Rise of the Order by Trevor Scott Read Free Book Online

ask who it was? Yes.
    The door unlocked and opened quickly. Toni pretended to be startled by his swift movement. Then she smiled broadly.
    Sikora’s eyes inspected her body from top to bottom. He had to be wondering what was under her leather jacket, and his concern had nothing to do with a gun or other weapon. There was no way to hide her more-than-substantial breasts. Her curse and her weapon.
    â€œHow may I help such a beautiful woman?” Sikora asked in Slovak.
    Toni only knew a little Slovak, but understood what he meant. She took a step toward him, still smiling, and then thrust her right hand up into his throat, bringing the man to his knees immediately. Then she brought her left knee up under his chin, flinging the man onto his back. He was still conscious but struggling to catch his breath.
    She closed the door and locked it. Rushed through the small, two-bedroom apartment looking for other people, found nobody else there, and headed back toward Sikora. He was trying to get to his feet now, his stance insecure.
    Trying a roundhouse swing at Toni’s head, she simply dodged the fist, swung the man around, and punched him in the kidney. He hit the ground on his knees out of breath again. She kicked the man in the back with her boot, knocking him onto the low-pile carpet, his face smashing against the rough surface. Planting her knee on the man’s back, she reached underneath the guy’s buttocks and grabbed his balls, bringing a sound she had heard before. A grunt? No. More like a sudden release of air. Shock. That was it. Shock that someone like her would grab him there in less than a seductive manner.
    Having read the man’s profile, she knew he spoke German. That’s what she would use. “Now,” Toni said. “You can tell me the truth without all kinds of sexual tension on your part. As you can tell, there’s nothing sexual about the hold I have on you.” She squeezed down on his balls harder and his body tensed, his muscles on his back becoming quite rigid.
    â€œWhat do you want?” he said softly in German, gulping after the last word.
    â€œStraight answers,” she said. “Give me that and I’ll let you live, balls intact.”
    His head tried to nod.
    â€œI’ll take that as a yes. Now, you were a Brother of the Teutonic Order?”
    He nodded.
    She wondered if he took a vow of celibacy. “What do you know of the Order priest’s death here in Bratislava?”
    â€œNothing,” he said.
    â€œWhat about the parish priest’s murder this morning?”
    â€œNothing.”
    She squeezed down on his balls, bringing a response of pain. Her cell phone rang. Shit. She had forgotten to turn it off before leaving the car. She pulled the phone from her jacket pocket and saw the number of the caller. All right.
    â€œThis better be good,” she said in English, knowing it was Kurt Lamar on the other end.
    â€œYou busy?” Kurt asked.
    â€œYou might say that,” she said, glancing down at the man. “I’ve got Sikora by the balls.”
    â€œLiterally? Again?”
    â€œFirst time for him,” she said. “What you need?”
    There was a pause on the other end. “I’m with Jake,” he said.
    â€œPut him on.”
    A few seconds passed.
    Sikora shifted under her. “What about me?”
    â€œShut the fuck up!”
    â€œHey, is that any way to talk to an old friend?” Jake said.
    â€œNot you,” she said, her voice changing to a calm drawl. “What the hell are you up to now?”
    â€œYour boy here was following me,” Jake said. “Had to jack him up.”
    â€œYou know what the hell I mean. That whole Vienna thing.”
    Jake paused and then said, “Are you busy there?”
    â€œI’m in Bratislava,” she said. “You know this place. You were here this morning trying to embarrass some poor local cops.”
    â€œTraining is a terrible