I was on my way to him, running and gathering strength. Blocking out the pain in my side.
Jack had said that Jia was over some pit. It didn’t sound good when he’d said it and looking around where I was I knew there was no part of this that I was going to like. Not one damn bit whatsoever.
It would be all fucked up just like Balthazar. That was his style.
Bizarre and outrageous.
I reached another set of double doors. It was the only place left for me to go.
The only path left to follow.
I went in and cursed myself when I saw just how damn right I was.
I experienced what I could only express as a gamut and tumult of clashing emotions.
My heart had lifted at the sight of Jia ahead of me, then in the same second, everything crushed inside when I saw what that evil bastard had done to her.
Jia was gagged and tied to a pole.
This was some sort of refinery room or hall. The place was massive and yes there was a fucking pit.
The pole Jia was tied to was attached to a platform and it hovered over the pit.
There were two suspension bridges that led to where she was.
It looked like there was water below her because I saw a splash of it.
I held my gun up getting ready and moved out, closer, closer then I stopped as shock number two presented itself.
Yes, the pit was full of water.
And crocodiles!
Fucking crocodiles.
It looked like a seen from some kind of horror movie.
Jia cried and made a muffled scream as the platform she was on lowered by a few inches.
My God… it was remote controlled.
And who was controlling the remote?
Balthazar stepped out from my left and held up the remote.
He smiled at me like we were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years.
“Xander, wow. So good to see you,” he bubbled.
“Wish I could say the same about you,” I yelled. “Actually, I don’t wish that. Not one fucking bit. You mother fucking dog. You fucking prick of an asshole. Let her go. Let her go right the fuck now.”
He laughed and pretended to shiver. “Ohhhhh awwwwww I’m so scared. Big Bad Xander’s come to get me. Wowwwwwwww.”
The prick of an asshole knew how to get me worked up the fucking wrong way.
“Don’t fuck with me.”
“No, I know not to do that. The thing about you though my good man is this… you wear your heart on your sleeve for all to see your damn weakness.” He waved the remote over to Jia, pressed it and the platform lowered an inch more. The crocs swam closer to her and she let out another muffled scream.
“Nooooo!” I shouted. “Fuck you. No!!!”
“Put the gun down,” he said in a cool voice that carried an edge of sharpness.
I set the gun down. I had no choice. If he pressed that damn remote one more time one of the crocs would get to her. They’d be able to climb up on the platform.
I couldn’t let that happen.
“So, here’s the four one, one. You give me the blueprints.”
“I give you the prints and you let her go,” I demanded.
He shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He glanced down at his watch. “By my records of time you people shouldn’t even be here so that deal is out the window. It’s null and void, no negotiation where she is released to you. However…” He held up his hands and the smile on his horrible face widened. “I will allow you to decide how she dies and the rate too. I was trying to work out which was best. Method, or rate of acceleration. So I decided on both.”
“You evil prick, just let her go. I’m here with the fucking prints.” At this point I didn’t care about the blueprints. I’d already calculated in my head that I needed to save Jia and to do that I’d have to give him what he wanted.
“Yes, you are here with the prints. The prints that I still need to check but that’s not really the point. I don’t work like that. I don’t like you Xander Cage. I don’t think that’s a secret. I was furious to hear you were still alive but saw you as an advantage to play nice with Ethan. Play nice with Ethan and get the prints nice and smooth. Then you fucked up and we ended up wasting so much damn time when we could have played dirty in the first place by taking the girl. You need to pay for that. so this is it. So, tell me how should I kill her? A bullet to the hell like your previous lady love, or should I just release the control and give her a good dip in the croc pool?” He laughed.
I bit down hard on my back teeth and stared at him.
He was sick. Sick and deranged. That is what came to my mind as I listened to him.
“You sick fuck. Give her to me or you don’t get shit!” I roared.
One more press of the remote and Jia’s platform lowered.
“Xander Cage, you are not in a position to be making demands.” He smiled and the asshole shot down the ropes holding the suspension bridge nearest us. As the bridge crashed into the water the crocs went crazy.
The worst part of that was that was my route to her. That was the way to get to her. The other bridge was connected to the other side of the fucking room. I would have had to go out and find the entrance to get there.
I glanced at her, tears glistened her cheeks and her eyes pools of water.
I remembered when I first saw her. The image Ethan had shown me. Not the sight of her in the club. The image.
What I saw in her eyes was desperation. It called to me. It had called to me then and it screamed to me now.
It bellowed and here I was just looking at her. Just watching her.
Unable to help.
Just like Claire.
“Awwww, you should see your face,” Balthazar taunted. I returned my focus to him. “You really should Xander Cage. You’re a pitiful mess. But don’t worry this time when I kill you, I’ll make sure you’re dead.”
I narrowed my gaze at him, and thought long and hard.
Fuck…
Think… I needed to get out of this mess. I needed to save Jia.
How though?
“Come on Xander don’t fight this? Give me the prints.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Her first. Give her to me.”
I was going to try something. Every time I pissed him off he lowered the remote. If I could get it from him or away from him she’d be okay.
I just needed to get it away from him.
This time he made a show of holding it out. He got ready to press that damn button but a bullet sizzled through his arm.
He dropped the remote and yelped. A quick glance to my left showed that Giovanni was just above us on the metal platform.
A quick glance was all you could sacrifice when it came to guys like Balthazar.
I’d just register that Giovanni was on the move and seemed to be heading to a set of metal stairs that led down the platform to Jia.
It took a total of two seconds for my brain to process that.
Then in a heartbeat I charged at Balthazar, knocking him to the ground and away from the fucking remote.
My hands on him…
Just touching him gave me a thrill of that sensation of accomplishment. All this time. All these years, all these very long years and I’d never been able to do this.
Just to give him the bone crunching punch I landed straight in his disgusting, fucking face.
All these long years, even before Claire was killed I wanted to do it and as my knuckles connected with his jaw I got the satisfaction I longed for.