A Rogue's Company by Allison Montclair

Author:Allison Montclair
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

* * *

Gwen was swimming in a sea of ink, unable to determine where the surface was. A giant octopus chased her, its eyes glowing, its fangs—

Did octopuses have fangs? Or was it octopi? She wasn’t certain. It might depend on the species. She would have to ask Ronnie.

She kicked forward, but she wasn’t in her element, and her pursuer was. It gained on her with every step.

Not step, she thought. It was an octopus. Which would explain all the ink. Or was that squids? Ronnie would know that, too. Ronnie was—

A tentacle caught her by the ankle. Then another. She couldn’t get away. More and more tentacles wrapped around her body, pinioning her arms to her sides as the creature drew her inexorably toward its gaping maw. She screamed.

And woke.

And screamed again.

She couldn’t see. She couldn’t move, ropes wrapped around her, tightly tied. She was on her back on a cot, and more ropes secured her so she couldn’t even roll off it. She struggled against them to no avail, mewling noises spewing helplessly from her.

“Gwen,” came Lord Bainbridge’s voice. “Calm yourself, or they’ll gag you.”

“Wha–what?” she stammered. “Where am I? What’s happening?”

“I don’t know where we are,” he said. “We’ve been kidnapped.”

“Oh, thank God!”

“What on earth? How could that possibly be your response to this?”

“I thought for a moment I was back in the sanatorium,” she said, starting to sob. “That they had me in restraints again.”

“They did that to you,” he said softly. “I had no idea.”

“Why would you?” she asked bitterly. “You never came there. You never brought Ronnie. Not once.”

“It would have been a terrible thing for him to see his mother like that.”

“And you were too sensitive for the experience as well, were you?”

“Gwen, this is hardly the time or place for this.”

“No, no, it isn’t,” she said, taking deep breaths. “My head hurts. Someone hit me.”

“Yes.”

“What’s the hour?”

“Eight thirty-five.”

“Still Saturday?”

“Still Saturday.”

“What do they want?”

“Ransom. For me.”

“How much?”

“Forty-five thousand.”

“Will you pay?”

“I can’t pay anything from here. I’m in the same position as you, tied up and blindfolded. It will have to be Carolyne’s doing.”

“The way you’ve treated her this past week, you’ll be lucky if she pays,” she said.

“There’s no call for that,” he said.

“No, there isn’t,” she said. “I’m sorry. What about me?”

“What about you?”

“Did they ask for any payment for me? Or am I just a throw-in?”

He didn’t answer.

“What is it?” she asked. “What are you not telling me?”

“From what I understand, you present them with a problem,” he said.

“What kind of a problem?”

“You’ve become a witness. You saw the face of the young lad, which means you’re a threat to them.”

“Oh. That doesn’t sound promising.”

“I have been trying to persuade them that you are an unreliable woman whose sanity is questionable, and whatever limited powers of observation you possess would have been adversely affected by the blow to your head.”

“The sad part is I think you believe every word of that,” she said.

“You went on the offensive when confronted with several armed men,” he said.

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