Bear
Page 28
‘I thought the same thing. Turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks. Took me long enough to realise it.’
‘Maybe you can,’ Slater mumbled.
‘You could if you tried.’
‘I don’t want to try.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because,’ Slater said, feeling every iota of the pain in his temples and the agony in his broken hand and the icy chill of the sea spray assaulting his clothing and the uncertainty of how he was going to sneak out of the Russian Far East in the aftermath of an international incident, ‘I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now.’
72
He came back to consciousness, and it mirrored the sensation of fighting through mud.
He sensed internal panic in the pit of his stomach even before his vision returned.
You fell asleep, you moron.
Now you’re dead.
But he wasn’t dead. He was in a room outfitted in the style of a winter lodge, small and yet spacious at the same time. Every inch of floorspace had been maximised. Slater blinked twice, and realised he recognised the layout of the space.
He’d stayed in an identical room a couple of days previously.
But it felt like a lifetime ago.
He blinked again. His head hurt.
That was an understatement.
His head seared with pain. He figured it would for quite some time. Maybe forever. Even lifting his skull a couple of inches off the pillow seemed like the most difficult burden of his life. So he maintained the exact position he’d woken in. He didn’t try moving. Because he sensed the threat had disappeared.
They’d left it behind on the Mochnost icebreaker.
Jason King sat with his elbows on his knees in the far corner of the room. A roaring log fireplace separated them. The only illumination in sight, casting flickering shadows off the walls. It was dark outside. Slater tilted the angle of his head and stared up through the grimy window, shut tight. A sea of stars draped the Russian Far East like a sparkling blanket.
Saved from the sub-zero temperatures outside by the warmth of the fireplace, he turned his attention back to King.
The man was watching him.
‘How long have I been out?’ Slater said.
‘Nine or ten hours. Any longer and I would have thought you’d gone into a coma.’
‘I probably almost did.’
‘The brain’s a strange thing. You never know how it’s going to react.’
‘Mine hasn’t reacted well.’
‘You should be dead. Or permanently disabled.’
‘Maybe I am.’
‘You’re not. You feel better than before, don’t you?’
It was all relative, but as Slater adjusted himself in the bed, he had to concede the point. It was hell, but it wasn’t concentrated hell. Not like the disorientation aboard the icebreaker.
‘So you’ll heal. Eventually. But no-one knows how long it’ll take. Not even the specialists.’
‘You know that for a fact?’
‘They tested me in Black Force. Dozens of times.’
‘Me too.’
‘Did they find anything?’
‘Nothing to worry about.’
‘That they mentioned.’
‘You ever think about that stuff?’ Slater said, his voice low in the silent room. ‘How we’ll end up in twenty years…’
‘Best not to think about it.’
‘We’ve done a lot,’ Slater said. ‘A hell of a lot.’
‘I’ve done enough.’
‘You keep saying that. But you keep coming back.’
‘You didn’t give me much of a choice.’
‘So how do things unfold from here? What if I run into another situation like this?’
‘Then you handle it on your own.’
‘And if I can’t?’
‘Then you walk away.’
‘And if I can’t do either of those things?’
‘Then you kill yourself.’
Slater blinked, wondering if he’d heard King correctly. ‘What?’
‘You’ve been in and out of unconsciousness for half a day. It’s given me a lot of time to think.’
‘And…?’
‘I’m done. Completely done. I don’t want to ever hear from you again.’
‘Because you think I’m a bad influence?’
‘Not a bad one. You needed me now, and it was noble. You wanted to wipe out the vermin left around the peninsula. I get it. And we ended up pulling off that shit at the shipbuilding plant, too. Imagine if I didn’t come. Imagine if you never found this.’
‘I was going to find it,’ Slater said. ‘One way or another.’
‘Because you’ve still got the fire inside you.’
‘You keep saying you don’t anymore. But how can you do what you did on the icebreaker without the fire? How is it even possible to kill without it? I’ve always had it.’
‘Mine went out. I can’t describe it. Neither can you, and I know it. Fire is the closest thing we can think of. But it’s that burning desire to never stop. To keep moving forward. To jump from problem to problem. Leave us in one place with nothing to do for too long and we’ll go insane.’
‘But you were on Koh Tao,’ Slater said. ‘For almost a year.’
King nodded. ‘It’s out, Slater. And it didn’t come back. I don’t think it ever will.’
‘What does it mean? Long-term?’
‘I don’t know. I killed all those men without the motivation to do it. It cost me a lot. In terms of mental capacity. I’m spent. And I don’t want to do anything other than go back to that tropical island and live out the rest of my days there. With Klara.’
‘But if she knows that there’s the possibility—’
‘There is no possibility. Not anymore. I’m not doing it anymore, Will.’
‘What if I call, and a guy has his finger on the trigger of a dirty bomb that’ll kill thousands of people, and the only way I can stop it in time is to—’
‘Give me all the hypotheticals you want,’ King said. ‘I won’t pick up the phone.’
Slater nodded. ‘I guess I can’t understand. Because I don’t know what it feels like when the flame goes out.’
‘You think it ever will?’
‘I’m younger than you, aren’t I?’
‘Not by much. Not enough for it to matter.’
‘And I think that’s the difference between you and me.’
King raised an eyebrow.
‘I don’t think my fire will ever go out.’
‘It’s hardwired in?’
‘I think so.’
‘I thought so, too.’
‘We’re not the same, King. You’re done. I’m not. This concussion will put me out for weeks, maybe months. And then I’ll jump right back in again.’
‘You enjoy it?’
‘I can’t explain it. You know what I’m talking about better than anyone else.’
‘If you stop, you’ll start to think about your life.’
‘And that’s something I really don’t want to do.’
‘The girl. Was she important to you?’
‘It was getting there.’
‘How long had you known her?’
‘Only half a day.’
‘Still the ladies man, I see.’
‘Less than before.’
‘You thought there might have been something there?’
‘Maybe. Down the line. I speculated. Turns out it doesn’t matter, because she’s hanging from the ceiling of a concrete bunker.’
‘I’m sorry.’
Slater shrugged. ‘It’s the life, isn’t it?’
‘That’s why you should take my advice. Follow my example. Get out.’
‘Then who’s going to stop the next incident?’
‘There’s always someone else.’
‘Not like us.’
‘That’s bordering on arrogant.’
‘Don’t you understand what we just did?’
‘I’m fully aware of what we just did. I won’t forget it for the rest of my life.’
‘Because the fire wasn’t there? So it made you feel terrible?’
‘I feel like a mass murderer.’
‘You shouldn’t.’
‘Thanks for the advice.’
Slater said, ‘Fuck advice. Nothing I say to you is going to change how you feel. Nothing you say to me is going to change how I feel. We’re two broken minds who happen to be very good at what we do. And we deal with it in different ways. And that’s all it’s ever going to be. Nothing else to talk about. And I can see the change you’re talking about in your eyes. They’re different. They’re not as intense. You really, truly don’t want to do this anymore. So get yourself back to Koh Tao, and stay there. And I’ll rest here and hit the road.’
King nodded solemnly. Deep in thought.
Slater said, ‘On that note … where is here? I think I have an idea.’
‘I’ve been following you since you left the bar. Figured I’d bring you back here. Seems like you formed a bond with the barman over something. I didn’t push it. Not my job to be nosy…’
‘She was taken,’ Slater said. ‘From here.’
King bowed his head. ‘Right.’
‘Alexei tried to stop them.’
‘He’s grateful that you didn’t go to the police.’
‘Does he know what we did?’
‘No. But I paid him fifty thousand dollars for his loyalty.’
‘You did what?’
‘I offered. He didn’t ask. It’s worth it to be safe. I figured the fastest way to get him on our side was to buy his loyalty. I probably didn’t need to. He already spoke fondly of you. He helped me carry you upstairs. So you’ve got this room for as long as you need. And he promises to hide you and feed you until you’re better. No matter what the television says happened in Vladivostok. And then you can carry on your way.’
‘And you?’
‘I’m leaving.’
‘How will you get out of—?’
King held up a hand. ‘Maybe it’s best we don’t talk about specifics. In case one of us runs into trouble. That way we truly don’t know where the other person is. If it comes to that.’
‘But I’m right here. And you know I’m not moving for a long time.’
‘But my mind is bulletproof,’ King said. ‘So there’s no risk of them finding out where you are.’
‘And mine isn’t?’
‘We’re close. But I don’t know you that well. I don’t know you down to your core.’
‘Have a guess.’
‘I’d guess there’s nothing to worry about.’
‘Good.’
King said, ‘What will you do?’
‘After this?’
King nodded.
‘Walk around. Put my nose where it doesn’t belong. That always leads to something. You know how it is.’
King nodded again.
He said, ‘I’d recommend you get out while you still can, but I know you won’t listen to me.’
‘Would you have listened when you had your own fire?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Then let me do my thing.’
‘Go for your life.’
King got to his feet. There was something final about it. Something symbolic.
‘Don’t call, Slater,’ he said. ‘Even if the world’s ending. Because my world ends if you call.’
Slater said nothing. Just nodded.
King said, ‘Do you think I’m selfish?’
‘No,’ Slater said. ‘I think you’re done. For good.’
King nodded, and turned toward the doorway.
Slater said, ‘For now.’
King turned back and rolled his eyes. ‘Give me a break.’
‘I don’t know how you’ll feel a year from now. And you can say you do, but you really don’t. Deep down in your core. You haven’t got the faintest clue. Because we’re similar in more ways than you think. And I know me. Which means I know you.’
Now, King didn’t respond.
Just nodded.
‘You’re like the reckless younger brother I never had,’ he said. ‘Always trying to drag me back.’
‘If I’m the younger brother, then we have the same blood.’
‘Maybe.’
After a long pause, Slater said, ‘Be seeing you?’
King just looked at him.
Then he left.
Strode through the doorway and disappeared.
Nothing grandiose about it.
One second there, then gone the next.
Vanishing into the shadows, without a trace.
Slater knew where to find him. He hadn’t a clue if King would answer when he called.
But he figured he would need to call. Eventually. Because as he settled back into the pillows in the corner of the empty room and watched the light from the fireside dance across the ceiling, he realised he was destined to seek confrontation until the day he died. Whether that be three weeks, three years, or three decades from now. The warmth of the small wood-panelled room comforted him like a warm blanket.
He would stay here for as long as he needed.
Days.
Weeks.
Months.
Until the headaches disappeared. Until he returned to his normal self. Maybe he would ease back into training when the concussion started to recede. He could probably strike a deal with the owner of the combat gym on the outskirts of Vladivostok. Sneak out in the dead of night and train until his lungs screamed for mercy, concealed by the shadows as all of Russia bristled with conflict.
Because certain details would leak in the coming days. King would make sure of that. A grand conspiracy aboard a nuclear-powered icebreaker. A disgraced politician with a twisted, broken, nihilistic mind. A pair of Mikhailov brothers with profit set to the highest priority and no limits to their depravity.
And a woman.
A worker at the Medved Shipbuilding Plant.
Swallowed up by the evil side of the bear.
There was no justice. Ruslan and Iosif had died grotesquely, painfully, but it didn’t bring Natasha back. She’d still suffered the same fate. For no good reason.
Dead at the hands of a sociopathic businessman with more money than he knew what to do with.
The bear had been hungry in Vladivostok.
Slater closed his eyes, trying his hardest to forget. But he never would.
Inside, his own fire raged.
It always would.
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Books by Matt Rogers
THE JASON KING SERIES
Isolated (Book 1)
Imprisoned (Book 2)
Reloaded (Book 3)
Betrayed (Book 4)
Corrupted (Book 5)
Hunted (Book 6)
THE JASON KING FILES
Cartel (Book 1)
Warrior (Book 2)
Savages (Book 3)
THE WILL SLATER SERIES
Wolf (Book 1)
Lion (Book 2)
Bear (Book 3)
BLACK FORCE SHORTS
The Victor (Book 1)
The Chimera (Book 2)
The Tribe (Book 3)
The Hidden (Book 4)
The Coast (Boo
k 5)
The Storm (Book 6)
The Wicked (Book 7)
The King (Book 8)
The Joker (Book 9)
About the Author
Matt Rogers grew up in Melbourne, Australia as a voracious reader, relentlessly devouring thrillers and mysteries in his spare time. Now, he writes full-time. His novels are action-packed and fast-paced. Dive into the Jason King Series to get started with his collection.
Visit his website:
www.mattrogersbooks.com
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