DISCLAIMER: No character but Sharra belongs to me. What a shame.

"I'm not an invalid, you stupid ape!" Sharra griped as Crowe hauled her by the arm towards the abode he shared with Kruger and Drake. "I can walk on my own two bloody feet!"

Behind them, Kruger chuckled. This girl was spunky. Not afraid to speak her mind. He liked it. He liked her.

Crowe turned to Kruger in the hopes that Kruger would allow him to strike the girl down for talking to him like that. He had no such luck.

"Release her, Crowe," Kruger ordered. "She has nowhere to run; she's outnumbered."

Crowe grumbled beneath his breath as he reluctantly released his painful grip, practically shoving Sharra to the ground as she fell to her knees. He grinned maniacally as she quickly got to her feet, brushing dirt and dust off of herself and then walked into their house with her head held high.

"Girl's an obnoxious bitch," Crowe grumbled to Kruger as he fell into step with him. "Needs to be taught a lesson or fokken two." His eyes scanned her body appreciatively. "Has a hell of an ass, though."

Both men's eyes now fell to the aforementioned anatomy and they grinned.

"Can I tap it, baas?"

"I think you know I'll be the first one 'tapping' her, Crowe. When I'm done with her, then she's all yours."

Crowe groaned in disappointment. "Man, you always get the best chikkies, baas."

Kruger's grin widened beneath his messy beard, white teeth barely visible. "An advantage of being the leader."

They joined Sharra in the living room, observing her as she glanced around in obvious disgust. They didn't even mind the way she judged their home. She brightened the place up just by standing there and they enjoyed staring at her lithe figure.

"How can you stand living in this hovel?" she demanded, unaware of the leers she received until she turned to face them. When she saw where the focus of their gazes were, she scowled and folded her arms over her chest.

Amusement danced in Kruger's menacing green eyes as they met hers. "Your place wasn't any better, princess." He spoke the word 'princess' with disdain and insult.

Sharra frowned at the statement. "Well...that's true."

There was about three minutes of silence after that as the four people in the room glanced amongst the others. Usually the men would throw their feet up on the coffee table, click on the first nudie flick they found, and drink to their hearts' content. With a woman in the house, however, they were a bit more reluctant to do this. At least not until Kruger gave them the go-ahead, in any case.

Finally Kruger grew fed up and he stomped forward, gripped Sharra by the elbow, and hauled her off to the master bedroom at the end of the hall. She only put up minimal resistance - not wanting to appear so weak that she'd given up hope already of ever escaping, but also not wanting to risk getting her neck or anything else broken - as she was dragged into Kruger's bedroom. There was no doubt in her mind it was Kruger's as he was clearly the man in charge around here.

"I hope you don't expect me to be sleeping anywhere near you!" Sharra spat as she was tossed onto the messy queen-sized bed.

"And I know you don't expect to get away with your fokken insubordination," Kruger replied as he leaned down to trap her between his arms. "You're a prisoner here, geliefde. You'd do best to fokken remember that."

Sharra glared up at him. "Oh, I doubt very much I could ever forget that fact. But don't think I'm just going to let you beat me around simply because you're stronger than me!"

Kruger chuckled and ran his fingers down the side of her face. She jerked back from his touch, but he gripped her hair tightly to hold her in place. "I wouldn't want you to let me beat you around. I like my girls having some fight in them."

"I am not your girl."

Smoothing his thumb over her chin, Kruger leaned in until his mouth hovered just a millimeter above hers. "You're under my watch, in my house, going to be sleeping in my room - therefore, you are my girl until I advise you otherwise."

He closed the gap between them and sealed their mouths together, sucking all the air out of her. She pounded her fists against his chest as his tongue swept into her mouth, tasting and exploring and generally enjoying the way she squirmed and fought his invasion.

Kruger pulled back, rasping heavily as he stared down at her. Her cheeks were flushed; her lips swollen from his aggressive onslaught; her pupils dilated, blotting out almost all the blue color in them. He was so hard in his fatigues at that moment it was painful.

"Get off me, you lug!" Sharra tried to push him away using all the (puny) strength she had, but he was just too strong for her.

Kruger ignored her demand and pressed his nose against her neck, inhaling deeply. His left hand trailed down her chest to roughly knead her breast. She whimpered in pain, but he didn't lessen his grip as he forced her legs to part with his knee.

He was just starting to grind down against her when there was a heavy, demanding knock on the door.

Kruger cursed as he reluctantly clambered to his feet to answer the door. He was prepared to let loose a string of epithets at the person interrupting, but the words died on his lips when Secretary Delacourt stepped into the room. Her cold blue eyes scanned the room automatically, coming to rest on Sharra lying on the bed, propped up on her elbows.

Delacourt turned to Kruger, pointing to Sharra as she spoke. "Who is this?"

"DeCosta's sister," Kruger replied; Sharra silently noted the way his eyes followed the blonde woman longingly. "I figured she might be incentive for that boykie to turn himself in."

Delacourt nodded approvingly. "Very impressive, Kruger."

Kruger's chest puffed out in pride at the compliment.

She glanced over at Sharra again, who was watching her steadily. She turned back to Kruger and spoke as though Sharra wasn't in the room at all.

"Until I tell you otherwise, Kruger, make sure she remains locked up here with you. If any punishments are to be doled out, make sure they don't leave a mark. We need her brother to believe she's unharmed and untouched. And - most importantly - under no circumstances are you or any of your men to rape this woman. Not until we have her brother, at least. Then I don't care what you do to her."

Kruger was noticeably disappointed by this last command, but he didn't argue.

Delacourt took one last look around, sneering at the uninhabitable living space - or even visiting space for a person of her station. "Keep me apprised of what happens around here, Kruger. Espeically with that...creature...over there."

Sharra shot up off the bed without any thought. "I'm a human being, bitch! Not a fucking creature!"

Kruger caught her up before she could launch an attack at Delacourt, holding her arms down at her sides while keeping her locked up against his chest.

"You better learn to control your prisoner better than that, Kruger," Delacourt admonished him with a domineering frown.

Sharra winched as Kruger painfully tightened his embrace around her middle as he nodded to Delacourt. "Yes, ma'am."

"I don't want to have to return to this horrid environment again. You won't appreciate the consequences if I do."

Kruger continued to watch her until she was out of sight. Once she was, he growled angrily and Sharra was filled with renewed fear.

"Don't you ever fokken act out in front of her again!" he yelled before backhanding her as hard as he could. She went sprawling to the floor, landing in a heap at the end of the bed. He hauled her up roughly by the hair, relishing her cry of pain, and hauled her against his chest. "I don't like being fokken embarrassed!"

Eyes watering, Sharra glared up at him in hatred. "I didn't realize a man like you could get embarrassed."

Kruger sneered and pushed her down onto the bed. He allowed his eyes to briefly trail over her before he stormed out of the room, making damn certain to lock the door from the outside.

Once he was gone, Sharra caved in to the all-consuming fear and began to cry. It made her feel weak and helpless, but it couldn't be helped. She didn't cry for herself, though; she cried for Max. These were the men looking for him, the men who had killed Julio. And they were going to kill her too. Just as soon as they got Max.

'Don't come after me, Max,' Sharra thought silently. 'Please. Just take Frey and Matilda and disappear somewhere.'

Sharra didn't care at that moment if she lived or died so long as Max was safe from these monsters who had taken her.