He gave the bottle of champagne to the nearest man and took her glass out of her hand and to give it to the next. “Yes, added. But it’s a moot point now, don’t you think?” His arms went around her, his mouth on her mouth, his tongue in her mouth. She tasted the fried things from the bar. The men let out a cheer. This was not the time or place to resist him, or make him feel she would if she could.

Worse, she had to hold him to make him look good in the eyes of these cretins just when she was thinking of how much she hated everything about him, and how quickly he had brought her to that feeling. He let her go as she was beginning to ask herself what she was going to do when she no longer anted to play this game.

Death before dishonor? A martyr? Saint Amy the Pure of Montana?

“Tell them what you’re wearing under the nightgown.”

“You tell them.”

“I insist.”

“Baby powder. Did everyone get that? Baby powder. I’m slip sliding around in here like a baby in a bathtub full of Jell-O.”

Chino smiled. “What flavor?”

She sucked her finger elaborately. “It’s a new one on me.”

Some of the men laughed. Others needed a translation to the Spanish. Then they laughed, too. In Spanish, Chino said to them. “Fire and ice. Hot pepper hidden in a cool dish.”

All the men laughed together. Amy was thinking of the other thing Gregory had told her. The government would move mountains to keep their fate a secret. She said, “Tell me about the television cameras.”

“Later.”

“No, tell them about the television cameras. I want to know now.”

With the back of his hand, and so swiftly she did not see it coming, he slapped her across the jaw so hard she flew backward on the metal floor. Her elbow burned on the metal. She could taste her own blood at once. The men were laughing again. In Spanish, Chino said, “Now get up off the floor before you make a filthy mess of yourself, you pig, and all of us decide to have a hot piss all over you.”

She clambered to her feet, not letting him see the rage in her eyes. She was going to kill him. Somehow she was going to kill this man. She had thought she had wanted to kill the three Gregory had killed in the apartment, her kidnappers, but the emotion was nothing like this fury.