Best Served Cold

10

I had never been tortured before, and didn’t plan on starting now.

I stood up out of my chair. “Let’s make this easier on us both. I tell you who the killer is now, and you let me go. It’s a win-win.”

Kyle crossed his muscular arms. “If you had a part in Ignacio’s death, you’re going to pay for it. Gotta send a message not to mess with us.”

I started strolling around the table. Just a little closer…

“Come on, man. If you get the guy that pulled the trigger, you can torture him all you want. People won’t even know I was here.”

He looked up at me from his steel chair. “It’s nothing person-”

That was when I toppled his chair. It clanged to the ground, and in a flash I dropped my knee onto the tip of his sternum. I heard a successful crack, but wasted no time in heading straight for his gun. I barely had it in my hand when Kyle threw me off of him.

Yes, threw. Like a rag doll.

Pain arced up my spine as I hit the wall and landed on my butt. I aimed the pistol upwards and saw him pounce towards me. His arms were reaching out for my pistol when I squeezed the trigger. The gun kicked me back into the wall as blood started spraying out of his right arm.

It was like the man didn’t feel pain. He just crashed right on top of me and started scrambling for the gun. His bloody arm tried to restrain my pistol as his fist glided just over my head. My bicep struggled, and failed, to bring my Glock to his face.

I tried to get him off of me, but his hulking mass pinned me to the ground. This guy was a bull.

The next time his knuckles connected solidly with my face. Blood filled my mouth and agony filled my brain. I tried to send a bullet his way, but my wrist couldn’t quite aim at him. He never even flinched as the gunshot shattered our ears.

The second time his fist sent stars across my vision. This time the adrenaline numbed it, though.

I heard a creak as the door to the room opened and his buddies stormed in. Kyle eased off of me just a bit now that I had pistols trained on me. That was his mistake.

He forgot that I still had a gun, and that I could bring that gun straight to the side of his head.

“Freeze.” I said it with all the conviction I could muster.

He did.

“We’ve got four on you. Give it up.” I couldn’t see whoever was speaking from under Kyle. That was good; it meant he couldn’t shoot me.

“Oh, sure. Why don’t I give up and let you torture me into a long, cruel, painful death? Sounds like a great idea.”

Boy was I glad that I had a human shield right about now. I never thought Kyle’s gigantic size would be a good thing.

“You want this over, shoot yourself right now. No need to kill Kyle here too.”

They were probably right. It would have been best to end it there and spare myself the torture.

Do it, Dale. Reyes is dead. Let it all end.

At the same time, though, I never knew how strong the survival instinct really was.

Instead I stayed strong. “How about you all back off and-”

Pop.

That was the sound of a silenced pistol shot. That was the sound of the shot that directly hit my pistol and threw it out of my hand. That was the sound of my captors winning the fight.