Chapter 64
CHAPTER 64
PHIL
Wrestling against his constraints, Phil glared at Jason.
“So, I’m guessing you want to know how you ended up like this,” Jason said, smirking as he waved a large knife back and forth in front of Phil’s face.
His confusion turning to rage, Phil bucked and wrestled with the ropes binding his hands together, grunting and groaning the curses he couldn’t speak.
“Well, it’s a long story,” Jason said, squatting in front of him, slamming the pointed blade of the knife in the dirt, inches away from Phil. “But, we’ve both got time.”
Grimacing, Phil twisted onto his side, trying to get onto his knees so he could?—
The kick in the gut came hard and swift, knocking every ounce of hope out of him. Moaning, Phil collapsed onto the dirt, curling himself into a fetal position .
On his feet, Jason scowled at him. “I know you’re used to calling the shots and I know you don’t think much of me, but you are going to listen to what I have to say!”
Whimpering, fearful of further injury and mistreatment, Phil nodded his head.
“Now, I don’t plan to belabor the point or take advantage of my captive audience,” Jason said. “But I won’t leave out any details.”
Swallowing, Phil stared up at Jason. Backlit by the waning orange sunlight, his features obscured and shadowy, he appeared like an apparition. A tropical boogeyman spoken about by drunk sailors who spent their days drinking rum in thatched hut bars, trying to scare tourists.
“Last night, Alex came to my room to talk to me,” Jason said. “He told me he’d just come from talking to you.”
Phil stared at the ground, tracking the path of a line of ants crawling along a thin jungle vine. He hadn’t known Alex had left his room and then gone to talk to Jason.
I guess I’ll see you in the morning then.
Phil had thought Alex was going back to bed.
“Alex wanted to get me on board with his new plan.”
“His new plan?”
“He wanted to kill you,” Jason said, his tone dispassionate, lifeless. “He said he needed me to help him make that happen. I refused. Of course, Alex was shocked because he’s used to me doing what he tells me to do. But I couldn’t help him kill you … because I was planning to kill him.”
Phil wasn’t sure if he believed Jason, or not. The guy was weak, emotional, and afraid of his own shadow. The idea of him killing Alex was implausible. Unbelievable.
“Shocking, right?” Jason chuckled, a sound devoid of mirth. “Alex is my best friend. My business partner. But, you know what else he is? Or, was, I should say. Alex was a sadistic, malignant narcissist who got what he wanted through manipulation, deception, and intimidation. He didn’t care about anyone except himself. He had no friends. He had people like me, Chris, and Mia, who did his bidding. He used us. We were sheep. Cattle.”
Twisting his wrists, ignoring the pain, Phil tried to loosen the rope.
“But, what’s that saying?” Jason asked. “You can’t be fooled without your participation. I knew I was just a pawn to Alex, and he was the king, and Mia was the queen. Everyone knows that the pawn is expendable and must be willing to sacrifice himself. The queen must protect the king and keep him out of danger so the king can stay behind the scenes, controlling the game.”
As Jason rambled about chess, Phil continued struggling to free himself.
“But, the pawn can also ascend to the rank of a queen,” Jason said, his smile grim. “And at that point, can influence the outcome of the game. And that’s what I’m doing. I’m influencing the outcome of the game.”
Reaching his hand toward Phil, Jason ripped the gray electrical duct tape from Phil’s mouth. Crying out from the sudden, raw, stinging pain around his lips, Phil coughed as he scrambled to position himself upright .
“A pawn doesn’t become a queen in order to get rid of the king,” Phil said, his voice low and hoarse, almost unrecognizable from lack of use.
Jason frowned. “Alex was an unworthy king. He was brutal and ruthless and deserved to be stripped of his power and executed.”
Phil scoffed. “You’re a disloyal pawn.”
Jason backhanded him across the face.
Dizzy from the blow, which caused him to bite his tongue, drawing blood, Phil shook his head.
“You don’t know a thing about me,” Jason said. “You don’t know what Alex put me through. The things he made me do. The things I had to do. The lying to our clients. Stealing from them. I became a lawyer to help people, but I ended up hurting them. Because Alex would come up with these grand plans. And I had to go along with them, or he would expose me. He would tell everyone what I’d done …”
“What are you talking about?”
Jason looked away. “Doesn’t matter. I was telling you how you ended up in this cave. Well, last night, Alex and I argued about killing you. He wanted me to do it. No blood on his hands, of course.”
“Protect the king,” Phil said. “That’s what queens do.”
Scowling, Jason said, “I told him I wasn’t going to do it. We argued some more. And then, after he left my room, I followed him … and then I stabbed him.”
“And you cut his head off,” Phil said.
Jason said, “I had to make sure he was dead.”
Phil snorted. “And then what did you do? ”
Exhaling, Jason said, “I didn’t do anything. I panicked. Couldn’t believe I’d killed Alex. And at first, I was terrified. And sad. But, the more I looked at him, lying there, bleeding on the rug, the more I felt … “
“Relieved?” Phil supplied, wincing as pain shot through his wrists. He hadn’t given up trying to loosen the restraints, despite the pain. Keeping Jason talking, ranting, and rambling about chess and his hatred of Alex, might give him the time he needed to free himself.
“I felt in control of my life for the first time,” Jason said. “And that’s when I realized what I had to do.”
“Hide Alex’s body in this cave?”
Jason frowned. “I had to make amends.”
“Amends?”
“We did horrible things,” Jason said, his gaze glassy and unfocused. “And we needed to pay for what we did. That was the only way to make amends. Killing Alex made me realize that we have to die for what we did.”
“What the hell did I do?” Phil asked, wincing and grunting as he carefully moved his hands, trying not to call attention to what he was doing. “According to those notes, you fuckers lied to me. You set me up. You blackmailed my father.”
“You have suffered enough,” Jason said. “I’m not going to kill you.”
Phil stared at him. “What the hell are you going to do to me?”
“I’m going to drug you,” Jason said. “Again.”
“Again?”
“I spiked your drink last night,” Jason said .
Scowling, Phil said, “You what?”
Holding up his hands in mock surrender, Jason smiled. “I put a few drops of GHB in your champagne. Not too much. Nothing that would make you feel weird, or anything. Enough so that when you went to sleep, you wouldn’t wake up when I dragged you out of bed.”
Phil shook his head. “You dragged me from my room to this cave?”
Jason sneered, “I’m stronger than I look. And adrenaline helped. Haven’t you heard stories about those mothers who pick up cars when their kids are trapped?”
“Okay, so you got me in this cave,” Phil said. “And you’re not going to kill me. You’re going to drug me. And then what? I never wake up?”
Jason shook his head. “While you’re unconscious, I’m going to untie you. The speedboat is at the dock. The keys are in the ignition. You can sail away back to the mainland.”
“And what are you going to do?” Phil asked, staring at Jason. “Disappear. Get a new identity.”
With a rueful smile, Jason said, “I’ll be dead when you wake up.”
“What?”
“I’m going to take the remaining GHB which is enough to make sure I never wake up again.”
“Are you serious?”
Staring at him, Jason said, “It’s what I deserve because of what I did …”