Death Before Dishonor Page 42

  Terry watched as Kintake’s face flushed red and his eyes became bloodshot and bulged. Terry listened as Kintake gurgled through a desperate O-shaped mouth, his tongue wagging as he fought for air. Terry watched his former mentor seize and spasm like a beheaded viper, his hands becoming hooks, until there wasn’t a drop of life left in him, just a faint aspiration as the air left his lungs and a small twitch in his foot.

  Terry sat up finally. “Yuri,” he said, “it’s over. Tell Mom and Dad I love them wherever you are.”

  Epilogue

  Al Wathba Prison. Al Wathba, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Today.

  “Prisoner,” said a correctional officer in Arabic at the bars of the claustrophobic, dingy brown cell.

  Terry’s eyes and head turned slowly, his expression empty beneath a wild beard and a full head of neglected, coarse hair.

  “You have an envelope,” the man said, passing it through.

  Terry climbed to his feet and approached the man. They made eye contact for a brief moment, and then Terry took the parcel and returned to his spot on the floor.

  He turned the dirty envelope over in his hands and read the return address: Veronica Martin, 4200 Massachusetts Ave NW, APT 504, Washington, DC.

  Terry stared at her name for a bit, deep in thought, reflecting on the months of pain and struggle, the ritual, the massacre, the pyre, the killings, his arrest, his trial, and his confinement. It had been all over the news. Now, he was here, wasting away.

  Terry slid his finger into the crease and tore the flap. HE pulled a letter out and unfurled it:

  Terry,

  Where do I start? Never in a million years did I ever foresee myself caught up in such an awful situation, involved with killers and criminals. My life has been thrown into complete disarray. I have been investigated by the police and the FBI in connection with you and Yuri. I’ve been vilified. And, for what? What did I know? I was just a stupid girl who was deceived by you and your brother.

  I loved Yuri. I was so ready to be a wife. I was so ready for the next step. You have no idea how devastated I am to know he was a monster. For goodness sake, I watched him kill. I still can’t sleep at night. I can’t believe that his soft hands were so capable of such violence. And the nightmare only grew when I saw your faces on the news—the subjects of an international manhunt.

  I just want you to know how much damage you did. Would that I could only tell Yuri himself. I also want you to know that I’m eight months pregnant. I’m having a girl. What should I tell her about her father…about her uncle? Should I tell an innocent little girl that they were murderers—monsters? How will she feel knowing that she will have family members she will never see?

  This is what you created. I’m so terribly hurt, and there just aren’t enough words to express it. I just wanted you to know that while you sit in jail. I wish there were something you could say that would make it all go away, but you can’t.

  Sincerely,

  Veronica

  Terry folded the letter and placed it on the floor next to him. He lifted his head and rested it against the wall, exhaling a sigh. What could he say to make it all go away? Nothing. He had nothing to say.

  Death Before Dishonor