Everything became very still. It was a strange moment of the kidnappers staring me down behind their sunglasses, Arthur struggling pathetically against the man that held him and looking at me through swollen eyes as the light bulb swung slowly back and forth. I'm not sure if they were waiting for me to say something else or if this was part of the torture.
When the long moment passed and they figured I wasn't talking one of them got right in my face.
"Why were you in New York? Answer the question or else he dies."
They didn't have to say who. I knew. They knew. They all bloody knew. How they knew I wasn't sure. All signs pointed to Fischer.
I couldn't look at him. I felt his dark eyes boring into me but I kept mine trained on the kidnapper.
I was a huge ball of terror, helplessness, confusion, anger and despair. I had pretty much successfully backed myself into a corner and I couldn't get out.
I kept my eyes locked on the kidnapper. I tried to give him my best steely eyed, cold look. I jerked my head towards Arthur.
"For him."
The kidnapper's face was hard as stone but his mouth twitched and turned up into a little snarl.
"What do you mean 'for him'?"
My God what was the point of these relentless, pointless questions? I wanted to ask HIM a few questions of my own-the most important one being: "Why aren't you getting to the point?" or "Why haven't you just killed me and my friend yet?"
I thought briefly about just giving up. I was at a point where I almost didn't care what happened to me. I had accomplished nothing by coming to New York and observing him. I only brought him more pain.
I closed my eyes. I heard him cry out in pain. My eyes flew open. They did something to him. He was on the floor curled into the fetal position. I imagined he would be cradling whatever was ailing him if he could.
Rage rippled through me, taking over like it was a new layer of skin. I couldn't give up. As much as I didn't care about myself I did still care about what happened to him. I started to yank inconspicuously at the ropes that were binding my hands. I felt them ease up a little as I tugged. Luckily there wasn't much light in the room and my hands were behind the back of the chair, out of sight of my kidnappers.
"I'll tell you whatever you want. Just leave him alone," I tried to sound as calm and confident as I could but I literally was gritting my teeth and was sweating bullets of nervousness. I felt one of the ropes loosen.
The kidnappers were watching me closely. I wondered what they saw. A desperate, pathetic, tired, cowardly, beat up, lovesick man? That's not how I wanted to go out. I wanted to go out fighting.
I chanced a look at him. He was watching me from his crumbled position on the ground with a queer expression (no pun intended). He was still in pain but he looked almost sad. I couldn't bare it. This had to end. I didn't want his pity.
"Just shoot me and get it over with," I spat blood on the ground hoping it would hit one of their shoes. The ropes were coming undone now though I kept my hands very still behind the chair. I might have a scrap of a chance but I needed to time things perfectly.
The kidnappers looked to each other then as if to say: "Now what do we do with him?" They probably would scratch their heads and shrug if this was a normal quandary. This was anything but normal.
Before I knew what was happening one of them had Arthur up, in a head lock of sorts and had a gun dug deep into his temple. Arthur's dark eyes grew huge in fear. I had never seen him show weakness like that. I would almost feel pleased if it wasn't so completely terrifying at the same time.
"We rather shoot him and get this over with. He refuses to talk though. We know he was one of the main people that orchestrated it."
"Stop," it was weak and pathetic to my ears. I needed them distracted so I could free my ankles that were also tied to the chair.
The kidnapper seemed to dig the gun barrel deeper into his skull.
He looked at me and back to Arthur. "Why should I?"
Arthur's eyes were bulging, pleading with me as if they were saying: "Do something you idiot!"
Oh bloody hell.
I gave him a slight nod hoping to hell that he was understanding me. We never really worked that well together in the field like that. It was always him and Cobb that were like well oiled machines that seemed to read each other's minds and play off each other. Even during the Fischer job where we didn't work together side by side that much he still seemed to be annoyed by me. He just didn't like that I had a bigger gun. He loved his bloody guns.
We were staring at each other now-in a deadlock. I was trying to interpret what he was saying silently to me with his eyes. He gave a quick glance to the kidnapper that was pointing the gun to his head, motioning to him with his eyes and I gave a slight nod back in understanding.
I really hope this works.
I shrugged and gave a huge toothy smile.
"Because if you fuck with the man I love I'll kill you darling."
At that exact moment Arthur kicked out at the man's legs, toppling him. The two men seemed to bounce right off each other, going in different directions. The gun went off but I didn't get to see if it connected because I pushed myself back letting myself in the chair fall over. It was wooden and part of the chair cracked as it hit the hard concrete floor. I flipped myself over and pried at the wood that had come off-it was one of the legs of the chair. They were on me now, grabbing for their guns. I hoped Arthur wasn't dead or else this all was for nothing. I hit one of the kidnappers square in the face as he advanced on me. The wooden chair leg connected with his head with a sickening crack. His glasses flew off and he fell to the ground, clutching his bloody face.
Two others were grabbing at me now. The bindings at my feet were loosened from me falling over and the leg of the chair coming off but I was still tangled up in the rope. A gun was pointed at me but I grabbed at his arm and twisted it back, almost breaking it. He struggled with his gun, trying to fire it but he loosened his grip, his arm twisted back at an abnormal angle. I got his gun and with one fluid motion shot the other man as he was getting ready to fire at me and kicked at the other man with the twisted arm. I was fueled by pure adrenaline now. I untangled my legs, shot the other kidnapper on the ground with the twisted arm and was stumbling towards Arthur. He was standing up as I approached him and was all ready untied which slowed me down, confused me. How did he do that so quickly?
He was dusting himself off and looking over his shoulder at me. He cocked a dark eyebrow in mild surprise.
I stopped myself short. Something was wrong. Why weren't the others rushing us? In fact where did they go?
He gave me a weak smile. "I'm sorry."
Without blinking the bastard shot me right in the heart.