Enforcer

by Black, Selena

  “Still enjoying your work, I see,” Matt said to engage in conversation.

  A glance to the side showed the firearm still pointing in his direction and his mind worked furiously to come up with a distraction.

  “Considering your reputation,” the driver went on. “I thought we’d get more from you.”

  “Sorry to be such a disappointment,” Matt replied and ignored the laughter of the two men.

  The car in front made another turn onto a narrower road that had little to no traffic on it. It was a bumpier ride now and the swaying of the vehicle gave Matt some cover to start freeing his left hand. Trying to avoid any sudden, jerky movements made it slow going although, inch by inch, he managed to get loose. He kept his demeanor placid as he stared out of the windscreen and waited for the right moment to strike. It came when he saw the brake lights of the car in front coming on, as it slowed to make another turn.

  “Is that where we’re going?” he asked and nodded his head out of the window on the other side of the car from where he was sitting.

  The man beside him made the mistake of taking a look and it gave Matt his distraction. The surge of adrenaline made his movements explosive as he sat forward, lifted a hand and chopped it down on the gun. Surprise showed on the man’s face when the weapon was knocked from his grasp and he was too slow to react to the danger.

  The car swerved slightly as the driver shouted and Matt knew he needed to be quick if he was going to be successful. A sharp, hooked punch found its mark and smashed the man’s head against the window to daze him. He lifted his hands in an attempt to defend himself, but his brain was scrambled to put him at a disadvantage that he couldn’t recover from.

  Matt grabbed for hair and used the grip to crash the man’s face viciously forward into the headrest of the passenger seat. Blood erupted from his shattered nose and his despairing grunts came to an end as his head was pounded against the headrest a few more times in quick succession. It left him unconscious and he slumped down in the seat when the grip on his hair was released.

  Maneuvering around the turn made it impossible for the driver to intervene and he didn’t even think of stopping as he complied with his orders to stay with the car in front. It was a mistake in Matt’s favor and he ducked down to get the gun from the floor, and then slid right behind the driver’s seat.

  “Still disappointed?” he asked when he grabbed the man’s head and put the muzzle of the gun to it.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I intend to do nothing right now,” Matt replied. “But you’re going to keep this car moving like everything is fine.” He tapped the gun on the man’s skull to emphasize his words. “Do you understand?”

  “This won’t work.”

  Matt smacked the gun down harder and heard the curse.

  “I asked if you understand,” he said harshly.

  “Yes, I fucking understand,” the man spat out.

  “Open the glove box.”

  “What the hell…,” the driver started, but the muzzle of the gun cracked on his skull once again.

  “Do it.”

  The words got Matt what he wanted and he watched as the glove box opened up. He hoped things hadn’t changed and quickly saw that his guess was right.

  “Get the cuffs,” he instructed.

  The driver’s lips tightened together, but he was in no position to refuse. He leaned across to grab them then held them over his shoulder. Matt snatched hold and used the key to unlock them. He made the man hold his right hand up to secure the cuffs around his wrist. He then instructed him to attach the other end to the steering wheel. It tied him in place to stop him fighting back.

  “Enjoying your work now?” Matt asked.

  “Screw you,” the driver hissed.

  Matt put the gun down to free up his hands and it enabled him to untie the rope from around his wrists. He then positioned the man slumped on the back seat, so that he could use the rope to lash his wrists together. It took both men in the car out of the game to leave him up against only two when they got to their destination.

  “What is this place we’re going to?” he growled when he moved right behind the driver again.

  “I’m not telling you anything.”

  “It’s good to see you’re being loyal to your boss,” Matt said and returned the muzzle of the gun to the man’s head. “I hope that’s the epitaph they carve on your gravestone in a few days at your funeral.”

  “You’re not going to kill me.”

  “Not yet…, no,” Matt said and cracked the gun on the man’s head. “But you can count on it at the quarry if you don’t start speaking.”

  The driver looked in the rearview mirror and Matt caught his gaze. He could make out the doubt in the eyes watching him and moved to press home his advantage.

  “You tell me what I want to know and you can walk away from this alive,” he said. “Otherwise…”

  The man sucked in a deep breath and eventually started speaking.

  “The quarry is abandoned,” he said. “It was worked for a few years, but the company that owned it gave up operating the place long ago.”

  “What’s there?” Matt asked.

  “Not much of anything now,” the driver replied. “Some of the old processing buildings are still standing, but that’s about all that’s left of the original quarry works. There’s a lake and some woodlands to the front of them and the rest is open countryside.”

  “Out in the middle of nowhere and suitable as a dumping ground, I take it?”

  “The organization has been using it for a couple of years,” the man said. “You’re the latest ones to get the ride out to it although it’s unusual for the boss to make the trip.”

  “I think he might be interested in my demise,” Matt commented as he stared out the windscreen.

  The lead car was still moving ahead smoothly and obviously didn’t realize there was a problem in the following vehicle. The blacked-out windows stopped them from seeing that he’d taken control, but he knew it was only one step towards saving himself and the two girls.

  “Eddie will kill you,” the driver said.

  “You better fucking hope he doesn’t,” Matt responded. “I overpowered you and your buddy like you were a couple of lightweights and now you’re tied to the steering wheel of your car. Remember, I worked for Eddie and I know how he operates. I’m out here partly because he thinks I was incompetent on a job. What do you think he’ll do to you when he finds out how badly you fucked up in guarding me?”

  He met the driver’s gaze in the rearview mirror and put a questioning expression on his face.

  “You’re talking shit,” the driver said, but there was definitely uncertainty in his voice.

  Matt didn’t respond and let the man in front stew in his own worries. He kept his gaze out of the windscreen and saw they were traveling along progressively narrower roads that were mostly deserted. There was only countryside around them now.

  “How much further?” he asked, but didn’t get a response.

  In the end, he didn’t need one. The vehicles made what he assumed was a final turn on to a route that was no more than a dirt track and their speed slowed as they bumped along it. They drove up a short incline to a crest and when they passed over it, Matt saw the large buildings in the distance. It was obviously the ones the driver talked about. He pressed the gun harder to the man’s head.

  “When that car in front comes to a halt,” he said. “You’re going to pull right up behind it. Don’t park beside it.”

  He needed the others to get out of the car first and come together to give him an opportunity. There would be no chance for him to get to Eddie and Lincoln if they were on opposite sides of the vehicle. He watched as they closed in on the buildings and guessed the area of concrete slabs close to them was where they would park. It was getting to the moment of truth and Matt prepared himself for the fight to come.

  He could only hope that he was the one left standing at the end o
f it.

  Chapter 23

  “Slow down,” Matt ordered and jammed the gun into the neck of the man sitting in front of him to make sure he did as he was told.

  It allowed the car in front to pull away slightly in the final approach to the hard-standing area of concrete slabs. The vehicle came to a stop and Lincoln was already getting out as the second sedan slowly approached. He moved to the rear door and opened it then waved the gun he was holding to make the two women get out.

  Matt watched the action unfolding in front of him and made sure the driver carried on doing as he was instructed by rolling the sedan to a stop directly behind the first vehicle. He saw Eddie get out of the passenger side and move around in the direction of Lincoln. Things were working out as he needed so far and he saw the two men look back towards the second vehicle in expectation of the door opening.

  “I think they might be waiting for you,” the driver commented sarcastically.

  “They can wait all they want,” Matt hissed.

  There was no way he would simply get out and engage in a gun battle. It would put the women in too much danger of being caught in the crossfire and he couldn’t afford that. He needed Lincoln to come to the vehicle he was in. It wasn’t a perfect scenario, but it was as good as he could hope for to get an advantage over the two men.

  “Give me the car keys,” he ordered and put them in his pocket when they were handed over. “And don’t make a move or you’ll be the first to die.”

  He held his breath as he watched out the windscreen and got what he wanted when Lincoln’s impatience got the better of him. The enforcer moved away from Eddie and the women to walk in the direction of the rear vehicle and Matt prepared himself. It was now or never and the next few moments would determine if he was going to see out the day alive.

  The blacked-out windows worked to his advantage in that it wasn’t possible to get a view inside the car. He waited until the last second then cracked the door open to lure the approaching man in and it worked.

  “What the hell is keeping…,” Lincoln started to say when he grabbed the door handle, but didn’t get the chance to finish his comment.

  Matt crashed his foot on the inside of the door to hammer it against the body of the man outside. The force of the impact threw Lincoln violently to the side and he couldn’t retain his balance. He was unable to hold on to his gun and it flew out of his hand when he fell to the ground. His howl of painful rage was loud, but Matt ignored it when he launched himself out the open door of the car to concentrate his initial efforts on saving the two women.

  The swiftness of the unexpected attack took Eddie by surprise and he saw the gun being aimed in his direction. His own weapon was still in his pocket and he knew he wouldn’t get it out in time, so grabbed Brigitte’s arm and tried to pull her in front of him. It stopped the shot being fired and gave him an opportunity to yank the door of the car he was standing beside open. He threw himself inside and yanked his captive after him.

  “Shit,” Matt cursed in frustration as he stalked forward.

  The sound of the engine turning over came to him and he knew he’d fucked up. The vehicle started to move and he did the only thing he could think of. He started firing at a tire and finally managed to hit it. The rubber blew out to make the car veer wildly as it lurched forward and gathered pace. It crashed through the entrance of one of the dilapidated buildings and came to a screeching halt.

  “Brigitte,” he let out under his breath and moved forward, but the sound of the shout from behind stopped him.

  “You bastard, Harris…, I’m going to kill you.”

  Glancing over his shoulder to the man that shouted, Matt saw Lincoln scrambling around in the longer grass to the left of the concrete slabs. It was obvious he was trying to find the weapon that flew out of his hand when the car door hit him.

  Matt knew he couldn’t let that happen. It would put everyone’s life in danger. He looked towards where the car stopped and caught a glimpse of Eddie dragging Brigitte out of the door. At least she was unhurt, but they disappeared into the darkness beyond and he let out a frustrated grunt. His instinct was to go after them, but he needed to deal with another danger first. He turned to move towards Lincoln and saw the other man searching more desperately to find the dropped gun.

  “Stop,” Matt barked and took aim.

  “Are you going to shoot an unarmed man?” Lincoln said and held up his hands when he straightened up.

  “I might fucking do that,” Matt growled. “It’s what you were planning to do to me.”

  “Yeah, but I actually have the guts to go through with it,” Lincoln said and stepped forward.

  Matt suspected that Eddie would keep Brigitte alive as a bargaining chip to get out of the situation, but knew he couldn’t waste any time. He wasn’t planning to kill the man stepping towards him, but he didn’t have any problem with giving him a wound to put him out of action. Lowering his aim, he targeted Lincoln’s thigh and pulled the trigger. The click of an empty chamber came to him and he cursed.

  “Looks like your luck just ran out,” Lincoln said. “You shouldn’t have fired so many bullets at the car.”

  “Shit,” Matt muttered as he pulled the trigger again and again to hear the same click.

  It made the situation he faced a whole lot tougher and he glanced towards the buildings. Eddie was the one with the upper hand although he didn’t realize it now that he was hidden somewhere in the building with Brigitte. That was just as well for Matt, who was standing with a gun in his hand that was no better than a rock. He decided to use it in the same way and flung it at the approaching man. Lincoln dodged the fast moving projectile aimed at his head to continued walking forward.

  “You’re a dead man, Harris.”

  “So you keep telling me,” Matt replied as he prepared himself for the fight. “But I’m still breathing.”

  “Not for much longer,” Lincoln said.

  He reached in his pocket to bring out a knife and a flick of his hand brought out the sharp blade. It put Matt on the back foot and he kept his distance as the pair of them circled each other. Lincoln lunged forward and swung his arm in a wide arc to slash the blade towards his opponent, but his aim was off and the knife tore harmlessly through the air.

  “No ashtrays now,” he said in a mocking tone, then threw himself forward in another attack.

  Matt kept his distance and glanced around for something he could use to ward off the lunges aimed at him, but there was nothing in sight. Every second that ticked past put Brigitte in more danger, but the chances of quickly putting Lincoln out of action disappeared when he dry fired an unloaded gun. His opponent kept testing his defenses by swinging the knife, but he managed to avoid the blade. He needed to even things up, but it meant disarming his rival and that was easier said than done.

  Lincoln was no mug when it came to handling a knife, which Matt got a demonstration of during the encounter at Brigitte’s home. He only narrowly managed to avoid serious injury on that occasion and this time, he was fighting unarmed. The only thing he could think of was to move towards the sedan, but he made a mistake that nearly cost him dearly. He was concentrating so hard on the adversary wielding the knife that he forgot about the driver he handcuffed to the steering wheel.

  His back was to the sedan, so he didn’t see the window sliding noiselessly down. When he was within touching distance, the driver reached out with his free hand to grab hold of his wrist. It was the moment Lincoln made a charging attack and Matt couldn’t drag his arm from the tight grip to get out of the way. He tried to avoid the thrust of the knife, but it slashed across his upper arm.

  The flare of pain was instant, but there was no time to worry about it. He lashed out with his elbow and caught the driver full in the face. The grip around his wrist loosened, but he still couldn’t pull free of it. He saw Lincoln step forward then raise his arm and knew there was only a split second to react. The knife started to swing down towards him, but he threw his shoulder forw
ard to hit his opponent in the chest before the stab could pierce his flesh.

  The blow knocked Lincoln off balance and that provided an opportunity that Matt took. He swung his elbow viciously to catch the driver on the bridge of the nose and heard the cry. The grip on his wrist loosened more and he wrenched it free. It was just in time as Lincoln regained his wits and threw himself forward again.

  Matt watched the swing of his rivals arm and timed it right to catch Lincoln’s wrist, so he could slam it down on the roof of the sedan. It knocked the knife free and it slid across the metal to drop down on the other side of the vehicle.

  “Bastard,” Lincoln cursed and swung his free hand.

  Matt parried the clenched fist aimed at his head and again slammed his shoulder into Lincoln’s chest. It moved them apart and they eyed each other warily. Both knew that a mistake could be the end of them and they moved away from the vehicle as they circled each other.