Chapter 30 — Ace

Will gave me no rest from the pain, carving lines of agony into my skin every day, morning to nightfall without fail. He rotated between whips, clubs, and iron pokers depending on his mood, always coming back to knives in the end.

Blood seeped through my tattered shirt as I laid in the cell, my body throbbing and broken. That day, Will had dislocated nearly every bone in my body, leaving me to hang by my wrists from the hook for over an hour before popping them back with surgical precision. Then he had cut up my feet until I couldn’t stand without passing out.

The pain kept me in a dreamlike state in the night, slipping into actual slumber every few hours before my body woke me up again. The morning came all too soon.

Will didn’t rouse me with a kick this time, just snapped his fingers and said, “Get up, boy.”

I rolled over, slowly getting to my feet. Pain flared in the lacerations when I tried to put weight on the leg.

I shook my head and sat back down. “I can’t. It hurts too much.”

“It hurts too much,” he repeated in disbelief.

Will considered it for a few minutes, and the silence was almost as scary as his threats.

“Tell you what, Spades, I’ve got a treat for you,” he said. “Let’s go for a run outside.”

“I can barely stand. How do you expect me to run?”

He hauled me to my feet. “Not my problem.”

I had to lean on him to stay upright. “Will, please.”

But he dragged me up the stairs and out the house. The grains of sand slipped between the gauze and rubbed against the cuts.

Will released me and broke into a light jog. I fell to a knee, grateful for the chance to take the weight off my feet.

He looked back at me. “I’d start running if I were you. Copperheads infest the field, and they have a tendency to stray across the path. Their bites won’t kill you, but the pain will make you wish they had.”

There were indeed brown shapes darting between the blades of grass. I pushed myself to standing. My head swam as I forced my feet to move. Will stayed a few feet ahead of me with ease, giving me encouragement in the form of jibes and taunts. I alternated between gritting my teeth and hissing curse words under my breath.

Running felt like wading through a pool of broken glass. Copperheads slithered across the trail, lured out by the day’s warmth. I almost screamed when a snake got too close for comfort.

It hadn’t occurred to me that Will was leading me on a roundabout path until we were nearing the house. I had bled through the bandages about an hour ago, leaving a trail of red in the field. A hidden rock sent me sprawling, and I couldn’t find the will to get back up.

A light breeze rippled the grass. On a day like this, Mother would be listening to music in her lawn chair. David and Genevieve would be taking a stroll through the park. Josiah would be tossing around a football, despite the fact that the season was over. I wanted to be with them instead of lying in the middle of nowhere.

Will laughed as he pulled me to my feet. “Are you crying, Spades?”

I hadn’t noticed my cheeks were wet. He let me lean on him again, impatient to get back to the house.

Seth was talking to Jackal and Dagger in the living room when we arrived.

He shot to his feet. “Good God! What did you do to him?”

“Nothing he can’t handle,” Will said.

“He looks like he’s about to keel over.” Seth approached me, green eyes filled with concern. “Ace, look at me. Are you alright?”

“I would be awful at my job if he was.”

Seth was downright menacing when he drew himself up to his full height. “Go check on the captives, Will.”

“But sir—”

“That wasn’t a request.”

Will left the room, leaving my feet to take my full weight. Pain lanced through the cuts and I stumbled. Seth caught me before I hit the ground, his hand brushing against the whip wounds on my back as he eased me onto the couch.

“I never wanted to hurt you,” he said.

The irony of the situation made me laugh.

“I’m serious, Ace. I didn’t expect Will to go so far.”

“I killed his brother. Did you think he’d bake me cookies and say all is forgiven?”

“Haven’t lost your sharp tongue, I see.” He brushed his thumb over my bruised cheek. “I promise Will won’t hurt you anymore. He’s had his fun.”

“What’s the catch?”

“Nothing. No father wants to see his son in pain.”

My eyes narrowed. “You were fine with it before.”

“You were interfering with my plans. Wouldn’t you also kill a stranger who’s standing in your way?”

He had me there.

“Now you’ve won,” I said. “Does that make you happy, Seth?”

He sat beside me. “I wish you wouldn’t call me that.”

“What do you want me to call you?”

He hesitated, eyes flitting to a painting of a family. It was the classic American household—a mother, a father, a son, and a daughter. The girl was hugging a golden retriever puppy.

The answer popped into my mind.

“You want me to call you Father, don’t you?” I said in disbelief. “Where were you when I needed one? When I was five and Mother passed out in a puddle of her own vomit? Or the years she brought home a new boyfriend every few weeks to get high before they—”

My voice broke. The stress of the past days came crashing down. I bit my lip, my head pounding. I couldn’t cry in front of the Underground leader. Couldn’t, shouldn’t, wouldn’t.

Seth put his arms around me in a comforting embrace, and the floodgates opened with a rush of tears. It was embarrassing how little control I had over my emotions these days.

He held me as I cried, unconcerned with the tears soaking his expensive shirt. A servant entered, carrying a vacuum. Upon seeing us, he turned around and headed back out. Even though I hadn’t gotten a good look at his face, I could have sworn he looked identical to Harrison. I was starting to lose it.

“I have a safe house out in the Midwest with an apple orchard and an old sheepdog. You’ll love it there. It’s away from the cities, away from EAGLE and the Underground,” Seth said. “I’ll have my men take you tomorrow at first light.”

The Midwest was thousands of miles away from our location along the East Coast. Seth was ordering me to leave behind everything I knew.

“What about the city?” I said. “What about my friends?”

“No harm will come to them, given that they do not interfere with Horace’s rise to power.”

“Your rise to power, you mean.” I shoved him away. “I’m not blind. Play the concerned father all you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that you need me out of the way.”

“I am giving you a place to live safe from harm. It’s a generous offer considering the trouble you’ve caused.”

“What if I refuse?”

His eyes hardened. “Then you’re a fool. Your other option is to stay here with Will who will continue to exact his revenge, pushing your body and your mind to their limits. Psychological torture may have been his brother’s strong suit, but he’s skilled at sensory deprivation. You’ll survive, but you’ll never be the same. Is that what you want, Ace?”

I would have punched him if I could make a fist without splitting the scabs on my hands.

But we both knew he had won.

At one in the morning, the sound of a door knob turning made me jolt upright in bed. I scrambled for a makeshift weapon, heart pounding in my chest. Maybe Will had decided to kill me before he lost the chance. In my current state, I wouldn’t put up much of a fight.

The door swung open, and I lifted the alarm clock, prepared to throw it at the intruder.

“Relax, Spades. I won’t hurt you.”

As the person walked closer, I was startled to recognize Isabel.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered. “If they discover who you are, they’ll kill you.”

“Your concern is sweet, but I haven’t got much time,” she said. “Are there any prisoners in the house?”

“One man, two women,” I said. “They’re kept in the basement, the same place I was.”

“How hard would it be to free them? Do we need passcodes or a fingerprint?”

“Only regular metal locks you can pick.”

Isabel glanced at the hallway. “I’ve got to go before someone sees me. Thanks for your help.”

“Isabel, wait,” I blurted.

She cocked her head. I hesitated, unsure of what I wanted to ask her. To get me out of the house? To help me escape from Seth? To tell me why she considered those people so important?

“Is Josiah alright?” I said.

She grinned. “Yeah, he is, and he’s raising hell trying to get you back.”

Isabel closed the door behind her. I flopped onto the bed, praying that the moon would stay up and the morning would never come.

Seth came by my room at seven o’clock, giving me five minutes to rest before helping me limp to the car waiting out front.

“I’ll come visit you after the situation in the capital is more stable,” he said. “Perhaps after the inauguration in January. I could bring your mother too. Would you like that, Ace?”

I stared straight forward, focused on putting one foot in front of the other.

He looked amused. “Not talking to me anymore? Real mature of you.”

There were five men standing by the black car, chatting with each other as they cleaned out their guns. One of them was Will.

I stared at him in horror. “He’s not coming, is he?”

Seth followed my line of sight. “No, he’s not. He’ll be going with me back to the city.”

Will nodded in greeting. “Good morning, sir.”

The other men snapped to attention like tin soldiers and let their guns fall to the ground. I winced as they hit the concrete, no doubt scratching the metal.

Seth motioned for me to get into the car. I sat in the backseat, wedged between two burly men.

“See you in a few months, Ace,” Seth said.

There was a finality in the way he closed the car door, like a priest sealing shut a tomb. The men trained their guns on me as the driver started the engine.

In close quarters, a knife would have made more sense. Every time the car hit a pothole, the jolting could cause one of their guns to go off.

Not that it mattered anymore. I shifted in my seat to take pressure off my wounds, and the man to my left rammed his gun into my spine.

“Watch where you stick that thing,” I snapped.

To add insult to injury, the driver changed the radio station and horrible '80s pop music began blaring over the speakers.

I sat back and put my head in my hands. The bruise over my wrist was swelling up. I wished I had grabbed a bag of ice. Where was Josiah’s snow cone machine when I needed it?

The traffic disappeared as scattered houses gave way to empty fields. We drove past a lonely green sign that was a strong breeze away from falling off the metal post.

“There’s a rest stop in three miles, Liam,” said the man in the passenger seat. “It’s time to switch drivers, and I want to see if it has burgers.”

Liam glanced at me through the mirror. “What if the kid makes a run for it?”

“Where can he go?”

The man beside me shrugged. “Ryan has a point. We just passed twenty miles of wheat fields. If nowhere is a place, I think we’ve reached it.”

When put to a vote, the rest stop won by a clear majority. Liam’s mouth set in a thin line as he took the proper exit, giving me distrustful looks the entire time.

He stayed behind as the others rushed into the store, picking up a gun one of his friends had left in the backseat.

“Stay down and keep your mouth shut.” Liam leaned in close. “You step out of line, and I’ll make sure you regret it.”

I bit back a retort. It wasn’t the time to start a fight. My body ached like it had been put through a blender, and I didn’t like my chances against his gun. Liam stared at me, waiting for a response. I gave him a tired nod.

He chuckled and patted me on the head like a puppy. “Look at that. Seems Willhelm drilled some manners into you.”

Then he closed the door and locked it with a click before heading inside the rest stop. The car gave a little chirp.

I stretched out my legs and watched the analog clock tick on the dashboard. Wherever Seth had them taking me, they were in no rush. It took the men two hours to return, clutching giant cups of soda. Ryan got in the driver’s seat this time. The ‘80s music came back on the radio as he fired up the ignition.

Lulled by full stomachs and the monotony of the road, the men drifted off to sleep. It was quite a feat, considering the pop singer was still wailing away. The driver stifled a yawn.

Without warning, the music cut off and a news anchor came over the radio.

“We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming with breaking—”

Ryan growled and fiddled with the knob. There was a moment of static.

“—the president-elect reveals shocking news and steps down from his position as the next leader of the United States in light of this revelation.”

“The Underground and EAGLE have worked together to meddle with the results of the election.” Horace’s voice came through fuzzy. “I admit I have known of the plot for several months and had been a willing participant at the start.”

He talked about the blackmail and threats that had started when he voiced thoughts about backing out of their deal. Everything he had told me came out into the open.

When he played footage of the conversation in EAGLE headquarters, I kicked the seat in surprise. Harker had destroyed it, crushed it under his foot, yet here it was being broadcast to the entire nation.

Ryan glanced at me through the mirror before turning down the volume. I closed my eyes and forced my breaths to slow.

It was a matter of time before the government mobilized forces to have Seth and the Harker behind bars. If they had heard the broadcast, though, they could make it into hiding before they got caught. They certainly had the resources.

The man next to me shifted over, revealing a gun in his hip holster. I peeked at Ryan to make sure his eyes were still fixed on the road and let my arm fall to the seat. My fingers inched across the space.

Ryan glanced up as I was about to grab the stock. I froze, my blood pounding in my ears.

“Is everything alright back there?” he asked.

I kept my eyes closed, breathing deep and even.

Satisfied nothing was amiss, he turned back to the road.

Adrenaline buzzed as I pinched the edge of the gun between my fingers and gave a gentle tug. The man grumbled in his sleep. I tried again, this time tilting it to the side. It took me several minutes to wiggle the gun loose from the holster.

Risking another peek at Ryan, I slid the gun across the seat and tucked it behind my back. I faked sleep for another few minutes before making a big show of waking up, stretching and rubbing my eyes.

“Hey,” I whispered to the driver. “Can you stop at the next gas station? I need to use the restroom.”

“You should have gone at the rest stop,” he said.

I huffed. “You wouldn’t let me inside. I don’t think I can hold it for much longer. Unless you want these nice leather seats to get ruined…”

“Fine, but I’ll be keeping an eye on you the whole time. One wrong move and I’ll shoot you so you’re paralyzed from the waist down.”

I sat back as he took the exit off the freeway, the edge of the gun digging into my back. My hands shook like I had downed several shots of espresso.

When Ryan parked at a convenience store, I hid the gun beneath my thigh.

He opened the backseat door. “Alright, make this quick—”

I shot him in the head.

Blood splattered against the inside of the car, and he tumbled forward, trapping one of his friends to the seat. The others were waking up.

I jumped out the door, scraping up my knees on the concrete. Turning around, I fired off several shots. The men foolish enough to step out were met with bullets to the head. Only one left.

I could see him moving through the tinted windows of the car. The longer I waited, the more time he had to gather his wits. I edged forward, each step sending bolts of pain through my feet.

Liam had dropped his gun when he fell, sending it skidding a short distance away. I fired my last rounds into the windshield and picked it up. The last man scrambled to escape the flying glass. He was unarmed.

I pointed the gun at his head. “It’s not smart to travel without a weapon.”

“Drop the gun, kid,” he snarled. “Let’s see if you’re so tough in a fair fight.”

“No doubt you’d win, but fights are rarely fair.”

“I’ll kill you. With or without your daddy’s protection.” He smirked when I stiffened. “Struck a nerve, have I?”

“Tell me,” I said. “Do you want to live to see tomorrow?”

“You can’t shoot in cold blood.”

I nodded to the bodies on the ground. “Is there anything that implies I wouldn’t?”

His eyes widened as he took in the bullet holes, neat little circles of red in the center of their foreheads. Did he think I was aiming to wound?

The man gaped like a fish. “Y-You killed them.”

“I don’t miss this close up.”

He shook his head in disbelief, sneaking glances at me as if I would turn into a demon.

When he spoke, his voice was hoarse. “What do you want?”

“A lot of things.” I smiled. “But I’ll settle for you to taking me back to the city.”