The slaps hurt and her throat ached, but nothing was as awful as the searing regret she knew for her folly.
“Right now, we’ve got to get gone, my special little whore. Later you can fight me. I want you to…then. God, it’s going to be good!” He pulled out a knife from somewhere and laid the blade up against her throat. “So you must behave yourself for me right now—”
A thunderous pounding at the door got everyone’s attention. “Ginaaaaaaaa! Strawnly, I know she’s in there with you! Let her go!”
Jeremy? That was Jeremy shouting on the other side of the door! Jeremy was here, too! What in the hell? “Jere—” Her scream was cut off by the filthy hand of her attacker, clamped tightly over her mouth, the knife pressing a bit harder into her skin with his other hand. Georgina’s thoughts leaped erratically, and she was nearly unable to comprehend her situation. Where she was, who she was with, what was being discussed. His name was Strawnly, apparently, and Jeremy knew him. How could this be even possible?
Strawnly yelled through the door. “Greymont, you’re not supposed to be here. You’re breaking the rules of our little agreement.”
“You have my wife in there!” Jeremy yelled back, his voice low and harsh.
“Ahhh, but she came to me.”
“Let her go, Strawnly. If she is harmed, you’ll hang, you know that!”
“Not if I get out of this hellhole of a country.” The negotiation stopped, both men seeming to weigh their options.
Jeremy spoke up, more calmly now. “Strawnly, no attempt will be made to stop your departure if you send her out, unharmed. There’s a hack here to take you wherever you want to go.”
“I don’t trust you, Greymont. How do I know you won’t have a gun on me, like you did to Uncle? No, here’s how it’s going to work. You step back, to the other side of the street. I’ll send my man out to spot you first. If you’re not far back, I will kill her. There’s a knife on her throat right now. You push me, I cut her!”
“I’m going back right now. Do not hurt her!” Jeremy returned through the door.
And then nothing, no sounds coming from the other side of the door at all.
Oh dear God, Jeremy, what have I done?
* * * *
Jeremy was in hell. Truly. Strawnly had Gina in his grip right now with a knife at her neck. No, goddamnit! Keep your wits, he told himself. Be strong, for her. Just get her to safety and worry about the rest later. Nothing else was of consequence in this world but Gina’s safe return.
A slight, weasel-faced man stepped out on the landing and made eye contact with him. Jeremy nodded and held his hands out to show he had no gun, and then pointed to the hack which was still parked in front. The man went back inside. He saw Luc emerge from the building they’d been hiding in. “Stay back, Luc. No telling what he’ll do to her if he sees you.” Luc nodded and slunk back into shadows.
The door opened, and Gina was pushed out first, Strawnly clenching her from behind and a glinting knife, indeed, stretched across her throat. Her eyes were wide with terror, bouncing about as she tried to find him in the moonlight.
“Gina,” he shouted, and her eyes found him and locked on, rolling back in their sockets with relief. He started toward her.
Strawnly moved quickly toward the hack, pushing Gina ahead of him. The driver looked worried, bolting up in the seat, holding out his palms.
“Sit your arse down, driver!” Strawnly screeched.
“It’s all right,” Jeremy told the driver. “You’ll take him wherever he wants to go so he doesn’t hurt her. I’ll pay. Here.” Jeremy passed up a pound note to the nervous driver, who accepted it with a shaking hand.
?
??Stand back, Greymont. That’s close enough!”
Not nearly close enough was more like it. The malevolent snake still had Gina, and there was a good ten feet between them. Jeremy held his breath and waited. He stared at his beautiful wife in the clutches of a vile beast who had a fucking knife on her neck!
“Gina…I’m going to get you. Everything will be all right.” He nodded, sucking in a gasp, and then he focused on Strawnly. “Let her come to me. You have everything you want, Strawnly. Release her and go.” He held out his arms out to Gina.
“Oh, Jeremy, I’m so sorry,” Gina whispered.
“It’s all right, sweetheart. I’m going to get you,” he told her.
Strawnly grinned evilly. “This is touching, really, you two,” he mocked. “But she feels good, Greymont. I’ve missed her.” He snaked out his tongue and licked her cheek.
Gina cringed and clamped her eyes shut.