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I couldn’t give up Julia’s location I wasn’t going to sell her out and put her back in the monster’s clutches, the way one of the kids on the street had done to e and demanded to knohere I was The other runaways knew Nassir had been looking for me and that he’d sent Stark to flush me out All the dirty cop had to do was proet-out-of-jail-free card Since I had a backbone and was farto die But not before the dirty cop who nearly electrocutedaround for the last teeks Letting his hands linger Pinningoons I was off lihter, but they only behaved when he was in the rooone, they threatened, they touched, they inti srabbing hands, and all hting off unwanted advances I was disgusted by being pawed and abused, even if I was achingly used to it The look in the cop’s eye was one I was sadly faht back, and he aiting, not so patiently, to get the go ahead fro Goddard that there were other ways to find Julia, that I was just a street-rat without connections to keep the girl hidden for long He had a very specific way in which he wanted to iven hi him have his ith my body

I swore to myself when I left hoain Luckily, the software I set up with basic, pre-recorded responses fro and the dirty cop on a leash for a little while I didn’t actually knohere she was I never knew It was safer that way in case soive away information to protect my own self-interest, so I took precautions But my time ran out today There were no more distractions and no ive hi to die

For the last teeks, I’d been trussed up, hands bound behind my back, and confined to some trashy motel that rented rooms by the hour It was in the heart of the Point­­--the very worst part The dirty cop and another guy, who looked like a tired, worn out litigator, took turns trying to cajole , older o, made pro his hands My nipples had been pinched and my ass was squeezed more in the last teeks than in an entire decade spent living on the streets He’d tried to poke and prod between ave th he didn’t expectbut crap fro machine Little did these two fools know that life had handed me worse when I’d survived on less

Even with ed to smash his nose with my forehead and take a chunk out of his cheek with risly, bloody and brutal, but after he was done beating the shit out of me for the assault, he left me alone Goddard was none too pleased when he showed up and saw that I was so battered I could barely speak I refused to make the fake call to the recorded software for the next two days and flatly told the Mayor if the cop touched e as far away as I possibly could He didn’t know that there was no way for h liar that he believed me, and the cop had kept his hands to himselfuntil today

Both he and the skinny, older ht The crappy motel door was locked from the outside with a padlock and all the ere lined with bars that couldn’t be broken loose I’d tried the first night they left me alone in this hovel No one cared if I screamed my fool head off In fact, the roo even louder, scarier noises There was no housekeeping, no security I ell and truly trapped and trying to escape had left otten used to sleeping at a weird angle becausemy shoulders stiff I’d never been much of a heavy sleeper--you couldn’t afford to be when you slept under the stars, and I couldn’t risk it when I slept under the same roof as my older brother--so I heardopen

I sat upright on the ratty bed and blinked against the sudden invasion of neon light fro on; however, before the words were out, the nasty cop pulled out so that looked like a black burlap sack and shook it in front of o" He took a step toward ht my ankle as I tried to scoot across the bed and away from hi hed and rubbed a hand over his face

"Can we hurry this along? The guy God paid costs a fortune and he doesn’t like to be kept waiting We don’t have time for you to play with your food"

My eyes ide as the cop wrapped his hands aroundand I kicked and wiggled even harder in his relentless hold I felt his cheek, the one that needed ten stitches after I bit hihed indown h that only I could hear, "That’s right, you little bitch The boss called in a pro A guy who can make you bleed on the inside so that the pain lasts for hours You’ll be begging to talk by the time he’s done with you" I felt him press into ed harder and tried to pull ahen he ground his arousal into ut, but there was no traction, and I screas and joints inlocked in an unnatural position for so long "I’ to ask for an hour with you before they finish you off The last thing you’ll reed cheek into h my mouth so I didn’t pass out I was scared I hated that I couldn’t see, but , I hated that I had no control, no say in as happening todoll

I wasn’t a thing that could be ht back That’s what I always did That’s all I could do

I dragged led across the floor when the cop droppedbut I had to get away I screaed hed and drove one of his boots into asp and was lifted up and thrown over a shoulder It dug into ut I bounced mercilessly around as I was hauled out of the filthy roouy was co a scene The cop placated hie, if necessary They were so casual about abduction and torture that it ned to the fact that this really was the end They didn’t care if anyone sahat they were doing to me because I was about to disappear off the face of the Earth It didn’tand torment the truth out ofto suffer needlessly I snickered because it wouldn’t be the first tiht they could break and control me

My captors tossed e and slaasoline and blood, whichhood, I closed h my options Everyone in the Point knew that if someone snatched you, you were far more likely to end up dead if you let the I could do about that We are on the move and I had no way to stop it I also knew that I was supposed to look for a release latch or try to kick out one of the taillights and signal for help The hood preventedif I was up or down andaround I kickedas my newly injured ribs screamed at me My stiff shoulders also protested, but Isolid and kicked it with ain Metal thu my way in a half circle when the car suddenly stopped and sentI shrieked in surprise and tried to lift ht when the trunk was pulled open Immediately, hard hands latched around ed involuntarily and tried to pull back, but I was stuck firrasp