Hunt Them Down(85)
“Valentina! Valentina! We must go!”
She pushed his hands aside and screamed, emptying her lungs in a guttural cry of pure agony.
“Valentina, we have to go,” Nicolás repeated.
To her horror, her eyes filled with tears, but they never fell. It was as if her body was telling her she had no right to be sad, that she didn’t deserve the relief they promised.
Nicolás grabbed her by the arm, but she broke free. “No,” she told him. “We finish this.”
She looked over at Egan. He had stopped twitching. He lay motionless on her carpet between the two armchairs. “Carry him downstairs, Nicolás. We’ll add his name to tonight’s main event. With luck, his Katherine will be watching.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Egan came to with a splitting headache. His temples throbbed with each beat of his heart. He was naked and covered in sweat. At his feet, Nicolás was in the process of tying his ankles to a straight wooden chair. His hands were already behind his back, secured together. Two large industrial centrifugal fans attached to the ceiling hummed loudly.
He moved his eyes around in search of Hunt. He was relieved when he didn’t find him. Egan tried to say something to Nicolás, but, for some reason, he couldn’t. He opened his mouth again but had to close it. It was as if he didn’t know the words. Saliva escaped from the corner of his mouth and slowly drooled down his chin. The saliva then formed a thin, glistening thread that swung back and forth over his chest and abdomen.
“So you woke up,” the Black Tosca said. “We weren’t sure you would, to be honest. But I’m glad you did. I really am.”
Egan’s eyes followed Nicolás, who was walking back toward him with two jerry cans, one in each hand. Egan panicked. He knew what was in the jerry cans. Gasoline. Behind him, someone cried for help.
Sophia.
“You can scream as loud as you want, honey,” Nicolás told her. “Nobody will hear you.”
“Nicolás,” the Black Tosca said, “please turn our traitorous Mr. Granger’s chair around so that he, too, can watch.”
Nicolás put the jerry cans down and turned Egan’s chair around. “How’s the head?” he asked. When Egan didn’t reply, Nicolás looked at him strangely. “Can’t talk?”
Five feet in front of him, Sophia was tied to a bed frame. She was still screaming, but she had almost no voice left. Her legs and arms were tied so tightly that she hadn’t enough room to move even an inch. Egan thought he heard a pinging.
Nicolás’s face materialized in front of Egan. The man grinned. “He’s gone in there,” he said to the Black Tosca, circling the top of his index finger around his ear. “I’m not even sure he’ll understand what’s going on.”
The Black Tosca joined Nicolás, and they both examined Egan.
“Last time I saw you naked, you were happy to see me,” the Black Tosca said, looking at his manhood. “I guess that changed too.”
Egan cringed inside, not because of what she had just told him but because of how powerless he felt. The feelings of embarrassment and frustration were overwhelming, his despair total.
Where the fuck are you, Pierce?
“We’re ready,” Nicolás said, pulling down a ski mask to hide his features.
“How many viewers?”
“Fifty thousand and climbing fast. And we aren’t even live yet!”
“Start streaming.”
Nicolás walked to a small desk where a laptop was set up. He typed for a minute and said, “We’re live.” He waved at the camera before walking to Sophia, jerry can in hand. For the first time, Egan noted the four GoPros set up around the room. Nicolás looked at Egan with a sadistic smile as he unscrewed the lid off one of the jerry cans. “I’ll start with her,” Nicolás told him. “But you’re next.”
Nicolás gently poured gasoline over Sophia, as if he was watering a flower. Egan’s frustration reached a new height, but he must have been hit on the skull harder than he had originally thought because he couldn’t even summon enough strength to move his head around. Sophia had stopped moving too, but, unfortunately for her, she was still alive. Egan could see her chest heaving up and down. For her sake, he wished she were dead.
Nicolás walked back to the laptop and announced proudly that they had reached seventy-five thousand live viewers. Then, as promised, Nicolás came to him and poured gasoline over his head. Egan felt the liquid run down behind his neck and ears and over his back and chest. The smell was awful, and the vapor burned his lungs. He closed his eyes and held his breath for as long as he could. Visions of his past appeared before him. His first vacation at the beach. His first kiss. When he received his Airborne wings and Ranger tab. Gaza. Fucking Gaza. Mr. Granger. The murders. All those murders. Katherine. His eyes became moist at the thought of Katherine. She deserved better than him. He hoped she’d never learn the truth about him, about the monster he really was. She would be a good mother. She’d know what to do.
Cole Egan let himself slide into darkness.
CHAPTER SEVENTY
San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Hunt had been inside the house for three minutes, and he was getting irritated. He was worried that something had gone horribly wrong. Would it have been better to get into the house sooner?