SEVEN
The thump of his footsteps descending mirror the thudding of my heart.
But I’m not nervous. I don’t get nervous.
I’m ready.
The agony of working my hand free from the restraint after the medication wore off took a while to ebb, but once it did, I was able to move from the table that has been my prison for almost two weeks and explore the room.
All the weapons of my torture were laid out for me like a fucking smorgasbord.
Fuck, I really wish I could spend some time with this asshole to give him what he really deserves.
I scrub my good hand over my face. I’m such a fucking hypocrite. He’s not doing anything more than what I’ve spent the last fifteen years of my life doing. I guess it’s different when you’re on the other side of the fist, or crowbar, or bolt cutters…
Although, honestly, I’m not afraid of death, nor would I ever give my brother the satisfaction of knowing the torture got to me. But Jade changed everything.
I will fight to my last dying breath for that woman, no matter what it costs me.
My hand throbs. I managed to stitch up the worst of my wounds, but the pinky situation…there was no stitching that. A powdered clotting agent and a bandage was my only option. Luckily, this fucker also had antibiotics on hand, so I dosed myself with that too. There’s no time to stop for medical care when I get out of here. I just have to pray infection doesn’t set in before I can get to Jade.
Click. Click. Click.
It’s music to my ears. One step closer to having Jade safe and back in my arms. One step closer to killing Tarek and ending this thing.
The second he’s through the door, I strike.
One hand clamps over the mask covering his mouth, and the other arm circles his neck, pulling him back into a choke hold.
I kick the door shut with my foot to ensure anyone upstairs can’t hear what’s going on. Doc clutches at my arms and thrashes to free himself.
My arm tightens on his throat, and I walk him to the table. Dried blood and other things I don’t want to think about cover the surface.
“Good morning, Doc. There’s been a change of plans.”
Once his struggles cease and I know that he’s out, I strap him to my former prison and set to work.
I need any information he has. As little as it may be, it could be essential to finding Jade and my asshole brother.
He stirs, and a sharp slap has his eyes flying open. They blink against the bright light overhead before finally focusing on me.
“What do you want?” His voice wavers so badly, I can barely make out the words.
Leaning over him, I grin. “Information, and for you to suffer as much as I have.”
I have to give the guy credit. He doesn’t even flinch at my words. But that mask has to go; I want to know who I’m really dealing with. I tear it off, and he has the balls to smirk at me.
Shit. I know that smirk.
Something niggles at the back of my mind…a very old memory…
“Recognize me, Konstandin? It’s been a long, long time, miku im.”
Old friend?
No.
It can’t be…
A barrage of bullets twenty years ago made it impossible.
I shake my head and rack my brain for any way to explain it. “No, you’re dead.”
He grins. “No, not dead. Close to it. After you abandoned me, I managed to crawl to a blown-out building and perform basic triage until I was finally found by some locals who took me in and nursed me back to health.”
Jesus.
We all thought he was dead. He didn’t have a pulse, at least not one we could find in the two seconds we had to check. We didn’t even have time to try to collect his body before we had to turn our attention to saving our own lives.
War is brutal. It’s unforgiving and relentless. It makes men do things…things that can never be taken back or forgotten. It taught me how to kill and how to survive. It sent me down the path that’s led to this. To a place where one killer is facing down another. To a place where an old friend has to kill a ghost.
“Why didn’t you contact me? Return to the unit?”
A low chuckle rumbles from his lips. “Because being dead gave me freedom. From debt. From servitude. From the life I had been living. I was born anew.”
“Into a sick, twisted psychopath.”
His eyebrows raise. “Look who is talking, miku im.”
Ouch.
He’s not wrong, but it’s beside the point. Old friend or not, he’s the enemy now, one who has something I desperately need.
“Armend, I need to know where Tarek took Jade. Tell me everything you know.”
The firm set of his jaw assures me this won’t go as easy as I had hoped. Perhaps he’s forgotten what I was capable of, even back then.
“Fine. We’ll do it the hard way.”
I grab a scalpel from the tray next to the table and cut away his clothing, exposing his skin. Scars riddle his torso from the rain of bullets that met him during the firefight so long ago. How could be think we abandoned him? He was my unit medic, and one of the closest friends I had.
Any other time, I may feel guilty about what happened. But not after what he’s done, what he would have continued to do if I hadn’t managed to free myself.
“I am sorry I have to do this, miku im.”
The words are hollow, and he knows it. As the blade pierces his skin, his bellow of pain ricochets around the room and has my heart beating a rapid tattoo. Maybe I’ve missed this more than I thought. It feels like coming home.
“How about we start with the ribs?”