Alien Tango

asking that Reid had nothing pleasant planned for me.
    I had no destination other than “away.” I had no hope of rescue, I just didn’t want to die like this.
    Not my choice, of course. Someone grabbed my hair and pulled. It hurt like hell and caused me to fall back, right into whoever was yanking on me. Turned out to be Reid. He looked more reptilian up close, as if he were part snake. I was terrified of snakes.
    “You’re a lot of work,” he snarled. “I hope you’ll be worth it.” I tried to get away, and he slapped me, hard, and then backhanded me for good measure. I’d locked my jaw closed just in time, but it hurt like hell.
    “Isn’t this stupid, for you to be out here doing your own dirty work?”
    He smiled. I’d thought the Supreme Fugly had been bad, but this man was pure human and pure evil. “Where’s the enjoyment in that?” He dragged me back toward the cars. I was happy to note he was still limping. I wondered how he’d caught me, then figured he’d been high on adrenaline.
    “You’re willing to risk your career by murdering me?”
    “Oh, not just murdering you.” He flung me to my knees so I was in the SUV’s headlights. Reid jerked his head, and Shannon got out of the driver’s seat, carrying what looked like a lead pipe and wire cutters. Reid took them from him, and Shannon looked at me and giggled. It scared me as much as anything else had.
    “You see, it’s easy to destroy evidence, if you know what you’re doing.” Reid was walking around me, slapping the pipe into the palm of his hand. “First, you cut off the fingertips at the first knuckle and scatter them for the animals to eat.”
    “No fingerprints.”
    “Correct. Then, you use the pipe to crush all the bones in the feet. Hard to run. But, just to be sure, I’ll break all the bones in your legs and arms, too.” He stopped in front of me. “Then, well, I’ll have some fun.” He slid his hand under the top of my dress. I tried to shove him away but he put the pipe against my head. He pawed my breasts, doing his best to be rough. I gritted my teeth.
    “You’re going to leave your DNA in me? That seems stupid.”
    Reid put the pipe in front of my eyes. “No . . . not my DNA.” He let that one hang on the air for a few moments. “Then, after I’ve expanded your, heh, horizons, then I’ll break your rib cage. Then, well, then I’ll smash your teeth out. You, of course, will still be alive, oh, and don’t worry about fainting—I’ve brought plenty of smelling salts.”
    I didn’t say anything. I knew I couldn’t talk without crying or sounding terrified.
    “Finally, of course, I’ll smash your skull. There won’t be much of you left to identify, but a shallow grave out here should be sufficient. I must thank you for choosing this location. It’s excellent.”
    “No problem.” I could talk as long as I kept my teeth gritted. He was still pawing me. He put the pipe under my chin and pushed. I got the hint and stood up. He took his hand out of my top, but only so he could send it under my skirt.
    “Nice,” he said as he squeezed my thighs. I clamped them together. He still pawed me, but through my underwear. I tried not to think about what he was doing, but the only thing I could focus on was how when Martini did things like this to me it was never frightening, never painful, never against my will.
    I closed my eyes. This didn’t sit well with Reid, because he pulled his hand away from my body so he could slap my face again. I went to my hands and knees. My head hurt, and I was dizzy. I didn’t want this to be the last thing I remembered of my life. If I ever needed to get to the Happy Place, it was now.
    I focused on the happiest memory I had—Cabo with Martini. Swimming in the ocean. Just being together, talking, laughing, making love in our private cabana on the beach. I was crying, partially from fear, some from loss. I’d never go there again, even if I survived tonight. I couldn’t go back to Cabo without Martini.
    Reid grabbed my left wrist and pulled my hand up in front of me. He had the pipe tucked under his arm and the wire cutters in his hand. “Would you like to beg for mercy?”
    “Not really. I would like to know why you’re doing this to me, aside from your being a sociopath, I mean.” My last shot—if someone was monologuing, then I was still alive.
    He cocked his head at me. “You don’t know?”
    “No freaking idea.”
    “You, you personally, ruined twenty