The Safe House (5)
Grace Miller’s apartment, Tower Hamlets, London
It’s the metallic tang of blood and the cold sweat running down her back, the roar of her pulse in her temples that causes the aching tension in Grace’s quivering muscles. She’s convinced that he’ll nick her jugular, and she will bleed out, right here on her own kitchen floor.
Is this what she deserves? Is this how she atones for her sins?
“If I tell you my name then you know that I can never let you go Grace Miller.” He pauses and then adds, “Should I tell you? All you need to do is give me Novikova’s location and I will let you go, I promise.”
“Go to hell.”
Another pause, and then … “My name is Nikolay Dimitriev. There, now we both know who the other is.”
Grace clenches her teeth to prevent them from chattering, and then hears her attacker sigh. In the next instant, the knife is gone and she’s flipped over across the kitchen worktop. Her back hits the hard granite, and her head flops backwards into the sink, neck muscles screaming from the strain.
Gasping, Grace kicks out and tries to punch him, but he’s too strong and fast. In a flash, he leaps onto the counter and straddles her, pinning her in place with his weight. He secures her wrists with something hard and unbreakable, a cable tie, before gripping them with one hand, and no matter how hard the hapless girl struggles, she can’t do anything to get free. Her heels slide uselessly on the sleek surface, and her neck aches from holding such a strenuous position. She’s helpless, pinned down, and a new kind of panic washes over her.
Please, God, no. Anything but rape. It had taken so long to get over what happened in Aleppo, if it happened again …
“We’re going to try something different,” he says, and a piece of cloth drops over her face. “See if you’re truly willing to die for that bitch.”
Panting, Grace twists her head from side to side, trying to throw off the cloth, but it’s too long and wide, and she can barely breathe underneath it. Is he trying to suffocate her? Is that the plan? Then the water tap outlet twists and squeaks, and everything becomes clear.
“No!” she struggles harder, but he grips her hair with his free hand, holding Special Agent Miller under the faucet with her head arched back. The initial shock when the water hits isn’t so bad, but within seconds, the flow travels up her nose. her throat clenches, her lungs seize, and Grace’s whole body heaves as she gags and chokes. The panic is instinctive, uncontrollable. The rag is like a wet paw clamped over her nose and mouth, squeezing them shut.
The water fills her nostrils, it’s in her throat. She’s suffocating, drowning … can’t breathe, can’t breathe… The tap turns off, and the cloth is yanked off her face. Coughing and spluttering, she sucks in air, sobbing and wheezing. Her whole body is a gasping, trembling mess, and white spots dance through her vision.
Before she can recover, the cloth is slapped over her face again, and the water is turned back on. This time, it’s even worse. Her nasal passages burn, and her lungs scream for air. Grace is heaving and gagging, choking and crying. She really can’t breathe.
‘Oh, God, I’m dying …’ a single thought in her otherwise addled mind. In the next instant, the cloth is gone, and she is convulsively dragging in air.
“Tell me where Novikova is, and I’ll stop.” His voice is a dark whisper above her.
“I don’t know! Really. Please!” Grace can taste the vomit in her throat, and she knows that he will do it again.
It was easy to be brave with the knife, but not this. Despite her training and experience Grace does not want to die like this.
“Last chance,” her tormentor says softly, and the wet cloth drops over her face once more. The tap begins to squeak as he slowly turns it and the flow begins to slowly drip.
“Stop! Please!” The scream is wrenched out of Grace’s throat. “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you.”
The water turns off, and the cloth is pulled off her face.
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“Speak.”
Grace is sobbing and coughing too hard to form a coherent sentence, so he pulls her away from the counter to the floor and crouches so that he can encircle her in his arms. To someone looking in, it might’ve seemed like a consoling embrace or a lover’s protective hold … it was anything but that. Adding to the illusion, her torturer’s voice is soft and gentle as he croons into her ear, “Tell me, Grace. Tell me what I want to know, and I’ll leave.”
“She’s …” The Special Agent stops a second from blurting out the truth. The instinct inside her demands survival at all costs, but she can’t do this. She can’t lead this monster to Kat.
“She’s abroad on a secret mission, even I don’t know where …” Grace chokes out. It’s a lie, and apparently not a good one, because the arms around her body tighten, nearly crushing her bones.
“Don’t fucking bullshit me.” The soft lilt in his voice is gone, replaced by biting rage. ‘Where is she hiding?”
“I …I don’t …” Her assailant rises to his feet, pulling her up with him, and she struggles as he drags her back toward the sink.
“No! Please, no!” Grace writhes for all she is worth as he lifts her onto the granite, her bound hands swinging as she tries to claw at his face. Her heels drum on the worktop as he straddles her, pinning her in place again, and bile rises in her throat as he grips her hair, pulling her head back into the sink.
“Stop!”
“Tell me the truth, and I’ll stop.”
“I … I can’t. Please, I can’t!” The wet cloth slaps over Grace’s face covering her pretty features, and her throat seizes in panic. The water is still off, but in her head, she is already drowning.
“Fuck!” She’s abruptly yanked off the counter and onto the floor, where she collapses in a shaking heap. Only this time, there are no arms to restrain her, and Grace gradually realises as he steps away that she should get up and run. But her hands are tied and she can’t make her legs function. All she can manage is a pathetic roll to the side, followed by an attempt at a crawl. The fear is blinding, disorienting, and Grace can’t see anything clearly.
Run, she wills her limp, shaking muscles. Get up and run. Sucking in air, she grabs at something … a countertop corner, and pulls herself up to her feet. Only it’s too late; he’s already on her, the hard band of his arm wrapping around her ribcage as he grabs his victim from behind.
“Let’s see if this works better,” he whispers, and something cold and sharp stabs grace in the neck. A needle, she realises with a jolt of terror as her consciousness fades away.
To Be Continued …