Racing toward the archway that leads into the sitting area, I make sure to keep Jack and Amir between me and whatever just crashed into my house.
“That MOTHER FUCKER! HE’S DEAD! HE’S FUCKING DEAD!” There’s an Aston Martin parked in my den. MY Aston Martin. There’s a massive hole where a large picture window used to be. The SUV smashed into the bar, deploying the airbags and smashing the front end all to shit.
My stomach is roiling and I think I might be sick.
“Find him. Now. Find him and kill him. Do what I paid you to do! FUCK!”
Joseph goes over to the car and pulls something out. The horn instantly goes quiet, and the engine is no longer roaring.
Behind us, I hear the distinct sound of a bullet passing through a silencer. Two bullets in quick succession.The music...it’s quieter. It’s on, but it’s been turned down. Jack and Amir must hear what I hear because they turn in rapid unison toward the sound. The sound we wouldn’t have heard if the music had still been at full blast.
Duke and Malachi are on the floor. Duke is face down with a knife in his back. It’s the biggest knife I’ve ever seen in real life. This is not a throwing knife. It’s some “Crocodile Dundee” bullshit. Next to his body is Malachi. Malachi’s body lies at an odd angle, but it’s clear that he likely saw Duke fall and turned to face the threat. Eli. That’s when the bullets we heard shot him directly through his eyes. Both eyes. The sight is gruesome, but it doesn’t affect me quite like seeing my three-hundred-thousand-dollar SUV destroyed inside my fucking house.
Wait, how did he do that?He can’t have been in two places at once.He isn’t alone.Someone else either wrecked my car or killed these men. Eli didn’t do both.
“He’s got help.” Joseph voices the thoughts in my head.
“Yeah. We need to get the girl down here. We have to draw him out.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, one of the hostages steps out of an upstairs room onto the landing. One of Vaughn’s friends. The blond one.How is he untied? Eli. This is his help.He freed the hostages. No. He freed the guys. There’s no way he got into the room Vaughn is in. That’s my bedroom. I’ve made sure it’s perfectly safe from the outside, and we would’ve seen someone entering through the door. Men like me have enemies. Never can be too careful.
Guns turn in the man’s direction as he tosses something into the middle of the room. Whatever it is splits midair before clanking to the floor.
“Grenades!” The word is shouted from everywhere. Jack, Amir, Joseph, and Emmett all dive for cover before I realize what’s happening.
Two explosions ring out as I jump behind a pillar. Shrapnel hits all over the room. Cries of pain mix with my own screams and the excruciating pain in my hip. Something hit me. It felt like being hit with a mace. It hit me so hard, I was knocked off my feet and dropped my gun. The fear of not holding the gun in my hand outweighs the almost debilitating pain in my hip, and I scramble on the ground to reach it.
“Who’s with me?” Joseph calls out to get a life count.
“6!”
“4!”
“3!”
Four. That’s four. We didn’t lose anyone.
My ears are ringing, and my head is pounding. The blast was so loud and too close.
“On your feet. Eyes up! Finger on the trigger! Let’s get this son of a bitch!” My sentiments are echoed in Joseph’s words. He’s angry. This asshole killed two of his men and injured what’s left.
Using the pillar to steady myself, I stand and wince at the pain in my hip. “Fuck.” There’s a hole in my slacks over the injury. It’s bleeding, and I can feel something deep in the flesh there.
A rough, soulful timbre comes through the sound system.That mother fucker! Fucking mind games! Dirty Dancing? Are you kidding me with this shit?
Now I’ve had the time of my life
No, I never felt this way before
Yes, I swear, it’s the truth
And I owe it all to you.
“That’s enough! Fuckin’ kill this asshole already!” It was irritating when he was killing all the men I paid for. Infuriating when he destroyed my car. It’s untenable now that he’s made me bleed. It’s time for Elijah Washington to die. “Get the girl. He won’t be so quick to throw grenades with her in here.”
Amir heads up the stairs while Jack, Joseph, and Emmett watch the perimeter of the room. Emmett is dragging his left leg, and Jack’s right arm is hanging limply at his side. Amir and Joseph have some scrapes, but it could’ve been worse. We’re all still breathing. This asshole won’t be for much longer.
Amir reaches the top of the stairs and turns to the door the blonde freak show stepped out of to throw the grenades, and he opens fire. Bullets penetrate the door and the wall. No way he survived that.
Amir moves down the hall to the room I put Vaughn in. Not sure how he’ll react when he sees her tied up, but I’m banking on survival mode kicking in and him just doing what needs to be done. He disappears inside the room and...nothing.The music is too loud to hear if he’s talking up there, but he’s taking too long.Something isn’t right.
