“Now, listen, bitch!” Darko snapped. He was still holding the gun and was now using it to gesture in the air in a way that Lynn found particularly unnerving, since she could see that his finger was on the trigger. He leaned forward, crowding her space. Again she could smell and feel his hot, fetid cigarette breath.
In a vain attempt to protect herself, Lynn pushed back into the couch and pulled the bathrobe tighter. Then she wrapped her arms around her torso, hugging herself.
“You and your friend have pissed off a lot of people in high places,” Darko snarled. “It has to stop, completely stop, otherwise we will kill both of you.”
There was a pause, although Darko did not lean back. He remained with his masked face inches from hers. He continued to stare at Lynn with his dark eyes as if daring her to either contradict him or move and give him a reason to shoot her on the spot. Lynn held her breath. She was frozen in place.
“You understand what I am saying?” Darko questioned with somewhat less intensity. Then, after a short pause, he added with renewed venom, “Talk to me!” He slapped her again, causing her ears to ring all over.
Lynn righted herself and nodded but couldn’t speak. She couldn’t take her eyes off the man’s yellow teeth, which were bunched together at all angles in his lower jaw. She was terrified he would hit her again, maybe even pistol-whip her with the gun he was still brandishing.
“Not so cocky now,” Darko snarled. “Talk or I’ll shoot you!” He leaned back and slowly raised the gun to the point where Lynn could look directly into the barrel at the tip of the silencer.
“What do you want me to say?” Lynn squeaked.
“I want you to tell me you understand.”
“Yes,” Lynn managed. “I understand.”
“What are you doing in this house?”
“Mr. Vandermeer and I were friends,” Lynn said in a shaky voice. “He gave me a key. Some of my things are here.”
At that moment Pep reappeared, causing Darko to jump and briefly aim the gun at the animal. The cat nonchalantly made her way over to the club chair where she had been earlier and jumped onto it.
“So you and Mr. Vandermeer were lovers?” Darko said, turning his attention back to Lynn. He lowered the gun.
“Yes.” Lynn was relieved not to be staring into the gun barrel.
“Okay,” Darko said. “Lovers or not, I don’t give a fuck, but from now on, you leave the investigation of his anesthesia problem to the hospital authorities. Let it drop. Understand?”
“Yes.”
Darko straightened up. He then walked over to the desk, giving Lynn a moment of relative respite. He used the index finger of his free right hand to move some of the anesthesia segments around. “What is this?” Darko demanded. “Was this part of Vandermeer’s anesthesia record you cut up?”
Lynn nodded again. A new fear gripped her, sending a shiver down her spine. What if this intruder found out what she had so recently discovered? As significant as she thought it was, especially now that she was being told to stop her investigations by this hoodlum, would he then kill her rather than just warn her?
“Get over here!” Darko demanded.
Reluctantly Lynn got to her feet. She momentarily felt dizzy but made it over to the desk.
“What the hell were you doing cutting it up into pieces?”
Lynn hesitated, her mind in high gear. She knew she had to talk or the man might strike her again. But she didn’t want to tell the truth. Instead she started to describe how the anesthesia machine monitored the patient’s vital signs, going into details that she either knew or made up on the spot. For more than five minutes she produced a word salad that would have made a true schizophrenic proud, never getting around to why she had resorted to scissors.
“All right, all right!” Darko yelled. “Shut the fuck up!” He gave her a forceful shove that sent her stumbling back to the couch. She sat down and again hugged herself and crossed her legs in a vain attempt to feel protected. She saw him look at his watch. Wondering why, she glanced up at the clock on the mantel. It was past midnight. Was he expecting someone else to come?
“All right, let’s review,” Darko said. “You and your friend are going to go back to being full-time medical students, am I right?”
Lynn nodded, though she didn’t know how Michael was going to respond to threats of violence by this lowlife.
“I warn you that if you don’t, we will kill both of you. You tell that to your friend.”
Lynn nodded. She would tell him, all right.
“Say it!”
“Yes!”
“Now let me add to the consequence of noncompliance.”
All of a sudden Lynn recognized the man’s accent. It was Russian. Now that she had identified it, she didn’t know why she hadn’t earlier but assumed it was because of her terror. The accent wasn’t heavy, and the man was very fluent in English.
“I know about your family. I know where your mother, Naomi, lives, and I know where your two sisters, Brynn and Jill, are going to college. I also know all about your friend’s family. If you don’t follow my orders, we will kill them all. I have killed many people in my life and a few more means nothing to me. Do we have an understanding?”
The blood drained from Lynn’s face. She believed this blackguard implicitly. Up until that moment the idea that her family and Michael’s could be at risk from her actions had not even occurred to her. Now, suddenly, she knew differently, and saw the whole affair in a much more dangerous context.
“Needless to say, the same consequence will result if you say anything to the police. In fact, if you tell anyone about our meeting other than your involved friend, you and everyone I named will be killed. Is that perfectly clear?”
Lynn nodded. She wasn’t sure she could speak.
“And one more thing,” Darko said. “After we are finished, I want you to leave this house and not come back.”
“Why?” Lynn asked, finding her voice.
“You are not in a position to ask questions,” Darko said. “Just do it.”
“But I need to feed the cat,” Lynn said. She pointed to the sleeping pet.
With a sidelong glance, Darko raised the pistol in his hand, aimed, and fired. There was a concussive hiss, and Pep’s body jolted. The cat raised her head briefly before collapsing.
“Feeding the cat is no longer a requirement,” Darko said.
Lynn’s lower jaw had dropped open. She couldn’t believe that this goon had just shot the cat.
“Enough!” Darko said. “Time for fun.” He confidently laid the pistol on the desk before walking back toward the sofa. About three feet away he stopped. “Now I want you to take off that bathrobe.”
A jolt went through Lynn’s body. This awful episode was not over. Afraid he would hit her again if she didn’t comply, she slowly untied the belt and then slipped her arms out of the robe, letting it puddle around her waist so that it still covered the lower half of her body. As she did this, she kept her eyes glued to the leering eyes of the intruder, fearing the worst. The man was disturbingly unpredictable, with lightning-fast reflexes and overwhelming strength, and she worried he would explode at any second if he sensed any resistance whatsoever. As a consequence she felt totally helpless, which was a new feeling for her. In the past, when she had pondered what she would do in a circumstance of potential sexual assault like she was now facing, she had thought that her own strength, athleticism, and years of kickboxing lessons would help. Now she no longer entertained the delusion. The man had her completely cowed, and it was apparent he knew, as he was secure enough to have to put the gun down.
“All the way!” Darko commanded, arms akimbo.