Page 114 of Nobody's Hero
Tas didn’t answer. Instead, a great hacking cough rattled through him. It wasn’t gentle. Wasn’t restricted to his lungs. This was a full body tremor. Didn’t seem like a pepper-up-thenose cough. Sounded like an end-of-life cough. The kind heard on palliative care wards the world over. And Tasdidlook pale. Pallid. His skin glistened like warm cheese.
Koenig put two and two together. Came up with terminal illness. A real one this time. Tas was dying. Which solved the exit-plan puzzle. Tas didn’t need one. He planned to die on Lake Mead.
Kamikaze-style.
Chapter 123
Tas took a timeout after his coughing fit. He sipped some water and threw a handful of pills down his neck. Crunched them. Winced as he swallowed. Looked as though he was in even more pain than Koenig. Tas noticed him watching. ‘Are you hoping I’ll die before I finish?’ he said.
‘That would begreat.’
‘I’ll live long enough.’
‘Long enough for me to kill you?’
‘Do you believe that is likely?’ Tas glanced at Koenig’s legs. ‘Because from this end of the boat, it looks like the only thing keeping you alive is the torniquet.’
‘I don’t suppose I could loosen it for a bit?’ Koenig said. ‘My right ankle has gone numb. I’ll get sepsis if I don’t get the blood circulating again.’
‘That will be incredibly painful,’ Tas said. ‘Maybe you shouldn’t worry about sepsis, Mr Koenig. Perhaps you shouldn’t worry about anything any more.’
Koenig tilted his head. Looked up at the sky. It was as blue as a robin’s egg. Beautiful. ‘That really deserved a roll of thunder,’ he said. He nodded at the torniquet. ‘May I?’
Tas nodded his permission.
Koenig leaned forwards and grabbed the belt. He gritted his teeth. Wished he had a bit. Something to bite down on. Tas wasn’t lying; loosening the torniquetwasgoing to be painful. And because it was a belt, it had to be pulled tighter first. He had to get the prong out of the punch hole before he could loosen it. He figured quicker would be better than slower. Like ripping off a Band-Aid. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
He pulled the belt tighter. The burst of pain was as sudden and as shocking as a lightning strike. He snorted. Loud, like an angry bull. He kept pulling. Eventually the prong fell out of the hole. He let go and the belt loosened. Blood crept back into his leg. It felt like acid. He snorted again, louder this time. He hadn’t known he had a pain threshold. He’d certainly never reached it before. Now he had.
It was too much.
Far too much.
The lights went out again.
Chapter 124
Koenig woke quicker this time. Surer of his surroundings. The torniquet was back on his right leg. Fresh blood covered his shins and ankles. The deck was wet with it. Like he was sitting in a puddle. Tas had allowed the blood to flow, then tightened the belt again. Good wound management. The pain was horrific, but better than when he’d passed out. Even the memory was nauseating.
Tas was back at the stern. In complete control. Koenig wanted to change that. Try to, anyway.
‘How long do you have left, Jakob?’ he asked.
Tas checked his watch. ‘Soon,’ he said.
‘Notwe, you. You’re dying, right?’
He offered a wan smile. ‘Is it that obvious?’
‘You’re paler than a snail’s foot, you’re coughing like a barking dog, and I can see the fentanyl patch on your arm. And unless this boat has a trapdoor, you’re about to go down with your ship.’
‘You see a lot, Mr Koenig.’
‘Looking is all I have right now,’ Koenig said, pointing at his leg. ‘You’re terminally ill. It’s why Margaret chose you for this job. Like M only choosing orphans for the Double-0 programme. Less to lose.’
‘It’s why Ivolunteeredfor this job,’ he said. ‘I have stage-four stomach cancer. I also have a young family. Now my wife won’t have to make difficult decisions about schools and healthcare after I’ve died.’
‘You know Margaret faked her cancer, right?’ Koenig said. ‘She was pretending to have cancer the same way you’ve no doubt been pretending youdon’thave cancer. She used you, Jakob.’