A shock of pain hit me and shot through my entire body, locking up my muscles. Stiff as a board, I went down.
Everything went black.
When I came to, impenetrable darkness surrounded me. What was that sound?
Crickets. Loud. So I had to be outside in the jungle. The smell of wet dirt confirmed my assumption. Something else stung my nostrils. Musty fabric. My clothes were soaking wet.
Harley!Where was she?
“Boss, he’s awake!” a guy barked.
Something was pulled from my head. A flashlight blinded me. Out of reflex I lifted a hand to block the glaring light. Both arms came up. My hands were tied together with a rope.
“Where is she?” I demanded. “Where is Harley?” I knelt, then tried to stand, but a strong hand pressed down on my shoulder, forcing me back to my knees. My body still tingled from being tased.
“Give me some credit, Monk Boy,” Fuller’s drawl came from somewhere behind the blinding light. “I don’t hurt women.”
What about having “fun” with Harley once I was out of the way? The guy didn’t make a lick of sense.
“I wanna see her.”
The light beam dropped to the leaf-covered ground. My eyes needed a moment to adjust. The first thing I recognized were trees and wet foliage illuminated by flashlights. Where were we? Which part of the island? For how long had I been out?
Harley came slowly into view. She sat only twenty feet away, duct-taped to a metal chair, a gag in her mouth. Her hair and clothes were plastered to her, but other than that she seemed fine. No signs of crying either. Her steady gaze rested on me, so much love in her eyes that a warm sensation spread in my chest.
I gave her an almost imperceptible nod.It’ll be okay, Sweetheart. God is with us.
“She never looked at me like that,” Fuller muttered as he stepped between us, cutting off my view.
I wonder why.I kept the comment to myself. Didn’t need to meet Jesus sooner than necessary.
Blood dripped from Fuller’s nose. With a curse, he wiped it away. “She sure can throw a punch.”
Surprise rippled through me. That had been her?
My chest puffed up.That’s my girl.She was brave. A fighter.
Fuller hunched over, hands planted on his knees so he was at eye level with me. “You know which part of the Bible alwaysfascinated me the most? Jesus’s flagellation. I always wanted to know what it’s like. So . . .” He gestured into the dark, and one of his masked gorillas stepped forward with a whip in hand. Fuller turned back to me. “How about we give you the same treatment they gave your Jesus? The Bible doesn’t mention the exact number, but apparently He got thirty-nine lashes. I read that forty are deadly. Let’s find out how long you’ll last, Monk Boy.”
My heart rate started picking up speed. I’d read a lot of history books in my teens and knew a thing or two about whipping. Some whips had metal pieces attached to them that ripped out whole junks of flesh. Organs could be damaged.
Fuller nodded at his gorillas. “Strip him and hang him up.”
They grabbed the hem of my T-shirt and pulled it over my head, then tied my wrists to a rope hanging from a thick branch. Cold air taunted my wet skin as they pulled my arms over my head. I didn’t even try to fight them. I’d volunteer to be their target any day if it meant they left Harley and the baby alone.
Fuller strolled over to her and squatted behind the chair. He whispered something in her ear, then removed the gag.
“Leave him alone, Craig. Please!”
He chuckled. “I told you not to involve anyone. And what do you do? You get theMafiainvolved. I can’t let that go unpunished.”
Pain exploded across my back. I’d been so focused on their conversation that I hadn’t seen the guy standing next to me letting the whip fly. If I hadn’t been hanging from a tree, I would’ve folded under the fire. I bit back a groan, gritting my teeth until the burning simmered to stinging. I could literally feel where my skin had split—
The next whip came, burning even harder. The excruciating pain stole my breath.
“Stop it, Craig!” Harley screamed, her voice pitching. “You can’t do this to him!”
“Sorry, honey, that was only number two.” Craig didn’t sound sorry at all. “Thirty-seven more to go.”
