Forsaken Duty (Red Team #9)(94)

Owen came out of the building behind the couple. They were so focused on her that they didn’t hear him. Edwards fired off a gunshot into the light. The woman cried out when he pushed her back against the wall of the tunnel, out of the line of fire.

“Turn around, King,” Owen called out. “Ace isn’t your enemy. But I am.”

Owen’s flashlight was blinding as he shined it on the couple. Ace lowered hers so it wouldn’t affect his vision. “How long did you think you could keep the game up?” he asked King.

“Long enough to win, which I’ve done,” King said. “I own the world.”

Owen laughed. King shot toward him, but missed. Owen’s shot didn’t. It hit King’s ankle. Roberta screamed. King stumbled to his knees.

“I’ll be sad to kill you,” Owen said. “I can’t tell you how many times and how many ways I thought about doing it.”

Why was Owen toying with the bastard? Ace wished he’d polish him off. Prolonging it just put him at risk. What would Troy do without a mother or a father?

King shot at Owen again. Thanks to Owen’s flashlight, he missed again. Owen shot King’s hand, sending his gun flying out of his grip. Roberta ran for it, but Ace got to it first. She reached for one of her zip ties, but they were gone. She must have lost them in her fight with Santo.

She held her gun on Roberta, ready to take her out.

“You’re not going to kill me, despite your sick dreams,” King said to Owen.

“Why’s that?”

“Because I’m the only one who knows where Augie is.”

Ace couldn’t see King’s smile, but she could hear it in his voice.

“Okay,” Owen said. “So I guess we’ll do it the hard way. Which works for me, since it’s one of my sick dreams. I’ll tell you how it’s going to go. I have six more bullets in this mag. I’m going to blow out parts of you that aren’t strictly necessary. We’ll see how long you last. The sooner you tell me, the less pain you’ll have to feel.”

Owen fired into the thigh of King’s uninjured leg. He screamed.

“Want to talk?” No answer.

Now Owen really did need to move faster, Ace knew. Shock was going to set in and they’d lose King.

Owen fired into his other thigh. King lay back, twisted in an odd way, and laughed. He used his uninjured arm to try to drag himself away. “Oh, poor, poor Owen. The love of his life is dying. His boy is dying. Such a sad, sad life, Owen has. Annie told me how much you loved dear Addy. It was fun taking her from you.”

Owen fired into King’s shoulder, immobilizing him. “Where’s my son?”

“I’m sure my men have heard the gunshots. They had explicit instructions to carry out. If I didn’t make it to them in a timely way, they were to drop your boy into the acid pools. I’m so sorry I can’t be there to see that.”

“Fox!” Owen bellowed for the cub.

The boy ran toward Owen from the Syadne tower. “Sir?”

“Where are the acid vats?”

“This way.” Fox took Owen’s flashlight and ran around the bleeding King, who was too broken to grab for him.

Owen stooped and lifted King’s body, carrying him over his shoulders. Roberta screamed and leaped after them, grabbing at King until he shouted for her to stop. Ace followed them. She’d heard about the acid vats when she lived in the Colorado tunnels. It was a threat King liked to lord over the serving class there. She’d never been sure they were real, but she was afraid she was about to find out.

They took some turns that Ace wasn’t certain she’d remember, and came to a place with a deep black pit. I-beams ran across it to some rooms on the other side. She didn’t see anyone there. Were they too late?

“Fox, get out of here,” Owen ordered. The boy ran ahead, disappearing from sight. Roberta was still screaming. Owen carried King’s limp body. Lifting him off his shoulders, he dropped him down to the I-beam. Ace looked down into the still, dark pools, wondering if they really were full of acid.

The sizzle that came every time King’s blood dripped was her answer.

Owen crouched down. “Tell me where my boy is, and I will end you with a quick bullet. Don’t tell me, and I’ll end you with a quick dip.”

“You won’t kill me. You don’t have the balls.”

“You know, you little bastard, my balls are like fucking boulders.” Owen walked off the I-beam and headed straight toward Roberta. He grabbed her hair and shoved her forward. Despite her struggles, Owen’s balance was unwavering.

“I don’t need you anymore, King. I got your wife. She knows everything you know, doesn’t she? She knows what it takes to be a good wife, to do everything her husband wants, even if it’s letting him cohabitate with a sweet young girl who only ever wanted to be a good daughter.”

“Leave my wife out of this,” King said. His voice was getting weak.

“Like you left my woman alone? What about all those rape parties? What about all those months she spent in the hospital for broken bones? What about taking her little boy away from her? You want me to be kind to this bitch? You don’t even know the meaning of kindness.”

Fox ran back into the cave. He pulled Ace down so he could whisper in her ear. Ace looked at him, shocked. “You’re sure?”