Hello everyone! Thank you for the kind words. I'm definitely feeling the groove again. This chapter may be a little rough because I wanted to post before the wonderful weather knocks out my interwebs. Let me know if anything major jumps out. Thanks as always for reading. Enjoy!
Kono jerked awake. There were men in the room with her. Her immediate response was to scoot back against the wall. She tucked her knees against her chest, never taking her eyes off of the unwelcome guests.
There were five of them. All obviously armed. Seemed like overkill to her.
Then something horrible slithered into her brain.
She knew why they were standing there leering at her like that.
God, she didn't know how long she could hold out, but she would make them bleed.
Another man walked into the room and snapped his fingers. They all scattered, disappearing into the hallway.
"Would be a terrible shame, huh? If I don't protect the boss's goods." He waved at someone out of sight and two chairs were pushed into the room. "My men...they like you."
Kono tried not to let her lip quiver. She was still in shock, senses overloaded. Her brain struggled to remember the breathing exercises Steve had taught her. He'd stressed the importance of remaining calm when you were captured. Didn't matter how frightened you were. You did not give the enemy that satisfaction.
She glared at the man and did not move. He had other ideas.
"Come here. Now." He pointed in front of him. "Don't try anything or I'll feed you to the dogs."
She obeyed, and he roughly grabbed her arms and spun her around, dragging her to the chair.
"Sit."
Kono almost woofed at him, but kept her mouth shut. She sat down when prompted.
"Good. You understand your situation."
Her brain ran through a few escape options. She could grab his weapon and shoot him. Kick or punch him. Or just flat out run away. All of those things would get her killed or worse once she reached the hallway.
She had no choice but to comply, allowing the man to secure her to the chair without so much as a whimper as he roughly tugged her arms behind her back and taped her legs to the chair. They were going to a lot of trouble to make sure she stayed in one place.
When finished, the man simply left without a word. Kono tested her bonds to no avail. The sharp plastic dug into her wrists, and her ankles were hopelessly stuck. She wasn't going anywhere.
"Well, I can't say I'm not just a bit disappointed in you." Agent Edward Kipton entered the room.
She did her best not to react. He just smiled and kept talking.
"Good. You know who I am." He nodded, pleased with himself. "You better hope Danny coughs up the money."
He was suddenly too close, smelling of Old Spice and just a hint of sweat. Yanking her hair, he pulled her head back, his mouth inches from her ear.
"See, these guys here - it's been weeks , maybe months since they've been with a woman." Kipton laughed. "And you - well - you are a find specimen. Yea...the things I could do."
His voice trailed off as he released her and moved away.
"My men delivered a message this afternoon. I'm sure Danno and McGarrett got the hint. Painfully so. You for the money. It's simple math. Shouldn't take a rocket scientist. Unless they decide to pull some stunt or lie to me."
He practically purred his next sentence. "Oh how I hate it when people lie to me."
The last three words were punctuated by jabs to her chest with his index finger. "You better hope they don't lie to me."
He cleared his throat and ran a hand through his dark hair.
"They tried it once before. But I knew. Steve McGarrett covered for Detective Williams. He thought I was in the dark, clueless about Matthew Williams." Kipton sneered. "They didn't know."
He zoned out for just a second, grin creeping across his face. He seemed to remembering a fond memory. When he looked back at Kono his arrogance was off the charts. "See, Matt Williams was working with me. He believed he was an FBI informant."
This caught Kono by surprise.
"See - nobody knew. It was so much fun. So easy. The douche bag actually thought he was helping his country. He got all noble and shit. What an easy mark."
He chuckled, scratching his chin.
"He was so eager to show up his brother. Prove he wasn't a grade A fuck up."
Another snicker.
"I had so much fun."
Kono wanted to puke.
He pulled up the remaining chair.
"Matty helped me gather info on Marco Reyes. Then I approached the cartel with what I knew. Offered my services. Drug dealers are only successful if they have people on the inside. Everyone knows that. And a dirty Fed is worth their weight in gold."
He sighed, seemingly vexed about something. Then he straightened and the content smirk reappeared. "If only my partner understood my goals. A federal pension - it's a joke. We risk our lives for pennies. Reyes offered me an alternative."
Kono closed her eyes, testing her bonds behind her back.
"Go ahead - try to escape. I have no problem shooting you. After all, I killed my own partner. Reyes said it was my initiation. My baptism. I'm not normally for any of that churchy stuff, but I kinda liked it. Baptism by blood."
He laughed and this time Kono shivered. The wind howled through the high windows.
"Death helped me see what life was really about."
"And just what is that?"
"Ah!" He shot up from his seat, chair skittering backwards. "The lovely lady speaks! Excellent."
He sat back down and scooted the chair closer, giving her thigh a squeeze before sliding his hand to her knee. Kono did her best to pull away. He bade her no attention.
"The secret to life is this - there is no secret. There's nothing. So everything you do means nothing." Kipton licked his lips. "So you may as well please yourself. Enjoy life. And that takes money. For me...lots of money. Marco Reyes helped me with that."
He waited.
"What? No response? No disgust for my narcissism? No scolding?"
She glared through him.
"You think you're better than me?" He brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. "You wait. You'll be surprised what you do to survive. What you can endure. How it feels in the end...to thrive."
Kipton laughed. "If I were you, I'd start by praying your friends turn up with the money tomorrow."
He slid away from her, the chair making an obscene noise. He nodded toward the door.
"I'd hate to see them ruin your pretty face."
Just as he spoke, there was raucous laughter from the hallway.
"You can hear it in their voices, can't you? They're just waiting for me to give them the word." He slid his hand up her thigh again. "In fact - I'm not sure they'll wait for permission. Some of them have very poor impulse control."
It was very hard to control her breathing now. Every one of his fingers dug into her leg.
"Pray your friends act quickly. Yea, you better pray hard. Real hard." Kipton kissed her cheek and then left the room, slamming the door.
She was alone again, her arms bound uncomfortably behind her. The scabs on the back of her neck itched and burned as sweat ran down bare skin. Her thoughts were scattered, heart still pounding. Nose trying to forget the scent of him. Reminded her of a seedy night club.
Kono hung her head to give her aching neck a break but no change in position helped. She flexed and unflexed her fists, straining against her bonds. She stretched her body the best she could. She had to do something or she'd lose her mind.
Then, there was a noise in the hall. She froze.
Were they coming back for her?
She was ready for anything.
The door slid open slowly and someone familiar appeared.
The man from earlier. Southern accent. The one who brought the food. He headed straight for her. She steeled herself for what ever would come next. His big hands on her body. Breath on her neck.
But no. He held a finger to his lips and smiled.
Then he produced a knife. She glared at him, determined not to let him see her fear.
He shook his head and went around behind her.
And cut the ties away from her wrists.
Then, he was in front of her again and tapped the weapon on his hip.
Stunned, she did nothing.
He disappeared into the hallway. The door slipped shut and the key turned in the lock.
She was alone again.
But she was free.
Free enough anyway.
She ripped the tape from her ankles and tumbled onto the dirty old mattress, exhausted.