A tough choice

Chapter 44

Pain.

It was the first thing Elias registered as he clawed his way back to consciousness. His ears rang, his vision swam, and every muscle in his body screamed in protest as he forced himself upright. Smoke and dust choked the air, the remnants of the explosion still settling around him. His mind struggled to piece together what had just happened.

Then it hit him.

Collins.

He turned his head sharply, ignoring the pain searing through his skull. Collins lay sprawled across the debris, unmoving.

"Collins!"

Elias crawled toward him, his breath shallow and ragged. Blood pooled beneath his friend, dark and ominous. His hands trembled as he pressed his fingers to Collins' throat. A pulse. Weak, but there.

Relief flooded him, but it was fleeting. The damage was bad. Too bad. Collins had been closer to the blast. His body had shielded Elias from the worst of it.

A cough racked Collins' body, his eyelids fluttering. He tried to speak, but the effort sent him into another fit of coughing.

"Stay with me, damn it!" Elias gritted his teeth, tearing at his own sleeve to press against Collins' bleeding wound. "We're getting out of here."

A shadow loomed over them.

Elias' gun was in his hand before he even looked up, his instincts kicking in. The muzzle leveled with a figure standing just beyond the swirling smoke. A familiar figure.

Vale.

Elias' finger twitched over the trigger.

Vale smirked, stepping closer with the easy confidence of a man who still believed he was untouchable. "You always were the stubborn one, Mercer."

Elias' grip tightened. His mind screamed for him to pull the trigger. To end this. But something wasn't right. Vale wasn't armed. No guards. No backup.

Why?

Vale tilted his head. "Go ahead. Kill me. But then what? Your friend still dies. And you? You'll never know the truth."

Elias narrowed his eyes. "What truth?"

Vale chuckled. "That you were never playing the real game. I was just the distraction."

A cold sensation settled in Elias' gut. He didn't want to believe it. But he had spent too long in this line of work to ignore his instincts.

"You're lying."

Vale shrugged. "Am I?"

A groan from Collins snapped Elias back to reality. There was no time for this. Not now.

He made his choice.

Without another word, he grabbed Collins and hoisted him over his shoulder. Every fiber of his being screamed against it—leaving Vale alive, letting him walk away. But Collins was more important.

Vale watched, amused. "Good choice, Mercy. We'll meet again."

Elias turned away, dragging his best friend through the wreckage, through the smoke, through the chaos Vale had orchestrated. His heart pounded. His mind raced.

The war wasn't over.

It was just beginning.

---

The hospital smelled like antiseptic and bad coffee. Elias sat beside Collins' bed, arms crossed, watching the steady rise and fall of his chest. He hadn't left the room since they'd arrived.

Collins was stable, but the doctors had made it clear—his recovery would be slow. Maybe months.

Elias exhaled sharply. "You idiot," he muttered. "Jumping in front of a bomb like that. What were you thinking?"

A weak chuckle. Elias snapped his head up to see Collins barely cracking an eye open. "I was thinking...you're welcome."

Elias scoffed, rubbing his face. "I should shoot you myself for that stunt."

Collins smirked. "You'd miss me too much."

Elias didn't respond. His fingers tightened around the armrest. The weight of everything pressed down on him—the near loss, the betrayal, the unanswered questions Vale had left dangling.

"We were wrong," Elias admitted after a long silence. "This fight…it's bigger than we thought. Vale isn't the endgame. He's just another piece on the board."

Collins' voice was barely above a whisper. "Then we take down the whole board."

Elias nodded, his resolve hardening. "Yeah. We do."

---

The city continued as if nothing had happened. People laughed, worked, loved, oblivious to the war waging beneath their feet. But Elias knew better.

He stood on the rooftop of the hospital, staring out over the skyline. Somewhere out there, Vale was watching. Plotting. Preparing.

Elias smiled grimly. "Let the real game begin."