“Do you want to play stupid? Or do you want to cooperate?”
“I don’t know what you are talking about. Please.”
With one hand tangled in her hair and the other pinning her arm behind her, the man dragged Claudia from her bedroom. She tried to resist, but he tightened his grip, causing even more excruciating pain to shoot through her body. Despite the pain, she tried to make it as difficult as possible for him to pull her down the small hallway toward the…Oh, no, please! Not the bathroom.
Claudia had always harbored a terrible fear of drowning, ever since she’d been a little girl. If they were going toward the bathroom, it could mean only one thing. He was going to torture her with water.
He kicked the door open and flicked on the light switch with his elbow. Releasing Claudia’s arm, he punched her hard in the kidney, and she dropped immediately to her knees in front of the toilet. He threw open the lid with such force that it snapped off the hinges and clattered onto the tile floor.
“Last chance. Where is he? Where’s Harvath?”
Claudia was paralyzed with fear, but she knew she could not give Scot up.
“Go to hell,” she spat.
“Fine, have it your way,” said her torturer as he locked her slim neck in his powerful grasp and plunged her face into the bowl.
Claudia struggled wildly, her arms flailing in all directions. What a horrible way to die. The man was showing no mercy. She felt as if she had been held under for five minutes, even though she knew that was impossible. Finally, he pulled her face from the water. Claudia breathed as deeply as she could and then began coughing and sputtering.
“Feel like talking now? Tell me what I want to know and I’ll let you go.”
“Like hell you will,” said Claudia. “Fuck off. I’m not telling you anything.”
With a sigh the man said, “Women,” and shoved her head back down into the water.
Claudia tried desperately not to struggle this time. She needed every ounce of strength she had. She let her arms go limp next to the bowl. When the man had pulled her out the first time, he had pulled her head so far back she thought her neck would surely snap. He had placed his face so close to hers that she could smell his fetid breath.
Not struggling seemed to make the time she was under water drag on for twice as long. He was not going to let her up this time until she was dead. The plan she had begun to formulate was all for nothing. She might as well try struggling again. At least she would go out fighting. Then she felt the pressure on her neck let up ever so slightly and her head was yanked violently from the toilet. Now was her chance.
“Are you done playing games, you stupid little bitch, or do you really want to be drowned? Is that what you want? Huh? Huh?” With each Huh? the man emphasized his point by jerking her head back even farther and harder. Claudia was seeing spots. The man’s face was pressed right against hers. She could taste the rotten onions on his breath and feel the stubble of his whiskers against her cheeks. Her fingers kept groping forward. Where was it?
“It would be a shame to kill you, you know. You are one nice-looking woman. I’d much rather you and I have a little fun, but you’re not making it easy on yourself. Tell me what I need to know and we’ll have a party. If you don’t, I’ll simply have to drown you, but-”
Claudia had found what she was looking for. Behind the toilet was a stainless steel toilet brush that had a decorative plastic ruby on top. The point of the plastic gem was sharp enough that she was able to drive it right into her assailant’s left eye.
The man roared in pain. He let go of Claudia to free his hands, which shot directly up to his face. She slid away across the tile as quickly as she could. He pulled the long-handled brush from his eye and grabbed for a towel to try to stem the flow of blood.
“You fucking bitch! Now you’re going to pay! Do you hear me?! Do you hear me?!” he raged.
Claudia certainly did hear him. She was already on her feet running for her bedroom. The gun? Where is my gun? Frantically she searched for it. It wasn’t on the edge of the bed where she had left it. Somehow during their struggle it must have gotten knocked off. She could hear the man’s incessant screaming as he came out of the bathroom down the hallway, “Where are you, you little bitch? I’m going to make you wish you were never born!”
Come on, where is it? Claudia scrambled wildly under the bed, her arms sweeping out in all directions. She had only a few more seconds before the man would be right in the bedroom with her. Her mind shuddered at the possibilities of what he might do to her, and she searched with an even greater frenzy. It isn’t here! Could he have taken it? He didn’t have enough time. His hands were busy holding me. Where could it have gone? Why can’t I find it?
Then Claudia realized maybe it hadn’t fallen off the bed at all. She swept the remaining few bags out of her path and shot for the other side. Crawling out from under the bed, she almost froze as she heard the sound of the man’s voice in the doorway. “There you are. Trying to hide from me? Well, it’s too late. Time to die, lady!”
The man began firing wildly with a silenced Russian PM, Pistole Makarov. Claudia’s bedside lamp shattered, as did a picture on the wall behind her. The damage to the man’s left eye had ruined his aim. Claudia ducked her head. The gun? How do I get my gun? It must still be on the bed. It has to be.
Grabbing the comforter with both hands, Claudia pulled down hard, stretching it taut. Preferring a hand be shot rather than her head, she raised one above the level of the mattress and swept it from right to left. She felt something cold and hard. The gun! She grabbed it and quickly removed her hand from the bed.
“You know what, bitch? I’ve got a nice little knife here,” said the man.
The shooting had stopped for the moment, and Claudia heard the unmistakable click of a blade locking into place.
“I think you and I are going to have that party first, and then I’m going to let you watch while I cut you up. And then, you know what I’m going to do? I’m going to let you watch as I pluck each of your eyes from your head. Now get out here and take your medicine!”
Claudia pulled the slide back on her SIG and saw that there was already a round chambered.
“I told you to go to hell!” she shouted as she rose from behind the bed and put two slugs into the man’s chest.
He dropped the knife from his hand and slumped to the floor.
From the corner of her eye, Claudia saw the barrel of another gun in the doorframe of her bedroom. She whirled and fired, sending splintering pieces of wood flying. That was her last shot. She vaulted over the bed and landed on the corpse of the man who had intended to kill her. She grabbed for his pistol and fell back on her haunches ready to fire at the figure in the hallway.
“Claudia? Claudia? It’s me, Scot. Hold your fire. Don’t shoot. It’s only me. I’m going to come into the doorway. Don’t shoot.”
As soon as she saw it was him, shock took over and she began to sob uncontrollably.
73
The first thing Scot did was to pull the comforter off the bed and wrap it around Claudia, whom he’d moved into the living room. Next, he went to the bathroom and retrieved a towel to dry her hair.
“He didn’t hurt you, Claudia, did he?” Scot asked as he held her close and began drying her off.
“Oh, Scot,” she said, breathing in short gasps. “It was…It was horrible. He was trying to…to kill me. He was trying to drown me in the…the bathroom. He told me if I didn’t…didn’t tell him where to find you, he’d kill me.”
Harvath wrapped his arms around her. “You’re going to be okay. You killed him. He’s gone.”
“I can’t stop shaking,” she stammered.
“You’re in shock, but it’ll pass.”
Scot hated to do it, but he had to let her go. He moved quickly around the apartment, gathering up the things Claudia had set out for them.
“How about the backpacks, Claudia? Where are they?”
