Page 19 of Escaped
The list of his so-called victories was becoming long and prestigious.
Cocking the gun in my hand, my jaw tightened at the thought of the balding git.“I’ll make sure I thank him personally when I run into him.”
Turning the corner, I glanced along the length of the oppressive corridor, recalling my own advice about how best to find the exit.Running my free hand along what I hoped was the exterior wall, I lurched forward again, wincing as I urged my bleeding thigh not to give up on me.
“Come on,” I whispered, despite the unbearable throb.“Keep going.”
Somewhere out there was the world I’d known before Hawkins had snatched me from it—a universe with decent people like doctors who might be able to help.All I had to do was hang in there and make it to the end of that corridor, and then the next one, and the next, until the exit came into sight.Then all I had to hope was that Rosen had made it out before me and found Hawkins’ car.
“Easy.”My half-smile morphed into a balk as a fresh shot of pain surged through me.“That should be no problem.”
Who knew how long my struggle along the endless passageways went on?All I recognized as one monotonous hallway merged into the next was that my staggered pace hadn’t improved, and that, based on the red trail I was leaving behind me, I was still losing blood.
It was only when I glanced up that my gaze landed on what looked like a collection of bodies sprawled out at the end of the most recent corridor.Pulse speeding up, I stumbled on as quickly as my weary body would allow, the weapon in my free hand ready to protect me if one of the dead decided to spontaneously come back to life.Closing the distance between my bleeding form and the most recent casualties, I surveyed the devastation.I was in no doubt, had I given a shit about any of them, it would have been devastating.
There were more bodies there than I’d left behind me, limbs tangled where men had fallen, their expressions anguished as their lives had slipped away.Glancing down, it looked as though the contents of the nearest corpse’s brain had been blown out all over the floor at my feet, and I staggered back to the wall to ensure I didn’t slip on the bloodied mess.
“Rosen.”It had to be him, didn’t it?Who else but me could have piled up enemy bodies so effectively?“Good for you!”
Not even the pain tearing at my leg could dampen my smile that time, my hopes elevating when I peered up to find the source of the cold air whipping around the area.Scanning the huge metal door, I realized it was the exit out of the hellhole.
“You found the way out!”
Of course they had.There was a reason why the guy was the most efficient operative I’d ever had.Rosen might have made mistakes, but they never held him down for long, and with someone else to care about for the first time, I could only imagine how steely Rosen’s resolve had been to get out.
An odd mixture of pride and triumph rose at the certainty he and Erin had managed to slip away.It looked as though they’d had their own ‘final stand’ to contend with, the collection of bodies a testament to their effort, but scanning the faces of those assembled, I was relieved to see none of them were either Rosen or Erin.One of their ugly countenances, though, was all too familiar.
“Hawkins.”Inching closer, I wanted to cheer at the outcome.There he was, the asshole who’d been the infection in every wound I’d ever had to bear.“About time you got what you deserved.”
Leaning against the wall, I took a second to glory in the look of Hawkins’ disheveled body.Not only had Rosen found a path out for him and Erin, but in the process, he’d been able to take out a bane that had hindered me for far too long.Given how the odds had been stacked against us, it was more than I could have hoped for.
“Death looks good on you, Hawkins.”
I hadn’t intended to raise my voice, but the rush of glee racing through me felt good, and I didn’t suppose any of the motionless thugs stretched out around me were going to care.
Shaking my head, I edged toward fresh air and freedom.I still had no way of knowing how far I’d get in the cold, how I’d be able to follow the route Rosen had taken, or whether or not he’d even discovered the car that matched the fob Erin had stolen, but in that moment, I didn’t care.I was alive, and I sensed they were too.Three pawns in Hawkins’ destructive game who’d managed to outplay the portly little prick, and that was worthy of celebration.
Whatever happened next didn’t seem so important.We’d played the odds and, unbelievably, we’d won.
Reaching for the frame of the metal, I heaved myself to the threshold of the door, bracing for the latest incoming gust of icy blast that only seemed to embolden me.Looking out onto the path, I held onto something that had seemed so fragile and impossible before Rosen had been thrust back into my life—hope.Stuck in that cell on my own, the hours had seemed like days, but as soon as he’d joined me, there had been a rush of energy and a newfound purpose.That was Rosen’s power.He brought intention to everything he did.Hawkins had underestimated him for the final time.The idiot had never stood a chance.
I hardly noticed the scuffling behind me, my senses registering the subtle sound, but my limbs were too painful to turn me and check its source.I heard the gun blast, though, the noise rebounding around the entrance until it filled my brain.It couldn’t have been more than a second later that the new pain hit me, a bullet flying into my back and lodging below my shoulder blade.I fell forward at the impact, calling out as my face hit the hard concrete of the frozen path.I never saw which of them pulled the trigger, but as the agony ballooned, the voice of a ghost reverberated from behind me.
“I’m not dead yet, Baron, but you go ahead.Give the devil my regards.”
Chapter Nine
Wrestling Demons
Eli
When had the world become such a precarious place?
Once upon a time, I’d received my instructions and carried them out without question, receiving commendations as I went about my business.There had been nothing stark or miraculous about those events, nothing noteworthy, save for the number of souls I’d slayed—an anonymous tally that should have shocked me.I’d played by the numbers, honing my craft and moving frame by frame until that memorable day Hawkins had spectacularly taken me out of the game.
Only then, from the outside, had I seen the error of my ways.To take a life on command was one thing, but to obey without query had been foolish.In my capitulation, I’d systematically failed to notice Hawkins’ vile treachery, and I’d been paying for that mistake ever since.Running away to the wilderness and trying to shut out all the associated emotions had only been the initial cost.Being ejected from the only purpose I’d ever known had changed me.I wasn’t the same Eli from that point on, but then the asshole had come back, hijacking my and Erin’s love story and trying to destroy what we had.
That had been the line in the sand—my breaking point.That was when Hawkins’ story had to end.
