I was on my knees. Victor could see clearly over my head.
“Jen!” he said. “Behind you.”
She turned her head, and at the sight of the large men she took an involuntary step toward me.
It was an intimidating sight. Both wore black sneakers, black jeans and black sweatshirts. The sweatshirts were stretched by massive chest and arm muscles.
Both also wore black masks.
The muscles and size I didn’t like so much, but I was relieved to see them wearing masks. If they didn’t want to be identified, it meant they intended to leave witnesses alive.
As to whether the witnesses would be undamaged by those bats, I had no answer.
I did know that what made the men more frightening was that neither slapped the bats against their palms. Barking dogs are less frightening than, say, silent rottweilers advancing with intent in their eyes.
Jennie moved quickly behind me. The noose kept me from moving my head, but I could imagine her standing shoulder to shoulder with Victor.
“Weird party,” the first guy said, stopping three steps away from us. “Time to break it up.”
“Any closer and we snap the noose so tight it takes his head off,” Jennie said.
Nice to have a sister so concerned about my health.
“Then we’ll be searching a dead body instead of a living body,” the second guy said. “Makes no difference to us. As for you, I’d say the video surveillance will make for a nice long prison term.”
“Video…” Jennie’s voice echoed uncertainty.
Convenient that I hadn’t brought it up as a subject for discussion. But yeah, there were small cameras in discreet places. While a boxing gym isn’t the kind of target that a jewelry store might be, insurance companies give better rates if you have surveillance in place. As the new owner of the building, I’d had cameras installed not too long ago.
“We really don’t care what you’re doing to him or why,” the first guy said. “Trust me on this. All we want is the USB stick.”
The second guy stepped closer. He extended the baseball bat and tapped my left cheekbone with the end of it.
“Well, princess,” he said. “Where is it?”
“Victor,” I said. My hands were in front of me. My right glove dangled from my fingertips. All I had to do was straighten my fingers and it would fall. “Now would be a good time to remove the snare.”
“I’d rather watch them hurt you,” Victor said.
If I hadn’t allowed myself to believe it before, I knew it now. The kid was seriously messed up when it came to any kind of moral code.
The second guy tapped my other cheekbone with the end of his bat.
“And now would be a good time to tell me where the USB stick is,” he repeated. “Last chance.”
“It’s in my boxing glove,” I said. I flicked the fingers of my right hand, and the glove bounced across the floor.
The first guy took a quick step. Keeping his bat in his right hand, he used his left hand to grab the glove and shake it upside down.
The USB stick, in a small ziplock bag to protect it from my sweat, tumbled to the floor.
He scooped it up and slid it into his front pocket.
“Sorry, princess,” the second guy said, tapping my cheekbone one more time. “Apparently you’ve been a pain. We have instructions to hurt you in return.”
“Victor,” I said. “Need help here.”
Victor shifted his voice, and I knew it was directed at the men in masks. “You don’t need to hurt us, right?”
“You’re not part of this,” the first guy answered.
“Victor,” I said. “Remember when I kept five guys from beating on you? Drop the snare. That’s all I need.”
“I also remember you trying to make me do community service,” he answered. “Like I’m some kind of project of yours.”
Jennie said to me, “They hurt you bad enough, Victor and I will have time to find out where the video surveillance is stored, and we can erase it.”
“Nice to have friends,” the first guy said. He turned to his partner. “Let’s get this done.”
The guy in front of me raised the baseball bat. “Nothing personal,” he said.
“Same in return,” I told him. “You guys started this. I’m happy to escalate it.”
“What?” he asked.
I answered with one word. I spoke it clearly and loudly. “Retribution.”
All the lights went out.