I'm so excited that you guys love this story! :) That's why you get this special treat: this is, i'd say, the most important chapter for this story. I didn't plan to upload it until next week, but I wanted to give you a little more Greg on Sunday hehe ;) I hope this chapter will excite you! Let me know what you think about it! And now enjoy!
"I can't believe this!" Greg was sitting in the back seat of Robin's car. His hands were tied behind his back. "Since when do you own a gun?"
"Two days," she replied rather dry while driving over to Karen's.
"Why?"
"Like you don't already know," she replied sarcastically. "I was the one who took your gun. I gave it to these men so that they wouldn't kill Karen and me... I didn't have a choice."
"Who are they? And what do they want from you two?"
"Karen owns them money... I didn't know about it until last week, when they walked into my home, threatening us with knifes..." She got teary-eyed.
"That's where you had to go all the time? You gave them the CD and my gun?"
"...You know about the CD?"
He nodded. "Sara reviewed the case and noticed it was gone. Do you know what's on it?"
"No. And I don't want to know. I just want this to end..."
"How? And what do I have to do with all of this? Why don't you just tell Brass about this? He can help!"
" I can't involve him. Just relax, we're there soon."
When they arrived, she untied Greg's hands. She didn't want to draw any attention to her and walking around with a man with tied hands sure would do that. Plus, she didn't think he'd fight back. She kept a distance to make sure she'd have enough time to draw her gun though. And indeed, Greg didn't think about trying to escape. He didn't see any opportunity to do so. But before they walked into the apartment building Karen was living at, he stopped.
"What is it? Keep going," Robin said.
"No."
"You're kidding, right? Keep walking!" she raised her voice.
"And if I don't? You're really ready to shoot me?"
"You shouldn't try me. Karen's up there and will be dead in half an hour if I don't arrive on time, I won't let that happen."
"Then go ahead, but don't drag me into this! I don't even know what's expecting me up there!" he replied aggressively and fearful. He was scared and pretty sure walking up there would be his death sentence.
Robin had tears in her eyes. "You'll be fine, I promise. I won't let them hurt you or Karen." She had a determined look on her face, but how could Greg trust her?
"Then tell me what you need me for!"
"I can't. My plan will work better when you don't know..."
"Yeah right..." he said disbelieving, giving her a look she almost couldn't stand seeing.
She made sure no one was around. They were alone, it was 4a.m., after all. She put the gun in her hand and walked up closer to Greg, gently touching his cheek. "Everything will be alright, I promise. Now please, walk in."
They were on the 17th floor, where Karen's apartment was. Robin knocked on the door, Karen opened. She was quickly dragged away from the door. Another man grabbed Greg's shoulder and dragged him inside, pushing him inside the living room and pinning him against the wall to pat him down. Robin walked in. "He doesn't have a gun on him. You have his."
"Excellent," the man replied, patting him down, anyway. "He's clean," he said to his three colleagues. They all had knives in their hands. A fifth man was sitting on the bed in the bedroom, watching what was going on in the living room while smoking a cigarette. The bedroom was dark and you could only see his silhouette and the smoke from the cigarette. The embers from the cigarette was giving light into the room.
Greg looked at Robin, searching for any hints as to what was going to happen. She didn't notice him, she was busy talking to Karen. Not only was he scared, he felt left alone by her right now. All hope about her keeping her promise of not letting him get hurt disappeared in this moment.
"You got the tape?" one of the men asked, breaking Robin and Karen off.
Robin nodded and got it out of her bag, along with some copies Archie had made.
"Great."
The man from the bedroom slowly walked across the hallway into the living room. He had a gun in one hand and the cigarette in the other. "So this is him?"
"Yeah... he's the one you got the gun from..." Robin blinked at Greg, but couldn't keep her eyes on him.
The man walked up to Greg. It was the man from the tapes. He was the one standing next to the shooter in the video. 6'2'' tall, large frame, grayish hair, dark blue eyes, beard stubbles, in his early 50ies. Greg recognized him but didn't say a word. He had no idea what these guys were up to, anyway. The man slowly put his hand on Greg's cheek. He tried hard to suppress his urge to push him away, he was carrying a gun, after all. Greg's gun. He looked at Robin, still hoping to get some answers out of her. She looked away. She couldn't look him in the eyes, she was too ashamed she used him like that.
"He looks even better than I thought he would!" the man said rather joyful. When he leaned in trying to kiss him, Greg couldn't resist his urge anymore and pushed him away.
"What are you doing?" Greg asked scared. He put his hands defensively in front of his body.
A tear was running down Robin's face. "Just do what he wants... Don't fight it or he'll hurt you even more..."
"You should listen to your friend..." the man said with a devilish grin on his face. He tried again to kiss Greg, but again was shoved back.
"Get away from me!" Greg yelled fearful. He had his back against the wall. He tried to think of ways to flee, but there were none.
The man turned around to Robin. "You didn't tell me he'd be so resistant... I like that." He chuckled. He turned to Greg again. "You can fight back all you want..." He leaned in again to kiss Greg and, once more, was shoved back. He laughed and gave two of his partners in crime a hand sign. They walked up to Greg.
"...W-What...?" Before he could even form the words in his head he wanted to speak out loud, one of them punched him in the face. They grabbed his arms and pinned him against the living room wall. "No! ...Get off of me!" he yelled, struggling to get out of their grab. This only resulted in him receiving more punches.
"Now, now, don't overkill it. He's still supposed to look good," the man with the gun in the hand said laughing. "You can either be a good boy and do what I want you to do or these two will have to keep us company."
"Get away from me!" Greg was still trying to fight them off. It would be better for him to stop struggling, but panic mode had already set in and he couldn't think straight. He just wanted to get out of this situation. "...Please!"
The man burned the inside of Greg's wrist with the cigarette while one of his accomplices muffled Greg's painful screams with a hand. "You're mine now," the man said laughing.
Robin watched Greg being tortured while crying. She kept whispering, "I'm sorry, so sorry..." to herself. She could almost not stand watching it, but she couldn't keep her eyes off, either.
The man pistol-whipped Greg. He was still conscious, but trying hard to stay that way. He couldn't fight back anymore and the man finally got the kiss he wanted so bad. While being kissed, Greg looked over to Robin, as if he wanted to say 'That was your plan? You're offering me to him so that you get out of his book?' and she knew exactly that that's what he wanted to say. She felt horrible.
When the man had finished his kiss, he spit on the floor. "You idiots, I told you not to hit him anywhere near his mouth. He tastes like blood." He wiped his mouth with his hand. "Well, this has to do, I guess... Drag him into the bedroom!"
When the two men grabbed Greg and walked him towards the bedroom, he started fighting back again. He even hit one of them. "No! Don't!" he yelled desperately.
"You two, help them," the armed man said to his other two accomplices. They walked over and helped carry Greg into the bedroom. He followed.
Karen and Robin just stood there in the corridor, a few feet away from the bedroom door, watching them drag Greg inside.
The men pushed Greg down on the bed. He kept struggling with them, fighting back as good as he could, but he had no chance against four men. Especially not in the state he was in right now, after receiving several hits and punches, some even to the head. "Robin!" he yelled, "Don't let them do this! Please!" he begged while still doing his best to fight them off.
The man with the gun stood at the end of the bed, watching Greg's struggle. He laughed. "I like him, he's fierce." He put his necktie off and walked closer to the bed.
"Please, Robin! Help me... Don't..." Greg wailed.
The man sat on top of Greg, forcefully grabbing his face. "You better shut up and be quiet. You don't want anyone of these guys helping you with that, you got that?" he said angrily and pressed his lips against Greg's while he put the gun at his neck. Tears seemed to be streaming endlessly down on Greg's face. He was sobbing convulsively and uncontrollably. He was shaking like crazy and almost hyperventilated. He was close to a panic attack.
"Get off of him!" Robin finally yelled.
The man laughed. "Actually I was planning to get off on him." When he heard a gun cock, he turned around with a confused look.
"I won't say it again," she said with a determined look on her face. "Put your gun away and get away from him."
"You didn't pat HER down?" the man tried to whisper to his partners, but couldn't suppress his anger. He smirked. "Silly woman. You better put that down." He pressed his gun at Greg's neck.
"The second you pull that trigger I'll do the same. Put your gun away... NOW!" she yelled.
The four accomplices stood there, not knowing what to do. They only had knives, but no guns. And right now, they tried to keep Greg from moving. He was fighting for his life and therefor hard to subdue.
The gunman thought about it for a moment. He put his gun at Greg's mouth. "You don't want your friend's brain spattered all over your good linens, do you?" He grinned.
"Greg, stay calm... It's gonna be okay..." Robin said soothingly.
"Have you even fired a gun before?" the man asked laughing.
"I have," Karen replied with a confident grin on her face, putting her hand over Robin's, touching the gun's trigger. "It's your decision. You can either walk out of here alive and never hassle us again or you can eat a bullet! All of you!" she said threatening.
They all heard a knock on the door. "Officer Morris?" Brass said from outside. "We need to talk!" He kept knocking.
The tension inside was thick enough to cut it with a knife. Walking away and never hassling Karen and Robin again was not an option anymore.
"Dammit!" Robin said desperately. "Drop the gun, there's no way out for you now..."
"Yeah well..." the man laughed. "I could still get out with a bang, taking him with me!"
"I won't let you do that..." Robin said nervously as a tear was running down her cheek. She knew she didn't have the skills to aim without risking to miss him – or worse – hit Greg. Karen had the skills, though.
"Open up!" When Brass knocked again, and everybody looked at the door distracted, Karen grabbed the gun out of Robin's hand and shot the gunman in the shoulder. He released a scream and dropped his gun on the bed next to Greg's face, falling down on him. Blood splattered all over Greg's face. The accomplices all ran for cover as the door was kicked in by an officer and Brass stormed the apartment. "Drop the gun! Drop it!" Brass yelled, pointing his gun at Karen, who quickly put the gun down and raised her hands.
While Brass and the officers were busy in the corridor, Greg pushed the injured man off of him and grabbed the gun. His hand was shaking. The man was unconscious. He pointed the gun at him but refused to use it. He released a deep sigh and walked into the bathroom. He locked the door behind him. Some officers noticed this, but didn't know it was Greg. They just saw a man with a gun walk into the bathroom. They pointed their guns towards the bathroom, ready to storm it. Brass quickly followed with his gun drawn. "Ready? One..."
"Don't! It's Greg... Greg's in there!" Robin said before Brass could order his men to storm the bathroom.
"Greg's in there?" He was confused. "What the hell's going on?"
