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Nicolas looks at me with dead eyes. His soul had left thirty years before. I step forward and he scoots backward, fear flooding his sunken face.
I crouch to be on his level.“Dime qué pasó esa noche con mis padres y haré que tu muerte sea indolora.”
The old prisoner looks up at me with something resembling hope. My request is simple. He tells me exactly what happen the night my parents died, and in return, I’ll make his death painless. Perhaps thirty years ago, I would’ve been bloodthirsty to torture him, but I see he has already suffered enough. He’s not escaping death. Either I kill him and make it quick, or Esteban will do his worst.
He clears his throat and begins to rasp in Spanish. “I was assigned by Moreno to escort a team to Florida where your parents were living at Naval Station Mayport. We went in the early hours of the morning to avoid being seen. The mission was to return you and your mother to Esteban. Your mother’s husband was to be executed on film—proof for Moreno.
“All was fine until we entered the house. Cruz had woken up early to report for training. We were unaware of those orders. He greeted us with a baseball bat, crushing the skull of the first man who entered. We rushed the house, trying to restrain him. He kept fighting, shouting we would not take his family.
“Your mother had come down from upstairs, right into the crossfires. She saw we had a gun trained on him, ready to kill him. Frightened, she screamed his name, rushed forward, and threw herself in front of the bullet.”
I close my eyes, a tear tumbling down my face.
Nicolas clears his throat again. “Your mother sacrificed herself to save her husband. Cruz went crazy, weeping over her body. We froze. Gabriella was not supposed to be harmed. We saw one last opportunity to redeem ourselves and that was to retrieve you. Cruz saw one of our men heading upstairs and he attacked. He kept screaming, ‘Stay away from my son.’ He killed three men as they tried to climb the stairs toward your nursery.”
Nicolas shakes his head. “I thought for sure he would kill all of us. It was dumb luck that my bullet got him in the neck. He knew he was dying, but it didn’t stop him. Cruz threw himself down the stairs taking out another member of our team. He died trying to save you from abduction.
“By this point, we had attracted the attention of the neighbors. We retreated. Knowing we were dead men walking, the remainder of us separated and went into hiding. You can run from Moreno, but he always finds you.”
The old man hangs his head.“Lo siento.”
Yeah, not as sorry as I am.
Mymadreandpadredied fighting for those they loved—for each other and me.
There is no reason not to believe Nicolas’s story. Esteban had stripped his family from him. There’s no sword hanging over his neck to force a lie. He a dead man either way; lying gains him nothing. This man took my family away from me, but I can see Esteban took just as much away from this man as he did me. He is seeking absolution for his crimes, not freedom from his chains.
With the man’s head still bowed, my hands snap out and twist his neck with laser precision. He neither felt nor saw it coming—the mercy killing complete.
“It is finished,” Esteban says behind me.
I look over my shoulder at him, my face void of emotion, knowing he’ll be joining Nicolas tonight in the afterlife.
There are shouts of alarm coming down the corridor.
My brothers have arrived.Showtime.
Esteban steps back out of the cell into the hall, trying to understand what’s happening. I stand to my full height, the scalpel sliding from my sleeve to my palm.
Esteban looks back at me with his brows pulled together.
The corners of my mouth twitch up.“Es la hora, papá.”
Esteban shouts to have me locked in, but I charge the door. I power through the two guards trying to shut me in, adrenaline coursing through my veins. I lash out with the scalpel, cutting through one guard’s neck. The other one I stab a half-dozen times in the gut and heart.
More charge toward me, but I have the advantage. Esteban had ordered upon my arrival I was not to be harmed. They aren’t coming at me to kill me but restrain me. They are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
His men attack, knowing it’s a suicide mission because I’ll kill them all. Fear of death will get you killed every time. I don’t fear death, only losing those I love.
Here in this hell, I’m invincible.
I’m rushed and all my SEAL training comes out flooding into my extremities.Stab, slash, cut.I’m able to get a hold of one guard’s pistol and fire one kill shot after another. When that runs out, I march forward and engage in hand to hand combat, punching, kicking, and dodging everything thrown at me. Some are stupid enough to challenge me—they die. Most flee, knowing they can’t do anything to stop me when Esteban has a ‘no harm ban’ on my head.
With fire in my belly, I race down the corridor in the direction I saw Esteban take off. Another idiot tries getting in my way. I take him by the neck and crush his skull against the brick wall.
“ESTEBAN!” I roar, charging upstairs.
The fucker is running now. He knows I’m gunning for him.
