Chapter 5 Machine
FIVE
MACHINE
I stood in the small cement room, watching as Kade interrogated one of the Ricci’s informants. The raid on Ricci’s warehouse had been a red flag that something was amiss. Soon after, someone had infiltrated one of our large gun shipments.
“Who ratted on Ricci’s shipment? I won’t ask you again,” Kade boomed, placing his hands on the two armrests that our captive was tied to.
We’d been at this for over two hours. We needed to find out if Ricci was messing with our shipment. But first, we had to know who attacked Ricci.
“I swear, man, I have no idea. I’m just a transporter for him. No one tells me anything,” the gaunt-faced man cried. His beady eyes filled with tears.
Kade sighed and scrubbed a hand down his face before squeezing my shoulder, indicating it was time for me to take over.
A thrill of excitement zapped through my veins.
I needed to burn off some steam. My nightmares had been keeping me up the past week, leaving me with anger, despair, and exhaustion.
A sadistic grin spread on my face. The captive’s face paled when he saw me twirl a knife in my fingers.
“We are going to play a little game. It’s called ‘I am going to cut things off until you talk’. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure that you stay alive until you do,” I said as I crouched down in front of the man.
The scent of urine filled the room.
“Ah, dude, he just pissed himself,” I said, scrunching my face. If the smell wasn’t a dead giveaway, the wet spot on the guy’s dirty khakis certainly was.
Kade chuckled at my distaste. “You are talking about cutting off appendages, yet a little piss grosses you out.”
“Fuck you, Ghost,” I chided as I stood up and walked around the chair.
“I think we will start with this little guy,” I said in a sickly-sweet tone while pulling on the guy’s ear.
As my knife touched his skin, the man started to talk.
“I don’t know who exactly did it, but I do know that that guy Moretti was in contact with someone in the Sinaloa Cartel.
One of the other transporters heard him fighting with some guy before the shipment was attacked.
I—I swear man… that’s all I know. Please just let me go. I won’t tell Ricci.”
“One last question,” Kade said, starting to pace. “Who fucked with my gun shipment?”
Kade’s voice was oddly calm. I knew that he was beyond furious, and that he was thinking the same thing I was. If Moretti was dipping into different organizations' contraband, we could be looking at a full-out war if we weren’t careful.
The man looked confused. “I don’t know anything about guns, man.”
“Wrong answer,” Kade said in a cool tone.
I drove my knife through the man’s skin, cutting off his ear. His screams echoed in the soundproof room. It was like music to my soul. I took a sick pleasure in beating others, especially when they fucked with our business.
Kade got up in his face while I held onto the man’s other ear. “Who the fuck messed with my guns, testa di cazzo!”
“You should probably answer him. Actually, don’t. I want to add this to my collection,” I quipped.
The man screamed and shook his head. I pressed my knife into the base of his lobe, drawing blood.
“It was Ricci! He sent a couple of guys to intercept the shipment!” he yelled.
I withdrew my blade, a bit disappointed.
“Finish him,” Kade ordered before leaving the room.
I looked at the pissed-stained man in front of me and gave him a smirk. “Should have given him the information he wanted.”
I stabbed his thigh, delighting in his scream. While he cried for mercy, I did what I did best. I lost myself in the pain and showed him why I was called Machine.
Once I was done, I disposed of the body, and cleaned up the mess, watching the swirl of red bubbles down the drain as I washed my hands. The image ignited a core memory from years ago.
My team and I had just arrived at the building where our target was said to be hiding. Vinny, our commander, hopped out of our vehicle and motioned for us to follow him.
We all filtered out behind him and moved tactically.
While the rest of the team headed to one dilapidated building, I went to the other and found my way to the roof.
I swiftly got into position for sniping and lay on the gravel-filled roof.
The sun beat down on me, not a cloud in the sky to grant me reprieve from the heat.
“O-3 this is Falcon, in position, over,” I said through my headset.
“Falcon, we are approaching the target’s apartment. Watch the top balconies for movement, over,” Vinny responded.
There was a pause before all hell broke loose. Gunshots rang out from the building next to me for a few moments, then fell silent.
“O-3, what’s your update?” My heart hammered in my chest as I waited. No response.
“Guys, what’s going on?” I said a moment later.
“Fuck!” I heard Vinny curse. “Fall back, fall back!”
My heart began to pound even harder; whatever happened in there, it wasn’t good. The air exploded in gunfire again, shots coming from around and inside the building.
Movement caught my eye—a figure holding a toddler in one arm with something concealed in his other hand. I focused on him and got ready to shoot.
Through the scope, I could see that the figure was our target and he was using his child to shield himself.
“Cowardly piece of shit,” I muttered between gritted teeth as I focused in.
Without thinking or waiting for a command, I took the shot.
He fell to the ground, the toddler falling with him. To my surprise, the child did not cry.
My team quickly filed out of the building. Diego sprinted to the body and wrapped his hand around what the target had been holding.
“We need to get the kid out of here!” Vinny yelled through the radio.
“He’s gone!” yelled Diego.
“We need to get out of here!” Vinny commanded.
“Guys, as soon as I take my hand off this button, the place will blow. You need to go without me.” My heart plummeted into my stomach at Diego’s words.
“No, we aren’t leaving without you!” I called through the radio.
Explosions detonated inside the building, filling the air with debris just as Ginny, Fitz, and Vinny were running outside. I moved as fast as I could from my post to meet them. As I ran out the front of the building, multiple IEDs detonated, sending me soaring into the air with debris and shrapnel.
I wasn’t sure how much time had passed when I came to consciousness, and the ringing in my ears subsided.
I moved as fast as I could over to where the rest of the team had been.
By the time I got to them, I realized I was too late.
Pieces of what used to be Vinny and Ginny were scattered with the debris.
Diego was nowhere to be found—there was a crater where I’d seen him last. I’d lost men and women in war, but nothing prepared me for this.
Off to the side, Fitz lay on the sand, gasping for breath.
I ran to him as fast as I could, sliding the last couple steps. Bile rose in my throat as I looked down at him. One of Fitz’s legs had been blown off, and there was a gaping hole through his chest. I put pressure on the wound, attempting to stop the inevitable.
“It’s okay bud, I got you,” I soothed.
Fitz gasped for breath and grabbed my arm. “Fuck, man. It’s bad, isn’t it?”
“You’ll be fine,” I choked out.
“Don’t you dare… lie to me,” Fitz wheezed. “Do you think… there will be some…” he coughed, “… hot tail in Heaven?”
I let out a dry laugh, tears filling my eyes. “Of all the things to say.
“Give ‘em hell, brother,” Fitz mustered. His breaths were getting shallower.
“I will avenge you all. Rest easy, brother,” I said.
Fitz’s head went limp. I looked down at my fallen friend before resting my head on his chest. When I looked up, I was covered in blood. I knew some of it had to be mine, but the rest was his. My hands shook as I attempted to drag Fitz’s body to the vehicle.
Another explosion erupted in the building, sending me flying through the air and slamming me against the truck. At first, I didn’t feel anything. Then it hit me, a feeling like needles stabbing into every part of my body. A sharp pain exploded in my chest just before I lost consciousness.
I gasped as I came back into reality. I was in the basement of RSS, standing in front of the emergency showers in a small bathroom outside the interrogation room.
I stripped off my blood-covered clothes, threw them into the trash bin and opened the small cabinet that held linens and extra clothes for Kade and me.
After grabbing what I needed, I placed them on the counter next to the sink.
I took in my appearance and grimaced. This always happened when I looked at myself.
Shrapnel had embedded itself all over my body in the explosion.
In the center of my chest, covering the worst of the scarring, was a large cross for my team.
The only uncovered scar was a jagged pink line through my eyebrow.
I tried not to stare at it, but it was grotesque.
Had the shrapnel gone an inch lower, I would have lost my eye.
I stepped into the shower and let my pain and sorrows wash down the drain with the blood that washed off my body.