Page 67 of Raze
“Open wide, or I’ll take your eye out first.”
Ken’s body jerks and thrashes beneath me. I hold on tightly to the rope, but my balance still isn’t where it normally is, and I fall off him. He jumps to his feet, breaking my hold on the rope, then screams and looks down.
There’s a knife sticking out of his gut. He reaches for it, but Jack tsks.
“I wouldn’t pull that out if I were you. Now, take a seat.” He shoves Ken backward, who falls into the chair I’d been in. The rope I’d dropped hovers in front of me. I grab it and wrap it back aroundhis throat without question.
He jerks in the seat, but something is keeping his legs against the chair because every movement is small and hardly moves him from his spot. “No, wait. Don’t! I’m begging you! Oh my God, you’re crazy! Stay the fuck away from me!” Ken struggles harder, refusing to give up. As if he knows the second he stops trying to escape, it’s over.
I wonder if he’s reading Jack’s mind right now and what he found there.
“Please, don’t do this. I’ll do anything. I swear!” He snivels, tears and snot running down his face.
Jackson cocks his head to the side as if he’s considering letting this man live.
I know with certainty that he won’t be walking out of here.
It’s not great, considering his ties to Joe, but this isn’t on me. If he hadn’t drugged me, stolen information from my head, or forced himself on me, then I wouldn’t be killing him. Now he has to die. I don’t let rapists live to do it to anyone else.
“What’s your role with Gifted Enterprise?” Jack asks calmly.
“I’m—I’m their lawyer. I represent anyone in GE if a suit comes up.”
Jackson taps a blade into the palm of his hand. “Joe?”
“Yes! Yes, he’s—was—my current client. He had a lot of harassment suits I was taking care of before he could join the Board.”
“Who are your other clients?”
“Let me get you a list. If we can just go to my office…”
“What do you know about where GE’s headquarters is?” Jack asksinstead.
“I-I don’t know that! They come to me or call my office when they need something.”
“What about their lab research facilities?” Jackson tries again.
Ken sputters. “I don’t—Wait! I know they own a hospital here. Saint…St. Marks! They could be doing experiments there! It’s where I was going to take her after—” He gasps and snaps his mouth shut.
Jack’s dark smile returns. “I’ve already dismantled that hospital. Anything else? No?” He shoves his thumb into Ken’s mouth and pries it open with the knife between his teeth. Ken’s screams tear through the apartment, and there’s a second of concern about being heard until I see the lack of reaction by Jackson. And then I forget all about that when I see Ken’s tongue pinched between Jack’s fingers before he drops it at his feet.
Ken’s head lulls forward.
I look over him to Jackson, whose blue eyes are already fixated on me. I feel like a deer in headlights as his attention zeroes in on me. He’s giving off a lot of bloodlust vibes right now, and self-preservation tells me not to move and draw more attention to me. So I don’t. I barely breathe.
Then his gaze drops back to Ken. His hand grips the back of Ken’s hair and pulls his face back up. I realize that I’m no longer holding the rope at his throat, but I don’t think it was doing much to begin with. “You touched her too, right?” Jack looks down pointedly at Ken’s hands, which are still cupping the hilt coming out of him as if they might stabilize it.
“Jack,” I breathe before I can stop myself. His eyes jump up tomine without hesitation, and the air suddenly feels thinner. Shit. What was I going to say? I don’t have a problem killing him. It’s just…something about Jackson feels…off. Something’s not right. “He’s my kill,” I finally tell him.
He chuckles and shakes his head at me. Not to tell me no, but like he expected this from me. “You’re still trying to save them, even after what he would have done to you.” I don’t answer him. I’m not sure why he thinks I’m saving him when I’m saying I want to be the one to kill him, but I also don’t think it’s wise to try arguing with him right now. He’s been gone for a month doing, I have no idea what, but apparently, taking down ahospitalis in there somewhere, and I can see the difference.
It’s like he’s shed the skin of humanity and left only the monster.
“You don’t want me to hurt him anymore?” he asks me, his head tilted like a curious puppy wanting to understand what his master wants from him.
“No. I just want this over with.”
He nods and takes a step back. He wipes his blade clean on his hoodie and puts it away, then yanks his other knife free from Ken to clean and sheath it as well. If he removes it rougher than necessary, I don’t comment. Jackson finally settles his hands in his front pocket to show he has no plans to interfere. But he remains standing in front of Ken like he wants to watch this man’s death front and center.
