Page 81 of Nobody Wants Me
I took the tablet from The Beast and played the security footage.My system was flawless, and I looked at my wife.She had fallen from the stairwell.
“We’re going to get her back,” The Butcher said.She put a hand on my arm, and I played the video, watching her fight.
“We didn’t train her well enough,” I said.
“We trained her as well as we could with her skills,” The Butcher said.
“Eric The Tool, I’ve never heard of him,” Ivan said.
I looked toward Ivan, and I was not interested in what he knew.
“The guy’s a piece of shit,” The Beast said.“He will change alliances for anyone with the right money.The Grid must be getting desperate.He is not a member.The Grid has to have reliable people to do their dirty work.Not just any random assassin.”
“It means they’re failing,” The Butcher said.
“You don’t know that, and it could be a trap,” The Beast said.
“I don’t give a fuck if it is a trap.We know there are two possible locations they would take her.”
The Beast shook his head.“We go through those tunnels, there comes a point where there is no exit.”
“It has an in and out.We can make that work,” she said.
“What’s going on?”I asked.
“Eric The Tool is known for his black-market deals,” The Beast said.“But he also likes to play games, so he has a setup with a lot of tunnels, like a maze.He likes to play with the people he kills.If they can get out of the maze, they’re free to go.If they don’t, and he gets to them, he kills them.”
“This is why The Grid is failing,” The Butcher said.
“Look, it could be the fucking explosion or the many hits to the head I’ve gotten, but this makes no fucking sense to me, so why don’t you explain it as someone who has never fucking worked with those pieces of shit!”I was losing my temper.I was yelling.
Umberto had come from the kitchen, as had my guards, and the few staff we had kept.Freya had become part of us.We all cared about her, and it was in that moment I knew.This was not just about caring for her.
I had fucking fallen in love with my wife, and it had taken her being kidnapped for me to realize that.I hadn’t told her.I didn’t even realize I had loved her until this very fucking moment.I felt sick.
The Butcher and The Beast looked at one another.
The Beast was the one that answered.“The Grid works on control.They tell us who to kill, where to do it, and how.We have to follow those rules.Each death has a story.It is part of keeping The Grid’s identity a secret.It’s why they are strict about who they take on.There are tests that need to be passed.There is a process to being selected a member.”The Beast looked toward The Butcher.Cleary, they regretted their past decisions.
I didn’t have time for them to worry about what they did in the past.I needed to get to my wife now, if she was already alive.
“You have to follow their instructions,” The Butcher said.“The consequences are extensive if you don’t.”
I noticed The Butcher and Ivan share a look, and I wasn’t in the mood to even try and understand those looks.
“How is this going to help my wife?”I asked.“Standing around talking about the fact The Grid is failing, doesn’t fucking help me.Telling me who has my wife doesn’t help me.Telling me exactly where the fuck I can find my wife, alive, is the only thing that will help me.”
The Butcher looked toward The Beast.I hated how calm they looked.I heard my wife’s screams.My pregnant wife.
Pacing back and forth, all I could see was her smiling face.It was like a montage of emotions flitting across my mind, reminding me what a piece of shit I had been to her, and that angered me.We hadn’t made enough memories.I hadn’t been a good man to her.This was totally fucked up, and I hated it.I wanted to scream.I wanted to sink into oblivion.
“What are we dealing with?”Ivan asked.
The Butcher opened her mouth, but nothing came out, it was then that I noticed she was shaking.I’d not truly known her, but I knew she did have a heart.Her hands shook, even as she tried to hold herself together.This wasn’t fear, was it?No one said anything about her being scared.It made no sense to me.Why was she afraid?
“Eric is ...dangerous,” The Beast said.“If they’ve hired him, then they want her removed.They will not be able to control him.”
“This is not fucking helping me,” Ivan said.
