“Come on, city boy. I’ll make sure you don’t lose a finger.”
“A finger? I’m a little more concerned about catching a flying axe to the head!”
“You Americans, always so paranoid,” Niko said in a thick Russian accent. The man liked to turn on his accent whenever it suited him or the situation.
Taking a deep breath, he followed the bulky biker into Unkle John’s compound of death.
“Welcome to Unkle John’s Axe Throw’n Spot.My name is Earl, and I’m the owner of this here fa-cil-ity.” His words were slow and drawn out, giving Reid another moment of worry.
“Umm, what happened to Uncle John?” Reid asked, cautiously looking around in case there were more Earls just waiting in the wings.
“Oh, I’m Unkle John,” the man responded, tipping his brown, brimmed hat at him.
“What?” Reid asked, wondering if perhaps he might have misunderstood the man.
“Didn’t think it was wise, calling this place Earl Johnson’s Axe Throw’n Spot, especially given the outstanding warrant for murder. Seems like sending up a bat signal to police, if you know what I mean.”
Reid’s head snapped toward Niko.
The bastard was chuckling.
“John was Earl’s uncle who passed away last fall. Earl here has a drinking problem and likes to make his customers feel uncomfortable,” Niko explained, shaking his head at the crazy old man.
“Bah, it’s no fun when your stinkin’ ass spoils the game. I didn’t even get a chance to pull out my bloody axe yet,” Earl grumbled.
Reid took a step back from the counter.
“I’ll wait for you over here,” Reid mumbled, slowly backing away from the crazy old man and making his way toward the large field in the back of the compound.
Once they were all settled, Niko passed Reid an axe and pointed him toward the target—a large wooden creature that looked like a cross between a chipmunk and an evil wizard. Whoever carved the darn thing must have really hated chipmunks.
“That thing is creepy,” Reid said, tossing the axe around a few times in his hand.
“You think that’s bad? Check out the one over there.”
Standing in the next section was a giant wooden carving of a pigeon, its wings spread out as it loomed menacingly over a bunch of children it had apparently just taken a shit on.
The detail in the carving was astounding.
Reid let out a chuckle.
“Now that’s one creature that I wouldn’t mind cutting the head off of,” Reid laughed.
“I’ve been hacking at it for years. The damn thing just won’t die,” Nokolai explained, giving the flying rat an evil eye.
Turning his attention back to his target, Reid wondered about his buddy's life since he left New York.
“So when did you first join the Shadow Vipers?” Reid asked.
“Umm, it was about six months after I left New York.”
Reid lined up his throw before launching it toward the mocking target.
Argh!
The back of the axe struck the side of the chipmunk’s evil grin before bouncing off and landing on the ground with a soul-crushing thud.
“Guess I wouldn’t make a great axe-throwing murderer,” Reid huffed, watching as Niko jogged to retrieve the sad-looking axe.
