S. K. Lessly's Book Excerpts

Excerpt

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I don’t know who he was right now—Dr. Jekyll? Mr. Hyde? I had no clue. And from the look in Ethan’s eyes and his body language, I didn’t think he was going to tell me.

My so-called friend folded his arms in front of his wide, muscled chest and looked at me for a moment. I wanted to sit up and show my defiance, but I was too damn cold. My teeth were even beginning to chatter. This man didn’t seem to care in the least. Yup, it would seem he was playing the role as worse cop or an asshole. Probably both.

“This is how it’s going to go, Alexis,” he said finally, his voice distant, cold, hard. “You will answer all my questions and tell me what I want to know, or there will be consequences. This silence thing you have going will end now. I have no time to play games with you. I don’t have time to go through a series of questions to get you feeling comfortable with me. That’s not what I do. You missed that opportunity when Lance left.”

He leaned in the table, arms still folded. “No, you are going to talk under your own free will or I’m going to make you and rest assured, sweetheart, you don’t want that to happen. Regardless, life as you know it is over. As of right now, your life is forfeit.”

I said nothing. My body trembled, and it had nothing to do with the temperature. It was from his words and the look of boiling rage on his face. I had never seen this side of him and it was freaking me out.

I started to rethink my earlier thoughts about my rights. I was sure they didn’t exist in this room or this building. I also knew I was screwed. From this point, even if I decided to talk or answer their questions, he wouldn’t believe a word I’d say. It was clear he thought I had done something or knew something. 
I hadn’t done anything in quite some time. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to help myself in this situation. Yeah, I was screwed big time.

The folder in front of him opened. He pulled out the same three pictures from the folder and spread them out on the table. 
He looked at me. “Who are they and what do they have planned? Look at the pictures.”

I said nothing. I looked at him instead of the pictures. I’d seen these pictures before. Bringing them out again wasn’t going to bring back any memories. I guess he didn’t like my silence or the fact that I wouldn’t look at the pictures because the next thing I knew he was up, moving around the table heading straight for me.

He slammed his hand down right in front of me, causing me to jump clear out of my skin.

“Damn it, Alexis, I’m not playing with you. Look at the fucking pictures,” he yelled.

I felt my body start to shake. I looked down at the pictures and shook my head.

“Do you know who they are?”

“No,” I finally said, whispering my answer, shaking uncontrollably.

“What did you say?”

“I said, no.” My voice came out a little louder but it was still laced with fear. I didn’t even recognize my own voice; it sounded foreign to me.

He hovered over me menacingly and I couldn’t stop my body from shaking. I closed my eyes, trying to calm down. It wasn’t working. The rage rolling off him was pulling me under like quicksand, crushing the life out of me as I struggled to break free.

Finally, after what felt like forever, he stepped back, rounded the table, and took his seat again. But before he sat down, he pulled out his gun and held it in his hand.

“This is how things are going to go,” he announced, the gleam of the gun threatening and promising. “You’re going to tell me what I want to know. You’ll be truthful. If you do that then things will go smoothly. I won’t get pissed. But lie to me and no more Mr. Nice Guy.” 
No more mister nice guy? Is he serious? This his him being nice? I shivered again.

“I don’t have time to play games with you, Alexis. You’re in deep shit and the faster you cooperate, the better off you’ll be. F@#k with me and well… I don’t have to finish that statement, do I? Talk. And be smart. You know I can tell when you’re lying.”

He leaned back in his chair and placed the gun down in front of him, the barrel facing me.

“Now, tell me how you know them. Did they come to you and ask you to do something for them? What?”

Not willing to risk exposing myself, I placed a confused look on my face and replied, hoping for a little clarification, “I don’t know how else to say this to you. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You don’t?” he said, then picked up his gun.

Now, I didn’t know much about guns, just what I saw in the movies. However, I did know he was holding a Glock. I also noticed his finger brush up against the safety mechanism on the side of the gun, which told me he was armed and ready. My eyes went wide and I looked at him.

“I told you I can tell when you’re lying to me. You want to test me then by all means.” He leaned back and folded his arms. “What are these three planning to do with the weapon?”

“Ethan, I told you. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You hacked into the DOD to steal the specs of this weapon.” He pulled a printout from the folder that looked like plans for some type of rocket, I wasn’t sure.

I shook my head, but he continued, pointing at the three pictures. “…for these three right here…”

“No, I didn’t,” I argued, still shaking my head.
“You bypassed top security to get…”

“No,” I exclaimed trying to speak over him. To be heard.

“…the first part of the designs.”

“I’m telling you, I didn’t steal this weapon…” I proclaimed. He ignored me and kept talking.

This was infuriating.

“You took five hundred thousand dollars and placed it in this off-shore bank account.” He showed me another printout he pulled from the folder then placed another paper on top of that. “Then you received the last payment last night when you delivered the final design.”

I kept shaking my head. “No, Ethan. I didn’t do this.”

“Don’t lie to me, Alexis. We have proof.”

“I didn’t hack into anything,” I told him, trying desperately to get him to hear me. But he just kept on talking as if I hadn’t said a thing. It was beginning to piss me off.

“You also transferred one million dollars into this bank account at 8:45pm after you delivered this weapon to its buyer.”

“No.” I shook my head vehemently. “I didn’t do that. That’s not me.”

He laughed this time and it sent chills down my spine. “That’s not you?”

“No, that’s what I’m trying to tell you. That’s not me. I didn’t hack into anything yesterday and I damn sure didn’t transfer any money. I don’t know what—”

I was cut off when a huge bang exploded so close to my face, I thought my head freaking exploded. I dropped quickly to the floor, clutching my face, waiting for the blood to start gushing.

When I didn’t feel anything pouring down the side of my face, I cautiously rose and my eyes grew wide as hell as I took him in. Ethan stood there, his gun in his hand, his dark, cold and freaking deadly eyes making me shiver with fear.

Holy crap. This freaking motherfreaker just tried to kill me!

Good God, I was in trouble.