But Greene wouldn’t accept it. He closed his eyes and shook his head in denial.
It wasn’t something that he’d ever believe.
“Honestly,” Barker continued. “I’ve never hurt anyone on purpose in my entire life. I swear to God, I haven’t.” Then suddenly, without warning, he placed his foot on Greene’s left knee and anchored it with his body weight. “That is, until now!”
With all of his remaining strength, Barker grabbed Greene’s lower leg and pulled it upward, tugging and yanking on the limb until the weakened joint literally exploded from the excess stress. The loud popping of tendons and cartilage was quickly accented by Greene’s screams of pain, which sent shivers down the spines of everyone in the area.
But Barker was far from done. With a devious grin on his face, he lifted his foot off of Greene’s knee and slammed it into the middle of Greene’s throat. He’d been put through so much over the past several weeks that there was no way he was going to stop. No fucking way.
Not until
his
revenge was complete. Not until
he
felt vindicated for
his
pain.
And no one in the area had any desire to stop him.
EPILOGUE
Saturday, July 17th
Harper White Medical Center
New Orleans, Louisiana
THE
door was closed and the room was dark, but that didn’t stop Payne and Jones from entering. They’d broken so many laws in the past few weeks that they weren’t about to let visiting hours-or the heavyset nurse at the front desk-stand in their way.
Not with something as important as this to take care of.
“So,” Payne growled as he approached the bed, “did you actually think we were going to forget about your role in this?”
The injured man didn’t know what to say, so he simply shrugged his shoulders.
“You can’t be that stupid!” Jones said. “What, are you a buckwheat or something?”
The comment brought a smile to Bennie Blount’s heavily bandaged face. “I haven’t known what to think,” he whispered. “I haven’t seen you guys since my accident.”
Payne placed his hand on Blount’s elbow and gave it a simple squeeze. “We’re sorry about that. We would’ve been here
much
sooner, but we’ve been tied up in red tape. Of course, that tends to happen when you sneak into a foreign country and kill a bunch of people.”
Jones shook his head in mock disgust. “The Pentagon and all its stupid policies. Please!”
Blount laughed despite the pain it caused in his cheeks.
Payne said, “I hear the swelling around your spinal cord has gone down. How’s your movement?”
“Pretty good. I’m still a little wobbly when I walk, but the doctors think I’ll be fine.”
“That’s great news, Bennie! I’ve been worried sick about you.”
“Me, too,” added Jones.
“Now my biggest concern is my face. That crazy dog did a lot of damage.”
Payne gave Blount’s elbow another squeeze. “Well, stop worrying about it. I’m flying in the world’s best plastic surgeons to treat you. They’ll have you back to your old self in no time.”
Jones nodded. “Unless, of course, your old self isn’t good enough. They could make you look like Denzel, or Will Smith,
or
give you a nice set of D-cups. Whatever you want.”
Payne frowned. “Do you think his frame could support D-cups? I’d say no more than a C.”
“Really? I think he’d look good with-”
“Forget the tits.” Blount laughed. “My old self would be fine, just fine. But . . .”
“But what?” Payne demanded. “If you’re worried about the money, don’t be. All of your hospital bills have already been taken care of.”
“What?” he asked, stunned. “That’s not necessary.”
“Of course it is! After all you’ve sacrificed, I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Listen to him, Bennie. Even with a truckload of insurance, you’d still have tons of out-of-pocket expenses.”
“Yeah, but-”
“But, nothing!” Payne insisted. “Furthermore, you’ll never see another tuition bill for the rest of your life. As soon as you’re feeling up to it, you can head back to school, compliments of the Payne Industries Scholarship Fund. We’ll take care of everything-including a monthly stipend for beer and hookers.”
Blount shook his head. “Jon, I couldn’t. Seriously.”
“Hey,” Jones added, “that’s not all. We have one more surprise for you, something that’s more valuable than money.”