Delta: A Spy Novel

Chapter Twenty-Five

            The Portuguese looked at me, dark eyes narrowing as he took in my face. I looked at his at the same time: the high-planed, Hispanic-looking features, dark bushy eyebrows, steely black eyes. He couldn’t have been much older than twenty-five, and the thought made my stomach curdle; he was that young and already was corrupted. I wanted to close my eyes from the pain in his grip of my head, but I stared determinedly into the black eyes.

 “So,” the man said in English after a long moment. “What are we going to do with you?”

            I kept my mouth shut, the taste of blood still tingling on my tongue. Staring blackly at the Portuguese man, I thought of all the crap I would love to throw his way, and tried not to think about what I couldn’t do at the moment. I had to get out of there somehow – get to Jay and throttle him – and then find Astrid...

            Astrid.

            My heart almost stopped beating. How had I forgotten about her? Almost without thinking, I wrenched my head out of the Portuguese’s grasp, looking around the room wildly. This motion caused my head to spin, black dots dancing across my vision, and I shut my eyes hard to control it. The man in front of me angrily shouted something in Portuguese that I couldn’t catch, and then slammed a hefty hand against the side of my head.

            My vision went completely black, and I felt that sensation of tipping as the chair began to topple over – and the next thing I knew, I was lying on the floor with my head against the ground and a rigorous pain rocketing through my entire right side. Opening my eyes, I looked up hazily at the Portuguese, who was standing in front of me. Only a pair of bulky leather hiking boots was obvious to my eyes. I tried to look around the room again, but the man placed a boot in front of my eyes to block my vision.

            I spat at the boot, and the Portuguese swore loudly in his native language, drawing back his boot and kicking me in the ribs. My body tried to crumple, but the ropes that were binding me were too tight for it to move. I almost bit through my tongue trying not to cry out as fresh agony flooded over me from his kick. And now my vision was blocked by his boot, so I couldn’t see where I was.

            But I’d seen enough to know what I’d been wondering: Jay had left the room, most likely when I’d been unconscious. Through the pain that was slicing through my mind, I managed to put the puzzle pieces together, and came up with a solution that I didn’t like.

            Jay had Astrid.

            And Pierre, of course, but that didn’t particularly bother me. At least, not as much as the thought of Jay having Astrid did. I closed my eyes, letting the agony travel through me and trying to ignore the Portuguese man in front of me as I tried to sort out my thoughts. So Astrid and Pierre were in the manor. It sounded like Josh had managed to get away – that was hopeful.

            But Astrid…

            I swore bitterly to myself. Why did I have to be so stupid, just waltzing into Decrioux’s manor without a second thought? Pierre was right; I did mess things up. Now we were all in the hands of Jay, and therefore Decrioux. If only I had thought first…And Astrid had, of course, felt obliged to listen to whatever Jay told her. So now she was stuck in this place as well.