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“You’re right,” I say and step out of the shadows. I’m still a good ten feet away, but I’m close enough. Lewis jumps to his feet and whips around, as does Betty. But Lewis has a gun, and it’s squared on my honeybee.
“Hawk!” she cries. When she tries to run to me, Lewis grabs her arm and jerks her to him, jabbing her ribs with the barrel of the gun. She cries out again as her wide eyes fill with tears. She’s scared and that destroys me.
“Let her go, weasel dick.” I work out the kinks in my neck as I take a large step toward him, eating up two feet. Now I’m only eight feet from him.
“Or what?”
I roll my shoulders, loosening them up as I take another large step. Now I’m six feet away. Close enough. “Or I’ll break you.”
“I’d like to see you—fuck!” He can’t react fast enough as I launch into the air and come down, my fist connecting with his temple. He drops the gun, which I quickly retrieve and square on him. When he attempts to run, I aim for his thigh and fire, careful to miss the femoral artery. Bleeding out would be too easy a death for him. This little shit needs to suffer. He screams and falls to the ground, grabbing at his wound. Now he won’t be able to run off, not when he’s sniveling over a single gunshot.
“Keep moving, fucker, and I’ll give you a matching hole in the other leg.” I reposition the gun, squaring it on the other thigh.
“Stop!” Lewis screams, his blood-soaked hands up like a traffic cop.
“Hawk,” Betty sobs. “What are you doing?”
“I want you to turn around,” I rasp. Her eyes round, and I look at her. “Please, honeybee. Just turn around and take your mind to your favorite place.”
Dropping her attention to Lewis, her mouth falls open. “Wh-What—”
“The French Riviera,” I interrupt, knowing it’s her favorite daydream. Lewis is at my feet sniveling like a little bitch. “Go there now. Cover your ears.”
She nods and turns, slapping her hands over her ears. I don’t want her to ever have to see the deadly assassin I must sometimes be—like now. Once I’m sure she’s going to stay with her back to me, I refocus on Lewis as a deep, deep hatred keeps me centered.
“What are you going to… Who are you calling?” He’s clawing at the grass in a feeble attempt to get away. I bring down the heel of my foot on one of his hands and hear the audible snap of several bones. He howls, and Betty starts to turn around.
“No, Betty. Stay facing the woods.”
“Hawk.” Grimm’s voice is clipped. Harsh. “What’s happening?”
“Mr. Grimm.” I speak into the phone as I keep my focus on Lewis. When he realizes who I called, his eyes fly open as the color drains from his face. He shakes his head as the terror shines in his eyes. “I found your leak.”
Mr. Grimm sighs long and asks, “It’s him, isn’t it? It’s my son.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well,” he pauses and clears his throat to cover how his voice has started to shake. “That’s unfortunate.” He sighs hard as the next words have to be the hardest words he’ll ever have to speak. I already know what he’s going to say but remain silent and wait for him to give the order. “Hawk?”
“Sir?”
“You know what you need to do.” He ends the call.
Yes, I do. And I won’t do it when Betty is around. In fact, I won’t be the one carrying out the order at all. There’s enough blood on my hands because of this job, this family. I lift Lewis and drop him in the chair. “Guess your father isn’t as soft as you thought.”
He opens his mouth to protest but doesn’t get out a sound before I knock him unconscious. He’s not going anywhere for a while.
I hurry to Betty and step around to face her, slowly lowering her hands from her ears. She blinks her eyes open. “Is it over?”
“Yes, baby. It’s over.”
Her chin quivers. “Can we go home now?”
“We can go wherever you want, my sweet honeybee.” I pull her into my arms and lead her away from the scene.
