Chapter Twenty-Eight
T hey got lucky.
Steel caught the man who’d been with Crow before the assassin had played Houdini on them.
“Where’s Crow going?” Justice eyed the perp.
“I don’t know. Nobody ever knows,” the perp said.
Justice squinted and Steel fingered the butt of his weapon.
“I swear,” the guy’s voice wobbled.
“What about Blue?”
“Blue? He has a place in Lancaster that he hangs around a lot.”
The guy was shifty as shit, but Justice felt the need to check the info out.
It was only an hour and twenty-minute drive and as late as it was, traffic would be at a minimum.
“Let’s check Lancaster out before the other address,” he said as they returned to his truck.
Steel agreed.
The boarded-up building sat in a bad part of the city. It was one in a long line of abandoned buildings that covered several blocks.
“Stay,” he told Axel and left the dog in a small notched area that sat just to the right of the outer door.
Pulling his penlight, he quietly opened the door and stepped inside to let his eyes adjust before he flipped on the light.
People scrambled up and away, running further into the building.
The room Justice stepped into looked like a fucking war zone.
Empty gas cans, rags, and trash littered the floor—the smell was horrendous, like a combination of death and decay.
Metal tables lined the walls, their surfaces stained with something that didn’t register at first until the sickening sight of guts on the floor brought him to his senses.
He drew his nine-millimeter and Steel did the same.
Blood covered the metal tabletops and darkened saws, wrenches, and an electric drill with something goopy and wet dripping from the drill bit.
A darkly dressed figure opened fire—the unmistakable sound of a silencer hard to miss.
Snick, snick.
Stucco near his head peppered white into the air and Justice dove for cover one way and Steel dodged the other.
Hopefully, one of these fuckers was Blue, Crow, or Tanis. Maybe they’d get lucky and get all three, then he’d have a reason to call Fisher.
He returned fire and the shooter ran out a far door. Justice was up and following.
Bullets peppered the floor and he felt the burn on his arm. He opened fire at two perps who were gunning for him. They both went down.
People ran screaming, scrambling, and stumbling away through the mess. One even crashed into the wall on his way to the door. What was with all the people? Were they the killers fucking audience?
He launched across the kill room—because it sure the fuck was one—and caught one fleeing figure by the hair. He slammed the fucker’s head into the wall. The man went down and stayed there. Steel returned fire in the other room, but Justice kept going.
His eyes were on the prize of that blackly dressed killer.
The guy was dressed like Crow had been earlier and Justice would bet money it was Crow.
Justice was also sure the guy had been just about to operate the saw before they had come bursting through the door.
Leaping over the two men he’d shot, he made it to the doorway and turned down the hall.
Gunfire followed and he dodged low.
Justice fired, sprinted, and then fired again. Ducking into an open doorway, he swung his arm out and fired down the hall.
Crow fired back.
Justice stepped out, aimed, and fired. The man stumbled and ran, firing behind him as he went. Several more rounds hit the hallway. Justice dodged back. Once the snicks died down, he lunged out and ran after the guy.
Around the next corner, he found a short hallway with two open doors. The first room was empty.
The second one he found Crow sitting on his ass, back leaning against the wall. The silencer was slack in the man’s hand.
Justice stepped forward and kicked the gun away. Crow didn’t move.
Good riddance, motherfucker.
Justice yanked the guy’s hood off.
The man was not Crow.
It was Blue.
Justice felt for a pulse but found none. He stood and carefully and quickly made his way back to Steel.
Entering the room, he found his buddy with two perps sitting on the ground, backs to the wall. One had hate-filled eyes and the other had fear. They both stared at Steel.
The belligerent one with the hate-filled eyes was wearing a plastic workshop apron stained with blood and long plastic work gloves that went halfway up his arms.
“You get off on chopping people up?” Justice growled at the fucker.
He stalked over and crouched at eye level with the guy.
The man curled his lip and smirked like what he was doing was no big deal.
“I need answers about Tanis and Crow, and you’re going to give them to me,” he said.
“Fuck you, pig. I ain’t giving you shit.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong. We aren’t the cops.”
Justice placed the barrel of his silencer beneath the guy’s chin and pulled the trigger.
Blood sprayed the man sitting nearby, who started screaming. Still squatting, Justice aimed his gun at the guy.
“I don’t have much time,” Justice snarled, pressing the gun beneath the trembling man’s chin.
“Justice,” Steel murmured. He’d never seen the cold rage in his friend’s cool blue eyes. Nor the murderous controlled focus. Something was eating at Justice and Steel figured it was because of Fisher. “We need him alive.”
“I’ll leave him alive, barely.”
The perp shuddered and darted Steel a pleading look.
“What is this place?” Steel asked the guy.
“It’s…it’s where they bring people to…”
“Kill?” Justice pressed the gun harder and the man’s neck strained.
“Practice.”
“What kind of people do you practice on?” Steel said.
“Blue…b…brings them.”
“Does Blue run this place?” Justice eased the gun a bit.
“Yes.”
“What about Tanis?” Justice asked.
“Tanis? No. This is Blue’s place.”
“What is the deal between Tanis and Blue?” Steel asked this time.
“They work together,” the guy said.
“What about Crow?” Justice asked.
Just the mention of Crow’s name had the guy shaking.
“I…I don’t know.”
Justice pressed his gun again, but the guy shook his head emphatically with eyes wide with fear.
“Axel, come,” Justice called his dog.
When the Belgian Malinois barreled into the room, the man gasped and tried to scoot as far away as possible.
“He eats perps for dinner, so fucking start talking,” Justice said.
“I swear, I don’t know. But I can tell you that Blue works for Tanis.”
“Blue is dead,” Justice said flatly.
Relief swept through the young man’s eyes.
“Tell us about Crow,” Steel said.
“Crow hasn’t been around long, that I know of, but for some reason, Tanis trusts him.” The perp’s brow wrinkled as if he wasn’t sure about their relationship.
Justice stared at the perp until he started trembling.
“You give Tanis a message for me. Tell him that I’m coming for him.”
The man stared at him in shock, mouth slightly opened.
“And you tell Crow he should clear out because if he gets in my way, he’s a dead man.”
The perp’s lips trembled.
“You hear me?” Justice asked very, very quietly.
Axel growled low in his throat.
“Yes, I hear you.”
It wasn’t until they were back in his truck that Steel spoke.
“You were like a war machine back there, bud.”
“I left that last one alive, didn’t I?”
“That’s not what I’m talking about. You shot two of them before getting identification. What if they were victims?”
“With guns? Hardly.” Justice punched the button for the radio and music filled the cab.
“I’m only say—”
Justice tapped and the volume blared, cutting off Steel’s words.
“What? I can’t hear you.”
Steel shot him the middle finger.
Justice laughed and gunned it, taking the on-ramp that would take them back toward home.
He felt better after killing those fuckers. And a quick call to Savage had the cleaning crew coming in. Every trace of that shit would be wiped out and cleaned up.
Justice wouldn’t be surprised if they burned it after getting rid of the bodies.
No more kill room.
Next on the list was no more Tanis and Crow.