Author's Note: Crap. Writing as quickly as I can to finish up these stories. This one I admit has been dead for a while.
Mike's eyes flutter open, and the first thing he sees is the dirty beige carpet. His head pounds and he's having trouble focusing.
"Wakey, wakey."
The taunting laugh makes Mike's blood run cold. Sid. Mike tries to jump into action, but he's feeling woozy like he may throw up and his head is killing him. The adrenaline gives him a quick rush, but it's not strong enough to defeat the binds that hold him to the chair he's strapped to. Mike's eyes look around the room like an animal, nothing really coming into focus. He's tied to a chair. He's been in this room before. Where is he? Oh yeah... Sid's apartment. This is where he'd been breaking into to kill Sid. His gun! Where was his gun?
"Looking for this?" Sid twirls the gun to the side of Mike's head. He can't see Sid out of his peripheral vision but he knows he's there. How did he know Mike was coming for him? How did he overpower him? The injury on his head tells Mike he must have been knocked out. The last thing he remembers is sliding the backdoor open after he picked the lock.
"You know Mikey, I'm disappointed. After all the grief you've given me, I really thought you'd be more original than to break into my place. What? Were you looking for evidence or something? You think I'd be stupid enough just to leave stuff lying around like a paycheck stub from the cartels?" Sid taunts. Mike gives up on fighting against his binds for now, as he tries to think of his next move and ignore Sid's taunts.
It's difficult though when Sid comes right in front of him and puts on a mocking face of surprise "Oh, were you planning on killing me? Was that it? Were you going to bust in and just shoot me dead for sleeping with your little girlfriend, or were you just planning to rough me up a little? Were you at least going to try to make it look like an accident?"
"Why am I still alive?" Mike asks, cutting straight to the point.
"Is that what you think of me? Come on Mikey, I'm not such a bad guy." Sid taunts from where he circles behind Mike's chair like a shark, staying just out of his vision. Leaning in close, Mike can almost feel the unfettered psychotic glee radiating off of him, like heat from an oven. "In fact, just to show you what a nice guy I am, I'm going to give you a gift agent Warren. I'm going to give you a chance to say goodbye."
Mike again tugs at the plastic zipties holding his forearms to the chair. They're tight enough so he cant free his arms, but his right wrist has been left free. Sid sets a pen in his hand. Mike wishes he could get enough leverage to stab it through his throat. In front of him Mike's eyes focus on the blank paper. FBI stationary, taken from Mike's desk. He sees now why Sid kept him alive. He expects Mike to write a suicide note.
"You're out of your goddamn mind." Mike scoffs trying to sound brave, but things are not looking good for him.
"Write the note Mike. Make a list of all the things you should have been, but you're not. How you failed. How you can't live with yourself anymore. How you just need to end it all. I mean it's all true right? Just put it in writing." Sid taunts.
"You're going to kill me anyways why not just get it over with?" Mike tries to move but his restraints are unyielding. He can feel the cold tip of the gun pressed against the back of his head.
"Because it would upset Paige. If I kill you in self defense, sure the bureau will believe me. I'll be painted as a hero for taking down the traitor who's the leak to the cartels." Sid says tauntingly, he then leans in close to whisper in Mike's ear, "But I like Paige, and I have a feeling she might be a bit upset if I killed you. If you kill yourself though, a failure, wrecked over the guilt of what you did, I could be there to comfort her. And I so enjoy comforting her."
"Go to hell." Mike gasps at the unmasked lust in Sid's voice. "I'm not doing you any favors."
"Oh but here's the thing Mike... Paige is a curious little girl, and if she started looking into things, I'd have to kill her too. And that would leave me very put out." Sid taunts, and Mike squeezes his eyes shut at the thought of Paige dying.
"She's too smart for you…" Mike says, but his voice is faltering. He wants to believe it, but Sid is dangerous and Paige doesn't know when to let things go. It was all too easy to imagine her investigating into Mike's death at the hands of Sid. He considers whether it's worth the risk, or if he should just write the damn note. His life is forfeit at this point. He's only got maybe an hour left if he's lucky. What can he best do with his last few moments to make sure Paige or someone else finishes out what he failed to do in taking down Sid... What can he do to protect her from suffering the same fate.
"That dumb little blonde of yours played right into my hands. You must have done a number on her Mikey, because she was so easy to sweet talk. So willing. She was just desperate for a man to come along and take care of her. A warm body after you left her alone so many nights. After you betrayed her trust. Left her broken. Weak and vulnerable. Anyone could have come along... I suspect a lot of men did before I got there. You're lucky she finally found me. I imagine the poor little girl was easy pray out at those bars. They probably just lined up to wait their turn between her legs..." Sid taunts.
Mike's hands tighten on the chair, and he suddenly knows what he wants to do with his last few minutes on earth. He wants to cause Sid Markum as much pain as possible.
Bringing his head back, he slams it into Sid's face as he leans in close to taunt him. Mike's satisfied as he hears the deranged cop curse and feels the hot blood spilling onto the back of Mike's head. He again futily strains to free himself from the ropes binding him, when another rope wraps around his neck and all the oxygen is cut off as Sid chokes him from behind. Mike's fingers curl and slip and he gasps uselessly, the world beginning to fade to flashes of red and black.
This is it... this is the end for Mike, he knows it. It's not how he wanted to go. A disgrace. A failure. He's not what he thought he would be. He's not anything.
He has done some horrible things with his life, but he can't have been all bad because the last thing he sees in his blurry vision is a silhouette of Paige glowing like an angel.