NEW FLESH

CHAPTER TWENTY: PEACEFUL SEAS

STAN looked up at the boy as if he'd never been so disappointed in his life, as if he'd woken up on Christmas morning expecting one thing and gotten the complete opposite of what he'd asked for.

"Come on, Ronnie, really?" he cocked his head to the side slightly, "don't call me that. Where's the rest of your team? Your new boy out there, he on my tail?" Stan was smiling now, his eyes squinted closed while he was grinning up at the boy as if there wasn't enough pain in the world to force him into giving any bit of information he had to offer, which was true in a sense.

"Ronnie, Ronnie, Ronnie." he sighed his smile tightening, "there's your first mistake." he paused, "you never start with a real question, you start slowly, you get inside your subjects head."

The man seemed to be unaffected by Stans replies instead continuing on to the point, "Stan, I'm gonna ask you one more time." he- Stan- let out a sigh his head absently turning to the left for a brief moment, "there's your second mistake. Number two. You don't say, 'one more time', you already-"

Ronnie had begun to pullup on the pliers the older man's fingernail coming up with a disgusting pop, Margo turned away unsure of how Stan was able to endure such pain, she was disgusted with her brothers lack of patience as well.

"Now, what's that third mistake, Stan?" Ronnie taunted looking up at the man with expectancy swimming in his eyes, "huh? What is it?"

Stan grinned- clenching his teeth in the process- "Go ahead! Go ahead!" he breathed out, "I got nine more! I like this. I like it. Go ahead, bring it on, motherfucker!" Margo had turned back to watch them refraining from looking at Stan's raw finger, the sight of no nail there itched her brain in a way she didn't quite enjoy.

Two men exited from the tarped area one of them speaking in a foreign language, instead of allowing Ronnie to answer, Stan did.

"Ronnie wants to know if I got a team outside. Right, Ron?" he looked to Ronnie as if he was trying to make sure he got the story right despite the fact he knew he did, "if it's safe to move your bomb."

The man spoke a small sentence in the foreign language again before proceeding into English, "are we being followed?" Ronnie quickly replied his voice clipped as the words flew from his mouth, "where's the new me?" he questioned, "I've done my research. I know all about him." he was seething now, he wanted the information he knew Stan would never give him.

"The new me? Oh, you mean Mitch?" he looked down at him with half-lidded eyes, "you know, Mitch, he's unpredictable." He took a deep inhale trying to catch his breath, "you never know about Mitch. He might be here, he might be there" He smiled, "He's not the one you need to worry about." The man let out a hacking laugh a cough coming through the middle of it.

"What do you mean? Who else is there?" Stan shook his head looking up at him, he nodded in Margo's direction, "she's been your replacement for a long time Ronnie, hell, she's the better you." He glanced over his shoulder in her direction, she made no move to disappear from his view or get closer.

Turning back to Stan he smiled, "well, then I guess it's a good thing I have her with me." He roughly patted Stan's shoulder, "Raven, I need you to tell me where they are." She held her breath for a moment hoping that if she didn't breathe she would suddenly cease to exist.

It didn't work.

He waved her over, taking a few steps back from Stan, as she approached him he turned to face her hoping to provide her some bit of privacy from the man while they conversed, "I need you to tell me if they're coming here. If you know something, I need to know." She looked down at the ground before glancing to where the older man struggled against his restraints clenching his teeth as he did so.

She shook her head, "I don't know where they are, but if they're as smart as I know they are, then they'll be here soon." Ronnie let out a sigh reaching his hand up to rub at his head.

"I'm gonna get the bomb ready to be moved, you need to stall your friends." He patted her shoulder quickly returning to his position in front of the hostage, she watched Stan from her spot several feet away wondering why he did the things he did instead of leading a normal mostly safe life.

He licked his lips before spitting the dark substance that had tainted his saliva; blood.

Margo almost felt sorry for him, and then she remembered everything and quickly felt the sorrow disappear, instead, it was replaced with fury, that alone was enough to make her want to put a bullet through his head.

But when she thought about it, she could understand why Ronnie hadn't let her get in the middle of it, he was more involved than anyone and he seemed better planned out in his tactics, he knew what he wanted, and he knew how to get it.

Stan met her gaze, even without saying anything, she knew what he was telling her, don't let the bomb detonate.

She turned away from him, an uncomfortable feeling having settled in her stomach, the pliers had somehow found their way back into her brother's hand the boy having become comfortable enough with the tool, "where is he?" Stan remained silent unwilling to provide an answer, "you know Ron, he's like you, but you're a real section eight."

"Enough." he snapped, his voice quieting, "schizo mom." Stan paused, "where are they?" Margo crossed her arms over her chest watching as he brought the pliers to the older man's finger preparing to remove another nail, "loser dad." it was almost as if he was enjoying the pain he was receiving, as if he'd been preparing for this all his life.

"Where are they?"

Ronnie didn't hesitate to rip the nail from his finger the process going much faster than Margo could react and turn away from the scene, Hurley clenched his teeth letting out louder groans than before, "God!" he exclaimed looking up to the ceiling his eyes tightly shut, "where's the rest of your team?" he repeated this time failing to exclude everyone but Mitch from the question.

"Half-wit mom, psycho dad...."

"Where's the rest of your team?" Stan continued to talk over him only a few words being audible over Ronnies incessant yelling, "you're pond scum." Margo took a step back, she didn't want to be around for the rest of the "interrogation" if you could even call something as brutal as what she'd witnessed by that name.

"Pond scum! You're fucking-" he didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as Ronnie seemed to have lost all patience, he tossed the starter cable into the water watching as Stan seized from the electricity coursing through the small bin he was standing in.

He walked away gently pulling Margo along by her arm as he passed her, the two walked side by side, before he began to think about what he was going to say, Margo took the opening pausing in her steps, "what he said about mom, what did he mean by schizo?" he offered a tight smile shaking his head as he did so.

"Nothing-"

"Ronnie, if you expect me to tell you what I know, I expect you to not lie to me." his smile ceased to exist a frown settling on his lips, "mom, had a few" he paused in search for the right words that would make the situation out to be better than it actually was, "problems."

"What do you mean by problems?" her question lingered in the air somewhat like an echo- the sound resonating throughout the room for a longer period of time- he glanced from Margo to Stan checking to see if the man was listening- he hoped he wasn't- "she had a few episodes that left her in the hospital before you were born, back when I was a kid, and then two or three while she was pregnant with you." he answered.

Margo couldn't remember much about her mother, except for the fact that she'd had dirty blonde hair and green eyes, her green eyes were like emeralds and Hydrangeas mixed together- the color unforgettable in her mind- it was the one distinct feature of her that she could always think about.

She'd forgotten her voice long ago, hardly even remembering it as an infant, maybe, in a way, that made her luckier than Ronnie, she'd never had to witness her mothers breakdowns, and she'd never had to witness her lose her mind over something she hardly understood.

Nearing only fifteen minutes away, Annika, and Josi watched Mitch with wary eyes as he drove the feeling that he would wreck the car overloading their senses, while he did drive like a reckless fool he was getting them somewhere- quickly too- he cleared his throat his eyes refusing to leave the road as he spoke.

"I'm sorry about your handler." Josi looked between the two in the front seat wondering how things were going to play out, "Ashani was my uncle." she held her breath glancing to Mitch, he checked his rearview mirror as she responded before casting her a quick glance, "I'm sure it was Minister Behruz and General Rostami who had him killed." her face held little to no emotion- none that she bothered to show at that moment- before she continued, "they want nuclear war with Israel. We tried to stop them."

"My brother and father both died fighting them." she glanced down at her phone, Josi leaned over the seat watching from over the woman's shoulder, it was a map of sorts, showing them just where exactly their terrorists were hiding.

"Corviale. Turn here." she looked up from the phone gesturing to the street a few feet ahead, glancing for reassurance he winged a sharp right turn Josi and Annika having to grab onto something in hopes of not slamming into the opposing side of the car. After a few drawn-out minutes of driving, they disappeared beneath the beginnings of a small bridge the road turning to packed in gravel as they slowed to a stop in front of the railing of a small stadium-like area.

They waited in the car curiously glancing out to try and locate their targets, "dead zone, we're not getting any signals here." Annika mumbled dropping her phone into her lap, Mitch let out a sigh letting his eyes wander over the few people lingering in the area, "come on. Come on." he muttered beneath his breath, the pressure in the car was increasing while their patience was quickly doing the opposite, they just wanted to kill their terrorists and go home.

Glancing out the window, Josi leaned over Mitch pointing out towards something, peering over her arm he raised an eyebrow, "there." she stated earning Annika's gaze, the two watched for a second before she allowed her arm to retreat, "wait a second." Mitch mumbled, the three of them wasted no time in climbing out of the car almost sure they were in the right place upon seeing the men.

They proceeded to descend the stairs of the stadium their pace remaining constant as they did so, as soon as they had approached the beginning of what appeared to be a long tunnel Mitch drew his gun aware of what may lie within the shadows further along.

Inside the tunnel- beyond the locked gate- Margo watched as her brother armed himself adjusting his gun at the back of his waistband while he uselessly conversed with Stan, "why are we in Rome, Ronnie?" now that he'd brought it up, she'd been wondering the same thing, why Rome of all places, why not somewhere more.... American?

"I like Rome. It's good food." he glanced from Stan to the table he was currently standing in front of, "Raven." he turned to look at her a gun in hand, he held it out to her the barrel aimed at the ground as she took it in hand, she checked the clip relieved to see it was full. "Never, ever thought I'd die in the field." Stan paused.

"Ain't it crazy?" he looked down at the ground for a brief second before meeting Margo's lingering gaze, "I always figured it would be, I don't know, some cabin in the woods with my dog." he let out a sigh his attention returning to Ronnie as he began to speak, "me?" he began.

"I think I want water, there's just something peaceful about dying at sea."

The two remained silent for a few moments before Stan turned to look down at his left arm- the one Ronnie had decided to remove fingernails from- "all right." he exclaimed, "let's get it over with."

"Nah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" he crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke, "I ain't gonna kill you, you're gonna live to see the crown of your creation, Stan." shaking his head he continued, "thousands of Americans are gonna burn, all because of you."

"Enjoy the show."

NEW FLESH

CHAPTER TWENTY: PEACEFUL SEAS