Byte jumped when the driver’s door slammed shut. She hadn’t even realized he’d left the vehicle, and it hadn’t taken any time for the side door to open and the second man to appear.
Unkindly, the man pulled her out of the van and tossed her into the back seat of the car parked next to them. In the light of day, she had to give her captors credit for losing a tail. She’d have to remember to tell Ghost and Ivy about the maneuver. So cool!
This man looked rough, in that biker way. Unlike the man in the van, she felt danger exuding out of him.
Byte wondered if her silence was understood by the man she’d been pestering minutes earlier. Since he was looking back at her through the passenger visor mirror, she had to believe so. He almost looked remorseful; however, if that had been the case, he could’ve let her go or accepted her offer. Instead, his regret—if he in fact had some—was worthless to her now.
It took thirty silent minutes before they pulled into a warehouse district. Byte wasn’t as familiar with San Antonio as Austin, but she knew enough to know they were on the outskirts of town. That was also obvious as the number of street cams reduced with each mile.
Had Ivy realized something was wrong? Of course she had. Ivy had a sixth sense when it came to trouble. Byte just needed to be patient and stall her fate as long as possible.
Yanked out of the back seat, Byte stumbled but quickly righted herself. Remaining silent was a struggle for her. For years, she’d let her fingers say what she was thinking, and over the years, Ivy and Ghost had pulled her into friendships where she was comfortable speaking her mind. However, she might be young in years, having just celebrated her twenty-first birthday, but she was worldly in real life.
The men walked on each side of her until she saw a well-lit open room. Behind the desk was a man in his mid-fifties if she had to guess. He was clean-cut, the complete opposite of his men.
“The infamous GigaByte,” the man stated while plastering on a highly uncomfortable smirk.
“And you are?”
“That’s not important right now. What is, is what you can do for me.”
“I don’t work for free.”
“Oh, this job you will. You see, not only have you stolen from me, but you’ve stolen from a few of my contacts. Can you see how valuable you are?”
“I already knew my value,” Byte snapped back.
“Touchy, aren’t you? Not to worry, we’ll take care of that. Byte, can I call you that?”
“No.”
Ignoring her answer, he continued. “Byte, you’ve made a lot of enemies.”
“Yep.”
“Highly powerful enemies.”
“Yep.”
“Enemies who will pay a high price for your head.”
“Yep. None of this is anything I don’t already know. You didn’t have to kidnap me to make threats. Mister whatever, you have no idea the damage I can do.”
Chuckling, the man smoothed down his beard, nodded his head over to one of the men still standing behind her, and waited. It didn’t take long before her arm was wrenched behind her so roughly, that she cried out in pain.
“You see, Byte, I have control now.”
“Not from where I’m standing,” Byte bit out under her pain.
Nodding to the man, the same one who’d frightened her, pulled her arm back even further. The cry couldn’t be held in. She hadn’t been trained in interrogation or how to disassociate her pain. She mentally put that on her to-do list.
“You were saying,” the man laughingly remarked.
“With each pull, you are dislocating my shoulder, possibly even breaking it. That gives me control.”
“How?”
“If I can’t use my hands, including my arms, I can’t type. If I can’t type, I can’t give you what you want… so I have all the power.”