Invincible(58)

He’s going to kill me.





44.


(Wes)



I opened my eyes and saw some woman rubbing my shoulder. I threw my elbow and groaned.

“Whoa,” she said. “Hey. It’s okay, Wes.”

“Who the f*ck are you?” I asked.

“I’m Julie. I work with Dr. Stenbrer.”

I looked around the room. It wasn’t a hospital. And I was on a desk. The desk was pushed against the wall, some couch cushions under my head. It was a makeshift hospital room.

“How’s the shoulder?” Julie asked.

“Burns.”

“You lost some blood, but you’re going to survive, Wes. You need a lot of stitches.”

“Where’s the doc?” I asked.

The door opened and in came the doctor. Wearing an ugly green sweater, sleeves pushed up, a brown collar sticking out of the top of the sweater. He had a combover and glasses. He looked like some middle aged insurance salesman living the middle class dream. Who he really was was a genius doctor on Aton’s payroll. So, yeah, he lived the middle class life and ran a small doctor’s office, but he was paid a ton of money to help Aton when needed.

“Wes,” the doc said, “I’m Dr. Stenbrer.”

“Yeah, I got that.”

“You’re good,” the doc said. “Julie helped me stitch you up.”

I looked at Julie. She smiled. She had twinkling blue eyes. “Thanks.”

“No worries,” she said and touched my chest. “Anything else…”

“Where’s Rose?”

Dr. Stenbrer nodded. “Let me go get Aton and we’ll get this moving along.”

“What the f*ck does that mean?”

“Julie, come on,” the doc said.

The nurse walked around the desk and they both left the room. They were replaced by Aton as he came into the room, walking with his cane. The last thing I remembered of him was pointing a gun at me. That’s when I toppled over and blacked out. Only to wake up here.

“Wes,” Aton said.

“Aton,” I said. “I…”

“No,” he said. “I need you to come with me. We have to walk and talk a little here.”

I swung my feet off the desk and sat up. Pain ripped through my shoulder and my back. I saw a t-shirt dangling from a chair and forced myself to stand and walk to get the shirt. I put it on and stood there, looking at Aton.

“Luke is dead,” he said.

“I remember that part. You shot him. He was going to kill me.”

“Yeah, he was. I’m taking over his entire operation now. My family has been working negotiations. It’s going to get very busy for me.”

“That’s good, Aton. I’m happy for you. And your family. I’m sure it’ll be great.”

“And you, Wes?” Aton asked.

“That’s up to you. Isn’t that how it works? I’m just a fighter. Nothing else. You tell me to fight and I fight.”

“That I do. I’m still going to have plenty of fights, Wes. Don’t worry about that.”

Am I going to be alive to be there, Aton?

Aton turned and motioned for the door. We went out into a hallway. I looked up and down.

Rose. Where the f*ck is Rose?

“Aton, I’m not sure what we’re doing right now,” I said. “But I have to know if Rose is okay.”

Aton paused and then looked at me. “She sealed her own fate, Wes.”

“I never meant…”

Aton stepped forward and put his cane against a door. “I want you to open this door, Wes.”

That’s when I knew death waited behind the door. That’s how they did it. They’d give subtle hints and then just whack you. Tell you to open a door and then stand there and either shoot you from behind or have a group of guys with guns waiting to blow you to pieces.

I could have fought it, maybe.

But I didn’t.

I grabbed the door handle. I looked at Aton and he stepped out of the way.

Fuck.

I pushed down and pushed the door open.

I love you, Rose. I love you…



~



When I saw Danny hanging by his arms I froze. He was covered in blood. His clothes were ripped up. His face beaten badly. There was a table next to him with all kinds of tools. Most of the tools had blood on them. Danny’s legs hung limp, his head the same. He gently swayed back and forth. His breathing was heavy, deep, probably blood in his lungs.

“What the f*ck…”

Aton stepped up next to me. “Danny was working for Luke.”

“What?” I asked.

“He was on the other side. I knew it for a little while. I just needed to set something up. That’s why I went after Rose. I wanted to see if Luke would find out. And he did. He stopped Rose from getting into her car. I had a picture of her put in the car too.”

“What?”

Aton grinned. “I figured if you saw her. Saw her address. You know, you’d go check things out. I know you, Wes. A beautiful woman is hard for you to resist. I thought you’d get close to her and give me something to work with. Never thought you’d fall in love with her.” Aton looked at me. “Or that you’d lie to me about being married to her.”