Chapter 23
Chase
He’s here. And the mother fucker isn’t even trying to go unseen. He wants me to know he’s here. The idiot fuck is about to get what’s coming to him.
Doug’s screams were horrific. I’ve never heard anything quite like that.
It accomplished exactly what that piece of shit meant for it to, I’m sure.
Most of my men inside looked stricken until I forced them to change their radio channels and behave like men.
There are eight of us in here, for fuck’s sake, and these guys are the actual professionals.
He’s one man, and we know he’s outside. How he hacked into our security feed is still a mystery, but it won’t be for long.
He’s already reaped all the advantage he’ll get from that.
My regular security team outside should’ve been paying attention and not relying on the cameras. They deserved their fate.
This house has too many entry points to secure them all. Plus, we’ve learned from the mistakes of the idiots outside. He may be able to best two or three private security guys at a time when he has the element of surprise, but no way can he down seven trained killers who know he’s coming.
We’re all in the grand entry and fairly spread out so that we can see all entry points to this specific area. From this position, I can exit through the front door, through the kitchen, and out the back, or I can go upstairs where I have the hostages.
Those idiot fucking friends of Vaughn have no idea what’s in store for them once we’ve rid ourselves of Elijah Washington.
They nearly helped Vaughn escape that apartment.
That’s why we have them separated now. She would’ve succeeded in the escape if she wasn’t so fucking stupid.
She just had to get some punches of her own in.
She never has had great impulse control.
Too bad for her that she attempted to make a fool of me.
She’ll watch me torture her friends before I give her the relief of death.
No one challenges a Sheridan. She should’ve known better.
“What’s he waiting for out there?” Jack, the former Marine turned gun for hire, sounds impatient. Not scared, just tired of waiting. That’s good. None of them wear the wary expressions from earlier.
He’s right, though. What’s taking so long?
The security cameras are still on the same loop that this prick put them on.
It looks like all the men outside are still alive and repeating the same tasks over and over.
He’s out there, though. Somewhere. There’s no chance he’s left, and I don’t want him to.
He’s exactly where I want him to be. We baited him, and I’m actually surprised that he came alone.
I gave him way too much credit in the strategy department.
What kind of soldier has the nickname Post Man, anyway? Did he deliver mail?
These men inside with me are all ex-military and special forces. For him to come here alone to face seven men who are his equal, plus my five guys outside, is the pinnacle of stupidity and arrogance.
“He’s not waiting. He’s amping up the pressure. He wants us to sweat. This isn’t new for us. We know these tactics. Be ready for anything.” Joseph has always seemed to be the leader of this team. The seven of them came as a package deal and were highly recommended by my uncle.
“Jack, go check on the girl. Something feels weird here.” Joseph raises his gun slightly but doesn’t aim it. He’s walking slowly around the perimeter of the mostly open entry area.
Just as Jack has made it to the bottom of the stairs, music starts blasting from every corner of the house. It’s a blaring whisper at first. The fuck?
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
“The son of a bitch is in the house! Eyes up! Fingers on the trigger!” The music continues to permeate the air while Joseph shouts orders to the other men. Jack has stopped his ascent of the stairs, and he’s looking around the room with his gun aimed everywhere and nowhere.
Panic and fury rise in my chest, clogging my throat. I’m going to kill that bitch and her psychotic boyfriend. My mind is racing with decisions and possible outcomes. Keeping Vaughn alive was smart. She’s a tool to use against him. The music is making it hard to think.
Two, nothing wrong with me
Three, nothing wrong with me
Four, nothing wrong with me
“Someone turn that fucking music off!” I bark the order, knowing that someone will have to leave the room to obey my command. I just can’t think with it rattling my brain. It’s quickly fraying my nerves.
There’s an earth-shattering crash in the den, and we all turn that way, readying for him. For Elijah. He doesn’t come. Instead, there’s another loud sound rivaling the decibels of the music. It’s a horn. A car horn.
Racing toward the archway that leads into the sitting area, I make sure to keep Jack and Amir between me and whatever just crashed into my house.
“That MOTHER FUCKER! HE’S DEAD! HE’S FUCKING DEAD!” There’s an Aston Martin parked in my den. MY Aston Martin. There’s a massive hole where a large picture window used to be. The SUV smashed into the bar, deploying the airbags and smashing the front end all to shit.
My stomach is roiling and I think I might be sick.
“Find him. Now. Find him and kill him. Do what I paid you to do! FUCK!”
Joseph goes over to the car and pulls something out. The horn instantly goes quiet, and the engine is no longer roaring.
Behind us, I hear the distinct sound of a bullet passing through a silencer.
Two bullets in quick succession. The music.
..it’s quieter. It’s on, but it’s been turned down.
Jack and Amir must hear what I hear because they turn in rapid unison toward the sound.
The sound we wouldn’t have heard if the music had still been at full blast.
Duke and Malachi are on the floor. Duke is face down with a knife in his back.
It’s the biggest knife I’ve ever seen in real life.
This is not a throwing knife. It’s some “Crocodile Dundee” bullshit.
Next to his body is Malachi. Malachi’s body lies at an odd angle, but it’s clear that he likely saw Duke fall and turned to face the threat.
Eli. That’s when the bullets we heard shot him directly through his eyes.
Both eyes. The sight is gruesome, but it doesn’t affect me quite like seeing my three-hundred-thousand-dollar SUV destroyed inside my fucking house.
Wait, how did he do that? He can’t have been in two places at once. He isn’t alone. Someone else either wrecked my car or killed these men. Eli didn’t do both.
“He’s got help.” Joseph voices the thoughts in my head.
“Yeah. We need to get the girl down here. We have to draw him out.” As soon as the words are out of my mouth, one of the hostages steps out of an upstairs room onto the landing.
One of Vaughn’s friends. The blond one. How is he untied?
Eli. This is his help. He freed the hostages.
No. He freed the guys. There’s no way he got into the room Vaughn is in.
That’s my bedroom. I’ve made sure it’s perfectly safe from the outside, and we would’ve seen someone entering through the door.
Men like me have enemies. Never can be too careful.
Guns turn in the man’s direction as he tosses something into the middle of the room. Whatever it is splits midair before clanking to the floor.
“Grenades!” The word is shouted from everywhere. Jack, Amir, Joseph, and Emmett all dive for cover before I realize what’s happening.
Two explosions ring out as I jump behind a pillar.
Shrapnel hits all over the room. Cries of pain mix with my own screams and the excruciating pain in my hip.
Something hit me. It felt like being hit with a mace.
It hit me so hard, I was knocked off my feet and dropped my gun.
The fear of not holding the gun in my hand outweighs the almost debilitating pain in my hip, and I scramble on the ground to reach it.
“Who’s with me?” Joseph calls out to get a life count.
“6!”
“4!”
“3!”
Four. That’s four. We didn’t lose anyone.
My ears are ringing, and my head is pounding. The blast was so loud and too close.
“On your feet. Eyes up! Finger on the trigger! Let’s get this son of a bitch!” My sentiments are echoed in Joseph’s words. He’s angry. This asshole killed two of his men and injured what’s left.
Using the pillar to steady myself, I stand and wince at the pain in my hip. “Fuck.” There’s a hole in my slacks over the injury. It’s bleeding, and I can feel something deep in the flesh there.
A rough, soulful timbre comes through the sound system. That mother fucker! Fucking mind games! Dirty Dancing? Are you kidding me with this shit?
Now I’ve had the time of my life
No, I never felt this way before
Yes, I swear, it’s the truth
And I owe it all to you.
“That’s enough! Fuckin’ kill this asshole already!
” It was irritating when he was killing all the men I paid for.
Infuriating when he destroyed my car. It’s untenable now that he’s made me bleed.
It’s time for Elijah Washington to die. “Get the girl. He won’t be so quick to throw grenades with her in here. ”
Amir heads up the stairs while Jack, Joseph, and Emmett watch the perimeter of the room.
Emmett is dragging his left leg, and Jack’s right arm is hanging limply at his side.
Amir and Joseph have some scrapes, but it could’ve been worse.
We’re all still breathing. This asshole won’t be for much longer.
Amir reaches the top of the stairs and turns to the door the blonde freak show stepped out of to throw the grenades, and he opens fire. Bullets penetrate the door and the wall. No way he survived that.
Amir moves down the hall to the room I put Vaughn in.
Not sure how he’ll react when he sees her tied up, but I’m banking on survival mode kicking in and him just doing what needs to be done.
He disappears inside the room and...nothing.
The music is too loud to hear if he’s talking up there, but he’s taking too long. Something isn’t right.
My thoughts are confirmed when none other than Elijah Washington steps out onto the landing.
He’s covered in blood. His face. His hands.
If his clothes weren’t so dark, I’m sure they’d be stained red.
There’s a fur strap around his torso. Fur?
Oh my God. Bile burns as it rises up in my throat.
It’s not fur. That’s hair. I’m going to be sick.
Human hair. He’s wearing the scalps of my men like a fucking victory sash.
The remaining guns swing in his direction. No idea how he plans to get out of this one. There’s still four of us down here and just one of him.
Joseph is standing to my right with his gun trained on the psychotic soldier on the landing. Movement catches my gaze, and I turn toward Joseph to catch him whisper “Post Man,” He sounds devastated. Post Man? My uncle said that’s his nickname, or alias, or something. How does Joseph know it?
Joseph is lowering his gun, and what the fuck is going on?
“Shoot him! What are you doing? Shoot him!”
The other men look at Joseph as if asking for permission, and Joseph jerkily shakes his head.
“I didn’t know. We didn’t know it was you. I swear.”
Elijah just stares back at him.
“What THE FUCK is happening? Shoot him!”
Joseph looks down to the floor. His jaw is clenched, and he has a white-knuckle grip on his gun.
“You said...a simple protection detail. You said...jealous ex-boyfriend with a military background.” The words are filled with loathing and desperation as they’re pushed through gritted teeth.
“Yeah! That’s him. Fucking kill him.”
Joseph chuckles under his breath and shakes his head like I’ve missed the plot.
He again addresses the man on the landing when he asks, “Amir?”
Elijah simply shakes his head in response. Amir is dead.
“Shoot. Him.” My voice is low and tremulous. I don’t know what the fuck is going on here, but I don’t like it.
Joseph still doesn’t look at me when he speaks. “He’s already ten steps ahead. We were dead the moment we stepped onto this property. You...the moment you met him. You’ve fucked us all.”
“How are we all dead when there are four of us with guns on him and he’s just one man?”
“I don’t want to find out.” Joseph turns his attention to Elijah now. “Should’ve vetted this job a little better, huh?”
Elijah simply nods.
“The girl...she yours?”
Again, a nod.
“Yeah. Thought so.” He’s silent for a while before speaking again. “Listen, they didn’t know. This is my fault. If you let them go, I’m sure there’s some good Karma coming your way.” Joseph’s men look at him in astonishment. They’re just as confused as I am by his cowardice.
“I paid you to do a job. Now, do the fucking job.”
Only now does he turn his gaze on me. There’s a hardness in his eyes.
“You can go. Take what men you have left...and go. Consider the losses a learning curve.” Elijah has spoken for the first time, and just now I realize the music stopped at some point amid all this insanity.
Joseph chokes back a cry when he speaks. “Thank you. I’m in your debt.”
“You were already in my debt.”
There’s history between these two. They know each other? Fuck. Me.
“You can’t do this, man.” They’re all lowering their guns and moving toward the front door. “We had a deal! I paid you!”
“Wraith, I’m going to need your employer to stay behind. We have business of our own.”
Joseph, or Wraith, turns to me. His furious gaze spears me. Without a word, he raises the butt of his gun and nails me in the temple. Pain explodes in my skull. Sparks of light litter my vision and quickly...everything goes black.