Shades of Gray (KGI #6)(39)

When she got to the back enclosure, she saw the helicopter lift into the air.

“No!”

Goddamn it. She couldn’t lose him. Not when she’d been this close.

She dashed through the doorway and raised her gun, squeezing off shot after shot at the departing helicopter. Through the glass, she saw Brumley. Made eye contact with him. The bastard actually looked at her and gave her a cocky two-finger salute.

She took another shot, even knowing it was pointless. She fired until she was out of ammo and then let her arms fall to her sides. She closed her eyes in bitter disappointment.

Failed.

She turned, having to drag her leg. It was growing more numb all the time, and as the adrenaline wore off, the pain became more unbearable.

There was still Nelson to contend with.

She popped in another clip and limped through the house, delighting in the fact that she’d tracked blood all over the posh furnishings. When she walked back out the front, she saw Nelson trying to drag himself to one of the cars.

Stupid f**k.

Unlike the idiot who shot her, she’d placed her bullet so it shattered his leg. He didn’t have a prayer of walking anywhere.

She holstered her pistol and then opened the knife. The blood of the two other men she’d killed had dried on it and she hadn’t bothered to clean it. It would only get dirty again.

She came to a stop just over Nelson, and he turned his head upward, his eyes full of fear as he stared into hers.

“D-don’t k-kill me,” he stammered. “Please, I’ll do whatever you want.”

She shook her head. “You’re a pathetic piece of shit, Nelson. You’re quite the badass when you’re up against a drugged, helpless woman. Not so badass when she’s armed.”

She kicked him so he rolled to his back, and he let out another groan when it jarred his leg. Then she knelt awkwardly, grimacing as her own bullet wound protested the motion.

It should feel empowering to tower over the man who’d brutalized her and know that his fate was entirely up to her. That he was begging her for the mercy he’d been unwilling to give her.

But all she felt was paralyzing fear. Panic rose, making her shaky where she’d been rock steady just before. She stared into his eyes and remembered staring into them when he’d raped her. They were as soulless now as they’d been then, only then they’d glowed with power. A savagery that he’d enjoyed despite his grumbling that he preferred a fight.

The knife shook, and she tightened her grip, fully intending to mark him as he’d done her.

“Where can I find your boss?” she demanded.

He spit at her, and she backhanded him with the butt of the pistol. Blood streamed from his lips and nose as he turned back to glare his hatred.

“Tell me what I want to know or I’ll gut you like a pig and leave you here to die a very slow, painful death. The buzzards might not even wait for you to die before they start feasting.”

He paled and licked his lips, but he hesitated.

She flicked the blade at the fly of his pants and deftly sliced the material so it gaped open. Then she pressed the blade under his navel and carved a line from one side to the other, drawing blood.

He screamed in pain and sucked air through his nostrils. He was gasping like a fish sucking his last breath on land.

She put the tip of the blade lower until it rested right over his dick. He went completely still, his eyes so wide with fright that they bulged and looked as though they’d pop right out of their sockets.

“Okay, okay! Just take it easy. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just put the knife down for God’s sake.”

“Tell me where to find Brumley,” she said coldly.

“He’ll be in Jakarta,” he choked out. “Three weeks. You won’t find him until then. I don’t even know where he plans to be. But there’s a big deal going down there. One of his contacts has promised him the best of the best girls. If his contact is telling the truth, this will make Brumley millions. He’s already lining up buyers based on information he’s received about the girls. Guy’s name is Dimas. He’s a big shot in Jakarta. Local businessman who’s delving into human trafficking for the first time. Word is, he’s delivering virgins and Brumley’s clientele is going nuts. He’s planning to auction them individually in an exclusive, high-security, extremely private venue on the island he owns.”

P.J.’s lips curled into a snarl and a sound of rage burned deep in her chest and bubbled outward, vibrating her throat. Red clouded her vision. She raised the knife, prepared to end it now.

“Hands up!”

She froze, fear scuttling through her stomach. She turned her head to see two armed men at the corner of the house. They carried assault rifles and they were both pointed at her.

One man jerked the barrel of the rifle in an upward motion to indicate she was to raise her hands.

Fuck. She’d acted like a goddamn rookie seeing her first live action. She’d holstered the gun instead of keeping it out because she’d assumed that the house had been vacated and that all of Brumley’s men had escaped with him. As Steele always said, people who assume are usually the ones who end up dead.

She’d forgotten her training, so eager had she been to exact justice. And now she was going to pay dearly for that mistake.

The two men started forward, their guns never lowering. P.J. kept her hands in the air, the knife still gripped in one of them.