Shades of Grey(44)

She glanced down at her leg and swore as she saw all the blood soaking her pants. It was just a flesh wound. A clean through and through. Thank God the bullet hadn’t hit bone or she wouldn’t be walking.

Pain she could handle.

She picked herself up again, took a clip out and shoved another in.

“Come get me, fuckers,” she bit out.

There were six unaccounted for. A total of ten men had arrived, including Nelson and Brumley. Three were dead and Nelson was on the ground whimpering like a baby.

A loud roar sounded. P.J.’s brow wrinkled and then she realized it was a chopper starting up. Son of a bitch. Brumley was escaping.

Throwing caution straight down the toilet, she bolted from behind the car and ran for the front entrance. She passed the one dead guy on the steps and nearly tripped over the second guy who’d shot at her.

He was lying just inside the foyer, eyes wide open in death. Now there were only five unaccounted for. She was relieved to know she still had good aim.

Teeth clenched to ward off the pain, she shuffled as fast as her injured leg would allow through the house, gun up, clearing each room she hurried through.

When she got to the back enclosure, she saw the helicopter lift into the air.

“No!”

Goddamn it. She couldn’t lose him. Not when she’d been this close.

She dashed through the doorway and raised her gun, squeezing off shot after shot at the departing helicopter. Through the glass, she saw Brumley. Made eye contact with him. The bastard actually looked at her and gave her a cocky two-finger salute.

She took another shot, even knowing it was pointless. She fired until she was out of ammo and then let her arms fall to her sides. She closed her eyes in bitter disappointment.

Failed.

She turned, having to drag her leg. It was growing more numb all the time, and as the adrenaline wore off, the pain became more unbearable.

There was still Nelson to contend with.

She popped in another clip and limped through the house, delighting in the fact that she’d tracked blood all over the posh furnishings. When she walked back out the front, she saw Nelson trying to drag himself to one of the cars.

Stupid fuck.

Unlike the idiot who shot her, she’d placed her bullet so it shattered his leg. He didn’t have a prayer of walking anywhere.

She holstered her pistol and then opened the knife. The blood of the two other men she’d killed had dried on it and she hadn’t bothered to clean it. It would only get dirty again.

She came to a stop just over Nelson, and he turned his head upward, his eyes full of fear as he stared into hers.

“D-don’t k-kill me,” he stammered. “Please, I’ll do whatever you want.”

She shook her head. “You’re a pathetic piece of shit, Nelson. You’re quite the badass when you’re up against a drugged, helpless woman. Not so badass when she’s armed.”

She kicked him so he rolled to his back, and he let out another groan when it jarred his leg. Then she knelt awkwardly, grimacing as her own bullet wound protested the motion.

It should feel empowering to tower over the man who’d brutalized her and know that his fate was entirely up to her. That he was begging her for the mercy he’d been unwilling to give her.

But all she felt was paralyzing fear. Panic rose, making her shaky where she’d been rock steady just before. She stared into his eyes and remembered staring into them when he’d raped her. They were as soulless now as they’d been then, only then they’d glowed with power. A savagery that he’d enjoyed despite his grumbling that he preferred a fight.

The knife shook, and she tightened her grip, fully intending to mark him as he’d done her.

“Where can I find your boss?” she demanded.

He spit at her, and she backhanded him with the butt of the pistol. Blood streamed from his lips and nose as he turned back to glare his hatred.

“Tell me what I want to know or I’ll gut you like a pig and leave you here to die a very slow, painful death. The buzzards might not even wait for you to die before they start feasting.”

He paled and licked his lips, but he hesitated.

She flicked the blade at the fly of his pants and deftly sliced the material so it gaped open. Then she pressed the blade under his navel and carved a line from one side to the other, drawing blood.

He screamed in pain and sucked air through his nostrils. He was gasping like a fish sucking his last breath on land.

She put the tip of the blade lower until it rested right over his dick. He went completely still, his eyes so wide with fright that they bulged and looked as though they’d pop right out of their sockets.

“Okay, okay! Just take it easy. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just put the knife down for God’s sake.”