Of Wolves and Oranges

Chapter 30: Elizabeth

I wake to a pounding headache, Im slumped forward in a chair. A cold breeze caresses my cheek, carrying the smell of diesel fumes, stale alcohol and the sickly, sweet stench of burnt sugar-cane. I feel a trickle of something from my nose but when I tried to raise my hand it catches, restrained by the rope around my wrists. I pull frantically, the fibres cutting into my wrists and my heart racing in my chest. I open my eyes slowly, scared of what I might see.

I'm in a warehouse, the corrugated metal walls stretching up into the darkness above me. Along the far wall is a bar and around me are long metal tables, covered in junk and empty beer bottles, and random plastic chairs scattered around. There were about ten large men, wearing leather cutters and black jeans, some at the bar and some sitting at the tables, watching me with interest. There are two men huddled over a table close to my left arm and a tall Indian man slouching in a chair in front of me, he stands and moves toward me as I look around.

"Well, well, she wakes at last. We've been waiting a while for you, Dr Burnes. But you know what they say, revenge is a dish best served cold. Gave me time to plan this well."

He leers down at me, the light catching his gold tooth and I realise he is the splitting image of the man who almost shot me. He must have seen the recognition in my eyes because he grins.

"No, Burnes, I'm Vesh Naidoo. Shakes was my brother. And I am intrigued to find out how such a piddly, little bitch like you, could have killed not only him, but two other members of my gang and land my boy Harry, here, in ICU with two broken legs."

My breath catches when one of the other two men who had been working at the table turns and glares. Flashes of the previous time we met and his crazed eyes as he levelled the gun towards my windscreen.

"I am going to fuck you up so bad, bitch. It took me a month to learn how to fucking walk again."

I try to push away but my feet are also tied to the chair. I struggle but it too tight.

"Relax, Harry." Vesh purrs. "All in good time. I'll give her to you when I'm finished and then you can share her with the boys. But first, I want information." Naidoo picks up a lethal looking knife and traces it along my jaw line.

"Now, Doctor, tell us what happened that day when my brother died. How did you kill him?"

I swallow. They don't know about the shifters, they think that it is all me. There is no way I am going to tell them. One life for the whole pack. Suddenly a pain sears across my face and I scream. Naidoo smirks as he looks at his bloodied knife.

"Oh, this is going to be fun, please don't tell us, I could cut your pretty body all night."

I shiver, blinking back the tears as they threaten to mix with the blood pouring down the side of my face. I try to fight back the pain and bite my lip, I will not talk, I will not risk Ford's life. Harry yanks my hand over the arm of the chair, and Naidoo holds the tip of the knife over my palm.

"What happened to my brother?"

The tip knicks my skin, a bead of blood wells, and I stare at it, then up at Vesh Naidoo, and he grins. "What happened to my brother?"

Suddenly Naidoo drives it down, through my hand and into the arm of the plastic chair. I scream as my whole body shudders, I tug at my hand but the knife stays in place and the pain only increases.

"Please no, no more. I can't... I cry. Please. My car broke down and I phoned, I phoned the police. That's all. Shakes, your brother, dragged me into the forest, he was going to, shshoot me. I didnt see anything, I didn't see anything."

Naidoo backhands me across my face and my head whips back. I taste blood in my mouth.

"Bullshit. Are you in cahoots with the shifters? Your tracker showed you went to the Van Rooyen farm this evening."