Burn (26 page)

“You know, I gotta say, you look
good
, marica! I mean you might’ve fucked up pretty bad, but at least you got yourself a tan down there.”

My mouth tastes like cotton as I slowly open my eyes to blackness, and at first I’m terrified that I’m blind or something until I remember the bag. Slowly, I can see light trickling through the course fabric, and I’m trying to peer through it when the sudden presence of Javier’s voice
right
next to my ear makes me gasp and flinch away from the sound.

“Oooh! Looks like your girlfriend woke up,
Irish
!” I gasp as the bag is quickly yanked from my head, and I’m blinking my eyes at the sudden light, however dim. My breath catches in my throat as I slowly take everything in around me.

The first thing I see is Logan, his battered-looking face intently and wildly looking at me from across the room from the chair he’s bound to. My arms feel sore, though I quickly realize I’m not tied up like he is; like that means anything with Javier and two large men with guns in the room with us.

“Get the fuck away from her.” He snarls, his biceps bulging as he grits his teeth and strains against his bonds.

“Oh, from
her
?” Javier grins and runs the back of his hand sickeningly across my cheek; “I’m not so
sure,
Logan! I’m just not so sure!” He nods his head as if he’s thinking some sort of deep thought, and he turns on his heel and walks slowly towards Logan; “Orders, Marine;
orders
. You see there’s a chain of command for a reason,
cabrón,
but I guess you missed that day back in Marine school.” He reaches out and pats Logan on the cheek, who snarls and whips his head away as Javier chuckles; “So,
I’m
thinking, maybe you need to learn a solid lesson about doing what you’re fucking told to do,
Marine
; a
big
lesson.” He turns and winks at me, giving me an evil smile that makes my skin crawl.

Logan strains violently at his ropes; “You leave her the
fuck
alone!” He snarls at Javier; “You wanna hurt someone? Hurt me, fucker.”

Javier about doubles over laughing; “Oh,
please
; come on, Logan! What do you think I’m gonna do,
hit you
?” He turns to his goons and shakes his head while he shrugs dramatically; “Nah, no way Papi. You’re the type of fucked-up weirdo that
enjoys
that shit too much.”

“So what do you want.”

“What do I
want
, Logan?” Javier tsks and shakes his head; “We had a
deal
, remember? I just want you to keep up your end of it.”

“Blackmail isn’t a deal.”

Javier shrugs; “Well, it’s not one you
want
, but it’s still a deal.” He turns to look at me again; “I bet she still doesn’t know, does she? About Africa?” I stare at him defiantly, but I can see that wicked grin on his face curling into something even more sinister; “No?
Oohhh,
then I bet she also doesn’t about Afghanistan either, does she.” He smirks at me; “I bet you didn’t know Captain save-the-world over here is wanted by the U.S. Government for desertion of duties and
colluding
with the enemy, did you?”

A chill runs up my spine, and even thought I try and stop them, my eyes instantly flick to Logan. Javier catches the move and chuckles; “
Uh-oh!
I think I just blew up your spot here,
marica
; you’ve got some explaining to do now!”

“Quinn-“

Logan’s chest is rising and falling heavily with his breaths, and he slowly shakes his head at me; “It’s not-“

“Oh,
comon
, Logan!” Javier hoots; “You gonna be that
clichéd about it? ‘Oh, it’s not what you think,
baby
’,” he pantomimes to me before rolling his eyes; “Yeah, chica, it’s
everything
you think it looks like. Soldier boy over here skipped out of the Marines in Afghanistan. Fucked right off in the middle of battle like some kinda chicken-shit and just
ditched
it like a bad date.”

Logan’s eyes are locked on mine, and he’s slowly shaking his head as his face grows paler and tenser. He looks more hurt and more terrified in that moment than anything I’ve ever seen from him before; even more-so than anything I’ve ever seen from him after a fight. My heart breaks a little bit knowing I can’t just walk over there and hold him and tell him it’s ok right now.

“I met up with him and his little pals working for Blackriver in Africa,” He winks at me; “Mercenary outfit, in case you didn’t kn-”

“Don’t listen to him, Quinn,” Logan says through gritted teeth, his eyes never leaving my face; “Don’t listen to a word he-“

I scream as Javier’s fist comes comes crashing across Logan’s mouth, knocking his head sideways with a thud. Javier hoots and shakes his hand; “Dios
mio
, Papi! You got a jaw like a fuckin brick wall!” His goons cackle at his joke as Logan turns and spits blood on the floor.
 

“Logan!” I start to jump up from my chair when one of the big guys shoves me back down. Javier hoots out another laugh and turns back to Logan; “You know, I take it back; I might just learn to enjoy smackin you around with
her
here watching it.”

He cracks his fist across Logan’s face again, and the sound of his grunt tears at me like someone ripping my heart out.

“So how about it,
cabrón
; you gonna go fight who I tell you to fight next week? We learn our lesson yet?”

Logan grimaces and shakes his head before he looks up, blood trickling from his lip as he grins like a crazy person at Javier; “You know what? I’m actually having a hard time with the first part of the assignment if you wouldn’t mind going back over it.”

Javier shakes his head slowly before he turns to me; “Your boyfriend’s a funny man, you know.” He whirls and slugs Logan in the gut with his fist, and I can feel the sharp jolt of
anger
pounding inside of me.
 

“Don’t watch, Quinn.” Logan’s looking right at me, his mouth bleeding as he shakes his head; “Look away, just-“

Bam
. Javier’s fist crashes into his gut again, doubling him up as much as the ropes tying him will allow. I cry out, wincing and turning my head as if hit myself. And its then that I notice my bag sitting on the ground next to my chair; my medical supply bag from the plane.
 

“How about now, Papi? How’s my fuckin tutoring going that little problem you’re having with the lesson?” Javier back-hands Logan sharply across the face, and suddenly, it’s like something is snapping inside of me. It’s a slow burn, and at first I just think it’s the fear and helplessness of the situation tightening inside of me. But slowly, the burn grows hotter and hotter, and suddenly I realize that the emotion clawing up from somewhere deep inside of me is
rage
.

And there’s another emotion I’m suddenly realizing as I flinch again at the sound of Javier hitting Logan. Because it’s right then in that dingy room that I
recognize
the emotion totally consuming every fiber of my being for the man bound, beaten, and yet not broken in the chair across from me.

And I recognize it as love.

The burn flares inside of me, and I’m suddenly filled with purpose; fiery, blazing hot and steely
purpose.

Javier’s fist connects once more with Logan before he whistled and steps away, shaking his fist; “God
damn
, Irish! We shoulda done this
years
ago!” He turns and steps towards me, moving closer and closer as he brings a handkerchief out of his pocket and starts to wipe the blood off his knuckles; blood from the man I love.

The man I love
.

“You know, chica, a lot of Papas bring toys home to their little girls from business trips,” He puts his hands on the arms of my chair and leans right down close to my face; “Too bad
your
daddy brought you back such a
broken
one.”
 

And that’s when I snap.

In the medical field, you always hear stories of people taking on almost super-human abilities in crisis situations, like mothers lifting entire cars off their kids after an accident or something. I’d never believed those stories, but that was before that exact moment. Because in that moment, I move faster than I could have
ever
imagined.

Or Javier, for that matter.

It’s like the whole world except me goes into slow motion as my hand jabs down into my medical bag to the side of my chair. My fingers push through gauze and wrappers and and bandages until they touch cold steel and lock around it. And before my brain can
really
process what I’m doing, I’m yanking my hand back out of the bag and sinking the surgical blade deep into the side of Javier’s neck.

And that’s when all hell breaks loose.

Javier screams as he clutches at his neck and falls back onto the floor; blood gushing out from his fingers. Both of his goons look frozen to the spot, and just start to scream at him while Logan starts yelling my name.

I’m froze for half a second, drowning in the surging chaos of the moment around me before I stand from my chair.

“STOP!” The room goes silent at my scream. The two goons whirl on me with guns drawn, and Logan strains at his ropes. But for some reason, I’ve never been more focused in my life.

“I’m a doctor,” I say evenly, leveling my gaze at the two men with guns; “And I’ve just cut his artery.” I glance down to Javier, choking and sputtering and holding his neck on the floor; “He has one minutes until he goes under; two before he bleeds out entirely.”

One of the two guards cocks his pistol and my eyes dart to his; “And I’m
pretty fucking sure I’m the only one here who knows how to fix that!
”

The room goes still like a frozen scene from a movie.

“Untie him,
now
.” I say, my eyes blazing fire at the two goons. They quickly turn to each other and shrug and I feel my fists clench tight; “
Now, motherfuckers!
”

One turns and gives me a quick nod before he goes over and and starts to cut away the ropes holding Logan, who looks up at me with this wild grin on his face.

“I
like
this side of you, Doc.” He mumbles out, grimacing as he tries to grin.

“I’m working on it.” I toss him the cell-phone from my bag; “Now figure out how to call the cops while I save this piece of shit’s life.”

I don’t remember making the phone call at all, but I’m on the floor and barely conscious when they come for us. I’m aware of the flashing lights, the cops with guns drawn, and Javier’s two guys being shoved against a wall and cuffed. Medical personal swarm over Javier, who looks pale lying in a puddle of blood on the floor. But then they’re hooking him up to a respirator and loading him up onto a stretcher, and they’re
not
covering him with a sheet, so it looks like Quinn actually managed to stop the piece of shit from bleeding out.
 

I can’t pretend I’d have done the same in her shoes.

I peer up as another group of EMTs start to load me up onto a stretcher of my own. ‘
Tallahassee Emergency Medical Response
’ is says on the their jackets. I realize I’ve never been to Florida before, and the thought that
this
is my first trip here has me almost laughing and mumbling something about “beating the lines at Disneyworld” before I realize I might be in way worse shape than I even think I am. The world starts to fade a little at the corners as I trying to cling to consciousness, and suddenly I’m glancing wildly around, trying to look for her.