Miranda

“Is she good and tight?”

A muffled voice was breaking through my pounding headache.  I kept my eyes closed, hoping to figure out where I was and how to get out of here.  Knowing that Daniel and his team would be on the case gave me hope.  Now I just needed to add some smarts so I could come out of this alive.

“I know how to tie a fucking knot, asshole.  You’re not the boss, you know.” This new voice was clearer and not one I recognized.  He sounded frazzled and anxious, both terrifying and promising characteristics.  Terrifying because he could be too quick to react and I could be on the dead end of that.  Promising because he could be more easily manipulated.

“Fuck you.” The owner of the muffled voice became clearer as my ears got less fuzzy.  It was that grad student or pretend grad student.  I still hadn’t figured that out yet, but whatever he was, he was trouble.  “I’m in charge until Irving catches up.”

Frazzled dude and small penis complex grad student.  I could work with this.  I was kicking myself for never finishing my counseling certification and jumping on the first full time gig I could get.  It might not have been my true love, but that shit could have been handy right about now.

“Just because you caught the girl doesn’t mean shit,” Frazzled screamed.  “Look at her.  She’s a chubster and old.  Young, innocent looking, and slender, that’s what sells.  All you did was bring attention to Irving.”

Crappity crap crap crap.  This wasn’t an “I want my files back and I will use the girl to get them” situation. They were planning to sell me.  I knew little of sex trafficking, but selling and people never equated to anything good.

“He’s the one who wants her. And when did you become the expert on what makes money?  You’re just dumb muscle.” Oh yeah, small penis dude was not liking being second guessed.  For someone who in theory had a lot of psychology knowledge, he was very easily flustered.  Of course, that was probably exacerbated by both the adrenalin of the kidnapping and the fear of being caught. 

“Just because you were brought in from the get go doesn’t mean you’re not dumb muscle.” Small penis was in no way dumb muscle.  He was the epitome of a nerd, and from the pain in my back, it looked like he had to drag my sorry ass out instead of carrying me. 

“I am the brains.” Hostility filled the air.  These two hated each other beyond this particular situation.  He might think himself the brains, but if he kept egging on Frazzled, he was going to get punched.  Worked for me, but not yet.  Not until I figured out how to get untied.

“You were his lackey.  Not the same thing.” Frazzled must have pushed Small Penis, because a foot stepped on my hand and I groaned in pain despite my best effort to hold it in.  Eavesdropping time was officially over. “Shit.  I think she’s waking up.”

“Best hope you have those ropes done right.” Small Penis gave one last dig before focusing his attention on me. “Open your eyes, bitch.” He kicked my middle hard enough to smart, but not hard enough to do any real damage.  “We know you’re awake. I said open them.”

I slowly opened my eyes, making it seem as though it took far more effort than it did.  The lighting was minimal, so they adjusted quickly.  Both of the men stood over me, Small Penis with a shit eating grin on his face.  He was going to be the challenge in all of this. “Asshole,” I spit out, trying to gage the best way to go with him.  If he was selling girls, chances were, he had a woman complex of some sort on top of the tiny dick issue.  I didn’t know if it was a female exclusive ring or if I was dealing more with a god complex.  Neither was good.

“Asshole in charge.” He scrunched down, leaning in close before very slowly, and frankly, maniacally, adding,  “You best show a little respect if you want things like water.”  He stood back up, grabbing a water bottle from out of my line of sight, and drank it all down as if to prove his point. 

“Respect is earned,” I mumbled, more for Frazzled than anyone else.  He was my ace in the hole on this one.  It was a tricky move, but the best one I could piece together.

“I like her,” Frazzled jabbed at Small Penis.  Yes, this could work.  I just needed to be careful not to over play my part.  I needed to show fear, which was easy since I was freaking terrified, but not too much.  Most importantly I needed to stay strong because once I let the fear overwhelm me, I was going to get stupid, and I needed to get out of here in order to kick Daniel’s ass for so many things that the list was quickly becoming an entire book.

“Shut up.” Small Penis made a show of taking out a knife and giving it a look over before placing it back in his waist band.  If he needed to threaten physical violence, even in a passive aggressive way like that, he felt even less in control than I gave him credit for.  Yes, he was going to be the dangerous one.  At least for me. “Trust me, Irving is going to have words and by words, I mean your blood.”

I would’ve laughed if I had been watching this from a distance.  Irving was many things, but I doubted he ever got his hands dirty.  He was the type to micromanage, which might very well be his down fall.  Neither of his henchmen seemed to be the best picks.  Not that it could be easy to find intelligent, highly qualified people to work for you in an interstate, possibly international, crime circuit.

“Irving ain’t gonna touch me and you know it.” Frazzled stepped to the wall, leaning against it, arms folded in a very forced manner.  I wished the lighting were a tad better so I could see his facial expressions better.  “You two would be nowhere without me.”

I tested the ropes, but nothing gave. This was not looking good. Daniel better hurry up.