Hanzus tried to form a coherent response, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a strangled yelp.
“I will choose to take that as a yes,” said the voice. “Lola?”
The brunette ignored the voice as she tapped the barrel of her gun against Hanzus’ forehead.
“Lola!” The calm edge was gone. Lola looked over her shoulder. “I would like to be able to see the man’s face while I am talking to him.”
Lola turned back to Hanzus and gave an exaggerated pout, but she pulled away the gun. She otherwise remained in position, straddling him, and he was very grateful that he wore pyjamas to bed.
She indicated with the weapon that he should move. Carefully he raised himself onto his elbows, which allowed him to see the man sitting in the corner of the room. He wore a finely tailored dark suit. His goatee was expertly trimmed and he had a head of thick black hair that Hanzus dreamed of having.
“Do you remember when we first met four years ago?”
Hanzus nodded.
“And I explained to you that my employer wanted to ensure certain living arrangements for an individual that was about to come into your care.”
“I can—” started Hanzus, but he was interrupted by the barrel of the gun being shoved into his mouth.
“I am not finished talking. I explained about this man and how the need for him to serve his time in comfort and, crucially, solitude were very important to my employer. I offered you a very generous stipend for your assistance with the matter. You assured me, with absolute confidence, that you could achieve this. Have I recalled that conversation correctly?”
Hanzus didn’t respond. It wasn’t that he hadn’t been listening, but Lola had begun to push the tip of the barrel in and out of his mouth in the most disconcerting manner.
“Is that correct?” repeated the voice.
Hanzus spoke carefully around the gun. “Yesh, it – yesh.”
“Yes,” confirmed the man. “It is. And since then, have we failed to hold up our end of the bargain?”
“Yesh.”
“Excuse me?”
Hanzus moved his head to get the gun out of his mouth fully. “No. I mean, no. Sorry. No.”
The human body, as has often been commented on, is an incredible thing. It can do many things at once. Hanzus remembered well his childhood neighbour Tommy Fawkes, who, for example, had been able to dance a jig while simultaneously patting his head and rubbing his tummy, and also singing the national anthem. It had won him second place in the school talent show. Hanzus’ own snake-charming routine had not made it to the stage after a couple of girls in his class started to cry when they saw him warming up. While Hanzus’ body couldn’t compete with Tommy Fawkes’s ability to multitask, it managed an arguably more impressive trick.
His brain – having been woken up by a psychopathic killer straddling him, and a cartel representative sitting in the corner of the room, calmly explaining how he had let them down – was rightly terrified. His nether region, on the other hand, was only aware that a very attractive woman was in very close proximity, and it had started to respond. If history has shown anything, it is that male genitalia do not factor in the sanity of potential mates when choosing them. Worse, in response to this development, Lola was egging on Hanzus’ rebellious appendage by gyrating in a subtle yet incredibly distracting way. She was engaging in her own snake-charming routine, while simultaneously working the gun in and out of his mouth.
“Do I not have your undivided attention, Warden?”
“Sorry, but she’s making it hard.”
This elicited a giggle from his torturer.
“Lola.”
She rolled her big blue eyes, nimbly dismounted, and stood beside the bed. Hanzus snatched at the duvet to cover himself up.
The man whose name he did not know stood up from his seat and walked over to look down at him.
“To be absolutely clear, nothing in our previous chat gave you the impression we were paying you to ‘try your best’ or ‘do what you can’, did it? I would like to think I was clear in my assertion that failure was not an option.”
“Look,” said Hanzus, “it’s a temporary thing.”
“That was not our agreement.”
“Listen,” said Hanzus, before modulating his tone when he saw the flash of anger cross the man’s face. “Please, I’m sorry. Let me explain. We’re about to be audited and we know that your friend having his own cell has been noticed. I put a man in there – a very carefully selected man – so that no questions would be asked. Trust me – this man will never speak to your friend. Nobody will. If he does, I will deal with him.”
The man ran his fingers through his lusciously thick hair. “Warden, rest assured that if that happens, we have people in place who will assuredly deal with him before you do. Then, Lola here will come back and take her time showing you just how displeased my employer is. Are we one hundred percent clear on this?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Do not disappoint me again, and do not attempt to tail us.”
With that, the man turned and walked out of the room.
Lola followed him, before turning in the doorway to wave and blow Hanzus a kiss.
He lay there for the best part of an hour, with nothing for company but his own mind-numbing terror and an erection that refused to go away.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bunny looked up as the door buzzed open and in walked Jacob Gold, accompanied by Officer Truant.
“Just to make you aware—” started Truant, but Gold waved him away.
“I’m a lawyer. I know all this. Don’t need a guard in the room, you aren’t monitoring except the cameras.” He held up two thumbs sarcastically. “I got it! I got it! OK?”
“You don’t need to be a dick about it.”
With that, Truant
