Fifteen

 

 

 

 

Bas’s shoulders were burning but he stayed where he was. He heard shouting and footsteps above him but he stayed where he was.

Because he had no idea who was going to open that door and come downstairs.  It could be a rescue team.  Or it could be the men who’d been down earlier – the ones who had used Bas’ body as a punching bag.

Or it could even be Poppy.

They’d gone after a dozen guys like Poppy but none of them had scared them the way Poppy had.  He’d always seemed more intense, more dangerous, more deadly, more….just more.  And that had set all of them on edge.

He tensed when he heard a gunshot.

Fuck, he felt like a hanging target.

He really should hide.

But that’s not how he was trained.

He was trained to face danger head on.

He was trained to say ‘Fuck You,’ to fear.

Beads of sweat ran down his body, tickling his skin, but he didn’t move to wipe them away.

No.

He stayed, locked in his own mind as he waited.

The door above him was thrown open and boots thumped down the wooden stairs.

His head hung as if he were unconscious, but he had one eye peeled open enough to see that it was two of the men who had beaten him before, and they both looked terrified.

They spoke in rapid-fire Spanish as they quickly descended.  They spun around just as they reached the bottom step when more voices sounded above them.

They both began backing towards Bas when the word, “HANDS!” was shouted from above.

They continued whispering to each other and backing up as the feet, then knees, then legs, then torso of a man dressed all in black and holding a high caliber automatic weapon in his hands stepped down.

“Dejame vert us manos,” the man shouted at them.  Bas knew enough Spanish to know they’d just been told to show him their hands.

Bas could see another man descending behind the first.

And then a shrill, high-pitched scream that could only come from a young child pierced the air like a knife.

That sound spurred Bas into action.  His legs flew up and clamped onto the neck of one of the men in front of him.  His friend spun around to see what was happening at the same time the men on the stairs ran down. 

Just before they reached the two guards, the one not currently having the air squeezed out of him like he was wrapped in an anaconda’s embrace pulled a knife from his hip and plunged it into Bas’s thigh.

Bas grunted when the pain spread through him like wildfire….but he didn’t loosen his grip.  He never loosened his grip.

Not until a voice floated over the chaos and into his ears, a voice he hadn’t actually heard in almost a year but one that he’d heard in his dreams every goddamn night.

“We got him, Bas.  You can let go now,” Ten whispered.  He fucking whispered in a room full of noise and chaos and his voice was the only thing that Bas heard.

Bas’s head lifted, his eyes opened and found Ten’s.  He nodded once and removed his legs from around the almost dead man in his grip.

As his feet lowered to touch the ground, he saw the fear, the worry in Ten’s eyes, worry for him, and it was enough to knock the breath from his battered and bruised body.

He dropped with a thump to the ground and felt his knees buckle.

He was going down.

He knew he was going down.

He knew the unforgiving cement floor was going to hurt like hell but there was nothing he could do about it.

Just before his bent knees hit the hard concrete, he felt strong arms grip him around his waist.

He was pulled against a warm, solid body and he knew instantly who it was from the way the man smelled.

“I’ve got you, Bas,” Ten whispered into his ear.

Bas clung to him like he was the only thing keeping him standing….because he was. 

“I’ve been waiting so long, please stay,” Bas said on a moan as pain throbbed throughout his entire body.  He was weak from hunger, delirious from pain and wanted nothing more than to close his eyes.  But he didn’t.  Not until the man who held him in his strong embrace whispered, “I know, Bas, I know and I’m not going anywhere.”

I’m not going anywhere.

I’m not going anywhere.

Those last words that reached Bas’s ears put a smile on his face as he finally succumbed to the darkness.