Chapter Twenty-Seven
It was getting harderand harder for Isaac to stay awake. He’d been alone for a while now. Or maybe it just felt that way and it had only been a few minutes. Time had no meaning for him at the moment. All he was concentrating on was keeping himself awake. If he passed out, he was more vulnerable, and that was the last thing he wanted. At least conscious, he had a little bit of control on what was happening to him and how he could protect himself from the blows.
What was Viktor up to?
Was this what he meant by dragging out his death?
It wouldn’t surprise him. Anyone who had no issues trafficking people for a profit would be sadistic enough to prolong the torture.Pity he’d picked the wrong man to try that out on. Isaac wasn’t going to be broken easily.
Behind him, the door opened, and he didn’t give the person who was entering the satisfaction of turning to look at them. Isaac kept his blurry gaze forward and imagined Marie standing in front of him, wearing those sexy scrubs with her stethoscope around her neck. They hadn’t ventured down the path of roll play, but he was enjoying the fantasy he was creating in his mind.
When he got out of this he’d suggest it to her. Given how open she was to some of the things they’d done before he’d been taken, he liked to think that she’d be keen to give it a go.
“Does the prospect of your imminent death make you smile?” Viktor’s face appeared in front of him.
No way was he going to tell the other man what he’d been thinking, the fact that he’d been able to do that considering his condition surprised Isaac. He put it down to his determination to get back to the woman he loved. “Imagining your death, yeah, that makes me smile.” He stretched his lips into a wide grin, ignoring the pain the action caused on his badly split lip.
“I will get rid of that smile, asshole.” Viktor slapped him, and Isaac’s head whipped to the right violently. Blood from his cut lip splatted on the ground.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Poking the lion wasn’t the brightest idea, but Isaac was beyond the place of caring.
“You really do have a death wish don’t you?” Viktor pulled his gun out and pointed it at Isaac. “One shot and you’re dead.”
“Isn’t that what you want? Me dead? Then do it.” It was a huge gamble to taunt the man, yet he hadn’t been able to stop the words from bursting out of him.
“It will be my pleasure.” The gun cocked, and Issac lifted his head, facing his foe head on, even if his outline was blurry. He would look at the man when he took his life. He wasn’t going to back down.
Regret twisted inside of him that he wasn’t going to keep his promise and come back to Marie. At least he’d known true love and pleasure once in his life. If he was going to die, he would be grateful that he’d had Marie for a short time, instead of not at all.
The door opened again, and the rapid beat of footsteps slapped across the concrete floor. A man rushed up to Viktor and spoke in rapid Russian, too fast for Isaac to understand. Whatever he said caused Viktor’s lips to firm into a thin line and glance over his shoulder briefly.
Was help on the way?
Had his team found him?
From somewhere deep inside, a rush of adrenalineand energy swarmed, anticipating the moment the breech occurred. Would it happen before Viktor killed him, or would he not get to see it happen?
The other man tugged at Viktor’s arm, clearly wanting him to leave the room before whatever shit was about to go down. Viktor shook him off and gave a short, sharp nod. “I would say it was a pleasure knowing you, but it wasn’t. Goodbye.”
Isaac felt the burn of the bullet ripping into his flesh before the sound of it being fired hit him. Around him he thought he heard windows smashing and other gunfire, but he couldn’t be sure.
Pain radiated through his body, pulling away the ability to think. Darkness lured him into its safety net, and he fell willingly. “Marie,” he whispered before he was fully engulfed with agony.
The team hadn’t beenhappy that Marie had insisted on coming with them, but she argued that she could provide Isaac immediate medical attention instead of waiting for the paramedics to arrive.
Eventually they’d given in when she threatened to follow them if they didn’t let her go with them.Fortunately, the route they had to take to where Isaac was being held went past his house, so they could take a slight detour for her to pick up her medical bag ensuring she had what she needed in addition to the well-stocked kit that Alliez had.
Now she sat in the safety of the vehicle with Angelo down the block from where the warehouse was. They were close, but not so close that their presence would be deemed as suspicious.
Marie wanted to apologize to him for having drawn the short straw to babysit her, but she kept the words to herself, knowing that he would refute that he was unhappy he wasn’t in the middle of the action, like the rest of the team.
“Copy that,” Angelo said into the comms he wore. She hadn’t pushed her luck to get one of those devices so she could hear what was going on. It was enough that she was there should she be needed.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“They’re about to breach the building. We’ve also got a name for who took him.”
“Who?” Was there a chance she’d recognize the person? Possibly not.
