Red. (Den of Mercenaries #1) (3 page)

N
iklaus was
in and out of consciousness for two days thanks to whatever drugs he had been drowning in. During the first, he had woken up in a strange room with bright lights, lying on his stomach on a slab of cold steel as a man wearing a white lab coat sutured the wounds on his back. Luckily, whatever he’d been injected with—he could still remember the bite of the needle and the vague image of the murky liquid—had caused him to pass right back out. During this time, he didn’t remember any pain, could hardly remember his own name as he floated in a place that didn’t really exist.

He only knew another day has passed when he’d roused once again and heard the conversation on the other side of the new room he was in.

“What are you going to do about him?” A muffled voice asked.

The other, and this one’s accent he remembered from the time he’d seen his own face staring back at him, was quick to respond. “Nothing for now. Until I know more, I’m not going to tip my hand. For all I know, someone is fucking with me.”

“But…”

He sighed, the words seeming forced from him. “But I also knew my mother.”

Before he could even contemplate what this meant, Niklaus was under again.

H
e might have woken
up disoriented, but Niklaus knew he was no longer held prisoner in the abandoned warehouse. He was lying on the softest bed he had ever felt, and while he still ached considerably, it was a lot better than what he had felt just a short while ago.

He didn’t move, trying to let his body adjust to the comfort, wanting to hold onto the feeling for just a little while longer, his eyes focused on the ceiling.

Though it was all still a blur, pieces of memories came back, and one stuck out more than the others.

He had a brother.

One that, apparently, some people really wanted to kill.

He remembered staring into identical blue eyes, seeing his own surprise reflected in their depths. It was clear that neither had known about the other, but what
was
clear was how his twin was accustomed to the situation Niklaus had been in. The only shock he had been able to see was the fact that he had been looking at
Niklaus
, not at the room itself. When that look of shock had vanished, replaced with a look Niklaus hadn’t been able to read, his own surprise had shifted to anger as he realized that it was because of him that they had been taken.

Sarah…

Just the thought of her name, the memory of her smile, brought a pang to his chest that was far worse than any abuse his body had taken. For just a moment, the clean scent of the bedroom he was in vanished, replaced with the stench of burning flames.

Niklaus shook his head hard, trying to dispel the memory though he knew there was nothing he could do to escape it.

He didn’t know how long he had been lying there, lost in his thoughts when he heard the voices carrying from outside the bedroom. Forcing himself up, he dragged his broken body from the bed, wincing with every limp he took towards the door. The closer he got, the easier it was for him to hear what was being said.

M
ishca stood
outside the closed door, not knowing what to feel, how to act, or even what to do. On the other side was his twin, one that he hadn’t known existed until twenty minutes prior. In that short span of time, everything he had thought he knew about his mother felt like a lie…but in a way, it also made sense.

When she was alive, and during those times when she thought he wasn’t listening, he often remembered hearing her talking to herself about the sacrifices she had made, but he never had for a second thought that a baby had been that sacrifice.

And Mishca didn’t even know his name.

Jetmir Besnik was standing before him, discussing business with Mikhail as though he hadn’t just spent days torturing someone he had assumed to be a captain in the Volkov Bratva. It sure as hell didn’t sit well with Mishca, and if he were in charge, Mishca would have happily killed them all for the discretion. It was for that reason Mikhail headed this impromptu meeting. He was nothing if not a businessman. He didn’t think about the fact that their plan was to torture Mishca, only what he would gain from it.

“Are we in accord?” Mishca heard as he turned back into the conversation.

Whatever the Albanians had offered him, it would never be enough for Mishca.

Jetmir stuck out his hand. Mikhail shook it, as well as the hands of a few others who Jetmir had brought with him.

“Mishca?”

He kept his face blank, but Mishca was burning with anger on the inside when Mikhail called his name. Mishca knew what the look Mikhail was giving him meant. As was their way, Mishca was required to shake with them as well, no matter how much it grated on him.

But he wasn’t in any position to argue.

Grudgingly, Mishca accepted Jetmir’s hand, meeting the man’s eyes. Whether Mikhail saw it, or just plain ignored it, Mishca could easily read Jetmir’s expression. He thought he had won this, and in a way, he had.

N
iklaus could hardly breathe
as he listened to the deal being struck. It didn’t matter that they were blood-related—that was abundantly clear with one look at the pair of them—this Mishca only seemed to care about how best to profit from this. He no longer felt the pain of his injuries. Snatching the door open, clearly catching the Russian off guard, Niklaus stormed out of the room. Jetmir, and the other man that had been speaking, were already gone.

He tried to walk upright, God how he tried, but his body soon betrayed him, and he was forced to limp, reaching a hand out to the wall to keep his balance. Niklaus thought he might have seen a hint of compassion in the Russian’s eyes, but that was gone before he could truly see it.

“You’re just going to let them leave?” he asked, the words sounding foreign and strange since his face was still swollen and he hadn’t spoken in days.

If his former tormentors though they had that look of indifference down, it was nothing compared to him. Mishca looked every bit the monster that he had saved Niklaus from.

“It is none of your concern,” he returned without a hint of emotion in his voice.

It was odd, hearing an accent that had once been soothing to hear. Back home with Malvina, he had loved to listen to her tales from her motherland, teaching him the language she had grown up with. But now? It grated on his ears.

Niklaus was shaking his head reflexively, refusing to believe what he was being told. “But they tortured me…and
Sarah
.” He’d nearly choked saying her name, but managed to get it out.

He tried to swallow down the emotion threatening to overtake him, felt treacherous tears stinging his eyes, and knew the exact moment when the Russian saw them. At first, he hadn’t known why he didn’t want him to see his pain, but now, he understood. If anything, his impassive face grew angry at the sight of Niklaus’ anguish, as though he was failing him in some way.

“Why did you come here?” the Russian spat at him. “What was your purpose?”

Niklaus was surprised by his anger, especially now that it was targeted at him as though he had asked for this instead of being victim to a crime that hadn’t even been meant for him.

When he made to answer, the Russian cut him off.

“Never mind. Go back to that room. There’s nothing more for us to discuss at this time. When I need you, I’ll send for you.”

The Russian turned his back, dismissing him as though he were a child, as though Niklaus was beneath him.

“What if he had killed someone you loved?” Niklaus called after him, in some desperate attempt to get him to understand, hoping Mishca could at least sympathize.

But he seemed to not feel such things. “I wouldn’t have let her die. Don’t blame your weakness on me.”

And that only made another piece of Niklaus break away. Turning around, he headed back into the room he’d woken up in, slamming the door shut behind him, turning the lock. In a fit of rage, he put his fist through the wall, feeling the immediate pain radiate up his arm.

While he was no longer a prisoner of the men that had taken him, in this place, he wasn’t free either.

E
scape was his only option
.

No one had bothered him in the room he’d been given. He wasn’t even sure if there was still someone in the apartment with him, except three times a day someone knocked and left food outside the door for him. It would be best if he got out of there before anyone returned. As he had sat alone, he thought back over the conversation he had overheard.

Neither of the Russians had seemed to care anything about him. That much was obvious since they were so willing to barter with the men that had wanted Mishca in the first place. Who was to say that if those men made the Russians an offer, they wouldn’t be more than willing to turn him over, or worse, kill him because of all that he had witnessed.

He couldn’t go to the police, especially since he didn’t know where he had been kept, and with the way these men acted, he doubted the police could help him.

Niklaus didn’t know
what
he was going to do, but he knew that staying put in another strange room with people he didn’t know or trust was not the best option.

Since there was nothing of his in the room, leaving this place was easier, though his heart did skip a beat when he exited the room and turned the corner, finding a man seated with a newspaper in hand. From the bulge at his hip, it was clear he was carrying a weapon, and with his proximity to the front door, there was no way Niklaus could get past him.

Trying to think of a quick plan, he shuffled through ideas, but was spared when an exclamation sounded from the kitchen, sending the guard in that direction. Grateful for the distraction, he quickly fled the apartment, foregoing the elevator for the stairs, taking them as quickly as he could.

Only a short while later he was outside breathing in the stench of exhaust and cold air, but after his time with those men in the building, Niklaus breathed it in deeply.

He ran as fast as his feet would carry him, glad that he could move more easily. Curious gazes shot in his direction, but no one offered to help him, nor did anyone give him a second glance. It was almost like he was invisible despite his appearance.

The adrenaline of his escape was wearing off, leaving him depleted and before long. He didn’t think he could go any further. He couldn’t remember the last time he had felt so weak, and despite having ate only hours earlier, he felt lightheaded.

Turning down an alley, he dropped to the ground next to a dumpster, trying to catch his breath as a feeling of helplessness rose inside of him once more. Squeezing his eyes shut and balling his fists, he forced himself to swallow it all back down.

He survived, that was what mattered.

No matter what else, he had survived.

But at what cost…

Niklaus jerked his head up when he heard the clang of a bottle being kicked on the ground, fear seizing him as he thought they had already found him. With one eye still nearly swollen shut, it was hard to make out the man that was moving towards him. Even with that hindrance, the man seemed to stick to the shadows despite the looming sun, and only when he stepped into a small patch of sunlight could Niklaus even make out the silvery strands of his hair.

He was dressed in a black turtleneck, same colored trousers, and expensive looking leather shoes. Even with the scar that sat just above his top lip, he didn’t look to be any older than his early fifties.

“I’m not going back,” Niklaus uttered finding his voice, scanning the ground for a weapon of some sort. If they were going to try and take him, he would fight.

“That’s not my offer.”

While he might have spoken softly, he had a strong voice, one that made Niklaus pause in his movements, trying to see the man better. Another thing that made him stop was his lack of an accent.

“Who are you? Do you work for those Russians? Are you here to kill me?”

“Who I am is unimportant. I’ve come to offer you a gift.”

This was all some kind of fucking bad dream. Tomorrow, he would wake up with a hell of a hangover, in his hotel room with Sarah asleep beside him. There would be no Russians, no other crazy foreigners, and definitely not a mysterious man making him an offer in an alley.

“What kind of gift?”

“Vengeance against the Albanians that brought you to this point.”

Russians and Albanians? This was too much. Niklaus laughed bitterly, gesturing at himself. “I don’t think I can do anything. I couldn’t even help my…” He trailed off, refusing to finish that statement.

“But you will,” he went on. “Once you learn the trade of dead men.”

That didn’t even make sense. “What are you
talking
about? And what do you get out of this?”

“There’s only one way you can find out.”

Niklaus noticed then, the idling truck at the curb, black with tinted windows. Had they been following him the entire time?

“How do I know the Russian didn’t send you?”

The man with the white hair merely shrugged. “You don’t, but you can’t expect to hide from them forever, can you? They will find you, whether the Besniks or the Volkovs. Eventually, they will catch up to you. You know the police will be of no help, do you not? No matter how you spin the tale, the blame of your lover’s death will rest upon you by the time they finish with you. Is that what you want?”

He wanted to believe his story would be enough, that his own
wounds
would be enough, but the man’s words had him doubting himself.

He hesitated. He could walk away. He doubted the man would stop him if he tried, but like he said, he would only get so far before they found him again.

And after all he had suffered at their hands, did he not want revenge?

“What would I have to do?” Niklaus asked, meeting the man’s gaze.

Slowly, the man smiled as though that was the answer he had been waiting for.