13. Jasmin #2
“Sure thing, LT.” I was lifeless, just going through the motions. I simply did not care.
“Oh, fuck, I think he broke her,” Eric chimed in. I didn’t even have energy for a comeback. Fuck him.
The door slammed and I nearly jumped out of my skin. My nerves were frayed. All of my senses were on overload. God damn, this sucked. I just want this over with.
Zane placed a laptop on the table in front of me. What the fuck did I need a laptop for? Did he want me to type up my resignation right now?
“Jasmin, before we play you this video, I need to warn you that it is pretty fucked up. If at any time you need to stop, we will. You need to watch it from start to finish,” Z stated.
What the fuck was going on? I looked at Eric, then my uncle, and finally Linc.
I must have entered the twilight zone. They all had the same look on their faces.
This was bad. Really fucking bad. I didn’t think I could take it.
I glanced at Linc one last time, wishing that I was in his arms; I needed him so God damn bad.
What the fuck had I done? He was staring at me like he didn’t know me, like we had not spent hours in each other’s arms. I had lost him.
With a handful of careless and hurtful words, I had succeeded in pushing him so far out he didn’t even want to know me.
Zane was acting like I was an IED he needed to defuse.
Maybe that was what I was now, a ticking bomb waiting to explode and take out countless people.
I needed to pull my bitch boots up and stop acting like a sniveling bitch. Enough with the theatrics and bullshit. Man the hell up, Jasmin.
“I’m fine, Zane, just play the video you want me to watch.” Hurt flashed in his eyes. I hardly ever called him Zane; he was Z or LT. Too freaking bad. Join the butt hurt club, asshole, membership was free today.
Holy Mother Fuck! Nothing, absolutely nothing, could have prepared me for what had begun to play on the screen. I blinked my eyes several times, praying to God Almighty I was not seeing what I was seeing. I was going to be sick. I felt like I was going to vomit.
I was on the screen, my hands tied above my head; I was hanging from a chain suspended from the ceiling. I had on my panties and a tank top, covered in dirt and blood. I don’t think there was any part of me that was not beaten. My hair was tangled and had blood in it.
It was the sound that I was making that had the bile rising up into my throat. I was screaming and crying. Each time I was struck, I screamed out; the video zoomed out and I saw Zane handcuffed to a chair, forced to watch these men beat me.
“ Stop, don’t touch him! I’ll fucking gut you! Stop!” I screamed out.
The man in the video used a cattle-prod to electrocute Zane.
“Fuck you, you’ll have to kill me first! Don’t touch him, mother fucker!”
A punch to my gut followed.
“You will bleed for this, you piece of shit. The Americans will gut you for this.”
The Russian was screaming in my face. “Fuck you, American whore. Your people are a weak bunch of pussies sending in a bitch to do a man’s job.
You will be useful here, American bitch; my men get lonely, long time without their wives, they will fuck you when they want.
I know what to do with a stupid bitch like you.
Now tell me why did the Americans send a bitch to Ukraine for? ”
“Fuck you, kill me.”
“I will kill your friend first. You tell me why the Americans send you to my country or I will slit his throat.”
Zane sat unblinking in that chair, his hands cuffed as well as his legs. I saw the small nod he gave me and he lifted his left eyebrow. Zane was willing to die. He had given me the signal, he wanted me to stay quiet.
I watched the video in spellbound horror. This was me, yet I did not recall any of it. It was like I was watching someone else’s life, only it was mine. I was being beaten and tortured.
“Kill us then, I will die before I tell you one fucking thing.”
The beating continued for another minute or so before there was a bang and the door closing us in the room blew off.
Three men dressed in black from head to toe rushed in, weapons at the ready.
I could not see their faces; they were in full battle gear, complete with face masks and NVG’s. The men easily subdued the Russians.
One of the men came over to me and cut my wrists free and I collapsed into his arms. He went to his knees and cradled me in his arms and began to rock me.
“You’re safe, I’ve got you.”
Sweet mother of God, that voice, those words.
“Lincoln,” I sobbed .
The video continued to play as Lincoln’s team zip tied the four Russian men’s hands behind their back.
“Mother fuck, is Laura ok?” Holy shit, I knew that voice. Eric.
“I got her, Wolf.” That was Lincoln talking to Eric.
“Z is non critical.” That was Leo’s voice.
“We move in two. This is going to be dirty, who’s up for some wet work?” That was Lincoln again.
“Copy that.”
Zane was up and out of the chair, walking on his own, holding his left elbow across his body with his right hand.
It was obviously broken. Lincoln handed Zane his Ka-Bar.
There was no time to blink before Zane plunged the knife into the side of one of the Russian’s neck.
He spit on him as he pulled the knife from his neck and the body hit the floor.
Zane handed the knife off to Leo. He did the same to the man in front of him. The knife was again passed to Eric. He lowered his face to the Russian’s and spoke to him in such a low tone I couldn’t hear what he said on the video. Eric cut the Russian’s head damn near off.
“Ghost,” Eric said as he passed the knife to Linc.
Linc put the knife in my hand. “Ghost, help me please.” He nodded his head as he wrapped his hand around mine. I started at the Russian’s navel and pushed in slowly. Once the tip of the knife was two inches in, I started to move the knife up, stopping just under his breast bone.
“I told you I would gut you, mother fucker. Who’s the bitch now? See you in hell, fucker!” I pulled the knife out and slit his throat from ear to ear.
I handed the knife back to Lincoln and laid my head on his shoulder. “Thank you.” My body went limp in his arms.