Devil's Due: A Thomas Caine Thriller (The Thomas Caine Series Book 0) (15 page)

"The iron rod" consisted of a long, heavy metal rod that was studded with tiny spikes.
 
The rod was rolled up and down the flesh of a man's shins.
 
The weight of the rod itself provided all the pressure needed; the men merely rolled the heavy length of iron up and down.
 
The motion was almost gentle.

Soon, the spikes began to prick the skin.
 
Dots of blood appeared; with each turn of the rod, the blood increased.
 
The wounds grew deeper.
 
Soon, Caine's legs were covered with blood.
 
He knew the rod would eventually strip the flesh from his shins, until nothing was left but bone and blood.

"Where you send the girls?" Eagle asked.
 
"Tell us, and we stop." They asked their questions in flat, monotone voices.
 
They didn't care about the answers.
 
They didn't want to stop.
 
Caine glared at them, then spit on the ground.

He had been tortured before.
 
Those long, dark days of pain and misery had left a mark on his soul.
 
Kang was right.
 
After that betrayal, after that pain, Caine knew he had never been the same.
 
The experience had scarred him.
 
And now, as the pain built in intensity, he felt his mind regressing, as if he were being transported back in time.

It was as if this pain was all pain; there was no difference.
 
One second he was here, trapped in this jungle hell, the iron rod slowly tearing through the flesh of his legs.
 
The next, he was hanging in a dark stone room, his body twitching and swaying as savage jolts of electricity ripped through his muscles.
 
The past, the present ... all was a blur, a miasma of despair and hopelessness, linked only by pain and terror.

Devils.
 
His soul was tormented by devils.

His heartbeat was all he could hear.
 
It drowned out the noise of the jungle, the laughing of the men. It flooded his ears with its rapid pounding.
 
Faster and faster it beat, until he was certain it would explode from his chest.

His mind screamed at him, cutting through the roar of blood pumping through his veins.
 
Get a grip!
 
Keep control.
 
Control is all you have!
 
If you scream, they win.

The rod tore at his flesh.

Caine did not scream.

Suddenly, another sound cut through the red cloud of pain and fear that surrounded his senses.
 
A soft crack, a rapid puff of air.
 
It was a sound he had heard before, he realized.
 
At the river, before he lost consciousness.

It was the sound of an air rifle.

The man he knew as Soda Can jerked an arm up to his neck.
 
"What the hell?" he uttered.
 

Eagle stopped rolling the iron rod.
 
"What's wrong?"

Soda Can slumped to the ground.
 
Eagle immediately backed up and raised his AK-47.
 
He scanned the darkness.
 
"Who there?
 
Come out or I shoot!"

There was another soft crack.
 
Eagle staggered back.
 
He pulled the trigger of his assault rifle, but nothing happened.
 

Click, click.

Eagle fumbled with the weapon, and Caine realized he must have left the safety on.
 
As the drug ran through his nervous system, the man struggled to throw the safety lever to the fire position.

He failed.
 
He fell to the ground, unconscious.
 

Caine turned his head and saw a figure emerge from the darkness.

It was Naiyana.

Her skin was streaked with dirt and mud, and her hair was tangled with leaves and bits of vine.
 
A light sheen of sweat made her coffee-colored skin glisten in the flickering torchlight.

Alexi's tranquilizer rifle hung by her side.

She rushed over to him.

"Naiyana, what are you doing here?" Caine hissed.
 
"I told you to go!"

"I did go.
 
The other girls, they ran.
 
I start to run, too, but I feel ashamed.
 
You came for me.
 
You saved me.
 
Now I save you."

She patted down the unconscious body of Soda Can and removed a large survival knife from a sheath at his waist.
 
The knife was sharp, and it took only a few strokes to slice through the bonds that held Caine's wrists.

Caine sat up and took the knife from her.
 
Scanning the jungle for movement, he severed the ropes that held his feet.
 
He examined his injuries.
 
His legs were bloody, but despite the pain, the wounds were not severe.
 

"I appreciate it, Naiyana, I do, but it's dangerous here.
 
You could have been caught again."

The girl shook her head.
 
"The camp looks deserted.
 
I find this rifle in jeep outside the shack where the Russian sleeps, but he not there."

"Kang sent most of his men into the jungle, looking for you," Caine whispered.

Naiyana smiled.
 
"Yes, I hear them.
 
They make noise like wild pigs, stomping around.
 
My family come from mountains like this.
 
When I was little girl, my father teach me how to hunt.
 
How to be quiet, so animals don't hear me."

"And how to shoot, apparently," Caine said.
 
"Quick, help me hide the bodies."

They dragged the two men into the underbrush of the jungle.
 
Caine winced from the pain in his legs, but he forced himself to ignore it.
 

He felt the weight of the knife in his hand.
 
The men were laid out in front of him, unconscious.
 
It would be a simple matter to slice their throats.
 
He didn't know when they might wake up; it was a logical precaution.
 
His blood still boiled with rage.
 
The pain and fear of the torture they had subjected him to still clouded his mind.

He looked up and saw Naiyana staring at him, a curious expression on his face.

"What are you doing?" she asked.
 
Her brown eyes looked soft and concerned.
 
Caine felt his rage subside.

"Nothing."
 
He grabbed one of the men's AK-47s, and slung it around his shoulder.
 
"Let's go."

They made their way through the dark jungle back towards the river.
 
True to her word, Naiyana moved silently though the dense foliage.
 
Kang underestimated her
, Caine thought.
 
She could have easily avoided his patrols and fled, but instead she had come back for him.
 
She had risked her life to save him.
 
He had seen trained soldiers panic and abandon their comrades under similar circumstances.

Suddenly, Caine detected a familiar smell.
 
He held up his hand and stopped moving.
 
Naiyana froze.

"What is it?" she whispered.

"Wait here," Caine whispered back.
 
He crept forward into the darkness, following the scent.
 
It was smoke, from a cigarette.

With soft, slow steps, Caine tracked the scent.
 
Using the barrel of the AK-47, he brushed aside a branch of thick green leaves.
 
Up ahead, in a small clearing, he saw the dark form of Alexi Rudov, pacing back and forth in the moonlight.
 
A lit cigarette hung from his lips.

Bad habit
, Caine thought.
 
One that could kill you..
..
 

Caine stepped into the clearing.
 
"Don't move, Alexi."

The Russian spun around to face him.
 
"Who is there?"

Caine took another step forward, allowing a shaft of moonlight to illuminate his face.

Alexi shook his head.
 
"Caine.
 
I told him to kill you."
 
Alexi walked towards Caine, his hands held up in a position of surrender.
 
Caine knew the maneuver well. The Russian was trying to close the distance between them, to improve his odds.

"Don't come any closer, Alexi.
 
Your next step will be your last."

Alexi froze in place.

"Where is Kang?" Caine asked.

The Russian exhaled a puff of smoke.
 
"I have no idea.
 
He wanders the jungle at night; nobody knows where he goes.
 
The man is insane, yes?"

"You should choose better business partners then."

"Da.
 
This deal of ours ... it was a mistake to get involved with this man.
 
The bombings, the dead cop, you ... trust me, if I could do it over again, I would tell him to fuck off."

"Dead cop?" Caine asked.
 
"You mean Satra?
 
What about him?"

Alexi's eyes narrowed.
 
His lips curled up in a smile.
 
"He is here.
 
His body is here, in the camp.
 
Kang has another bomb as well.
 
I can show you.
 
We make deal, yes?"

Caine thought for a moment.
 
He knew he should kill this man and get Naiyana out of the camp as soon as possible.
 
But Satra ... if he had only listened to Satra and helped him, maybe none of this would have happened.
 
And he remembered the photographs Satra had shown him, the bodies in the market.
 
If Kang was planning on setting off another bomb, on killing more innocents as a show of force ...
 
he knew Satra would have done anything to stop it.

Caine made his decision.
 
"Show me this bomb, and I'll consider it."

"Da, good.
 
It is back in camp.
 
This way."

"One more thing," Caine said, not moving from his position.
 
"If you betray me, if you make a single move I don't like, I won't hesitate to kill you.
 
No matter what happens to me, you die first.
 
Understand?"

Alexi examined Caine with his lazy blue eyes.
 
He sighed and nodded.
 
"I understand.
 
I have read your file.
 
I know who you are, I know the things you have done. I have no wish to test you."

Caine smiled.
 
"Good."
 
He waived to Naiyana.
 
The girl moved from her place of concealment and entered the clearing.
 
She stared at Alexi with disgust.
 
"You!
 
This pig is the one who took me!”

"I know," Caine said, "but there's more at stake here than just us.
 
We have to follow this man for just a little while longer.
 
There's something we have to do in camp.
 
Then we can leave."

Naiyana eyed the Russian, then nodded.
 
"I trust you.
 
Whatever you say."

Caine gestured with the rifle.
 
"All right, Alexi ... show us this bomb."

Alexi Rudov led Caine and Naiyana through the jungle, back towards the camp.
 
As Naiyana had observed, the grounds seemed to be deserted.
 
The campfire had burned out and was now just a smoldering pile of ash and glowing embers.
 
Caine kept Alexi a safe distance ahead of them.
 
He saw no signs of movement in the camp.

No sign of Kang.

They stopped near another large shack.
 
The sound of a gas-powered generator puttered in the distance, near the building.
 
Alexi pointed through the jungle.
 
"There.
 
That is where they are keeping the bomb.
 
And your friend's body.
 
Because you are here, Kang believes the Royal Police have re-opened the investigation into the missing girls.
 
He says they will need another demonstration.
 
Another bomb.
 
And another letter."

"Satra's blood," Caine said.
 
"That's why he kept the body."

"Da, it is as you say.
 
I keep my end of bargain, Caine.
 
Now you keep yours.
 
Let me go."

"I said I'd consider it, Alexi.
 
I'm still considering.
 
Naiyana?"

Naiyana smiled as she aimed the rifle at Alexi.

"Wait! You can't leave me in this jungle. You can't--"

Naiyana fired.
 
The dart struck Alexi in the chest, just above his heart.
 
His face filled with rage.

"You lying bastard! I kill you, then I strangle this stupid whore!"

He took a step towards them, fists poised to strike.
 
Caine raised his rifle, but before he could fire, Alexi fell face first onto the ground.
 
Naiyana stood over him and spit on his back.
 
"Russian pig!"
 
She kicked Alexi's unmoving body.

"Keep it down," Caine hissed.
 
"We still don't know where Kang is."