Dino’s shoulders ached and burned, his hands tied tight behind his back. His ass hurt, sitting on that hard concrete floor for so long. His head throbbed, but at least the blood had stopped dripping from his hair. His mouth was taped with duct tape and his ankles were bound tightly. Lovely, just fucking lovely.

Prospect had left him like that for hours now. He had to piss and his stomach was growling. His mind … now that was spinning like a fucking top.

Stupid. He’d been down and dirty stupid. Fallen for a trick so damn simple he’d have never guessed it if his life depended on it. Fuck that … his life did depend on it now.

The room was small and it was dark. He had no clue when Proctor would get back so all he could do, besides try to convince his bladder it wasn’t about to explode, was think.

Gabriel Proctor was a sly fucker. He’d obviously been planning this for a long time. What Thorne and O’Leary took for a sterling example of a good insured traveler, turned out to be a psychotic mix of the good student with bad intent. Proctor took every class, traveled for every lecture, did more than enough homework on the subject, even had a few rather interesting and pleasant conversations with both Terry and himself about how the damn kidnap and ransom process worked. They took it as morbid interest, and often soothed the man, telling him it was not likely to happen to such a well informed person.

When it did, Dino felt so guilty, he just moved to take care of it. He didn’t do what he was supposed to do. Fuck, Grant was a rookie at this; Thorne was preoccupied with his new domestic life. He didn’t feel like doing the job with one of their other field staff members so, he opted to do it alone. Even if it didn’t turn out like this, it was a dumb move.

His negotiations for Proctor after he arrived in China had sufficiently escalated. Everything looked like it was gonna work out just dandy. Then … the surprise.

While walking through the underground parking garage of the Beijing hotel, heading for his rental and some really good Chinese food … real Chinese food prepared by real Chinese people in China … he could’ve sworn he saw Gabriel Proctor drive right past him. He jumped into the car and sped to follow.

Without rethinking every gory detail of the wreck, suffice it to say, Dino was now the captive. That bastard was never kidnapped. Dino seeing him like that obviously put one huge turd into the perfect pudding.

Proctor had done all negotiations with Dino while using a voice manipulator. Lots of kidnappers use them so that didn’t raise his curiosity. The man was careful not to give any information that could be too revealing about his pretend captive. Proctor was smart that way. It was now Dino’s job to see where Proctor wasn’t so smart. That little bit of magic came earlier that afternoon when he did his usual radio shtick to begin negotiations for now two captives. Yeah, he was damn brilliant with that photo manipulation, even stated that he wanted the negotiators to suspect it was fake and that Proctor was already dead. Yeah, he was smart with holding his load for so long, knew that whoever was on the other end of the radio would be all the more desperate to get this show on the road. But Gabriel Proctor wasn’t at all so smart when he began his radio contact without the assistance of the voice manipulator. This time, sheer dumb luck stepped in on Proctor’s part. Sheer … fucking … dumb luck.

Dino shook it off, shouldn’t have been pissed, but he was royally pissed when Grant answered on the radio using the name ‘Rabbit’. Grant? Fuck, wasn’t the senior partner of the company worth more than Grant? Not that the guy didn’t do real good on that radio. It was just that he was kinda hoping Terry would tear himself away from Vermont to come get his best friend, that’s all. Disappointment aside there was one other thing that just could’ve worked in Dino’s favor. Terry had often spoken with Gabriel Proctor. He would’ve recognized the man’s voice. Now? Grant would have no clue.

Without asking, not like he could, usually taped and tied like that, Dino already understood the fucker’s plan. Proctor intended to continue negotiating ransom for both himself and Dino … but there was only one fucking way to get away with this one. Dino had to die. Motherfucker had the perfect crime. No one to identify him. No negotiator who could out him. No passing go or collecting two hundred dollars for daddy Dino. It was gonna be lights out. Unless …

Hearing the clatter of the key in the door, the lights flashed on and Dino’s squinting eyes moved to the radio sitting on the rickety table. Maybe … just maybe.

Proctor dropped a paper bag on the table and grinned at Dino. “Miss me?”

Dino glared.

“I’ve brought food. MacDonald’s. I bloody hate Chinese food, mate. Guess you’re hungry.” He reached out and brutally pulled the tape from Dino’s mouth.

“Mothefucker! Jesus!” If Dino ever wanted to, he suspected he’d never be able to grow a mustache again. “I gotta piss like a racehorse. Untie me, dammit.”

“Perhaps.” Proctor slowly laid out Big Mac’s and fries. He slid straws into large paper cups of soda and smoothed napkins on the table. Did the idiot plan to make them eat at that table? Right next to that radio? Or, was he gonna eat both meals in front of Dino?

“I gotta fucking piss. Have a heart, man.”

Finally Dino was untied, but his wrists were again bound in front before his ankles were loosened. If he had to piss like a racehorse, Dino ran like a racehorse too. In the bathroom he danced while his aching, numb fingers worked the zipper and maneuvered his cock free. Relief was all encompassing and he groaned loud. Best to let the kidnapper know he was causing discomfort, otherwise the bastard will just work harder to make it worse. He turned to the sink. Dino washed his hands, lowered his head under the running water and pushed back the darkened loose strands of orange hair now streaked with a little too much grey. His gut was growling, even the stench of MacDonald’s was making it worse. But before he left the bathroom, he stopped for a brief moment and he thought.

Now, what really made him think that Terry wasn’t there in Beijing? There was a twisting little rhythmic tuning fork inside Dino that always … always and without fail … told him when Terry was near, when he was buzzing and working on a case. When that Thorne instinct was resonating through the universe.

Dino grinned. Now, if he could just get Proctor distracted long enough to figure out how to turn on the radio undetected … this could go down sweet as candy.

***

“So,” Grant asked for the hundredth time. “You’re sure that was Proctor on the radio?” He’d been pacing for hours but Thorne was calm, sitting still, even the guy’s knee wasn’t bouncing and that was something Grant almost never saw.

“Bloody positive.”

“Why? I mean, why the hell would he do this?”

“Because he can, mate. He gathered information and took his twisted fantasy into reality. He doesn’t need the money, Grant. Proctor’s filthy bloody rich. This was about the challenge of creating and implementing the perfect crime. Somehow, Dino caught on. So now, we’re looking at an ugly fantasy gone hideous. Now he’s gotta be on edge, out of his planned comfort zone. He’s gonna start fuckin’ up and we’ve gotta be right on top of him.”

Grant grinned. “He’s already fucked up. You recognized his voice. Wonder why Dino didn’t.”

“Any number of reasons. For now, we have to keep our eye on the prize. Dino’s the fuckin’ prize and he’s the only way were gonna get what we need to break this and bring about a rescue. ‘Cause if we don’t, it’s not Proctor’s body we’ll be buying … it’ll be Dino’s. He knows Gabriel Proctor as well as I do. Grant, this is uglier than arse,” Terry groaned. “And I gotta tell ya, I’m glad you’re here to help me with it.”