Page 67 of I Promise You
The man’s face is covered in a white mask, and he’s tall. He looks like someone who just robbed a bank and used a beanie as a disguise. With holes cut into his eyes and nose. He wears all black and there’s something behind those troubled, dark eyes.
This was done on purpose. Another one of the terrorists hit men standing before me.
I’m fucked.
My training kicks in and I’m about to throw him to the ground, when he pulls out a gun, aiming straight at my face.
“We’re going to send your good friend, Death, a message.” His finger touches the trigger and my heart pounds. I can hear it through the ringing in my ears. He’s going to kill me.
“Fuck you,” I spit.
The man tilts his head to the side mockingly. He pushes the barrel between my brows, and I can feel the cold gun metal touch my skin.
This is the end.
“Revenge is the sweetest form of war, Bane,” he hisses. He knows my operator name. “All the executioners will pa—”
He doesn’t finish. A suppressed gunshot tweaks into my ears and I flinch, shutting my eyes tight as blood splatters all over me, sending the hitman lifeless. I watch him flop to the ground, on top of the broken glass, and I rub the blood off my eyes.
That was a close call.
The gun in his hands falls to the ground with him and I look around to see who the fuck saved my life.
Who the fuck just splattered his brains all over me?
Creature steps into my view. His gray eyes squint at me with pity and I can tell he holds a bored expression underneath his mask.
“He talked too much.” He shrugs with his pistol, which has a silencer on it. He tucks it back into his belt as we look down at the hitman. “Now the messenger is the message—how poetic.” Creature tells me, followed by a roar of laughter.
I lie on a bed on base after getting checked out by our medic assigned to the team. Creature apparently was watching me. He noticed I was being tailed outside headquarters as we both left. So instead of him going straight home, he followed and let me get hit by the fucking car.
He said it was because he wanted to make sure it was a hitman. And that he thought it was funny to see me get scared.
Asshole.
They refused to take me to the hospital. It would mean absolute chaos for us and the mission would be compromised.
After a long list of checks and tests, I’m cleared, albeit with a black eye and a few cuts on my face.
My body has been bruised good, one eye swollen, but… I’m alive.
“No word of this gets out, Kane. Not one fucking word. We don’t need to alert the public of these criminals. You know the protocol,” Admiral orders me from the door.
“But, Sir, Paul’s sister deserves to know what’s going on.”
“Excuse me?”
“I just think we should start telling our loved ones.”
“Know your fucking place, Slaughter. If we start telling civilians about what’s going on, it’ll be a shit show.”
“So we’re just going to keep fucking pretending that—”
“Do you need to be put on restricted leave, son, behind a desk so you can learn how to shut your fucking mouth when speaking to an officer?” he threatens, his green eyes darkening with condescension.
“No. No, Sir.”
“We have this under control. If we have to bring in Delta, then that’s what we’ll do, but as of right now, I believe this is a war we can win. So…after tonight, it’s back to work. Report to Grim.” Then he slams the door shut, pissed off, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
