Chapter 7
SEVEN
STAN
Playlist recommendation:
Slither - Velvet Revolver
When an asscunt lumbered out of a room, one hand dragging on a pair of boxer briefs, the other with a loaded gun, I didn’t hesitate—I raised my weapon and shot him in the head.
As blood and brain matter exploded, raining down on the hall like a nightmare come to life, I ducked my head through the doorway, praying that the fucker hadn’t left Kitty behind.
That he hadn’t—
Gésu.
I couldn’t think of it. If I did, I’d want everyone in this godforsaken building to suffer an excruciating death at my hand—one where their blood boiled in their veins, where their eyes bled toxic tears. No death was violent enough for these bastards.
When I saw the poor creature on the bed, the sheets clutched to her chest, mouth parted yet too terrified to scream in the face of an armed man, I held up my hands to show her I meant no harm.
It took me too long to realize that I was staring at an actual child.
She slurred something that my brain struggled to translate. The hindbrain had taken over, which meant my IQ was a fuck ton lower than usual. But her tone alone told me they’d drugged her.
Shaking my head, hoping that’d make it work, I finally tuned into what she’d said:
“Don’t hurt me. Help me. Please. Help me get out of here. They won’t let me leave. I just want my mama—”
Well aware that I had to help but that she was no longer in immediate danger, unlike Kitty, I turned to Luigi. “Take her away from this place. And be careful. She’s only a child.”
“Se, Capo,” he replied, expression darkening with rage that immediately faded as he held out his hands in front of him and stepped into the room.
“He’ll keep you safe,” I told the girl in Albanian. “And if he doesn’t, I’ll cut off his balls.”
Though she gulped, she nodded in relief. “They took her to the back.”
I narrowed my eyes. “How do you know that?”
“You think men start a fight for any random girl in here?” Her mouth twisted. “No. This one was special. I heard Armend Bakalli… the man you just… he was talking to someone on the phone before you…” She shuddered with revulsion.
Which meant the figghiu ri buttana I’d killed had been raping her while we besieged his base!
I pointed to him. “High-ranking?”
“One of the highest.”
Filing away that information, I asked, “Where is the back? This place is like a maze.”
“If you go right, you’ll see a set of steps. You need to go down a floor, and then when you’re at the foot of the staircase, turn left.”
Fuck. We’d been going the wrong way.
I glanced out of the hallway, calibrating her directions for the movie in my mind. I turned to thank her but noticed that her upper chest was covered in fresh cigarette burns.
“Bastard,” I snarled, wincing when she jerked in fear, scrabbling into the headrest. Knowing the damage was done, to Luigi, I ordered, “Get her medical care and cover her with something, even if it’s your jacket.”
At his immediate approach, she tugged the sheet higher.
Aware that I couldn’t soothe her pain, I offered, “He will help you. We all will.”
Her eyes flared. Mostly, I sensed, with fear and disbelief.
Still, I left Luigi to it, knowing that I was the only one on my Stidda who spoke Albanian. I felt like shit for abandoning her to strange men she couldn’t talk to, but Kitty’s ringing cry echoed in my head.
I couldn’t be too late. I just couldn’t be. Fuck.
By the time we made it to the staircase, the Albanians had called in reinforcements.
Before we could take a step, shots were fired. Dead To Me pulled out a smoke bomb and lobbed it down the stairs. Seconds later, we were struggling to see through the goddamn smoke.
“Where the hell did you get that from?” Luciu snarled at her.
“Stop being a baby and squint!”
With that helpful advice, I took the stairs as fast as I could and, luckily enough, walked straight into someone. Not fucking around, I fired before he could.
Apparently, in dire straits, I had a decent aim because he cried out and staggered into me.
Using him as a human shield, I carried on, feeling his body tremble as he died in my arms whenever he took a bullet in the back on my behalf.
Luc, Dead To Me, and my Stidda proved their worth because with me at the front with a shield, they could spread wide to take out the fuckers who didn’t want me reaching my woman.
By the time the smoke cleared, corpses littered the floor like the trash they were.
“You fuckers aren’t just pretty faces,” Dead To Me crowed, stomping on a cadaver’s head.
Just for the fun of it by the looks of her expression.
Luc kicked one in the gut until he spewed blood. “We train with ex-SAS* instructors.”
“Neat. Went on a few missions with those boys. They’re wild.”
Ignoring them and their pointless conversation, I followed the directions the girl had given me.
That was when I heard it—right in the distance.
A shot fired.
* Special Air Services in the British Army