The rest of us backed further into our cages as the young girl screamed in pain, chunks of blood and broken teeth flying out of her mouth as she cried. My stomach ached with fear and anger at what these people were doing to us, what myhusbandwas doing to us. I could feel my back screaming in agony from the blistered wounds as I shoved myself against the back of the cage. Emily cried softly beside me in her cage and I slipped my hand through the bars to link with hers.
She lifted her head the moment our hands joined together, her eyes pooling with heavy tears. I tried to give her a brave face, to show her that maybe things would be okay but I couldn’t. I couldn’t lie to her and I couldn’t lie to myself either.
I prayed and begged and pleaded to anyone up above who would listen to me that we’d find a way out of this place, thatDean would come for me but everyday that passed, that wish slowly drifted away until it became nothing at all.
Just a whisper in the wind.
My husband covers his tracks well. He’s clever and manipulative and he has some very powerful people in his back pockets that he could always turn to if shit went south. If Dean is going to find me, he and Eli are going to have to dig deep into the archives of Ricky’s life to even have a chance at finding this place.
The sound of a girl being thrown into her cage knocks me out of my trance, the heavy metal bars slamming shut echo around the dark space. Finalising her stay here. She curls herself into a small ball in the corner of the cage, the front of her robe stained a bright crimson from the blood that’s pouring out of her mouth. My gaze stays locked on hers as she lifts her head, our eyes connected for a split second before she looks back down again.
In that moment something passed between us. An understanding of sorts that we’re all in this together. That maybe we’ll never see each other again after this.
Sawdust flies into the air before swirling away in the warm breeze that brushes over my skin. I go to push the next plank of wood through the circular saw when my phone rings in my back pocket.
“Eli? You got something?” I say with haste.
“Yeah. I’ve found one of Ricky’s dealers. He doesn’t know that I know that, so you’ll need to go undercover as a buyer. We ambush him at the location and question him.”
Trepidation fills my veins. I haven’t used my weapons since my last job. I never thought I needed to, but now I need to bring out the man I buried a long time ago.
“What do you need me to do?” I say with a voice that’s unrecognisable to me.
“Bring everything you have. I’ll have comms ready and I’ll text you the location. This fucker is pretty sleezy so we’ll need to watch our backs.” He pauses for a moment, then speaks again. “You ready for another job?”
What Eli doesn’t realise is that I’m more than ready. I’ll lay mylife down to get Ana back and if this means slipping back into that dark mask, I’ll do just that.
“I’m ready.” I say with determination.
Eli ends the call and I turn off the power tools before heading back inside, finding Lyla snoozing away near the front door. Lightly I step over her and make my way into the bedroom, the scent of Ana’s fragrance hits me full force everytime I come in here and my knees nearly buckle from the memory of her. Gripping the door frame until it creaks under the pressure, I give myself a moment to get my shit together before opening up the closet doors and shoving the clothes aside to reveal a wooden panel that I lift away. A gray safe sits central inside the cavity wall.
I can feel my head beginning to ache at the memories of previous jobs and my time in the Marines, gunshots and crunching metal echo in my ears. I can’t let myself fuck this up. I’ll drench the world in blood to save the woman I love.
Inhaling heavily through my nose, I collect my thoughts before turning the dial on the safe, the mechanisms clicking, releasing the door. Inside I find several hand guns, semi automatics and knives. My rifle stays firmly planted under the bed. What I have planned for this fucker, I’ll need close range weapons. He’ll give me exactly what I want, and then I’ll smear his insides across the floor.
I grab a black holdall bag from the bottom of the closet and place the weapons inside with several boxes of ammunition before dipping my hand back inside to grab an item right at the back. The rough material feels like home the moment I wrap my hands around it and bring it out to the light.
The balaclava sits heavy in my hands, a horrifying face staring back at me. A face that many have seen before their last fewseconds on earth. A face that will probably haunt them until the end of time.
I brush my fingers over the menacing smile with a forked tongue that graces the bottom half of the balaclava, feeling it’s dark energy pumping through my bloodstream. The deaths I’ve caused whilst wearing this face thrum through me like a heavy, hypnotic beat and I can almost hear the agonising cries in my ears.
“It’s nice to see you again, Viper.” I murmur to the open air before shoving the mask into the bag, then proceeding to lock up the safe and get changed.
After about an hour or so, I’m slipping behind the wheel of the Raptor and heading over to the location Eli provided for me. Gray clouds wash over the sky as I leave the town of Rockford behind, the quaint shops of the main street getting smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror the further I drive away.
Tension coils in my stomach like barbed wire as I pull up to a run down warehouse where I see Eli’s truck in the distance, hidden behind a dense treeline. I pull up at the side of him and shut off the engine, basking the open space in a heavy silence again. The dark window of his truck rolls down to reveal him, his brows furrowed in a frown as he scours the screen on his laptop.
“Alright. The dealer should be here soon.” He says whilst checking the time on his watch. “You got everything you need?” He asks, turning to face me.
“Yeah. The moment he hands over the cocaine, we hit him. We won’t have the time to take him to another location so we’ll have toquestionhim here and get creative with it.” I say, my mind flooding with ideas of how I can get this fucker to bleed.
Eli smirks at my words. “I knew you’d slip right back into it again, Viper.”
The call sign rings like alarm bells in my ears and I can feel the pull of the mask in my bag, my hands itching to slip it over my face but I can’t yet. I need this cunt to believe that I’m here to buy drugs from him.
The sound of crunching gravel has our heads whipping over to the warehouse where a shitty beat up car pulls to a stop before flicking the headlights off. In an instant Eli’s phone lights up, signaling that the dealer is ready to meet.
“Go get em tiger!”
