Chapter XI
Ramon came back into the room a couple of hours later. Jack was still sleeping peacefully and he sat down, not wanting to disturb him just yet. He was beyond happy with the way things had gone that evening – Jack had done exactly what he was told to do, the men had seen it and a powerful message had been spread among the workforce. It was a successful piece of business.
But there was more to it than that. Jack had obviously been affected by what he had had to do and that made everything so much sweeter. Ramon acknowledged to himself that this endeavour with the Americano wouldn't be nearly so interesting if he were just a machine. The results would be the same of course – but somehow, on a personal level, he found himself delighting in the way Jack had been nervous on the drive over and then numb on the way back. And he hadn't put up the slightest resistance to being given heroin again. That was good. That meant he was more willing to submit that either of them had thought.
He had to play this right. He didn't want someone that would just follow him around like a dog – there were endless amounts of people to do that already. No, he wanted more from Jack. He wanted to make him challenge him, so that he could cut him down – and then accept him as almost a partner, whenever he had proved himself. It would keep the guy off balance and it would be entertaining too. And luckily, there was an easy way to accomplish this. It would take a little time, but they had plenty of that.
Ramon smiled as he stood up. Life was full of interesting situations at the moment.
Jack was roused by a gentle shaking of his shoulder. His eyelids felt heavy and they didn't want to open – it took a moment for him to put his finger on why that was. Then he remembered that Ramon had filled him full of drugs…and then, the rest of the evening's activities came back to him and he stopped trying to keep them open. He didn't want to wake up.
Ramon smiled down at the sleepy blue eyes, almost as someone would look at a child. 'Wake up Jack. The men are back and you need to go and change.'
Change? Why? He forced himself to move. It was easier than sitting here trying to block out his thoughts. Ramon straightened. 'Go take a shower. Everyone will be in the barn.'
Jack just nodded and left. He really didn't want to go to a party and he definitely didn't want to be anywhere near Ramon right now. There seemed to be a permanent aura of amusement around him, like he was laughing at him in his head all the time. It made him uneasy. The guy obviously had something up his sleeve and he couldn't bear to think that it might be another situation similar to the one tonight. Not yet anyway.
He wandered into the bunkhouse, which was deserted. There were shouts of laughter coming from the barn and music suddenly blared out. It was the last place he wanted to go but he knew he didn't have a choice, so he walked on to his little room – only to find Charlie in there. He was sitting on his bed and he didn't get up when Jack walked in.
'What are doing in here?'
'I wanted to talk to you.'
Jack looked around to see if anything had been disturbed. It didn't seem to have been. 'I don't really feel like talking right now Charlie. I've gotta shower and go to the party.'
'It'll just take a minute.'
He sighed and leaned against the wall. If the guy had a problem, better to sort it out now. 'Go on then.'
Charlie stood up slowly. One hand scratched at his back out of sight. 'I just wanted to ask you what the fuck you think you're doing.'
Jack pushed off the wall, a flush of anger surging through his drugged haze. 'What?'
'You were a US Army officer Jack. One of Delta Force, one of the best. And now – what? You're shooting Columbian peasants in the face because you're told to? You're just a whore, Ramon's fucking lapdog. I thought you were cool man, but now you just make me sick. You should've said no.'
'Ramon would have killed me.' He was careful not to raise his voice. His anger was starting to simmer just below the surface and it was getting hotter all the time.
'Better to die than to do what you did man. You sick fuck.' The hand that had been concealed swung suddenly and Jack's reflexes had been dulled by the heroin. He managed to pull back slightly and just caught a glimpse of the knuckleduster before it crashed into his cheekbone. His head snapped back and smacked into the wall, almost knocking him out. He fell to the floor and heard Charlie sneer 'See ya at the party Jack…' before he was left alone. He fought to stay conscious but his face was in agony and eventually, blackness closed over him.
He didn't know how long he was out but it couldn't have been more than a few minutes because no one had come to look for him. He winced as he pulled himself off the floor, his head was splitting open. There was a gash on his cheek and a lump was swelling already. He fingered it lightly but there were no thoughts of the pain. Instead, he remembered Charlie's face, just before he hit him. It had held such a look of contempt...then he remembered the old lady on the floor berating him…why him, why did you have to pick him!...and then he thought of Ramon, and his sly little smirks and quiet amusement and the way he had handed the gun to him…
…he was outside, running, his fury thick in his throat and he didn't try to choke it down. He embraced it, let him bring him alive, let it flow through his veins as he burst through the barn doors. Music hit him but he could only hear noise, he ignored people that turned to welcome him but froze when they saw his face…he just kept moving, over to where Charlie stood with his back to him, talking to a girl. Even as he grabbed the man's shoulder and swung him around, even as he buried his fist into the surprised face with all the force he could muster, he could feel Ramon's eyes on him from across the room…
Charlie went down hard and his head hit the edge of the table as he fell. Jack could hardly see, he was so blinded by anger. He just started kicking the shape on the floor as hard as he could, his boots pounding into flesh until it went soft and mushy. The music had stopped and ribs could be heard cracking in the silence, he was dimly aware of an order being shouted and suddenly there were hands on him, grabbing him and dragging him away…
There was Ramon, standing in front of him. He had a puzzled look on his face and Jack fought down the desire to kill him where he stood. Trying to control himself brought the world back into focus and he calmed down gradually, stopped pulling against the restraints that gripped him. His breathing slowed and he became aware of the hushed silence that had descended.
'What's this about Jack?' Ramon didn't sound angry but there was a no-nonsense edge in his voice. He wouldn't settle for less than the truth. All eyes were on Jack and he could see the fear on their faces – he didn't know that his own eyes shone with pure hatred and revenge. He found he couldn't trust himself to speak, but in the end he didn't have to. Ramon reached out and gently gripped his jaw, turned his face to the light so that the cut and swelling below his eye were plainly in sight. He tapped a finger on his skin reflectively, then turned away.
'Pietro. Search Charlie's pockets.'
The order was carried out instantly and the contents of them brought over. A clip of money, a small leather wallet that contained pictures of two kids, a knife – and the knuckleduster. Ramon smiled down at it.
'Are you calm Jack?' He nodded and Ramon told the guys to let him go. There were four of them. 'Go and get cleaned up. I'll be over to see you.'
'What about him?'
'Oh, I think you've had your revenge. It looks like he'll be out of action for a while. I'll be talking to him further when he wakes up though, don't worry about that.' It was all he could do to keep from grinning. This is too perfect! I don't even need to warn the men that they shouldn't touch this guy…they're all going to be terrified of him now. Even more than they were…
'Go on.' Jack hesitated but his eyes had calmed down, he nodded and left the barn. Ramon caught Hectors eye, both of them smiled with amusement. He was turning out to be even more than they'd hoped for. 'Javier, get that thing out of the way. Just leave him in a corner. We'll deal with him when we've had our party.'
The music started up again and people relaxed and turned back to their drinks. Naturally, there was only one topic of conversation.
Jack walked into the small bathroom next to his room. Tiredness had hit him as adrenaline left his body – apart from the short nap earlier, he'd been awake for close to forty eight hours, and it had been almost non-stop action or stress. The speed had helped through the day, but that had worn off now and the heroin had taken over. He just wanted to collapse into bed. But no, he had to deal with Ramon again.
He caught a glimpse of himself in the bathroom mirror and flinched with shock. There was blood on one cheek from Charlie's punch, it was already congealing – but he hadn't realised that his face was also covered with other flecks of blood and there were small chunks of matter on his clothes. And fuck…in his hair too. He hadn't even noticed it before – he was covered in the brain matter of the people he'd killed, and it had dried onto his skin. A wave of revulsion swept threw him and he didn't fight it this time, he let himself collapse in front of the toilet and throw up. It hurt, he hadn't eaten since yesterday and his stomach was empty, but that didn't stop the dry heaving that made his body spasm repeatedly. The pressure caused his eyes to water and tears fell to the rim of the toilet, his stomach ached and complained at the strain.
He let the reaction run its course, too drained to do anything else. It was necessary anyway. He knew there was no point fighting his own body. But as soon as it was over he turned the shower on as hot as he could get it and let it run while he went to get clean clothes from his bag. He kept moving. He didn't want a second to sit and think, and he didn't want to consider what Ramon might be going to do or say later on either. He'd probably be angry, but fuck it, there was nothing he could do about that now.
Jack emptied his clothes out to find clean stuff and as he did so, he noticed a light flashing through the lining of the bag. It was the scrambled cell phone. It was switched off but there was a remotely operated chip in it that was activated to flash whenever someone at CTU had to get in touch with him urgently. Jack cursed under his breath. There was no way he could risk using it at the moment, Ramon might come at any time. So he stuffed the phone into a sock to dim the light and put it back in its pocket, then refilled the bag and shoved it under the bed. He'd deal with that later. He did spend a minute wondering what was going to be so important, but then he gave up. Frankly, he had other things on his mind right now.
The water of the shower almost scalded his skin but he didn't care – he had to get clean. He scrubbed at himself roughly to make sure that he got all the dried stuff off him and ignored the way the water made the fresh cut on his cheek sting and start bleeding again. Why did he do that? What did he hope to achieve by attacking me? Charlie's reactions to him in the last few days had been nothing short of weird. At times he was like a friend, then he seemed to be looking up to him, then he'd be angry and disgusted. And at the same time, he'd been jealous of Jack's apparent progression in the organisation – maybe that's what it was all about. Maybe all this was just simple jealousy.
He wasn't sorry he'd hit him. If he hadn't, Ramon would have wanted to know why. He knew that he couldn't let people get away with that sort of behaviour…it occurred to Jack that maybe Charlie had done it on Ramon's orders. After all, he'd done the same thing in the bar two weeks ago…but no. The puzzlement from Ramon in the barn had been genuine and the utter disgust on Charlie's face had been real. So…why? He didn't know and didn't care. Even as he stood, he was fighting sleep.
The water ran cold after half an hour so he made himself stop scrubbing. He didn't bother to shave, just brushed his teeth and dried off quickly. Hopefully he wouldn't have to wait long for Ramon. He wrapped the towel round his waist after inspecting the cut – it was deep but probably would be alright without stitches – and walked into his room. And for the second time that night, there was someone waiting for him. He jumped in shock and then cursed to himself. He should have known.
Ramon took in the sight before him and smiled from the chair. Jack looked over at him and felt the atmosphere change as it always did. 'Sorry Ramon, I didn't hear you come in.'
'That's OK, I saw you in the shower.'
What the fuck? His mind recoiled. He'd taken showers with guys all his life of course – but he'd never been watched without his knowledge before. That he knew of anyway. He couldn't help a small blush and he turned away quickly to pull a clean T-shirt on while Ramon's laughter echoed in his ears. Sick fuck…
'I'm sorry about losing it with Charlie…' Ramon was waving his words away.
'No you're not. And do you think I care? I would only have been angry if you didn't do it. You couldn't let him get away with hitting you. I'm just surprised that he managed to get a shot in at all.'
'I want expecting it.'
'Well obviously.' He didn't speak for a moment, he just looked at him standing there. Jack could feel the heat make him start to sweat slightly again, despite the lack of clothes. Ramon stood up and walked closer to him. 'You need to move out of here. After tonight, you're not 'one of the guys' anymore. Not that you ever were – but it won't do to have you sleeping near them.' Jack could smell the cigar smoke on his clothes, and it made his clean skin creep slightly. 'Get dressed and get your stuff together. You can move into the guesthouse where we talked last night. I think you've earned that much.'
Jack nodded, quietly disturbed by Ramon's proximity. But he was thankful too – it would be a relief to have some space from the men. After the events of the day, it was true – he was no longer a simple worker in the organisation. Things had changed in a way he didn't quite understand. He had the fleeting thought that this was good news for his mission, but the feeling of trepidation was stronger at the moment. God, I really need to sleep. I've got to get a handle on this… But he had the feeling that his grip had slipped too far already. He seemed to be caught up in something that he couldn't control anymore and that was scary.
'I'll go and open it up. Meet me there when you're ready but don't be long. I'll get Claudia to come and look at your face too.'
He moved away, out through the curtain. Jack let a long breath escape quietly, feeling the tension leave the air. He walked back through into the bathroom and grabbed his stuff from there, then dumped it on the bed and pulled his towel off. He was just reaching for a pair of shorts when he smelt smoke. He straightened slowly, feeling the gaze that was devouring him from behind. Fuck, what now… But he was determined not to let this faze him, whatever this was, so he turned and stared straight into Ramon's smirking face, covering himself casually with his underwear. He didn't let himself try and interpret the sparkling in the dark eyes, he made sure that his face was completely neutral. Show no fear…
'I forgot to leave you a set of keys.'
Because you couldn't have given them to me in ten minutes when I see you over there? Fuck off Ramon…
'Thanks.' They clattered quietly as he put them on the table by the door. Ramon chuckled again.
'Don't be long, I want to get back to the party.'
'OK.'
He was gone again, for real this time and Jack refused to let himself dwell on what had just happened. There was too much going on. He got dressed quickly, shoved everything into his bag and headed out of there.
The place was small but comfortable. Jack looked it over, wondering if it was bugged. It was too much to hope that it wasn't but maybe he could find out somehow. If it wasn't, it was perfect. He'd be able to use his phone in here without being disturbed. He threw his bag down in the bedroom and tried to think of ways to check it over without having access to anti-bugging equipment.
He walked back downstairs where Ramon was waiting for him. 'Everything OK.'
'Yes its fine. Thank you for letting me use it.'
'It's nothing. Are you sure you don't want to come over for a drink?'
'If you don't mind Ramon, I'd like to sleep.' He was too tired to even mind admitting something that could be seen as a weakness. Ramon chewed on his cigar, then went to the liquor cabinet and poured a couple of glasses of tequila. He handed one over.
'Claudia will be here in a moment. Drink that. And take your sweater off.' His voice was hard, there was no doubt he was giving an order. Jack eyed him slowly, his brain trying to work out what he was after now. But he couldn't disobey, so he put his drink down and slowly peeled off his sweater. Ramon had turned away and was fiddling with something by the table, something that Jack couldn't see. He just waited, feeling as though he were naked again. He was just starting to realise what it was really like to be under someone's thumb completely. And you chose it man, so stop whining and just suck it up…
Ramon faced him, and there was a syringe in his hand. Jack flinched slightly. 'Ramon…'
'Ssshhh, it's OK.'
'But I already had a shot…'
'This is just a little one. It'll help you sleep better. And your face must hurt.' I don't need it to sleep, please don't…'Give me your arm Jack.' Somehow the voice was more menacing because it was soft and almost kind.
He raised his arm and let Ramon tie the tourniquet again. It occurred to him that this was as much a demonstration of power as making him actually take the drug – Ramon knew that he knew how to shoot up himself, but he had done it for him twice now.
The rush was as strong as always and he closed his eyes against the swell of euphoria. He breathed heavily as it swallowed him whole and immediately felt himself get drowsier than he was already. He opened his eyes when he felt Ramon move away.
'I'm going to drink. You won't be working tomorrow.'
'What do you want me to do?'
'Nothing. I'll come by in the afternoon, be ready. Claudia will be here in a minute so don't sleep yet – she can stitch that cut if it needs it.'
'OK. Thank you.' He was alone finally and he sank into a chair – the same one he'd sat on when he'd agreed to become nothing more than Ramon's puppet. The thought was enough to make him move on to a different seat.
He struggled to make sense of the last two days. They'd started off with him as a regular worker. Then he'd led a raid on the plane, given himself to Ramon, worked a day, murdered six people, been attacked by one of his men, beaten him to a pulp in return and been forced to start taking heroin again. And CTU urgently needed to talk to him.
It was too much. He tried to think about why he'd been given a day off and what that might mean. He tried to pull himself together enough to plan from here and think about what else he could do to speed the infiltration process along. But despite Ramon's order to stay awake, he couldn't hold on anymore. Sleep claimed him and he was happy to sink into darkness.