J A K E

     
      I was alone in the car with my thoughts as I drove away from the compound. No one had bothered to ask where I was going; they were too upset with me for handing Peterson over with the Needles. During the car ride back to the compound, I could practically smell their anger and fear. I reveled in it. It was better to be feared than loved.

      I was aware that they were also angry that I hadn't taken the opportunity to catch Adiago Hundsen like I'd promised Hunt in London. I smiled to myself. The director of the ONNT didn't know what he was dealing with. Or who he was dealing with.

      As I drove, I turned the stolen watch over in my hand. It had Hundsen's name nearly engraved on the back. I clenched my hand around it. The golden watch was only the first of many things I would take from Adiago Hundsen.

      The familiar area came back into view. I parked the car on the darkest part of the street and shut the door quietly.

     Snaking through the labyrinth of alleyways again, I walked with a purpose. Everyone else had bought the treaty I'd made with Hundsen: the Crepuscule Club, the Needles, my crew, and Hundsen himself. The only person that I suspected saw through it was Tesla; I could feel her suspicious gaze on me as we escaped the lair.

      But it was only because she knew how badly I wanted Hundsen to burn. There was no other reason. I partly regretted telling her that much about myself; once someone knew your weakness, they could exploit it.

      And that was exactly the principle I would apply to Hundsen's downfall.

      The night breeze blew chilly air through my hair, but as usual, I didn't feel it. I had never minded the cold. In fact, I welcomed it.

      I knew that I was nearing the hideout again; I could feel it. Hundsen was near. I took another left down the alley behind a restaurant and past a couple of trash cans filled to the brim. I could hear talking inside the eating area, coming from people spending the late night with friends and family. They had no idea what was happening so near to them. There was a lamp that threw out yellow rays into the misty air. I avoided it and kept walking.

I stood before the building yet again. The hole Henderson had blown in the side of it was gaping wide, like a mouth ready to swallow me up. So I marched in, unafraid of whatever was inside.

      The warehouse was abandoned. The Club was gone, most likely raiding the Needle's headquarters since I'd given them its location.

      I lazily made my way to Hundsen's office, staying in the shadows of the vast building to avoid being seen before I wanted to be. I felt like a wraith, drifting between the numerous shelves, aimed toward my enemy with malicious intent.

      Then, I saw him. He was in his office exactly as I had predicted. Someone had to watch over the prisoners and I doubted Hundsen trusted anyone else enough to do it in these tumultuous times.

      Making sure that I was absolutely silent, I neared the door. It was cracked open only a sliver. Pushing it open, I strode inside and stood ten feet from Hundsen. I was ten feet away from dragging my knife across his throat, ten feet away from punching his well-brimmed face.

      His dark eyes barely widened when he noticed me. "I knew that deal was too good to be true. You want me dead too much to leave me in peace."

      "Letting you live in peace would be far too good for you."

      "Oh Evans," Hundsen spoke, putting his pen down and leaning back in his chair. "It must kill you to know that I'm still alive and thriving."

      I didn't answer. I died every night, thinking about how the man that had taken everything from me was happy and untroubled.

      "Is that why you came back, to kill me?"

Again, I said nothing. I circled the desk slowly, watching Hundsen as his eyes followed my movements. His tie was tight around his neck. I wanted nothing more than to turn it into a noose.

"I'll admit, it was a stroke of genius to send my men to the Needle's headquarters in order to get me alone. You almost had me, Evans."

I kept circling like a vulture around its prey as Hundsen talked. I noticed with grim satisfaction that there was a thin cut on his throat from earlier, when Tesla had threatened to slit his throat.

"Why do you keep trying? You know that I have the superior numbers, information and resources. You can't win. Even if you kill me, you'll never rule the Club."

Shaking his head, he pulled a gun out from inside his coat. "Goodbye for good, Evans." He pulled the trigger but I dodged it at the last second. It grazed my left arm and buried itself in the wall behind me. He tried to shoot me again, but with a wave of my fingers, the bullet was enveloped in ice and smashed to the ground with the extra weight.

      Hundsen shot me for real on the third pull of the trigger. My shoulder exploded in pain, but it didn't matter now. I was now close enough to the man to grab him by the neck and slam him against the wall, knocking the gun from his grip. Pure rage flowed through my veins.

      "You want to know why I keep trying?" I spat in his face through gritted teeth. "However bad you are, no matter how much murder and carnage you spread, I can assure you, I am worse."

      I tightened my grip on his throat. "You can try to kill me. You can show your fangs and snarl all you want. You can rule the criminal underworld. But keep in mind that a reckoning is nearing. And that reckoning is me."

      I pulled him back and slammed his body onto his own desk. "You took everything from me. I will not stop until I do the same to you. The past is catching up, Adiago Hundsen, and you will pay for your sins."

      The bastard had the audacity to laugh, even as his face was pressed up against the desk and his luxurious suit was crumpled. "And how do you expect to do that?"

      "I'll let you in on a little secret. Now that I've lost everything, I have nothing more to lose. You, my friend, have everything to lose."

      Forcing him to turn over onto his back, I looked into his face. I took in the evil black eyes, the scar across his lips that some lucky soul had dealt him. His hair, usually slicked back to perfection, had a single lock hanging down over his forehead.

I hit him as hard as I could in the face. Blood oozed from a cut on his nose and he blinked a few times to get over the shock of the blow. I doubted that anyone had hit him like I did now that he was so powerful.

I wanted to hit him again. I wanted to hit him so hard and so often that my hand went numb and he went unconscious, but I didn't. His demise would be slower and more painstaking.

"Are you going to try to kill me, Evans?" he asked again, looking up at me with those unforgiving black eyes.

"Eventually, yes. But not now. I am going to do exactly what you did to me; I will take everything you love and crush it in front of you. And when I'm done, you'll be begging me to finally end the pain and kill you."

For so long, I had survived on small victories: stealing Hundsen's watch, mocking him, watching as Tesla shot him in the chest. But now, I had his life in the palm of my hand. Victory was close.

I had originally come to look into the Club's files to dig up some dirt on Hundsen. But what I had found instead was so much better. While I'd been beating the man, I had noticed something on his desk. Something that I could use for leverage.

So I took a step away from Hundsen so that he could sit up from the desk. The cuts on his face were beginning to swell.

      He still had a leering smile on his face as he asked me, "Why are you doing this?"

      I knew that he was mocking me. "You know exactly why."

     "Honestly, I'm not sure. Was it because I took the Club from you or because of your dear mother?"

      I turned to face him, my fists itching to hit him again. "What?" My voice was as chilly as I could muster as I stared at him.

      "Ah, it's mainly because of your mother, isn't it? What exactly happened to her, again?"

      I closed the gap between us and grasped his neck again, letting my fingers dig into his skin uncomfortably. When he smiled at me again, I nearly lost my grip on my temper. But then I regained my composure again.

      Completely calmly, I grabbed the small pocketknife that was on his desk and jammed it into his eye socket. He howled in pain when I dug it in further. As I pulled the blade out, I made sure to make the gash as painful and long as I could. Chunks of flesh and blood fell onto the dark wood of the desk.

      "I'm doing this because of everything you've done to me," I answered him, my voice deathly calm. "And one day, I'll be back for the other eye."

      With that, I walked out of the room. I was sure that the leverage I'd just discovered would bring Hundsen to his knees. The thought almost brought a smile to my face.