Under Pressure (Body Armor #1)(101)

She absolutely couldn’t think about that, not yet. She’d never be able to keep her head if she did.

“Unlike Platt,” Tesh continued, “I cover all the bases. I’d had extra eyes on Webb for a while, and bugs in all the rooms of his house.”

“You had a bug in my house as well.”

He smiled. “Yes.”

Going stiff to contain her shudder of revulsion, Cat waited.

Finally, Tesh continued, “I knew the bastard was searching for a way out. Your father wasn’t above making unseemly connections to better his social standing, but he certainly balked at a little harmless, sexual fun.”

Harmless? God, how she detested him. At the same time, she worried for Webb. For once, she didn’t object to having him called her father. “I can believe you’ll get to him.” In some ways, Webb had never fit the role of obscene criminal, so he likely wasn’t practiced in the ways of eluding the real cretins. “But Platt? That’s a very different matter.”

“I have my ways.”

“Odds are,” she continued, as if he hadn’t spoken with such confidence, “Platt is already planning your demise. There’s nowhere you can hide. Nowhere you can run. He’ll still get you.”

Brows flattening, Tesh said, “Now you’re just showing your ignorance. Soon you will learn to never underestimate me.” He removed a flash drive from his pocket, holding it between his finger and thumb to show her. “I own every detail of Platt’s life. He can’t do anything to me without exposing himself and he knows it.”

Trying for a look of awe rather than excitement, Cat widened her eyes. “You have info on the senator? Incriminating stuff?”

“I have him by the balls, and I have decided to destroy him.” He tucked the small drive back into his pocket.

Cat refused to believe it could be that easy—not that getting the drive from Tesh and then escaping alive would be anywhere near easy.

But at least now she saw an opportunity.

“You have enough information to expose the senator, and you’re carrying it around as if it’s nothing? I’m not stupid, Tesh. No sane man would do that.” A psychotic monster, yes, but Tesh was still cagey.

His mouth flattened at the insult. “I have another copy.”

“Saved on your PC?” She snorted. “Seriously, Platt would have already hacked that—”

Surging toward her, Tesh snarled, “No, damn you. I am not incompetent. I have a safe-deposit box with everything. Photos, details, dates, names, everything.”

His sudden nearness alarmed her. With every second that they talked, the van took her farther away—from safety, from escape.

From Leese.

But at the moment, she couldn’t think of anything else to do. “If you have it in your name, trust me, the senator has already secured it.”

His control snapped and he grabbed her hair, dragging her against him. “It’s in my mother’s name, goddamn you!” After that outburst, Tesh stood there heaving, his face florid, his body coiled.

They stared at each other, Cat in bone-deep fear, Tesh in shock at his own savage outburst.

His chest expanded as he visibly gathered himself. By small degrees he released her, carefully separating her hair from his fingers and still taking too many strands.

Her scalp stung from the attack, but she did what she could to keep all expression from her face.

He didn’t deserve to see her fear.

Now more composed, Tesh stepped back and brushed his hands over his slacks. With impersonal command, he instructed, “Take off your clothes.”

What? His mood swings changed lightning fast, making it difficult for her to anticipate.

The driver glanced in the rearview mirror, not in concern, but lewd curiosity.

“Don’t worry about him,” Tesh said softly. “He might look, but he won’t touch what is mine.”

Numb at the idea of being so exposed, Cat shook her head and whispered, “I’m not yours.” She would never be his.

Pleased to again have the upper hand, Tesh casually unbuckled his belt and slipped it from his pants loops with a quiet hiss. While ignoring her, he wrapped it around his meaty fist. When he finished, the silver buckle gleamed in the shifting light, prominent over his knuckles.

Cat tried to swallow, but fear left her throat too dry. She didn’t want to be hurt—but she knew she would be.

In a singsong voice, all the more eerie for its softness, Tesh said, “Our relationship may as well start out right.”

Again the driver glanced back.

“We don’t have a relationship.” Cat back-stepped and tripped over the bulky tarps, landing hard on her palms and her butt. As Tesh moved in, she crab-crawled away, but there was nowhere to go. She ended up backed against the rear door, scrunched in a corner against the protruding metal frame. Terror gave strength to her defiance. “We will never have a relationship!”

“You are so wrong.” He knelt by her, grabbing her ankle when she tried to flinch away. “You belong to me now, my pet, and you will be tamed.” He licked his lips in lewd excitement. “I’m looking forward to it. God, I’ve been looking forward to it forever.”

“You’re sick,” she snapped, and tried to kick out with her free leg.

Prepared for that reaction, he dragged her flat and landed one heavy punch to her midsection.