20. Harry
This warehouse gives me a creepy feel. I don’t even need to check because there is just an icy cold sensation around it. It feels evil, like a place where terrible crimes are committed. I’ve been to dreadful places in my career. You can’t be a Navy SEAL and not face evil, but this is something else.
“Time to go,” I whisper to myself as I curl my fist around my gun. “Time to face this already.”
I touch the chip in my arm, knowing that I would never attempt this alone if it weren’t for Petra. I wouldn’t dive headfirst into the lion’s den and risk my life. It’s just stupid. There is being brave and being dumb. But I can’t wait for Max or the cops to get here, especially without knowing that I’m definitely correct. So, I need to check out this warehouse and make sure this is the place. After that… well, I don’t know.
I step closer, my blood running colder the nearer I get. I’ve never felt like this before and it’s unnerving. I can’t get my head straight to focus clinically on this. My emotions are getting in the way.
“Who the fuck are you?” A shadow steps out from behind the door. I can’t see who it is, what this person looks like, but their aura is enough. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing out here? It isn’t exactly the sort of place where you might just stumble here by mistake, is it? So, what are you up to?”
“I want Petra.” There is no point in beating around the bush. “I know she’s here. Where is she?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about here, mate,” the voice replies, still from the shadows. I guess whoever it is doesn’t want me to see their face. “There isn’t anyone here you want.”
“Petra is here.” I know it even more now. She’s definitely here or this man would deny it in some kind of convincing way. “I know she is, and I want to see her. I am not here to play games, do you hear me?”
All of a sudden, my sharp ears hear footsteps behind me. I swish around just as a man jumps on top of me. Then another, and possibly even a third one. I don’t know. I can’t see, but I can feel attacks coming from every angle. Punches, kicks, stomps… the gun is slipping away as well. My one piece of protection, they are taking it from me. However hard my fingers try to grip onto it, I can’t make that happen. This attack has shocked me, and with three all going at me with no care what they do to me, I can’t win.
Knowing that the best thing I can do is act defeated, I slump as if they have me. Knocked me out, maybe. That way, they will stop attacking and we’ll see what’s going to happen next.
“Get him inside,” someone hisses. “The boss is going to want to meet this man as soon as possible.”
They try to work out who I am as they drag me inside, but they’re too dumb to have any real idea. I’m glad that I can pick up every word, though, because it gives me something of an advantage. I know that we’re headed inside the warehouse to meet the Mob boss, and I can also be certain that Petra is inside.
“Ah, and here he is.” I snap my eyes open at the commanding voice I assume is attached to the boss. I find myself staring at an angry, evil looking man. Someone who I think could be in charge of an organized crime group. “The fucking hero. The absolute man of the hour, come to save a little slut.” He lets out such a nasty laugh, which makes me want to smack him in his stupid face. The only reason I don’t is that I know these goons around me have weapons and I don’t anymore. “You really think she is worth losing your life over? Hmm? Ruining your life? You don’t even know her.”
“Anyone is worth saving,” I reply coldly. “Especially when they haven’t done anything wrong.”
“You think the whore is innocent?” He cocks a knowing eyebrow at me, trying to wind me up. I’m not going to rise to the bait, though. “You think she isn’t a bossy slut? A crazy bitch who doesn’t deserve everything that’s happening to her? And even if you do think all those things, it doesn’t matter. She is owned by her husband, isn’t she? She chose to marry him, so whatever he wants to do to her is up to him.”
I’m shocked at what I’m hearing. I can’t believe that this is even being said in this day and age. Aren’t we far beyond a time when men ‘own’ women? This is so messed up that I don’t even know what to say.
“Right, I can see that you’re finally starting to get it.” The boss nods, pleased with himself. The rage inside me builds and floods me, but I refuse to let it show. “You’re getting my point of view. So, how would you like to walk away from this with your life intact? You can if you want to.”
“With Petra,” I shoot back. “She needs to walk away from this as well.”
This is met with more laughter. “She really has gotten under your skin, hasn’t she? She really has gotten to you. Yeah, she will do that. She’s manipulative, isn’t she? Really good at seducing men and making them do what she wants. It’s what she’s been doing for years. You are just the latest victim.”
I don’t buy it. I won’t. I refuse to listen to that. It’s absolute bullshit. I don’t think that Petra is that way at all. I do know her. I know that she’s a much better person than this man is describing. He’s the one who doesn’t know her at all. He probably hasn’t even met Petra, has he? Asshole.
“Okay, well I’m not an unreasonable man.” The boss shrugs his shoulders. “I can strike a deal with you. In fact, I have a really good plan. I have someone I need to get rid of, and you can take your slut.”
I grit my teeth together in anger. I really fucking hate him calling Petra names, but I just can’t give him what he wants. I can’t explode because it gives them a reason to kill me and Petra as well.
“Get him out.” The boss nods toward one of the guys who brought me in. As I glance behind me, I see that there were actually five of them who got me. No wonder I couldn’t fight them off. “Now.”
A door is unlocked and a man is brought through into the room. He’s tossed to the floor, making blood from previous injuries splatter everywhere. This man has been beaten so badly I don’t know if he’ll survive. I’m surprised that he’s made it this long. I can hardly stand to look at him in this state.
“Gag him,” the boss growls. “I don’t want to listen to him screaming. I can’t stand it.”
I avert my eyes as this man is put through more torment, more humiliation. It’s a show for me, probably to let me know what might happen to me, but I don’t want to see it. I don’t have to, so I refuse.
“Now, hero.” I look back at the boss. “This is Jake, Petra’s husband. Someone I should be able to trust as part of my organization, but he fucked up. He messed up bad. He lost our gold mine, a woman I would have been able to sell for a lot of money. A woman who was linked to a very wealthy family, who could have gotten us a lot of cash, but he lost her. He let her run away, can you believe it?” I say nothing. I have absolutely nothing to say to that. “He fucked up, and now I want him gone. He’s a mess.”
I try to see the man through his injuries, to see who Petra married. I have to admit that he looks a little older than I was expecting, but then she never really described him, did she? So, I suppose I don’t know. He might look worse because of the way he’s been beaten. He shakes his head hard and fast at me, but I won’t feel any sympathy for him. No way. He married Petra with the intention of stealing from her and selling her off to a sex trafficking ring. I can’t feel sorry for him just because his criminal lifestyle has now been turned around on him. This is fucking karma. It’s what he deserves.
“So, here is your gun.” The guy who took it from me hands it back to me. “You kill Jake, and you and Petra can leave. No worries. You go your way, never speak of this, and we will go ours. Our paths will never pass again.” He can clearly see that I don’t believe him. “Come on. Why would I give you your gun if I didn’t mean this? I could just shoot you right here. Right now, you could kill me, not that I would recommend it. I’m surrounded by men who would have you dead in a heartbeat. Petra too. But him.” He points back to Jake, and my eyes follow. “Think about all the things he did to Petra. I’m sure she told you.”
I lift my hand, shaking desperately as I do so. I don’t want to do this, much as I hate this fucking man and I want him dead to free Petra, but I don’t want to be a killer in this goddamn dirty warehouse.
“You have to do it,” the boss continues. “For Petra. She will thank you for it. You’ll be freeing her, and then the pair of you can walk away free. Skip off into the fucking sunset for all I care.”
“I kill this man and that’s the end of it?” I’m a stickler for the finer details when it comes to asshole criminals because I don’t know what I can and can’t trust. “There will be no more.”
“Sure, that’s what I said, isn’t it?” The boss rolls his eyes. “Just do it already, will you?”
I stare at the man, the idiot who wanted to sell off Petra like she was nothing, even though she’s worth the fucking world, and I point the gun at him. After only one short breath, I do what the boss wants me to. I pull the trigger and watch as the bullet slams into his skull and ends his life in a heartbeat.
It sucks. I didn’t come here wanting to do that, but it’s over now. If it frees Petra, then it will be worth it. She’ll understand why I had to do it and I’m sure she won’t be upset that he’s gone. But still, it makes me feel heavy. I don’t like when a situation comes to this. I don’t like the death in my life.
“Right.” The boss looks so pleased with himself, his shit eating grin turns my stomach. “Let’s get Petra out here now. See what her little hero has done. I’m sure she’s going to be so fucking happy.”
My gut tells me that I’ve been tricked somehow, that this is all about to go to shit, and I’m terrified. If they bring Petra out and she’s already been killed, then I will lose my fucking mind. I don’t even know what I will do, but it won’t be good for any of these people. I don’t think that anyone will make it out alive.