Chapter 18

Chapter

Eighteen

April 20 th

10:41 A.M.

To say Axe was frustrated would be the understatement of the century.

He was so far beyond annoyed he couldn't even see it anymore.

Every time he got himself out of one of the cuffs a guard would walk calmly into the infirmary and replace it. No words, no rebuke, no warning not to try it again, no taunting that he didn't have a hope of getting himself out of there let alone getting himself and Beth out.

It was driving him insane.

How Baranov had survived over a year and a half of being restrained like this was beyond him. This helplessness was killing him. Beth was there somewhere, he wanted to get to her, wanted to get her the hell out of this place and away from these crazy people.

Well, Tomas wasn't really crazy unless you called being so hungry for money and power there wasn't anything you wouldn't do, but Sarah Sanders was absolutely insane. Somewhere along the way, the woman's mind had just checked out on her. To believe in any way that Tomas loved her it had to have .

The man had stood by and allowed her to be abused, doing nothing to stop it even though if he really wanted to, he probably could have. Sure, he had kept Sarah alive, and that might count for something, but he certainly hadn't done it for Sarah's benefit.

From what he could tell, Sarah seemed to genuinely believe she was in love with Tomas, but there had been a flicker of something in her eyes when he talked about killing their daughter that told him there were still bits of humanity left inside her. Something sketchy about the way Sarah behaved around Beth had Axe on edge. Something in the way the other woman looked at his wife that he didn't like.

Hence, he was losing his mind trapped there.

"Good morning," Sarah singsonged as she strolled into the infirmary. She had a big smile on her face and a bounce in her step that told him she was excited about something. What, he had no idea, but he was sure whatever it was he wouldn't share that excitement. "Did you get any sleep?"

"We're not friends, Sarah, and I'm not your guest," he reminded her calmly.

The woman pouted. "You did save my life."

"And you ruined mine when you stole my wife."

Another pout, and there was anger in her eyes at the mention of Beth. "Tomas said I'm supposed to give you the drug, but I don't want to. You might be mad at me, but you did save my life and I don't want to cause you pain."

Yay for him.

But the drug was given to men to make them slower and weaker, a more even match for someone smaller than them.

Fear reared its ugly head inside him.

Did this mean what he thought it meant?

"You know you could stay here with us for a long time," Sarah said, sidling up to him. One of her hands traced the lines of his biceps through his long-sleeved T-shirt. The hand dipped lower, tracing across his abs, stopping at the waistband of his pants. "I told Tomas to let me take your clothes off so they didn't get all yucky like this. I didn't want you to be uncomfortable, but I think Tomas was a little jealous, you do have a great body." Sarah gave a little giggle that was part amused, and part pure insanity.

"I don't care about being comfortable or not, Sarah," he told her.

"I know, but I care. Here, let me help." As much as he hated it, he could do nothing as Sarah unzipped his pants and struggled to pull them down his legs when he refused to help her in any way. It wasn't until she got to the cuffs on his ankles that she seemed to realize the pants weren't coming off. Not that it deterred her, she simply found some scissors and proceeded to cut off his pants, his shirt, and his underwear, leaving him naked.

The way her eyes traveled his body made Axe feel like a piece of meat, and while he was in no way comparing this to the horrors Beth had endured, it did give him a tiny bit of insight into what she had been through.

"Much better," Sarah said, nodding appreciatively at her work. "And after this morning, we can get you properly settled here as a long-term guest." Her hand reached out and grabbed his length, stroking it with an almost puzzled look on her face. "Tomas doesn't like for me to touch him. When we're in bed he likes me to just lie there and let him use me however he wants."

Axe didn't doubt it. The man might not be as much of a pervert as his boss had been, but Tomas Butcher was every bit as evil. Whatever the man felt for Sarah it wasn't love. Not real love. Obsession perhaps, lust definitely, but not love. Because if he loved her, he wouldn't have allowed her to keep on being abused by Baranov.

"I like to touch though," Sarah continued, although she seemed to be more thinking aloud than actually speaking to him. "It makes me feel more involved, like a participant and not a doll. I liked to touch Baranov. He hated it. I used to make him hard and then stop, not letting him come. Then I'd wait until he went limp and start all over." A bright smile lit her face as she released him and stepped back. "It was fun."

The trauma Sarah had been through had warped her mind in ways that could probably never be fixed, and honestly, he didn't have the time nor the concern to worry about it right now.

Get Beth.

Get out .

That was all he cared about.

"Well, we better go," Sarah said, circling the gurney until she was standing up by the top of his head. "Tomas is waiting."

It didn't take a shrink to figure out why Sarah had latched onto Tomas Butcher so tightly. He was the reason she was still alive. According to Baranov, she was already broken and therefore of no further use to him since she could no longer provide him with any amusement. If it hadn't been for Tomas' intervention she would have been killed, her body dumped along with all the others.

As unlikely as it was he would be able to convince her to turn at this point, he had to try. The chances of him and Beth escaping were slim, and he was going to work every possible advantage he could.

"Sarah, it's not too late you know," he told her, forcing a gentleness into his tone he certainly wasn't feeling.

"Not too late for what?" she asked, rolling him out of the infirmary.

"To end this. To go home. Baranov is dead, he's not a threat to you anymore. You can go home to your family."

"My family?"

"Yeah, you remember them? Your mom and dad just celebrated their thirtieth wedding anniversary. Your big sister has two little girls now, Sarah is four, and Sarabi is two. Your little sister will be getting married in the fall. You can go home to them, Sarah. Be part of their lives again. Be surrounded by people who truly care about you."

When they'd rescued the women from Baranov's place, Sarah's family had been given the option of going into hiding with her, but they had refused, saying it wouldn't be fair to their other daughters to uproot their lives and disappear.

If they had made a different choice would things have turned out differently?

Axe would like to say he hoped so, but the reality was Tomas had already gotten his hooks into Sarah long before she was rescued.

"How do you know about my family?" Sarah asked, a hint of bitterness in her voice.

"We keep in touch via a secure email system Panther set up. They regret not going with you, Sarah." That was the truth. Shortly after Sarah had been given her new identity and settled in a new place, her parents had wished they'd chosen to go with her. Unfortunately, by then it was too late.

Sarah froze. "They do?"

"Of course they do. You're their daughter and they love you. They miss you. They panicked at first, but they would go back and do it over if they could."

He was getting through to her, Axe could tell that he was, but then Tomas went and ruined everything.

"Hurry up, Sarah, we're waiting," Butcher's voice called out.

"Doesn't matter," Sarah muttered, walking again, rolling his gurney along with her. "It's too late. Too late to go back. Too late for a lot of things. You have a game, and this time your opponent isn't going to be given an advantage."

April 20 th

10:48 A.M.

"Good morning, doll," Tomas said cheerfully as he appeared outside her cell.

For the life of her Beth couldn't come up with any sort of bravado-induced snappy comeback.

One thing her life had taught her at a young age was that people preyed on the weak. If you could muster an air of strength, people believed it. Didn't mean they didn't hurt you, but there was some kind of subconscious respect there.

If they turned you into a cowering, crying mess then it was already over.

You had already lost.

Only right now, she couldn't seem to summon any energy to play the game.

Having Axel here changed everything. Everything .

It was so much easier when you were trapped in hell all alone with no one else's survival but your own to worry about. Sure, she'd had a couple of female cousins who had suffered the same things she had as a child, but they hadn't always been around, the men usually kept them separated. She had cared about them, protected them when she could, but it wasn't like this. Same when she was Leonid Baranov's prisoner. There had been Sarah, and three other girls had died during the time she had been there. While they had all been kept in cages in the basement, often they had in gags, and there were always threats of what would happen if they were caught talking.

Knowing her husband was there, the person she loved most in the world, a man she would do anything for, killed something inside her.

With nothing other than trepidation in her steps, she moved to the now open cage door. Her clothes had been stripped off her when she was returned to the cell yesterday, and as she stood naked before him. Tomas gave her a lingering once over.

Beth knew it wasn't the bruises littering her torso or the way the arm of the shoulder she had dislocated was tucked against her stomach that had drawn his attention.

She knew the look of a hungry predator when she saw one.

The gaze raking over her reeked of sexuality.

Well, his anyway, she was repulsed by the idea of him touching her.

"You know, I never really got why Leonid was so obsessed with you. It was only when you killed six of his men that I finally got the appeal. Granted, I gave you an advantage because I wanted those men dead, but your technique was still amazing, your tenacity admirable. You are a true fighter, my dear." Tomas took a step closer, one of his hands trailing a lazy line from her lips, down her chest, pausing to painfully squeeze first one breast and then the other before settling between her legs. "It's a shame I never got to sample you. Still, if you win today's battle perhaps I will."

After dragging a finger across her dry center, he grabbed the wrist of her dislocated arm and began to pull her along after him, knowing full well— enjoying full well—the pain he was causing her.

When she was dragged into the arena and saw who was there waiting for her, Beth froze.

Every cell in her body rebelled against what she was seeing.

"No." The word was out of her mouth before she even realized she had spoken. Beth didn't care about the punishment for being disobedient, speaking out of turn, for refusing what would shortly be a direct order.

She wasn't doing it.

Simple as that.

"You don't have a choice," Sarah singsonged in her annoying way. It was hard to have sympathy for the woman even though it was clear her mind had splintered due to her ordeal.

"I always have a choice, and I choose no," Beth said, a feeling of calm settling over her. There was no way on Earth she was going to fight her husband and kill him. That meant she would be the loser and her life would be over. Surprisingly, she felt no fear over that.

Not that she wanted her husband to have to live with her death on his shoulders, but if he refused to participate then what could Tomas and Sarah do?

They couldn't force the two of them to duel to the death.

"Wisp, you can't." Axel's voice was tortured and the look on his face was pure devastation in his voice.

"I'm not going to kill you," she said, and as far as she was concerned it was as simple as that.

There was no doubt in her mind that whether Sarah and Tomas had drugged Axel or not, she wouldn't win. Those other men had been trained, but they didn't have the skills that Axel did. She would never beat him, and she had no intention of trying.

"You have to," Axel said, sounding tortured.

"I won't."

"Beth—"

"Axel," she said, cutting him off, "how can you ask me to kill you?"

"How can you ask me to kill you ?" Axel shot back.

She couldn't.

She wouldn't.

All she knew was that she was not going to murder her husband. Beth was so tired of being used as a pawn for other people's amusement, in other people's games.

No more.

It ended here and now .

"If both of you forfeit then you both lose, you'll both die," Tomas said simply.

"Beth, you have to do this," Axel said, not bothering to hide that he was begging. "You don't have a choice. The guys are coming, you know that. Prey will find us. If you kill me then you have a chance at being alive when they find us."

"I don't want to be alive without you," she said calmly. Actually, the level of calm she felt right now was unnerving. It was like her ability to feel had died the second she realized Tomas expected her to fight her husband and kill him. Now she was just numb inside.

"Please, wisp. I've failed you already. This whole last year I didn't give you what you needed. Then I let you get abducted, twice. I won't fail you again." Now there was a thread of something in his voice she didn't like. "If I kill myself, then that still counts as a win for Beth, right?" he asked Tomas.

"Axel, no!" All her emotions suddenly came rushing back in a flood, almost taking her to her knees. In fact, if Tomas wasn't still holding onto her, she likely would have crumpled to the ground.

"You want a winner, I'll give you one," Axel continued as though she hadn't spoken.

"No! You can't do that to me," she screamed. What was he thinking?

When he looked at her his expression was hard, unyielding. "I won't let you die, Beth. Whatever it takes I'll keep you alive."

Maybe—and that was still a big maybe—she'd be alive, but she wouldn't really live. Not without her husband.

"So, do we have a deal?" Axel asked Tomas.

"You kill yourself slowly, painfully, and agree Beth has to watch the show, and we have a deal," Tomas agreed.

Axel winced, and she knew it wasn't at a painful death, it was for her having to watch it. Still, there was no waver in his voice when he spoke. "Deal."

"Please don't do this, Axel," she begged. "I don't want to live without you, I'd rather be dead. Just let them kill us both. Don't make me live without you. If you do this, I'm afraid that I'll … hate you," she whispered the admission, but knew from his wince that he had heard it .

Before he could speak, the entire world seemed to erupt into gunfire.

"Beth, get down!" Axel screamed.

Fear for him, because he was still tied to a gurney unable to protect himself, was at the forefront of her mind as she dropped to the floor.

Covering her head with her arms, she couldn't see what was happening, but she could hear shouting and more shots being fired. There seemed to be dozens of people in the room when only moments before there had been just the four of them.

When someone suddenly grabbed her, she began to fight, kicking and scratching at the arms that tried to take her.

Her eyes were open, but it was impossible to see, there was smoke everywhere, and she'd spent enough time around military men to know that they'd set off the smoke grenades when they raided the place.

When Prey raided the place.

They were there, had to be. Who else would suddenly be shooting up Tomas Butcher's secret hideout?

It couldn't be one of the Prey guys trying to grab her, they would have identified themselves, and made sure she knew she was safe.

Whoever it was didn't want to save her, they wanted to hurt her.

Gunfire continued to rage around her, and she managed to get what she was sure was a good kick to the stomach of her would-be attacker. Free, she began to crawl in the direction she thought would lead her to a quiet corner of the room where she could wait out the fight, but the smoke made her feel all turned around, and really, she had no idea which way she was going.

Suddenly, pain exploded in the back of her head, and the world around her shimmered away into nothingness.