Panic banged in her chest.
Whatever happens here is interesting enough for him to record it.
Exhausted by her struggle, her mouth and throat dry from the rag, she took a moment to calm her breathing. She took two deep breaths through her nose, closing her eyes to imagine she wasn’t bound and gagged on the floor of an underground boxing ring.
Catriona found it difficult to fantasize about a better situation with the zip-ties eating into the flesh around her wrists and her jaw aching from the pressure of the rag stuffed in her mouth.
What were those mental tricks people used to shift their thoughts from bad situations?
She could imagine she was bound and gagged on a tropical beach...
Think. I need a plan. At some point he’s going to cut these zip-ties and—
Catriona felt the mat beside her dip and opened her eyes. Volkov stood beside her with a roll of tape in his hands. She lay on her back as he bent at the waist and peered into her face, his cheeks coloring.
He held the tape out for her to see. “Do you want me to wrap your hands?” Volkov jerked the cloth from her mouth and she gasped.
“Do you want me to wrap your hands?” he repeated.
“I don’t understand,” she croaked, the words sticking in her throat. She chewed at her tongue to make more spit.
“You’re a fighter, yes? So we fight. You are very strong girl. I can tell. What you did to Peter.” He laughed with what sounded like genuine mirth. He poked her on the nose. “You’ll be the best one yet. A real challenge.”
Catriona jerked her face away from him. “You want to box me?”
“Kickbox, right? I can fight in many styles. I want you to fight in the style that suits you. That’s why I ask about your hands. I want you to be comfortable. The way you usually fight. I want this to be fair.”
“Fair.” Catriona repeated the word, baffled that Volkov thought fighting a girl a fraction of his size, who hadn’t eaten since the night before, in an unfamiliar underground gym, was fair.
She rolled on her side to better see him without straining her neck. “Why?”
“Why do I want it to be fair?” He pulled a pocketknife from the waistband of his shorts and cut the ties from around her ankles. Tilting her to a sitting position, he cut the ties around her wrists.
Catriona rubbed at her wrists as Volkov took a step back, placing himself between her and the ladder. She guessed that meant the other two archways only led deeper into his lair, not to additional exits.
He smiled down at her, as if she were a work of art he’d finished. Removing his silky red robe, he allowed it to slip to the ground and land beside her feet, revealing a muscular physique dotted with black tattoos.
Catriona looked away, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of her attention. She rose to her feet, wobbling on the matt as she struggled to find her balance. “If I win, you’ll let Mo and me go?”
Volkov barked with laughter. “If you win it means I’m dead, so you can do whatever you like. See there?” Volkov pointed to one of the archways. “My pistol is in there. If you knock me unconscious, you take the gun. Kill me and any men in the house. Take Mo and go home.”
“And if I lose?”
He shrugged. “If you lose, Mo will return to her husband as soon as he provides me with the network for the clothing.”
“And me?”
He smiled. “You’ll see.”
Volkov rubbed once at his crotch, as if something had stirred there.
Catriona’s limbs tingled a second time. Electricity provided by fear.
A silence fell as Catriona’s gaze swept over the room, searching for any advantage.
Walls. Mats. Video cameras. Lights on the ceiling. A classic brass boxing ring bell gong mounted to the wall. Archways to other places I don’t want to go.
Behind Volkov stood the ladder to freedom. She needed to move him away from it.
She licked her lips. “Do you have any food? I haven’t eaten in over a day. I don’t think that makes for a fair fight.”
Volkov frowned. “Peter did not feed you?”
“I didn’t eat the sandwich. I was afraid it was poisoned.”
Volkov nodded. “Smart girl. I have poisoned the food before. Though this time, no.” He held up a finger. “I have an energy bar in the other room.”
He walked to one of the opposite archways, glancing back at her often.
“Stay there.”
Catriona offered a slight nod of her head.
Sure. I’ll stay right here and wait for you to beat me unconscious.
As he ducked through the arch, she bolted for the hatch.
Hope proved short-lived.
The moment her fingers found the ladder, Volkov slammed into her from behind, pressing her body painfully against the rungs. She cried out as he pulled back her arms, using his weight to pin her. The zip-ties tightened around her wrists once more.
She felt his lips brush her ear. “I knew you would run. I’m so glad you did.”
“Help!” Catriona screamed towards the hatch hovering feet above her head. She bobbed her head, trying to rid her neck of his hot breath.
Volkov leaned back, wrapping one hand across her mouth and another around her waist. She tried to bite him, kicking at his shins with her heels as he dragged her back into the larger room. He threw her to the mat.
“Scream all you like. No one can hear through the stone.”
Catriona fell on her shoulder, scrambling to find her feet beneath
