Smoke curled through the cracks in the wall, another reminder that in this world, a secret was merely something too new to have made the rounds.
The Viper cast a dispassionate glance at his latest acquisition. Where the little Briton reminded him of his departed little brother, Lloyd reminded the Viper of everything he was not. The government man struggled against his restraints. Lloyd’s mind and body were resistant to the drug cocktail, too, but he wasn’t omnipotent. Between the drugs and the beatings, it was just a matter of time until the agent broke.
They all broke eventually.
Killer or not, the Viper took no joy from his latest victim’s agony. How ironic... Here was a conquest worth claiming, a worthy adversary, a man for whom stoicism reigned and for whom a heart was merely another muscle to be controlled and manipulated. Something told the Viper that he could amuse himself for months on the torture that Lloyd could endure.
But the truth of the matter was that he didn’t care what Lloyd could tell him. Lloyd wasn’t the center of this increasingly complex maze. Sydney Fox was the brass ring on this little merry-go-round, and her proximity taxed his patience. He supposed he could simply march in and collect her. In her present state, she would be unable to adequately protect herself. Yet something held him back, some perverse sense of fairness that wouldn’t let him touch her until she was recovered enough to make the contest worthwhile.
Lloyd was the bait, nothing more.
In a new and rich layer to the story, the spy seemed quite convinced that Sydney not only wouldn’t come to his rescue, but she’d set out to do him even more bodily harm. It raised the Viper’s opinion of the Sydney by several notches, especially when he realized that the agent’s black eye was her doing.
In fact, the more he learned about the female relic hunter, the Viper found himself more intrigued. At first his intent was to create and play out her worst nightmare. He didn’t count on his soft spot for the little Briton, granted, but Bailey’s stead did its job. How apropos... Just when I would have had to kill Bailey, the professor’s entourage provides me with an alternative. The Viper was perfectly efficient at what he did. When the situation required, he killed without compunction. But contrary to his reputation, he didn’t kill without reason or rhyme, nor for the joy of ending a life.
He would kill Derek Lloyd in the right time, as he would kill Nigel Bailey, Nigel’s brother, the blond secretary, and ultimately Sydney Fox herself. They had seen him, had torn a gaping hole in his security, and he couldn’t leave them to throw out a net for his capture.
In another world and a lifetime away, the Viper was just a man named Anthony Vezzetti. Thirty years after his brother was murdered in front of his eyes, Anthony Vezzetti was gone. Thirty years later, he never expected to see his older sibling reincarnated in a little Englishman, especially not one belonging to his arch enemy. Nor did he expect to feel such a magnetic pull from his prey.
End of Part Thirty Two
Go to Part Thirty Three.