Page 103 of Omega

“Honey—”

“You say one damn word about bondage, and I’ll stab you with my shears.”

Thresh just chuckled. “We’ll be gone in fifteen minutes. You have my word.”

“You’d better be.” And then she and Thresh left the room.

The door opened once more, admitting Thresh with Sasha behind him. Thresh had a handful of paper masks, which he handed to everyone, and then made us all use the hand sanitizing foam from the dispenser just inside the door. Thresh took up position in front of the door, and Sasha moved into the interior of the room, standing at the front of the bed near Harris.

“This meeting is regarding a certain Greek friend we all have in common,” Thresh said. “After Harris’s latest…encounter…there was some doubt as to his situation or whereabouts. I tasked Sasha here with finding him.”

Harris adjusted the cannula in his nose, sucking in deep breaths slowly. “And?”

Sasha pulled an iPad Mini out of the cargo pocket of his pants. “I found him, and took some selfies. Here. You see.” He opened the iPad, tapped on the Photos icon, and handed the device to Harris. I leaned close so I could see the pic as well. Sure enough, it was a selfie of Sasha and Vitaly.

Vitaly was in a hospital bed, wired for sound, it looked like: IVs, oxygen, food tube, a bunch of other stuff. Vitaly was unconscious, and Sasha was grinning as if they were long-lost friends reunited.

“Swipe left,” Sasha instructed.

Harris swiped left. Sasha had a syringe inserted into part of the IV tube, the photo taken with his thumb on the plunger, another shit-eating grin on his face. The next showed him with the plunger depressed. The next photo showed the monitor, with the heart rate flat-lined.

“I make a distraction in another room first, so when he dies, they don’t notice so quickly,” Sasha said. “I put another dose into his tube, just to be sure. I also unplugged the life support. He would not have made it anyway, I do not think, but now…our friend is dancing with the demons.”

Roth took the iPad from Harris, swiping through the pics several times, clearly struggling with some deep emotion. “He’s really gone?” He glanced at Sasha.

“I am sure of this,” Sasha answered. “I put a mirror to his nose. Felt his heart. Long minutes I waited. He is dead. I am one hundred percent positive.”

Roth sighed, leaning back in the chair. “It’s over. It’s really over.” He wiped his face again with both hands. “He took me in, when I was a clueless twenty year-old kid with more money and ambition than common sense or business skill. He taught me everything I know about being a smart businessman. More than I ever learned from my own father. He didn’t even hold it against me when I left, even though I killed one of his men. He got it. He let me go. It wasn’t until his crazy bitch of a daughter found me that any of this even happened. I never had a grudge against him. Not until he threatened all of you. I should be glad he’s dead. And I am, mostly. But part of me…”

I kept my own opinion to myself. I felt nothing but relief that Vitaly was truly dead and I wouldn’t waste a single second mourning him.

“Name your price, Sasha. Sky’s the limit.” Roth handed the iPad back and stood up.

Sasha didn’t answer immediately. “One million,” he said, finally.

“Two million,” Roth said. “You’ll have it by noon.”

Sasha opened his mouth as if to argue, but then thought better of it. “Thank you, sir.”

“All right. You and Thresh can go. Post a guard on the ward, just to be sure.”

“I will cover it myself,” Sasha said.

Thresh made a negative sound in his throat. “I got it. Me and the doc have a thing. A repertoire.”

Harris snorted. “You meanrapport, lunkhead.”

“Yeah. That. A thing. She’s feisty, and she’s not afraid to get in my face. I like it.”

Thresh and Sasha left, and it was just Harris, Kyrie, Roth, and me.

Harris rubbed his jaw and fiddled with the cannula again. “So. You two lovebirds can have your wedding now. No one else will get in the way.”

“Harris, you don’t think we’d have it without you, do you?” Kyrie asked. “You’re like family.”

“She’s right, Harris,” Roth said. “I’ve known you for eight years. We can wait until you’re better.”

“I’ll be on oxygen for a while. Won’t be bouncing back from this one too fast, I’m afraid.” He gave Roth a hard look. “Take a video for me.”