“Well, Lucien was never the brightest,” Lincoln pointed out, “Though he did fool us all.”
Shadow walked to each of the animal heads and examined them closely. It wasn’t until he reached the dog that he stopped in his tracks.
“There’s something in the dog’s mouth,” Shadow said as he reached down the statue’s throat. When he pulled his hand out, he was holding a wooden box that fit into his palm.
“Jesus,” Lincoln cursed. From the look on his face, he was just as concerned as Shadow was.
These two men loved Calisto—one by blood and the other by chance—and for anything to happen to Calisto would tear them both apart.
“Are you going to open it?” I asked. Shadow nodded, though I could tell he was hesitant to.
He pushed open the lid of the box and looked at the contents within. His face was immediately wrenched with anguish and he unleashed a scream that was fused with both anger and agony.
I watched as the wooden box containing a severed finger—a sparkling diamond band wrapped around it—fell to the floor.
I wanted to scream as well, but I held myself together. Shadow was in shock, and he needed me.
“Maybe it’s not Calisto’s,” I said. “That could be anyone’s finger.”
“It’s hers,” Lincoln said, his face ghostly white.
“How do you know for sure?”
“Because I gave her that ring for her birthday,” he replied.
Before we had a chance to mourn, shots erupted from outside.
Shit was really starting to hit the fan.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Protect Aria,” Shadow ordered.
Lincoln nodded, grabbing my wrist with one hand and drawing a gun from his belt with the other. “Stay down,” he whispered. “Bullets always have a tendency of flying high.”
I dropped to the ground, as instructed, and watched Shadow move towards the kitchen in a crouched position, his hand gripping his silver handgun tightly.
The main floor of Calisto’s condo had an open concept, which provided horrible coverage for a take-no-prisoners shoot out.
Outside, a barrage of gunfire erupted in quick succession, followed by screams.
“Shit,” Lincoln cursed. “They have automatics. From the sounds of it whoever’s initiating this little attack is well armed.”
Shadow positioned himself behind the island countertop facing the entranceway. He turned to us, and with his free hand, motioned for us to hide.
I watched him with wide eyes, fear seizing my entire body. I needed him to make it through this. I thought of Abraham and the bullet that tore through his heart and I bit my lip. I couldn’t have the same thing happen to Shadow.
“He can’t take on everyone by himself,” I said. “You have to help him.”
“You’d be surprised by what Shadow’s capable of,” Lincoln said as he led me up the winding staircase to the second floor. He guided me into the master bedroom.
“Quick, under the bed,” Lincoln instructed.
“Can I even fit?”
Lincoln sighed and opened up a hidden panel on the side of the wooden bed post, revealing an electronic keypad. He punched in a sequence of numbers and suddenly, the entire king-sized bed folded upwards and the hardwood floors beneath parted, revealing a hidden stairway.
“It’s a panic room,” he said.
“How did you know about it?”
“Without getting into specifics, I’ve slept in this bed before. Now get inside and stay safe while I play Sundance Kid to Shadow’s Butch Cassidy,” he paused for a moment, thinking, and then added, “You’ll notice the control center for the condo’s security system inside. It’s been activated with the passcode I punched in. It’s complex, but if you know what you’re doing, feel free to have some fun at the controls, otherwise don’t touch anything. One slip of the finger and you may inadvertently kill us both.”
I nodded and descended down the cold iron steps and into the secret room. The hatch automatically closed behind me.
I’ve only seen panic rooms in movies and on television before, but this one in particular was pretty impressive. It was the Cadallic of panic rooms, if there was such a thing.
At the center of the room was a massive eighty inch computer screen that was surrounded by several smaller monitors. The entire set up was reminiscent of a mainframe computer seen only in science fiction movies.
I took a seat in front of the system and switched on the monitor next to a thin microphone attached to the console. Just because I was safely hidden away in here didn’t mean I had to be useless while Shadow and Lincoln were out there in a gun-blazing shootout. I was going to find a way to help them from inside with whatever security Calisto had installed in her condo.
One-by-one the screens came into focus, each displaying one of the rooms inside the condo. The large screen provided and overhead view of the entire place which was digitally superimposed onto an electronic blueprint of the space-aged security system.
The control panel itself was separated into sectors of the condo, each clearly labeled on the console along with the defense system available.
I never admitted this to anyone else, but back in high school I was a gaming geek, especially in those real-time war strategy games. My boyfriend at the time had dragged me into video game LAN parties and despite my protests at first, eventually found myself enjoying them. The control panel didn’t seem all too different than a custom made gaming keyboard.
With all the functions tagged, it took me only minutes to figure out the system.
Once I had controls of the cameras, I zoomed in on both Shadow and Lincoln, who were hiding in different sections of the main floor—Lincoln behind the couch that faced the door and Shadow still hidden away behind the island kitchen counter top—both waiting for the attackers to enter.
I watched as the entrance’s door pushed open and one-by-one men, dressed in black armor and ski masks, filed into the condo, fingers on the trigger of their automatic weapons.
For now, both Shadow and Lincoln seemed well concealed in their hiding spots. However they had underestimated the enemy’s numbers.
I counted eight armored assholes that filed into the room and estimated that the most Shadow and Lincoln could take out on their own were two, maybe three before the rest turned their guns and annihilated them.
I had to do something.
I positioned the microphone in front of my mouth and spoke into it confidently.
“Hey assholes,” I shouted. “You have until the count of three to drop your guns and get the fuck out of my space.”
I watched as the assailants raised their heads, searching for the origins of my voice.
“One…two…” I began counting. However before I could get to three, Lincoln peaked out of his hiding space, lying on his side, and fired two shots that blew apart the knee caps of one of the attackers. Before the fucker dropped to the ground, a third bullet tore through his skull, ending his life abruptly.
With his position now given away, gunfire was immediately returned and tiny explosions erupted from the assassins’ automatics, a hail of bullets tearing into the couch.
I thought Lincoln was finished.
Shadow popped up from behind the island countertop and took down another one of the bastards with a precise bullet to the head.
Six remaining, but Shadow and Lincoln were still outmatched. With their positions given away, it was only a matter of time before lady luck ran out on them.
“Hey fuckers, behind you,” I shouted through the speaker system. Sure enough, by instinct, two attackers turned around which allowed Shadow to take one of them down with another shot through the throat. Two shots and two dead; Shadow had an uncanny accuracy.
While the other assailants were distracted by the death of yet another one of their own, Lincoln took the opportunity and bolted from his hiding spot, rushing down the hallway and up the winding staircase.
The attackers regained their focus an
d began firing at him. I held my breath as I watched the bullets ricochet all around him, missing him by inches. It was an act of God that he was still standing.
“Christ,” I heard him mutter through the control panel’s speakers.
One of the assassins took charge, organizing his men that were still standing. “Hardball, stay with me. The rest of you go and find him.”
Three men peeled off from the main group and made their way cautiously up the staircase, stalking Lincoln like savage predators. Meanwhile the other two who remained on the ground floor converged on the island where Shadow was hiding.
From their formation they were planning to take him from both sides. With only one gun, there was no way Shadow could take them both.
“Control panel, flash twenty-one,” I heard Shadow shout, well aware of his situation. Was he talking to me?
“Aria, flash twenty-one, now!”
Yes he was. What the heck was flash twenty-one? I scanned the Control Panel and sure enough, discovered a button labeled F21. I pushed it and all of a sudden, the entire screen lit up in a blinding bright, white light.
“Fucking hell! I can’t fucking see,” one of the men cried out, dropping his gun to the floor, covering his face with his hands.
The other one had dropped to his knees in agony, rubbing his eyes. “I think I’m blind,” he moaned.
Shadow emerged from behind the counter and pulled the trigger twice, putting an end to both of them with a single bullet each.
I had gone from an innocent aspiring concert pianist to an accessory of murder. While I was flooded with relief that Shadow and Lincoln continued to survive, my hands were trembling and I suddenly found it hard to breathe.
I was beginning to understand what being a member of the Midnight Society entailed: Shiny things, hot sex, and dead bodies.
Meanwhile, on the second floor, the three men split up, searching for Lincoln. It was an incredibly stupid move.
One of the assassins entered into the guest bedroom, his footsteps as light as feathers. Little did he know that I was watching him and no amount of pussy footing was going to save this asshole. All I could think of was satisfying revenge for the people responsible for Abraham’s death.
I explored the security options for the guest bedroom on the control panel and found something fitting for the situation. With the click of a few buttons, heavy metal doors sealed the room from the rest of the condo.
The bastard trapped inside sprung at the door and frantically pounded on it. It wasn’t going to help him.
“Hey fucker, nobody—and I mean nobody—messes with my friends,” I said as I pushed another button that began rapidly sucking all the oxygen out of the room. He continued hammering at the door before giving up and running to the window, which was also sealed. It took about two minutes before he completely stopped moving.
With a simple press of the button, I, Aria Valencia—who cried every time I watched the Last Unicorn—had just killed someone.
I didn’t feel any remorse or guilt for what I did either. While watching him die, all I could think about was Abraham and his heart exploding in his chest. This son-of-a-bitch trying to kill us wasn’t going to get any sympathy from me.
“Attention all remaining assholes, and by remaining, I mean the last one of you,” I lied, watching as the two separated men stop dead in their tracks at my announcement. “I gave you the chance to walk away from this, but you didn’t. Now you’re dead.”
I watched as Lincoln slowly snuck up behind one assassin, pointed the gun to his head, and executed him. Meanwhile Shadow blasted the last of them into oblivion.
It was over.
I leaned back in the leather chair, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath. My hands were now shaking and tears started rolling down my cheeks.
“Aria, it’s over,” Shadow called out from outside the panic room. “You can come out now.”
I did as he said and flung myself into his arms, burying my head deep into his chest.
You killed a man Aria, the tiny voice in my head whispered to me. You just killed someone.
The reality of my actions tore through me like a wrecking ball.
“Is everyone alright?” Lincoln asked as he entered into the room.
“Aria’s rattled,” Shadow said. “I’m fine.”
“Aria, you’re brilliant. You saved both our lives,” Lincoln said. “I know it’s traumatic for you at the moment, but remember, you did what was necessary.”
I lifted my head from Shadow’s chest and wiped my eyes with the back of my hand.
“I’ll never be a victim again,” I said, and I meant it. Ever since my encounter with the Black Crow, my life had turned a dark corner.
“For a bunch of hired killers, these guys were very amateur,” Shadow said, “Which is probably why we’re still breathing.”
“Agreed,” Lincoln said. “They were very bush league. Lucien always was a cheapskate. It wouldn’t surprise me if he used a Groupon deal to get these guys.”
Lincoln knelt down in front of one of the bodies. “Let’s see who they are.”
One-by-one they peeled off the masks of the assassins, scanning their faces.
“You see what I’m seeing?” Lincoln asked.
Shadow nodded as he examined the neck of one of the bodies. “They’re gangbangers,” he stated. “From the tattoos on their necks, they belonged to the Talons.”
“Why the hell would Lucien get a bunch of disorganized street thugs to come after us? It’s quite the downgrade from the Crow Brothers.”
Shadow shrugged. “Lucien’s an arrogant bastard. Maybe he thought sending eight morons were enough to take us down.”
“Any ID on them?” Lincoln asked.
“Strip them down and let’s find out.”
While Shadow and Lincoln searched the bodies like scavengers, I made my way towards the guest bedroom where the man I killed laid face down on the ground. One of his hands was outstretched, reaching for the door.
I knelt beside him and rolled his head to the side.
I wanted to see the face of my victim—even though I knew it was a bad idea. Killing someone should never be this easy and I needed to see the dead man’s face so I could live with it.
He was young, still in his teens and had a baby face that was pleasant to look at. He could have stolen the hearts of a few ladies had he been given the chance to live a decent life.
“I’m sorry.” I felt pity for this kid.
If only he had known better. If only we had both known better.
“Aria,” I heard Shadow’s voice behind me. “You shouldn’t look at him.”
“He’s just a kid,” I said. “He’s just another stupid kid who made a stupid decision in life. I killed him with a press of a button. How is that fair?”
I raised my hand and stared at it. My fingers, which I used many times to create music, had the same capacity to kill someone with a push of a button. It dawned on me that I didn’t need to kill him; I could have trapped him inside this room and left him here. But instead, I allowed the anger of Abraham’s death and Calisto’s disappearance to take control. In the heat of the moment, I wanted him to die.
It was murder of the first degree.
“Aria, you did what you had to do. Who knows what would have happened if you didn’t take him down? He could have surprised us. I could be dead,” Shadow said.
I closed my eyes and reflected on his words. After a moment I nodded and rose to my feet.
Though there was truth to what Shadow said, the reality was this—the image of the boy, grasping for air on the video screen, will haunt me until the day I die. It was something I had to live with.
“Did you find anything on their bodies?” I asked.
Shadow shook his head. “Every one of them is clean. No wallets, no cellphones; nothing.”
“On the contrary,” Lincoln said as he entered into the room with a smart phone in his hand. “Look what I found hidden in between the ass cheeks of thei
r ring leader.”
“You dug through his underwear?” Shadow asked raising a brow.
“I’m very thorough,” Lincoln replied as he held the phone out to him. “I did a quick search through the contacts and browsing history but found nothing. Want to see for yourself?”
There was a look of disgust on Shadow’s face as he shook his head. “No thanks. You can hold onto it.”
Suddenly the phone started vibrating.
“A call?” I asked.
Lincoln shook his head. “Text message looks like.”
“From?” Shadow asked.
“Unknown,” he replied as he scanned the message before turning to us. “But it looks like we just received a break in this little mystery of ours.”
“What does it say?” I asked.
“Collect your payment at 465 Townly Street, unit 37, Passcode 9421,” Lincoln said. “That address sounds familiar. What was over there again?”
“It’s a storage facility,” Shadow said, “One of the many side businesses that I own.”
“No harm in checking it out then,” Lincoln said. “Who knows, maybe Lucien might be stupid enough to show up himself with a burlap sack stuffed with unmarked bills.”
“You actually believe that?” Shadow asked.
Lincoln walked over to where the box containing Calisto’s severed finger laid on the ground. He picked it up as if it were a delicate flower. “At this point Shadow, all we can do is hope.”
Shadow stared at the box and nodded.
“We’ll find her guys,” I said, sensing the grief that was shared between the two of them. “Calisto’s a tough girl.”
Lincoln took a deep breath. “Well come on then. Let’s see what surprises wait for us at the storage facility.”
Though he tried to remain calm, I could tell that Calisto’s horrific kidnapping was tearing Lincoln apart. It was the worst part about falling in love with someone. At some point, they were destined to hurt you, whether they meant to or not—the dark side to every love story.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
I was shocked to see the bodies of Shadow’s men, along with a small army of hired killers, litter the outer hallways of Calisto’s residence. It looked as if a war had been fought inside the condo building.
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