Page 63 of Dangerous Command
“Tell us, Maddie,” Derek said. “Why would you know where Muro is?”
I stared at Derek, then shifted to Kit, then back to Derek. Panic built inside of me like a pressure cooker, sweat gathering on my brow. This couldn’t be the way Derek found out about my history.
“We all grew up in Brackston,” Kit offered, staring me down, reading the fear in my eyes. My face turned red.
“You’ve got one last chance to tell me where Muro is,” Derek said turning back to Kit, “Before I make this very unpleasant for you.”
“I’m not telling you shit,” Kit said.
“Come on, Kit,” I said. “Don’t do this.”
“Fuck you!” he shouted, pulling out his gun. He shot at Derek, but then Derek threw an elbow into his arm, knocking the gun out of the way, then wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling him into a chokehold. With precise movements, he angled Kit against the wall, then grabbed a knife from his back pocket and stabbed Kit’s shoulder, physically pinning him to the plaster.
Derek let out a breath, then leaned down, boring into Kit’s face.
“Where is Muro?” Derek barked.
Kit spit blood, the tiny splatters splashing Derek’s cheeks.
“Kill me, mother fucker,” Kit said.
I stepped closer, and Kit’s eyes relaxed, reading mine.Please don’t do this,I thought,Please, Kit, hear me.
“You really don’t know where he is,” Kit said quietly.
I shook my head, and Derek turned to me, before focusing his attention back on Kit. Kit lifted his chin.
“Just make sure my brother is okay,” Kit said. Shines.
“He died,” I said. “He was killed.”
I left out the part that Axe, another Adler, had killed Shines. But I hoped that it was enough of the truth to push him towards telling us where Muro was. Kit knew he was going to die, and that his brother was dead too, so what did it matter if we knew where Muro was?
“The Last Isle,” Kit whispered.
The last what?
“You’re sure it’s the Last Isle?” Derek asked. Kit nodded. A gun was to his head, but still, Kit didn’t blink; he was unafraid. Derek pulled back the hammer, and I held up a hand.
“Wait!” I said. Derek froze. “Don’t kill him.”
“He’s one of Muro’s,” Derek said, jabbing the gun in his temple. “I have to.”
“He’s right. I’m going out the only way I know how,” Kit said.
I paused, staring at Kit, then straightened my shoulders, bracing myself.
“Then let me do it,” I said. “I want to do it.”
Derek scrutinized me from toe to head, then he handed me the gun. No matter how many times I had held one, their weight always shocked me. I held it to Kit’s temple. Kit had looked out for me when we were younger, but once Kit started working with my stepdad, he had changed. Everyone had.
I wasn’t violent. I wouldn’t let myself fall into my stepdad’s trap. But it still felt like the right thing to do. Kit shouldn’t have to die by Derek’s hands. It should be me. A friend. Someone who could do it honorably.
And I was scared of Muro. I knew exactly what Muro was capable of: the nightmares I had grown up with, the constant terror running through my veins, making it so that no place could be a real home. Not until I ran away.
If I could kill Kit, someone I once cared about, then maybe I could face someone I feared: my stepdad.
I pulled the trigger, the kick shuddering through me. I closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see Kit’s face. But stillness settled in the room and Derek shifted beside me, his boots clicking on the floor. Kit’s face was vacant, his eyes open, a red hole in his forehead, the blood dripping down to the floor. I had done it.
