He tucked the knife to his chest and waited, every nerve tingling with anticipation and cold. He was fully relaxed, allowing himself to become one with the water. He had no need for another breath. He sensed the thing coming for him and he resisted the temptation to lash out prematurely.
He knew he couldn’t kill it, but he’d learned that he could slow it down. Something inside him wailed. “Do it now.” A new voice, not Donna’s. An urgent voice, a commanding voice, his own voice. He obeyed and shoved his right arm forward, like it was spring loaded, slamming the sharp steel into the thing’s flesh. He kept a firm grip on the knife, drawing it along the underbelly of the beast. Then he twisted it, slicing back along the direction of his original incision as the thing bucked into his side, bellowing out foul air as it swam away.
Jim kicked toward the surface. The rise up seemed an eternity. Pumping adrenaline had used up his oxygen supply. He didn’t know how deep he was and he didn’t think he would make it, but he held on, breaking the surface cleanly, taking great gulps of air. He was within an arm’s reach of the dive ladder. He didn’t know what awaited him above, but he knew if he didn’t get out of the water quickly, the gecko would be back.
He slid the scaling knife back between his teeth and grabbed out for the ladder. He was exhausted, but he calmed his rate of breathing and silently pulled his way on up.
Donna was stunned, but she wasn’t submissive. She screamed as she fell forward onto the mattress, started her roll even before she landed on the soft surface, pushed off with her left hand and clawed the fake policewoman’s face with her right. The imposter screamed, stumbling backward, her face covered in blood.
Donna struggled to get up, but four strong arms pulled her down and flipped her onto her back.
“ No,” she shouted, as they tied her arms and legs to the four corners of the bed. She was trussed up, spread eagled, and there was nothing she could do about it, but scream her rage at her betrayal. After a few seconds she stopped screaming.
She glared swords at the two big men. She was in trouble. “If you’re coming, Jim Monday, come now. Please come now,” she thought desperately, but he didn’t answer. The connection had been broken.
“ Okay, start the equipment and get out of here.” The doctor with the Death’s Head said and Donna watched without struggling as the big men fiddled with the cameras, then the men and the fake policewomen left the salon, going up through the galley and onto the deck.
“ It’s just you and me now.” The doctor’s laughter was a guttural rasping, like a mean dog’s growl. “I’ve waited a long time for this. Generations.” He looked at her with glassed over eyes. “We should get to know each other better.” He grabbed her robe by the left lapel, balled it into his fist and ripped it off, leaving her naked before him-defenseless.
Her bound hands started to shake as he kicked off his shoes.
“ First I’m going to use you,” he said through a Nazi killer’s smile. “I’m going to have to do it fast, because it’s almost midnight.” He reached down and pulled his socks off. Then opened his coat, took it off and she saw the shoulder holster.
“ Big eyes, I see the gun frightens you.” He pulled off the holster, took the gun out of it. “It’s a Beretta Cougar. The most beautiful thing I have ever owned.” He held the gun up, stroked the barrel. “You want a closer look?”
She shook her head.
“ Yes you do.” He pointed the barrel between her eyes, touched it to her forehead. “Nine millimeter, fifteen rounds in the magazine, double action, a point and shoot weapon. But not with the safety on.” He laughed, then with the gun still on her forehead, still between her eyes, he clicked it off.
“ Now it’s ready to go.” He wrapped a powerful right hand around her jaw, squeezed, forcing her mouth open, forcing the barrel in.
“ Suck on that.” He laughed again, a devil’s laugh. “I could blow your head right off.” He pulled out the gun and Donna gasped for air as he ran the barrel down to her breasts, first covering one nipple, then the other, then he took it down further, to her sex.
“ I’d shove it in, but I’ve got something else I want to shove in first.” He pulled the gun away, eyes glazed. “Almost no recoil with this wonderful weapon. It’s because of the rotating barrel.”
She squeezed her eyes shut, sickened by the sight of him.
“ Ah, you’re not interested.”
She tried to will him away.
“ Open your eyes.”
She refused.
“ I’ll shoot off your kneecaps. It’ll be very painful for you.”
She opened her eyes.
“ That’s better. Now we can talk.” He tossed the gun on the bed and pulled off his shirt, revealing a dirty tee shirt. His body odor was overpowering.
“ It’s true I don’t bathe much anymore. I suppose it’s been the anticipation. I’ve been wanting you for a long time.” He pulled off the tee shirt and leered at her. “Do you like the accent, the Nazis had so much to offer, it’s a shame they lost.”
“ You’re not German?” She was confused.
“ Of course not, the accent’s affected.”
“ I don’t understand.”
“ Come on, you know me.”
“ Ngaarara,” she whispered.
“ Yes.”
She squirmed against her bonds, wishing him dead and gone.
“ I didn’t think you had it in you,” he said, changing the subject as he unzipped his pants. “You cast your spirit halfway around the world, even I can’t do that.” He paused, staring at her. “You cost me a good deal of money and several years of pleasure. I only wish there was some additional torture I could induce to make you pay for your sins, but time is short.”
He flipped his erection out of his pants and she flinched as its single eye stared at her.
“ It is large, isn’t it?” He massaged himself. “I like it when it works out that way. Sometimes I get a body with a small one, they work fine, but they don’t frighten the young girls nearly as much as something like this.” He pulled on himself.
Her eyes were frozen wide and she struggled against the ropes.
“ I will be able to masturbate to your deflowering for years upon years, enjoying you forever.” He stopped massaging himself and dropped his pants. He laughed, a devil’s rasp, as he stood before her, naked.
“ After I fuck you, I’m going to call in my German bully boys. They’re going to stuff you in the oven.”
She pulled harder against the ropes.
“ We have a very modern industrial galley on board, including an oversize stove, perfect for you. You’ll be cooked alive and I’ll have every delicious scream on video.”
Jim pulled himself up on the first rung of the dive ladder and caught his breath. He transferred the knife from his mouth back to his right hand and quieted his heart by taking long deep breaths. He was in a hurry, but he didn’t want to blunder foolishly over the side and get himself killed before he had a chance to free Donna. He climbed two rungs of the ladder and poked his head over the rail.
The man on watch had his back to him. He appeared to be watching the four old Maori men beyond. They were involved in a heated argument of some kind. Jim climbed up over the rail, glad that Mohi was doing his job. If he had any doubt about how to handle the man on watch, the black sweater and seaman’s cap he was wearing made up his mind. The last two men he’d met who were dressed like that had tried to kill him. Jim eased up behind the watchman and silently slit his throat.
He saw the Maori men start toward the boat, but he didn’t have time to wait for them. He slipped down the open hatch and found himself looking down a long companionway, with cabin doors on each side. He eased down the corridor. Donna could be in any one of these rooms, he thought, but he knew differently when he heard a familiar voice traveling from beyond the partially open door at the head of the hallway, and all of a sudden he knew what the connection between himself and Donna Tuhiwai had been.
“ I have so much to get even for, fucking you and burning you doesn’t seem like enough. If only I had more
