by K. J. Dahlen
“Ask him if he’s missing a beautiful blue diamond necklace. It used to be in a clear glass case on a shelf behind his desk.”
Paolo paled as he relayed her message. He had seen that same necklace in his office. He knew what the necklace meant to his boss and he remembered well the rage that Bane had in his heart when he noted it was missing. When he hung up the call, he shook his head at her. “Chica, you just signed your death warrant. Do you know who that necklace belonged to?”
Charlie shrugged. “Don’t know, don’t care.”
“You will when he gets here.” Paolo warned. Then he cocked his head and asked, “Why the hell did you take the necklace anyway? You had to know what he would do to you when he found out you took it.”
“What difference does it make if you kill me or he does? I’ll still be just as dead.”
Paolo smiled. “Oh, I’m not gonna kill you. Not now. I’ll leave that to Mr. Bane.” Shrugging his shoulders he added, “He wants his property back first though. That necklace belonged to his mother. She gave it to him before she died.”
“I don’t really care who it belonged to,” Charlie stated.
“Don’t you care who he is?”
“He’s a maggot, nothing more than a bottom feeder.” Charlie scoffed. Then pain exploded as someone behind her slammed a pistol alongside her head. Charlie dropped to her knees and grabbed the top of her head.
“Now Jose,” Paolo scolded his man. “Mr. Bane wants her alive when he gets here. I do hope you didn’t hit her too hard.”
Charlie tipped up her head and glared at him. “He hits like a little girl. I’m fine.” As much pain as she was in she knew she had to get up. She wouldn’t let the bastards win. Slowly she struggled to her feet and while she swayed, she was able to stand. The whole room spun for a moment but then finally settled down.
Paolo began to clap. “Well done chica. You got some real kahunas I’ll give you that.” He shrugged. “But you’re gonna need more than that when Mr. Bane gets here.”
“Bane can kiss my ass.” Charlie spat.
Paolo heard tires on the gravel drive and turned his head to watch a dark sedan pull up. Turning back to Charlie, he smiled. “I guess you’ll be able to tell him yourself that he can go to hell.”
Charlie turned her head and watched as Conrad Bane walked into the room. He was as tall as she remembered him to be and when he was standing right next to her and she got her first close look at him she could see for herself up close and personal his cold flat eyes.
She shuttered as she stared at his face. His lips were thin and cruel. His dark hair was wavy and cut short. The skin around his eyes was heavy and drooped a bit. Looking at him, she had to wonder what her mother ever saw in him.
“Who is this bitch?” he asked Paolo.
“She is the one who passed along the message I gave you earlier.”
“I want my necklace back.” He growled. His fingers curling into fists as he approached closer to her. When she didn’t say anything, Bane grabbed her throat and began squeezing.
“If you kill me the necklace is gone forever,” she whispered as he began cutting her air off. Her throat blazed with pain from his grip near her wound.
He threw her away from him. She slammed to the ground for the second time in a few minutes but this time she was able to break her fall. From where she landed, she glared up at him.
“She’s also the one who’s been breaking in and stealing product from you. She claims she will return it but she has yet to tell us where it is,” Paolo volunteered.
“Karma is gonna bitch slap you so bad, you won’t ever get up again,” Charlie swore as her voice strained. Turning her head to Bane she told him, “Your boy there raped little girls. There a fucking name for pigs like him.”
Bane shrugged. “I don’t care what the man does. His sex life is his own business.”
Charlie shook her head. “Wow, I never realized just how much of a bastard you really are. You bring poison to our streets and you don’t care who it hurts. As long as you get those almighty dollars in your pocket, you don’t give a damn about anyone else.”
“No I really don’t,” Bane admitted. “But I do care about that necklace. Now where is it?”
Charlie got up off the floor and shrugged. “I never said I had it on me, just that I knew where it was,” her voice croaked from when he’d grabbed her throat.
“Where is the necklace?” Bane roared.
Suddenly, a single shot rang out and Paolo dropped to the floor. Before anyone else could move, more shots rang out.
Conrad Bane turned and ran to the nearest exit and the men around the room began shooting back. Only problem was they couldn’t see who was shooting at them.
Charlie dropped to the floor and covered her head with her hands. Curling her body up as small as she could get it, she prayed she wouldn’t get hit with a bullet.
Gunfire and screams could be heard from every direction. For the longest time, chaos ruled. The air grew heavy with the scent of gunpowder and the smell of fresh blood.
After a long few minutes, there was silence.
When the smoke finally cleared, Charlie loosened her arms from covering her head and lifted it just enough to look around. The smoke of the fire stunk up the air, as did the smell of gun powder. Coughing and holding her throat, Charlie pushed up further to look around the room.
She’d seen Jesse pull out his gun and shoot Paolo in the back of the head over the top of Bane’s shoulder and then the shooting really got started again. She quickly dropped to the floor and prayed no one would shoot her. Her bruised and battered body ached and blood ran down the side of her face where Jose had hit her with his gun.
Looking around the room, she saw the bodies piled up like cord wood flung out in a random order or no order at all. Then she saw Jesse. He been hit and was laid out on the ground. She could see the blood pooling around him. She tried to get to her feet but couldn’t stand up right. Her whole body just hurt. Her head pounded and she was dizzier than hell from the blow she took earlier.
Jose must have hit her harder than she realized. She crawled over to him, dragging her left leg behind her. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she noted just how bad Jesse was hurt. His shirt was torn and stained in blood. She could see at least three bloody wounds, one in his shoulder, one in his chest and one on his side.
His eyes were barely open but as she approached him, he watched her as she came closer. Weakly, he reached out for his hand and she tangled her fingers with his. “Oh god, Jesse, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” She sobbed.
“Hey, no worries girl,” Jesse muttered. “We both knew this was gonna be how it ended.” He coughed slightly and blood began to trickle from the corner of his mouth. He winced as pain shot through his body.
Someone was coming toward her and Charlie lifted her head to watch him come. It was Bull. Judge and Tank were close behind.
Her eyes dropped back down to Jesse. “We got him though, didn’t we? We got the man who hurt our girl Maggie,” she whispered. Tears flowed down her face and dripped off her chin as she watched Jesse’s last moments.
“We sure did. I thought maybe it was Paolo but until he admitted it, I didn’t know for sure.” Jesse cried out as his body arched in pain. Opening his eyes he implored her, “Watch over Braden now, don’t forget. Make sure he grows up to be the kind of man that would make his mama proud. Make her proud girl.”
“I will, I promise.” Charlie blubbered.
Jesse searched her face for a moment then smiled. “I can feel her you know, she’s waiting to take me home with her.”
“No don’t leave me behind,” Charlie cried out. “I never had anybody until you guys came into my life. If you leave me, I’ll be alone again.”
Jesse lifted his hand and brushed her cheek. “I think you’ll be okay girl.” His eyes moved to stared at Bull. “I think the big guy’s got you covered. Besides, you were always so much better than me and Maggie. We were
proud to know you, to be considered your friend.” He smiled again, his eyes were losing the battle and taking on the glaze of death. “I guess both me and Mags were never supposed to stay long in this world, maybe there’s something better waiting for us on the other side.”
Charlie sobbed louder as Jesse began to slide away from her.
“I can see her now girl. She’s waiting for me. I gotta go now. Love you Charlie.” Jesse’s breath rattled in his chest and then he grew silent. His eyes remained open as he stared into the nothingness of death.
Charlie held his hand close to her chest. Heartbreaking sobs rent the air.
Finally, Bull knelt beside her and took Jesse’s hand from hers. He laid the hand on the other man’s chest and drew Charlie away from Jesse.
“Come on honey, let’s get the hell out of here.”
Charlie laid her head on Bull’s chest. Her arms wrapped around his waist. Before they could take a step, a single shot rang out and Judge cried out, falling to his knees. Grabbing his shoulder, he fell on his back to the floor. Groaning, he began cursing violently.
Charlie raised her head and watched as Conrad Bane walked into the warehouse. He’d come from one of the side rooms where he’d run to when the shooting started. Maybe it was the huge gun in his hand or the fact that Bull and Tank’s guns were hanging at their sides but he didn’t seem to fear anything or anyone at the moment.
Conrad had a crazy look in his eyes as he came closer to where they stood. Pointing his weapon at Charlie’s head, he glanced around the room. Sneering he said, “Well, you solved one of my problems. These pissheads were becoming more trouble than they were worth but I still needed them, well at least for a little while longer anyway.”
“What were you going to do with them once they were no longer needed?” Charlie asked snidely. “You would kill your own men?” Charlie looked shocked for a moment then shook her head. “I might have guessed.”
“Everyone must die at some point.” Then Conrad Bane looked at Bull and the others. “And you’ve delivered my enemies to me at the same time, I thank you for that.”
“You really are a bastard aren’t you?” she sneered.
Conrad smiled as he stared at her for a moment before he said, “My mother would disagree with that statement. She was very much married to my father when I was born.” He turned his glare to Bull. “I’ve been looking for you for some time now, about five years in fact. You and your friends owe me for my brother, Salim.”
“What the fuck do we owe you?” Bull snorted.
“You owe me blood.” Conrad snarled. “You spilled his blood and now I’ll spill yours.”
“You’re fucking nuts, you know that old man.” Bull stated calmly.
“No I’m not crazy,” he stated. “It took me five very long years to find you and every day since my brother died I’ve been planning how I would kill you all.”
“Tell me something old man.” Charlie glared. “Why did you kill Joni Martin twenty years ago?”
“Joni?” Conrad frowned. “Why are you asking about her? She was a long time ago and meant nothing.”
Charlie caught her breath as pain raged through her. “If she meant nothing to you, why did you kill her? Why waste your time with the likes of her if she was nothing to you?”
“Because she fuckin ran away from me. I had was just starting to groom her to be my bride while setting up my empire and she fucking ran away from me. She found out about something I’d done and she couldn’t take it!” Conrad screamed at her. “With the fit she threw when she found out what I’d done, I no longer wanted to make her my bride. She left before I could end it with her.”
“What did she find out?” Charlie frowned.
“She found out that I arranged her parents’ deaths. They didn’t like me and didn’t want her to hang out with me, so I eliminated them from the equation. She would have been the perfect bride. If only she’d given in to what I asked of her. But no, she couldn’t do that. When she found out I set up her parents to die, she got scared and ran away from the problem, instead of figuring out that I would never hurt her as long as she obeyed me.” He snorted. “Then when I found her after almost three years of searching for her, I also found out she was pregnant with my brat when she left. Now I have a bastard kid out there somewhere. A brat I didn’t want in the first place, a kid that never should have been allowed to be born.”
His hard words hammered home his real message. His words told her that the man who helped create her was a total monster. A person who never loved anyone, not even himself. He was the one who should never have been born, not her.
Shaking her head, she just looked at him. “Wow, I have never met anyone quite like you before, do you know that?”
“Why would I care about that?” Conrad sneered. “I have no desire to know you either although I will put a bullet in your head as soon as they are dead. You are nothing to me.”
“Oh, you couldn’t be more wrong in thinking that you bastard.” Charlie laughed at him.
“Just who the fuck are you?” He snarled.
“I’m the daughter you claim should never have been born, daddy.” Charlie snarled back emphasizing the word daddy. “Yeah, that’s right, you slimy bastard.” She nodded at his stunned look. “You are the father I never wanted either believe me.”
“You’re Joni’s child?” he whispered. “But you’re a girl.”
“Oh, you noticed that huh?” Charlie sneered. “Ten points for daddy.”
“But Charlie is a boy’s name.” he screamed. “All these years I thought I had a son, not a bitch.”
“Sorry daddy.” Charlie smirked.
“Stop calling me that,” Conrad shouted. “I’m no one’s daddy.”
“That’s for damn sure.” Charlie sneered.
“Shut the fuck up,” he yelled at her. “I was right to kill your mother. Instead of a son, she gave me a fucking daughter. She couldn’t even do that right.”
Charlie broke out of Bull’s hold and stomped over to the man she called daddy a few minutes ago. Conrad was so stunned by her actions he allowed her to get close to him. Then Charlie took her own life in her hands and slapped him. The slap echoed in the warehouse.
Bull quickly dragged her away from the enraged man.
Conrad turned the gun on her for a moment. The rage in his eyes gave him a crazed look and everyone saw his finger tighten on the trigger. “I should kill you where you stand right now.” He growled.
“Why don’t you just do it then?” Charlie screamed. “Kill me like you killed my mother, like you want to kill them.” Her hand swept out toward Bull and Tank. “What’s stopping you, you murdering pig?”
“No I won’t kill you until I’ve made you watch them die.” Conrad moved his gun toward Bull. “I want you to watch me kill them.”
“Maybe I’ll let them watch me kill you instead.” Charlie grabbed at the firearm at Bull waist. She pointed it and cocked the trigger before Conrad could even turn his gun in her direction.
When he saw the weapon pointed at him, he laughed. “You are your mother’s daughter for sure. She pointed a gun at me once too. But she lacked the will power to actually fire the weapon. I don’t think you’re going to shoot that weapon. I am your father and I don’t think you got what it takes to kill a man in cold blood. That takes a killer’s mentality and I don’t think you have that any more than she did. I, on the other hand do have that quality and I’m not afraid to use it when it’s needed.”
A single shot rang out in the quiet. Conrad got a stunned look on his face and slowly he fell to his knees and then to the floor. He landed face down in the dirt and gore on the floor. A red pool slowly grew around him.
For a moment, no one moved then Bull reached out and grabbed the gun from her hand.
Charlie didn’t make a sound but as her eyes rolled back in her head and she began to fall Bull scooped her up into his arms and carried her out of the room. Tank reached down and helped Judge to his feet. Throwing his ar
m around the other man’s shoulders, he helped him walk to the door of the warehouse.
Outside, they were met by the others. Hawk, Mustang and Wild Child were standing together in a loose circle while Bull was off to the side cradling Charlie who was still passed out in his arms. There were about three dozen other people wondering around the dooryard. Some had jackets with the letters FBI while the others sported ATF on them.
Hawk looked at Tank and then over at Bull and Charlie. “What the hell happened in there? We saw Bane come out a back room just as we were coming around the doorway. We didn’t want to spook him, so we waited to make sure he didn’t come running outside.”
“He won’t be coming out, at least not on his own two feet, maybe in a body bag.” Tank snorted.
“You got him?” Mustang nodded. “Good.”
“Not us, her,” Judge stated. “She killed him.”
“Charlie?” Hawk asked stunned. “She killed him? How the hell did that happen?”
“I guess she’s more like her old man than we realized. She just pointed a gun at him and pulled the trigger.” Judge winced in pain as Tank tried to move him.
Tank dropped him and stepped away from the man. Glaring he shook his head. “I don’t fuckin believe you Judge. After everything that man did to her and now you’re still slamming her.”
Judge held up his hand. “I’m not slamming her, just stating a fact. What she did in that warehouse was save our lives. Bane wouldn’t have thought twice about putting a bullet in our brains and walking away without a care in the world. She stopped him.”
“But at what cost to herself?” Hawk asked. “She doesn’t have the heart for killing.”
Mustang nodded at the pair of them, Bull and Charlie. “Oh, I think she’ll do okay. Bull isn’t going let anything bad happen to her. He’ll bring her around.” Shrugging he turned to when Judge was sitting and glared at the other man. “Of course, we may not get him back as part of our team but then I don’t think I’d bring my woman around where she wasn’t wanted either.”
“I didn’t say she wasn’t wanted,” Judge argued.
“That’s all you’ve been saying, maybe not with words but you can feel the hatred you have for her every time you come near her.” Hawk growled. “Your whole body pulses with it every fucking time you look at her. You just can’t get over who her father is, even though she never knew his name until today. You got a real problem man.”