Page 23 of The Debt

“Who?”Archer could barely asked as he was still reeling from the punch.

Hands grabbed him from behind holding his arms in place. Another fist connected with his jaw, close to his temple causing a drumming sound in his ear and his eyes to darken. While he was yet trying to open his eyes which had slammed shut with heaviness, he was dragged and put to sit on a chair. Someone slapped his face as his head lolled backward. The buzzing in his head hadn’t yet subsided as dizziness washed over him.

“Wake up, Dunbar. Tell me where Mira is,” Vasco commanded. “Open your eyes.”

He barely managed to open them a slit, trying to get to his feet. “I don’t know where she is. I haven’t seen her since we left the hotel.”

He was pushed back down to sit. “Stop lying to me.”

“I’m not lying.”

“You put her up to this didn’t you?”

“Is she your prisoner?” Archer asked, finding some strength to look Vasco in the eye.

Vasco sneered. “She has a contract that she needs to honor. Now stop distracting me with your questions and tell me what you said to her to make her want to run away.”

“Ha, so she left you,” Archer scoffed. “You don’t deserve her. I knew what we shared was real and that she would never deceive me like you said.”

A punch caught him in the gut, cutting his air supply as he doubled over falling off the chair. Vasco’s men grabbed his arms and pulled him back up. He heard Vasco’s next words even through the pain.

“She was supposed to do her job, and even that she messed up because of you. What did you offer her? Did you offer to find her father, is that it? Did she tell you I was keeping him somewhere?”

Archer took in the words, letting them sink in. Memories of when he just met Mira rushed back to him. Her unhappiness and pain had been evident. She told him that hers and Vasco’s relationship was complicated. Now he understood. The evil bastard was keeping her hostage by keeping her father somewhere. He needed to set himself free in order to help her.

“She never spoke of her father. In fact, I thought he was dead.”

“You’re fucking lying!” the other man shouted, following up with a second punch to the same spot in his gut. “I know you must have said something why she is now missing.”

“Think about it,” Archer said, his voice barely audible as he worked through the pain. “If Mira was with me, would you be able to lure me here so quickly? I too am worried about her.”

“You have a point, but it doesn’t mean you didn’t puther up to this.”

“Again, if I was going to do anything for her, I’d have set her up in an apartment and given her the world. I’d have made sure she didn’t return to you. But I don’t force women to be with me and she chose to return home.”

“You think you’re …,” Vasco started, but was interrupted by one of his men pounding on the door and shouting his name.

“Boss!”

Vasco jutted his head towards the door and said to one of the men who were standing guard, “See what he wants.” While his henchman wen to see what the other wanted, Vasco grabbed Archer by the chin. “You’re an intelligent man, but not very smart. You thought I was giving my woman to you?”

“You didn’t have to,” Archer replied, then winced as he knew what was coming next. But he couldn’t stop the words from coming. “I would have taken her regardless. The moment our eyes met, she belonged to me.”

Vasco stepped away and beckoned to the other man. The guy removed his dark jacket and placed it on one of the chairs against the wall. He then strolled up to Archer with a tight fist to the face. Archer swore he broke his cheek. Another hit came blinding his left eye.

“Boss, they found her.”

The disembodied voice of someone spoke to Vasco, the words penetrating Archer’s haze just before another hit saw him almost passing out. He had to fight to remain conscious. Never in his life had he ever been beaten. The most physical abuse he’d ever encountered was when he played soccer in high school and when his personal trainer insisted he do more lifts.

His fight to remain conscious revealed more information about Mira as Vasco spoke with his men.

“Where did you find her?”

“I had my people check the train and bus stations like you said. She was heading to Hartford.”

“Who the fuck she has in Hartford?” Vasco asked but didn’t wait for an answer. “That means the engineer was telling the truth.”

“What should we do with him, Boss?”

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