23. Lincoln
Lincoln
“You’ll be dead, Ghost. Your threats are so meaningless I couldn’t care less.”
Now that was some false bravado right there.
“So, Banning, how much did they offer you to sell out your country? Your president? Remember him, the man you swore your allegiance to?”
Panic moved over his face. Ah, this was personal.
Nothing to do with money. Good to know. I recalled every detail I knew about his life, a wife and three young children.
Good, church going family. On the outside anyway.
Who the hell knows what goes on behind closed doors?
I used to respect this man. This was the last man I thought I would see working with a scum bag.
Now we needed to see just how far he was willing to take this .
“Just tell them what they want to know. There is no need to drag this out any further.”
“Go fuck yourself!”
Panic, not anger. He needed me to talk. Sonreír had something over him. What would make a man sell out his own country? Family. The love of a good woman and children. Shit.
“Ghost, the game is over. You’ve lost. Now make it easier on yourself and tell them what they want to know.”
He was practically begging me. Yeah, they had his family. A man that is any man at all would not beg for his own life, but he would beg for his children.
I was going to have to let this man’s family die. Cold? Yes. Heartless? Maybe. I would not, however, sell out my country to save this sniveling man’s anything. Shit luck on his part really.
“I would rather die a thousand deaths than sell out. I will take everything I know to my grave. You should be trying to figure out how to save yourself and the lives of your family, rather than worrying how painful my death will be. You see, you are useless now. Bringing you here to sit in front of me was simply a show of power. Sonreír wants me to see how far his reach is. That he can kidnap the deputy director’s family, manipulate that man into turning against his allegiances, all so he can kill you right in front of me. ”
The deputy director paled, his grave situation hitting him like a Mack truck. I did feel sorry for the man, one human to another.
“Bravo, Bravo!” Sonreír, the man himself, sauntered into the room.
“I knew you were smart, very worthy. I knew I would not have to explain to you my reasons for playing with this little piss ant. He was no match for me, boring really. So stupid he continued to play along even after his family was disposed of. Stupid man, never even tried to verify if they were still alive. Tsk, tsk.”
The deputy director was about to crumble. Perfect, I needed a diversion. As if on my command, the deputy director threw the chair at Sonreír, who easily moved out of the way. Before it hit him, the two guards in the room lunged toward Banning, giving me the shot I needed at Sonreír.
The splintered pieces of the broken chair lay within my reach.
Grabbing a piece of the broken leg, I used all of my weight and swung the leg like a bat, hitting Sonreír in the side of the head.
A blow strong enough to knock him out, but not kill him.
Perfect. I had some of my own brand of torture to inflict before I killed this mother fucker.
The two guards dismissed Banning and turned their attention to me.
Pulling Sonreír’s side arm from his holster, I took my first shot and watched guard number one’s head explode.
Brain matter and blood sprayed all over Banning as the guard’s body crumpled.
Guard number two had pulled the deputy director’s body in front of him as a shield.
As if that would stop me. I could give two shits about that asshole right now.
“Don’t move or I will blow his head off!” guard number two shouted.
Again, as if I gave two shits.
“Just shoot him. I am dead anyway,” Banning whispered, already giving up. What a pussy!
“You think I’d give a fuck if you shot him? He is a traitor.”
I did not have time to play these games. Yesterday, there were three guards. If the third was still in the house, he would’ve heard the gunshot.
Fuck talking; without another word, I took my shot.
Perfectly placed. Right in the forehead.
One and done as my brother would say. The spray of blood hit Banning as guard number two collapsed.
I watched in rapt fascination as the deputy director puked all over the dead guard. See? Just like I said, a pussy.
The sound of incoming helicopters filled the room as guard number three popped around the doorframe and started to spray the room with bullets.
I didn’t have time to warn Banning to get down.
His body was already convulsing as a spray of bullets almost cut him in half.
Before I could take a shot, guard number three’s body jerked.
Then he was falling. A double tap to the face.
That could only mean one thing.
I could hear the sound of windows breaking and doors being kicked in. The room filled with men dressed in black. But I knew one of them was a woman. My woman. My warrior princess.
“What the fuck took you so long?” I wheezed out.
The adrenaline was quickly waning and the pain was coming back full force.
“God damn, Ghost. We came to rescue you, but it looks like you had all the fun.” Leo laughed.
“Don’t worry. I left one for you.”
I kicked Sonreír in the gut and he moaned.
“He is mine.”
I heard a familiar voice from behind a face mask. I am pretty sure my jaw hit the floor when the president pulled his mask up and stalked toward Sonreír.
The president knelt down by Sonreír’s body, grabbing a handful of hair and he yanked his head back. “Who else?”
“Fuck you. ”
The president yanked harder. “Who else in my government is a traitor?”
“I will die knowing.”
“Suit yourself. But I want you to die knowing I found your whore and your four sons. They will not live long enough to try and avenge their father’s or grandfather’s deaths. I made the mistake of allowing you to live. I will not make that mistake a second time.”
There were no other words, just the sound of a bullet cracking. Then silence.