Page 53 of Tank
He opened his mouth to say something but snapped it shut before any words came out. Then he held up a finger to me like he was telling me to wait a damn minute. Like I was really going anywhere. He walked off and I let out a long breath as I slumped back against the wall.
Not long after he’d left, he was back, with that Axe guy as he called him, and a man with a scar over his eyebrow. The man with the scar looked at least ten years older than me, the lines of his face hard as stone. None of them were wearing a cut and I had no doubt that was on purpose. This way I didn’t know their so-called names unless they told me themselves.
Another set of footsteps grew near and I craned my head to the side a bit so I could see who it was. An older guy with long hair and a short beard came to join the others. I didn’t know who any of these men were, so I wasn’t sure why I bothered looking at each of them.
“Tank’s breathing. He’s alive for now,” The older one with the scar said as he folded his arms over his chest and lifted his chin at me in a challenging way.
He’d put his cards on the table and now it was my turn. I understood that and I was going to keep my word. I just had to take a moment to let it sink in.
Noah was alive, but they didn’t tell me how bad off he was. The ‘for now’ hung there like an ominous shadow standing right behind me, just out of my line of sight. I was smart enough to know that he could have been bluffing. I had to take a chance and hope they were telling me the truth.
“My name is Nadya Kircher and I was hired by Savage to kill your men,” I said, keeping my face as neutral as possible. I didn’t want these people to know that my mind was a mess with worry and regret.
I expected them to pull their guns. I even expected them to shoot me right there on the spot. But to my surprise, they held back and waited for me to say more. So, I gave them what they wanted, telling them all that had gone on over the last few months right up until I’d gotten there, and they knew the rest.
But before any of them could say anything in response to my story someone yelled out.
“Loch!” Came from somewhere that I wasn’t able to see from my location. The older one with the scar snapped his head in that direction, and after a second all of them headed away from me, leaving me alone with only the watcher in the corner.
