“Why didn’t you kill me back there? Twelve years … you had twelve years to what? Seek revenge because I turned you in for being a fucking sociopath?”
Karin pricked her on her right hand this time. Megan bit her lip to keep from screaming. She tasted blood. Her eyesight wavered and a sob escaped.
“You can do better than that,” Karin said, poking behind her ear.
Megan’s body convulsed, she lost control. Tears streamed down her face and she cried out, a primal sound she’d never heard before. Her vision blurred as a tidal wave of pain crashed over her. Then everything turned gray.
“No, no, no,” a distant voice chanted. “You can’t pass out on me! We’re going to have fun. Well, I’m going to have fun and you’re going to suffer exquisite pain.”
Megan’s vision slowly returned. Karin stood before her, staring. “I could have killed you, but I’ve killed before. It’s fleeting. When I met Ethan, I found someone who could teach me about suffering. He suffered. Those soldiers who were supposed to protect him? Why should they live happily ever after while poor Ethan was tied down and poked?” Karin stuck a needle between Megan’s toes. “And prodded.” Another needle between two more toes. Megan’s chest heaved with sobs-she didn’t want to let go. She didn’t want to give Karin the pleasure of her pain. “And tortured for months.”
A needle slid into the sensitive area next to her small toe and Megan screamed, turning her throat raw. Through tears, she looked at her foot and saw three needles protruding.
Through the haze of agony, Megan knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Karin didn’t give a shit about Rosemont’s pain and suffering when he was held captive in Afghanistan.
“You don’t care about anyone, not even Ethan.” Megan swallowed, her breath labored.
“Ethan was a whiner. Do you know how many times I saved his pathetic life? The nutcase should have been committed.”
“If it weren’t for you, none of those men would have died. They didn’t deserve it. They didn’t deserve to be cut down and tortured like prisoners of war. You pushed Rosemont into murder.”
“He thoroughly enjoyed it, though he never actually killed anyone before those people at the rest stop. Killing was my job. He would have stuck needles in those bastards until the end of time if I didn’t cut him off. So far, only one of them died in the process.”
“John Doe. Heart attack.”
“Give the special agent a blue ribbon! Or should I say supervisory special agent?”
Karin stuck a series of ten needles on the underside of each of Megan’s arms.
The pain came in waves that never completely receded. The throbbing increased and decreased in rhythm with Megan’s heart. She thought of her family, the father she’d adored, the brother she would miss. Her younger half-sister she barely had the chance to know.
Jack.
Karin would tire of this. Eventually, she would kill Megan. Either “accidentally” like with John Doe or with a very deliberate bullet to her head. Megan had no idea where she was or how she got here. She didn’t even know how much time had passed. Hans knew who to look for, but would he know where? She didn’t even have her cell phone, did she? No, she remembered dropping it. Her BlackBerry had a built-in GPS. It didn’t help if she didn’t have it with her.
She looked around. It was dark outside-the high windows near the roofline were uncovered. Was it the same night she’d been taken? She didn’t feel as if she’d been unconscious for days. She couldn’t assume anything, though. She turned her head, saw a digital clock on a table against the walclass="underline" 1:34. That would be a.m. based on the dark. Officer Dodge ran out of gas around five in the afternoon. It had been at least eight hours she’d been in Karin’s control.
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.