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In it sits Archie Theron.
He’s bound to the arms and legs of the chair, with a gag preventing him from producing anything more than frantic gurgling noises in his throat.
My men do the same thing I did as they storm into the room at my back: they see him and freeze. In the blink of an eye, he’s got a dozen guns trained on him, but nothing else changes. I’m waiting for an ambush, but it doesn’t come.
“What the fuck is Benedict playing at?” Dima scowls when he joins. “There’s no way he’s just giving us the old man on a silver platter.”
Archie’s eyes are locked on me. He’s making retching sounds with his throat. I walk forward, ignoring Mila and Dima’s warnings to be careful, remove the gag from Archie’s mouth, and fling it to the side.
“Where is he?”
Archie splutters over his own words. “G-g-gone,” he rasps. “Long gone. I’ve been sitting here for hours. Th-there’s a letter; he left you another letter.”
“He left youanda letter?” I ask skeptically. “Something’s not right about that.”
“Ilarion…” Archie says desperately. “There’s a bomb.”
“We scanned the place with thermal cameras before we entered. There was no evidence of a—“
“It’s not on the property!” he spits, choking over his own desperation. “I-It’s…inside me.”
Dima and Mila stiffen in my periphery. Archie doesn’t bother letting his gaze wander. His eyes are huge and liquid with fear. “The bomb he implanted, he said it’s not large enough to kill me. But it will maim me. It’ll kill some part of me, and I can’t—I won’t live like that. I don’t want my daughters to see me like that.”
“Maybe there’s a way we can—"
“There’s no getting it out,” Archie tells me with a shake of his head. “Go read the letter. It’s over there, by the window.”
One of my men races over to the window that Archie is gesturing toward with his chin. There’s an envelope tucked under one of the boards that should have been up against the windows. He jogs it back to me and I rip it open.
The bomb detonates at noon. It will take one leg, maybe both, maybe more. It’ll be fun to guess. Give my regards to Celine.
I glance at my watch.
“Well?” Mila asks. “How much time do we have?”
“Half an hour.”
Tears pour down Archie’s cheeks. His body shudders and whatever color remained in him is lost with the knowledge of how little time he has left.
“Ilarion, m-may I speak with you?”
I turn to my men and give them a nod of dismissal. Mila and Dima stay where they are, however. I glance toward both of them. “You can wait outside for me.”
When Mila doesn’t move, Dima takes her arm and drags her out of the factory. I wait until there’s no one left but Archie and me.
For the first time, I allow myself to feel nothing but sympathy for the man. Until now, any sympathy I felt was tinged with remnants of my anger. With rage and dreams of vengeance. Now, though…well, fuck.
No one deserves to die like this.
Especially not forhissins. He may have betrayed me, but he did it to save his wife. For the first time, I understand what that kind of motivation means. I have Taylor to thank for that.
“Pakhan,” he starts.
“It’s Ilarion to you, Archie,” I say. “We’re family now.”
Archie smiles through his tears. “I’m glad to hear you say that. It means I can ask you for one more favor.”
I know what he’s going to say before the words even pass his lips. “I’m not going to kill you, Archie.”
