Hunting for Honey - THE SPECTER SERIES [book one]

Chapter TWENTY NINE: The Suffering

Honey Sinclaire

An endless field of midnight-black dahlias stretches out in front of you, as far as the eye can see, the floral scent of springtime and the glow of sunshine on your skin..
Gliding through the tall flowers on steps as light as air, with sensitive fingertips trailing along the tops of the delicate petals of each one you pass you see a figure in the near distance..

A man.. Tall and dark..

Archer..

He is waiting for you, smiling as he holds out a beckoning hand.. Reaching out for him, you whisper his name.. "Archie.."

"Remember to follow the path written in your stars.." He smiles..

"Archie, what does that mean!?" Just as your feet bring you close enough to reach him.. He's gone..

You jerk with a start, returning to the waking nightmare of reality..

"Good morning, love.." Asher, standing before you gives you the same weasel like grin he had at your apartment.. "Did you sleep well, Miss Sinclaire?... Ah, Of course you did.. Come now, we have much to discuss.. Bring her, Drackov.." He claps his hands twice as he turns on his heel and walks through a door you hadn't noticed open before..

You look over to where Flynn still lay unconscious and unmoving..

The big man, who you assume is the same one that strangled you unconscious and helped Asher kidnap you, has so far been standing behind Asher like a bodyguard, now moves forwards.. "Do not do anything stupid miz.." His Russian accent is blunt and booming as he flips open his switchblade, flashing it as a warning, before cutting the ties at your ankles and moving behind your back to cut the binds on your wrists..

Drackov's hand grips the back of your already bruised, tender neck, pulling you to your feet and pushing your wobbly, shaking body to the door Asher had disappeared through..

"No, no please.. Please.." You plead with the Russian to stop this madness..
But he isn't listening to you in the least..

He shoves you into the room and slams the door shut behind you, tapping you in there with him, in the pitch black..

It's so dark you can't see a hand in front of your face.. You peer around in the darkness, arms outstretched.. Feeling around until you hit a wall, and you turn pressing your back against it..
You try to quiet your breathing to hear anything.. But there's not a peep, nothing, only a silence so profound you imagine it is what deafness must feel like..

You stay like this.. Perfectly still, for what must be close to an hour, maybe more, but you're too afraid to move.

Suddenly the crackle of a speaker echoes around and Asher's callous voice fills the air.. "Take off your clothes.."

You don't move, instead you squint, peering deeper into the darkness trying to make anything out..
A loud smack and a searing pain rips across your face as you're stuck hard by what feels like the back of a hand..

**CRACK**

You crumple to the floor in shock, clutching your throbbing cheek as the metallic taste of blood sours in your mouth..

You can ear the snarl in Asher's voice"I will not ask twice. You will do as I say and answer my questions. Each time you decline, the punishment shall be worse than the last.. Do you understand, love?"

You raise to your knees and obediently reach to remove your shirt, but before you can you are struck again, this time, across the other side of your face..

**CRACK**

"I said, do you understand?" His tone reeks of condescension..

You nod, even though you can't see anything.. "Y-Yes.. I understand.." You sob as you reach to remove your shirt again..

No strike comes, so you pull it over your head before rising to your feet and undoing the zipper to your skirt. You let it fall to the grimy floor by your bare feet before stepping out of it..
You wrap your arms around your slender body trying to preserve your modesty as you stand there in your scant black underwear, feeling overexposed and frightened to the core..

"What is the key to Alex's Encryption, Honey?"

You hesitate.. You don't know the answer but saying so will almost certainly earn you another strike or worse..
On the other hand, if you lie, the punishment is likely to be tenfold.. "I don't know.. I don't have any key.. Please, Alex didn't give me any key!"

His cruel maniacal laugh rings in your ears.."Wrong answer, love.."

Harsh, freezing water blasts you with such force you are slammed back into the wall, knocking the back of your head hard in the process..
You slide down the rough brick trying to shield yourself from the sharp slicing pain of the extreme water pressure and the sting of the spray..

You struggle for air, liquid filling your mouth each time you open it. Trying to suck in oxygen, you swallow water and begin coughing it back up over and over again.

After several seconds, the water cuts off sharply and you push yourself up to your hands and knees gasping for air, spluttering and wretching.. Your skin burns as if you had been whipped a thousand times over.. "Please.. No.." You yelp, begging for mercy..

"You can make this stop at any time Miss Sinclaire, all you have to do is tell me about the key.." You can hear the satisfaction in his voice and it scares you to think what this monster is capable of.. How much worse would his treatments become?

"I can't! I don't know what it is! Please, no more, please just listen to me.."
The water blasts you again, knocking the wind from your lungs as its pelts into your ribcage, you curl into yourself defensively on your side, wailing in agony as the relentless flow batters you into utter exhaustion..