[lowkey]

Four Months Prior

"I want you to know that I know who you are," said the voice on the other side of the cell phone. Female and young. Early to mid-twenties, I'd have guessed.

"And who I am?" I asked, leaning back into the worn seat of the company van as I watched a row of uniformed schoolgirls file past like plaid geese in saddle shoes.

High school seniors. Pretty, firm, fresh, unspoiled; boring. One or two glanced at the van as they walked by the parking lot, long enough to read the 'Lockdown Security' logo painted on the sign and take note of the tall, plain-looking man inside, but their attention ended there.

"Your first name starts with an R," said the woman on the phone, cool and threatening.

I smirked, patting myself down for my cigarettes. "Thanks. Now, how much do I weigh?"

"You raped my boss," she went on, as if I hadn't spoken.

"Who is...?" I asked as I fished the battered carton from my breast pocket and popped it open. Empty. I cursed under my breath and pulled open the ashtray. I'd been digging for a usable stub for several seconds before I realized there had been no answer from the other end of the phone. "If you expect me to guess, I'll need a clue."

That got an answer, her voice still tight. "You raped her for days. While you were doing it, you played some sort of sick game with her. You put a telephone in front of her then left her alone in the room. You thought it had been out of reach."

"Ah," I grunted, realizing at once who she was talking about. Laurine Wright, youngest female CEO of a major national genetics research company ever and Chairwoman of the Women's Wrights Foundation, a feminist lobbying group. Late thirties short-haired icy blond with ivory skin and frozen blue eyes and fantastic legs.

I'd picked up that little trick the girl on the phone mentioned from a Japanese film and thought it would be fun to try at least once. Of course, what the girl was leaving out was how I'd stuffed Laurine's cunt and ass full of vibrating beads and tapped more of them around her nipples. It had been fun to come back and find her panting and wet, but somehow the bitch had actually reached the phone and I decided after that not to tempt fate again. It had been buzzing with a disconnected signal when I'd found it and I'd thought whatever number she'd dialed had been busy.

Guess I'd been wrong.

"She managed to call the office and ended up getting my extension," the young woman went on, speaking faster now. "Not on purpose. I was out, but she left a message in my voice mail. She told me what you were doing and told me to call the police. I had, have, your cell number."

"Mm," I grunted again, finally finding a usable stub among the twisted ends in the ashtray. Can't say I wasn't concerned, but then I'd been expecting to be caught months ago. You don't go around kidnapping and raping wealthy, powerful women and expect to get away with it forever. I was already braced for the impact, so when it came it was less a punch in the guts and more a tweak of the ear. "So this is the part where you tell me how the police will be coming for me any second now?"

"No. I haven't given the police your phone number. I copied it down, then deleted the number and message from the system. They think it was a computer glitch."

That was worth a queer look at the phone, so I gave it one. "Alright. So then this is the part where you tell me how your boss is now living up to her promise to have my balls cut off and her hired goons are going to be jumping me any second now."

The phone went dead again, but only for a moment this time. "No. She thinks it was a glitch too. The system is full of them."

Now I was frowning, my lips clenching the cigarette butt as I pulled out my Zippo and lit it up. I spent a moment trying to figure out what was going on, while I stoked the butt to life. "So what is this about?"

"I want something from you."

"Yeah I get that. If it's money-"

"It's not money," she said, cutting me off. It was the first thing she'd done that actually annoyed me. I hated being interrupted. "I want to speak with you. In person. Today."

I gave that another moments thought. If she wanted to turn me into the cops, she wouldn't have bothered to call, she'd have just sic them on me. It could have been that her boss was getting her to lure me somewhere, but I didn't think so. There had been something about the way she'd hesitated before she admitted she hadn't told Laurine Wright that phone call had gone through that made me think she was telling the truth.

I was still chewing it over when her voice cut into my ear, razor sharp. "I need an answer. Now."

I frowned and I made her wait a few more seconds before I finally answered. "A'rite. Gimme the address."