Chapter Four #2
He stood, walked around the table, and stopped behind my chair. He rested his hand on my shoulder for one second, then let it drop.
I watched him leave, then looked at Darby. She had her feet back on the table, grinning at me. “You’re not what I expected,” she said.
“Neither are you.”
Darby grinned wider. “I think you’re starting to get it. Just remember reputation can only give you part of the picture.”
I looked back at the files spread out over the table. Denton’s face stared back at me. I wanted to remember it forever.
Darby drained her can and belched. “Well, shit,” she said. “Guess it’s time to ruin some lives.”
I smiled at that. For the first time in a long time, it felt real.
I took the whole mess back to my suite and spent the rest of the day reading through the documents Knight had put together.
By the end of it, I needed to take a shower.
I felt filthy by association, reading everything Veda had found on these guys, as well as new stuff Knight had found.
It brought my whole ordeal back to the surface.
I would never again be as helpless as I’d been while I’d been held captive. Never again.
An hour before dusk, I heard voices from the lower level. The cadence was sharp, then punctuated by a single short bark from Antonio, cutting everything off. I waited a count of ten, then opened the door at the end of the hall and made my way downstairs.
At the back of the living room, a door leading down a flight of stairs had been left open. The voices were quieter now, which made me think things had been rather rowdy when I’d first heard the commotion.
I went down the stairs which opened up into a large room, like the observers’ side of an interrogation room. A closed door separated one side from the other and what I assumed was one-way glass -- like in the movies -- showed the inhabitant of the other side of the room.
In the center of the smaller, separate room, a single chair sat bolted to the floor with what looked like a drain underneath.
Antonio stood in front of the glass. He didn’t acknowledge me, but I saw him in the reflection because he met my gaze and held it for a long moment.
I glanced past him to see the person on the other side of the glass.
The guy zip-tied to the chair was likely the man captured when Haven had been attacked.
Kass stood against the wall next to Antonio, arms folded and face blank like he was supremely bored.
When Antonio finally spoke, he didn’t turn around. “You’re not getting any closer, Tessa,” he said. “You can watch from here, but you’re not going in that room.”
“Why?” The question popped out before I could censor it, but I refused to apologize. I wanted to know everything Antonio did. I had a right to because of the blood I’d paid.
Antonio didn’t bother to answer. Behind us, Kass’s voice came low and toneless. “He doesn’t want you to see what happens to men who cross him.” Kass kept his gaze on the man in the chair.
I ignored the warning. “He tried to kill me,” I said. “I don’t care what you do to him, but I want to hear what he says.”
Antonio didn’t move for a second. Then he made a small gesture at Kass, who opened the door to the cell. He and Antonio went inside, leaving me firmly on the wrong side of the door.
The man in the chair was in his late thirties, short hair shaved to stubble, athletic build gone to flab.
His face was a mess -- both eyes purpled and swollen, nose broken or near enough, his lip split and bleeding.
He wore tactical pants and a gray shirt, a logo on the pocket I couldn’t place.
He looked up when Antonio entered, but there was nothing in his face except exhaustion and burning hatred.
Antonio took his time. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, sat on the edge of the table, and looked the man over. Kass watched, motionless. I realized the small speaker beside the window allowed the viewer to hear the conversation on the other side of the window.
“What’s your name?” Antonio asked, his voice slightly tinny coming through the speaker.
The man didn’t answer.
Antonio nodded at Kass. Kass reached into a crate in the corner of the room and withdrew a steel mallet. He set it on the table without a word.
The man in the chair stared at the mallet for a long moment. His mouth worked as he shook his head. “Quinn,” he said finally.
“Quinn what?”
“Jernigan.”
“Who sent you?”
“Job came in from Nashville. We get them occasionally and never communicate with the contact. Whoever it is contacts us.” Quinn still gave Antonio a look of hatred.
I had no doubt Antonio could be in real trouble if he slipped the zip ties.
The thought made my stomach knot, and I didn’t like the sensation one fucking bit.
“Who’s your handler?”
The man hesitated. “Goes by Pine.”
Antonio repeated it back. “Pine.” He looked at Kass, then at me through the glass. “Knight?”
“Already running the alias,” Kass answered.
Antonio leaned in. “What was your primary objective?”
Quinn blinked, slow. His tongue came out, and he licked a drop of blood from his lip. “Depended on who we found.”
“Be more specific.”
He didn’t answer.
Antonio nodded again. Kass moved behind the man and in one swift motion wrenched his left shoulder back, hard.
The sound was sickening. Quinn grunted but didn’t scream.
He breathed through his nose for a full five seconds, then said, “You want the objective? Fine. Grab the Garrison bitch. Kill anyone who gets in the way.”
There was a pause.
I didn’t move or react. Antonio’s posture didn’t change. “Who else?”
“We were told we’d get extra if we hurt someone in Kiss of Death and made it stick.”
“Who planned the breach?”
Quinn snorted. “Nobody plans shit, man. We get told where and when. We get a big payout if shit goes right. We get dead if it goes wrong.”
Antonio reached into his jacket and pulled a phone. He slid it across the table. “Code.”
Quinn hesitated. Kass wrenched the shoulder again, and this time Quinn screamed. He coughed and spat, then rattled off a six-digit code.
Antonio pressed in the code. I watched over his shoulder through the glass as he opened the messages and scrolled, then handed it to Kass.
“Get this to Knight. Have him see what he can find and touch base with me afterward.” Kass left through a separate door in the corner I’d been unable to see easily. He did so without a word.
Antonio waited another few seconds, letting the silence fill the space. I watched as the two men stared at each other. Rather, Quinn tried to stare. His eyes were so swollen I didn’t think he could see much.
Quinn’s mouth worked again. “Look. We don’t know names. We only get calls. There’s a guy -- he drops cash, he picks up gear. Uses a white van. Always parks behind the Food Barn on Greer. That’s all I know.”
Antonio looked at him. “That’s not all you know.”
Quinn shook his head. His voice was almost a whimper now. “Look, man, I’ve got kids. I just needed the money. They said it was some rich girl who got herself in trouble, and nobody would miss her --”
Antonio pulled out a gun and shot him, a single round to the forehead. I jumped at the noise but managed not to cry out myself. The body slumped back in the chair, blood, brain, and bone splattered against the wall behind Quinn, and the room fell silent.
Antonio stood and holstered the weapon. He took slow, measured breaths, then turned and walked out the same door Kass had.
I didn’t move. My hand was still pressed to the glass. I saw my face reflected in the surface and barely recognized myself. I didn’t feel anything for the dead man. Not pity, not relief, not even satisfaction.
Soon after, Antonio moved up behind me. He must have come from the hallway leading deeper into this floor. He stood silently, waiting for me. I didn’t speak or acknowledge him in any way other than to meet his gaze in the glass.
Finally, he broke the silence. “Did you get what you came for?” I nodded, unable to speak. “Good,” he said. “Get some air.” He turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing down the hall instead of going back upstairs to the main floor.
I stayed at the glass for a long time, watching the body, watching the blood pool. When I finally started to turn away, I saw my hand had left a perfect print on the glass. I walked up the stairs, the sound of the shot still ringing in my ears.