Page 11 of Double or Nothing
“You saved his life?” Jade asks.
“I guess you could say that. For now, anyway. Vulcan needs a lot more saving. He’s messed up. We always knew it, but never realized how bad it really is.”
“If Vulcan didn’t kill Ivan, who did?” she asks.
“When I tackled Vulcan, the gun discharged and flew out of his hands. It was dark and none of us could see a damn thing. I yelled for Kit to get the gun and he scrambled for it, while I tried to slow Vulcan down. Vulcan fought me like a beast with inhuman strength. There wasn’t a chance in hell I could control him physically, though I tried my best. Kit reached the gun first, rolled over and shot Ivan with the remaining two bullets. Blew his head into pieces.”
“Kit was the one who killed Ivan?” Jade asks in shock. “I can’t believe it. He wouldn’t harm a fly. Does he even know how to shoot a gun?”
“Apparently, Kit can use a gun very well. He hit him right between the eyes with the first shot in the dark. I was stunned. Kit didn’t have a choice, though. The only way to end the game was to kill Ivan because Vulcan would’ve kept it going until someone died. And that someone would’ve been him if I hadn’t tackled him and knocked the gun out of his hands.”
“This is all my fault,” she says. “I’ve ruined your lives by being here. One day you’re all doing great and then I arrive in town. Kit must be terribly upset to have killed someone. Even if it was an evil man. It goes against everything Kit believes in to kill.”
“I don’t have a clue where Kit’s head is right now. We’re all shook up, and no one is thinking straight. When we were finally able to bring Vulcan back to reality, he was furious at Kit.”
“For what? Killing Ivan?”
“Vulcan said he promised to kill anyone who harmed you, and he felt as if Kit took that honor away from him. He’s fucked up in the head big time.”
“We need to go to the RV,” she says. “I need to see them both personally myself to make sure they’re okay. This is a nightmare and all because of me. Not to mention the Russian mafia will be after all of you now. I’ve dragged you down into my shit, and now we’re all fucked.”
“We’ll go there soon, but first we need to hide your car in Kit’s garage and leave it. You can’t drive it again. Leroy’s gone to pick up a few things, and then he’ll swing by Kit’s to get us. I’ve already texted Kit to tell him you’re with me. I’m sure they’re as relieved as I am to find out you’re safe.”
“We need to get rid of the body, so it can’t be traced back to any of you,” she says.
“That’s why Leroy has gone to the hardware store. To get shovels and other supplies, to help us dispose of him before sunrise.”
Jade closes her eyes and leans her head back against the headrest. “I’m so sorry,” she says. “I can’t wrap my head around everything you told me. It makes me physically sick to my stomach knowing what Vulcan did. You’ve hinted he had issues, but I never realized it was something this serious. I’ve even made a couple of smart ass comments to him about needing to get therapy. What if he had shot himself? How could I live with that?”
I grip her hand again in mine and squeeze it tight. “Please, don’t go there. You didn’t cause this to happen. There’s something else we only found out about tonight. When Vulcan was playing Russian Roulette, he told Ivan that he plays it almost every night alone at the RV. Every night after work, he’s out there by himself, rolling that fucking gun down his arm with a bullet in the chamber and then putting it to his head. Every time he pulled the trigger, and nothing happened, it only reconfirmed his belief that he can’t die.”
“Why would he do that? Please tell me how to stop him. I’ll do anything.”
I let out a tired sigh. “I wish I knew.”
5
JADE
I’m in a state of shock over everything Seven told me. The fact the Russians found me is nothing compared to Vulcan playing Russian Roulette with real bullets. My mind is continuously replaying every conversation I’ve ever had with him.
What did I miss?
The couple of times when he mentioned he couldn’t die, I passed it off as nothing more than him being a tough bad ass. Typical male macho bullshit not to be taken seriously.
Now I remember his comments about not registering pain the same as normal people too.
“What happened to Vulcan in his life?” I ask Seven. “He didn’t get this way overnight.”
Seven shakes his head. “That’s not for me to share. I’m sorry. Vulcan will need to tell you when he’s ready. I won’t betray his trust by oversharing.”
“I understand,” I say, nodding. “What about his inability to feel pain, though? That’s weird as hell. Is it true? Can you tell me that much?”
Seven grows quiet for a few moments before speaking. “The mind is a powerful tool and can be used to overpower physical sensations if given enough practice. For example, the way you trained your body to go without oxygen for a long period. It’s mind over body. Vulcan’s mind trained him to withstand and ignore the pain. To the point that he can’t always recognize when he’s injured. It took all of us a few minutes to figure out if he’d been shot when the gun went off. Can you believe he didn’t know if he’d been hit by a bullet?”
“I’m so scared for him,” I say. “I had no idea.”
“Me, too,” he agrees. “Right now, though, we have bigger issues to deal with. There’s a man with half his head blown off sitting in one of Vulcan’s chairs. We need to dispose of the body before the sun comes up, and we’ve got to move fast. All traces of Ivan need to be gone before sunrise.”
