“I apologize.”
“Leave me. Only disturb me if it’s of utmost importance. Understood?”
But before Runner could answer, a windowpane exploded in a thousand tiny fragments as a black-clad figure came crashing through it.
*
So close. Xi rolled and got up onto his legs as softly as a panther. The pain was still there, but it was just background noise now. Klaus stood there like a statue, unable to move. Xi took a few steps toward him, and the broken glass crunched under his feet.
He hissed, “So, you think you can dismiss me?”
Klaus’ face was pale as a sheet. The dancing flames in the fireplace reflected in the glass on the floor, spreading a kaleidoscope of colors that would have been beautiful, given different circumstances.
“No, no—it was a mistake. Believe me.”
Xi bared his teeth. “No, you’re the one who’s going to believe me. Believe me when I say you are going to regret it.”
The knife slid into his right hand, and Xi brought it toward Klaus’ face. Runner, who had thrown himself aside when Xi made his entrance, now rushed forward with his weapon raised. He fired a shot into the ceiling, and it blared in the room.
“Stop! Stay where you are!”
Xi froze and glared at the man. “Who are you?”
“Don’t worry about who I am. Just stay where you are, or I’ll shoot!”
Runner took two big steps and grabbed Klaus by the collar. “Time to go,” he said. “Move!”
Klaus stumbled to the doorway.
“You won’t get away,” Xi spat at him. “You know you’ll never get away.”
Klaus and Runner disappeared through the doorway and slammed the door.
*
From the corridor outside the apartment, Hugo heard crashing sounds. Voices shouted from behind the door, and he pressed his ear to it. There were at least two different voices, maybe three. Someone screamed, and glass shattered. Someone fell to the ground. Then came two loud bangs from a gun.
Now! Hugo kicked the door once, twice, but it didn’t move. It must have been reinforced, he thought. More shouting came from the other side of the door, and he kicked again. Nothing. Then, running steps. To Hugo’s surprise, the lock disengaged, and the door opened. A man with cropped, dark hair stuck his head out.
“Are you Hugo?”
Hugo stared in amazement at the tall, muscular man. “Yes, I am.”
“Help us, for God’s sake. There’s someone after us. We have him locked in one part of the apartment, but he’ll break out of there soon.”
Hugo didn’t need to hear any more. He pushed the door open and ran into the apartment. The beautiful sculptures and paintings along the walls stood in stark contrast to the chaos that ruled inside the apartment. Hugo rushed through the corridor and came to a doorway that opened into a massive library.
A man lay on the couch on his stomach with a gun pointing to a closed door. He turned his head when he realized he wasn’t alone.
“You.”
Hugo flinched. “Do I know you?”
“No. But I know you. I’ve been following you for more than twenty-four hours.”
“What do you mean?”
Klaus bit his lip. “I am the person who arranged this entire coup. But we’ll talk about that later. Right now, we have bigger problems. We managed to lock him in, but it won’t last.”
He pointed to the closed door, which shook a second later when someone threw themselves at it. Hugo smiled maliciously.
“Xi Liu?”
“How do you know his name?”
“You think you’re the only one with access to information?”
Klaus gave a conciliatory nod. “You’re right. So what should we do?”
The door stopped shaking and the seconds passed by. Hugo pulled out his phone.
“We make sure you get out of here.”
“Are you going to let us go?”
Hugo held up his hand. “Sussie? It’s me. Listen.” Hugo told her what had happened, then said, “Get a police force here that can take care of the people who come out.”
Once he had confirmation, he hung up.
“I want you to go straight down and wait in the hall. Do you understand? The police will be here soon to take care of you. And don’t try to escape, now that we know who you are. Got it?”
Just then, another windowpane exploded, and again a black-clad figure rolled over the rug, landing heavily.
*
Runner grabbed Klaus’ arm and pulled him out of the library. Hugo was alone with Xi, who slowly stood and brushed glass shards from his pants. Xi exposed his red teeth, and hair stood up on the back of Hugo’s neck.
“Hello, Hugo.”
Hugo took a few steps aside. “Yes. It’s me again.”
“You’re supposed to be dead. I killed you myself.”
“Not enough, obviously.”
Xi’s eyes flashed and turned black, and he moved in the other direction. The two men studied each other like two tigers in a pen. Hugo’s entire attention was focused on the wiry assassin in front of him. After so many hours of hunting, it was a strange feeling to see Xi in front of him again.
Xi pulled out a knife, and Hugo did the same, both of the blades glittering.
“We doing this again?” Hugo asked.
“Didn’t finish the first time,” Xi answered, never taking his eyes from his target. Then, he lunged.
Hugo took a step aside. Xi mirrored his actions, and Hugo took a step to the other side. He felt every breath, every air molecule that came into his lungs.
“Is that the best you’ve got?” Hugo asked.
Xi didn’t answer. Hugo knew he had to push him, make him lose his balance. Hugo blinked.
“You know the police are on their way, right? They’ll be here soon, and then you’ll be stuck.”
Xi spat, “You idiot. Do you think you’ll ever get me?”
Hugo took a few deep breaths and released his brother into his consciousness. He knew what to do now. He tensed.
“You’re right. I won’t catch you.”
Hugo lunged, and Xi barely parried. Hugo faked a move right but went left and pretended to stumble. Xi cried out, threw himself forward, and thrust his knife at Hugo. Hugo turned at the last second, and the knife landed in his shoulder. Xi shouted triumphantly.
Hugo didn’t feel the pain. Instead, he opened his hand and let his knife fall, but before it hit the floor, he caught it with the other hand.
In a single sweeping motion, Hugo arced the knife upward and plunged it into Xi’s chest. Xi stopped cold and staggered backward. A bubbling sound left his lips, and while Hugo watched, his eyes rolled back and he fell.
For a full minute, Hugo stared at the motionless body.
Finally.
Xi was dead. Hugo had gotten his revenge. He had avenged his brother. He looked through the broken window beside him and didn’t even notice the icy blizzard outside.
Epilogue
The aircraft rocked in the turbulence, but Hugo wasn’t paying attention. A hand touched his shoulder. It was Mikko.
“Hey, buddy. How you doing?”
“Okay. A little tired, and my shoulder hurts constantly. Other than that, I’m okay. Can’t wait to get home, though.”
“I hear that.”
Hugo leaned back. It was over. The whole thing was over. The police had taken care of Klaus, who was at this very moment in an interrogation room with a couple of police inspectors to sort out this whole mess. Mikko leaned forward.
“I think Sussie has something for you.”
“What?”
“A surprise.”
Hugo turned his head to look at Mikko and saw Sussie approaching him. She handed him a phone.
“Here.”
He took it, eyeing her warily. “Hello?” he said into the phone.
“Hey, Hugo. It’s me.”
Hugo froze at the sound of his brother’s voice. A wave of relief broke over him, and te
ars began streaming down his cheeks.
“Felix! You’re alive!”
Felix chuckled and said, “You’re a real Einstein. Of course I’m alive—you didn’t really think I was dead, did you?”
Hugo sniffed. “The thought had crossed my mind.”
“But you didn’t have to worry. The doctors took good care of me, and Madeleine will come by later. I’ll tell her we talked.”
“Good. I’m so glad to hear your voice.”
“All right, enough about me. Tell me what you’ve been up to for the past twenty-four hours.”
Hugo grinned. “Not so much, you know,” he said. “The usual.”
Felix chuckled. “Come on.”
So Hugo told his brother about the twenty-four hours he’d just lived through. He told him about the mission to Russia and the trip to Helsinki and how they’d crashed. He told Felix about London and how close they’d all come to dying.
Felix whistled. “Sounds like you had a full schedule.”
“You can only imagine,” Hugo said, “but I had invaluable help from your team. They’re truly amazing.”
“Yeah, they’re the best. But wait, I have someone else here who wants to talk to you.”
“Who?”
Another voice came on the line. A woman’s.
“Hugo?”
A wave of heat rolled through him. “Lita.”
“How are you?”
“I’m okay. I’m in the air now, on my way home.”
“Thank goodness for that.”
They chatted for a few minutes, and Hugo was overwhelmed by his good fortune. His brother had survived, and he was on his way home to the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Life was good. No, it wasn’t good.
It was great.
About the author
Filip Forsberg is a Swedish author living in Malmoe. He’s the creator of the science-fiction thriller series featuring Jonathan Jarl and the Amber group and the techno thriller series featuring Hugo Xavier and the Novus group. He and his wife Tina have four children.
Thank you.
Thank you for reading REVENGE, if you have time to spare, a short review on Amazon would be greatly appreciated. I hope you enjoyed reading about Hugo as much as I had writing about him.
Why do reviews matter?
As an indie publisher, I publish my books using Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and my books are thus available on Amazon. And reviews on Amazon is the lifeblood that sells books, and I will be eternally grateful for your support.
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/Filip
Table of Contents
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Epilogue
About the author
Revenge Page 23
