Labyrinth (26 page)

Chapter 29

Kessel came awake blinking under a brilliant white light. He winced and then noticed that he couldn’t move his arms or legs. He was strapped into what looked like a dentist’s chair. He tried to flex against the leather wrist straps, but they were buckled tight. He wouldn’t have much luck against them.

Damn.

A rolling cart stood near the chair. It held a series of tools laid out carefully on a sterilized tray. Kessel frowned at the sight of some of them. There were small saws, picks and several oddly shaped implements. He cringed at what they might be used for.

The door opened and Greene walked in. A white bandage covered one of his eyes. So, thought Kessel, he did take some glass, after all. He smirked at the memory of Greene shrieking.

Greene smiled at him. “Enjoying the fact that you put glass in my eye, you son of a bitch?”

“Definitely. After all the crap you’ve been involved with, it’s nice to see a little justice dispensed in your direction.”

“Spare me your soapbox, Fed,” Greene snapped. “Your kind will never understand what drives people like me.”

“When you kill innocent people? When you commit acts of terrorism? You deserve to die for that.”

“Doesn’t that run a little against your law enforcement code?” Greene asked. “I can’t imagine your superiors would be thrilled knowing you’d just as soon shoot me as bring me in for the justice system to throw around between shrinks and prisons.”

“At this point,” Kessel said, “I’m more than willing to forsake my career to make sure you don’t ever get a chance to hurt anyone else. You say you’re all about saving the planet but you’re not about peace. You’re as dangerous as any suicide bomber.”

Greene rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Wow, you know, that’s really fascinating. I so enjoy listening to you condemn me for killing people when you’re proud of the kills you make in the name of justice. It’s so much fun. So ironic. One man’s enemy is another man’s hero, after all.”

“I think you’re mixing up your sayings,” Kessel replied. “But it doesn’t matter. None of this does. You can do whatever you want. Just know this—when I get out of here, I’m coming for you.”

“Your threats are tiresome.” Greene yawned. “Now, I suppose I ought to bring in the good doctor and let him check you over. Make sure you’re okay and whatnot.”

Kessel narrowed his eyes. “Which doctor would that be? Not that crackpot Jonas. I’d rather take my chances with infection.”

“Now really, is that any way to treat a medical professional?” Greene opened the door and Jonas walked in wearing scrubs.

Jonas smiled at Kessel. “So nice to see you again. You’ve been keeping me busy today. I really had to do a number on Greene’s eye there when he stumbled in. Fluorescent lightbulb glass is fragile stuff. I’m hopeful we got all of it out, but you never can tell. And, of course, that’s made Greene rather unhappy with you.”

“Fuck him,” Kessel said. “And fuck you, too.”

Jonas grinned. “I always enjoy a lively one when I’m working. It makes for such a thrill when I start probing.”

Kessel flexed his wrists again but the cuffs held him tight. “Don’t even think about it.”

Jonas shrugged. “But you see, Kessel, your role in this is much greater than you imagine. And it’s so convenient to have someone like you here to fulfill his mission. After all, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Leave no man behind and all that jazz?”

“What are you talking about?”

Greene leaned closer to Kessel. “I can’t wait to see you squirm when the good doctor here starts sticking things in your head. It will be my turn to laugh as you reap what you’ve sown.”

Jonas moved around behind him, picking up some of the tools on the tray at his side. “First things first,” Jonas said, more to himself than Kessel. “I need to make sure that hole in your skull is okay. I mean, what use would you be if we didn’t square that away? We can’t have you dropping dead from infection or a quick blow to the skull. Not when you’ve got so much to do.”

His face appeared in front of Kessel. He held a small implement that reminded Kessel of a handheld drill. “I’ll make the opening a bit larger so I can smooth the ragged edges.”

“Awesome,” Greene said. “I’ve never seen anyone get their skull drilled. This should be interesting.”

Jonas stepped away from Kessel. “I’m afraid we’re a little short on painkillers and anesthesia around here. So you’re going to feel what’s about to occur. At least until you pass out from the pain.”

Greene’s smile was greasy. And Kessel hated him all the more for it. “Where’s Fairclough?” he asked.

Greene shrugged. “Setting the stage for your friend Annja, I’d imagine. Lots to do, you know.”

Jonas moved around the chair and started taking Kessel’s vitals. “This is just standard practice, of course. I mean, it really doesn’t matter how calm you are now. Once I start drilling into your head, your blood pressure is going to go through the roof, anyway.” He whistled as he started pumping up the blood pressure cuff.

Kessel leaned closer to him. “Just so you know—I will find a way to kill you. It doesn’t matter what you do to me. I won’t stop until I break your fucking neck with my bare hands and watch the life leave your pathetic body.”

Jonas blinked. “I think you’ll find that a difficult promise to fulfill once I complete my work.”

“Why?” Kessel asked. “I promise to make time for you once I kill Greene over there.”

Jonas laughed. “Such a shame to have to do this to you. I actually like you a lot better now that you’re talking.” He shrugged. “But I guess that’s the way it goes, eh?”

Greene looked at him. “Are we ready to start?”

Jonas nodded. “Yes, we are.”

He moved behind Kessel.

And the hell began.

T
HE
WALLS
THAT
SURROUNDED
Annja moved slowly, inexorably closer.

Her one chance to avoid being squashed like a bug lay at the doorway, and so even as she recognized that the walls were closing in on her, Annja had already vaulted back toward it. She threw herself out of the room, into the hallway.

Speakers nearby blared to life. “Nice work, Annja. I can’t say I’m surprised by your athleticism. I expected it. Counted on it, actually. It always helps when people do exactly what you expect them to do. It makes life so much easier.”

“What’s this all about, Fairclough?” Annja called. “You’ve got me captive here. So why not tell me why you’re doing this?”

“Not yet,” came Fairclough’s reply. “It’s more fun to keep you guessing. More hellish that way, don’t you think?”

“Nothing compared to what I do to you once I get out of here.”

“You’re an optimist, of course,” Fairclough said. “I respect that. However, I think you’ll have to eventually admit that you’re going to die here, Annja. And you’re going to die alone where no one will ever find you again. You’ll fade from memory and no one will know how you came to die.”

Annja frowned. “In that case, I’ll make sure I claw my way back from the grave and drag you down to hell with me, you bastard.”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure you will. In the meantime, you’ve got other things to concern yourself with, my dear.”

That’s when Annja heard the sound of barking.

Fairclough laughed. “We’ve been a little lax in feeding them, I’m afraid. I’d be willing to bet they’ll eat pretty much anything they can get into their mouths.”

Annja spun around in the corridor and went to meet the wild dogs.

K
ESSEL
WAS
SCREAMING
.

In some remote part of his mind, he heard his own screams, felt the sweat that had long since soaked him through, and yet he was simultaneously detached from it.

Kessel’s mind was invaded by the high-pitched sound of a drill that pierced his skull and drove into his brain matter. He screeched again, overwhelming the sound of the drill with his cries.

It went on for several minutes before Jonas mercifully finished drilling. Kessel would’ve slumped forward, but his head was lashed back with a restraining strap.

He retched and bile spilled out of his mouth. He heard Jonas telling him to calm down and breathe, that it would be over soon, but Kessel felt as if every nerve in his body had been doused in gasoline and set on fire.

What drove men like this to such cruelty?

Kessel’s body bucked wildly as Jonas speared something into his brain. And then he shrieked again. Longer this time and even louder than before.

Hell had nothing on this.

T
HERE
WERE
ALMOST
too many of them, Annja decided.

She’d already sent four of the scrawny but ferocious dogs to the next life with a series of slashes with her sword, but the dogs kept coming. How many did Fairclough have in here?

Their barking filled her head and she wanted to scream at them to shut up, to stop their incessant noise. But she had to keep fighting them. And they still kept coming in waves.

Blood splashed the hallway and Annja found herself covered in it as she swung back and forth, desperate.

Saving herself for Fairclough’s final act, she realized.

She almost stopped and let the dogs take her. If anything, it would at least be a giant middle finger to Fairclough, that she hadn’t allowed him to fulfill his dream of torturing her to death.

But Annja kept going for one reason: Kessel.

If she could live through this, then they could both escape.

The barking continued and Annja realized that Fairclough was piping in more noise than there actually were dogs. Its effect served two purposes: it riled the dogs and it nearly drove Annja insane.

But still she fought on.

S
OMEWHERE
OUTSIDE
of himself, Kessel heard the noises stop. He was drenched. And then he picked up the sound of voices that sounded as if they’d been melted together into some syrupy mixture. Almost as if he was underwater listening to an exchange between Jonas and Greene.

But he strained to make the words out clearly.

“Is it done?”

Kessel heard Jonas laugh. “It’s done. At last.”

“Are you sure it will work?”

“I’m not sure of anything. But it will be lots of fun seeing what happens next, won’t it?”

He was about to be released, he suspected, very much unlike the man who had first sat down in Jonas’s chair.