FOUR
Splitting pain in my head and darkness…
That’s what greets me when I come to.
I don’t even remember him hitting me, but the throbbing at my temple tells me it was likely with the butt of the gun.
Probably a Sig 226. It was always his weapon of choice.
The fact that Tarek hasn’t killed me yet should be my first clue that things are about to get bad, really fucking quickly. But I don’t even have time to consider it before a blow lands against my temple, knocking my head to the side and sending blood rushing down my cheek.
Motherfucker.
That woke me up.
I shift, and some sort of restraints bite into my wrists and ankles. Cool metal of a table presses against the exposed, naked skin of my back.
Where the fuck am I?
A blinding white light flips on above me.
“Fuck!”
I turn my head to the side and clench my eyes shut against the offensive bulb.
Familiar soft beeping noises fill my ears.
Medical equipment.
A hospital?
A blow to my stomach robs my lungs of air and removes any thought I may have that I might be somewhere safe.
While I gasp for breath, heavy breathing echoes in the room from whoever is taking the shots at me.
A hand grabs my chin and turns my head back until the light shines through my lids. Something blocks it out, and I slowly open my eyes.
Emotionless dark eyes.
Surgical mask.
A doctor?
But where’s Jade?
Any attempts to turn my head to search my surroundings are thwarted by the strong hand on my jaw.
“Well, Konstandin. It seems you’ve been a bad boy. You know what happens to bad boys? They get punished.”
Another blow knocks away any ability to process his words. But not before I catch the slight accent. He’s from the motherland.
Fuck.
Blood gushes into my mouth. I swallow it and choke. My gagging coughs ricochet around the room, and he laughs, a deep, sinister sound that sends chills over my already cold, exposed skin.
It’s not Tarek. I would know his laugh anywhere.
This is someone new, someone he brought on after we fled. This is the new me. The enforcer. The bringer of pain.
This is the man who will eventually kill me, unless Tarek mans up and decides to do it himself.
Not yet, though.
Tarek won’t make it that easy. He’s going to drag this out, beating and torturing me for as long as he can before I finally succumb and my body gives up.
And God only knows what he’s doing to Jade.
Rage boils through me, breaking through the fog of pain, and I tug at the restraints. Leather bites into my skin.
Fuck.
I won’t get anywhere. I know that. But I can’t not try. I can’t leave Jade in Tarek’s hands, not even for a minute.
Blows rain down on my body until a dark haze overtakes me.
Any sense of time is lost.
All that remains is pain, fear for Jade, and rage.
I can handle just about anything. But her…
Christ, she’s an innocent in all of this. It was a fucking arranged marriage to my brother organized by her father who saw her as nothing more than a bargaining chip in his negotiations for territory. She didn’t choose Tarek. She didn’t choose his life…this life. She never wanted it.
And now she’s alone with one of the most sadistic fuckers I’ve ever known.
A strike lands in my gut, forcing my breath from my lungs. My chest seizes, and I gasp for air through the agony.
Fuck!
“Better settle in and get comfy.” It’s a clear warning of things to come and only the second thing he’s said to me since I awoke.
The silence is intentional, a tactic I’ve often used in these situations over the years. It makes people uneasy, desperate. I used it to get information, to get compliance, to get control. He is using it to try to break me, to make me panic.
But it won’t work on me.
Whoever this motherfucker is, he clearly doesn’t know who or what I am.
And that will be what gets him killed. It’s only a matter of time before he makes a mistake. Everyone does.
Except me.
Until I got complacent…
I never should have let my guard down. Especially not in public. I don’t know those people from the party…not really. Any one of them could have been working for Tarek or have made an offhand comment to someone who knows him and inadvertently outed us.
Now Jade’s paying the price for my mistake.
Footsteps retreat…ten…twenty feet maybe…and a door opens. The bright light above me remains on. I turn my head to the side, trying to survey my surroundings.
A metal door closes behind the man before I can catch a glimpse of him.
Click. Click. Click.
Three locks.
Footsteps on stairs.
Given the chill of the room, lack of any windows, and the stairs, I can tell I’m definitely underground.
Cocksucking motherfucker.
There’s no way I’m getting out of here unless that door is open or I have the keys.
I don’t know where I am or how long I was out.
I could be literally anywhere. Tarek would have had his plane waiting to take off as soon as he grabbed us. I could be back in Philly for all I know. Or we may have never even left Denver.
It doesn’t matter. Wherever I am, I’m getting out. And then, I’m finding Jade, getting the fuck home to my dog, and ending this, once and for all.