The Ice Prince

Chapter 43

When I reached Jerry's, I went straight to Arnold's quarters and took my backpack. Hayley had taken hers along when she'd escaped. I went over and rescued the Glock she'd lent me. Neither Ramírez's nor Domingo's men had made it to Arnold's quarters yet, and it struck me as surprising, till I realised that they knew Hayley was after Stellan and Slader.

You're such a hypocrite, Ash... You blamed Hayley from keeping things from you, and here you are, faking your own death and letting her believe in it... a strange pain filled my chest. I knew I should've told her that I was alive, but I was too hurt and too caught up in my own plans to admit it to myself. I was deceiving her, and trying to convince myself that it was necessary for her safety. I still don't know whether it truly was.

I'd more or less guessed Hayley's secret. The drug racket was just the tip of the iceberg. And I was sure Hayley was much more than just a lowly mechanic in the entire scheme of things. But I was also sure that she wasn't a bad person, and she wanted to help overcome what she'd assisted the gangs in, for all these years. She'd wanted to protect Carver and me from that part of her life, but it was too late. I had already pieced things together. And I still loved her enough to want to protect her this once. So I picked up the landline and dialled my mobile number.

Almost immediately, it was picked up by someone, who didn't believe in telephonic greetings such as 'hello'. I didn't say anything and kept the receiver down. It was done. Soon, I knew, the gangs would send men to pick me up from here. Ramírez did not disappoint. It took three minutes and thirteen seconds for the men to come pouring in, Slader among them. He saw me and his eyes widened, but I managed a reassuring blink in his direction without warning the others. From the corner of my eye, I saw him roll his shoulders and smirk slightly, gently shaking his head. He seemed to have figured out my plan, and I thought I saw sadness in his eyes. It couldn't be helped.

Within moments, the men had seized me, and I realistically struggled against them, earning myself a couple of kicks and punches in the process. I feigned fainting, and I heard Slader explain away in Spanish, that I had fallen into the river and the two had believed me to be dead. I knew Marc would say the same thing. It was the agreed excuse anyway.

"He swam, you say?" Ramírez's tone betrayed grudging admiration. I almost opened my eyes to see whether his expression gave it away, but I checked myself in time.

I was carried to someplace and tied up. I was sure it was Slader who tied me up, because I knew that the knots were tight, but not tight enough to keep me bound, because they were slip knots. I saw from the corner of my eye, as I squinted and went back to pretending to be unconscious. I could hear Marc in the background, acting as Stellan, of course, and telling his version of our excuse. I almost heaved a sigh of relief to realize that he seconded the alibi Slader had built up, thereby the two of them were now safe from the gangs, absolved from most of the blame. They got away on some mild swearing from their bosses, mainly focussed on the essentiality of being wary. The plus point being that now neither Ramírez nor Domingo would trust them to be my guards, so when I would run away (Of course I would, I wasn't planning to die so soon) it wouldn't be blamed on them.

Now I had to wait, and make sure that those two were out of my way. Slowly, I 'came to', only to find that I was alone, tied to the same metallic chair where they'd tied me up before, and the crates in the room had been moved or changed in some way. It was a torture in itself to even be in the same room all over again. I could almost feel the ice water and the burning buzz passing through me, I could almost hear the tingling electricity just before the pain had hit, I could feel all of it again. And being alone made it so much worse.

It took me at least five full minutes to work my way out of the 'slip' knots. I could almost see myself giving the death stare to Slader for this, but I could also picture him laughing at it, and that had me smiling to myself. I just thought of snooping over for a moment and confirming my doubts.

I slowly undid the knots by my feet. The metal chair skittered slightly as I stood and eased my legs straight. I hoped no one had heard me. Tiptoeing over, I figured that nobody had, because it wasn't that loud anyways, and the soundproofing here was amazing. Once again, I found myself thanking whoever had thought of installing it.

Going over to the crates, I slipped a cover up by a notch, when I heard someone coming in to the room, and my heart leaped into my mouth.