Contents

Contents.......................................................................11. Dressed for the part..................................................22. Curious why we are here?..........................................53. Beauty of silence......................................................84. Open for Daddy!......................................................125. No one needs to die................................................156. You’ll just wish you had...........................................18The end.........................................................................21

This picture panels complement the text.They are to be viewed in conjunction with reading the story.

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1. Dressed for the part

“Good of you to join us”.Yuri froze as he stared through the dim light at Takanawa. He barely breathed at the sight of the Jap standing in his own bedroom. Without moving a muscle, his eyes took in the other men. Six of them, all with guns pointing at his head. Not a muscle twitched but every sinew and every nerve burst onto red-alert. Six men, bad odds. But he’d known worse.Almost imperceptibly he weighted one foot, releasing the other leg for a deadly kick. Hours in the ring had his senses automatically wired up sizing which way his thigh would snap. Crack out like a broken spring. Instinct would know which way.

“And so good to come dressed for the part”, Takanawa said.Yuri stood there braced and motionless in just his black boxers. Luckily he’d slipped them on to investigate the noise outside. Otherwise he’d be here covered by their weapons butt-ass naked. He could feel attack-readiness bristling under the skin. He sensed he could smell fear. He knew what he looked like, how opponents sweated at the prospect of taking him on in the ring.

“Now how about you just hand that thing over your shoulder to my friend”.Yuri didn’t move.

“Now how about you go get fucked, Takanawa?” he answered eventually.

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They had him covered, there was nothing he could do. But without the weapon slung over his shoulder, … well, certainly shortened the odds.

Suddenly there was a noise behind Takanawa. Like a kinda sob. Shit, how could he forget! Takanawa slid to one side. Mae-Ling. It had been her who’d heard the noise outside and woken Yuri. He’d gone out to investigate. In all the excitement ……Shit! That complicated things. She was on her side of the bed still. One of Takanawa’s goons stood, hand in her hair, a knife in the other. Angry, Yuri’s eyes flashed back to Takanawa. Who just raised his eyebrows questioning.

Breathing deeply, moving breathtakingly slowly, Yuri reluctantly hooked a thumb under the belt over his shoulder and extended his arm out to the side. His eyes never left Takanawa when a hand roughly snatched the weapon away. OK, he told himself, the semi-was good. But fight-buddies didn’t jokingly call his arms “cannons” for nothing. The tension bursting in his body seemed to crowd the room.

“Now we’re getting somewhere”, Takanawa’s face showed only slight emotion. The mere glimmer of a smile on his lips at disarming his opponent. Tables-turned, Yuri would have been smirking all over his face. “What the shit are you doing here, Takanawa?” Yuri asked. His resonant voice betrayed no fear.“I think it’s me that asks the questions”, was all he got in reply.Takanawa nodded at his arms.“So what do you say you put your hands behind your back and we cuff you”.“What do we say you go fuck yourself!” Yuri shot back.

The back of his head felt like it split open. Yuri collapsed forward. But then recovering in anger, he twisted round to hit back. The night-stick that had pistol-whipped the back of his head filled his vision, though. About to smash into his nose. Yuri dodged out of the way. Bristled with rage, his hands clenched, a micro-second from smacking into the attack. A voice behind gasped. The goon had Mae-Ling’s head twisted back by the hair and the knife was near her throat.Yuri’s eyes flashed back to Takanawa.“Let her go”, he ordered.“First things first”, Takanawa cooed gently back.“The cuffs”.

Yuri stood motionless, every muscle in his bare body quivering, begging for release. His head throbbed, he owed that goon with the night-stick. His eyes scanned the room, took in the opposition. He knew his chances. But it was him they had come for, after all.

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They’d let Mae-Ling go. Then he’d be free to act. With a final glance back at her, he took a deep breath. And then slowly, in his own time, on his own terms, he placed his hands in the small of his back. Eyes boring bullets into Takanawa.

It took less than a split second for the first bracelet to snap on his wrist. The sound of the second ratcheted sharp in his ears. Like a cruel laugh. A cackle. A grating sound that confirmed the shit he was in. But Yuri showed nothing of his fears.

“OK. Now let her go”, he commanded.Takanawa’s face broke into a half-smile.“I thought it was clear. I give the orders”, he said calmly.“It’s me you want”, Yuri said. With her gone, he stood more of a chance. His voice sounded authoritative, punching above his weight in the circumstances. For now. He’d soon turn the tables.“True”, nodded the Japs’ enforcer. “It is you we came for. And it is you we have got”.

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2. Curious why we are here?

Takanawa nodded at him.“On your knees!”The voice snapped Yuri out of his false sense of assurance. He frowned across the room at their drug lords’ henchman. Down on his knees - that disabled his kicks.“Fuck you!” he cussed.

A hand from behind went in his hair, a foot kicked at the back of his knee, trying to force him to the ground. Yuri squirmed out of the grip. With a powerful shove of his bare muscled shoulder he jostled his attacker to one side. He could have kicked out, sent a couple of them flying. But anger made him go for the leadeA lightning-fast move had him go for Takanawa. But the guns were faster. Already up. But it was Mae-Ling’s gasp, though, stopped him in his tracks. The knife was pressed into the side of her throat. Yuri saw clearly the indentation made by the tip. And a little trickle of blood down her neck.

Bracing every muscle of his big body, he quivered on the edge of making a pounce. Weight on one foot again. Every muscle in his towering physique wanted to fight. He was all pure instinct. Honed from hours in the ring. Short sharp breaths, his pulse thudding with anticipation in his ear. He was cuffed, but his legs could still do their job. He didn’t stand much of a chance, but he’d go down fighting.

But not Mae-Ling, though. His eyes shot to her again. He steeled himself, he faced the dire reality. Slowly he took a deep breath. And then, reluctantly, he lowered himself to his knees. Breathing slowly, breathing hard. He’d concede them that. But his eyes

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burned fierce into Takanawa’s face. With Mae-Ling gone, he swore, he’d take charge again.

Eventually, breathing regular to control his temper, he broke the silence.“OK, now she goes”.Takanawa stared down at him. His face impassive, showing no emotion, revealing no sense of achievement in having taken the rival enforcer.“You were curious why we are here?” he asked after a long dramatic pause.“Too dumb to finish today’s sudoku, huh?”, Yuri’s sneer was loaded with sarcasm.Takanawa’s face never broke. He just stared back. Impassive.

“I need a message delivered. I need a courier”.Yuri was intensely aware of the goon with the night-stick immediately behind his back, his pant legs brushing Yuri’s bare arms.“Try TNT”, Yuri snapped looking up from his knees. If he hammered his head backwards, he’d catch the goon who’d tried to wrestle him to the ground right in the groin.“Much too confidential to trust to a third party. It’s you that’s going to help”, Takanawa calmly explained.“Go fuck yourself!”

Yuri didn’t see any signal. Things happened very fast. A blur across his eyes, Takanawa disappeared from sight. Something hard jammed across his throat. Crushing his windpipe. Pulling his neck hard back. He couldn’t breathe. The goon’s knees pressed hard into his back. For leverage. Throttling him. Windpipe being

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crushed. His head trapped back into the goon’s stomach. Grunts breaking from behind with the effort of strangling him.

Yuri was choking. His eyes opened wide like saucers. His mouth gaping wide open. A drowning fish. Throttling noises painfully cracked in his choking throat. Automatically his hands grasped out to free him. Useless. His hands clasping trapped behind his back, arms crushed against his attacker’s knees. The fresh sight of Takanawa made his temper flare. Face totally impassive, his intense stare full of Yuri’s choking. Slowly he swam out of sight, Yuri’s vision blurred. He tried to wriggle, feeling himself going. His shoulders fought to squirm free of the stranglehold. Weakening. The pressure just grew, the pull on his windpipe hauled him up, his knees lifted off the floor. Being hanged.

A pulse hammered in his ears. His vision swirled. Acid sick was burning in his gorge, his head roared in a whirl. Desperation arched his back up fighting for relief but the vice-like grip just came up with him. No escape. Yuri’s instincts tried to lift a leg, get a knee out from under him. But the gag tightened more on his windpipe. Pulling his head into the goon’s chest. Arched backwards. Wilder gagging noises just broke from his throat, his back jammed against the knees digging into him. Levering him up. Gagging. Determination tried wildly to swing Yuri’s head from side to side. Fighting to break the grip. But force just dug the thing harder into his windpipe. His only result was animal-like choking noises, throttled coughing broke from his mouth.

Takanawa nodded. His man released the night-stick. With a final crushing jerk back into the windpipe he let the Russian drop off his arms. His knees gave the Russian a shove in his back. Yuri cursed out loud when his forehead hit the hardwood floor with a bang. Anger formed like a fireball in his gut at the goon who’d been throttling him. Fighter’s habit rolled him over on one side, coughing, spluttering, obscenities burst from his chest, tearing across his crushed voice-box. Cutting pains sliced at the curses spat painfully out his throat, gagging for breath. Knees up, his guts heaved, his chest gasped for air as he promised himself that goon with the night-stick would feel the end of his fist. Swearing black-and-blue that this was not over yet.

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3. Beauty of silence

The man who had choked him stood in front, the night-stick stuck under Yuri’s chin, jamming his head back upwards. They had gripped him by struggling biceps and hustled him unceremoniously off the floor up to his knees, his throat still burning, his chest still heaving for air. The pair of them stared murder into each other’s eyes. Yuri refused to back down, refused to be intimidated by the menace of the weapon that had nearly choked him.“Respect”, the goon had admonished tapping the weapon gently against Yuri’s jaw. Promising more of the same if he didn’t behave.Yuri stared back at his choker. Matching him glare for glare. Was that contempt he read in the slit-eyed bastard’s face? Their eyes snarled at each other like wild beasts. His throat burned, swallowing hurt like hell. No, he knew they saw him as a threat, he looked impressive. Big and strong across the shoulders, head-and-shoulders towering above every one of them when not on his knees. Stripped to the buff nearly, he was showing off every bit of that menacing gym-built strength. A hard-muscled torso that tapered to a menacing sculpted eight-pack. The fine sheen of anger-sweat coating the taut contours of his torso only added more threat. They were shitting bricks, he told himself. They knew he could batter them all to pulp if they were not armed. Black-belt in two disciplines, every bit a fighting man. That’s why they’d got his hands, that’s why they kept him on his knees. Even covered by these guns, even with his power cuffed behind his back, they knew his kicks could lay them out. Even on his knees, his crushed windpipe hurting like hell, Yuri still told himself he was in charge. He just needed the chance.

The goon ran his night-stick tauntingly down Yuri’s face, insolence written all over his smirk. The glare-war between the men raged.

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Yuri whipped his face away from the mocking weapon. And regretted it instantly. The cutting bite in his crushed windpipe slashed pain across his face.

“One of the things you Russians can never learn, .. it’s the beauty of silence”.Takanawa looked down on the man he had come to get. His men had pulled him back up to his knees. The Russian’s face was still puffy and red, still he fought for air. He saw the big man swallow. And Takanawa saw him wince at the pain from the crushing at the Russian’s throat. But no look of satisfaction creased Takanawa’s face.

The animal in Yuri came awake at the oddness of the remark.“What the fuck are you on about, Takanawa?”Yuri’s head suddenly collapsed forward, chin jabbed into his chest. A cry of surprise broke from his pained throat. A thudding stab tore into the solid muscle at the base of his neck. His shoulder vibrated with the electric shock of pain.“Respect!”Cold rage spread through Yuri’s guts. He felt the night-stick being tapped threatening against the burning ridge of muscle. For every tap, he’d thud his fist into that goon’s smirking gob, he promised himself. Head still down, Yuri bit into his bottom lip to control the pain. He crushed his teeth together to hold onto his temper. It smouldered like wounded flesh and threatened to burst free at any moment. Behind his back he flexed powerful muscles clammy with frustrated anger. He swore he’d get out of this and hunt that goon down. Then he’d find out what an expert could do with a stick like that. Yuri shook his head free of a trickle of sweat that seeped into his eye. This time ignoring the cutting pain stabbing at his throat.

“Always so foul-mouthed”.Takanawa tutted, he shook his head in mock disapproval.He took his time. His gaze never left the Russian’s face. Exchanging looks, the Russian bulging with anger, Takanawa emotionless. No anger, no emotion, no sign of what was going through his head. It was inevitable that this confrontation would come some day. Yuri knew that, ever since the Japs had started to muscle in on their territory. Ever since, they’d spotted how the Russians had built up a good market here, these Japs wanted in with none of the effort, they wanted a piece of their action. A drugs-war had become inevitable. The confrontation between him and Takanawa was gonna happen. Inevitable. Trouble was, it was Yuri on his knees with his hands cuffed.

“What I am thinking, ….”.Takanawa was speaking softly. He hesitated.

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He looked to another of his men on the side. He barely nodded.Out of the corner of his eye, Yuri saw the goon put his hand in his jacket pocket.His eye flashed back to Takanawa when he started again.

“What I am thinking, .. is I am tired of your foul mouth”, he said.“Cuts both ways”, Yuri answered. “So what you say, you piss off out of my house?”Takanawa slowly nodded at him. His face annoyingly bereft of emotion still.

“Yes, I shall leave”, he nodded. “Soon. Both of us. We shall go for a ride”, he answered.“But first, ….” Takanawa nodded to the goon by Yuri’s side.“First, I’m going to shut your big mouth”.

Yuri’s eyes shot to the goon. Dangling from his hand on a leather thread was a rubber ball. A ball-gag.“Fuck you”, Yuri spat back.His leg made to rise off his knees. The night-stick cracked across the back of his neck. Hard. Yuri would have fallen flat on his face in shock if a hand hadn’t torn into his hair and yanked him upright by his scalp. Panting hard, shaking his head to clear the throbbing pain, blinking hard through the blur in his vision, Yuri seethed into the unsmiling face of the rival enforcer. Pretending he was taking the pain in his stride, he tore his head free of the grip in his hair. His system gushed with testosterone at the thought of that gag.“You fuckin’ dare”, he countered.

“Dare? I don’t think that word comes into it”, Takanawa smiled.“Not from where I’m standing”, he shook his head slowly. “I’m

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simply tired of your mouth”.Like a starburst of dynamic energy, Yuri blurted it out.“You’ll have to kill me first”, he barked back. The pain in his head fuelled the anger that was bursting in his chest. An awesome potency consumed him to win this battle for male supremacy. And give the mother-fucker what he had coming.Takanawa shook his head. Gently, reproaching.“Kill? Oh no. No one here’s going to die. That’s not the plan”.Takanawa shook his head slowly as if shocked by a terrible lie.“We’re just going to send a message to your bosses”.His hands splayed out conciliatory.“No one’s going to die”. His demeanour underlined his surprise. What a thought!

He stood aside again to let Yuri see Mae-Ling’s terrified eyes staring wide-eyed at him off the bed. Yuri grappled with his anger, he struggled with his inner conflict. The knife threat was still perilously close to her throat.

“No one needs to die”. Takanawa gestured slightly behind. “If you behave yourself”.

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4. Open for Daddy!

Takanawa nodded to his man who strutted forward holding up demonstrably the ball between his fingers.“Open for Daddy”, the goon sniggered with a swagger.Yuri looked at the goon and snarled in his chest. Behind he felt his hands forming into fists. His eyes fell to the gag. Black, dense-rubber. He’d used them himself to keep victims from raising the alarm. Muffle their screams. His primal instinct always to win barrelled in his chest. He seethed, his blood was boiling. And he didn’t give a shit about showing it. He didn’t bother to control his breathing. Coming in deep hard pants through a set jaw, his back teeth tight clenched. Showing them the seething volcano that they were about to let loose. Yuri saw Takanawa turn and look at Mae-Ling. Then he turned back and raised a questioning eyebrow at Yuri. Time stood still. The pulse in Yuri’s ear was throbbing. He could feel the heart thudding within the confines of his tense-muscled chest.

Taking a deep breath, Yuri faced the inevitable.

But he tried one last time, - while he could still talk. “The girl goes”, undaunted Yuri clipped out the order. Like he had a say in this. Empty bravado, maybe. But he put an edge to his voice. Like he was calling the shots.Takanawa nodded. “The girl goes”, he agreed.

His anger burning through his eyes, Yuri glared back at Takanawa. Did he believe him? Did Yuri have any choice? Besides, he didn’t need his gob to trample that goon behind into the floor. And he would. He gave a final look at the girl who was innocently caught up in this just because she shared his bed. His eyes shot to the goon with the gag. Maybe he was just finding out he loved her, who

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knew? But he certainly cared. She didn’t deserve this. Caught up in this because of him. So he opened his mouth. Just a bit. The swaggering goon moved to insert the ball between the teeth. Jammed it against Yuri’s part opened mouth, crushed it against fury-clenched teeth. He growled in annoyance. Yuri seethed back in return, his blood was boiling. He wasn’t going to give in easily, he still couldn’t face the truth of this indignity. He was breathing hard. He was furious. At these goons who had tricked him. At himself for letting this happen.

“Wider”.Yuri flung a look of fury into the goon’s face. His heart rate spiked. Cold sweat - pumped by anger and frustration - filmed his back. He could feel solid rubber jammed against his teeth, there’d be no give in the ball.“Open your trap wider, shit-face”, the goon snapped twisting the ball to jam it into Yuri’s tight mouth.Yuri only snarled back, all corded muscle. Giving the goon fair warning about the rage burning in Yuri’s guts and the ferocious head-butt that was about to explode into the slit-eyed Jap’s chest. Suddenly a hand twisted in his hair from behind, a vicious yank back on his scalp that made Yuri yell out in shock.

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The goon jammed the ball into the gaping jaw. Another blow burst in his broad shoulder. The goon from behind slugged his night-stick hard into the beaten bare muscle. Yuri’s shoulder exploded with a bawl, a guttural animal yell. The ball-gag was rammed further inside Yuri’s pain-shocked mouth forcing his teeth more open still. The goon behind grabbed at the scalp and ripped Yuri’s chin painfully down onto his chest. Jamming the jaw shut. Trapping the ball. Yuri jerked with a twisted grunt, the leather yanked behind his head and the strap pulled tight. Twisting his cheeks into a painful crease.

Mae-Ling gave out a cry. Panting through the burn in his shoulder, Yuri’s pain-bleary eyes shot across, manfully suppressing the pain. Her head was back, her goon’s hand was twisted in her black long hair and the knife pressed across her windpipe. For her sake, Yuri fought his anger back under control. He had no choice. Not till she was gone. Then it was just down to him. His mouth was already aching from being forced so far, his jaw jammed open so much the ball strained at the joints. He knew how ridiculous he looked, he’d seen it himself, he’d done it to others. He sucked in air in the only way he could. Through his nose. He snorted out his anger, - in the only way he could. Through his nose. Like some sick cow. Fuck, it didn’t come much worse. But just your mother-fuckers wait!

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5. No one needs to die

“The beauty of silence….”, Takanawa reminded Yuri. The sounds of anger snorted ludicrously from the Russian’s nose. Yuri’s eyes blazed still with his fury. Despite his critical situation he still stared back with a defiant look. That thing jamming up his gob, he looked ludicrous. He knew that but he was gonna give nothing. Not to these cocksucking bastards. He hauled up defiance out of his packed belly. He thrust the sculpted contours of a fighter up into Takanawa’s face. Solid tough robust muscle. Not backing down an inch. The fine sheet of sweat on his torso had thickened to a rich warning gleam. Still, though, unnervingly, there was no emotion on Takanawa’s face. Yuri found that annoying, unsettling. He’d have been laughing all over his face if the tables had been turned. They were different, the two of them. Yuri was hands-on. It was always him getting his fingers covered in his victim’s slobber, enjoying winning the struggle of forcing the humiliating gag into the begging mouth. Takanawa stood apart, though, detached. Somehow that composure just made this more unnerving.

“As I was saying, ..” Takanawa continued. “No one needs to die. We are going to go from here. To somewhere quiet. And there we will write a message. A message for your bosses”.Yuri knew there was more to it than that. He waited tensely for the rest. Knowing he wasn’t going to like it.“The girl goes with us”.Yuri shook his head, tried to bawl a protest through the gag. Eyes blazing in anger at this deception. Twisting his face into a shameful spluttering, saliva dribbling down his chin. Fuck, you bastard, I bought her freedom. His fury spoke up from his chiselled abs. He flashed bullets of anger at Takanawa for lying and tricking him.“It’s OK, she’ll come to no harm. She is your witness”, Takanawa calmly explained. Yuri frowned at the word. At the same time, Takanawa’s trick mocked him. “The girl goes”, Takanawa had said. Not “the girl leaves”, that’s what Yuri had understood.“We mean her no harm”, Takanawa assured him.“She’ll be with you all the time. Under your protection, constantly by your side”.

Yuri’s hackles were up. He smelled another rat. There was more to this than met the eye. But so far he didn’t know what. He wouldn’t like it when he did. His forehead wrinkled questioning, his eyes flared in anger.“No one has to die, …” Takanawa repeated. No emotion.He hesitated.“But you certainly will wish you had”, he added.“You will certainly beg to die”, he finished calmly. No thrill. Inscrutable.“Many times”.

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Yuri snapped a look at the Jap, his worst fears confirmed. He felt a chill shiver pass down his spine. Despite himself.“We shall write the message with your pain. We shall carve that email into every shrieking crevice of your body. A message to tell your bosses. Not only do we intend to stay. Our message is, We are taking over”. .Yuri wasn’t going to die. Worse, he’d wish he had. Many times. “The Russians’ days here are over”.Yuri looked apprehensively at Takanawa, worried the nervousness he felt trembling in his guts had betrayed itself on his face. Sickeningly he couldn’t tell from that deadpan face.“Your body will underline the words”, Takanawa concluded. Anxious Yuri bit into the gag and angrily swore at himself for letting himself be tricked. Fatally so. Neither of them played at things like this.“A final signature”, Takanawa explained. “Written in pain”.

He turned to the man behind by the bed. Unceremoniously he stripped the coverings off Mae-Ling and dragged her out of the bed. Yuri made to rise but a hand behind twisted in his hair and pulled him backwards into the goon. Mae-Ling gasped as she was forced to her feet and tried to cover herself against leering looks.“And your girl-friend here will be at your side. All the time. It will be she who will need to carry the message”. Takanawa gestured for Mae-Ling to be brought to him. He ignored her nakedness. As if that was nothing. He just put his hand around her shoulder and brought her to face Yuri, standing her naked in front of him. Yuri shook with his anger. His eyes turned to granite-hatred, his shoulders bulged like a battled-hardened warrior. Furious at the sight of her needing to cover herself up. Blazing aggression filled the space between him and his rival. Born of each man’s burning need to win. Yuri shook with frustrated anger at the sight of her nakedness shivering, not with the cold, with pure terror. Because of him.And he was about to be tortured into a vegetable. Because of her. Anger at his stupidity churned with the fears swirling in his guts.

“You’re inseparable, you see”. Takanawa spoke over her bare shoulder to the big gagged Russian on his knees, uselessly cuffed. In just his boxers.“She is your messenger, it is you who are the message”. Yuri realised a tremble was colouring his breath. He bit at the gag, crunched his fists in his back to steel his nerves. Anger replacing nerves.“Never fear, we need to keep the messenger safe. To spell out the message”.Another dramatic pause. For effect.“… Because you won’t be able to”.

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A smile did now lightly played on his lips at the sight of that ridiculously muscled henchman with the hard-rubber gag silencing up his leery mouth. But, Takanawa thought, that bit of news would probably have silenced his big mouth anyway. “…. Because you won’t be able to”. “But I promise you, she’ll come to no harm”, Takanawa re-assured his rival. “Physically, that is”, he added. Almost like an after-thought.“What she will experience is going to upset her Of course”. Nonchalant, matter of fact.“You have my word, though, she’ll come to no harm”.

Yuri exploded, he tried to rise to his feet. Yuri was a tough bastard in business. But he kept a strict division between work and his girl. A hand suddenly grabbed him by the hair, stopped him, held him down. The night-stick again whipped into his shoulder making his eyes pop, forcing a grunt into the gag. Snot snorted down his chest.Regardless of Yuri’s indignity, Takanawa continued,“No harm will come to her”, he promised. “We need her to convey our message. You”.This time, Takanawa’s face did reveal emotion. Disdain.

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6. You’ll just wish you had

Takanawa’s eyes were empty. Cold cruelty. Stone-faced again. Yuri felt the nervous chill tremor shiver down his spine. He was up to his neck in a shitload of trouble, he could see no way out. On his knees, covered by the guns of these six goons. He’d given over his own weapon. He was uselessly cuffed with hands behind. What was it Takanawa had said, “And so good to come dressed for the part”? His near-naked body was to be the message, Mae-Ling would be the messenger. Because he couldn’t!His guts knotted at the prospect of what the rest of the night would bring. He had faced the prospect of death for years, a professional hazard. But he wasn’t promised death. He’d just wish he was. He looked up at Takanawa from his knees. He could have taken the Jap down. And most of the rest too, as a fist-fighter few could match him. But he’d given in because of Mae-Ling, he’d stupidly let them trap his hands behind his back, disabling that fighter’s strength. Because of her. Kept on his knees too, trapping his kick-boxer’s skills. He’d rashly under-estimated them. His stomach churned, his guts turned to water, his blood boiled, the gorge rose in his throat. He was fucked!

Briefly he felt a stranger in his own body. All things that meant something to him had been whipped away. Independence, self-assurance, control. Then an animal fury flared in his guts like acid, he wasn’t going to take this kneeling down. It rattled him that he couldn’t answer them back. Yuri had always been good with his mouth, quick-witted, gift of the gab. Yuri caught himself suddenly, he’d just glimpsed Takanawa raise a questioning eyebrow. For a brief moment his heart skipped a beat. Takanawa’s head cocked to one side. As if he was reading his doubts, as if he could see into Yuri’s fears. Quickly Yuri fought to get a grip. He wasn’t going to give the bastard that. Takanawa would get no satisfaction out of feeding off his fears. Even if Yuri was for it. He plastered a defiant look into his glare. Hate and rage quickly eclipsed the self-doubts he’d sunk into He swallowed his fears. And instantly regretted it when cutting pain in his crunched windpipe creased up his face. Though he managed to crush the wince back into his chest. Suddenly that stupid image of himself with that gag plugging the gaping hole of a mouth popped into his mind. That got to him, that just topped it all! His blood boiled, rage burst out of his eyes.

Instinct started to twist his head round, alert to every danger, aware of movement from the goon with the night-stick behind.“Just one final touch”.Takanawa looked down at his naked rival on his knees. At the words Yuri had twisted back at his rival. Defiance burned from his glare, determination radiated off the Russian’s sweat-glistening chest. Yuri set his jaw despite the idiotic ball, determined to put on

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a good show. His hatred for this worthless piece of shit had ratcheted up several degrees. Instinctively he had put up a protective steel into his eyes to hide any betraying glimmer of fear.Rage tore through his eyes up at Takanawa. Doubts were, nevertheless, gripping Yuri like a chill clawing at his balls. He just wasn’t going to show it. But what had Takanawa said? “You’ll certainly beg to die. Many times”. It took all he had not to give in to the knot in his guts. He knew that – if it was the other way round – Yuri himself would enjoy taking his time. He’d pull out every one of Takanawa’s teeth, one-by-one. He’d happily do it himself, in no hurry. The terror of anticipated pain was almost as bad as the truth of it. And Takanawa’s fingers broken, cracked slowly, one at a time. Hearing his terror before the snapping pressure came. Hearing the howls when bone cracked. That need to inflict pain surged through him now like a firestorm. Yuri was hands-on. If he said it himself, he was a genius at helping men discover the heights of masculine agonies. It would make his day right now to see the terror scoring through Takanawa’s eyes as Yuri squeezed on the pliers and personally extracted another of his screeching fingernails. Slowly. Sucking down every scream. Feeding off every screech of horror. Yeah, if tables were turned, Yuri would make it last. As long as he could. No amount of agony would be enough. He’d enjoy every single shriek from Takanawa that plumed up into the agonised air. Nothing more tempting. If tables were turned. If the boot was on the other foot ……. But it wasn’t. Yuri scrambled to get a grip as his guts threatened to turn to water.

Takanawa’s eyes slid briefly above Yuri’s head. Distracted by his thoughts Yuri looked up. Too late. Just in time to see the big sack drop over his head. Too late to stop it snaking over Yuri’s big bare shoulders. Hands behind quickly grabbed at the sides and tore the sack scratching down his sweat-streaked sides.Yuri exploded in a burst of fury, he bawled his resistance into the gag. He crumpled himself forward to try and escape. Fuck that, no! To be bundled up, to be carted away like the garbage. Unable to see, unable to help himself! The final straw. He fell head-first to the floor, feeling the sack grazing against his bare back, his fight-trained legs thrashing out. Clearing his attackers away. Lashing out blind. Wild, furious, brutal.

Takanawa watched patiently as his men struggled to hold down that muscle-etched torso in a tangle of flailing limbs. He stood impassive at the Russian’s big gym-trained legs trying to kick his way back out of the bag. He watched emotionless as boots thudded into the Russian’s back. Unaffected by the sound of fists striking firm flesh, drawn tight as it tried to thrash its way out of the sack. Listened unmoved to the muffled protests from inside the writhing bundle as straps were fastened tight around the bag catching the Russian’s dangerously muscled arms to his sides.

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Yuri’s eyes nearly popped out of his head at a hard thud that kicked him in the small of his back. His breath snorted out of his nose to the crack of a fist into the back of his neck. His chest exploded into the back of the gag when another boot stomped hard on his thrashing leg. He was sweating like fury inside the sack, temperature raging, his blood boiling inside his veins. On his side, his legs lashed out like fury praying to feel the crack of bone. Blindly dishing out the threat of a kick-boxer’s power. He was up shit-creek but he’d take some of them down with him. He felt hands of his bare leg. Primed for action, lightning fast his knee bent, his foot made contact, a goon flew across the room. One-down, five to go.Then suddenly weights was all over this legs, bodies weighted him down. More and more fell on top. He bucked with his hips, he jerked with his torso, he sweated buckets inside the tight-buckled sack. He tried to jerk back his knees, throw out a kick. Then something bit into his ankles, something yanked tight. Plastic ties around his legs. The weight on his legs gone, Yuri kicked with his feet, his ankles bound together. The mother-fuckers had tied his ankles together!

Takanawa’s men stood back up breathing hard, they stood back wiping sweat off their faces. Even cuffed and gagged, the Russian had still scared them. Even now the Russian lay on the floor his bound legs still thrashing uselessly away. Lashing out with his ankles at empty air. Bawling distorted snorts of rage into his gag. The men stood idly by now getting their breath, their job done. Waiting till they could see the penny had dropped. Till the Russians’ enforcer got the message. That the Russian was going nowhere they didn’t want him to. To a place her wouldn’t like.

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The temperature inside the sack soared with the realisation, he was trapped. Yuri lashed out with his feet again, body-builder’s thighs put all his strength into the urge to smash bone. Frantic within his crippling bonds, he thrust up his hips and thrashed out with his feet, all his anger blindly powered out of his knees praying some goon would get in their way. Ragged obscenities slashed at the gag, he bellowed and bucked, lashing out with fearsome heroic thighs. But the horror of reality mocked his efforts when his feet repeatedly kicked into empty air. Every muscle and fibre sang with his anger. Every button of his temper had been pressed. It throbbed all over him like burning flesh. His ankles bound with plastic ties. His wrists cuffed. Arms strapped to his sides. That god-awful ball in his gob. Stuffed like a puppy in a sack, about to be done-over. Robbed of sight, couldn’t shout. No fight in his arms, couldn’t walk.Shit! He was fucked!

Takanawa knelt down. His hand touched solid muscle on the Russian’s shoulder within the bundled sack. He felt an initial tug to shrug him off. Heard the twisted growl of anger. Then the Russian calmed.Yuri gave another futile tug with his arms to break the tight grip around his chest and arms. Veins bulged as he yanked in useless fury at his cuffs. He groaned in angry frustration as confident gym-trained legs failed to loosen the bite of the ankle tie. Then he froze within his blackness. Panting, sensing danger. Aware of his rival nearby. He calmed his struggling, he slowed his breath. By his ear, through the scratchy sack that held him trapped, he sensed rather than felt Takanawa’s mouth.Quietly through the sacking, he heard the words.“No one’s going to die”.A pause. Yuri’s mind finished the words off himself.“You’ll just wish you had”.

The end

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