Replevin
an excerpt

TSOD (TM) EXCERPT:

KJ cradled the dying labrador’s head in her lap, careful to stay out of reach of its scrabbling claws. Blood wept from self-inflicted lacerations around the slowly tightening choker that encircled the animal’s throat. The dog’s eyes bulged and a pink froth bubbled out with each gasping breath. With the collar in place, KJ couldn’t break the little female’s neck to put it out of its misery. She had tried, first with the pit bull and then with the golden retriever that had worn the device. Her own arms bore the marks of dogs’ claws and teeth, her hands bruises from the metal links. They didn’t understand she was trying to help them escape their inexorable death.

The choker had no visible release, no means of disengagement. Her captor, Ivan Petrovich, the sadistic bastard who headed the Russian Mafia, waved a hand that encompassed the workbench set up against one wall.

“Want to try the wire cutters again?” Petrovich said with a smirk. “The electric current you put through the retriever certainly hastened her death. Or how about the digital cipher breaker? The pit bull appreciated how fast the necklace tightened with each wrong code.”

Petrovich was right. Every tool she tried simply hastened the poor animals’ ends instead of ending the torture. He wanted her attention, but she’d be damned if she’d let him know how scared she was.

Unshed tears burned like acid behind KJ’s eyes and down her throat. “Why?” KJ asked her cousin Maria Karnovich, as the woman snuggled up against the man responsible for the slaughter.

Maria shrugged with apparent unconcern, her lovely face unmoved by the carnage around her. “Wealth and power, obviously,” she said. “Isn’t that the family motto? I suspect the first Princess Katarina Juliana had that tattooed on the inside of her thighs when she spread them for her royal lover.”

Petrovich laughed and Maria’s head turned toward the sound like a flower following the sun.

“Or maybe it is because Grandmamma loves you best,” Maria finished, refusing to meet KJ’s eyes.

“You set me up,” KJ said, her tone as conversational as she could make it, accepting the fact that her cousin had lied to her and betrayed her. Maria told her she needed help running a confidence game. Maria would woo and flatter the gangster while KJ liberated the movable art pieces. Instead, a trio of thugs met her with guns drawn when she entered the library.

Petrovich’s laughter boomed out again. “This is no set up. I tried to contract with you for my revenge against Abbas Adayssah, but you ignored my invitations. So instead, my little flower gave me what I asked for. These bitches are merely teaching tools. You cannot escape my commands, no matter how far you travel.”

KJ kept her eyes on Maria. “For no reason, cousin. Grandmamma exiled me to boarding school when I was thirteen. She has no love for me at all, except to further her schemes.”

Maria nodded, “And you refuse her, every time. When she wanted you to marry the Greek banker, you said no. When she ordered you to model for the French couturier, you took ship for Holae. When your father died, and she wanted you at hand to execute the will, you sent your lawyers.”

“And for this, she hates me,” KJ said. “She calls me the Karnovich black sheep.”

“And for this, she calls you her Russian wolf, her child of the steppes,” Maria countered, hate and envy momentarily twisting her face into something unrecognizable. It was the first expression KJ saw on her cousin’s face.

The lab’s hyoid bone broke with a loud snap, instantly stilling the whistling breaths. The dog’s sides heaved one last time. KJ closed the lids over the creature’s bulging eyes and gently laid her out until it looked like she was napping.

Petrovich pulled out a mini data pad and keyed in a code. The choker popped open. KJ knocked it across the room at the same time she put her hand against the necklace she wore around her throat for luck. In looks, the two were identical, with interwoven links of gold set with a large carved cabochon ruby at the center. But one was a gift of love given to her by her mother on her deathbed, the other, a murder weapon, a torture implement designed to sap her will while it ensured her obedience.

Maria retrieved the choker. Petrovich took it from her and walked over to KJ. “You have a choice,” he said. “You can take yours off and put it in your pocket. Or I will take it off and put it in mine.”

KJ reached up and unfastened her necklace. Petrovich stepped behind her and swept her long blonde hair over her shoulder before he fastened the replacement around her throat. The metal felt cold and greasy where it touched her skin. She heard the sound of keys tapping behind her. The ruby pulsed briefly in the hollow of her throat and the choker seemed to move with a life of its own.

Petrovich’s hand reached around her right side. “You,” he said, pointing at one of the men. “Bury these bitches. They stink.” The hand continued around, stroking and smoothing the collar. KJ forced herself to not react.

One of the muscle bound guards picked up the shovel leaning against the edge of the workbench and opened the door. A little black and white terrier pranced in, sniffed the air, and stopped in her tracks. A whine sounded low in her throat. The shovel descended and connected against her head with a wet, meaty splat.

Petrovich’s breathing sounded harsh and aroused. She despised her cousin, but she did not envy her that night.