“I told you,” Katie seethed. “I told you I would make you pay.” She poked David in the chest and then smiled up at him. It was the same sort of smile a cat uses to greet a mouse. The way David was wrapped up in himself, it seemed an appropriate analogy.

Luke blinked once in surprise. Some stuff was clicking together, but not fast enough.

“Katie, what the hell’s going on?” Dani asked. Luke put his arm around her. She was shaking, though she was doing everything in her power not to show it. He tried to draw her back, away from the others. Wanting to protect her.

Being Dani, she resisted.

He looked around for something to use as a weapon, something they could use for cover, whatever they could conceivably use. The room was too crowded, and there weren’t a whole lot of options. Diving under the desk would get them nowhere. And against hardened killers, all of whom have guns? Yeah, throw a stapler at Benny.

“What the hell was on that USB?” Katie yelled, shaking David hard like a terrier with a rat. Also not a bad analogy. Poor David’s head rocked back and forth so violently it was a wonder it stayed on. Luke almost felt sorry for him.

“I don’t know!” David wailed, flailing at her uselessly. Trying to get away.

She was interrogating him. She didn’t know.

Suddenly everything clicked. Luke realized when he’d seen David at the party, he was arrogant, self-assured. Later when they had gone climbing, he’d been an ass, then...

“You sent the note,” Luke blurted. Everyone stopped as though the projector had broken, and the film stayed in place.

“What are you talking about?” Dani turned to Luke, hurt and confusion in her eyes.

“At the party. ‘Boom, you’re dead’. It was you who placed that on his jacket.”

“Just a little love letter,” Katie purred, preening a little as though she’d been complimented. Her grip released on David’s shirt, sending him to the floor, hard.

“If it wasn’t you,” Luke asked David, trying to force pieces into place, “then why didn’t you get worried when it happened? You took that awfully calmly, as I recall.”

David shrugged. “The jacket? Father said that one of my friends from college was playing a gag. I thought he knew. I figured the car was the same thing. I was getting pissed, and then Father vanished.”

“The coward,” Benny cursed under his breath, adding something that Luke couldn’t quite hear but that seemed to involve a whole lot of four-letter words.

“But how did you key the car?” Dani looked back and forth between Katie and David. “You were with us the whole time.”

Katie smiled and looked over her shoulder.

Benny shrugged, extending his hands in a helpless, what’re-you-gonna-do kind of gesture. “Ms. Linnear was in my employ. She only needed to call. I had a man go and deliver her message in her place, while she kept all of you busy.”

While she established an alibi taking the long way back around to the car, giving everyone else plenty of time to discover the message with her nowhere near, Luke realized. He frowned. “And the empty box.” Luke added after a minute. “The bomb that wasn’t...”

Benny smiled. “I thought that would be a nice touch.”

“But what was on the STICK?” Katie yelled, bringing the attention back to her by kicking David hard in the shins. David whimpered, and scrambled backwards out of her reach, coming up against the couch, and half-climbing, half-falling onto the cushions.

“It no longer matters,” Benny said as he lay a proprietary hand on her shoulder. “it’s destroyed. Tell me, Agent Milligan, or whatever you go by, how many copies are there?”

Luke had seen that coming for a while. He figured Benny would catch on sooner or later; being a vicious killer didn’t mean you were stupid. When Katie came into the picture, it had to happen. He was a little surprised by Dani’s reaction, as she should have seen it coming, too. She stood there, her eyes wide, looking for all the world like the Easter Bunny had just torn apart Santa Claus.

“None,” David piped up, sounding forlorn.

Dani turned to him, her mouth opening and closing as though she couldn’t get the words out that she sorely needed to say. Luke was beginning to worry; if she kept swiveling her head around like that she was going to get whiplash.

“It was encrypted,” David sighed, plucking at a couch cushion. “Encryption adds the device to the files and considers it all one piece. You can’t copy an encrypted drive.”

“Well, then,” Benny stated, clapping his hands like he was dusting them off, “it doesn’t matter what was on the thing—it’s gone now. Besides, we have a more immediate issue. We have a wedding in two days.”

Dani’s attention was squarely back on Luke. “Two days?” she mouthed to him without talking.

Luke shrugged. What were they supposed to do? Keep playing the farce? Hope dear-ol’ daddy returned in time. The man was clearly gone, had clearly taken his money and run. Didn’t give a toss about his kids.

“...and you are not allowed to maim the bride and groom.” Benny smiled at Katie, who looked more than a little upset. Her hair had come loose from her ponytail, and her face was red and blotchy with rage. She was not a pretty girl when angry.

“It’s not them I want,” Katie growled. Luke could hear it in her, the little wolf, the vicious huntress. He wondered why he hadn’t heard it in her voice before. Katie was shooting daggers out of her eyes, all aimed at David.

“Katie,” Dani’s tone sounded more pleading than reasoning, but it had been a taxing day. “What the hell is going on? What did David do to make you hate him so much? I thought... I thought...” She stared at Katie, and sighed—clearly no longer sure of anything.

“What, you didn’t tell her?” Katie shot at the boy who was trying to hide in his own navel. “Never told her about tennis camp, and what you did to me?”

Luke could see the blood drain from Dani’s face. He knew that if Katie had a strong accusation, it would be an automatic reflex to dismiss that and protect her brother again, whether he deserved protecting or not.

Dani’s hand went to cover her mouth.

“David,” Dani’s voice was a whisper. “What did you do? Did you touch her?

Katie exploded into laughter. She could barely breathe she was laughing so hard.

Luke caught Dani’s eye. She lifted an eyebrow in a question; he shook his head. They both looked at David. He looked about ready to suck his thumb.

“Are you serious?” Katie caught her breath and her balance, by grabbing Benny’s arm. “Him? No, that...” Words seemed to fail her. “...boy could barely say ‘Mistress’ right.” She looked at the dawning revelation in Dani’s eyes. “Yes, that’s right. He was my toy. I led him on a leash and paraded him through the camp. He was my little slave boy.”

Luke turned to Dani. “Slave boy?” he mouthed. Her eyebrow rose an inch. David seemed to sink into the couch. In a minute he’d be under the cushions and crawling through the floor. Luke shot Dani another look; she widened her eyes and looked away. What the hell was going on?

“You don’t need him,” Katie was saying to Benny, her finger pointed to David like a pistol. “All you need is a wedding; he’s expendable.”

“He’s the best man!” Benny said.

What the hell? Why did it sound like Benny was trying to protect David?

“Wait,” Dani said. They both broke off and looked at her. “That doesn’t explain why you hate him so much.”

“He went running to his dear ol’ daddy!” Katie whirled on her. “Told him all about it, threw me under the bus! Your father put the screws to my father. Demoted him! Nearly left him destitute because of me! Because he had to go whining that I was abusing him! That I was humiliating him in front of his peers. I was trying to make something of him. I could have, too!” Katie could have sliced through David with her stare.

“I DID NOT!” David yelled from the floor. He’d slunk down unseen and now he actually showed some spirit, sitting up and staring her down, the hatred in his eyes meeting hers, looking for a minute like Dani when she was enraged. It was a strange moment, and though Luke didn’t care much for him it was good to see some life in the boy. For that matter, it gave a glimpse of the man he could have been. Could maybe still become if they all lived through this. “I didn’t go to him, he came to me! After that stupid stunt you pulled, you thought to humiliate me in your cabin, in front of all your friends! Well, there were others there, people who were watching, who saw me led around. I became a laughingstock and it got back to my father. There were plenty of people there who hated you, who hated what you were doing to me. I had friends.”

“I was sent to boarding school because of you!” Katie screamed, lunging forward only to be brought up short by Benny’s arm as he blocked her way.

“AND I WAS SENT TO MILITARY SCHOOL!” David shouted. “To learn how to be a ‘man’, to learn to ‘toughen up’. The only way I got out was to act like an asshole. And all because I trusted you!”

The silence that filled the room was absolute.

No one dared to breathe.

“I’m sorry.”

Luke couldn’t have said which one said it. The words had come out so quietly, so hushed.

***

“MY FATHER...” KATIE seethed, arms crossed in front of her body, somehow seeming fragile and small again. She moved and stood beside Benny. “My father spent his whole life scraping the scraps off the Rinehart table. Do you know what it was like growing up next door to the great Edwin Rinehart? To be at every picnic and company dinner and to watch while he brown-nosed his way up the corporate ladder, only to have it all wrenched out from under him for the least infraction? My father was demoted the year my mother had breast cancer. He was missing work and taking her to fucking chemotherapy, and the great Edwin Rinehart had my father’s corner office taken away because he was not ‘making the company a priority.’”

She swallowed hard; her eyes looked suspiciously bright, but any sympathy Luke might have had was having a hard time against the fact that, well, she’d engineered this whole mindfuck of an abduction.

Katie’s chin came up as she looked at them each in turn. It seemed no one there was overly interested in joining her pity party. “Well, fuck all of you! I made a promise to myself that I would never become my father. Not me. I am not kowtowing or pleading, or whatever it is you people think you have coming to you. If anyone around here is going to do any kneeling, it’ll be you.” Her gaze rested on David, who was still sitting on the couch. For a moment a rather satisfied smile crossed her face. Luke exchanged glances with Dani and shuddered. “I contacted Mr. Bianchi as soon I heard about him and his relationship to your family. I knew if anyone could get me where I wanted to go, it would be Uncle Benny.”

“She’s a good little girl,” Benny said and stepped closer to her.

Katie put a hand on his chest, keeping him at bay it seemed. “I’m not finished.” She held up a finger in front of Benny’s face. Luke didn’t miss Jimmy’s expression to his boss being hushed. “I offered to help, to get whatever information I could, on two conditions.” She flipped up her index finger. “First, I get in on the action. No more table scraps; I get a seat at the table.” She flipped up the second finger. “Second, I get David. I get to do whatever I want to him, for all those years I had to hear about how I screwed everything up for my father.”

“You can’t be serious!” It was Dani who exploded into action first.

Luke had to lunge at her to keep her from getting shot. Jimmy was already looking twitchy enough with that gun.

“I didn’t throw you under anything!” David protested from the floor, having lost his courage, and returned to sulking.

“This is number two,” Katie snarled, dropping the index finger and leaving only the second finger extended. “You promised!” She swung on Benny.

“Yeah.” Benny nodded, arms crossed. “But not until after the wedding.”

“Oh, come on!” She threw her arms up in the air and spun in place, ending with a hard stomp of her foot that had little effect, the thud muffled by the thick carpet. “Do you really think that deadbeat asshole is going to show up? What does he care about anyone or anything but himself?”

“Don’t you worry about that.” Benny stepped in and wrapped and arm around her shoulders.

The whole thing was getting way too surreal.

Everyone in the room seemed more engaged in the drama than in what he and Dani were doing. Luke glanced at his pretend fiancée, and lifted his eyebrows and looked at the door. Dani shrugged. He wasn’t getting through. He tried to mouth the word ‘door.’ Dani still didn’t seem to understand, her brow collapsing in confusion and concern.

In the meantime, the soap opera continued. Benny kissed Katie’s forehead. “You let Uncle Benny worry about all that.”

Luke and Dani turned at the same moment. She’d become as slack-jawed as him.

It was David who summed it up best, though, with a long, drawn out “EWWWWWWWWWW!”

I have fallen down the rabbit hole and found a land of the insane. Everyone around me is mad. The girl I love can’t understand plain vague gestures and mouthed words. Luke took a deep breath, and immediately regretted it as he dissolved into a coughing fit. Melted USB was not a pleasant smell.

Benny was holding Katie by this time, one arm around her, pressing her to his chest. For her part, Katie had the look of a cat being snuggled by a toddler, willing to tolerate it for a moment or two, but no more. In a moment the claws would come out. She was staring at David, and despite the clearing of the air she still radiated hate.

This was a girl who had spent years cultivating revenge. No way was she letting it go that easily.

David was sitting on the couch, arms crossed, face drawn into the largest pout Luke had ever seen on anyone over the age of five.

Again, Luke nodded to Dani, lifting his chin in the direction of the door. Uncomprehending, she looked from Luke to David, to Jimmy, who was staring at his boss with a dawning look of abject horror, to the distressing pairing of Benny and Katie. She shook her head minutely.

How the hell is it that she still doesn’t understand? She’s got a freakin’ military background!

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Benny said, pointing squarely at the door. “Wake up, Dani! He wants you to leave the room with him!”

“Really?” Luke turned to Dani. “Was that so hard? Even he got it!”

“Watch it,” Benny growled, returning to his snugglefest with a look of complete unconcern.

“I understood it!” Dani snapped. She was obviously lying. “I just thought it was stupid and I couldn’t believe he was trying to get me to do it!”

“Stupid?” Luke grabbed Dani’s hand and pulled her to him. “How dare you!” He towed her behind him, stepping carefully over David’s legs like he wasn’t there, and bypassing the gruesome twosome who were in the throes of passion by now. Or at least one of them was. “We’re going to have a little talk—you’re coming with me!”

“You did well, my girl,” Benny said, nuzzling Katie’s neck, turning her head so that he could kiss her. Luke tried not to look. Besides, he was already halfway to the door.

Jimmy seemed lost, looking at each of the players in turn, gun pointing first at the door, at them, at the floor, at his boss, without seeming to realize what he was doing. Or maybe he did.

“EXCUSE ME!” David called from the floor. “They’re eloping.” He indicated Dani and Luke at the door to the office. Benny released Katie and turned, Katie spun on her heels, stumbling into Jimmy, who tried to change directions to go after them, but his boss was in the way.

Well past the time for tiptoeing around, Luke wrenched open the door. The guard on the other side was caught by surprise, as was another who came bounding down the hall as Jimmy started to scream imprecations from somewhere behind them.

Luke turned to Dani, eyebrow raised.

She shrugged. “What the hell. Why not?” She spun and jumped, foot shooting out and clocking the running man under the chin.

Luke slammed the door with his forearm, smashing the wood into the nose of the startled guard. They switched targets, Dani coming in low with a blow to the outdoor man’s solar plexus and Luke sending his fist into the man already rocked by Dani’s kick.

Others were coming at a run. Jimmy had broken from behind the barricade his boss had inadvertently made and was trying to find a clear shot. Luke shoved his man’s shoulder in the direction of the draw, pushing it past the weapon. Dani’s foot slipped between Jimmy’s legs and doubled him over with vicious kick to the balls.

More running feet sounded closer, and Dani took her place behind Luke’s back. Four more men stormed in through door and hallways, one bounding down the stairs.

“You okay?” Luke asked as they turned in unison.

“Peachy.” She was breathing hard, but grinning broadly as she raised her hands in a classic martial arts stance that didn’t bode well for anyone.

The gunshot stopped everyone in their tracks.

Benny stood in the hallway, his pistol still sending up waves of thin smoke. He’d put a bullet in the ceiling. The hole still smoked as if answering the gun. Benny lowered the pistol and pointed at David.

Dani slowly dropped her hands, breaking her stance, and raising her hands. Luke did the same, only no one was about to afford him any nicety such as a calm surrender. Two of the men hit him behind the knees and drove him to the floor. They piled on him, driving his face into the rug. Jimmy, having regained his breath, and the guard at the door added to the pile, both of them coming in swinging and getting off a couple of good hits.

In moments they pulled Luke and Dani from the floor, had their hands bound behind them, ankles together, and picked them up like trussed sheep.

It was humiliating.

On the other hand, most of the guys were limping, and none of them would be pretty come morning. Not that they’d started pretty in the first place.

“Goodnight, sweetheart!” Luke said through a split lip as Jimmy and his crew carried him up the stairs.

“Get some sleep!” Dani called back cheerfully, and bit the hand of the unwary handler who’d gotten too close.

“See you tomorrow,” Luke added, proud as hell. That was his girl.

“No,” Benny said from behind them as he holstered his gun. “No, you won’t. I’ll see to that.”

Luke and Dani exchanged upside-down smiles. Of course Benny would keep them apart. Only an idiot would let them be together now.

“Goodnight!” Katie called in a sing-song voice. “Pleasant dreams, assholes!”

They were screwed. Royally, utterly screwed. No one was getting out of here alive. Not anymore. The one person everyone had thought was a victim had turned out to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.