* * *
Kylie heard the door open to the cellar, then the stomping of feet, the adrenaline spurt from past events failing to appear. She remained prone, no longer having the energy to care, the virus that was ravaging her body siphoning off any energy to respond.
The bearded one removed her hood and forced her upright, saying, “What’s wrong with you?”
Listlessly, she said, “Nothing. Asshole.”
He set her food in place, and with an urgency he’d never shown before, he said, “You sick? You need to see a doctor?”
She heard Nick shout from the other side of the room, “Yes, you dumbass. Yes, she’s sick. You want the leverage, you need to help her.”
She saw him stalk to Nick, hood still on, and cuff him in the head. Nick hit the ground, and the man leaned over, saying, “You a doctor, asshole?”
Nick sat up, staring in the wrong direction in his hood. He spit out, “Fuck you. She’s your golden egg and you know it. And so am I. You can beat me some more if you want, but she’s going down fast. Fix it. Now.”
Colin ripped his hood off, kicking him to the floor. In the back, Travis began whimpering, curling up in a ball. Colin said, “I could kill you right now, you fuck. I have him and her. I have the power.”
Nick glared at him and said, “No, you don’t. You bring the food. You’re a fucking lackey. You have nothing but the power of your boot, you miserable shit.”
The words caused Kylie to sit up at last, afraid of the response. She saw Colin’s face and knew Nick was dead.
Instead, Colin kicked the wall, cursing in aggravation. She realized Nick was right. For the first time, she clearly saw he knew more about their predicament than anyone else. Colin satisfied himself with a boot to the gut, then stormed up the steps, slamming the room into darkness.
She waited a minute, then said, “Nick, please don’t do that again.”
He chuckled and said, “Yeah, that probably wasn’t smart. I let my anger get the better of me. I thought I was dead.”
From the fetal position, Travis said, “Yes, yes, please don’t do that again.”
Nick leaned over in the dirt and clawed his way forward a few feet. He put his face next to Travis’s hood and said, “I can see you. You know why? Because he left without putting my hood back on. Because I’m not a *.”
Kylie said, “Shh. He’s talking just outside.”
They grew quiet and heard Colin’s voice.
—“I need to speak to Ratko.”
—“Because he’ll want to hear what I have to say, that’s why. Quickly, I don’t have a lot of time.”
They sat in their underground tomb hearing nothing. Waiting. Eventually, Colin’s voice floated out again.
—“Ratko? Yes. I’m Colin. I work with Seamus and don’t like how this is going. I have nothing to do with what’s happened.”
Silence, only the shuffling of Colin’s feet on the deck of their prison. Then, a more subdued voice.
—“Ratko, I don’t want you chasing me. That’s why I’m calling. I have the people we took. I don’t know what Seamus is up to. If he crossed you, it had nothing to do with me, but I can give you more than that necklace.”
—“Damn it, listen to me! We’ve caught the son of the vice president of the United States. Along with his fiancée. They’re worth more than that necklace. Seamus is auctioning them off as I speak.”
—“Because I don’t want you hunting me, that’s why. Look, Seamus is going to be wondering what I’m doing. Am I good? I pass them to you and I’m not on your list?”
—“Okay, okay. If Braden doesn’t show, I’ll call you. Will that work?”
There was a long pause, then Colin said, “I understand. I’m not working with Seamus on this. No tricks. Trust me, you want him, I’ll set it up.”
They heard nothing else. Kylie said, “What does that mean? What’s he talking about?”
Nick said, “It means we have a seam. Something to exploit.”
She looked at his face in the shadow of the heat lamps and saw despair. She knew he was lying, and things had gone from bad to worse.