Page 1 of Traitor
Chapter One
TwohoursafterCommanderKuznetsov’s crew were killed by Clay…
The pain was unreal. He had been tortured endlessly for information on the Agafonov brothers. Time lost all meaning. Since Jay had been trained by the same program that tried to break him, he had withstood a lot. Still, everyone broke eventually. Anyone who said otherwise was a liar. He had hoped the torment would end there. Jay supposed it would. He just had to wait longer than he expected.
Commander Kuznetsov’s minions had cauterized his wounds as they went, ensuring he lived as long as possible. Their final knife cut had been precise, leaving him to slowly bleed out beside the bodies surrounding him. They were all dead. Every single member of Kuznetsov’s private crew. If Kuznetsov wasn’t toast by now, he would be soon. After Jay had broken and led thecommander to the brothers, Kuznetsov had lured the Agafonov crew into a trap. Jay had lain helpless on the floor and witnessed Beau Bosi’s arrival and Kuznetsov’s takedown. There was no peace from knowing he outlived his onetime leader turned torturer. After the life he had led, there would never be comfort for him. Not even after death. Surely Hell would be waiting.
The chills had set in minutes earlier, and Jay’s eyes were heavy. He had too many broken bones to try for help. Even if he wasn’t a mangled mess, there still was no saving him. His rescue in this country would only mean an eventual prison sentence. No doubt swiftly followed by a shank, compliments of Mother Russia.
Warm fingers checked his pulse, sending Jay’s eyes flying open. An angel hovered over him. Blond locks that looked windblown surrounded a flawless face made even better by sparkling light green eyes.
“He’s alive.”
Jay opened his mouth not to beg for help but to plead for mercy. His eyes filled with tears at the thought of a merciful god sending this angel to carry him into forgiveness.
“Don’t try to speak.” The eyes moved from him and focused on something Jay couldn’t see. Funnily, he couldn’t make out a damn thing more than a foot from his face. “This is the one they tortured for information. It looks like he held out. Let’s get him in the van.”
Inside his head, he screamed as he was lifted. It didn’t seem his angel planned to save his soul after all. No sound would emerge from his bruised throat for him to inquire. He didn’t know how far he made it before the beautiful darkness took him.
His eyes shot open again. He heard his angel’s voice, but he couldn’t see a thing.
“Please, Austen. No one even needs to know. He was tortured for us. Thanks to him, Beau had time to plan our rescue. If he hadn’t managed to alert Beau of the commander’s presence here, we would be dead. Rain would be dead.”
“That’s not fair, Crisp. You can’t ask this of me. You know I can’t keep something like this from my husband.”
“I’m not asking you to keep this from Rain, as long as you two keep it between you. I’m begging you to help me save the person who was tortured for hours, buying us time. Please?”
“Maybe he’s right, Crisp. He’s programmed the same way we are. What if Austen helps him for this guy to turn on us?”
“Please don’t, Tidy. I need you on my side. Austen, please? I’ll keep him locked up here. In fact, I’ll stay with him every second. Just help me fix him, and then all of you can fly back to California and not ever think of this again.”
“I’m not going any damn where.” The growled promise sounded as if it had been spoken through clenched teeth.
A loud sigh rang out. “Fine. I’ll never forgive myself if I turn my back on someone in need. Fuck my life. Don’t get me murdered over this shit.”
“I won’t. I swear it.” The sudden happiness in his angel’s voice melted Jay a little. Then a sharp prick had his head spinning and his mind disappeared.
His eyes opened again. Jay blinked against the harsh light surrounding him. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and tried again. The pain wasn’t gone from his body, but it was definitely minimized. The sensation of being drugged made it even harder to keep his eyes open. But Jay forced his eyelids to lift once more. He needed a quick peek at his surroundings to assess the situation. Jay slowly turned his head, doing his best not to draw attention to himself from anyone who might be watching. Everything was a blur except for the man who sat a foot from his head. When his gaze landed on his angel, he forgot to pretend he was still sleeping. Sitting next to him, reading a book, he found the blond rescuer. His name was Crisp. He remembered now. People had argued. They had definitely called him Crisp. Another detail clicked into place. That was the name of one of the Agafonov brothers. He’d been named for his specialty: making crime scenes vanish as crisp and new—like nothing ever happened.
Everything came into better focus. He opened his mouth and forced words past his parched and damaged throat. “What are you reading?”
Crisp sat forward and put the book aside. “You’re awake. How are you feeling? Do you need anything?”
He sounded genuinely concerned. Crisp had kept him alive. Surely it was safe to assume Crisp would continue to do so. “Water?”
Crisp slumped a little. “Unfortunately, I can’t do that. Your stomach has a lot of healing to do. However, I can feed you some ice chips. Is that okay?” He seemed to turn inward. “Damn. I don’t have ice chips. Surely, I can get some from the kitchen.” He gave a sharp nod, obviously finishing his conversation with himself. “Yeah. You can have ice chips.”
“Okay.” Fuck, it was so hard to push words out. Everything felt as if tore inside his throat with each attempt.
Crisp stood. “Don’t go anywhere, okay?” He released a nervous laugh, as if realizing there was less than zero chance Jay was going anywhere.
Jay closed his eyes and tried to look as helpless as he was. “I won’t.”
Crisp stroked his shoulder and walked away. Jay wanted to open his eyes, but he couldn’t. He felt ridiculously weepy over that small caress. He felt vulnerable in a way he hadn’t since he was a child. Jay was too weak to function at all. That helplessness was disarming. They hadn’t taught him how to survive this part. Jay was supposed to choose death with dignity. He had no clue why he didn’t want to pass from this life. This world had nothing for him. With Kuznetsov dead, no one would hunt him. The Russian government had to think he was dead as well. That meant Jay was free, but to what end? He had nowhere to go.Jay owned nothing. He had several accounts under fake names set up for him by the program. Those were all likely closed and redistributed to other agents. If not, the second he touched them, the alarm would go off, alerting them he was still alive.
The more he thought about things, the more panicked he became. He genuinely had nowhere to go. Jay didn’t exist any longer. How did he handle that? Everything looked bigger than him. He couldn’t return to the program. They would simply torture him again until he died. Hell, maybe Jay would still die. He didn’t know. All he knew was everything hurt, he was screwed, and that small goddamn touch had him ready to bawl like a baby. Jay couldn’t think clearly.
“Shhh. Calm down. Your heart is beating too fast.” Crisp stroked Jay’s chest in one of the few unbruised places.
