In
a cold, dark warehouse, a green light blinked on and a possum jumped
back.
“You've
woken her up now,” the possum whispered frantically. “I told you
to leave her alone.”
“I
just want a bit more,” the other man answered. He jabbed a couple
of sharp fingers under his prisoner's ribs. “You worry too much.
Look, she's not even moving.”
Darren
winced. “Yet.”
“She's
tied up. What's she gonna do?”
“She
probably doesn't need to do anything,” Darren said, unaffectedly
mysterious. “Honestly, Frisco, just leave it.”
Frisco,
obviously tired of his cohort's apprehensions, turned his attention
back to the unfortunate captive. “We've been waiting a long time
to get our hands on you,” he told her. “A long time.”
Minty
hung motionless from her chains. She gave no indication, other than
the weak glow of her right eye, that she was still alive, let alone
awake. Frisco moved closer to her, took a handful of her dress in his
spider-leg fingers and gave it a sharp downward tug. His breath
crawled over her neck. “The boss will be back soon,” he
whispered. He licked the corner of her mouth, dragging his papery
tongue slowly across the point where the light from Minty's eye
turned the escaping Dust green. He let it linger there for a moment
before going on, “Then we'll have some fun.”
“The
boss will be back soon,” Darren said, his whisper lost in
the urgency of what he was saying. “I think we should go.”
Frisco
turned on Darren suddenly and hissed, his own eyes glowing bright
yellow in the feeble light that seeped in from under the storeroom
door.
Darren
took a step back. He didn't like Frisco and he really didn't
like being left alone with him. At the best of times, Frisco was
malicious, spiteful and psychopathic. He seemed to truly delight in
causing pain and he was unnaturally at ease around Minty – a
walking disfigurement whom Darren regarded with mortal dread. But at
least, Darren realized, taking another backward step toward the door,
he knew where he stood with the rabbit girl. If she decided
to back to life and kill them all, he was sure it would be done
without pretence. Frisco might stab him in the back as soon as look
at him – and with Frisco, the stabbing would be as literal or
figurative as the bastard chose to make it.
“I'm
busy,” Frisco growled, displaying a mouth full of too-long, crooked
teeth.
Darren
couldn't work out why the boss kept Frisco around. Well, he amended
mentally, he wished he couldn't work out why. But it was
obvious. Frisco wasn't afraid to get things done. Frisco would get
anything done.
“Maybe
she's not the only one who needs to be taught a lesson,”
Frisco said, taking a step toward Darren and raising a horrible hand.
With his sick grin, it was impossible to guess whether or not he was
joking and Darren wasn't keen to find out for sure.
There
was a sound in the corridor, the telltale sound of their employer's
footsteps on the concrete floor. Frisco heard it, started and
appeared to melt into the shadows and Darren, under the seemingly
watchful eye of Minty, crept away as quietly as he could.
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