I looked at him sternly and he threw his hands up in defeat, knowing that I was never going to back down from a challenge.
“It looks to me like Jonathan has outlived his usefulness. That is a cleanup crew, and I suspect the woman on top of him is in there as some kind of distraction to keep him busy long enough for them take him unaware. I called my brothers, but it’s going to take them a few minutes to get here and we don’t have the time to waste.” He handed me a silver revolver that was heavy in my hands, but it made me feel powerful to have it loaded and ready to fire.
“I’ve had my fair share of time shooting at the range, but I’ve never done anything like firing on another human being. Do you have any tips about how to settle down my nerves?” My hand was trembling, and my mind was coming up with worst-case scenarios.
He planted his lips on me, but this kiss was unlike the others. This was meant to quell the doubts in my mind.
This was rushed and spontaneous with very little time to get ready for it. He was holding the back of my head, running his hands through my hair and forcefully injecting his tongue into my mouth to keep me from losing my composure.
The windows did fog up until he finally pulled back with his teeth gripping onto my lower lip. There was a static charge that made my clothes stick to me like a second skin. The butterflies in my stomach were no longer an issue and his declaration of desire had brought me a sense of peace in an otherwise chaotic atmosphere.
“The only thing you have to remember is to keep the safety off. A moving target is far more difficult to hit than a stationary one. Breathe deeply and keep in mind that he won’t feel any remorse for shooting you dead in the street. I have to trust that you know what you’re doing and will do what is necessary when you’re painted into a corner. My brothers are going to hate me for putting you in the line of fire, but I need all the firepower I can get.”
I wasn’t sure if he was placating me, but I felt that he trusted me to have his back.
He was out the door and retrieving two guns from underneath his armpits. They were menacing looking, and I knew them to have the kick of a stubborn mule. The black matte barrels looked intimidating and could definitely give somebody food for thought about tangling with such a weapon.
“I’m going in the front. I want you to circle around the back and make your way up the stairs. Keep your eyes and ears open. You have the instincts and you’re going to have to count on that to keep you alive.” He had both guns at his side and I was holding mine with both hands.
We made our way down the incline that was perfectly manicured by the city in their effort to beautify the other side of the tracks.
There was a young woman strung out on crack, looking anorexic walking the street looking for some action in bright pink hot pants. She had a cigarette between her cracked lips, puffing the nicotine into her lungs and expelling it in rings that billowed into the air.
She saw us approaching and immediately stamped out the cigarette with her red stiletto heels. She was in sorry shape and I stopped to show her the compassion of giving her a few dollars to call it a night.
She looked to me with bloodshot eyes and motioned for me to join her in the alley to conduct this transaction in a more physical way. I had to make sure that she wasn’t obligated to perform for me.
“I want you take this money and take the rest of the night off.” She looked at the stack of cash and smiled sweetly with one tooth missing.
She stepped back into the shadows before retreating into the building next to this one. I thought I saw a tear of gratitude in her eyes, but maybe that was my overactive imagination.
Caleb was already at the front door and there was a man stationed inside waiting for anything out of the ordinary. The glass was going to make it difficult for him to make an approach. A female touch was necessary. He looked at me like I was crazy when I knocked on the door with him pressed up against the brick façade out of sight and out of mind.
“Come on… I can’t find my key and I have been drinking. I just want to go to bed.” I was making a scene with my voice loud enough to be heard through an open window.
It would definitely get somebody’s attention. I fished my purse frantic to find my key.
I was depending on this man not to want the authorities called to a domestic dispute. He looked around nervously trying to figure out what to do and finally decided to face this head on.
“You really should find someplace else to sleep tonight.” I pretended not to hear him and began shaking the door with his hand drawn to the gun at his hip. “It’s in your best interest to walk away while you still can.” I could feel my heart hammering in my chest.
“I don’t have my hearing aid in. Have a heart and let me sleep this off while I’m still standing.” I was purposely slurring my words and swaying back and forth on my feet like I was listening to some unseen music in my head.
He got flustered and flicked the lock open, making me take a step back to give him room to confront me on the top step. His hand was firmly on the gun in his holster, but he had yet to show any kind of force.
“I don’t want there to be any misunderstanding. Go to a friend and see if you can sleep on their couch for the night. Trust me; this is not a place that you want to be associated with.”
I was luring him to come closer with my hand on my sweater tugging it from my waistband to give him a brief peak of my taut stomach.
I was impressed that Caleb used the butt end of his gun to render him unconscious. He very carefully unscrewed the light bulb in the lobby, bathing it in darkness. He came back and dragged the unconscious form of this big man into the lobby where he was not going to be seen.
He didn’t say anything, but he made his point abundantly clear by the way that he was gesturing for me to go around back. He smiled, breaking his stone cold façade and showing that he was impressed by how I was able to adapt to the situation.
I carefully began walking with a confidence that I didn’t feel. My body was pressed up against the building and I was sidestepping all the way to the back. The gun was in front of my face with both hands holding onto it with a force that made my fingers shake and my eyes were open wide.
I was breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth to corral that nervous energy in the air. It would’ve been far more enjoyable to be in the car with Caleb's face out of sight underneath my skirt. I had worn a new pair of panties—crotchless and accessible to his serpent tongue.
I lost my focus thinking about something more pleasing than using the gun to defend myself. The cold steel touched the back of my head and I heard those words that made my skin crawl.
“You’re in a bad part of town.” I wasn’t expecting this kind of opposition, but there was no way that I could get a shot off without feeling the recoil of his gun going off against my skull.
Chapter fourteen
Bryce
It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time. She looked terrified, white as a ghost, and the gun in her hand dropped unceremoniously to the cold and unforgiving pavement at her feet.
I had seen that same look on Devon’s face when I was racing through the streets ignoring the red lights. His fingers were digging into the dashboard and he was breathing like he was in labor, heavily with his eyes wide open the entire ride.
He had gone in the front and I had made a conscious choice to retreat to the back to come at this from a different angle. I was little angry at Caleb when I found Rachel looking like a deer in the headlights. I had forgotten how she was a force of nature and nobody—not even Caleb—was going to be able to stop her from doing her part.
They couldn’t see me from where I was standing, the pitch-black swallowing me whole.
I was about to intervene when I witnessed the fire of the lion inside of her. I thought losing the gun was the fear getting the best of her, but she had other ideas. She turned quickly and relieved him of the gun with a move that had me at a loss for words.
I lowered my weapon and watched, fascinated by how this woman with delicate curves had turned into a wild animal. The two-handed slap to his ears made him a little unbalanced. He was experiencing a loss of equilibrium, but it was only temporary.
He swung a ham hock fist at her face and she was able to dodge the attack by ducking underneath it. One blow would have dropped her like a sack of potatoes, but she was one step ahead.
She moved her feet in behind him and crippled him by going after the back of his knee. The impact to the pavement made him grunt in response.
I heard what sounded like a car backfiring three times in rapid succession. I had to get inside the building to help even the odds. Caleb had told us on the phone that there were ten in total, but there could be more coming if things didn’t go according to plan.
“This will teach you to swing in anger at a woman.” She leveled a blow to his uprights followed by a knee to the bridge of his nose.
He swung wildly trying to grab her, but she easily sidestepped until she was behind him in a uniform chokehold. I felt like I should do something, but she had everything well in hand. The woman was full of surprises and I knew every day was going to be something to remember.
“Are you going to stand there and watch or are you going to frisk him for other weapons?” I blinked back into focus not realizing that she knew I was there the entire time. “I’m glad you think that I can handle this. I’ve proven that I’m not some dainty little flower that you have to protect.” The fight in the man was dying off with his hands lying loosely at his sides.
I searched him and found a pair of brass knuckles and another gun strapped to his ankle. His eyes were closed, but I was afraid that he might be playing possum. It appeared that Rachel was thinking the same thing.
She kept the pressure on until she was reasonably certain that there was no way that he was going to turn the tables with some kind of counterattack.
“Stay here and cover us. Devon is at the front doing the same thing. Caleb is their worst enemy, but it’s possible the numbers are going to get the best of him.” She raised the gun and fired with the deafening sound leaving me with this terrible ringing in my ears.
I thought for a moment that she was going to shoot me, but she had seen somebody over my shoulder sneaking up on me. The barrel in her hand was freshly smoking from the exit of the bullet that had found its target right between the eyes.
The man’s gun finger twitched, but he wasn’t able to get a shot off before dropping with no life in his eyes.
“You better get going. There’s no telling what their reaction is going to be to the gunshot. They will want to investigate and send somebody down to check things out. Take the stairs and avoid the elevator.”
I kissed the top of her head and held her for a few seconds before releasing her.
“A woman like you should not have to be in a position to kill anybody. The first one is always the hardest and his face will stay with you no matter what you do to forget. I would suggest therapy. I found it beneficial when I came back a shell of the man that I was when I left.” She didn’t know that I had consulted with a licensed psychologist, but it took an inner strength to admit that I had a problem.
“It hasn’t sunk in and maybe that’s for the best. I really don’t have time to think about this and neither do you.” She was right, but I was reluctant to let her go.
I raced to the back door and found it open.
The stairwell had a discarded needle and I plucked it from the metal stairway and deposited it into the trash can. I didn’t want any unsuspecting child to stumble upon it and cause themselves harm.
A man was sitting in his filth with a plain paper bag lying next to him clutched in his fist. I could smell the alcohol on his putrid breath and see that his teeth were rotting out of his mouth.
I was about to step over him when I was hit by surprise by the pristine condition of his shoes. They were black and polished to a shine with not one scuff mark to be seen. His hands were hidden from view underneath the ratty green army jacket that had seen better days.
I made an about-face with my gun drawn. It was exactly like those children that looked innocent playing in the street in Afghanistan. It was deceiving to see their innocent faces, but we had learned to scrutinize everything down to the minute detail.
The one thing that rarely ever changed was a person’s shoes. No self-respecting bum would be wearing $1000 wingtips when they could get a pretty penny at a pawnshop or secondhand store for them.
“I want you to take your hands out of your jacket very slowly and don’t make any sudden movements. I’m not going to ask you a second time.” I quickly and with the finesse of a warrior flicked the safety off with my finger on the trigger. “I think it’s fair to warn you that I shoot first and ask questions later.” He raised his head and removed the hood with the smile of a silver-tongued devil.
“What gave me away? It was the shoes. I should always remember to take my shoes off if I’m going to hide in plain sight.” He spit the mouthpiece out of his mouth revealing a gold tooth in the front gleaming in the light.
“Assume the position.” He got on his feet and I stayed far enough away to avoid getting into hand to hand combat.
I had him in a pair of zip ties and used my belt to secure his feet making sure that he was not going to be able to run away to warn the others. I took off one of his socks and gagged him with it. He was dry heaving choking on the stench of his own feet.
I pulled open the door to the hallway and heard two more bullets followed by somebody unloading a clip. It was the same old shit.
There didn’t seem to be any way to escape my past. This was an urban jungle and the only thing that was different from the stifling heat of Afghanistan was the rules of the game.
We had to take into consideration the possibility of the police coming in with their guns blazing. I saw a shadow coming out of a room with the door riddled with bullets. There was blood on his shoulder darkly staining the jacket that he was wearing. The smell of gunfire made me smile despite the danger with every step.
The man turned and was summarily propelled against the wall with blood trailing down until he was slumped and no longer a part of the problem. I stuck my head around the corner to see the lone form of Caleb standing with both guns smoking.
There was a high-pitched squeal and it wasn’t coming from a woman. A naked man covered in the blood of others cowered on his knees at Caleb’s feet. He was tugging on his jean pant leg and getting no sympathy from Caleb.
“Please…don’t kill me… I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. They offered me a deal that I couldn’t refuse. I should have known it was too good to be true. I don’t know why they even bothered to come after me. I don’t even know… I don’t even know who put the money in my account. It was all done anonymously.” Jonathan was spilling his guts for no other reason than he was terrified of what Caleb was going to do.
Chapter fifteen
Rachel
Jonathan was whimpering and quite unresponsive when we finally got him in the car. My hand was shaking, and I vividly recalled the shot that took that man’s life. Somebody was holding my hand and I looked up at Devon’s smiling face to find solace in his eyes.
“We stole the car that we used to get here. We wore gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints.” I was no longer a piece of meat or a conquest on Bryce’s belt buckle.
The car sped down the street with the sirens in the distance getting closer by the second. Caleb was driving and there was blood on his hands from becoming a one-man army against overwhelming odds.
One man was unconscious, trussed up like an animal in the lobby waiting to be discovered. Another one was lying in a pool of his drool at the side of the building, and another one was dead not more than a few feet away.
Bryce had confirmed that he had met some opposition in the stairwell and had taken care of it. That left six unaccounted for. They were found to be permanently incapacitated by Caleb’s
guns that were still smoking from the many times he had pulled the trigger with deadly precision.
“Jonathan is the middleman in all of this. His knowledge of those that are paying him is minimal at best. We have no choice but to keep him in our custody no matter how much his blubbering is driving me crazy.” Caleb was forthright with no wasted motion and something ice cold was running through his veins.
“I’m inclined to agree with you. He might have started all of this, but it goes deeper than one man.” I was speaking my mind and doing my best to try to keep things together without rocking back and forth in the fetal position muttering nonsense under my breath.
“I have several safe houses and there’s one in the city that could help us to disappear until we figure out what our next move is. Nobody knows that we were there and there’s no reason why we can’t go about business as usual.” Devon stated, not knowing about the woman I helped earlier who, questioned with proper motivation, could relay my description to any beat cop worth his salt.
“I don’t want to rain on your parade, but there is a potential problem we need to talk about. There was a witness, but her recollection could be spotty because of narcotic abuse. I could see in her eyes that she wasn’t entirely there, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have something important to say to anybody that will listen. Money is the root of all evil.” I was choked up and feeling like my tongue was bigger than my mouth.
“I gave her a reason to keep her mouth shut. Violence isn’t always the answer and sometimes a little finesse goes a long way. I placed an envelope underneath the door of the room that was briefly lit up like the 4th of July when she went back in to sleep it off. There was $1000 and a veiled threat indicating that I know where she lives.” Caleb’s efficiency was hard to see for what it was.
“There’s still the possibility they could coerce a statement out of her. Drop me off and I’ll make my way back to sit on her until the crime scene is vacant.”
Triple Threat_An MFMM Reverse Harem Romance Page 7