Page 94 of Samson

Demir grunted and staggered back while two of the guards started raining down blows.

“Enough!” Demir shouted.

Samson lifted his gaze to stare under heavy eyebrows as Demir wiped the blood from his face.

“I guess we didn’t leave you in your room long enough. I had expected them to beat all the heat out of you by now, but I was wrong. We’ve got time to remedy that. Sit him down.”

The guards hauled Samson to a table and forced him into the metal chair there.

“Get me something to wipe my face,” Demir said to the guards, his voice nasally from his swollen nose, which continued to bleed.

One guard left the room, and Demir moved around to the other side of the table. He’d learned his lesson.

Samson rested his hands on the edge of it.

“It’s bolted down,” Demir said. “In case you get any ideas.”

“You think I can’t rip it out of the floor?” He was bluffing, but he saw a flash of worry pass through Demir’s eyes.

“For all the stories of your invincibilities, it appears you are no different from any other man. Luckier, perhaps. But you bleed the same.”

“Why am I still alive?”

“It’s not because I like you, if that’s what you’re wondering.”

“Why don’t you kill me and get it over with? I have nothing to give you.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You have plenty to give me.”

“Then why don’t you tell me what it is you want?”

“You spent many years fighting to protect your fellow countrymen. And I don’t mean Americans.”

“That was a long time ago. After you killed my wife, I moved on to other things.”

“I didn’t kill your wife. You did that. All you had to do was stay out of our business.”

“And let you kill innocent people?”

“You say that like you care.”

“You don’t think I do?”

“No. I think you only care about yourself, just like your great-great-grandfather.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You’re telling me you’ve never heard the name Demir before me?”

“Of course I have. It’s a common last name.”

“During the time we’ve held you, did you ever replay those final moments in your head when you lost everything you cared about? When I took everything away?”

“No,” Samson lied.

“You never wondered why I reveled in Delilah’s betrayal of you so much?”

“Because you’re an evil man?”

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