Page 57 of In the Cover of Darkness

forty-four seconds,

forty-five seconds,

forty-six seconds

I can feel my chest tighten as I focus on the length of time I've been away from Mila. She should be halfway through a bottle of wine with Nova by now, safe and happy in each other's company. This is the last hurdle in us starting over, and the end of Trevorcan not come soon enough. I'm going to enjoy watching his life fade from his eyes. If I can, I'll make his death slow and painful but that will depend on who is present. I won't risk him getting away from me for the sake of a little torture.

“Ready,” Ace asks me.

“I'm ready,” I say, plugging the earpiece into my radio before we move toward the door.

“Basic room check, then I'll try the door and put my camera underneath so I can see what we're working with,” Ace says, as we take up our position.

At this point working with Ace is like muscle memory for me. We've spent so much time together on missions that I know all of his tells and how he likes to operate.

Standing on either side of the open door to the motel room, Ace counts down on his fingers.

Three.

Two.

One.

Go.

Ace enters first and I cover him, the room check taking seconds due to its size. We are fast, efficient and silent. You wouldn't know we were in the room, that is until we approach the bathroom door, and a high pitch frequency screams into my earpiece causing both Ace and I to rip them out.

“Ahhhh, I was wondering when you'd show up soldier?” A static sounding voice appears from the other side of the door.

Trevor.

Both Ace and I share a confused look at one another before I gesture that I'm taking another look at the room. Ace moves to start trying to get a visual in the bathroom, but there has to be something in here giving our position away. I've never had bad feedback like that over the radio. I know it can happen if you get close to a microphone of some sort which allows it to amplify thesound, but I'm not a tech person so I'm not sure and these are definitely not military grade radios. Taking a scan of the room, nothing looks out of the ordinary.

“Tick-tock soldier,” he taunts us.

I continue to take inventory of the room before a small blinking light in the fire alarm catches my eye. Staring directly at it, I reach up unclipping it with ease as the low ceiling, combined with my height makes it effortless. Looking inside I can see a small camera, nothing high-tech looking, and simple enough to purchase online. Pulling it from the fire alarm I drop it to the floor and stomp my boot down on it hard, crushing it into tiny pieces.

“Ahhhhhhhh,” Trevor groans through the door, “I see you've found one of my little eyes.”

Ace motions me to the door where he's crouched on the ground, pulling me in to look at the small monitor he's holding.

“I can't see anyone inside. There's an object by the basin but there's no person in that bathroom,” he whispers.

“How long did you think it would take me to find her soldier? One month, two? I'll let you in on a little secret ..."

“How can we talk to him then? he must be inside,” I whisper back at Ace, confusion racking my brain in the few seconds it takes to register what Trevor is saying.

“... if I can't have her, soldier. No one can have her. She's mine,” he growls, seconds before a blood curdling scream echoes through the door and around the room.

“Mila,” I say, almost breathless as all of my blood leaves me, and I try to control the panic forming in my chest. I'm not prepared to waste time trying to negotiate with this jackass, Mila should be safe with Nova, and Ace says there's no one in the bathroom. I trust my brother with my life so I'm trusting him with this. Almost instantly I'm standing and ignoring the notionthat there could be a bomb in there, or wired to explode when the door is breached. I take one swift kick and the door to the bathroom swings open with little effort.

With my Beretta in hand, I check the room almost instantly and process what I'm looking at. On the bench by the basin, there is a cell phone that looks to be wired to a small speaker. I try to grab the phone but Ace stops me, saying something about it being a trap and not to touch it. I know deep down though that this is all a distraction, nothing here is wired to explode. Because on the cell phone, I can see my sunshine, my beautiful Mila. She looks like she's tied to something, sitting on the ground. Her head turned to the side, as she looks away from Trevor. He is holding a dagger up to her face, turning the camera to show him dragging it along her cheek. She winces and lets out a small whimper but doesn't make a lot of noise as the blood trickles down the side of her face.

“You know what I missed the most about her soldier?” he says casually, as he smears the blood on her cheek, bringing his fingers up to his mouth to clean them off. Moaning slightly, as he savours the taste of her blood on his tongue.

"It wasn't the way you could see her soul slowly dying every day she was with me, watching her spirit get crushed over and over as I beat her into submission. And it wasn't her tight pussy when I fucked her, using her like the fuck doll she was for me."

Ace is next to me and we're both breathing heavily now, watching the horror unfold before me on the small cellphone screen. The glimpse I see of Mila as he waves the camera around shows her blue sundress covered in small patches of blood, only the sounds of Trevor's voice coming through the speaker. He gets in close to her bringing the camera so I can see him whispering in her ear.

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