Fear by Francine Pascal Page A

her room until next time.”
    The broad-shouldered man gave a quick nod and hurried out of the room. Carlo turned his attention back to Tom and sneered. “You don’t even understand what’s going on here, do you?”
    Tom flexed his fingers and felt carefully along the straps leading to his wrist. They were tight, but not too tight. Given enough time, Tom was sure he could get his hands free. “No,” he said. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?”
    Carlo picked up one of the cables from the floor and examined the bright copper end. “Loki’s done with you.”
    â€œGlad to hear it,” said Tom. “Then you won’t mind letting us go.”
    Carlo gave an ugly, twittering laugh. “Not exactly the plan.” He raised the cable and brought it closer to Tom’s face. “Loki may be done with you, but I’m not. You broke my nose.”
    â€œTwice,” said Tom. “And don’t forget the spear I put through your foot.”
    The end of the cable touched Tom’s cheek, and he jerked as the electricity played over his face. Carlo drew back the cable and made another of his unpleasant laughs. “I can torture you for as long as I want. Then, when I’ve paid you back for everything that you did to me”—he brought his face closer and lowered his voice to a chilling whisper—“I get to kill you any way I want.”
    Tom moved his fingers over the straps. A few more minutes and he thought he could get his left hand free. “What about Natasha?” he asked. “What’s supposed to happen to her?”
    Carlo smiled. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” He shook his head and put on an expression of obviously false sadness. “It’s too bad a woman with a face and body like that has to die, but orders are orders.” His smile made a quick return. “Doesn’t mean I can’t have a little fun first.”
    A shadow moved in the hall. At first Tom thought that the bodyguard was returning, but the figure that appeared in the doorway was a lot smaller than either of the two men. Natasha stepped softly into the room. There were bruises on her arms and scrapes on her face, but there was fire in her eyes. In her right hand was the stun stick.
    â€œYou know,” Carlo continued. “Maybe we can combine two good things into one great one. Next time Bruno gives you one of these little talks, I’ll take your woman in the same room. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
    â€œNot to me,” said Natasha.
    Carlo started to turn, but he had moved only a few inches when Natasha drove the business end of the stun stick into the small of his back. There was a loud crack as the device delivered half a million volts into Carlo. The man’s arms flew out to his sides and his eyes rolled back into his head. He gave a final shiver and fell to the floor.
    Tom knew exactly how Carlo felt, but that didn’t mean he had even a drop of sympathy for the man. “Natasha!” Relief scrubbed most of the ache from Tom’s muscles. “How did you get away?”
    She hurried across the room and started working on the straps around Tom’s arms. “Men like this Carlo, they have no respect for women. They think we are just something they can play with.” She finished setting free Tom’s hands. “He was so distracted, he forgot to lock up his toys.”
    Tom quickly removed the straps around his chest, neck, and legs. He stood up and stretched out his shocked limbs, then he hugged Natasha. “Are you all right? What did he do to—”
    She put a finger over his lips. “That’s not important. He won’t be hurting either one of us again.”
    On the floor, Carlo groaned. He shook his head and started to get to his hands and knees.
    Tom let the man get partway up, then he delivered a hard, straight kick right to the center of Carlo’s