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I run a hand through my chin-length dark hair, pushing my cheek out with my tongue.
Eros is right. It’s time to wrap things up with this particular captive.
I stroll over to a little table, upon which I have placed a shiny chrome gun, a bloodied pair of brass knuckles, and a length of heavy chain. Picking up the gun, I check the ammo in a quick, practiced motion.
When I sweep it across the basement and point it at the stranger, he straightens up and swallows heavily.
“Well?” I demand, switching to Arabic. “What do ye know? Where is the girl?”
“Please.” He holds his hands out, looking scared. “I only know where they are taking her. And I will tell you… but not in here.”
Without so much as a twitch, I move my gun just to the left of his head and fire off a shot. The bullet ricochets wildly for a second, causing the man to cover his head. Eros steps back with a frown, eying me.
“Don’t worry,” I say softly. “The next one is going right into his fucking brain.”
“He took her back to the States!” the man blurts out, ducking his head behind his hands. “Constantine kept talking about the beach and how it would be just like old times.” He shakes his head, not even trying to disguise the fact that he is crying. “He’s not right in the head, that Constantine. A crazy, violent man. Unstable.”
I snarl and level my gun at his head. “I killed Constantine.”
“Please…” He shakes his head, waving his hands. “You didn’t kill him. You just wounded him. The bullet grazed his skull.”
“The fuck it did. I saw him bleed!” I hiss.
“It’s the truth. I saw him. He had gauze on his face but the gunshot went…” He indicates a line next to his eye and makes a sound. “Zoom! Like that.”
“You’re saying that to a basement full of men with guns pointed at yer head.” I narrow my eyes at him and purse my lips. Then I shrug a shoulder at Eros.
“The man stops being helpful when he thinks we are not going to shoot him in the head. So have him dropped off in another country and left with nothing.” I fix him with my gaze. “Ye’ll keep nothing but your life.”
I turn around, my mind already at work on the problem at hand. As I climb the steep stairs, I try to remember if Persephone ever told me where exactly she and Constantine lived.
My foot hits the top step just in time for a shot to ring out below me. There is the distinct muffled thud of a body dropping.
I pause, gripping my gun.
Eros calls out. “Can’t have any loose ends, can we?”
I frown, climbing the last step. True to his word, Eros comes trotting up the stairs, as carefree as you please.
“Watch yourself, or ye’ll have me thinking ye’ve gone and traded places with Ares.” A muscle ticks in my jaw as I watch him push a hand through his short, dark pompadour. He shrugs.
“It needed doing, so I did it.” He sticks his gun in his waistband and straightens his dark cuffs.
“I spared his life.” I push my middle finger into his chest. “Ye don’t climb over my decisions. I’m still the one in charge here.”
Eros looks at me sharply, pushing his cheek out with his tongue. “Aye, so ye’ve said.”
I splay my hand out against the solid wall of his chest, giving him a little push. My mouth twists bitterly.
“Do we have a problem, Eros? First ye leave my girl unprotected and she gets fucking taken by force. And now yer questioning my decision making?”
He releases an exaggerated sigh. “Nobody wants ye focused on anything that’s not business. This thing we’re doing right now? This is distracting ye from that goal. So the sooner we can find yer little whore and get back to work, the better?—"
I crank back my arm, slugging him right in the jaw. He’s still a Lyon, so he knows how to take the punch. But he’s thrown back a few steps, his hand touching his jaw. He looks at me with nothing but contempt.
I raise my hand, holding a finger aloft in warning. “Not another word, brother.”
He turns his head and spits on the floor, clenching his jaw tightly. I storm through the tiny house, bursting out of the structure. A broad sweep of stars greet me; we are far enough outside civilization that it’s nothing but bright diamonds sprinkled in a vast sheet of black velvet above. All around me, there is nothing to greet the dark skies but sand, rock, and the occasional scruffy plant.
