by Mike Dagons
He couldn’t stop himself from smiling. He lifted his arms over his head, and she removed his shirt. “I’m not going to ask you how you got the scars, but you can tell me if you want. Do you want to tell me?”
“No, I don’t,” he answered.
“Fine,” she unbuckled his belt, unzipped his fly, and then pulled his pants down over his hips. His calves and thigh muscles were hard as a rock. Cynthia touched the bandage covering the cut on his thigh. “Does it hurt?”
“A little,” he confessed.
“I have some aspirin in my bag. You want me to get you some?”
“No, I never take pain medication.”
“You had a drug problem?”
“No,” is all he said.
“I take a pill for every little thing.” She backed away from him, and then went into the bathroom and turned the water off. “I’ll shower in the morning.”
He stood in the very same spot in his boxers and watched her strip down to her bra and panties. She noticed that he wasn’t aroused by her stripping, but she hadn’t done it sexily, so her ego was only a little bruised.
Sam had told her that he was a hard man who kept to himself mostly. Cynthia stepped around him and got in bed. “Come on, you need to rest.”
“I’ll sleep on the floor,” he walked over to the closet and got a blanket off the shelf.
“Is that blanket big enough for both of us, because if you sleeping on the floor, then I am too,” she eyed him.
He put the blanket back, and then walked over and got his guns off the dresser. He pushed one under his pillow, and placed the other on the nightstand. He got in bed with her, and lay perfectly still on his back.
Cynthia realized she was going to have to make the first move if anything was going to happen between them because he was not. She lifted his arm, and draped it over her shoulder, and then rested her head on his chest. “I’m forty two, and I’ve never been married, and I don’t have any children,” she blurted.
“Are you proposing?” he chuckled dryly.
“I’m proposing you make love to me,” she moved her mouth to his.
Valow kissed her, and for the first time in more years than he could remember, he made love to a woman he wasn’t paying to pretend she wasn’t repulsed by his scars. It was slow and tender, and she filled his heart with so much joy, he thought it might burst.
Afterwards, she lay in his arms asleep; her thick coarse hair tickling his cheek. She was a rare beauty, inside and out, and he couldn’t help thinking how easy it would be to love her when she said, “Valow, it’s alright to fall in love with me. I’ll love you back.”
“You don’t really know me, Cynthia. I can be, I am, uh,” he stammered.
“You’re a murderer. An assassin, the cold blooded phantom killer who risked his life to save mine, and don’t tell me you did it for money. You have plenty money. You did it because you have a big heart. I know you were in a prison camp, and they gave you the name, Valow. You kept it because you didn’t want to forget what they made you. I asked Sam, and she made Melvin tell her the story. I wasn’t supposed to tell you that, so I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell her I have a big mouth,” she paused to take a breath. “I started falling in love with you the instant I heard you rode a Jensen,” she said in a much slower, controlled voice. “You think of yourself as a beast, but the beauty tamed the beast in the story, and they lived happily ever after. That can be us, if you’re not afraid to love me,” she searched his eyes.
He pulled her face to his and kissed her. “I will not be afraid to love you,” he promised.
Chapter 16
Severe went back to the room and discovered Kenyah was gone. “That stupid bitch,” she groaned when she saw her cell on the bed. She picked it up and put it in her pocket, and then she threw her things in her carryon. They were traveling light, so it only took a minute or two to erase all signs that they had been there.
Severe left her keycard in plain sight, and hurried back down to Sam’s room. “She’s gone,” she said, and stepped inside as soon as Sam opened the door.
“Gone where?” she exclaimed in shock.
“I don’t know, probably to find Desmond Fox. She may have told him about y’all traveling with us. I have to assume she told him which hotel we’re staying in, and our location has been compromised. We need to change our plans and move tonight.” she was in full operational mode.
“See, you should have let me kick that bitch’s ass,” Chanay said. She rushed into the bedroom and started throwing her things in her carryon like Sam was already doing.
“Now I’m glad Melvin told us to keep her in the dark, and not to share any information about our final destination with her,” Sam blew out an exasperated breath. “She can’t share what she doesn’t know with anybody.”
“She’s knows enough to cause problems,” Severe said.
“She is so fucking immature. I can’t believe she’s older than you, Chanay.” Sam closed her carryon and sat it down on the floor.
Sam admired Chanay. She was a true story of someone who had turned her life around. She had been a prostitute when she met Anakin just a few years ago. She was just another dark skinned girl without a rosy future, but he saw something in her that made him fall in love with her.
Chanay was loyal and completely devoted to Anakin and her friends. When his best friend, Trevor, who had been her pimp, was killed; Chanay willingly took on the responsibility of being a mother to Trevor’s newborn son.
Sam looked into her dark eyes. They were sparkling like polished black onyx stones, and showed wisdom beyond her twenty four years. She was proud to call her a sista.
“What?” Chanay asked.
“Nothing, I was just thinking about how much you mean to me,” she touched her cheek affectionately. “You too, Severe, you’re both special ladies.”
“You’re my big sister, and I love you, too.” Chanay hugged her.
Severe wrapped her arms around them, and they shared a group hug. “Now, let’s get our emotions in check, and get back to business,” Sam said.
“Severe, can we just leave her ass here?” Chanay asked, and Severe and Sam both laughed.
“No, she’s married to Choc’s brother. Luther goes after families, so she has to be protected,” Severe said. “We’re going to give her an hour to return. If she doesn’t, we’ll look for her.”
“Choc was right about her. He told Melvin that she was a fly in the ointment, a monkey in the wretch, a pain in the ass,” Sam said. “It’s why he didn’t want us to give her too much information.”
“Die Hard! That’s a line from Die Hard,” Chanay shouted, and they all cracked up laughing. To pass the time while they waited, they started playing movie lines Trivia.
“Girl, you’re good at this movie game,” Sam said after Chanay won a few rounds in a row.
“Yeah, but Monique was better. I really miss her,” Chanay said.
“I miss her, too,” Sam said.
“I’m sorry for your loss, ladies,” Severe said. “I wasn’t as close to her as you two, but I liked her a lot.”
“Everyone who knew her did,” Sam said.
“Okay, back to Kenyah’s trifling ass,” Chanay said. “She told me that Trent cheated on her, and it’s why she started fucking with Desmond.”
“When she tell you that?” Severe asked.
“While we were in the bathroom at the airport, I asked her about what I heard that chick say to her on the plane. Is it true that Trent cheated first?”
“Trent was on the job, and he had to sleep with Xena as part of his cover,” Severe explained. “Rayce says Choc told her that Trent told him that Kenyah was having a hard time forgiving him for it.”
“I think she’s just using it as an excuse to keep fucking with Desmond,” Sam said. “I’m going to keep it real. If Melvin had to set up house with some other woman as part of his job, I wouldn’t like it. I was mad as hell when I found out he had Melvina, but given the special cir
cumstances. I had to forgive him. It’s the same kind of thing that’s happening with her and Trent. I’d be mad about Xena, but if Melvin killed the bitch after the job was over, like Trent did. I think I could find it in my heart to forgive him.”
They all laughed. “Well, I can’t get over the way she disrespected Trent while we were all in Choc’s loft. She went into the bathroom and had sex with Desmond, knowing her husband and Desmond’s wife and kids were in the living area,” Severe said. “If Ceylon had done some shit like that. I would have kicked the door down and shot his ass. Trent just stood outside the door looking like a whipped dog and waited for them to finish fucking.”
“Melvin said it got on Choc’s nerves, and it’s why he went to Rayce’s place and let them stay in his loft alone. He was too upset about it,” Sam reported.
“You’re telling me that Trent knew she was in there fucking the dude? And he didn’t do nothing. He forgave her?” Chanay asked.
“Yeah, he’s a super nice guy, and he wants to save their marriage,” Severe said.
“Girl, Anakin don’t have it in him to forgive no shit like that. The first time he made love to me, he said, ‘If you sleep with me, it can only be me. You are mine alone, and I will not share. Decide if this is the beginning of something or the end.’ He didn’t say he’d kill me if I fucked around, but I know him. And I know that he’d find a real painful way to kill me and dude,” she said.
Severe and Sam gave her high fives, and they all shared another laugh. “It doesn’t look like she’s coming back, so I guess we better go look for her,” Severe said.
“You sure there ain’t no way around it?” Sam questioned.
“No, so let’s start checking the local hotels and see if Desmond is registered at any of them,” Severe said.
“It’s too bad we can’t contact Bender and have him do it,” Chanay said. “That way we could find her sooner, and get the hell out of here before somebody she’s told comes looking for us.
There was a knock at the door. “Maybe that’s her,” Chanay whispered.
Severe tapped her chest indicating she would answer, and then she motioned for them to hide. She could not be certain that Kenyah was alone, and she was not going to take any unnecessary chances.
Severe wished she had a gun. They had only arrived in Paris that night and were only scheduled to be there until morning. The plan was for her to procure guns from the agency contact after they got on the road to their final destination.
It was unfortunate that they were unarmed, but they were resourceful, she thought when she saw Chanay grab two of the steak knives they’d used during dinner. She got over behind the sofa and crouched down out of sight.
Severe grabbed the last knife and put it in her waistband at the small of her back, and then she waited until Sam was in the bathroom, before she approached the door.
Sam left the bathroom door slightly cracked in order to hear what was being said between Severe and whoever was knocking.
“Who is it?” Severe answered after a second knock.
“I’m looking for Ms. Olsen. She’s traveling with Janice Young. There’s been an accident,” the male voice on the other side of the door spoke with urgency.
Severe shook her head in frustration, knowing that Kenyah had given up their location to the asshole on the other side of the door. She only hoped they hadn’t killed her already.
Now, she had a split second to decide if she should open the door, or make them knock it down. “Just a minute,” she shouted, to give herself another second to think.
If they wanted her dead, they were going to shoot as soon as she opened the door. If they wanted to use her as bait, or as a source of information, they would need to take her alive. She had no way of knowing their intentions, and it was going to be a gamble either way. “Is she in the hospital?” she asked through the door to buy a few more minutes to think.
“Yes, I’m here to take you there, but we must hurry,” he answered impatiently.
“Fuck it,” she mumbled, and then opened the door wide.
“Severe Payne,” he said as he stepped inside with the silenced Beretta in his right hand pointed at her face. “Where are the others?”
Severe back up instinctively. He was a tall white man, at least six four, and at five, five; she was short by comparison. He had a gleaming bald head, and he was wearing a black suit and leather gloves. He looked like he belonged in the Hitman video game, and she actually tried to think of a line from the movie for their trivia game.
Two men crowed in behind him pushing a large cargo crate on a dolly. They closed the door, and he kept his weapon trained on her. “Who are you?” she asked in a fabricated voice that was filled with fear.
“We have Kenyah Real, and she told us about the others. Now, where are they?” he asked again.
“I don’t know anybody named Kenyah Real, and I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she hissed. “You need to get out of here with that gun before I call the authorities!”
Severe saw the slight shift in his weight, and knew the punch was coming. “NOW!” she screamed while fading back and grabbing his gun hand with both of hers.
Severe leaped up and hooked her legs around his neck and flipped into a rotation while twisting his arm and wrenching the gun from his hand. His feet left the floor as his body went with his arm to keep it from breaking. She could literally hear the tendons tearing in his rotator cuff before he landed flat on his back with her foot in his chest, and his gun pointed at his head.
While Severe was taking the man down, Chanay popped up from behind the sofa, and Sam came out the bathroom. Chanay moved swiftly, throwing both knives, at the same time, at the man on the left of him and Severe. Remembering that Anakin told her to aim for soft tissue because she didn’t have the strength to penetrate bone with a dull blade like he did, she targeted his eyes.
The knives shot through the air straight as arrows, one piercing his brain through his eye sockets, and he was already falling when his partner hit the floor.
Sam jumped the man on their right from behind. She leaped up and scissored her legs around his neck like Severe had done. She fisted his hair while bringing him down, and then lifted and twisted his head with all of her might when they hit the floor. His neck broke instantly, and she kicked him off her. She got up immediately and started helping Chanay search the dead bodies.
“I want you to listen very carefully, because I’m only going to ask once. Where is Kenyah?” Severe asked the man she was holding at gunpoint.
Defiantly, he flashed a sinister smile. Severe pulled the knife out of her waistband and handed it to Chanay. Without hesitating, she reached down, and grabbed hold of his ear. She didn’t give Severe a chance to ask him again. She sliced it off, and then grabbed hold of his other one.
“Wait, I’ll tell you!” He slapped his hand to the side of his head. “You fucking bitches are crazy!” he blubbered.
“I won’t ask you again.” Severe held the silencer to his kneecap. She didn’t want to waste a bullet, but she was going to cap him if he didn’t hurry up and answer.
“She’s at the Hôtel George V,” he shouted, realizing they weren’t going to stop hurting him until he answered.
“Good, remember I’m only going to ask once,” Severe reminded him. “How did you know we were here?”
“Mr. Basin intercepted a text to you from Melvin Ryan, so he knew you were coming to Paris. He was monitoring the airports through the security cameras and picked you up when you went through customs. Finding the hotel you were staying in was as easy as checking them for today’s registrations.”
“Why was Mr. Basin looking for Kenyah Real?”
He stared at her tight lipped, and Chanay grabbed his ear again. “Mr. Luther knows Trent Real is the undercover cop who betrayed Lincoln, and he knows he’s Charlie Baltimore’s brother.”
“How did he learn that?” she asked.
“The same way he learned you were here, I guess,” h
e frowned.
“Did you three come here alone?” she asked.
“No, we’re not alone,” he answered.
Something in his eyes told her he was telling a lie, and she shot him in his head, and then put his gun in her waistband. “I don’t believe him,” Severe said.
“Maybe they came alone because they thought three of them could handle you. They couldn’t have known Chanay and I are skilled fighters,” Sam said.
“They probably thought we were as useless as Kenyah,” Chanay added.
“Well, thank God they underestimated us, ladies!” Severe chuckled dryly.
“Amen,” Sam said. “Now, let’s get out of here because if these three don’t come back with us soon, others will come looking for them.”
“Did we get any weapons?” Severe asked.
“I got a Walther PPK,” Sam said.
“I got a gun, and don’t ask me what kind it is, because all the black ones look alike to me,” Chanay said, and held it up so they could see it.
“It’s a Sig P230,” Severe laughed, and took it from her hand and checked the load. “It’s an eight round mag with .32 caliber bullets. All you need to know is it has a decocking level, and when to pull the trigger.” She gave it back.
“I’m a good shot, but I can’t tell one gun from the other by looking at it like Sam,” she rolled her eyes playfully.
“Okay, let’s go try to find Kenyah,” Severe said.
They stuffed the bodies in the crate that was intended for them, and then spent a few minutes cleaning the room of blood and fingerprints
They pushed the crate out into the hall, and parked it beside another room’s door, and then they went down to the lobby, and got the concierge to order them a rental car using Severe’s burned identity.
Sam drove, and Chanay sat in the front seat next to her. Severe sat in the back seat and stayed out of sight because they reportedly had her picture, so they would be able to recognize her if she was seen.