Allison Brennan - Sudden Death

Karin would tire of hurting her. She had always been impatient.

Jack, I wish we had more time together. I found something special with you, and now we can’t see it through.

Could she be so upset to lose something she barely had?

“Oh, Meggie Eggie, are you sad?”

“You’re going to kill me-just get it over with.”

Karin jumped up and down with glee. “That didn’t take long! You think it’s almost over? You won’t know when it’s over until you feel cold steel against the back of your head.”

Crossing the room, Karin took a.357 from a desk drawer. She waved it at Megan. “This is my favorite gun. I haven’t used it on anyone yet. I was saving it special for you. But when you’re dead and buried, no one will find you, so it won’t matter! I’ll go back and take care of some of the other traitors who made me talk to those asshole shrinks.”

“You fooled every one of them. You’re good, Karin. They believed every tear, every word.”

Karin smiled brightly. “I am good. I’m even better now.” She put the gun to Megan’s temple and cocked the hammer. Megan willed herself to stop shaking, but she couldn’t.

The loud click of the hammer hitting made Megan scream. Karin laughed uproariously, greatly enjoying Megan’s terror.

She yanked the needles out of her captive’s underarm and tossed them on a table.

“I must have forgot to load it. Silly me.” She crossed the room to the desk and took out a box of ammunition. Put six bullets in the cylinder, snapped it closed. She pointed the gun at Megan and said, “Bang.”

“Bitch.” Megan bit her tongue, wishing she hadn’t said anything.

Knowing that she’d gotten to her, Karin grinned as she put the gun down on the desk.

“I’ve waited twelve years to pay you back for investigating me. Me! Your partner. Your friend. You didn’t even come to me first, didn’t talk to me about it so I could explain.”

“What would you have said if I told you I thought you killed that kid on purpose?”

“I would have said yes, then I would have blown your head off.”

“I should have turned you in sooner.”

“Shouda-woulda-coulda. Don’t live in the past, Meggie. That’s why I have to do this. Once you’re gone, I’ll have nothing hanging over me. No debts to repay. You’re the last thorn from my past.” She picked up a pack of five needles.

Megan tried not to stare at the shiny stainless-steel weapons. “You conned two old people into letting you impersonate their daughter.”

Karin’s smile faltered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you do. Bernard and Millie Rubin, Hannah.”

Karin slid a needle under her thumbnail. Megan bit back a cry. She managed to control the pain through sheer will. Karin slid another needle under the other thumbnail and this time Megan screamed out, her neck straining, trying to control her reactions.

“You’re not in charge here,” growled Karin.

“Give it up, Karin. It’s you and me. I know what you did.” Why did Karin think she wouldn’t have figured it out? “I’m not stupid. I found out about Kenneth Russo. Killed in a robbery. So I followed up. Talked to his neighbor. Talked to the community director. Learned all about Hannah Rubin.”

Karin yanked out the needles. The pain slowly receded, now Megan throbbed all over. “I should have killed Paula. She was too much like you. Nosy bitch.”

“You can kill me.”

“I will.”

“But you’ll never be free. They’ll find you.”

“They have to know who they’re looking for.”

“They do. Francis Cardenas- Father Cardenas- remembered you so well, he was able to describe you to a sketch artist. I wasn’t the only one who got a copy.”

“You lie.”

“It’s not just killing me you’ll have to pay for. It’s killing American soldiers, a general, a family. You won’t be able to hide. You can pretend to be anyone, manipulate another senile old woman, and they will still hunt you down and put you in prison.”

“I. Don’t. Believe. YOU!”

This needle came down and simply pricked Megan. It didn’t hurt like the others. Karin stabbed again and again, drawing small amounts of blood. She threw the needles across the room and stomped off, kicking furniture and knocking chairs over. She left the room.

Megan tried to slow her racing heart, but she’d never been so terrified in her life. She didn’t want to die like this, when she had so much to live for.

Karin wanted to hurt her, and she would. Megan would fight the pain, find some way to survive. She tugged at her restraints; too tight to escape, too strong to break free. She would take the assault and agony as long as she could, hoping-praying-that Jack and Hans found her before Karin put a bullet in her head.

Karin returned with a bucket. She poured more icy water over Megan and the federal agent almost passed out.

“Better,” Karin said.

Megan couldn’t talk. Her lips chattered.

“I can improvise. We never used ice water, but Ethan told me about it.”

Karin pulled over a chair and sat in front of Megan. She stared at her on the table, grinning. But her eyes were as icy as the water she’d drenched Megan with.

“You stole everything I loved. My job and the respect I got from it. Was it so wrong to dispense a little frontier justice? I think not. They were criminals, Meggie. The bad guys. Or are you so worried about the damn rules and regulations that you’d rather have a guilty man walk free?”

“Y-yes,” she said.

“Right, but-”

Megan interrupted her, teeth chattering. “Y-you didn’t care who you k-killed, Karin. You j-just wanted to play God. You kill and hurt people b-b-because you like it. You feel good inside, don’t you? You’re nothing but a brutal, monstrous serial killer.”

Megan couldn’t bait her this time. Karin had calmed down. She smiled wider. Megan couldn’t quite see what Karin was doing near her feet. But-

Megan screamed. She didn’t even know where Karin had pricked her, but her entire left side felt like it burned from within.

“I learned some new tricks, Meggie, just for you.”

Megan’s screams were so loud her head hurt. Then there was nothing. No pain, no sound, no hope.

Jack paced back and forth in front of Scout’s Cessna Caravan.

It had been ten hours since Megan was kidnapped. Three a.m. and no word from her, no word from Karin Standler. Karin didn’t want to ransom Megan, she wanted to kill her.

Megan could already be dead. Suffering. Terrified. Jack closed his eyes and pictured a group of POWs he’d rescued ten years ago. The hollow eyes of men who had endured so much pain and suffering that they looked more dead than alive. Broken in every sense of the word. Hopeless.

“Don’t do this to yourself,” Padre said.

He’d flown out as soon as Jack hung up with him the night before. Padre stood with his friend on the airfield, trying to help.

“What are the damn FBI doing?” Jack said. “Taking a coffee break?”

“Jack, they found the truck Rosemont was driving when they killed the Hoffmans. They’re going over it with a fine-toothed comb, something will-”

“Have you called in favors? Is there anyone you know who can help with the search?”

“The FBI have the high-end toys in this case, Jack.”

“And they don’t know how to use them!”

A small plane landed on the lighted airstrip, and taxied over to the main area. Jack watched it, wishing he could take Megan away, right now. The two of them, no one else, on a beach, in a jungle, in the mountains. He didn’t care where he was, as long as Megan was with him.

Be strong, Blondie. You’re a survivor.