Page 104 of Pas de Trois
Chapter 24
Anya
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.
One…Two…Three…Four…Five…Six…Seven…Eight.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Seven.
Eight.
“Not now.” I hear Kostya’s frantic voice say to me in Russian. “You were almost there.”
My chest hurts. Rhythmic pain pulses over and over on my ribcage. An engine rumbles in the distance, the sound drawing nearer and nearer.
“I promised him,” Kostya utters in his native language. “I promised I would keep your heart beating. Come on, Anya!”
I want to scream at him to stop whatever it is he’s doing to me because it hurts. Everything hurts. I’ve never been in this much pain. But I can’t open my mouth to scream at him.
Suddenly, the pounding on my chest stops. The sound of the engine peaks in volume and then shuts off. Kostya’s voice grows more distant and he begins to speak in English. “Murphy, I’m sorry. I did not—”
“Save it,” Murphy says with an edge to his voice. “I’m not the one who put that fucking spike strip across the road.”
“Please, don’t—”
“My wife told me everything, Kostya. I know every detail of your involvement in this attempted escape.”
“Then kill us now,” Kostya says and I wish I could shout at him to stop talking. “Kill us before they come for us.”
“She’s alive?” It’s Stella’s voice this time, and when she speaks again, her voice is closer, as if she’s right beside me. “Oh, my God. Murphy. Please. We have to help her.”
“You’ve already gotten me into enough fucking trouble with your involvement, Stella. And where the fuck is Ezra?”
Kostya replies, “He’s gone. With the baby. On the helicopter that left ten minutes ago.”
“She’s bleeding,” Stella says, sadness touching her voice. “Did she give birth? Out here? Oh, my God. Murphy…” Her voice moves away. “Please. You told me you could change. You told me you could be a better man for me. You told me you had enough power now to make changes and be a better father than your own. I’m fucking beggingyou. Don’t let this poor girl die. Not like this.”
Am I dying?
“You don’t understand, Stella—”
“No, you don’t understand, Murphy. You find a way to save her life or I go to the board and tell them everything. I’ll tell them how I helped Kostya plan her escape and you know what will happen to me then. Are you willing to let me suffer those consequences? Or can you step the fuck up right fucking now?”
There’s silence.
It stretches for too long.
