Page 97 of Brutal Knight

I was doing something that not only had I sworn an oath to my brothers not to do, but something I'd promised myself I would never do.

All for her, Tatiana. Someone from our past was coming for us, and I never took a beating lying down.

Reaching into my bag, I pulled out a needle and my Beretta. Tucking the Beretta into my holster, I tied his arm then inserted the needle into his skin. He blinked, taking a minute to awaken, and I waited patiently, grabbing a gallon of bottled water and, twisting open the top, drank several gulps.

“Dios, mio.” He looked around him in confusion, his eyes racing until finally, they landed on me. Jerking back, they widened in surprise and fear. “Youputa madre asshole!What the fuck are you doing?” He struggled against his ropes. “Shit, man. They're going to kill you. This is going to start a war,ese.”

I gave him a grim smile. "Maybe."

His eyes grew even wider when he could see that I didn't give a shit about that. He struggled harder, gasping and drenching himself in sweat, his head beating against the rocky white soil in his attempt to get loose.

I stared down at him impassively until, finally growing impatient with a sigh, I stood, pouring water over his face. He choked on it in his panic and I gripped his shoulder, shaking him sternly. "Hey man, get it together. Your woman wouldn't want you to go out like this."

“Ines? You’d better not fucking touch her, or I'll kill you!"

"I don't think you're in a position to make threats. You're trussed up like a pig, in the middle of a hole, in the deep Nevada desert. If you even managed to get out of here alive,which you won't,you're so far away from civilization, you'll die from the elements. And only the buzzards or the foxes will be around to find your remains." My lips curled up into a grin as a thrill rushed through me. This motherfucker was going to die, and I was going to be the one who did it.

He tried to struggle more, but was quickly waning. I’d given him a sedative, so he didn’t have much energy.

“Look,” he tried to reason with me. “You know I’m just a soldier. I do what I’m told.”

I shook my head. “It’s not about tonight.”

“Then what the hell is it about?”

I shrugged a shoulder. “Let’s just call it destiny, shall we?”

"This isn't my fate, man. I was gonna propose to her."

I clicked my tongue. "Sure you were." I pat his shoulder reassuringly. "Speaking of that girl, I'm curious, where did you get her necklace? It's gorgeous."

"I bought it from one of the pawn shops."

"So you stole it then," I said, "from Tatiana Krapivnik. "

"I didn't! I told you, I got it from the pawn shop, I'll even show you where I got it."

Frustrated, I inhaled a deep breath, shaking my head and stared up, out at the mountains beyond us. "You don't get it. You're not coming out of this alive. So you might as well tell me what I want to know. And if you do," I had to raise my voice because he'd begun to protest, "If you do, I swear to you that I won't touch your girl." That stopped his protests. "I mean, if you love her like you say you do, then don't make her life harder."

“Fuck you, man!”

“No. I don’t think I will, though thanks for the offer.” I began to shovel dirt over his feet. “Her name is Ines Lawson, originally from Jamaica but her parents moved here when she was only two. She lives with you, in the middle of Cartel territory, but it’s only about four blocks from one of the properties I own. Wouldn’t be too hard for me to slip in and find her.” I glanced at my watch. “She’s probably still sleeping, don’t you think?”

“Fuck man.” His face slumped into the dirt.

I began to shovel more dirt over the top of his thighs.

“Fuck!” He screamed, “just let me think!” He swiped his tongue across his lip, catching sand into his mouth.

“Or,” I squat back down, pulling something else out of my leather bag and showed it to him. “If you’re good, you can have a choice.This, before I pull the trigger.”

His eyes narrowed, focusing in on it. "What's in there?"

“Justice."

He studied the soft brown liquid, then looked up at me. "Heroin?"

"Yes.” I nodded, swaying it back and forth and he couldn’t look away. “Isn’t it pretty?”

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