by Mercy Cortez
“I understand. Why would you want to be here with me? I was being played,” I said numbly.
“No you weren’t. I want to hate you, Draco… but I can’t. I want to despise you and want you dead but I don’t. All I want is to be held by you and to be safe because I’m sick of fighting.”
I heard it. In my head, I heard the words I should say, or words I wanted to say, but I suppressed them due to the mere stupidity of those words.
I got up and pecked my lips on hers. I wouldn’t tell her about the dream. For one thing, I don’t even remember how it ends. It was my life before the CIA. Maybe it means more to some people, but to me it was the end of my life as Rupert and the start of my life as Agent Draco. That is all that matters.
“We have to go, Aimee. Rahul will be looking for us and honestly, we’ve stayed here too long as it is." I went to the wardrobe that was stained with mold and poured my clothes into the bags I had brought. I found a shirt and a belt and threw it to Aimee.
“Sorry I don’t have any of your clothes. A makeshift dress will have to do.” She didn’t ask questions or refuse, she did what I said, which in my view was quite the accomplishment. I got to the door with Aimee’s hand in mine. I looked down at her white shirt that just covered her knees and the brown belt fastened around her skinny stomach. At least her meal times had made her used to not eating regularly, because we hadn’t eaten in 24 hours. She looked lost, but happier than I had seen her since that day at the Spanish Steps. I went to pull the door open when it opened in my face.
“Draco? Jesus! What the hell are you doing?” I looked open-mouthed at Jethro and wondered how in the hell he had found us. He looked Aimee over and raised an eyebrow.
“What exactly is your plan here… AGENT?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight – Aimee
Agent? What the hell was going on here?
“Did he just call you ‘agent?’ What the hell is going on, who the hell is this guy?” I looked at Draco who had a panicked look on his face. He glared at this unwelcome visitor.
“Jethro, leave, now!” the Jethro character just shook his head and continued to look at us both, he saw my hand in Draco’s and Draco suddenly dropped my hand like a weight.
“No, you have to tell me what the hell you think you’re doing and why you are going against every damn protocol in the book.” I watched this new character in what had been a game of three for the last few weeks. He was tall and broad. He had a little bit of a stubble and brown hair that he pushed his hand through to keep out of his face. His jaw was square and he had high cheekbones. He was attractive, but most importantly, he was intimidating.
“Jethro, if we don’t fucking move, he’ll find us and kill us, so as polite as I can possibly be - mind your own fucking business!” Draco grabbed my wrist and pushed hard past Jethro, and I wondered what the hell was going on. I felt as Draco pushed me hard and then I saw as Jethro’s fist met Draco’s face, and I gasped. Ridiculous, I know. I’ve been painted black and blue and this ‘Agent’ fella comes in and hits my captor and I gasp? Jethro ducked as Draco hit back; it was fairly obvious who was the more experienced here and Draco looked a little pathetic. I needed this Jethro guy back in the hotel when Draco was taking me weeks ago.
“Draco, you have to stop. You have to either kill the girl or get her back to him somehow, and just fucking hope she keeps her mouth shut!”
My eyes darted between them watching them converse. Draco rubbed his lip that was now bleeding from the assault.
“I can’t. Why do you think I’m here? I can’t do this, not to another one. I killed her damn sister, Jethro. You weren’t there; you don’t have a goddamn clue what it’s like out here. You failed your mission and you think you can act so dignified about this? I have heard about Gianna, rumors of what you did. You must understand how I can’t do this!” He was shouting with a panicked passion towards the end. Jethro stared at him in wonder, he pulled the cufflink on his white shirt and then looked Draco in the eye; he was obviously uncomfortable.
“Okay then. But I’m coming with you for now, because we need a plan and you won’t listen to reason. She looks a mess, by the way, and as much as I have to disagree with what you did, I can hardly judge now can I?”
Draco smiled to Jethro with gratitude, and although I had gathered whatever was going on was a heck of a lot bigger than me, I still wondered what I had become a part of and how this could end.
We went to the door and began to walk to the car. Jethro suggested we take his, as it was a rental with no paper trail. Who was this guy? FBI, CIA, MI5… Any acronym I can think of.
As we reached the car a bike buzzed into the motel, his helmet was black and he had leathers on, his hair looked long under the helmet. I felt a sense of dread and uneasiness. I looked at the man and he removed his helmet; he smirked at me and reached into his leather pocket. Neither Jethro nor Draco seemed to notice the man watching us. Until he pulled out the gun.
Chapter Twenty-Nine – Draco
I watched as the sun gleamed over the semi-automatic pistol in his grip. He pointed it at Aimee and my heart fell to the floor. I had seen her try to escape the motel before and I knew she didn’t see me in a light that might provoke her to care for me. I wasn’t stupid but seeing him aim a gun at her I had to stop it.
The hitman must have been Rahul’s doing. How he found us, I don’t know, but right now he needed to die.
I pushed Aimee to the ground, but she got back up. She didn’t hide behind me, she didn’t run, she didn’t cry. She looked at the man who was now targeting me and asked one question.
“Does it look like I even want to live?”
I watched as she walked closer to the gunman, completely confused as to what the hell she was thinking. She stood in front of him and had the gun pressed into her chest.
“What in god’s name are you doing, Aimee?” She didn’t answer me, she only smiled at the hitman and he smiled back. She stood waiting for the bullet to rip her heart to shreds, we all waited, and I ran to her. I saw her head turn as I ran to her.
“NO! Drake, please. I will be okay. This needs to happen. I have to die. I can’t go back there, I can’t be sold. This is my way out, a bullet.”
“No it isn’t, you stupid girl.” I knew if I got to close, he would shoot her anyway. Jethro was in the car with the window down, seemingly uncaring about the events. I looked into her hazel eyes and saw not a single tear escape. She held hope and finality. She couldn’t die. I wouldn’t let her. She wasn’t giving up. I ran, knowing if I didn’t she would be dead and her blood, along with her sister’s, would be on my hands. She held terror on her face as I ran to her I heard the unmistakable sound of a semi-auto being fired. I held my breath as I reached her and heard another bullet a few seconds after the first. My mind was blank as I reached her and pushed her away. I felt dizziness and loss as I lay on the ground. I felt my eyes get heavy. I looked up to see her. My Aimee.
“Jesus, you’re a fucking idiot. I was fine.” She pushed her hands on my stomach where I had been shot, the blood was already clotting as he had only grazed my skin. Bullet wounds always look worse than they are. I expected her to be happy, I was hurt, and with her lack of knowledge, she would probably assume it was fatal.
“Why? Draco, please don’t leave me. Oh, please. I have nothing, you fucking took everything. Don’t you leave me, too.” Her tears spilled out and I looked around for the hit-man and saw his body on the ground, a single shot to his head.
“Aimee, this is all very flattering, but I’m not going anywhere and neither the goddamn hell are you. You never fucking do that again!” I shouted because frankly I was mad she had nearly given up after everything. That wasn’t who she was.
“If you promise not to try and save me again.”
I laughed at her and she smiled at me. She leaned down and her lips lightly brushed mine. It wasn’t logic, it was love.
“That’s one thing I’m not sure I can ever promise.”
“Get u
p, he only grazed you. Bet you’re glad you have a well-armed expert marksman with you now, aren’t you?” Jethro seemed to have enjoyed our little show and he seemed to be a bit of a soft touch all of a sudden.
I got up and took my shirt off and wrapped it around my stomach for minor support; Aimee held my hand as we walked back to the car.
Chapter Thirty – Jethro
I had seen him willing to risk his life for a girl he barely knew. Maybe he was more like me than I gave him credit for. I don’t know what’s happened the last few weeks, but I know Draco, and he isn’t like this. He is professional, there is something different here, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
We got into the car, her in the back with Draco, just in case she did something stupid, and me driving. I still had no plan here, but Draco would be dead if he didn’t come up with one.
"You need a plan Draco. You’re shot, you have a fragile girl as a companion and the most violent man we have ever encountered is after you. You do realise the chances of you and her surviving this are pretty damn slim.” I had to be harsh. He had to know what he was risking.
“I am aware, thank you, Jethro. I didn’t plan any of this shit. You weren’t there, and you don’t know what it was like. What he asked me to do to her. I am good at acting like a monster but, Jesus Christ, I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t rape her, no!” He got irate rather quickly and I looked in my rearview mirror to see his companion looking sad and confused. When he said ‘rape,’ I saw her eyes grow wider and her mouth move to disgust and then her eyes flickered to the left…It was a memory she was thinking of and then she brought her tiny fingers to her eye and wiped away a single tear that she had tried to conceal.
“So, I don’t understand. You’re a cop?” she asked, so scared that someone might hurt her for muttering a question.
“Look, Aimee, it is hard to explain, I … I work for an agency, the CIA. Theoretically, you can’t know who I am, but here we are. I work undercover in underworld situations and stop the bad guys. Unfortunately, it sometimes requires me to be a bad guy first, but Aimee, even I have my limits, and maybe it makes no sense that I could kill your sister and then turn around and run when it comes to raping you, but I can’t explain it. You… I just couldn’t do it.” He was hiding something and part of me wondered if he even knew what it was. Aimee watched him and nodded almost like he had just told her the sky was blue, but the shy sigh showed the truth of her thoughts. She was tired, exhausted, and too far to care what he had to say. She was plunging into shock and that is dangerous territory. I watched her hold onto his hand in what looked like a vice grip. She was a victim. Not just of kidnap, sexual harassment and battery, but now she was a Stockholm syndrome sufferer and anyone could see it. She was appreciating any touch he gave her, she trusted any word he said and she was scared he would leave her. It was in her eyes. She felt like he was all she had. She was forgetting why exactly that was. Who he really was. What he had done to her and her sister. She had it bad, and if I had to guess, so did he.
I don’t know everything on Stockholm syndrome, but I am fairly certain that they should diagnose a captor’s version of it, because Draco had it. He needed her as much as she needed him. She was his validation for his sins. She was his light at the end of the tunnel.
I kept driving to nowhere when Draco suddenly spoke.
“I have a plan. You won’t like it…” I signed at him and awaited the plan to save the girl and do best by her.
“We go back, we find Rahul and we kill him. After that my plan has no other objective. I made a promise to myself and I am keeping it. He has to die. If I am going to Hell, he’s going with me. He’s going tonight.”
Chapter Thirty-One – Draco
We drove until we were close enough to walk. Maybe I was a moron and walking to my execution, but I had to do this. Some warped part of me blamed Rahul for Erin's death, even though my actions had caused her to be buried in the ground a few miles away. No one knew where she was but me. I was bringing Aimee with me. Well, I had told her to stay with Jethro, but she wasn't listening. She clamped so close to me and it confused the hell out of me. I was so confused as to what was going on with us, but I knew that whatever it was, it wasn't important right now. Killing Rahul was all that mattered. I had lost everything on this mission. My new mission was to kill the worst man I had ever known, and this one, I would complete perfectly.
I got to the door and expected Rahul to be waiting for me, but he wasn't. I walked in, holding Aimee’s hand in mine.
"Stay quiet. If he knows we’re here, he’ll kill us, understand?" She simply nodded, letting nothing show - no fear, no sadness. Maybe I had beaten it all out of her, maybe she no longer had a thing to fear or maybe she just thought she didn't. I got to the dark hallway and there was Rahul, waiting for us. He stood tall and wore a tank top and jeans, so casual for him. In his hand was a meat cleaver. I grinned at my ex-boss and he greeted us.
"Ah, the happy couple. I've been waiting, I heard you somehow killed my assassin without a gun? Impressive. You aren't alone, but soon, I won’t be either. You see, I know what you are, Agent Rupert Austin Draco." My pulse quickened, how the hell did he know? Why would he know?
"Oh, look at that concern in your eyes. You really think I didn't know that you killed my little Erin? That I would be dumb enough to not know what and who you are? That your father killed your mother and then made you watch while he blew his own brains out? I admit..." He waved the cleaver between me and Aimee "... I didn't envision this for your ending. It will end one way I knew it would, though. I will kill you. I'll kill her too. Slowly."
He lunged forward and I shoved Aimee out the way, pushing her against the wall. Rahul laughed. I felt the gun Jethro gave me in my waistband. I went to grab it when he lunged again and I fell back. I reached for the gun, but it was gone. Aimee was watching, petrified, and Rahul grabbed me and held me on the ground and held the cleaver to my throat. He was stronger than me and I felt the cold of the blade press harder into my throat.
"I will kill you just the same way you killed my Ireland Erin, and maybe it will hurt you more if I let her watch you die. I saw it," he pushed the blade in deeper and I groaned "I saw her eyes sparkle when she saw you, that poor little bitch. My dear Aimee, he killed your only family, he beat you, he raped your mouth, and yet you still want to look at him? You're a fool. Don't worry, I'll let you watch him die and then I'll do what I asked Draco here to do, I'll rape you, and I know I’ll die because Dracos other agent friends will find me, but I’ll make sure that I fuck you so hard, you'll still feel it when I strangle you and your breath stops entering your lungs. Oh look, shes crying. Silly bitch." He grabbed my head and slammed it against the concrete floor, and Aimee shrieked.
"Stop! Please don't hurt him!" Rahul laughed at her.
"You're pathetic. He. Doesn't. Care. About. You." The knife pressed deeper, slicing into the skin on my throat.
"Tell her your last words, Draco." My mind swarmed with words and thoughts. I looked into her tear filled eyes.
"Aimee, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry you met me, I'm sorry I... I killed your sister and I killed a part of you. I'm sorry, but I think I love you, I think I am going to die, I think you need to run, now, get out and run away. Please. Run Aimee, fuck..." He pushed even harder and I knew it wouldn't be long.
"How touching. But sweetheart, if you move a goddamn muscle, I won’t just slit his throat, I'll chop him up into little pieces and then... then I'll do the same to you"
Rahul looked into my eyes; his own dark eyes filled with hate, and then looked back to Draco.
"I remember when we first met. You said you needed work and you were such a sad excuse for a man, so easy to manipulate. I knew, three months in, you weren't who you said you were. I liked you; I took you in and let you have any woman you wanted. But then you kissed my Dahlia, she told me. She told me just before I kicked her to death that she was pregnant, and she said it might be yours. So I beat her instead of you. Her bl
ood is on your hands, too. You fucked her and I forgave you, I thought you were my boy. You betrayed me and I waited, waited to hurt you as bad as you hurt me"
"Rahul, I never had sex with Dahlia, she fucking lied! You killed her because she lied. She wanted to die."
"Shut the fuck up, she was an angel. You lied every single day. Now you die." Rahul carried on, his back against Aimee and his blade pushing so hard it drew blood. I saw a shadow of something. Aimee stood. She wasn't scared anymore.
Chapter Thirty-Two - Aimee
The gun was so heavy in my hand. I had never seen one up close, never held one until today. It felt so strange. I pulled back the slide and released it like I had watched Jethro do. I aimed the gun to the back of Rahuls head. My mind was a blur. I saw Draco on the ground, blood slowly dripping from his neck. His words and Rahul’s swam in my mind. I wanted Draco dead for so long, Rahul would do it. I paused, standing over Rahul, thinking of what I wanted. Draco dead. Was that what I wanted?
I gripped the gun, my breath shook. I slowly squeezed the trigger, aiming at one of the men responsible for my sister’s death, the man who had broken me completely. I watched blood spray from his skull, but I just kept shooting until my hand shook, my thumb ached like it was bruised and I stared at the blood spilling from the murderers head. I dropped the gun to the floor and sobbed.
I had taken a life, to save another. Draco groaned as he pushed Rahuls corpse off of him. He stumbled over to me and pulled me close.
"It's okay, baby girl, it's okay" he rocked me gently, and stroked my hair, I stared into nothing and then he kissed my temple. I was a zombie, a shell. He scooped me into his arms and walked me down the hall to his bed and laid me down.
"Aimee, are you okay? Answer me, please." I said nothing and pulled my legs into my body while I wretched tears, I felt an insane laugh fill my chest and out my mouth, I was laughing. Laughing and crying. Suddenly I knew what I was made of. How far I had come. Exactly what I was capable of.
