Left to Kill (Adele Sharp #4) - Blake Pierce Page 0,41
said, “Eight, present!” It was a young Asian girl. She seemed to have the most dust and dirt on her. She had the most scars, and a couple of the wounds she displayed seemed fresh: a gash over her left eye and bruises along her cheek.
Silence fell over the room for a bit. Everyone waited, and a few glanced toward Diedrich, expectant.
“Roll call,” the gray-haired man said, testily.
Diedrich cleared his throat, and in a croaking, hesitant voice, he ventured, “Nine? Present?”
This seemed to satisfy the gray-haired man. He nodded, pleased, flashing a smile. In any other context, it would’ve been the warm look of approval given from a father to a child. An expression so perfectly formed, but equally out of place in the context of the basement.
After Diedrich spoke, a few of the others next to him relaxed, tension easing—if only a little—from their postures.
The gray-haired man spoke again, and this time, his eyes fixed on Diedrich, unblinking. “Welcome to the family. Everyone, welcome your brother.”
A practiced chorus arose from the assembled others. “Welcome number nine!” they said.
The gray-haired man walked over to one of the boys and tapped him on the chest. “Tell me one thing you like about your sister,” he said, pointing at the girl next to him.
With deadened eyes, and an equally lifeless voice, the boy said, “She is kind and nice, and I like her very much.”
The gray-haired man smiled. “Good job. And then he fished something from his pocket and pushed it against the boy’s lips.
Diedrich glimpsed a flash of color. For a moment, he thought the man was drugging the boy. But then, with an equally sickening realization, he realized it was a small chocolate bonbon. The boy didn’t protest, but allowed the bonbon into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed.
The man patted the boy on the cheek, then moved over to the girl next to him. “Number four,” he said, “tell me one thing that you like about me.”
He draped his fingers against the side of her cheek and affectionately stroked a lock of her hair.
She shivered, but in an equally deadpan voice said, “I like how generous you are. You’re nice. I like you.”
The gray-haired man shuddered at this, as if aroused, and he reached into his pocket and pulled out another chocolate bonbon, pressing it into the girl’s mouth. His finger circled her lips once, twice, then pulled away.
She also chewed and swallowed.
The gray-haired man turned, and with straight legs and steps, marched in a small circle until he was facing Diedrich again. “Our family loves each other,” he said, pointing a finger. “You want to belong, you’re going to have to learn to love as well. There are rules. It’s important that you’re obedient. Without obedience, there can be no family. Understand?”
Diedrich felt a flash of anger, but his hands were still bound. There was something about the man’s posture and attitude that sent warning signals off in his mind. So he simply nodded.
This seemed to annoy the gray-haired man. “Speak when you’re spoken to,” he shouted. He stepped forward, and Diedrich flinched. Instead of hitting Diedrich, though, the man slapped the Asian girl hard across the face. The blow sent her tumbling back, and she crashed into a gated fence.
“I said, do you understand?” he repeated, yelling at Diedrich.
“Yes,” Diedrich said in a shaky voice, his eyes on the girl. He bent at a knee, trying to reach out to help her rise.
For a moment, he thought he would receive a blow too. But instead, the gray-haired man said, “Look at that, your brother helped his sister back to her feet. That’s what we call love. Really good job, number nine.”
After Diedrich helped her to her feet, he turned and flinched. The gray-haired man was right in front of him. His hand was extended, and he had a small brown bonbon he was trying to press into Diedrich’s lips.
In that moment, a flash of anger filled him once more. This man had him caged, kenneled in the basement. He was a psycho. Insane. Diedrich’s fury rose in his chest. It was just an old man.
A split second of a decision. A flicker of a look from the girl closest to him. She mouthed something, but he couldn’t tell what. Then he decided.
Diedrich rushed forward, hard. He sent the old man tumbling to the ground. Diedrich kicked him once, twice. Then he leapt over the fallen form of the old man and raced toward the bottom of the stairs.