Free Testing The Limits by Harper Cole Page A

eh?"
    "Nothing, I swear, it was a surprise to me as much as it was to you-"
    I stopped his excuses with a slap to the side of his face, calculated to make his eardrums ring. I put my mouth to his other ear and hissed, "Someone got me sacked and you know who it was."
    "Not me, not me, please!"
    I shook him, frustrated. "I am going to beat the crap out of you. I might not find out what I need to know, but I am going to enjoy making you bleed and fucking cry."
    "No, no, no." The little shit was nearly crying already, curling over his stomach and pleading with me to leave him alone. It made me sick to see a man capitulate so easily.
    "Come on, you fucker. Fight back like a man, won't you?"
    But when I let go and stepped half a pace backward, he crumpled to the floor and looked up at me, cowering. "There was a man, there was another man, who came and talked about you…"
    "Who?"
    He gabbled in fear. "I don't know! Tall and broad, well built. Brown skinned, Indian or Pakistani maybe, short black hair. Western clothes. He mentioned your name. They took him off to the offices upstairs. I don't know!"
    "Who in the hell?"
    "I don't know! He … he had smart brown shoes, they didn't match his suit, they were awful. That's all. I don't know!"
    Holy fuck. That was Amjad.
    Amjad. Who had been acting strange with me since I started seeing Jasmine.
    Amjad. Who was a loyal but secretive employee.
    Amjad.
    I kicked Craig hard, my foot cracking into his hip, and left him sniveling on the floor.
     
     

Chapter Twelve - Jasmine
     
     
    "I have things to tell you," Amjad said.
    "You can say nothing that I want to hear. Let me go."
    He spread his hands wide, as if I was insulting him. "Please. I have cooked for you. I need to tell you about Mr. Walker-Wilkinson."
    "I am going to start banging on this fucking door and screaming until I am sick," I warned him. "So let me the fuck go!"
    He was on me in a flash, moving swiftly for a bulky man. He grabbed both my arms and pinned them to my side and whirled around, and though I dragged my feet and kicked and spat, I was helpless. In desperation I flung my head forward, hoping to strike his nose; I wasn't quite tall enough but my forehead connected hard with his jaw. It hurt me like hell so I hope it hurt the bastard, too.
    Certainly he growled and held me further away, which loosened his grip on me, slightly. It wasn't enough for me to get free. I wrestled and wriggled but he dragged me inexorably back into the kitchen. I kicked out at him but he simply blocked me with his thighs, and I couldn't get enough swing to put power into my kick.
    Damn it all to hell but if - when - I get out of this, I vowed to myself, I will join a fucking self-defense class.
    "I thought you fuckers were all about peace!" I spat as he threw me towards the table. He'd miscalculated. I grabbed a knife and held it out in front of me.
    "You fuckers? Who is that?"
    "You - you…"
    He stopped advancing. He stayed a few feet away, but he didn't seem to look at the knife with any fear. "Me?"
    "All that old-fashioned out dated crap about women and the role of a real man, and thinking you can bully me, and shit like that!"
    He cocked his head and nearly smiled. "Just as Mr. Walker-Wilkinson also believes, I think."
    "He doesn't hold me prisoner! What next, you gonna put me in a burqa?"
    "Why would I do that? I'm not a Muslim man."
    "Because - you - wait, what?"
    Holy fuck. Pork curry and all. I was an idiot.
    And he told me so. "You are a judgmental woman, blinded by stereotype and assumption, I think. No. I have no God and no God would have me, perhaps."
    I silently made an internal apology to all Muslims. No, this fucker was just crazy in the head. I pointed the knife toward him. "You let me go or I am gonna stab you in the neck."
    The sudden hammering on the front door made us both jump in alarm. His eyes slid sideways and I recovered a fraction before he did. I took the moment to leap at him, jabbing wildly at his neck with the