Chapter 23 Kage
Kage
THE EXECUTIONER
Kevin is one slippery son of a bitch.
Jimmy wasn’t kidding when he said this one would be hard to find. We’ve been tracking this guy down all night and somehow he managed to stay two steps ahead. The bastard was good at hiding, but not good enough. They never are.
Finding him was the hard part, we finally managed to corner him in one of the abandoned warehouses near Marina Del Rey. Should have known the fucker would be hiding out close to the docks. Easier to traffic the kids, not to mention it’s a quick getaway with the airport being right there.
Jimmy could have told us that Kevin was a big backed bitch, though.
Nox and I aren’t small guys, but Kevin is definitely larger than we are.
Don’t get me wrong, I like to be thrown around a little but the second this motherfucker hit the money maker, it was fucking over.
While Kevin was busy trying to choke Nox out, I found the folding chair that Mr. Gibson is now strapped to and gave him a few love taps to the back of his fucking skull.
He was out like a light. It took both of us to hike Andre the Giant here into the chair and get him all tied up like a thanksgiving turkey I’d like to carve into.
We weren’t expecting Kevin to be so big, so we had to get a little creative with how we strapped him down.
After several zip ties, a little bit of rope, and an entire roll of duct tape later, we finally feel like we have him securely in place.
If he gets out of this, I don’t know what we’re going to do other than kill him on the spot.
He may have size on his side, but a bullet between the eyes will always do the trick.
“He’s still asleep,” Lennox points out the obvious and I narrow my eyes at him, curling my lip in annoyance. Does he think I’m fucking blind?
“You don’t say?” I give Kevin a nice slap to the cheek but it does nothing to wake him.
“It’s gonna take more than just a little smack to wake him up after you beat him to a pulp with the chair. The dude is practically an ogre.”
“I didn’t beat him to a pulp, he’s barely bleeding. And you’re fucking welcome for saving you. If it wasn’t for me, you’d be in the beginning stages of rigor mortis right now.”
The look Nox gives me is one of indignation as I light a cigarette and blow the smoke in his face. “I didn’t need your help, asshole. I had him. And if you’re gonna blow smoke in my face, the least you can do is give me a drag.”
I’m not giving him a fucking drag, he barely even smokes.
Unless he’s plastered out of his damn mind or stressed the fuck out.
Even then, I’ve only ever seen him smoke a handful of times.
The fact that he’s even asking me for a drag leads me to believe that our little debacle is still eating at him.
Or maybe it’s because of his brush with death. Whatever.
“Oh yeah, it sure looked like you did. I didn’t know kicking your feet and slapping his arms was you ‘having it’,” I deadpan, throwing up air quotes with my fingers, the cigarette resting between my lips. “And get your own fucking cigarettes.”
I can tell it’s taking everything in Nox not to knock my ass out right now, but seriously fuck him for being such an asshole after I saved his ass. Honestly, fuck him for being an asshole this whole day. The tension has been high since the moment I picked him up.
As soon as he got on the back of my bike, I could tell he gave into his feelings, even if only for that short trip to grab his bike.
His arms were wrapped tight around me, his head resting on my shoulder, and all I could think about was the venom he spewed at me just minutes prior.
He hasn’t apologized, and maybe he never will.
That’s just the kind of shit you sign up for when choosing to be with Nox.
Motherfucker can never admit when he’s wrong.
After Nox and I picked up his bike, we swung back to the house to get the murder wagon.
It’s kind of hard to sneak up on someone on loud ass motorcycles.
The wagon just made more sense. The entire drive here was awkward as fuck.
Neither of us wanted to talk to the other.
Nox has clearly been at war with himself, but I’m still too pissed off to care.
“Will you just move so I can wake him up?” he groans impatiently, bumping into my shoulder to move me out of the way.
Before I could protest, Nox is cocking his arm back, putting all of his weight and anger into the most brutal fucking blow he could manage.
A hit like that would have probably killed almost anyone else, but Kevin here just jerks awake violently, thrashing around in his chair like a fish out of water.
I’d say he’s going to feel that in the morning, but poor guy isn’t going to make it that long.
“Good morning, sunshine. How was your little nappy nap?” I smile at the scary mother fucker in the chair but he doesn’t look too happy with us.
Kevin hawks a loogie of blood at my shirt, and suddenly I’m not too happy with him either. Pulling the butterfly knife out of my boot, I twirl the instrument in my hand, the glint of the blade catching Kevin's attention before I grip the handle and run the blade through his right shoulder.
Kevin grunts in pain, a low howl escaping him.
“That wasn’t very nice, big guy,” I spit through my teeth, pulling the blade out and cleaning it off with my pant leg.
“We’ve got a few questions for you and we’re gonna need you to answer them.
The first one is where the fuck did you get the audacity to do that just now?
” Looking at him with my crazy eyes, he growls back at me and it takes everything in me not to laugh. He’s like a pitbull chained to a tree.
“The second is, do you know a guy by the name of Richard?”
“I’m not telling you shit,” Kevin answers in the most high pitched, child-like sounding voice I’ve ever heard. Nox and I look at each other and before we could even say anything, we’re both doubled over laughing so hard we can barely breathe.
“Kevin! What happened to your voice?” I try to spit out between gasping breaths. Nox literally has tears in his eyes, he’s laughing so hard. “Did the steroids not make it to your voicebox?”
Kevin doesn’t say a word as he, still fully seated and strapped, scootches the chair a significant amount towards us. He must not be too pleased with us. The feeling is mutual, pal.
“Once I get out of this chair, you’re both dead,” he squeaks. My grin only widens as I try to swallow down the last of my laughter. Clearing my throat, I force myself to focus on the task at hand.
“Alright, here’s how this is gonna go.”
I take a long drag from my cigarette, the tip burning down to the filter, smoke curling from my lips. “You’re gonna give us the information we want,” I let my voice drop down to something sharp and cold. “and then we’re gonna kill you.”
I press what's left of the cigarette into Kevin's arm, smiling at the sizzle of burning flesh as the stench hits my nostrils. He only grits his teeth, a low hiss escaping him. Seriously, does nothing make this guy scream? Where’s the fun in that?
“You can do things the hard way if you want, but the end results are gonna be the same.”
“I don’t have to tell you anything,” he growls. Or…tries to growl, but the sound is still mediocre at best. He’s like a helium balloon with muscles.
“Oh but you do.” My grin sharpens. “We already took care of your little buddy. Frankie, was it? When you’re burning in hell, he can tell you all about his new asshole.”
“You’re really proud of that, aren’t you?” Nox is shaking his head, arms crossed with his thumb and forefinger pinching the bridge of his nose like he’s two seconds away from losing his shit.
“It’s some of my finest work,” I smile over at him and he actually smiles back. Nox’s smiles are so rare these days that it almost knocks the breath out of me. I can’t stay mad at him when he shows his humanity like this.
Nox walks closer to Kevin, pulling out the gun he has tucked away in his pants and holding it firmly under Kevin's chin.
This is something that would normally scare the information out of someone.
The idea that at any second, a finger could slip and suddenly brain matter is painting the walls.
But Kevin is not normal. Kevin looks Nox dead in the eyes with a huge smile on his face, practically daring him to pull the trigger.
“Start talking,” Nox deadpans.
“No.”
“Wrong.” Nox cocks the gun and places it back under Kevin's chin. “I said start talking.”
I think we’re both tired of this little charade.
Gripping my butterfly knife in my hand once again, I press the tip into the flesh of his right forearm, dragging up towards his bicep, leaving a long trail of blood behind.
Kevin hisses in pain, but I don’t stop. Making my way over to where Nox stands, I do the same thing to his left arm, watching the trails of crimson run along pale skin.
Transfixed by the ruby rivers that flow down Kevin's arms, I can’t help but wonder how my little bird would look adorned in shades of red. Lost in my daydreams, I almost miss Nox asking Kevin another question and Kevin actually answering him.
“Do you know someone by the name of Richard or not? I’m not gonna ask you again, I’m just gonna blow your brains out.”
“No, I don’t know anyone named Richard.” Kevin grins, the truth apparent in his eyes as the lie flows easily off his tongue.
“You know you’re going to die regardless, right? So there’s no point in lying.” Nox stares daggers at him but Kevin doesn’t budge. What the hell is wrong with this guy? “Who’s The Dominion’s big boss, huh?”
Just as Kevin opens his mouth, My Humps by Black Eyed Peas starts playing loudly from my pocket. I smile at the welcomed interruption. It’s like she knew I was thinking about her.
“Sorry, gotta get this. It’ll just be a moment.” I give Nox a wink so he knows who’s calling and can keep Kevin quiet. Nox just rolls his eyes but nods his head in agreement knowing what I’m asking of him. Keep Andre the Giant quiet.
Walking away from them, I smugly answer the phone. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away for too long,” I joke, but it’s short lived. The moment I hear her voice, it’s like the earth stops spinning and all the oxygen is sucked from my lungs.
“Kage…” Her voice is shaky, terror wrapped around that single word, making the hair on my arms stand at attention.
“Wren. Where are you?” I don’t need to ask what’s wrong to know that I need to get to her.
“H-Home.” She barely stammers out the words and it shatters something inside me. I swear to fuck if it’s Richard, I don’t care about the goddamn mission, he won’t live to see another day.
“We’re on our way. Lock your door and don’t let anyone in, okay?”
“Someone broke in,” Three words. Three words and I’m spiraling, the worst possible scenarios instantly playing on a loop in my mind. “The back door is bent. There’s b-blood everywhere and I don't know w-where Chen is.”
“Okay baby, you’re gonna be okay. We won’t let anything happen to you. I need you to go sit in your car and lock your doors. If anyone approaches you, drive off. Do you understand?”
“Can you stay on the phone with m—”
Looking down at my phone, I notice that the call dropped. I tap on Wren’s contact, calling her back but it goes straight to voicemail.
FUCK!
I’m not a weak man, but I’ve never felt more helpless in my life.
Knowing that I can’t get to her immediately, that there’s too much time between us being here and getting to her, is crushing me and I don’t know what to do.
Memories flood my brain and suddenly I’m twelve again.
Helpless, broken, and bleeding. Waiting for someone to come and rescue me but no one ever came. Only now, I need to rescue her.
Shaking the thoughts out of my mind, I yell over at my brother. “Nox! We gotta make this quick! It’s Wren!”
There’s nothing more I need to say. Her name and the horror painted across my face is enough to send a bullet through Kevin's skull. Within seconds, Nox has called Jimmy to clean up our mess and we’re tearing out of the parking lot of the warehouse.
“What happened?” Nox questions, hands gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles are white. He’s speeding through the streets with careful precision, dodging traffic with an ease that can only come from years of ditching unwanted followers.
“Someone broke in. She said there’s blood everywhere and the owner is missing.”
Nox looks over at me with an expression that I can’t quite place. “Call Jimmy again, see if he can get any footage from the restaurant or around the area. There’s gotta be something.”
I can’t even begin to process what’s going on. Too many thoughts are running through my mind and only one thing stands out to me the most.
Richard.
Maybe he did it out of retaliation. What if he did this because of me? There’s no way he could have slipped past Jimmy's radar. He was supposed to have eyes on her. What the fuck happened?
“Nox if something happens to her—”
“I know.”