Page 112 of Russian Roulette
Leroy opens the door to the RV and reaches inside to turn on the floodlights. Seven and Kit help me pick up the man’s chair to position him directly under the stream of light.
“Wake up!” I yell in his face. He opens his eyes and struggles against the restraints when he finds me standing mere inches from him.
“Do you understand English?” I ask. He doesn’t answer, so I hold up his driver’s license and point to his photo. “Is this you? Are you Ivan?”
He nods back at me since it’s obvious the photo matches his face.
“Where is the girl?” I ask. “You tracked her to Platinum and broke into her car. Where is she?”
He gives me a blank look, but the flicker in his steely blue eyes tells me he’s comprehending some of what I’m saying, if not all of it.
“Does anyone have a photo of Jade?” I ask. Seven and Kit shake their heads. I take my phone out of my pocket and pull up the lone photo I took of her at Red Rock Canyon when she wasn’t paying attention.
The photo was my secret, belonging only to me and not meant to be shared with anyone. In the photo, she’s standing several yards in front of me at the edge of a cliff. She’s smiling at the view with an expression of pure joy on her face. I’ve studied this photo a million times since I snapped it. My life changed that day for the better and I’m never going back.
I turn the phone and show him the photo of Jade. “Do you recognize her?” He shrugs as if he doesn’t understand what I’m saying or even care. I backhand him hard across the side of his face, splitting open his lip.
Leaning down, I reach for my gun hidden under my pants leg. The same revolver I taught Jade how to use. I promised her then that I would use this gun to kill anyone who hurt her and now it’s time to deliver on my promise.
“Do you enjoy playing games, Ivan?” I ask. “Because I do. Since you’re Russian, we’ll play a little game that you’ll be familiar with. Have you played Russian Roulette before?”
I squat in front of Ivan so he can see the gun clearly. I don’t want him to believe I’m faking anything. Seven is the only one in our group who can create illusions. Holding the revolver closer to him, I show him the cylinder, that is fully loaded with six bullets. I empty the bullets out into my hand, then load only one bullet back into the cylinder before clicking it into place.
“What are you doing, Vulcan?” Seven asks, stepping closer. “You’re not really going to play Russian Roulette with him, are you? That’s crazy!”
“Don’t worry,” I tell him. “We all know I can’t die. Unlike Ivan here, who most definitely can die. Isn’t that right, Ivan? Are you ready to play?” I hold the gun in my right hand and roll it down my left arm, turning the cylinder as it rolls.
Seven glances over at Kit, who appears equally disturbed by my game suggestion. They haven’t tried to stop me yet, which means they believe I have a trick up my sleeve with the bullets. They’re thinking that I must know exactly where the bullet is in the cylinder.
I don’t have a fucking clue.
If they realized I was playing for real, they would’ve stopped me already.
“I’m not afraid to die,” I say to Ivan. “Are you? With one bullet in the cylinder, you have an eighty-four percent chance of survival. That’s pretty good odds, don’t you think?”
He’s glares at me, daring me to shoot him. We’ll find out how tough he is with his brains blown apart.
“Want to go first, or should I?” I ask. “I love to play games too. In fact, I play this little game out here by myself almost every night. And I’m still standing, so an eighty-four percent chance of survival is damn good odds. Especially in Vegas.”
I move the gun safety to the off position and cock the gun. “What is your decision? Do you want to go first?” When he doesn’t answer, I reach into my pocket and pull out a quarter. “You’re not much fun to play with. I’ll flip a coin to determine who goes first. Heads, I go first, tails, you go first. Sound fair to you?” I don’t wait for his answer and flip the coin that lands on the ground at his feet. Tails it is.
“That’s you buddy,” I say. Stepping around beside him, I put the gun to his temple. A bead of sweat drips out from under his woolen cap when he feels the cold metal against his skin. “You’re getting a little nervous. Don’t worry, we can stop this at any time. All you have to do is tell me where the girl is. Where is she? If you tell me, I’ll turn you loose right now. You’ll need to walk out of here on foot, but you can make it. I believe in you.”
When he doesn’t answer, I jab the gun deeper into his skin. My patience is wearing thin. Time to speed up this game because we’re losing precious moments that we could be looking for Jade.
“I’ll give you three seconds to talk. Can you count to three in English? Surely, you can. One…two…three!” I pull the trigger and the gun clicks. I let out a loud laugh. “Damn! You’re a lucky bastard. Now it’s my turn. We’re playing this game for real, asshole.”
I step in front of him so he’ll realize I’m not joking around. Sweat is pouring down the man’s face. I roll the cylinder again to give me the same random chance of dying that he had.
“Vulcan, don’t do it!” Leroy yells, moving up closer. “You shouldn’t be playing these dumbass games. You’re going to kill yourself. This isn’t funny.”
I hold up my hand to back him off. “I’ll be fine. Watch and learn. Nothing can kill me. This bastard needs to understand that I’m a crazy motherfucker. We’re going to play until he tells me where Jade is or he’s dead. Whichever comes first.” I quickly put the gun to my temple before Leroy can stop me and pull the trigger. Once again, nothing but a click. Grinning, I turn and point the gun toward a rock in the distance. I pull the trigger a second time and the gun fires, shattering the rock into pieces.
“Holy shit! That was too damn close,” I say. “Well, there goes our one bullet. This game is boring as hell. To make it more interesting, I’m going to add a second bullet.” I show Ivan the empty cylinder again. “Where should I put the bullets? Two together, or should I space them out?”
Ivan is breathing harder. The idiot has finally figured out that I’m a psycho.
“Where’s the girl?” I load two more bullets into the cylinder. “Tell me. You need to ask yourself something. Is she worth dying for, Ivan? I mean, she certainly is to me, but you don’t even know her. Does your partner have her? We’re aware there are two of you.”
