The Corpse And The Crazy

Chapter 26 -29

~*Corpse*~

'I expected more of you,' a voice says behind me. 

The sun has come up from behind the horizon, and the city has woken up, too. We haven't moved. 

His Oxfords make a crunching sound on the gravel. They appear in the corner of my eye a second later. Naturally, they're perfectly black, shined to perfection. He must be kicking himself to be walking on gravel with Italian leather.

'You have to come home.'

'We found a lab. Probably Miller's,' I say, avoiding the topic. 

'Where?' He runs his hand through his hair. Although I can't see his face, I know he's frowning, maybe even touching his beard in concern.

'Right here,' I answer, 'in this hotel.'

'That might be a problem. But we'll deal with that later. Let's get her to safety.' He turns around to leave, but I don't move. He seems more surprised than offended. 'Matthias, don't do this.' 

'I can't... I just can't.' I can already hear his men coming up the stairs. Those footsteps tell me that he didn't bring his best men because I wouldn't have been able to hear those. 

'You don't have a choice in this. Let go.' His voice has become more cautious. As if he's talking to a wild animal instead of to me. 

He warned me about situations like these once. He said that you should never permit yourself to fall in love on a mission, as it's always bound to go wrong. 

I press a kiss on the top of her head. Let's hope he's wrong. 

I get up and throw gravel at the Duke's eyes in one swift motion. He stumbles back, giving me enough time to tackle him. He falls to the ground with a thud. 

Before he retaliates, I get atop him and press a knife to his throat. His men stand frozen, not knowing whether to advance or to retreat. 

'I can't,' I growl, my face inches away from his. 

Surprise flashes over his face, but it disappears almost as quickly as it appeared. It makes way for pity. Slowly, he wipes the gravel from his face. He remains completely calm when he raises one eyebrow. 'Is this the best you can do?' he answers. 

Before I know it, he slips a hand between the blade and his throat and grabs my shirt. He pulls me to the right of his face while thrusting his pelvis upward. I get thrown to the ground beside him. His men jump at me, grabbing my arms and holding me down while he gets up. This fight was over as quickly as it began. 

He casually knocks the sand off his suit and looks back at me. 'I'll excuse this, but only for this once. ' He nods to the men, 'escort him home.' 

He kneels beside Julia, speaking to her as I get dragged away. I can't hear what they're saying, but I can see that she doesn't react. He gently lifts her from the ground and carries her away. 

And all I can think at that moment is that she looks so tiny in his arms. All of the energy she just had is gone. 

I let them put me in a van, handcuffing me before they sit down. I feel defeated. We're not just back at square one. We've been completely knocked off the board into a dark, dusty corner.