Chapter 32 Matei
MATEI
Istir and the pain is immediate. I take a deep breath and the antiseptic burns my nostrils.
Jordan.
The memory slams into me, her emerald dress dragging across the ground as they took her from me.
My eyes snap open.
Three nurses hover over charts at the foot of the bed. Armed guards stand at the door. IV lines snake into my arm, monitors blinking their steady rhythm beside me. I look around and realize I'm at home. The bottom floor guestroom has been converted into a makeshift hospital.
I sit up.
"Mr. Ionescu, please don't move," one of the nurses says.
Pain explodes in my chest. White hot agony radiates from my ribs, each breath a knife twisting deeper.
I don't give a fuck.
I rip the IVs from my arm and blood drops onto the white sheets. The monitors shriek their alarm.
"Sir, you need to relax."
I ignore them and swing my legs over the side of the bed.
The door bursts open. Adrian runs in, dark circles hollowing out his eyes. He looks like he hasn't slept.
"Matei," he says and comes over to me, "you need to calm down."
I lunge for him and my hand finds his throat, fingers digging into him.
"I need to find her now or I burn this city to the ground and kill every motherfucking Bulgarian I find."
Adrian doesn't fight back. His hands stay at his sides even as his face reddens.
"Brother."
"WHERE IS SHE?" I yell.
"I haven't slept in two days since we took you off that street." His voice strains against my grip. "We found a lead this morning. Took us all damn day but we just got him. He's down in the basement."
I tighten my hold. "I've been out for two fucking days. How could you let me? Who knows what they could have done to her?"
Images flash through my mind I don't want.
What if she's dead?
"I know." Adrian's eyes meet mine, and I see the same rage, the same fear. "I fucking know, but they said you needed to heal or you'd fucking die. What the hell was I supposed to do, huh? You can't find her if you're dead.”
My hand trembles. Every instinct screams to hurt someone, anyone, to make the world bleed the way I'm bleeding inside.
But he's right. And I hate him for it.
I release him and look down.
"What did the man in the basement say?"
"I don't know." Adrian rubs his throat. "I haven't spoken to him yet. The doctors are coming now and I was going to wait."
"Take me to him."
"Sir, I don't think you're in any condition to move." The nurse steps forward, clipboard clutched to her chest like a shield.
I turn and stare at her and she nods and takes a step back.
I look at my brother. "I'm fine."
"Easy, Matei. You've got some broken ribs." Adrian moves closer, hands raised like I'm a wild animal he's trying to calm. "If you move too fast it could get worse."
"I said bring me to him."
Pain screams through my torso as I straighten and stand. Each breath is agony. I don't care. I'd crawl on broken glass if it meant getting Jordan back.
Adrian watches me for a long moment, then nods. "This way."
"Wait," a nurse says and steps forward, "at least take this. It'll help numb the pain."
I look down at the pill and a small paper cup of water. I take it and wash it down and then keep walking.
The guards part as we pass. Someone tries to hand me a shirt but I wave them off. The bandages wrapped around my ribs will have to do for now.
We descend the stairs to the basement. Each step sends shockwaves through my body. The walls blur and I grip the railing.
Jordan's face swims in my vision. Her smile the morning we woke up tangled together.
My beautiful fluture.
The basement door opens and I step inside.
A man is tied to a chair in the center of the room. His face is swollen, one eye completely shut. Dried blood cakes his shirt.
I study him and recognition clicks into place. He was there either on the ship or he's one of the ones who took Jordan. My mind can't decide.
Red floods my vision.
I walk over to the table against the wall and grab the cutters, testing the grip. I've lost two days. I don't have time.
The Bulgarian watches me approach.
"Please," he starts.
I grab his left hand, spreading his fingers across the chair arm.
I clamp the cutters around his index finger at the first knuckle and pull.
He screams and the finger comes away with a wet crack, bone and cartilage tearing. Blood gushes from the stump.
I pick it up, hold it in front of his face, and toss it away.
He's sobbing now, words spilling out in a mixture of Bulgarian and broken English. None of it means anything. None of it tells me what I need to know.
I wait for the screaming to subside. Then I move to the next finger.
"The girl," I say calmly. "Where is she?"
"Please, please no."
"WHERE IS SHE?"
The cutters close around his middle finger. I meet his eyes and pull. The second finger falls onto the floor and I wrap the cutters around the third.
"Terminal 4!" he yells. "The port. Terminal 4. They're keeping her at Terminal 4!"
I stop, but I don't release the pressure. "When are they moving her?"
"Soon. In a small sub. Out to a boat. And then from there I don't know, I swear to God I don't know."
"What boat?"
"I don't know. The sub takes them offshore."
"Is she alive?"
The hesitation is answer enough. My hand tightens on the cutters.
"IS SHE ALIVE?"
"Yes. Yes, she's alive! They drug them but they're alive, they keep them alive for the buyers."
"Buyers?"
I stumble back and drop the cutters.
"Buyers," I repeat, shaking my head.
I turn to Adrian.
"Give me your gun."
"Matei."
"Give. Me. Your. Gun."
Adrian's jaw clenches as he pulls the Glock from his holster and hands it over.
I press the barrel to the Bulgarian's forehead. He's whimpering, tears and snot streaming down his ruined face.
"Please, I told you everything, please, I."
I pull the trigger.
BANG.
The gunshot explodes from the gun. Brain matter and skull fragments spray across the concrete wall behind him. His body slumps in the chair, head hanging.
I turn to Adrian and hand him back the gun.
"Let's move. NOW."
"Matei, you need medical attention."
"I need Jordan." The words come out broken. Raw.
Adrian stares at me. Something shifts in his expression. An understanding maybe.
"I need her back or I need to die trying. Those are the only two options, Adrian."
He nods.
"Terminal 4," he says. "I'll get the men ready."