Читать книгу Recovery Force - Don Pendleton - Страница 8

The girl awoke with a start, covered in sweat.

Her heart thumped in her chest; her breath came in short bursts—more like gasping than breathing. She tried to reach up to the pain at the back of her head that throbbed with each beat of her heart. In her state of murky consciousness, it took time to realize that someone had bound her hands….

SHE DIDN’T REMEMBER passing out but realized she must have because she came to again with much the same reaction. She noticed her parched throat this time and it felt as if her tongue had swollen to twice its normal size. She wanted to puke but she realized if she did it could mean death. The gag would prevent her from voiding and she might choke on her own vomit. So she wretched a few times and swallowed back anything more.

Only fourteen years of age, she hadn’t known such terror before and probably wouldn’t know it again.

Then she thought of her boyfriend, Dino Montera, only two years older than her. He was a tall kid, muscular and in good shape, a football player on the junior varsity team. Even Dino had been caught off guard by the men who seemed to come out of nowhere. At least, Ann-Elise thought that they were men, although she sort of remembered hearing a woman’s voice at some point, too. The only other thing she could remember was that they spoke in another language, probably Spanish. Maybe Spanish? Ann-Elise couldn’t be really sure, but she would have to pay better attention because the cops would want to know when they came to her rescue.

Then she looked over to her right, turning her head slowly to stave off the pain. She remembered, as she stared at her boyfriend through blurred vision—poor Dino was tied to a chair, his face blood-caked—that something had struck her in the back of the head. Hard. That’s why it probably hurt so much. God, maybe she had brain damage or something. She’d heard about that kind of thing happening after being hit in the head. And Ann-Elise knew about those things because she’d studied them in her dad’s medical books. One day, she wanted to be a doctor, like her dad.

Her mother, a prominent attorney to residents of Scottsdale, had warned her not to go gallivanting about downtown Phoenix without an adult. What difference would that have made? If the men who had knocked her unconscious were able to take down a young man Dino’s size, they would have been able to take down any adult just as easily.

Ann-Elise didn’t have to wonder anymore about her captors because one of them suddenly appeared, blocking her line of sight. She looked up at the man but he’d concealed his face with some sort of mask. She couldn’t really make out anything about him other than he was very big, and he had dark eyes. There wasn’t any emotion in them. They stared at her without pity or consideration, and Ann-Elise considered in that moment the horrific possibility they might hurt her more. Ann-Elise decided not to think about such things yet. Obviously, they had kidnapped her and Dino for ransom and she knew her father and mother had enough money to pay. They would pay her captors, pay whatever it took. And they had many wealthy friends, too. They lived in a city that was home to some of the wealthiest people in the world. At least, that’s what everyone at the academy said.

Boy, she wouldn’t be able to live this one down.

The man stared at her another moment and then turned his attention to Dino. Ann-Elise watched with a mixed sense of shock and terror as the man reached down to grab something and came up with a large, plastic bucket. He suddenly heaved the bucket in Dino’s direction and doused him with water. Probably cold water.

The bastard!

Dino came suddenly awake and choked back what sounded like a scream. The man stood there a moment, arms folded, and Ann-Elise thought she heard him make a noise. Something that sounded like a laugh. Then the man reached forward suddenly, untied Dino and hauled him out of the chair. Dino staggered and stumbled around like a drunk, and Ann-Elise realized he’d probably put up more of a fight than she had, so they had to beat him up to stop him. Her poor, poor Dino. He had taken punishment intended for her just because he tried to protect her.

The man finally clamped a hand on Dino’s shoulder and steered him out of Ann-Elise’s sight. She began to make protests, screaming against the gag and warning the man with a flurry of threats and curses not to hurt her boyfriend, but she couldn’t see if it had any effect. Not that she thought it would…. She began to cry, trying to refrain because that made it more difficult to breathe. Her cries became sobs as she heard an incessant thumping noise—a sound that could only have been Dino taking another beating.

Why were they hurting him? What had he done to them?

Her mind screamed at them to stop but she knew she could do nothing about it.

And then for a long time the sounds stopped and she heard no more noise, nothing. Then the sound of voices, angry voices arguing or something.

Yes, it was definitely Spanish.

Then she heard a door open and the man came back into view, walking backward and dragging something, but Ann-Elise couldn’t tell what. Although she knew it was probably Dino, she didn’t want to think about it. Maybe not. Maybe it was just some equipment, a bag or box or something. Whatever it was, the man wasn’t too gentle about dumping the load onto the floor next to her. The man didn’t give her a glance as he stomped out and slammed the door behind him, causing Ann-Elise to jump.

And she began to cry again, moaning Dino’s name past the gag, the sound of her cries muffled in her own ears.