’d be much quieter then, wouldn’t he?”

Ah, now that I’d been expecting. I pouted. “Blood smells bad, Diogenes. And it doesn’t take long to go rank.” I did another chest-heaving sigh. “Surely you’re not that inconsiderate of a girl?” I cocked a brow at him. “Why don’t you just put him in the chair. Where he’ll have a nice view.” I smiled slowly, never taking my eyes from his face.

His eyes never moved from his brother’s face, so I had no warning before he was suddenly in front of me, pressing me into the bedpost so hard it was digging into my spine, with his hand wrapped around the front of my throat, thumb and middle fingers digging into the flesh just under and behind my jawbone. He squeezed gently, and I felt a moment of true terror as my air was cut off. His dead eyes gazed into mine as I tried desperately to draw breath into my lungs. I could see glitter at the edges of my vision before he let up on the pressure and I could breathe again. I sucked in a deep breath, pushing my body tightly against his, and realized he had the gun pressed to the bone behind my ear. He bent down and pressed a soft kiss on the corner of my mouth, then gently slid his lips along the curve of my bottom lip, nibbling and sucking on the sensitive skin. He nipped at the fullest part of my bottom lip, and then bit down hard. I cried out in surprise, but he had released my lip almost before then. He licked my lip, lapping up the small drop of blood that he’d drawn, and I began to feel a warm throb low in my belly. My breath was becoming uneven with anticipation, and I began to reach for his mouth with my own. He pulled his head back enough to look into my eyes. I gazed up at him, wanting him to bring his face back down to mine, and pressed my hips against his lower body in an unconscious motion. He backed away, sliding the gun barrel along my skin, bringing it to rest at the center of my forehead. Diogenes reached into his front jacket pocket, and removed a second set of handcuffs. He dangled them out in front of me on his finger.

“You can cuff him to the chair. It’s bolted down, along with the table.”

My hand trembled as I took the cuffs from Diogenes’ hand. I had barely clasped them in my fingers when he grabbed my hand, crushing skin against metal. “Make sure you put those on nice and tight, little one. We wouldn’t want him interrupting our games, now, would we?” He said, leaning in so close to me I could feel his breath in my ear. An electric current went from my hand, where he was grinding my flesh into the gap between the bars of the handcuff, and the side of my neck, where I could feel the heat of his skin from an inch away. I drew in a deep breath, trying to get control of the excitement that was building in my stomach. I’d never been one for pain before, and it was a guarantee I was in for some, but as jaded as I’d become in the past... I knew I was in for something new, something different. That alone made the risk I was taking worth it. Even if I didn’t succeed in distracting Diogenes long enough for Pendergast to escape, well, maybe at least I’d get to feel something with this man that I hadn’t felt with any man since I was a teenager.

Breaking the moment, I nodded slightly, tilting my head toward his so I could see into his hazel eye. The pupil was huge, so perhaps I wasn’t the only one enjoying this game. He released my hand and I staggered slightly as he released me. I reached out and grasped the other brother’s arm. Aloysius steadied me as I staggered away from the bedpost, and I used the moment to wrap one of the cuffs around his wrist. He looked from it to me, his eyes widening. I turned and began to walk carefully to the chair in the pool of light. There was only a moment of hesitation, and then I felt Aloysius begin to follow me to the chair. We moved silently across the intervening darkness, and then he passed me and stood between me and the chair.

“Don’t do this, Gwen,” he said. “Diogenes will kill you.” I looked into his eyes and read the pleading there. “Please, Gwen.” I raised one hand to his lips, and with the other pushed lightly against his chest. With very little effort, he bent obediently into the chair. I grabbed the loose cuff and, leaning in close, whispered as I cuffed him to the frame of the chair, “If I succeed in distracting him, even for a second, get loose and get Wessex. He’s got to be nearby.” Pendergast drew in a breath to object, but I carried on. “I’ll keep him busy for as long as I can, and he’ll be here when you can get back with reinforcements.” I pulled back a bit and smiled at him. His face was drawn in worry. I winked at him. “Don’t worry too much; I’ve got quite a bag of tricks.”

Suddenly an arm swung around my neck and pulled me up and back. Pulled off balance, I fell back against Diogenes. He smoothed one hand along my stomach, from the bottom curve of my breasts to my waist.

“Saying good-bye, my sweet?” He hissed in my ear. He pushed me away so that I fell to the floor, lightly skinning my palms against the rough concrete. I looked up and saw Diogenes checking Aloysius’ bonds, making sure I’d done a good job. Apparently satisfied, Diogenes straightened up and wiped his hands against each other. “Brother, I’m very sorry we haven’t enough light for you to have a good view, but I’m sure you’ll be able to hear adequately.”

He turned smartly on one heel and took a step toward me. Panic finally set in and I started to scrabble away from him on hands and knees. He laughed as he easily scooped me up in his arms and carried me, whimpering slightly, toward the bed. He tossed me face down on the bed and laughed as I rolled over. He climbed on to the bed, shedding his sport jacket as he came toward me. Before I could roll out of the way, he had straddled my body and sat across my hips, pinning me down. Helpless, I watched as he removed his cufflinks and began to roll up his sleeves.

“Now, little one, where did all that bravado go?” He removed his belt and began to wind it around one hand. I noticed he was wearing an under-arm gun holster, not unlike the one Aloysius wore, but it was empty. With the belt wrapped around his hand, he stopped and propped his hands on his hips. “I liked you better when you were braver.” He tilted his head to look at me out of the corner of his eyes again. “You’re not trying to be clever, are you?”

I lay back for a moment. He had me pinned down, and there was little if any hope for my long-term survival. But... There had been that moment, a very brief moment, when I had felt that wonderful tingle. If I was going to die, I decided, I was going to enjoy going out. I think he could feel me relaxing against the sheets, because he put his arms down on either side of my head and leaned over so he was lying on top of me. I only had a second to wonder at his flexibility—his knees were practically tucked into my ribcage—and he was nibbling lightly on my lips again. My knees bend in an unconscious and futile attempt to curl into a ball, but the bite never came. Oddly disappointed, I moaned lightly as he pulled his lips back.

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