17. MADOC
MADOC
Monsters recognized monsters.
That little cluster of nuclei located deep in my temporal lobe clocked the threat. A normal brain would be flooded with the typical flight-or-fight response.
Mine was flooded with bloodlust.
Julie blinked up at me with a soft frown. “Little snake?” she repeated, her lip trembling in fear. “I think you have me confused with someone else.”
“Do I?”
She nodded. Blinked three times in quick succession.
I considered letting her maintain the charade. She wanted to keep playing. The perverse part of me reveled in the foreplay. She wasn’t on her knees, but the idea of prolonging it made me twitch.
“My mistake,” I said, stepping back.
We’d play the game for a bit longer. I still needed to find the prototype. And I didn’t mind an audience.
The moment that audience decided to participate was when the fun could begin.
I turned and scanned the servers. I’d learned enough about the prototype from Zola when she wasn’t pointlessly rambling. But the real key to identifying it was standing two feet away.
I brushed my fingers along the rows of blinking servers.
Julie shifted, watching me warily. “Should you be touching them like that?”
Without looking at her, I pointed to the floor. “Rubber mats.”
I continued, sliding a finger along the humming brackets. Julie shifted closer again.
“Maybe if you tell me what you’re looking for, I can help you.”
“You already are.”
There was a beat. “…but I’m not doing anything.”
I smiled, my fingers brushing the warm mouth of a port. Around us, the plane shuddered violently. We’d entered the Valley of Death. It meant the pilots would be distracted. It meant I had time to play with my food.
A wink of green light caught my eye. I reached up to prod at it. Julie inched closer again, pretending to be moved by the plane. “Careful,” she said. “What if you press the wrong thing?”
I was counting on it.
I touched the green light, feeling the device beneath it. Small, compact. Easily inserted into a hidden compartment on the back of a watch.
Julie blinked three more times in quick succession.
“You have a tell,” I said, removing my hand. “And you just told me where it is.”
“Where what is?”
I sighed and rolled my neck, loosening up the muscles.
My shoulders were next, a slow stretch that tugged on my bullet wound.
Unwelcome pain. I didn’t believe in regret.
But if I did, I would’ve had Jax remove the bullet from my shoulder instead of carving it out myself with my knife.
I’d cut a little too deep, damaged the soft tissue.
Julie stared at me, biting her lip.
I faced her. “You’re boring me.”
She held on a fraction longer, just long enough to consider her options. Realizing she had none, she suddenly whipped back her head and laughed.
“Fine.” Her laughter faded into a smirk. “I was getting tired of it, anyway.”
She stepped out of her heels and braced herself, feet planted firmly. I flexed my fingers. She refastened her ponytail. We sized each other up.
There was a certain art to fighting to the death. Not honor. Respect for the game.
And it was a game. Dying didn’t scare me. Life didn’t excite me.
That’s what made me a ruthless killer.
“How did you know?” she asked casually as the plane trembled in anticipation. “Where did I slip up?”
“You watch her.”
Julie scoffed. “Who? That ditzy blonde tart?”
“Yes, that one,” I said, smirking. “You watch her like I watch her.”
Her brow twitched up in amusement. Her eyes danced, bright and restless. “One obsessive killer to another. How sweet.”
I hummed and stepped forward. “I don’t like to share.”
That made her cackle loudly. All pretense of the meek woman who’d followed me into the server bay was gone. “That’s not the impression I got,” she said, grinning. “In fact, I’d say you share very well.”
My smile bled away.
It was clear who she was referring to. But I would not allow her to talk about Jax. Few things rattled the chains that kept my demons contained. Jax was a hatchet to them.
Sensing the shift, Julie straightened. “Oh.”
“Careful,” I warned her. “You’re going to die. But how much it hurts depends on what you say next.”
“You love him.”
My lip curled up in a sneer. Iron rattled and rattled. “I’m not capable of loving anything.”
The closest I came would be obsession and possession, the need to own, claim, and ruin.
I would ruin Jax. He couldn’t be owned. It was his saving grace, even if he didn’t know it yet.
“I guess you’ll never find out,” Julie said.
And then she attacked.
I anticipated her strike, catching her fist before it clocked my chin. She was quick, her other fist aiming lower, beneath my rib cage. One solid blow to the liver could rupture the organ. Her strength was impressive, though not surprising. She was a trained killer. But I was born one.
I dodged her next hit and used her trapped fist to twist her around, slamming her face-first against the metal servers.
Something beeped.
We both paused.
Then her head snapped back, and copper flooded my mouth. Finally.
Using the brief advantage, she spun and kneed me in the gut. The air punched from my lungs. What little remained came out in the form of a dark chuckle.
She stared at me incredulously as blood dripped down her brow. “You’re a seriously unhinged dude,” she said, panting slightly. “At least you’re a challenge.”
My lips parted, revealing a bloody grin. “I haven’t started yet.”
For the next sixty seconds, we danced.
She snapped my little finger, so I broke her wrist. I threw her against the servers, metal against bone that turned her pale. She launched at me again, a quick flurry of blows that reeked of desperation.
That was my opening.
So focused on lashing out, she forgot to guard her softest spot. I feinted low, and she moved as I expected, leaving her temple exposed.
My elbow found it.
She crumpled.
Everyone had a weakness. You just had to be patient enough to find it.
I was very good at being patient.
Julie remained dazed, clutching her head. I stared down at her as I corrected my broken finger. The roaring engine drowned out the crack of bone and cartilage. The plane jerked and throttled, fighting the turbulence.
“Poor little dove,” I said, crouching down. “Have we already lost our wings?”
“Fuck you,” she spat.
My hand gripped her ankle, finding the delicate knob of bone. “Where is the watch?”
She laughed, a high reedy sound. “I’ll never tell you.”
“Pity.” I pressed down on her ankle, causing her to stiffen and hiss. “I will break every bone in your body. I will make it hurt. Chirp chirp, little dove.”
“It’s gone!” she said, her good hand curling into a fist, preparing to strike. “You’ll never get the passcode. The SKS is useless without it.”
My mind was divided. I had two pieces of the puzzle, both with irregular edges. They didn’t fit. The prototype and Olivia. One was worth half a billion dollars. The other was worth nothing.
I knew which one interested me more.
Before I could press, she launched at me. But she’d lost all finesse. Desperate, borderline clumsy, she tackled me onto my back. It took nothing for me to flip us. I pinned her to the rubber mats, one hand wrapped around her throat.
I squeezed until she stopped resisting.
“Why do you want Olivia?”
“Screw. You.”
I squeezed again, until her face turned a deep scarlet. “Who is she to you?”
She gasped up at me, hands clawing uselessly where I’d trapped them beneath my knees. She was weak and concussed. Soon her survival instincts would override her training. She knew she couldn’t run. She knew she couldn’t fight. So she’d crack, beg.
I loosened my grip and leaned over her, feeling her desperate breath against my skin.
“You touched my things,” I whispered into her mouth, sealing her fate.
My blood dripped onto her lips. Perfect.
“You threatened mine. Now be a good girl and tell me what I want to know. Or you will die weak and begging.”
She trembled. Bloodshot eyes swiveled over my face, reading my intent.
Finally, she started to talk. I listened. Absorbed. Dissected and reshelved for later.
When she was done, I sank back on my heels. The plane jerked again, forcing me to brace against the server. I stared thoughtfully at the swollen flesh of my fingers.
There were more pieces on the board than I’d anticipated. More eyes watching from the shadows. Watching her.
I always knew Olivia was interesting.
You’re not done with her, my demons purred. When it came to Olivia, I’d barely scratched the surface.
Movement stirred beneath me.
Julie decided to strike for the last time. But not at me.
Rearing up, she slapped her hand over her throat. When she withdrew, a tiny pinprick of blood dribbled from her neck.
I grabbed her wrist, examining the ring. The tiny prong of venom. It was no cyanide tablet, no sudden or clean death. But it was clearly effective.
“Why didn’t you use this on me?” I mused. I hated unpredictability.
Perhaps she knew that.
She laughed through her suicide. Her lips swelled, her eyes bulged. The minutes ticked by as I watched her convulse, pink-tinged foam spilling from her mouth. Then, with one final jolt, she went still.
How disappointing.
I moved her body to the far wall, propping it up and out of sight. Then I plucked the prototype from the server and slipped it into my pocket. The plane shivered, but I hardly felt it.
Without the adrenaline, the apathy returned. The emptiness was reliable. A familiar void. It didn’t mask the pain, but it buried my ability to care about it.
I opened the hatch, revealing the pilots in mid-panic. Red lights and sirens filled the cockpit, a battle of men and gods.
“Navigation’s back online,” the copilot declared into the radio. Both pilots were distracted by the overwhelming response, allowing me to climb from the hatch and walk to the door unnoticed. I used my new shiny ID badge to open it and stepped through, closing the door behind me.
And then I stopped.
Because standing there in his usual heated glory was the giant idiot. Jax stepped back, his eyes darting over me. I stared back at him blankly.
“Fuck,” Jax exhaled. His bare arms glistened with sweat. He’d clearly been three seconds away from attempting to break down the cockpit door. “Fuck, Madoc. I thought—”
I didn’t care for his fussing. I stepped around him, but he caught me and shoved me back against the door.
“You’re bleeding,” he said, staring at my mouth. “You never bleed.”
That was where he was wrong. I’d spent my life bleeding. Most of it self-inflicted.
So like a true masochist, I gave him permission to touch. He didn’t waste a second. He groped along my sides, up my chest. He didn’t ask where does it hurt? because he knew me too well.
His hands were searing on my skin. He cupped my jaw, his eyes blazing beneath his furrowed brow.
Jax never masked his emotions. When he was angry, he was angry. Scared, annoyed, horny—he revealed it all, like he couldn’t contain it. He couldn’t be contained.
I saw no value in life, but Jax was a stark reminder of what it meant to be alive. He was a raw spectrum of emotions, feeling everything all at once. He leaned forward so he could check my pupils. Concussion protocol. His fingers trembled as he absorbed my anger. He felt enough for the both of us.
It would be easy to kiss him. Easy to taint his mouth with my blood and swallow him whole.
The chains rattled. Take him. Do it.
When I couldn’t bear it a second longer, I shoved on his chest.
He stepped back, dropping his hands automatically. His face was shadowed.
“They took her,” I said, filling in the gaps.
His nostrils flared. He nodded. “Two more passengers are dead. And they still fucking took her.”
I smiled.
Jax snarled. “The fuck are you smiling about? I’m going to get her back.”
I didn’t doubt it.
Jax was a caged beast. And they’d been poking and prodding at him through the bars for hours.
“I know where she is,” I said, and held up my shiny new badge. “And I know how to get in.”
There was just no guarantee we’d make it back out.