"If we don't find Diam, we have 96 hours before Camelia disappears for good." Sam, a former SEAL colleague of Stefan's informs the small group forming in his living room.
Julien, Liam, Brett and a few highly trained operatives stand around the open space. Stefan's living room was cluttered with several computer monitors, satellite gear, and the latest technology in covert surveillance equipment. Sam sat in front of the one of the computers with Stefan hovering above his shoulder. Camelia's handbag was placed aside with her belongings sprawled on a nearby table.
"I included a transmitter, smaller than a grain of rice in her phone. I need you to run the street footage from the last four hours and trace the phone, I can't get a strong signal. The phone must have been shut off." Stefan ordered in a deadpanned voice.
His temper was contained and dangerously over the edge of combusting.
"Right on it." Sam replies, typing at a astonishing speed and siphoning through the footage of Camelia's last transmitted location. "Got it. See here the guy wearing a leather jacket?" He declares pointing to the miniature still image of a man's turned back. "If you notice...wait let me zoom in...here we go, if you notice it's as if she feels someone watching her and looks back, quickening her strides." He allows the image to run but at a slower pace than real life. "Looks to me she was trying to lose him and gets cornered in the alley."
"The letter Camelia left is the exact location of your coordinates." Liam supplied.
"Right." Sam responds. "There's no cameras in that deserted street, the footage stops there. You said she left her belongings in Liam's vehicle?"
"Yes. Everything is still there but her phone." He responds. "Again, It has a advanced undetectable transmitter embedded in the hardware. Even if the phone is shut off it would be able to send out a signal. Locate the phone. Hopefully it'll give us a more accurate location if it hasn't been destroyed." Stefan tells him, releasing a frustrating exhale and raking a hand through his thick hair.
"Shouldn't be too hard. Give me your phone. I'd need to connect to the server to track it." Sam answers swiveling in the chair he was seated on. Stefan takes his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and hands it over to him. Sam quickly retrieves some wires, taps a few keys on his keyboard and begins locating the transmitter. "It'll be a few minutes before the computers can give us an accurate location."
Stefan nods curtly trying to keep his hope and anticipation from consuming him. He tries calming his inner turmoil but the fiery storm building inside him was shaking the very core of his being.
He had to act composed; he had to get a hold of his emotions.
He was spoiling for a fight, spoiling to get rid of the rage and confusion raging inside him. This entire situation seemed like a nightmare out of a thriller, far too unexpected after the months of uncertainty and keeping the bastards after her from capturing her.
They had to find Camelia, he wouldn't survive if he lost her again. He'd been without her so long and now he was on the brink of losing complete control. All he cared about was finding her, holding her and never letting her go.
Stefan waits impatiently, his eyes darkening as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. He needed answers and he needed them now before it was too late. He tried to not let his expectations rise, tried not to think about what Diam was doing to her or where he was taking her.
Stefan's chest clenched at the idea they wouldn't be able to track her.
He glances at her father who was solemnly waiting and watching from a distance a hard, dark expression overtaking his features. He didn't look worried, he appeared furious with an unleashed anger matching the same emotions coursing through Stefan. Her Uncle Brett sat silently, his knuckles white from holding his fists tightly, appearing a little apprehensive but was in control. Liam stood with legs spread apart and arms crossed over his chest, a stoic unreadable expression molded on his face watching Sam work with narrowed eyes.
Once he was dispatched by Liam, Stefan raced to the address he provided. They arrived at the same time with at least ten operatives scanning the entire block. By the time they reached the location they find Sammy unconscious, all alone and still bound. After securing Sammy had a pulse and was still breathing, Stefan confronted Liam.
The first thing he asked Liam was how he she left without being detected.
"Stefan, she asked for my car keys trying to find a necklace she claimed may have been in my car. I almost thought against it but I saw no harm done. She appeared hopeful and acted convincing. I did not know she was trying to get away. She fooled me."
"How is it you never checked on her?" He asks with clenched teeth.
"I suspected and assumed she went back to her room. About ten minutes passed, she never came back to give me the car keys, I went to her room and found the letter. I called you immediately afterwards and alerted the teams to search the house."
Stefan recalls giving him one of his most intimidating stares. However, he could not blame him. Camelia was clever. Her act of heroism for her best friend's safety prevented her from revealing her intentions. She managed to evade suspicion and followed whatever instruction Diam gave her.
Now, Sammy laid down on one his couches, nursing a black eye with a ice pack while his other arm covered his battered rib cage. Stefan administered stitches to a cut to his forehead and gave him strong pain killers as he waited for Sam.
"Okay, I got a signal but it's weak and it's visibly moving at a rate faster than a car." Sam pauses and nods confirming his thoughts. He looks toward Stefan who moved to his side. "The detectors show the phone has been shut off. Although, the chip you placed is working fairly well the connection will be severed the farther they go and completely disappear off the radar."
"What the hell are you saying Sam?" Stefan nearly barked. "Where is she?"
"What I'm saying is the more distance your phone and her's are separated the less of a chance we will be able to follow their location. We can definitely rule out they're not in a car. The speed, the elevation, could only be a from a speeding plane."
"What the hell are you saying Sam!" Stefan demanded, his body heaving with anger.
"Hold on a second." Sam swivels in his chair again to face one of the monitors, punching in a few keys bringing up a satellite map. "I hacked the ACC which is responsible for controlling aircrafts en route and matched the coordinates I received from your detector and found a unmistakable match. What you're seeing here is a live tracking map."
"Where are they going?" Stefan asks, placing his arms against the table and leaning forward to peer at the monitor showing a plane moving with altitude measurements. He heard some shuffling from the small company behind him as they too came closer.
"According to the ACC's information, it's smaller than your average air plane holding everyday travelers, so it can only mean it's a private one. As of right now it's already quarter of the way over the U.S. Every plane comes equipped with a serial number used to identify the aircraft. Which is good news for us because if we lose the signal, I can always locate where the crafts last known destination."
"Does it show the final destination? If not, would we able to find out?" Liam speaks from behind Stefan closely studying the map.
"They are stopping in Chicago to re-fuel and continuing to transit straight into Europe. Now, we don't know exactly where it'll land until I search the database of it's last descent. Another possibility is alerting the authorities once they land in Chicago."
"We haven't received word of a ransom demand considering the circumstances, this kidnapping is not a type of hostage situation. I highly advise not alerting the FBI or police of this. Even if custom officials discover her when they arrive, Diam's connections, along with a well-placed bribe, would allow the plane to arrive unmolested. Let's keep the police out of this if we have a chance of getting her back. It may harm Camelia's safety. Our key priority is to keep her out of harms way. We have to go after them ourselves." Liam states grimly.
"My thoughts exactly." Stefan replies, he turns his head to watch Julien. "Whatever Diam said to her on the phone and according to the note she left behind, they are going to try to come after your wife, Julien."
Julien's eyes darken dangerously as a muscle twitches against his jaw.
"I cannot be in two places at the same time." He says after a moment.
"I'll will go after, Camelia. Now that we know the last destination is somewhere in Europe. I suggest you stay with your wife and protect her. We need to split up, or we could lose them both."
"Agreed." Julien answers. "I'm counting on you to bring my daughter back, Stefan." Pining him with a dark stare.
Stefan nods solemnly. "If it costs me my life, I'm going to get her back." He vowed.
"Is Annie still at the wedding?" Brett asks behind them.
"Yes, she is." Julien exhales, loosing his tie. "She sensed something was wrong but I insisted she stay with her sister or she'd tear the whole place apart if she learned of what's happened. I had to explain I had business matters to pertain to when I received your call." Directing his attention back to Stefan. "The last I know they were still waiting for Gloriana."
"Gloriana?" Liam shifts his gaze to Julien.
"Yes, they were persuading her to come out of a room she locked herself in. The girl sounded hysterical. My wife and her mother were seeing to the problem."
"Let's keep Camelia's disappearance between us for now, I don't want to rise any unnecessary attention." Stefan advised, searching the men's faces. "Looks like they have their hands full..."
"Superman? Oh, Superman!" Sammy calls out, still laying on the couch.
Stefan takes a calming breath and strides towards him, lowering himself on his haunches. "What is it?"
Sammy peeled his arm from his face. His black eye was getting worse, his busted lip had dried blood on it and he looked dirty and tired.
"At the mention of Europe...I thought I was dreaming and was unconscious after one of his pieces of shit beat me...I can recall his name was Tony. I listened to a phone conversation...I think after the Diam bastard hung up with Camelia...they were talking about Turkey...? I'm not positive if they were talking about a turkey, or the country now that I think back. I was in and out of consciousness and I could have been hallucinating, but I hope I'm right and it helps your search."
"Sam?" Stefan called out.
"Yes, I heard him. I'm right on it." Sam answers never taking his eyes off his monitors, aggressively typing on his keyboard.
"I want a team sent to the chapel to extract Kivanç Taitlung and another to his home for a thorough search. The guy is from Turkey. He could be a suspect. I'm not taking the risk he's not involved. I want him questioned and make sure he takes a polygraph test. I'm not taking his word for it."
"I will send a team to do it right now." Liam responds, reaching for his phone and moving to another part of the house to speak privately.
"Can you do me a favor?" Sammy shifts his head on the pillow propped behind him.
Stefan nods.
"Can you make sure you cut that fucker's dick and balls off and stuff them in his mouth right before you kill him?"
Despite what's happened, Stefan hung his head, smiled briefly, and closed his eyes. "I'll see what I can do, all right?"
"You're my hero, Superman. Go get my girlfriend back."
"I need to get a team ready and fuel the Steel jet." Stefan murmurs striding toward the house phone and snatching it off the receiver. "We are going to follow them and get her back."
******
Loaded with equipment–raging from guns to computers, they traveled to a private airfield, where the Steel jet was ready and waiting. They left California late in the evening, during twilight and touched down in Istanbul, Turkey, fourteen hours later, where only a few faint clouds floated in the blue sky.
According to the satellite and information they acquired from contacts, Sam was absolutely sure Turkey was the last known destination the private plane descended, just as Sammy guessed. The tracking device detected on Stefan's phone blinked every second as the signal became stronger. During their travels they lost the signal. Only when they got closer did the signal reappear pinpointing their exact location.
If it wasn't for Stefan's genius idea of adding a undetected tracker in Camelia's phone they would have never been able to find Diam. If they found him, they would find Camelia. At Istanbul Atatürk Airport they were whisked straight through the various border controls thanks to Stefan, Liam's and Sam's contacts. The officials welcomed them with obvious respect and promised to be at their disposal at any cost.
Stefan felt she was still alive no matter how many doubts his mind conjured up. His nostrils flare as he exhaled explosively. It took everything in his power to control his rage during the hours long plane ride and just wait.
It's been thirty-six since she'd gone missing. Over a day in which they could have done anything to her.
Stefan tried not to think about the rampage he'd gone on before heading to the airport. The destruction he'd done to his bedroom finding everything in his way permanently destroyed. His bed was nearly ripped into shreds with his bare hands. He couldn't take much more waiting, his skin on fire, and every muscle of his body was tense and hard.
Stefan was irritable, angry and tormented. Colorful images of Camelia swam before him. His mind constantly tormenting him, driving him. There was only one person who could alleviate his agony and she was still too far away, still unfound.
It was late evening in Istanbul.
Using his binoculars, Stefan gets a eagle view of Nathan Diam and another smoking congratulatory cigars on the anchored yacht along the harbor. They laughed in triumph, glasses of champagne held up in salute. The sounds of their laughter echoed into darkness of the night reaching his ears. It was then a kind of madness took over him after witnessing their smug expressions that he wouldn't rest even if it meant his own death, until he did what he needed.
Vengeance was a powerful emotion. It hummed like a smoldering volcano hotly in his blood as he listened to the ripples of waves splashing. Stefan scoffed out loud and lowered the binoculars in his hands. It was more than obvious Nathan believed he won the war as well as the battle.
But oh, was he wrong and Stefan was determined to be the one who was going to relish in his spoils.
Only when he was waist deep in the water did Stefan reflect on all the things he lied about and did with Camelia just for the sake of loving her and wanting her. Because of him, she suffered for months. The pain never ended and now because of his foolishness she was captured. Since he could not go back in time and undo his mistakes, he could only offer the only sacrifice.
Revenge.
The source of his direction in the darkness of the night was the yacht and it's abundance of light shinning down against the tidal waves as he swam towards it with a knife strapped to his leg and a gun to his waist. Gliding through the sea his strokes were strong, silent and deliberate.
Stefan surfaced within ten minutes and within a few feet of the large boat, he took out a small flashlight and scanned the side in search of a means to enter the boat unseen. From his position he was closer to the side opposite of the port. The large anchor was on the south side of where he spotted Nathan and the other man sitting on chairs, a gas burning fire pit warming them in the cold night.
Stefan continued to swim along the lines of the yacht until he spotted a long attached ladder. Tossing his head to shake the water from his hair and eyes, he takes hold of the first bar and climbs silently like a slithering snake.
As if he were standing on egg shells, Stefan climbs stealthily to his feet and looks right and left spotting a armed man with his back turned. Sneaking up behind him in quick easy steps, he pulls the knife from it's scabbard and moves behind the man holding a machine gun.
Hooking an arm around his neck and with the other hand he pressed the blade to his throat, pulling the smaller man hard against his chest.
"Not a word." He whispers in his ear.
The man holds his hands upward in surrender and allows Stefan to drag him backward, finding rope slung lazily against the railing.
"Grab the rope slowly. I warn you not to try anything foolish or I'll slit your throat." He whispers harshly.
The man does as he says without uttering a word. Stefan releases him and turns him around to only punch him hard, square in the face. He falls in a heap on the floor with Stefan's arm holding him by the shirt to keep his body from making a big thudding sound and alert the others.
Grabbing the rope, Stefan wraps his hands and legs, cutting the rope. He then takes another piece and wraps it around his mouth and ties it securely behind his head. Dragging his body against the polished floor he hauls him into a life raft hanging on the side of the boat and covers his body with the life vests in the small vessel.
Stefan creeps slowly, inching his way along the ships main deck passing the saloon.
The interior was finished in wood paneling of sophistication and luxury with a dining room that lead to a bridge. The navigation equipment was on the uppermost deck on a raised solid roof as Stefan peeked through a window. It held many switches which were computer controlled. A vessel that size was all electric dependent.
He continued to eye the vessel, gliding silently up the curving staircase but abruptly stopped, listening to shouts some distance away. A riveting tension sliced into the cool night. Another shot sounds and footsteps echoed close behind him.
Stefan straightened, his chest heaving with every ragged breath and turned to face the eyes he could feel watching him. He looked down bitterly at the six armed men, circling him from every direction.
He was too enraged to think as they charged at him all at once. Stefan was knocked off balance and allowed himself to fall the last few steps to escape some of their kicks and punches, instantly tensing his whole body. He snarled when a kick hit his ribs while the others struck him repeatedly. But his body was a block of granite.
He felt no pain.
He felt nothing.
Fury seethed inside him like a burning inferno as the men piled on top of him. It was as though a door of hell opened inside him, possessing him. Stefan turned into someone he didn't know in those painful seconds.
In a frenzied state he yielded all his strength, felt a pure power glaze through his body and rose, the men falling backward, skittering away from him like cowards. Surprise and shock was etched on the plains of their faces but they quickly collected themselves and got to their feet swiftly attacking a heavily breathing Stefan.
With a monstrous roar, Stefan heard bone crack under his fist. Another attacked him from behind and he swiftly flipped him over and twisted his neck violently. To his right, his vision caught a dark figure coming towards him. With years of training embedded in his DNA, Stefan pulled out his knife and sliced a man's throat causing a flood of blood to run down his chest. Making dying gurgling sounds, the man clutched his throat and fell knees first to the ground before finally dying and falling face first unmoving on the floor.
Stefan straightened, his chest rising and falling with his exertion. He stiffened sensing the other two unmoving behind him. He felt his waist reaching for his gun.
"Turn around and put your hands up!" One of them instructs.
They stand with legs spread apart holding their machine guns ready to execute him. Stefan turned slowly his hands to his sides and eyes them with contempt, slowly backing away.
He still had another knife strapped to his left upper thigh. Without a seconds hesitation, he pulls it out and throws it midair until it stopped, slicing right through one of the men's jugular. The last one looked down at his comrade, surprise flaring in his wide eyes.
Stefan lunged viciously, drew back his arm and smashed his fist into the man's face. It didn't knock him out but unbalanced him. His chest heaving, Stefan stepped back, holding the dropped gun his dead friend had on him with both hands.
"Get up." He growled.
The man held his empty hands in surrender.
"What do we have here?" Someone asks from behind Stefan.
There was a click. The sound of a gun being cocked piercing the silent night.
"Give my man the gun in your hands and the one strapped to your waist."
Stefan throws the gun to opposite direction instead of following the instructions and released the gun strapped to his waist from it's holster and flicked that away from him as well. He whirls, coming face to face with Nathan Diam.
Finally.
Nathan merely smiled. "Julien sent one man to do his dirty work, eh? It's dark and you're all alone soldier."
Stefan stared at him. "I sent myself. Where is Camelia?"
"Wouldn't you like to know. Unfortunately you'll never know." He answered, lifting the gun into Stefan's face. "Now move slowly in front of me and don't try anything stupid."
Nathan steps to the side allowing Stefan to move past him.
"Keep going, solider..." He instructs.
Stefan reaches the open sitting area where he first spotted Nathan sitting with another earlier. The round sectional area was now empty with only two glasses of champagne on the edge of the stone fire pit.
Without warning, and on instinctive response he quickly turned and leaped at Nathan, tackling him to the ground.
They rolled over the polished floor, pummeling each other, exchanging punches and kicks. Nathan draws his legs under him and manages to wedge them between their bodies, shoving Stefan off of him. Laying temporarily sprawled and dazed from hitting his head on the fiberglass floor, Stefan launched himself back to his feet as Nathan reaches him.
Dodging Nathan's punches expertly, Stefan pants with exertion, driving his muscular leg and kicking him in the middle of his stomach. After several brutal blows, Nathan's face was covered in blood. He buckled beneath Stefan in a crazed rage and manages to kick him in the gut. Nathan's gun lays sprawled a few feet away from their fight and he takes advantage making a wild grab for it as Stefan bends holding his middle.
Stefan snarled and dodged the bullet, flinging himself to the left, while Nathan shoots wildly, still on his back. Throwing himself forward, he lands in a heap knocking Nathan's arm upward as he squeezed the trigger. With a kick to his side, Stefan hoists Nathan up by his shirt and slams his hand against the edge of the gas burning fire pit, breaking his wrist with a snap.
Nathan let out a piercing scream of agony as Stefan forces his arm over the burning fire pit.
"I'm going to burn you alive you son of a bitch!"
The sounds and smell of burning flesh pollutes the air. Nathan's cries of pain echo into the cold dark night. Not until Stefan was satisfied with his suffering does he let him go. With his back turned he leans against the rail trying to regain control of his vengeance. He needed him alive long enough to find Camelia's location.
There was a few seconds of silence, all action suspended, all noises seizing. The extremity of the action filled night was now a tense storm filling the air.
Stefan frowns from inspecting the broken skin of his knuckles and the slash on his abdomen which he acquired from fighting and hadn't noticed before. He stands upright beginning to turn, half expecting Nathan to have passed out from the beating and his burnt hand.
A wild, glint in his eyes, Stefan finds Nathan staggering to his feet, supporting his burnt right hand with his left.
"I'm accustomed to pain, as you can see." Staring down at his wound, Nathan slowly lifted his head, his eyes nearly red with rage. "I will never yield to the likes of you. You will die for this."
"You're pathetic." Stefan nearly spat. "How do you think you'll be doing that you pitiful piece of shit?"
Nathan roared like a wounded crazed beast and rushes at Stefan who braced himself ready for the attack. Like a flash of lightning, Stefan captures Nathan's burnt hand with a fist and squeezed until he collapsed on one knee in agony listening to the crunch of bone beneath his fist. He then hooks his arm around Nathan's throat, cutting his flow of oxygen.
The greatest struggle of all was in those very moments. It would have been so easy to slit his throat and watch the blood drain down his body, finally avenging Camelia and her family's suffering.
He needed answers first.
Only when his face was turning a deathly shade of blue did Stefan release his tightening hold watching the bastard take heaping gulps of oxygen into his lungs.
His eyes blazing with a fire no water on earth could put out. Looking like a ferocious barbarian towering over Nathan's bent form he kicks him in the face, flipping his fiancée's abductor on his back.
"Where is she?" He bellows ferociously, sounding like a furious power of a kingly roar.
"Dead." Nathan replies breathlessly, managing a cold, evil grin as if pleased with himself.
Dead.
Stefan refused to believe it. The bond they always shared did nothing to signify it'd been cut off. He could still feel her. She was alive.
Placing his boot over Nathan's throat he pressed firmly once again restricting the flow of oxygen and very nearly crushing his wind pipe.
"Try again. By God, I'm going to get answers from you one way or another, if not willingly. I have methods to extract information no sick son of a bitch would ever think of." He warns increasing the pressure.
The gurgling sounds coming from Nathan's mouth were like music to Stefan's ears. His face was already swelling from the countless blows to his face. Two black eyes, a broken nose dripping blood and a deep tear to the side of his cheek stand as evidence of the beginnings of Stefan's cruelty.
"We need him alive, Stefan. You're going to kill him." Liam declares from somewhere behind him.
He was blinded by rage. It was so intense and so strong he wasn't thinking straight. Lifting his boot up and away he turns his back and holds a fist over his mouth to calm himself.
"Get him out of my sight." He says out into the dark water, with his back still turned. Propping his hands along the rail he continues to stare out into the darkness.
The sounds of scuffling and soft murmurs were the only sounds he heard besides the blood boiling in his ears.
A gentle hand laid on his shoulder. Stefan slants his head toward it.
"We'll find her Stefan." Liam says.
His head hung low.
Cracking his neck right then left he drew a deep breath and let it out slowly allowing his temper to cool. He had always prided himself on remaining levelheaded when things turned sour. Now he was acting like a over emotional hot head with no experience.
"I know." The image of Camelia's beautiful face swims before him. "I know, we will. Make sure the men search the entire yacht. Do not leave any corner left unturned. I'm going to extract all the information out of him and the others one way or another. Even if they die in the process."
"Right on it." Liam replied.
"Commander Steel?" A soldier calls. "I think you need to see this."
Both men turn at the same time. Standing before them was Gloriana, tossed from sleep, her hair in disarray, confusion filling her eyes.
Liam and Stefan share a glance, their jaws clenched. They held perfectly still as they observed the new dilemma falling at their feet.
"Nate!" She screams finally noticing Nathan bloody and unconscious on the floor and falls to her knees near her lover. "Did you kill him?" She sobs, raising her wet streaked face, her eyes holding both hatred and fear.
Everything finally fell into place.
That's how they were always one step ahead.
Her involvement went unnoticed. It never occurred to Stefan– never would he have suspected Camelia's cousin was the one leaking information to her lover.
"I hate you." Gloriana sputtered.
A betrayal so deep ran through Stefan, feeling the molten lava of heat race through his veins.
"What should we do with her, Commander?"
"Take her into holding with the others." Stefan orders, his voice strained.
He'd failed Camelia in the past. Nearly losing her.
Never again.
*****
The team gathered together in a deserted compound thirty miles from the city.
"This is Büyükada, one of the largest of the nine islands in the Sea of Marmar near Istanbul. Karaburun (is a district) and the center of town within Turkey's, Ísmir Province." Liam speaks up amongst the huddled bodies. "A seaside attack will be the only way to reach this island and from there we will penetrate the palace on foot. Intelligence there is minimal. We should not have any problems invading the outskirts."
"We will be branded as traitors. Be advised, in less than 2 hours we will land on native soil. We will take measures to strike and extract Camelia." Stefan motions the map placed on the big table in the warehouse they occupied and points to the spot they will be. "This is the target. We will disperse discreetly, and break into three units. We will have minimal casualties." He assures them.
Stefan leaves the circle, raking a frustrated hand through his hair, feeling anxious and extremely irritable. The wait for the preparation was slowly killing his insides. The more time they wasted, the more time it allowed the unavoidable to happen.
He cautiously moved into the small room-like prison down the hallway from the group, stepping over the trail of blood littering the floor. A lonely lightbulb dangled from the ceiling, flickering in and out in warning the bulbs life expectancy was coming to an end. The gray cemented walls appeared black due to the shadows.
Shallow breathes came from Nathan's slumped figure sitting directly in the center of the cell still strapped after hours of interrogations and torture. Ten broken fingers, two broken arms, several stabs to his thighs, repeated punches to the face, several broken teeth and the bastard would still not confess what he did with Camelia.
The only thing Stefan found was the engagement ring he gave Camelia deep in his pockets along with her cellular phone.
However, they were able to extract the information from the men they captured from the yacht. Out of the ten, six confessed to the same location she was sent. It was then, Stefan finally concluded to put Nathan out of his misery.
Right before Stefan placed his gun to Nathan's temple he asked him one last question. "Any last words before I do the earth a favor and rid it of your toxic presence?"
Nathan lifts his hanging head with difficulty. Blood soaked his entire face and beaten battered body. Stefan was sure he was dying a slow death with the amount of blood loss accumulating in a puddle beneath his feet.
"Y-you will....never....find....her." He rasped and wheezed, coughing in his effort to talk.
Stefan lifted a brow. "Oh, really? Your so called loyal men already confessed, they were also so kind to inform me of your son....what was his name again?" Stefan pretended to ponder for but a moment. "Ah yes, Jason. He will be joining you in hell soon enough."
The only person they were missing was his so called right hand man, Tony. None of the men knew of his whereabouts.
"M-my deeeeath will not be...in vain." He coughs, sprouting blood from his lips. "He....will....kill her."
"Don't count on it. The grim reaper will be waiting." Stefan responded smugly. "Care to share where Tony is before you die?"
With Stefan's gun to his head, Nathan began to laugh like a hissing snake. Quickly after, another bout of coughing shook Nathan's body.
He was choking on his own blood.
"I didn't think so." Stefan lifted his gun and placed it in the back seam of his black jeans. "I'm going to let you suffer and die all on your own. I want you to feel all the pain and torture you inflicted. I'd be doing you a favor if I put you out of your misery."
Nathan continued to choke, blood drooling down his chin, soaking the front of his tattered shirt. His body convulsed in shock as he dies, making gurgling sounds as he suffered.
A few moments passed where he made no more sounds. His body slumped and his head hanged heavily from his neck.
He was dead.
"Burn in hell, you son of a bitch."
Stefan listened to the sounds of vicious dogs barking in the background outside the compound and began whistling to himself, switched the lights off as he walked out, and closing the door behind him.
_______________________________________________________________
Thanks for reading! And a special thanks for all your patience while I'm writing up chapters. The last two and the next ones will need some extra thinking. So I'll have to go back to updating once a week.
Please, vote, comment and share!
-Shaz