Chapter 17

"I ... I choose Tina," Kaylee finally whispered, her voice barely hearable.

"Are you sure, Kaylee? Tina has been nothing but trouble since I picked her up." He stepped behind her, forcing her to her feet, his hands moving over her body with a familiarity that made her skin crawl and shrink away from him. "Michelle has proven herself to be quite the little cock sucker. I think she might even grow to like it after a while."

Kaylee ducked her head down, refusing to look anymore at the three women, especially the two she'd just condemned to death. She couldn't, guilt and horror were eating at her. As well as the grief she felt, grief for the loss of Gabe.

"Oh well, if you insist." David pushed her into the chair, forcing her in hard enough to knock the air out of here.

He turned and went to his shelves, reaching into a small white box and drawing out a length of red ribbon. With a careful hand, he cut it then held the two ends together, trimming them neatly. He drew out another length, repeating the process before tucking the edges of the ribbons into his front pocket.

The ends hung down the front of his beige pants, a striking contrast like lines of blood, marring the material. He settled a few things onto a metal tray, humming as he worked. Then he walked to the door of the cage, opening it and wiggling his fingers at Michelle.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," he chuckled. "It's too bad we just don't have more time, I might have let you prove to Kaylee what a wonderful addition you could be to our little love nest. But, I'm expecting company so come on out little Michelle."

"N ... no!"

David looked at her in consternation for a moment as if he'd never have expected her to argue with him. "Michelle, this is not the time for you to prove you have any balls. Get your little ass out here!" he roared, his anger billowing in sheets of rage.

Michelle stood with her back to the very back of the cage, her head shaking even as terror made it impossible for her to speak. Her legs felt like jello, fear making her bowels feel like water as she watched him. His eerie eyes seemed to glow, his face turned red and he stomped his foot.

"If I have to come in there and get you, Michelle, you will regret it with every scream I wrest from you before I finally kill you," he screamed at the girl, his voice hoarse. "Now get your cunt out here!"

"NO!" she screamed. "NO!"

Tina watched David with a disassociated detachment that made her feel as if she were somewhere else, watching this through someone else's eyes. The expression on David's face struck her as funny and she let a little giggle slip past her lips.

She couldn't help it, he had a look of such surprise on his face. It was almost as if he actually believed that they would calmly walk out of this plastic prison that had become their haven in these last moments and cheerfully put their heads in his hands so that he might kill them. How foolish could any man be?

"Do you actually believe that any of us are going to allow you to kill us?" she asked slowly.

"Shut up, Tina. This doesn't concern you. Kaylee has given you a reprieve."

"But for how long? How long before you tire of the two of us and decide to get rid of us? How long before you tire of having broken toys? We hate you, David. All of us, even Kaylee that you profess to love. We hate every rancid breath you suck into your evil lungs."

"Tina..." he began, his tone of voice going beyond warning and into rage.

"No! You're going to listen. You've fucked us, you raped us all in horrible ways. You've tried to break us, and you failed. You FAILED!"

"Tina, be careful," Sheri hissed from her post beside the girl. We want him pissed, not homicidal."

"You are nothing but a pathetic little boy." Tina took a step forward, her eyes glued to David's face. "A little boy with a truly pathetic little cock who has to rape women to get it up. You can't do it any other way, can you? You couldn't have a regular relationship with a woman. You can't get it up unless you are threatening and hurting, can you?"

David took one step into the cage, his eyes set upon Tina. His hands clenched into white knuckled fists at his sides.

"You don't scare me, David. You don't scare me at all. You are nothing, less than nothing." Tina turned her back, refusing to look at the man. He would attack, she knew that. She just had to hope she could provoke him past his control point. She had to give Michelle time to do her part.

With a hideous roar, David rushed her, taking the five steps he needed to get his hands on Tina in three. His hands closed around her throat, strangling her, his thick fingers digging into her flesh brutally.

Michelle raced from the cage, almost too panicked to do her part of the plan. She hesitated for a moment, hearing the sounds of the struggles behind her, seeing the way to freedom in the long staircase that was so close. But then she heard Sheri cursing, heard Tina gasping for air and couldn't forget them. She rushed to the shelves, her shaking hand scattering the metal tools before grasping a handful of scalpels.

Turning, she ran to the cage. Sheri was fighting with David, struggling to get his fingers from around Tina's throat. Tina was almost unconscious, her body limp in the strong man's hands. She struggled feebly, her fingers pulling impotently at the thick fingers dug so cruelly into her throat.

"NO!" Michelle screeched, rushing at David's back, her arm raised with the bladed ends of the scalpels pointed out. Not even thinking, only feeling the horror of what he was doing to her friend, she brought her hand down hard, feeling the slight pop the skin made as the scalpel slipped through, sliding deeply into his flesh. Beyond that first pop, the blades went in easily, like slicing through warm butter.

David screamed, his eyes growing wide as he realized what was happening. He turned, letting go of Tina, his hands flailing. He knocked Michelle down even as she tried to stab him again, running out of the cage. Sheri went after him, her pale body almost a blur as she raced after the injured man.

She was past thinking like a cop; she'd been through things in the last twenty-four hours that no cop should ever have to deal with. Now she was thinking like a woman. She was thinking like a woman who'd been brutalized, beaten and raped. She wanted revenge. With a shriek, she leaped at him, grabbing one of the scalpels that had been left in his body and yanking it out. She knocked him to the ground, stabbing him over and over.

David fought her, rolling on the floor with her, roaring every time the blade struck home. He could feel himself weakening, feel his life's blood draining away to the floor of his basement retreat. "No," he whispered, finding himself upon his back, Sheri on top of him, her red hair a mass of mussed snarls, her eyes full of hatred.

"Die you pathetic piece of shit," she hissed, sinking backwards, the scalpel she still held in her cut hand hanging loosely at her side as she watched him suffer. She was breathing heavily, her flesh quivering from the effort it had taken her to stop. "Go to hell!"

He closed his eyes, pain assaulting him from all the wounds she had inflicted. With one last effort, he rolled, knocking her to the floor, grabbing the loosely held scalpel from her hand and dragging her head back. "You first," he hissed, even as he heard the screams from the other women. His hand shook as he dragged the lethally sharp blade across her throat, opening the skin and severing her jugular before he dropped the blade, crawling away.

Kaylee dropped to her knees beside Sheri, turning her onto her back, her hands pressing against the wound that was spurting blood into the air. "NO!" she screamed even as her hands grew slippery with the thick fluid that was draining away the life of the woman under her.

"You bastard! Why?" Kaylee looked at David whose own wounds were killing him. "Why did you do this, why kill all these women? Why?"

"B ... be ... cause I ... I l ... love you," David managed to gurgle, then he was still, his eyes staring at her even as they glazed with death.

Kaylee screamed as the door at the top of the stairs burst open, heavily armed and armored men thudding down the stairway. Two hands grasped her arms, pulling her from the puddle of blood that had formed around Sheri's body. A blanket was draped around her shoulders, pulled tightly around her and then she found herself in a pair of warm arms.

"It's okay," Gabe's voice crooned softly from above her head. "It's over. I got you, baby."

Kaylee stared up and into his handsome face with a sense of surrealism. "You're dead. He killed you," she whispered. "He told me he killed you. Am I dead to?" she asked, her bloody hands coming up, the blanket dropping from off of her shoulders.

Gabe caught it, wrapping her in it once more. "No, baby, you're not dead and neither am I. He gave me a good bump on the head, Kaylee. But other than that, I'm fine. Did h ... did he hurt you?"

"No," she said, emphatically, shaking her head. "He killed your cop."

Gabe heard the sound of hysteria in her voice. "It's okay, Kaylee. You're fine now. You and Tina and Michelle, you're all fine now."

He rocked her in his arms, watching as the paramedics came down. Tina was taken up first, her throat swollen and bruised from David's fingers, her body raw and black and blue from his beatings and rapes. She would live, and grieve for her own lost love.

Michelle shied away from everyone that tried to touch her, hanging on to Tina's hand and following her up the stairs. She would ride to the hospital with Tina for the older girl's presence kept her calm.

"I want you going to the hospital, too, Gabe. You can ride in with Kaylee," Tony said, his eyes stern. "Don't even try to argue, detective. I'll wrap this up and do your paperwork for you this time."

Gabe nodded and then helped Kaylee towards the stairs.

The phone seemed to ring nonstop. She'd had to change the number and somehow they still got a hold of it. Kaylee finally had to resort to taking it off the hook, unable to handle the constant noise. She'd been back in her apartment only two days, having spent three in the hospital before Gabe was assured she was okay.

She thought to come home to the peace and quiet of her house, only to find the press camped out on her doorstep, their flashbulbs going off like too bright fireflies as she hurried up the front steps and into the shuttered interior of her house. Ann and Ruth weren't due home for a couple more days, enjoying their vacations from real life. She was alone.

Kaylee wandered around the rooms, touching things as if being able to feel them would make them more real to her. She still was in that half surreal stage finding it hard to believe that David Brody was dead and was no longer a threat to her or any other girl. It seemed like forever since she'd first ran into him that late night, running in to buy chips to satisfy her craving for something salty.

A soft meow broke the silence, a plaintive cry followed by a rusty sounding purr as a big orange body rubbed up against her. She bent over, picking up the huge Tom cat that she'd rescued from being taken in by animal rescue. It might seem weird to some people that she adopted David Brody's cat. But it wasn't the cat's fault. He was just a big, loveable orange fur ball that loved to be petted and to eat.

"Are you hungry?" she asked him softly, nuzzling her nose into his fur.

"Yes, I am," a male voice said.

She whirled, dropping the cat with a small scream. "Dammit Gabe!" she hissed at the man who stood in her living room. "You scared me."

Gabe walked closer, pulling her into his arms. "I missed you," he said, bending his head to find her lips.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, hanging on to him. He felt so real, so stable, so safe to her.

When he lifted his head, she was smiling. "I've never seen you in uniform," she said softly, smoothing her hands over the dark blue coat that was buttoned up the front with brass buttons. He had a slew of medals and badges on his chest. "You look fantastic."

"Thanks. Sheri's funeral was today," he said slowly, not wanting to upset her. "She was sent off with all the pomp and glory of a hero, baby."