I hurry up with my cleaning of her foot and slip on the sock, securing it with another zip tie. I sneak a look at her and she’s looking half pissed off and half ashamed. I want it to be all pissed. She’s got nothing to be ashamed of. “You’ve got a pretty rocking body, Regan.”

“Fuck you,” she says. “I’ll kill you with your own gun before you get to lay a finger on me.”

We both know that she’d never be able to disarm me, but I nod as if her threat has real teeth. “I’ll never touch you unless you give me the okay.” It’s not something I’m making up for her sake. Eighteen months in and out of brothels like Gomes’ have made me never want to have sex outside of a relationship where I could be certain that the person I’m having sex with wants it a hundred percent. And given that the last eighteen months has been spent hunting and rescuing and killing people…well, the only relief my dick has seen is Rosie Palm. Maybe that’s why I’ve got hard dick disease around Regan.

“Likely story,” she scoffs, and the ease at which she insults me tells me that she’s more comfortable with me than she knows or may be willing to acknowledge. It tells me she’ll follow me without much hesitation so we head off, me in my shoes and Regan wearing my socks. It’s not ideal, but my shoes would be boats on her and I don’t think she’s ready to be carried.

“You ever been to Rio before?” I ask as we wend our way down the hill. I figure from the increasing noise that we can find a taxi soon.

“No.” Then after a short pause she asks with incredulity, “Are you trying to make small talk with me?”

“Would you rather tell me how long you were with Gomes?”

She’s silent, so I take that as a no. When we arrive on a main drag, I’m able to hail a taxi and hold the door open for Regan. She hesitates and looks around, weighing her chances of survival in the favela. I shift slightly and pull back my jacket so she can see the butt of one of my guns. She closes her eyes in resignation and climbs in. Smart girl. She’s going to be one of those who make it. Many don’t. Their time in captivity fucks them up so bad that they fall back into the trade either because their families won’t take them in, they need to fund their newly acquired drug habit, or they don’t have any other place to go. That’s another shitty lesson I learned early on. I’m going to hold tight to this memory so that I can pull the gun away from my head the next time I see one of my failures.

“U.S. Embassy,” I bark at the driver and then settle back, resting one hand on the butt of my gun, scanning the streets for trouble as we take off. There isn’t anyone behind us, but the sense of wrongness is still dogging me.

A hand grabs at my arm and I twist around to look at Regan who’s only inches from my body. Oh shit. The closeness is generating some warm feelings in my lower body. I wish my conscience had more control over my goddamn body. I clear my throat. “What is it?”

“You’re taking me to the embassy?” Regan’s voice is high and tremulous, either on the verge of tears or laughter. I nod cautiously. Please don’t let it be tears.

She gasps and then covers her mouth. Water begins coursing down her face, and she throws herself at me. “Thank you. Thank you,” she repeats, and I feel her soft cheek rub against my stubble-filled one. Vaguely I wonder if I’m scratching her with my facial hair, but mostly I’m wondering where I should put my hands when her supermodel body is pressed against me. Her tits are burning a hole in my chest and over her shoulder I can see her fine ass waving in the air. I catch the cab driver looking in his rear view mirror and I push Regan aside. He doesn’t need to see her ass.

“Look at her again and you’re a dead man,” I bark at the cab driver. His eyes drop immediately to the road but I hear him muttering in Portuguese that if I didn’t want him to look at her ass then I should make sure she wears more clothes.

“Don’t like touching a dirty whore?” Regan says bitterly.

Her words don’t really register at first and then I realize she was offended that I pushed her away. I run one frustrated hand through my hair. “A guy like me would be pretty damn lucky to be permitted to touch you.”

She snorts. “Nice talk. Doesn’t really match your actions.”

I can’t believe this. She was afraid to wear my socks, but now she’s mad I’m not mauling her. I guess I should be happy she’s still fiery after all she went through. Gives me hope that she’ll go home and live a good life. Although from the sounds of it she needed a new boyfriend. Nick, formerly known as “feared hit man Nikolai Andrushko” and the guy who sent me to find Regan, told me that she had an asshole of a boyfriend. One who didn’t even know she stroked herself off while he snored beside her. Per Nick, Regan’s boyfriend couldn’t give his girl an orgasm if Dr. Ruth were in bed with them giving him step-by-step instructions. At least that was my interpretation of Nick’s dour statement that the boyfriend deserved a bullet in the head for failing to pleasure his woman.

To my way of thinking, men who can’t give orgasms to their women don’t need to be shot, but they don’t deserve goddesses like Regan in their beds either. They should be celibate, lest some cranky Russian hit man goes around putting them into eternal sleep. Fortunately for the dickless wonders of the world who don’t care about a woman’s pleasure, Nick’s too busy boning Regan’s best friend back home in Minneapolis to be concerned about killing men who are bad in bed.

“Neither of us is ready for any action.” I raise my arm and sniff. “Jesus, I’m ripe. I need a fucking shower.” I’m dead tired, and despite the completely wrong thoughts running around my head of Regan nude and spread out like a feast at Thanksgiving, I’m too tired to do anything but sleep. I’ve been up for about seventy-two hours straight and need some rest before I fall over.

“You’re quite the metrosexual, aren’t you?” She raises a foot toward me and wiggles her toes. The movement is provocative. My eyes arrow right down the black silk-clad foot toward her inner thigh and in the dim light of the taxi there are enticing shadows cast by the valley between her legs. The hide-and-seek nature of the shifting light begs me to reach down and explore...I force myself to turn away once again.

“I like nice things. Sue me.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you were taking me to the embassy?” She nudges me in the knee with her foot. Does she realize how flirtatious she is being? I mean, she’s fucking touching me with her foot. That’s intimate shit right there. It’s a good thing I’m wearing a suit coat. Jesus Hermione Christ.

“Would you have believed me?” I said evenly. Her foot drops away, and I swallow a groan with a heroic effort. Good job, Daniel. I give myself a little pat on the back. She has no idea what she’s doing because she’s thinking about freedom and escape and the good ol’ U.S. of A. I’m the dirt bag having dirty thoughts about a girl who I’ve just hauled away from a whorehouse where she was chained to the wall. And because I can’t be nice to her, I snap back, “You wouldn’t have fucking believed me.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Her attention is distracted and I see we’ve drawn up to the embassy.

“We’re here,” I say with relief, but she makes no effort to get out. “This is it.” I wave my hand out the window. “Consulado General dos Estados Unido.”

Regan

HOPE FLARES IN MY HEART at the sight of the embassy. I am free. I am steps away from going home. Soon, all of this will be a bad memory and I can return to my previous life. Then, I want to laugh at the thought. I am a scholarship student; all of my grades will be torpedoed by my absence. I’ll have to figure something out. Maybe Mike will let me move in with him.

If he can stand to touch me after what I’ve been through. If he hasn’t already moved on and found another girlfriend after my absence. I like to think he’s waiting for me, but Mike has never been particularly emotional. I cling to him more than he clings to me. I have no illusions about our relationship.