clips and give her another whipping. Might as well make her first night here an interesting one.
Mike headed back to the office—he wanted another cup of coffee—and perhaps a little pie. There’s a little time to kill .
CHAPTER EIGHT
Megan Kelly struggled to keep herself from total panic. She had always been confident of her courage and ability to control herself under any circumstances.
No, she had come face-to-face with her weaknesses. Somehow, some way, she had ended up here, pinned like a bug in absolute darkness, a huge something vibrating in her most private area, causing her to feel things she had never felt before…
Megan had been frightened when she found herself tied and helpless—but her fright had turned to horror when the man’s voice first spoke to her—and when he beat her so horribly.
She had gone through her courage after only a very few blows—and had to keep telling herself that she had to hold out—had to stay strong until help could reach her.
Help.
She knew that the other agents in the LA office didn’t care for her or her method of investigation. They’ll still come after me , she told herself as firmly as she could. They have to—they can’t leave me—not like this!
She was sure these were the same people she had seen working in that damned movie. She knew that they were perfectly capable of torturing her in all kinds of ways—and that what she had already endured was nothing at all in the greater scheme of things.
I can take it! She kept repeating the words to herself. I can hold on!
Then the man’s voice came again—and the terrible bite of something metallic tore into her nipple—and she screamed into the gag that kept all the sound tightly inside her.
She screamed—and screamed again—over and over as the endless night wore on.
CHAPTER NINE – FOUR DAYS TO CAPTURE
“So you did advertise a cattle call that week.” Agent Kelly was pointing at a full-page advertisement clearly visible in the microfiche copy of the Hollywood Reporter that Fanelli had been able to find. “Who paid for this?”
The rather hefty female clerk had been happy to co-operate once Kelly flashed her badge. Fanelli knew immediately that there was more than obedience to the law in that co-operation. That one’s a dyke—and she’s measuring Kelly up as a potential partner . He shook his head silently. I don’t think she’s got a chance in hell—Kelly doesn’t like girls . He raised an eyebrow at the thought. Come to think of it, I’m not entirely convinced she likes men either. He watched the agent from Washington pick up the fiche cartridges. In fact, I’m not sure she really likes anyone—except herself. Fanelli took the cartridge and fed it into the machine in front of him. I hope I’m wrong. He turned it on. But somehow, I don’t think I am . He turned to study the pages that came up on the screen. Pity.
It had taken less than thirty minutes for Fanelli to find the ad they were looking for—Kelly spent those minutes chatting with the clerk—she was obviously too important to do any of the dirty work in this place. Still, if they found what they wanted...
“I remember that particular cattle call,” the clerk pulled out a ledger, flipped through some pages. “It was someone famous—someone everybody in Hollywood knows. His office called and…” She stopped, pointed at a page. “Here it is—the call came from Harry Winston.”
Fanelli whistled. “Harry Winston!” He leaned forward, trying to read the upside-down page of the ledger. “Are you sure?”
The clerk nodded. “Yeah, his office sets these up all the time—usually for mid-budget action films or the like.” She bent over to take a better look at the ledger. “This was supposed to be a slasher film—they wanted a lot of young women to play victims.”
“And you’re absolutely sure it was Winston?”
“That’s what it says.” The clerk put a thick finger on the page. “I never saw him—he