Page 58 of Torch
“Micro, seriously, just fucking tell him.” Instead, the bastard just laughed. Why the hell wasn’t he giving us what we needed, so this didn’t have to be so rough on him?
“Come on, man, please. Remember who you really are. You’re not this asshole.”
Micro fixed me with a glare, trying to pull out of Stitch’s hold.
“This is exactly who I fucking am, man. I played you. I played all of you, just to get my revenge, and you can all get fucked. Tommy can die in the fucking tunnels, and-”
“Tunnels? What fucking tunnels?” Stitch blurted out, wrapping his other hand around Micro’s throat and shaking him. He made choking, hacking noises as he struggled against the grip on his throat. I rested a hand on Stitch’s arm, earning myself a savage glare from the man.
“VP, come on. You kill him now, and we don’t find Tommy.”
Micro coughed and gasped for air, once Stitch released him.
“Tell you… what… I’ll tell some… one. Not you. Neither… of you.”
“If you say one of our women, I’ll forget we need you alive,” Stitch hissed at Micro, and he laughed, again a ragged, pained sound.
“Has-Been. I’ll talk to that pussy, and only him.”
Grace
Torchcamestormingoutof that room, and wouldn’t even look at me, as he marched past and walked away from me. Stitch reappeared just after him, closing and locking the door. The poor man looked just as exhausted as Reacher, when he stopped beside me.
“He’s pissed, but not at you, darlin’. This fucker is just stringing us along, and we all know it. Trouble is, if Tommy’s alive somewhere, we need to get our hands on him. He probably needs medical attention.”
I opened my mouth to offer my skills, and he smiled.
“Doc will obviously take the burden on, but I’m sure he’d appreciate the help. The infirmary’s pretty well kitted out.” I was pretty sure whatever they had would be woefully inadequate, but I nodded anyway.
“Should I follow him?”
Stitch shook his head, dialling someone on his phone.
“He’ll be back. He’s gone to drag Has down here. I need to update Reacher.”
“My god, I’m so sorry. I feel like I pushed Torch into this somehow, and destroyed everyone’s chance for a rest.”
Stitch rested a hand lightly on my shoulder.
“Don’t take any of this on yourself, Grace. Nobody can make Torch do a damn thing. The big problem here is that he’s closest with Micro, and this has rocked his world right now. He’s going to need you way more than he realises, so please, bear with him if he tries to push you away at the moment. He’s putting his focus on finding Tommy, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t gonna crash hard at some point. You might be the only one he allows to see that happen.”
Noise down the hallway distracted us, and Stitch moved away from me, as he lifted his phone to his ear.
“Reacher, we have a development down here. I’m letting it proceed, because we might be able to save Tommy.” He walked further away from me as Torch reappeared, storming back in our direction, with Has-Been behind him. He wore a grey beanie with his clothes and cut, and looked like he’d rather be anywhere but here.
Stitch held a hand up, to make them wait while he finished his call, and I moved closer to Torch, needing to know he was okay. He glanced at me and sighed.
“I want you to go to bed, babe. Get some rest. This’ll go on for hours, because he’s in no hurry to tell us, and he’s gonna just string Has along too.”
I shook my head. “I want to be here for you. You might need me.”
Torch caught my chin in his hand, and leaned close.
“I don’t want you anywhere near this fucker, you hear me? He’s already tried to hurt you once. I want you away from here and safe. Hell, you could safely go back home now.”
He was doing exactly what Stitch had warned me about. Trying to push me away.
“You… you want me to go home?”
