Page 114 of Misery
We breach simultaneously. I go through the front, dropping both guards before they can react.
Non-lethal shots—we need this quiet until we locate Ivar.
The inside of the plant is a maze of rusted machinery and shadows.
I follow the sound of voices, Thiago still ranting.
"Did you think you mattered? Did you think you were anything more than camouflage?"
I round a corner and see them.
The killing floor, just as Eleyna described.
Thiago has her by the throat, lifted off her feet.
But she's not helpless.
The .380 is in her hand, pressed against his ribs.
"Let her go," I say.
Thiago turns, sees me.
Smiles. Drops Eleyna, who gasps for air on the floor.
"Brother. Right on time."
"Where's Ivar?"
"Safe. For now." He's too calm. This is wrong. "Did you really think I wouldn't know? That I wouldn't see this betrayal coming?"
He holds up a device.
Fuck, it’s a dead man's switch.
"The whole place is wired. I let go, we all go up." His smile widens. "Including daddy downstairs."
"You're bluffing."
"Am I? Would you like to test that theory?" He looks at Eleyna, who's pulled herself to sitting, gun still trained on him. "And you. I actually liked you. You were simple. Uncomplicated. Everything she's not."
"Fuck you." Eleyna spits blood.
"Where's your backup?" Thiago asks me. "Magnus? Tor? The rest of your club? They can come out. This is the end game anyway."
They emerge from their positions, weapons drawn but useless against the dead man's switch.
"Now," Thiago says, "here's what's going to happen. You're going to call Elfe. Tell her to come here. Alone. And then we're going to settle this like it should have been settled. Between her and me."
"Never."
"Then everyone dies. Starting with daddy."
He presses something on his phone with his free hand.
Somewhere below us, Ivar screams.
The sound echoes through the empty plant, primal and agonizing.
