No One to Trust - Iris Johansen [37]
“Playground?”
“Chavez likes to consider himself a conqueror. When he was in his teens, he was a soldier with a paramilitary group. He was a good soldier, brilliant with weapons and very strong. He liked it. He found the idea of being a killing machine very appealing. But the money wasn’t good enough and he left the army for the drug trade. He wanted the best of both worlds.” She moistened her lips. “Now he keeps himself fit at a gym he had built on his property in the hills. It’s a fine gym, with every exercise machine you could think of. But a machine isn’t a man. He needed combat to give him the rush he needed. So he invited or coerced or paid members of the different rebel groups to come and spar with him. He had no trouble besting most of the fighters he paid to come to the gym and give him a workout.”
“What happened to the ones he couldn’t beat?”
“He kept them there until he could defeat them. Most of them died. But, then, most of the others died too. Fighting to the death made him feel exhilarated. He said there was nothing like knowing you had that power over another human being.”
“He took you to this gym?”
“Took me? I was delivered to him by my own people. I was paid for with a tidy bundle of cocaine.”
“Nice.”
“I was there for three weeks.” She was beginning to shake again. Get it over quickly. “He found me a … challenge. Every night he’d come into the gym and fight me—unarmed combat. Karate, judo, street fighting … It didn’t matter how dirty. Whatever worked. The only rules were the length of the session. Two hours. If he got me down and pinned me, he would win. I wouldn’t let him do it. He couldn’t beat me. I couldn’t let him win.” She drew a deep breath. “But there was one way he felt all-powerful. After all, I was a woman. Every time I was still standing at the end of that two hours, he’d have me tied down and he’d rape me.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“That’s exactly what he is. He had to win.” She stopped. Don’t break down. Get it over with. She was near the end. “It was … hideous. The first few times he did that to me I was too stunned to think. Then I tried to pretend that I was giving up and he was getting the better of me. I guess it was too sudden. He knew I was faking it. He brought in a young boy—he wasn’t more than fourteen—and he fought him in front of me. He killed him. He told me that every time I tried to cheat him he would do the same thing.” She swallowed hard. “Oh, God, I knew I’d die if I couldn’t get out of there. That would be a final victory for him.” She paused. “But I let it go on and I tried to be patient. I took it slow, very slow. Our bouts gradually became closer and closer, and he was sure it was only a matter of time before he’d triumph. I even made sure I was compliant to every sexual whim. He began to take me for granted.”
“Dangerous.”
“Then one night I let him win. I had to do it. It was the only way to disarm him. I’ll never forget his face.… I knew the next time we fought, he wouldn’t be satisfied with taking me down. He’d want to kill me. The fun had gone out of it for him. I was right. Before he left he told me that the next session he’d introduce something new. Knives.” She drew a shaky breath. “That night I escaped and hid out in the hills. I kept away from our group, but I managed to find Dominic. He’d been told a lie about me and that I’d left the area, but he was still searching for me. He gave me money and told me he’d meet me in a month in Tomaco.”
“But you found out you were pregnant?”
“I wouldn’t admit it to myself until