CHAPTER SIX

AMBER

 

MANDY GAVE ME a brief but friendly hug when I arrived at the state-of-the-art gym. I wasn’t a touchy-feely kind of person, so the embrace felt awkward. The moment she released me, I looked away and counted three men scattered on different machines. The music overhead filled the space with beats that made you want to dance or, in this case, work harder and faster.

“I am so glad to have you here,” Mandy said with a huge smile. She flicked her long blond hair across her shoulder and pushed up her red-rimmed glasses with her index finger. She was one of those girls who still looked attractive with glasses. Glasses never worked on me. I didn’t need them, but got a pair just to see, and nope they didn’t work.

 “Thanks. I wasn’t sure what to wear.” I pulled at my cream jumper. I thought maybe we would have uniforms, but looking at Mandy’s black trousers like my own, and t-shirt, I assumed we didn’t, and it made this job seem even sketchier than it already seemed, and it was pretty high on my sketchy radar.

“We wear what we want; my tip is to be comfortable. Don’t come in wearing heels or skimpy clothes.” She shook her head and narrowed her eyes at the word ‘skimpy.’ I forced a smile. Like what nurse wears heels or skimpy clothes? 

“So, what’s the deal?” I asked and when Mandy straightened up and studied me for a second, I knew shit was about to get real. She nodded at a small station off to the left as we walked. I noticed the three guys watching us.

“That’s Kirk, Marcus, and JP,” Mandy said without looking back. When we stepped into the room, I noticed the set-up was just like a hospital room. I was seriously impressed as I took in the bed with the surrounding curtain, the monitors, glass cabinet filled with medicines and bandages. A desk with a laptop and phone sat in the corner and a small couch was placed along the wall. I sat down on the couch as Mandy pulled the roller chair out from under the desk.

“So, there are three of us. Sarah, who is our part-time nurse, she will cover whatever hours we want off, but you will spend most of your time with me.” She gave me a soft smile. “Your salary for your hours will come from either Matthew, who you will meet later, or Philip. Both of them run the Gym. You get three breaks: twenty minutes in the morning and evening, and one hour for lunch.” She gave another smile, before she slid across the floor and pulled open a drawer, removing some paperwork and grabbing a pen, she pushed herself back to me. “So, this is a confidentiality agreement. Mr. Harrington is very private, and gets all of his staff to fill these out.” She dropped the papers onto my lap and handed me the pen. “Any questions?” she asked, and I had like a million, but I had the whole day to ask them. When I didn’t answer she tapped both my knees with her hands and stood. “Okay, I’ll let you read them and, once they are signed, we can chat again.”

“Great, thanks.” She left, and I looked around the pristine room. It looked to me like it had never been used. That could have been a good sign, or it could be a front for drug money. But employing two nurses didn’t seem like a front, it seemed stupid. I rubbed my forehead and got to work on reading my riveting contract that sat in my lap.

 

So basically, nothing that happened here was allowed to be discussed outside this building, all patients I took care of were also not to be discussed. This was pretty standard and the same in all hospitals that I had worked with. The only odd part stated, and I quote:

“Any doings that take part or thereof within the premises is also confidential and sharing any information with outside parties comes with a penalty.”

And there was no description of what that penalty might be. So, if Kirk kicked JP in the balls and I witnessed it and told someone, I would face a penalty. It seemed stupid but I was desperate, so I signed the damn papers and left the small room.

I found Mandy talking to one of the guys as he dried his sweaty neck and face. His green t-shirt had darkened under the arms, the front, and along his spine. He wore baggy shorts that stopped at his knees. His legs were hairy and tanned, like the rest of him. He had a beard that was so thick that it could be hiding a child or two, and his long hair sat in a bun on top of his head. The moment Mandy noticed me she introduced me to Kirk. I took his large, sweaty hand. He seemed a lot younger than I first thought, his eyes a soft brown, and that’s where I detected his youth. He smiled, a flash of white teeth. “So, you will be the one who mends my wounds," he said with a cheeky smile and confident pose. His banter put me at ease.

“I’ll try, but it really depends on the wounds, Kirk,” I responded, causing him to smile wider.

“Only gym wounds here,” he told me with a wink before glancing at Mandy, she scowled at Kirk. The exchange between them was odd.

“What other kind of wounds might I be mending?” I asked Kirk, but it was Mandy who answered.

“He was referring to his stupid heart.” She shoved Kirk playfully. “He’s such a doofus.” 

 I noticed the next guy moving behind Kirk with a smile on his face. He wound up a towel and I could feel it as it snapped against Kirk’s ass. He screamed and jumped away from Mandy and me while rubbing his ass. I laughed at the joke, but not as hard as Mandy, and I eyed her as she slapped her knee and laughed as if it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen. Okay, love, calm down, I wanted to say, but didn’t.

“JP.” The new arrival extended his hand, and I took it. He had tattooed arms and a haircut, which was shaved either side of his head, decorated with flame tattoos, and had a Mohawk on the top. It all seemed harsh, but his brown eyes were kind. Both eyebrows had been pierced heavily.

“Amber,” I said as he let my hand go. His front two teeth were slightly crooked, but I think it added to his looks.

“You’re a dick.” Kirk hissed, still rubbing his ass. He looked pissed with JP, but JP didn’t look worried at all. In fact, he was still smiling as he sauntered away.

“Hitting the showers if you want to join me.”

Kirk gave him the finger. “I knew you were gay.” Kirk’s words just caused JP to laugh.

“Come on.” Mandy led me away from the guys and back to the office. “Just so you know, JP isn’t gay.”

I glanced at her. “O-K-A-Y.” Her smile had me smiling. “Okay, so are you guys dating?” I asked as we entered the room and she laughed.

“JP doesn’t date,” she said it in a way that told me she liked it. Everyone to their own, I thought. We hadn’t been in the room a moment when the door opened and two men carrying a third entered. Blood soaked the man’s shirt, his body was limp, and his feet trailed along the ground. My mind went straight to the worst-case scenario. This set-up was all wrong. Mikael’s words rang with more truth now.

“Get him on the bed.” Mandy pulled the sheets off, and the two men did as Mandy said. “Amber, gloves.” I had stood frozen when they had first entered, but her command broke me out of my shock and now I grabbed a pair of gloves from where Mandy had pointed. I had only just managed to put them on when Kirk burst into the room, nearly taking the door of its hinges. It bounced off the wall, making me jump. 

“Is he okay?” Kirk’s pale face and horror-filled words told me he was close to this boy.

One of the men stood in his way. “Let them work.” Mandy cut the shirt off, but blood ran everywhere I couldn’t see the wound.

“Towels,” I told the other man, who had helped carry him in. He met my eyes, not sure of me, but got me towels without saying a word. I started to mop up the blood until the wound became visible. “It’s a stab wound.” I told Mandy as I kept the pressure on it.

She looked slightly guilty, but turned to the rest of them. “Kirk, you need to leave. Jax and Ryan will stay with you. If you want me to save your brother, you all need to leave now.” Her voice was commanding, which seriously shocked me. I wouldn’t have thought that she’d have that kind of authoritative demand, but they all left. Kirk gave her a final look and the trust in his eyes that she would save his brother made me believe that they went through a lot of shit together.

“What the hell is this?” I asked Mandy as she turned to me with narrowed eyes and a thin-lipped smile.

“Right now, this boy will die if we don’t fix him.” She declared. That's all it took. I shut up and did as she asked.  Her hand moved quickly and fluidly and soon the blood had stopped flowing, and he was stitched up and connected to an IV drip.

“It isn’t deep, and it missed all major organs, but he has lost a lot of blood and needs the rest.” Mandy explained all this to Kirk as he re-entered the room. I pulled the blood-soaked gloves off my hands. It didn’t really matter, my once-cream top was covered in blood, along with my forearms. Mandy patted me on the back. “You did good.”

I pulled away from her. “Don’t patronize me. You should have told me.” No one should have walked into such a mess. I should have been given a choice. Mandy hauled me out into the empty gym and closed the door gently behind us, leaving Kirk with his brother. 

“Told you what, Amber? You want to be a nurse and save lives...” she held her hands open wide... “Well, this is your chance, just don’t question it. But trust me when I tell you this: It might have been easy for you to get in, but it won’t be to get out.”

 

 EMMETT

 

Russia was cold, and it was the kind of cold that bit into your skin. The kind that made you want to bite back.

“Mr. Harrington, welcome.” My Russian informant spoke over the noise of the helicopter blades that still spun.

I crouched down as I walked with him. “Where is he?” 

“Mr. Harrington, my boss needs assurance that you will not kill him.” I stopped walking; the bite of the cold was keeping me in check, the pain like a rubber band against my wrist. A warning.

“No assurance. I am going to kill him.” I walked away now, into the waiting black car. My informant climbed in after me.

“Mr. Harrington, I cannot take you to him, then.” I pulled off my leather gloves and blew into my hands. The driver had the heating on and it felt like my skin was stretching from the change in temperature.

“Fine, I will not kill him.” I lied; I didn’t have the time to waste. I knew I was dealing with very dangerous people, here, but they didn’t know I had severed my link to my father. By the time they figured it out, I would be long gone, and the priest would be long dead. He studied me for a moment, and I let him. Finally, he nodded and told the driver the address in Russian.

We arrived at a rundown industrial estate and, as I went to get out of the car, he stopped me. “You need to step where I step, there are still active mines here.” He stepped out of the car and I followed him. I followed his steps precisely, not wanting to end up in bits, but I also took in my surroundings, escape routes, movements. We stepped across several wires that would have been invisible to the eye, but now that I knew what I was looking for, I could see the dew that clung to them. The driver moved behind me, and I tried to think how I could kill the priest and still walk away. But the closer I got to the building, the more I knew that this might be the one man that I wouldn’t cross off my list today. But there was always tomorrow.

We entered a building, the back wall gone, exposing a factory wall that was black from a fire long burned out. The dripping of water was in rhythm with our footfalls. We moved through the building and into another, each one destroyed. The walls that were still standing were decorated with bullet holes. Our polished shoes and overpriced suits didn’t belong here, or maybe they did.

We entered a room, and the nervous shuffle from the man who sat in the center made my stomach twist. I couldn’t see his face, as it was covered with a sack. His hands and feet were bound to the chair.

“Ask your questions, then we leave Mr. Harrington.” I nodded. I had no questions. I really had two things to do. One: confirm that he was the man that I was looking for. I pulled off the sack, and he blinked. His washed-out blue eyes looked up at me with a mix of fear and confusion. No recognition was there, but once again my stomach lurched. It was him. The second thing was to kill him.

“Who are you?” he asked, the fear in his eyes consuming him. I swallowed it up into the black hollow that was carved inside me. I loved it when they showed me fear. It fed the darkness within me. It allowed me to remember why I was doing this. Now he knew how the people he had tormented felt.

“Who are you?”  I repeated back. Now he looked at my companions.

“Albert, what is this?” He spoke to the man who had brought me here.

“Father just answer his questions, then you can leave.” Albert looked away, guilt in his eyes. He knew the priest, maybe even liked him.

“What do you want?” Father Declan asked, his words angry now.

“When I was a little boy, my father asked me that exact same question. I told him I wanted the world, and do you know what he said to me?” I kneeled down, coming eye level with the priest. “If I want the world, all I have to do is reach out…and take it.” I smiled at the memory, which empowered me even as a boy. I knew anything was possible. I knew no matter how they tried to break me, I would break them back.

I leaned into the priest. “I need you to listen to me. I am here to help you. These men have brought me here to kill you.” I leaned back out, letting that sink in. His face changed as he glanced at Albert.

“Father Declan, you understand.” I spoke out loud. He nodded looking from me to Albert; I could see the betrayal and fear on his face.

“I have killed a lot of men, tortured them, hurt them in unimaginable ways, but never a priest.” I told him. He was nodding subtly, but I wasn’t sure if he was listening with the fear that was clouding his eyes. I leaned in again. “I am going to untie you, and when I go to Albert, you need to run, Father, run hard and fast. A car is waiting for you two buildings over. You understand?” I said out loud while slipping a knife from my pocket. The priest tried to move away when he saw it, but as I cut his hand ties and the ones holding his feet, appreciation filled his face. “Run fast, Father,” I told him before I stood up, walking towards Albert and his driver. “I’m done,” I told Albert who looked relieved. The Priest chose that moment to burst from the chair, and he ran like hellhounds were on his heels. They would be soon; everyone had to answer for their sins.

“You untied him?” Albert roared at me, before speaking Russian to his driver, who chased after the priest.

I shrugged. “I was finished with him, and I couldn’t kill him.”

But then the explosion rocked the building, and dust poured from the ceiling, and I smiled. Albert looked at me, realization filling his face. “You bastard!” He raced in the direction of the explosion, leaving me behind, but I had memorized every step and made my way back to the car. Three explosions later, I arrived safely, avoiding the body parts on the road. The priest had been so close, now his body lay in pieces on the asphalt.

Albert climbed into the car. The deliberate slam of the door was to get my attention, but I stared a little longer at the priest’s torn up body, unsure of how I felt. I had wanted to kill him myself, with my own hands. So, I felt as if I had just spent months preparing for a marathon, only to come second place. Still, results are results.

“Mr. Harrington.” My name was said in far rougher Russian. I looked at Albert, keeping my face blank and emotionless. “Mr. Kirill will not be pleased.” No, he wouldn’t.

“I didn’t touch him, he ran, and he died. Nothing to do with me. Somebody should really do something about all those mines. They’re dangerous.” The car started to move away, the priest disappearing completely.

“You can take me back to the airstrip. I won’t be staying,” I told the driver who looked anxiously at Albert in the mirror. Albert shook his head, and the driver focused on the road.

“Mr. Kirill requests your company.”

“So I can decline?” I asked, and Albert answered me with a smile.