Bane

by Kristin Mayer

  The blood drained from my face as my head shot over to Frankie. Hampton hit him upside the head.

  Bang.

  Maren yelled and I looked at her. There didn’t seem to be any wounds as she recoiled in her chair. The sound ricocheted through the room as Frankie dropped letting out a blood curdling scream.

  “Frankie! No!” Maren bolted from her seat, but Eric caught her wrenching her back. A gasp escaped her lips.

  In one movement, Eric shoved Maren back into the chair and I saw red as I stood. No one touched her like that. No. One.

  The hammer cocked which sobered me. Eric held the gun to her head while giving me a malicious smile. I sat back in the chair. He’d kill her without a second thought if I pressed or stepped over the line too much. I needed to save the moment for when I would get us out of here.

  “Sit, Maren. It’s a leg wound. He’ll be fine.” Without hesitation, Maren obeyed the orders. Eric alternated the barrel of the gun between us. “Either of you move and I’ll shoot him again.”

  Hampton remained impassive as he watched the scene. Any hope continued to diminish as I waited for a sign that I wasn’t going to receive.

  Maren shook as Frankie grabbed his leg in agony. He’d live. Leg wounds hurt like a son of a bitch and slowed someone down, but they were survivable.

  Eric crouched in front of Frankie. “Ruin my surprise again and it’ll be worse.” Scoffing, Eric muttered, “Amateurs.” He turned to address Maren and me. “I hoped to reveal this little secret in a bit, but seems Frankie let the cat out of the bag.”

  The mischievous grin on Eric’s face made me sick. I had a feeling where this was going and I hoped to hell I was wrong.

  Eric kept his gun pointed at Maren. I wished he would aim at me and leave Maren out of this. “Maren’s birth control pills were replaced with blanks for two months prior to meeting her. She was one of the many targets we thought you might be interested in based off of accumulated data we had of likes. The condoms were replaced, something engineered by our team. Completely permeable. Basically, this entire time the two of you have been having unprotected sex.”

  That was the reason Frankie had been in our motherfucking room that day. Damn it all to hell.

  Maren swayed in her chair. “A baby.”

  Eric caught her shoulder. “Keep it together, sweetheart.”

  This cannot be happening.

  No.

  Not again.

  I can’t lose another baby.

  Seeing Maren’s lifeless body like Jasmine took over my vision. I had to shut my eyes to clear my head. This was not happening again. Maren had been throwing up; we’d been fucking like mad … unprotected. She was pregnant. I knew it.

  Dryly, I spoke. “Get her some water. She’s in shock.”

  Hearing my voice completely defeated, Eric looked at me. “Hampton. Get her some water. I think he’s right.”

  Hampton did as he asked, leaving Frank writhing on the floor. He was useless. Hampton handed her the water. “Take small sips. It’ll keep you from getting nauseous.”

  When Hampton turned my way, he blinked his eyes consecutively five times, stopped, and then three more.

  Our sign. Finally, our fucking sign. Hampton hadn’t flipped.

  I said every prayer I could think of. If there were only three guys, including Frankie, as suspected, my odds improved dramatically.

  All I could do was stare at Maren’s stomach. I always knew this time meant more than what I gave it credit for. Shit! The situation was spinning out of control—everything I had fought against. I needed to save her and our child if she was pregnant. If we made it through this, I was going to give it all I had. It was time to fight for something I wanted—for Maren. I should have told her this morning how I felt. Regret filled me.

  “Maren, be a dear and go piss on this. Let’s see if I’m about to congratulate the two of you.” Maren’s eyes were closed for a brief second. What was going through her mind? I wasn’t sure what I wanted. I knew I wanted Maren and children, but not forced upon her. She’d never believe I wanted her for her. Damn it all to hell!

  Maybe she wouldn’t be pregnant. Maren reopened her eyes, tears threatening to spill over. Eric mocked her. “It’s okay. If you’re not, we have some backup plans. Bane’s next steps will decide the outcome of this situation.”

  He handed Maren a pregnancy test from the table behind him. A tear fell from Maren’s face.

  “Motherfucker!”

  Eric turned to me, truly satisfied that he’d gotten a reaction out of me. “I thought you’d be happy Bane. I’m giving you something back you lost.” I kept my gaze on Maren trying not to let his words affect me as Eric said, “Hampton, take Maren to the bathroom.”

  On shaky feet, Maren stood and walked to the bedroom. She gave me a sad smile and my heart broke. This was all because of me and not being able to stay away from her. Hampton followed, which only left Eric, Frank and myself in the room. Eric paced victoriously in front of me. “I’m sure you’re wondering how we found you. I won’t make you try and figure it out. In Maren’s birth control pills we put a tracker. Did I mention that her pills had fertility enhancements added to them?”

  He laughed like a hyena as he took in his victory. Eric had never been able to handle that I was faster, better, and more agile than him in the field. Overall, I had been a better agent.

  I was going to take great pleasure in killing Eric when I had the chance. But for now, I sat still while Eric gloated more. “I didn’t mention the fertility part, did I? Shame on me. Well, we made her as fertile as possible.” He cocked his head. “I digress. At first, we were going to come after you more aggressively. Then, when I searched the hotel room, I realized the condoms and pills had been taken. Frankie said Maren had an extra pack in her purse. We knew there was a two month supply. There was still a chance that Maren could get pregnant. If you had a baby to lose from the get go, I knew you’d be more willing to cooperate, considering you know what that already feels like.”

  Eric brushed some imaginary lent off his jacket, truly enjoying this sick mind fuck of a game he played. “About a week ago we turned on the tracker to get your location. It had been turned off up until that point. It wouldn’t have registered on any of your equipment. In case you were monitoring, we turned it back off. Each day we checked and you hadn’t moved locations. It was brilliant actually. With Maren on her second pack of pills, we were running out of time and hoped you’d fucked her enough to impregnate her.”

  “What do you want from me?” My voice came out tight and barely contained. I was losing patience with this dog and pony show. This asshole was gambling with the life of the girl I wanted and potentially my child. The end game had not been revealed yet.

  Maren appeared back in the door, clearly shaken. Hampton was behind her. Without warning she ran to me, throwing her arms around my neck. “Take the knife from the front of my pants.”

  Without hesitation, I took the small sharp knife from her. It had to be Hampton’s. “I swear I’ll get you two out of this. I’ll keep you guys safe. I swear it.”

  Hampton wrenched her back but not with enough force to hurt her. It was for show. “Hampton. Bring her back over here.”

  Another gun shot went off and Frank cried out. “Fuck, man. Not my other leg. Maren, make it stop!”

  A sob erupted from Maren. “Please stop. Don’t hurt him.”

  I positioned the knife to where all it would take was a bit of pressure and I’d be free. Frank continued to wail in the background. “His fate rests on you not misbehaving, Maren. Be a good girl and I won’t hurt him.”

  She nodded and looked back at me. My heart broke. Unfortunately, in this game there were calculated risks and injuries happened. The sooner I got us out of this mess the better.

  Eric’s left eye had a twitch. Same tell-tale sign from when we worked together. He was lying, of course. Maren stood next to Hampton.

  “I think it’s about time to check.” Eric took the pregnan
cy test from Hampton and looked directly at me.

  “Congratulations, Daddy. We won’t have to artificially-inseminate Maren now.”

  Holy shit! Maren was pregnant with our baby. Our baby. I was going to be a dad. I watched Maren’s hands go to her stomach.

  I will protect you little one. I swear I won’t fail my family this time.

  Whatever was about to come out of Eric’s mouth would be a lie. By the gleam in his eye, I knew he planned to take Maren and the baby away from me again. He was going to use them as leverage. All the cards weren’t on the table yet … not by a long shot.

  I GRABBED MY stomach.

  I’m pregnant.

  We’re pregnant.

  We’re having a baby.

  I’m going to be a mom.

  I could barely comprehend the thought. Bane and I had been tricked. I glanced at Bane and he was intently watching my stomach.

  In between birth control packs, it wasn’t uncommon for me not to have a period. I’d spotted a little, but that was normal. It never crossed my mind that I could be pregnant.

  Was he happy about this? This morning he’d told me there was no future for us. My heart broke in two. Now, I had a life within me. A life made with two people who gave something to each other. Silently, I made a vow. I’ll love you always and forever. We’ll find a way through this. Your daddy swore he’ll get us out of this. It’ll be okay if it’s me and you, kiddo.

  Would Bane want to be part of this baby’s life? I wasn’t sure.

  Frankie writhed on the floor and my heart ached at the sight of my brother in pain. It had been necessary, but I’d always wonder if there was another way. In the bathroom, Hampton snuck a knife and instructed me to run to Bane. Apparently Hampton was on our side. I trusted no one except … Bane.

  There was a man still in the bedroom that hadn’t made his presence known. When I’d walked in, I’d nearly yelped but the gun pointed at me froze me in my place. The scar running along his face would be something that haunted my dreams. Whoever he was, he was bad news.

  My head hurt and I felt woozy. I swayed. Bane went to move but stayed rooted as he remembered himself. Hampton spoke as he grabbed my arm to support me, “Should she sit? The last thing we need is for her to fall and hurt the baby. The entire plan hinges on that baby.”

  Baby.

  Baby.

  Baby.

  “Fuck, your right. Sit, Maren. Keep drinking.”

  Bane watched me intently and there was relief in his eyes when I sat. The small sips were refreshing and helping. I was tired and hungry. Pregnant. I had to be barely pregnant, like a few weeks pregnant. Besides the nausea this morning, I hadn’t experienced anything I’d heard about pregnancy.

  Frankie moaned again. How could he have intentionally done this to me? To the baby? He knew what he was doing. Why? It had to be for money.

  Bane’s raspy voice broke my thoughts, “So what is all this about? Did you get her pregnant to kill her in front of me again, like Jasmine and Faith?”

  Jasmine and Faith. Wife. Baby. Dead.

  “No, it’s always been about you coming back to Black Division.” The voice came from the doorway and it was the man who had been in the bedroom.

  Bane looked as if he’d been struck. “Sarge. What the fuck?”

  The man walked toward the middle of the room. My natural instinct was to recoil from him as I got a good look at the scar that ran jagged along his face. The dark crew-cut hair only added to the menacing look.

  The man Bane called Sarge took a chair from the kitchen table and dragged it to the middle of the room. The metal dragging along the floor caused me to look away and cringe. “When you left Black Division initially, I knew it was because of that cunt, Jasmine. I wasn’t going to let some piece of tail take my best asset. On your last trip, I’d followed you. Saw you two confess your love to each other. Figured you’d return there with that romantic notion you told me about living your life and maybe starting a family.”

  Sarge scoffed, “Men like you aren’t meant to be happy, Bane. Men like you are meant to fight—cause chaos and destruction. That’s what you do. The plan to kill Jasmine had been in place from the moment you asked to leave. After Jasmine and the baby’s death, you came back. We’d agreed to only six missions, but I figured you’d become addicted to it and want to stay. You didn’t.”

  This wasn’t happening. How could this be real? Bane spoke, barely holding it together. “How’s Eric still alive? I saw a bullet go through his head.”

  Sarge cut right to the chase. “We looked far and wide for someone with genetic similarities to Eric. It was Eric in the exam room. When I punched him, we pretended it dislocated his jaw. That man Hampton shot in the head was some dumb fuck we’d found who’d pass facial recognitions after having some surgeries. His jaw had been broken, so he wasn’t able to speak. The tattoos were done to match Eric’s exactly. The incoherent moans of pain before Hampton pulled the trigger were probably him trying to say he wasn’t Eric.”

  Bane worked hard to control his breathing. Hampton looked unaffected from what I could tell. Of course, he probably knew all of this prior to today since he’d been with them. After a few moments, Bane’s eyes took on a deathless stare, unleashing all the hate hidden in those depths. I shuddered. “How’d you know I’d go for Maren?”

  “We didn’t. Over the past two years, there have been hundreds of women we put in your path. They’d all had their birth control switched. We needed you to fall for one of them. The security girl in your building, the mail delivery girl, people at the bars you visited, several girls on work projects were all purposefully put in your path. You fell for none of them. That is until … Maren. When you went for her, we worked fast to get the condoms switched out.”

  My head spun. All along I’d been used to get a baby in order to keep Bane in line.

  Sarge stood. “So here’s how this will play out. You’ll be allowed supervised visits with Maren and the baby in between assignments. Any funny business and they’ll die gruesomely. If you fail to complete your mission, they’ll die. I will get my way with this, Bane. I will win. Do you want to lose another child?”

  I was going to be held captive for the rest of my life, wondering if Bane would survive the next mission and come home to us. A sob wanted to spill free but I pushed it down. The last two times I’d done anything, Frankie had been punished. What would happen to Frankie? There was no way they would let him leave here.

  Sarge nodded to Eric. “Let’s clean this up.”

  Those words were bad with the way he said them and I glanced at everyone to see what was going to happen.

  Eric lifted his gun to Frankie and I cried out, “NOOOO!”

  Bang.

  The gun went off and Frankie screamed. They needed me alive to keep Bane in order. I knew they wouldn’t hurt me or the baby. I scrambled to the floor as Bane yelled, “Maren, don’t!”

  Tears filled my eyes as I looked up at Sarge. “Please, he’s dying. Let me go to him. I’ll cooperate.”

  Sarge nodded as I held Frankie. His eyes fluttered open. “Hey, Sis. Remember when you were fifteen and after you finished homework we’d each get a scoop of vanilla ice cream?”

  The memory flooded back. I’d sit on the black countertop as Frankie and I sang songs together. We had special cups for our vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. Those were special memories as we talked about our day. I whispered, “Yes.”

  He was trying to put on a brave face like he had when I’d be hurt as a kid. The corners of his lips turned down slightly and trembled. On a shaky voice, he commented, “I did some things right. Do that with your kid. I know I’ve been a shitty—” He arched in pain and took a deep breath.

  My gut twisted. After all the terrible things that happened over the last few years, the Frankie I had once knew existed. The brother I loved finally came home and now I was losing him … forever.

  A sob erupted from within me. “Frankie, I don’t want to lose you. I can’t.
”

  “I love you, Maren. Always have. Always will.”

  There was nothing I could do as I watched the life slowly seep from Frankie’s body. His body was relaxing as he fought to stay awake. Tears streamed down my face. “Frankie, I love you.”

  “I know.” He took a deep breath. “Even after everything. I got twisted up in the wrong things.” His eyes started to close.

  “Frankie!”

  They shot open and he gave me a loving smile. “I love you too, Sis.”

  I rubbed furiously away the tears that were falling down my face. I needed to stay strong. “Say hi to Mom and Dad for me.”

  His voice was barely audible. “I will. You’re going to be a great mom, Maren.”

  Time was running out as I felt Frankie’s body becoming more relaxed. He still breathed. I gave him a kiss on the cheek. “I forgive you. I love you.”

  “Thank you.” I think that’s what he said. His eyes closed, but I would not leave him until he breathed his last breath. I would be here for him. Unexpectedly, I was yanked to my feet.

  I fought whoever held me as Bane yelled for me to stop.

  Sarge spit out the words as he said, “He’s still alive.”

  Eric didn’t care as he forced me to sit in the chair. Frankie moaned as Eric spoke. “He won’t be for long.”

  Uncontrollable hysterics took over me as I watched Eric hold out his gun and walk with a swagger. There were still a few precious seconds left I could have with my brother. Bane yelled, “Maren, angel, look at me. Look at me.” I glanced to him. “Don’t look. Look at me.” I nodded. “I will keep you and the baby safe.”

  Bang.

  Flinching at the sound, fear shot through me. The ringing of the gunshot wouldn’t stop. I screamed as I stared at Eric. “You bastard! You bastard!”

  Eric raised the gun and Bane stood. Sarge said, “Eric, stand down.”

  I sat. At this point, my actions were making the situation worse.

  Eric spit beside my foot, clearly agitated he’d been reprimanded. He tried to rile me. “You’re the one carrying the bastard, sweetheart.”