"Wh-what?" she began.

I concentrated and she slipped into a different time phase with Gertrude. They could interact there. At least they had company. Though it wouldn't be for long. Even if I kept them here a week, they'd only have time for maybe few sentences. They were moving that slow. I hardly had to take the precaution of binding them at all.

Jane just looked at me. "That is just so amazing. I'd be really impressed if you used it for the common good, instead of for enslaving me."

I smiled at her as we walked back into the house, Jane's bare feet making a slight trail through the gra.s.s in front of me.

Chapter 72.

As we re-entered the kitchen, Jane picked up her handcuffs from the table and handed them to me. She raised her wrists, allowing me to lock her wrists together again. No complaints.

I hesitated before putting them on her.

"Janey? If I don't lock your hands, will you behave?"

"Of course. I've only been telling you that for days."

"No. I mean I think I need your hands free for a while."

Her perception kicked in. "You want me to be there when you deal with the a.s.shole." A statement.

"You tie better knots than me. You think you can make him uncomfortable?"

Jane actually smiled. "If you let me tie that jerk up, Christ, I'm yours forever. He'll be uncomfortable."

I nodded. "That's my girl. Come on."

We practically ran upstairs.

Jane shuddered as we entered the business room. Mayer was still standing in the same position that I had refrozen him. Technically he could have moved a couple of millimeters, but I doubted if he even moved that far. I saw Jane glance at the red puddle on the ground. I guess I could have returned that piece of carpet back to the prime timeline. It should clean itself. But I wanted a reminder of this man's behaviour. I still held Jane's handcuffs in my hands.

I carefully walked to the leather chair, motioning Jane to close the door and follow me. I vaguely wondered if I should have brought Christi up as well. She'd want a shot at this guy. I considered it, but I'd let her have her fun after I had this guy under a semblance of control. He was going to be a challenge. I figured that he would be a coward underneath the tough exterior. Far more concerned for his own skin than anyone else's. I should be able to use that to my advantage.

I pulled the gun out of its impromptu holster and aimed it at Mr. Mayer. Jane just stood quietly behind the chair. I glanced up and regarded her face. She was doing her best to control her emotions. But I could see it in her eyes. Almost rage at this animal in front of us. She'd talked to Sheila far more than I. She was probably far more aware of the horrors that had happened here than I was.

"You ready?"

"Let's get him." Jane was ready.

I concentrated and released our judge from his time block. Without really noticing anything wrong, Mayer continued his turn towards the closet. Fuming about his now non-existent slave who was peacefully sleeping in his bed.

"Oh Judge?" I called out softly.

He turned at the sound of my voice. He stopped dead as he saw me sitting in his chair. I saw his eyes travel to Jane. Eyeing her. Lingering on her exposed chest. Then the eyes fixed on the gun. This distraction only held for a second or so.

He exploded. "What the f.u.c.k?!?!?!?"

"Sir. I think we should get something straight here. This is a gun." I let a shot off into the ceiling above his head. Chips of wallboard shattered across the room. Mayer screamed. "It's loaded. And I won't hesitate to shoot your b.a.l.l.s off if you don't cooperate."

He stood still and glanced around the suddenly small room.

"What do you want? Money? It's in the safe. I'll get it for you." He'd noticed that Sheila was not in the room but he hadn't mentioned it yet.

"Sir. I have no interest in your money. At all."

"Then what do you want? How did you get in here? Who's the b.i.t.c.h?" I felt Jane's fingers tighten on my shoulder.

"You are Judge Evan Mayer. Aren't you?"

"Yeah. Who the f.u.c.k are you?" Still not moving.

"Evan. Can I call you Evan? Yes. I suppose I can. I'm the one with a gun. Evan. I'm getting tired of all this profanity. I don't let my girls use it idly. And I won't let you."

"In case you hadn't noticed. I ain't one of *your girls'. f.u.c.k you."

"Evan. I'm going to give you this last warning. You can quit the swearing, and apologize to Jane, or, and I think I'm being reasonable here, I can happily shoot you in the elbow. Or perhaps you'd prefer a bullet in the b.a.l.l.s? At this range I doubt if I could possibly miss. What do you think?"

His face paled and he stammered. "Wh-what. What. What do you w-want? Please."

"At the moment I want you to apologize to Jane here. The only person that calls her a *b.i.t.c.h' is me. And I would only do that if she was being particularly disobedient. Or I had her acting like a dog. She has never deserved it. Now apologize to the lady."

He took another look at the gun. "Lady. I apologize."

"That okay Janey?"

"For now." Her voice was like ice. She hadn't met this guy before now. But she knew him. She was holding herself in check pretty good. She was good at self-control. Perhaps it was better that I hadn't involved Christi in this, after all. I'm not sure that she would have the self control necessary for this situation.

"Now. Evan. You remember that girl you had a moment ago? Sheila was her name?"

"What have you done with her? Where is that c.u.n.t? Is she behind this?"

"Uh-uh." I raised the gun. Let him be very aware of it. "Language judge. Language. You remember what you liked to do to her? Tie her up? Had a good time with her, didn't you mister judge?"

"I swear. I'm going to kill her for this."

"You are going to do nothing of the sort. You will do exactly as I say or you are going to meet some agony that makes what you put her through seem like a cake walk."

"I never touched that stupid c.u.n.t."

"I'm getting really tired of your mouth, Evan."

I glanced up. In the ceiling above his head were two eyebolts. Similar to the ones I'd used to torment Amy yesterday. Looked like they were sunk right into the overhead beams. Solid as all h.e.l.l. Probably Sheila had discovered the hard way what they were good for. I felt a pang of empathy for the sleeping girl.

"Evan. I'm going to have Jane here do something to you that you probably did to Sheila. That's fair isn't it? Turnabout and all that? You won't like it, but if you don't resist you can keep your joints. Sound fair?"

Fear began to enter into his eyes. I think he was beginning to sense the depth of the anger that was present just below my calm. And he was frightened.

"You can't be serious. Who sent you?"

"You are going to let Jane tie you to those eyebolts above you. Aren't you Mr. Judge?"

"The h.e.l.l I am."

"Do you like your elbows and knees, Mr. Mayer? I hear that a bullet in each is an extremely slow and painful way to die. I hear that you might even deserve it."

Evan paled again. "Can't we talk about this? Man-to-man. Get rid of the b.i.t.c.h ... I mean, lady, and we can sort something out. It's pretty obvious that we are alike."

"We can talk. But I want you immobilized. For my safety and that of Jane. The *b.i.t.c.h' is staying right here. One more slip and I swear to G.o.d I will make you so regret it. She's a lady. Got it?"

"Okay. Okay," he mumbled.

"Jane?"

"Gladly," she muttered. "Can I gag him too?"

"Tie him. But don't gag him. Not yet."

Jane walked up to the man, her bare feet whisking along the carpet, a vision of cool efficiency. As she reached for his right wrist, he moved like a cat, grabbed her wrist and twisted her against him, using her as a shield. Jane screamed. He grabbed her hair in his other hand. Her head bent to the side, trying to ease the pressure on her scalp. Involuntary tears formed in her eyes from the pain.

"Now. You ain't going to shoot me through your b.i.t.c.h. Are you big man? Now drop the f.u.c.king gun. Or I swear, I'll break her f.u.c.king neck."

I was expecting this. Jane wasn't. She had gone completely white. Her body shaking. I could still see the anger burning in her eyes just behind the fear. I idly wondered how many times this guy had tried to rip the hair from Sheila's scalp.

"Evan," I remarked casually. Still speaking calmly. "I'm not afraid of killing her to get to you. She simply doesn't matter to me that much," I lied smoothly. "But if I have to kill that innocent little woman to get at you, I swear I'll make a bullet in your joints seem like heaven. It's not that I particular care if she lives or dies, it's just that she's been good today and I really don't want to mark her beautiful body. She doesn't deserve it. Not something you would care about, I know. You f.u.c.king animal."

I easily narrowed the time bubble around his body. Isolating it from the time continuum, slowing just his body s.p.a.ce back to a rate where he couldn't hurt Jane any further. Jane felt a slight tingling at the proximity of the slower phase but she was still free of the time freeze. Despite the time shift, she couldn't get out of his frozen grip, and she began to cry. Shaking. Really not wanting to be in his embrace. Not wanting to be the hostage. I couldn't blame the frightened woman.

"Relax, sweetheart. You're doing fine. I was expecting this out of the f.u.c.ker." I was really angry. I actually debated just putting a bullet into his knee for the h.e.l.l of it. I just couldn't bring myself to do it despite my threats. Perhaps later. After I'd calmed down. I had to get control of this. Losing control with this guy could be dangerous.

"E-easy for you to say. You're not the one being used as a bullet shield." She closed her eyes. Still crying and shaking softly. "You wouldn't have shot me, would you? I've been good."

"I won't let anything happen to you, sweetheart. I swear it. Watch this. I'm going to enjoy this." I sneered at the coward using the woman to shield himself. So ineffectively.

I walked up behind the jerk and pressed the barrel into the base of his skull. I wound my arm around his throat holding his head and my gun firmly together and choking him for good measure. I released him from the time freeze.

"Now. Release the girl. Slowly. And I mean, now. I swear you've strained my patience about to the breaking point. You wouldn't want me to SNAP would you?"

He jumped, almost making me pull the trigger. From his perspective, I'd just disappeared from the chair and suddenly appeared behind him. Like magic. Must have shocked the h.e.l.l out of him. I watched as he slowly released Jane. First the hair, then the arm. Jane shuddered and pulled away from the grasp of the former judge. He raised his hands, like in the movies. Letting me see them.

"Oh G.o.d. Oh G.o.d. I don't want to die."

"You will want to die when I'm done with you. You have no idea what that little stunt cost you."

"H-how did you do that?"

"Doesn't matter. Jane. You still have a task to do."

She shuddered. Not even wanting to touch the guy after her ordeal. I'd let her get even soon enough. She silently obeyed. Evan pleaded with me as Jane began to wrap the ropes around his wrists. She wasn't gentle with the knots. This was definitely one rope job I wasn't going to have to check. I felt him wince as she tightened the ropes.

She retrieved the desk chair and stood up on it, feeding the ropes through the eyebolts. He didn't resist as she snaked them to each side of the room and tied them off to other rings set in the walls. I felt him test the bonds as she tied them off. He was going nowhere fast. She played cowgirls and Indians with her brother. I felt sorry for the kids she played with.

I released Evan's throat and allowed Jane to back off from him. I walked back to the chair and sat down, idly turning the weapon over in my hands.

When I glanced up, I could see Evan, still standing in the middle of the room, his arms extended above him, stretched apart by the ropes running through the eyebolts. His gaze was fixed on Jane who was standing a little uncomfortably beside my chair. His eyes held undisguised desire. Imagining what he'd do to Jane, if only she were his. I shuddered along with the naked woman beside me.

I looked at Evan again. "Give me one good reason that I shouldn't shoot you right now."

"Oh Christ. Oh G.o.d. I don't want to die." His eyes had torn away from Jane's nudity and returned to the threat at hand. Me.

"That isn't a very good reason."

"Oh s.h.i.t. You can't just kill me."

"Sure I can. Easy." I raised the gun, aiming at his forehead.

"I have a family. Please. Why are you doing this?"

"Who was the girl?" I changed direction. Kept him mentally off balance.

"What have you done with her?"

"I'll ask the questions. Who was she?"

"Just some worthless c.u.n.t." He actually saw her this way.

I motioned for Jane to come closer. I gathered her into my lap and she gratefully sat down for the interrogation.

"Sir. I believe her name is Sheila."

"f.u.c.k you. She's mine."

"Actually, she's mine now. And I'm treating her a lot better than you ever did."

"I never touched a hair on her head."

"What's that stain?" I asked him.

"It's her blood," he sneered. G.o.d I was going to enjoy watching the girls go at him.

"I thought you never touched her," I was calm.

"What are you? A f.u.c.king cop? Did that G.o.dd.a.m.n wh.o.r.e b.i.t.c.h call the f.u.c.king cops?"