Chapter Fourteen #2
Hawk, Griffin, and Finch flanked the Tacoma with professional speed. Hawk boxed them at a red light and Griffin ripped the driver’s door open before the dumb bastard could reach for his phone. One sharp yank and the guy hit the pavement, chin first, out cold.
Finch took the passenger side. The occupant met him with a pistol, badly concealed. Finch drove his fist into the man’s throat. There was a wet snap and a gurgle before the guy toppled over the console, spasming where he lay.
Finch stripped him of his phone and wallet, handed them to Hawk as I stepped up. “Knight wants these,” he said.
The world tunneled to a point. I saw only the guy’s face, the way he trembled even as his airway collapsed. “Who owns this block?” I demanded.
The dying man tried to speak but managed only a sobbing gasp. Pathetic.
Finch shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. He’s a pawn. Denton rotates them weekly. The actual handler will be at the coffee shop across from the gas station on the next block. Knight’s got a face match.”
“I can work with that.” I took a moment to shove the bastard’s head back into the car and slammed the door. He didn’t move again. I got back in the car and Kellen got us on the road, leading the charge.
We worked fast, barreling through traffic.
The next stop was a local handler, a grad-school pretty boy with a two-hundred-dollar haircut.
I had no idea how Knight knew where to send us and didn’t have time to contemplate it.
So far, he was spot on because when our target clocked us coming, he pulled a runner, trying to escape out the back.
Griffin caught him in the alley and helped him face-first onto the pavement.
I knelt by his ear, knife already pressed under his jaw. “You want out of this without screaming, you give me the route Denton’s van is running.”
He pissed himself. Literally.
“Cameras on every intersection between the interstate and the river,” he babbled. “Denton’s guy calls them in as they pass, then the tapes are wiped. You can’t track her through the city cams unless you are slicing the feeds in real time.”
I pressed harder with the knife. “Are you the call-in?”
He nodded, face mashed on gritty concrete. “Yeah. I do the flag. Please, man --”
“Do what you’re supposed to. And before you think you can fuck me over, I’m keeping you alive until this all goes down. How hard you die after depends on what happens in the next few minutes.”
He nodded his head wildly, looking more like a bobblehead doll than a man. When I checked the phone, the outgoing message hit the chat in seconds. A green dot bounced back from an encrypted contact before a simple “OK.”
I turned the phone back to the guy. “Anything else you need to do next?”
“No. I have no further contact with him unless he says otherwise.”
“And this is the normal way he acknowledges you?”
“Yeah. I swear. That’s all he says unless he has further instructions.”
I stood and nodded to Griffin, who hauled him upright. “Put him in the trunk,” I said. “If this guy reaches out we may need him again.” I pocketed the phone and climbed back inside the vehicle before Kellen sped off again.
We hit the road, and the convoy hit the next traffic cam nest in under five minutes. If Denton or Rainman or fucking Iron were watching, they knew I was coming for them. Good. Let them get ready. It wouldn’t do them any good.
At the light, two more of Denton’s men pretended to argue over a hood popped on a busted Caprice.
Probably thought they’d get the jump on us, or that we’d be more concerned with getting them to talk so they’d have time to take us out.
Finch rolled up, stepped out, and flashed his piece.
They turned to face us, a smirk firmly in place but Hawk simply shot one through the knee.
The man dropped, howling. The second man froze, unsure what his best move would be since their whole plan had suddenly slid sideways.
I walked up, putting my gun to the wounded man’s cheek. He whimpered. “Route.”
He pointed downfield, voice tight. “Warehouse row off the river. They use unmarked commercial vans and all the access roads were pre-cleared for tonight.”
Finch kicked the second man behind the knee. He went down hard with a yelp. “Set up to funnel us in with Denton’s men surrounding us,” Finch said. He held my gaze for a long moment, his eyes just as hard as mine. “You want bodies, or you want answers?”
“Both.”
Finch nodded at the men. “Neither of these two know more than what’s in front of them, but you can make an example.”
“Fair enough.” I pulled my gun.
“What are you doing?” The guy looked from me to Finch and back again. “The fuck! No!”
I chambered a round, then shot him in the dick.
“You think the women and girls you help these bastards move get to say no?” I shot him in the shoulder and his screaming turned into squeals.
“Ah…” I sighed, grinning in satisfaction.
“Music to my ears.” I raised my gun again, and he really started begging then.
“You know, I bet if I kept you in constant acute pain, you’d have a stroke.
Might be fun to watch you shit yourself while you looked up at me helplessly.
” I gave him an evil smile as I knelt in front of him.
“Maybe I’ll sell you to the same sadistic clientele.
I’ll watch as they use your asshole as a cumbucket and relish your screams as they fuck the everloving shit out of you while you scream and beg.
Might make a video and sell that so other sadistic clientele can watch to their heart’s content.
” I let him sweat it out for a couple seconds longer just to give myself the satisfaction.
Then I executed him. His partner had already pissed himself, shaking so bad his words stuttered.
“Back lot -- off the main entry -- loading bay’s where they take merchandise. She’ll go there first,” he gasped. I shoved him face-first into the curb. A couple of times.
Finch looked at me. “You want to stack up bodies, we can. Or we can just cut straight to the bay.”
“We keep going. Front and back both,” I said. “No survivors unless they put Tessa in my hands.”
Hawk’s mouth twisted. “Christ, Tonio.”
I glanced at the pool of blood and the twitching man. “You got a problem?”
Hawk shook his head. “I got your back, man. You know that.” No one else spoke, and we left it there, bodies on the concrete and the air stinking of copper and scorched propellant.
Next up was a cutout posted at a liquor store.
Word must have gotten around because this guy had reinforcements.
Not that it did him any good. We hit the edge of the lot while the liquor store spotters were still setting up.
They’d pulled an old Crown Vic parallel to the side entrance, positioned for a quick getaway, but I clocked the guy in the passenger seat texting on a burner and the driver nodding along while his hands drummed at the wheel.
Yeah. They were prepared all right. Likely not taking any perceived threat into consideration because they’d flown under my radar for a long Goddamned time. Well, they had my attention now.
Sully and Finch came in from opposite flanks so fast the man in the passenger seat never saw it coming -- Finch popped his door and dragged him out by the hair, while Sully smashed the driver’s face in the safety glass and held him there for me.
He spat in my face, so I snapped his wrist and shoved his gun barrel into his mouth.
“You’re going to tell me where Denton’s got his failover. Where he’s sending the girls now?” A demand, pure and simple.
The guy’s words were muffled around the gun barrel, but still understandable. “Listen, man, Denton will pay you if --”
I cocked the gun. “You think I give a shit what Denton pays when he’s dead? Where?” When he stuck up his chin all defiant like, I removed the gun from his mouth and shot off his earlobe. The screaming wasn’t subtle.
“Jesus, Tonio.” Sully scrubbed a hand over his face even as he put himself between me and the little pussy still screaming on the ground.
“He’s already given up Rourke’s party house downtown.
They’re setting up a fallback in case you get a visual at éclipse.
That’s what all these fucking cutouts are for, to make you chase your tail.
Knight’s already stripped the cell for addresses. This guy’s dry.”
I shoved the gun back into the guy’s mouth, harder this time. Might have broken a couple of teeth.
“Tonio. There’s no more information here. All dead means is no confirmation from their end if we need it.”
I looked at Sully. He stared right back. He wasn’t going to back down. The edge of my control wanted to break free, but I held it and eased the gun back.
“Fine.”
Sully held my gaze for a long second. Then he dragged the man out of my grip, set him face down on the curb, and zip-tied his wrists.
I wiped the spit off my face and scanned the street. “Anybody in my way goes down,” I said. I let the fury coat every word. “Once I have Tessa, though, everyone dies.”
Sully nodded. “Understood.”
By the time we neared éclipse, the city had gone stone silent.
Anyone who saw us -- underground or not -- backed off after one look.
Denton’s network, the one that had watched us for ten Goddamned weeks, was bleeding out on the curb.
Seth must have been managing Nashville’s finest, because, without fail, every time I heard sirens headed in our direction, they were silenced and no one showed.
I took a breath, fished my phone, and called Knight. “What’s their status?”
He was all business. “They took her in a dark blue utility van with a stolen plate. The driver’s ex-military. They’re four minutes from the loading bay at éclipse. I’m tracking them on traffic cameras all the way. Two cars following as tail sweepers. You want the route?”
“I want all three. You draw me a map, I’ll eliminate every backup.”
Knight sent the info in a text. “I’ll cover your approach with cams.”