Chapter 38
Levi
Ashishandtouchedthe handle of the door, Lucas and I launched ourselves at Malik’s back. My brother took a hard swing at his head as I pulled up his white dress shirt and rammed the taser into his side, squeezing the button to set it off.
“Are you fucking—You son of a bitch!” The man roared as he fought back, flailing his fists in an effort to take at least one of us out with a lucky shot.
“Luke, the door,” I urged, trying my fucking hardest to cover his mouth with my palm and muffle the rest of his curses as I shoved us into the dark room. My brother slammed and locked the door the second my foot passed the threshold.
Malik aggressively shook me off, staggering back as the automatic lights triggered and illuminated the suite—the three of us heaving and yet ready to fucking brawl.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Again? Do we really have to do this, Levi?” Lucas complained from over my shoulder, and I shook my head with laughter. It was always the same with these assignments.
Who are you?
Do you know who I am?
Why are you doing this to me?
I can explain.
I won’t do it again.
There were more,so many more, but those were the top five to date, and generally, we answered and entertained them, much like a predator plays with their food before striking. But by now, we’ve heard them all enough times to stop responding or listening.
“No, not tonight. I want to get this done as quickly as possible. Where’s the—” In dropping my attention for a split second, Malik used the opportunity to take me out with a swift fist to the temple. “God damnit, you mother—” Without thinking, I swung back, trying to fight him off just as my brother cut across my vision, ramming into Malik’s side and tackling him to the ground.
“Get the fucking restraints,” Lucas barked as he held the man pinned to the floor, growling like a feral beast. “Hurry up!”
My head was still throbbing from the blow as I searched our surroundings for where we stashed our shit.
“Black bag. Behind the chair.” My brother grunted with a quick head tilt to his left, and I sprinted for it, falling to my knees, ripping the zipper open, and throwing a set of handcuffs over to him.
While he secured Malik’s wrists, I pulled out a ream of black duct tape, tearing off a large strip and slapping it over his mouth with force rough enough to jerk his head to face me.
“Thatis for taking a cheap fucking swing at me.” When his mouth was sealed and wrists secured, I stood to my full height, waiting for my brother to step aside. Once out of the way, I gave a swift kick into Malik’s side, causing him to curl in on himself with a deep, pain-filled moan. “And that’s for my fucking headache.” I pressed the heel of my palm to my forehead as I staggered over to the couch. I let myself collapse into it for a second’s break.Fuck.
“Gotta admit, he nailed you good.”
“Oh, just shut up and get him in the chair already… She’s waited long enough in the car.” Rubbing my temples, I blew out a breath, groaning my relief as the throbbing slowly subsided from the counter pressure.
“I’ll go—”
“No.” I snapped my fingers in his direction, staring him down like a hawk. “You stay and get the target situated. I’ll go and get her. I need some air anyway.”
“You can barely fucking stand.” Lucas taunted as he waved a hand up and down.
“Exactly, which means I am not capable of gettingthat—” I pointed to our muffled friend, lying on the floor, staring up at us as we bickered amongst ourselves. “Sorted out. If I can barely stand, I sure as fuck can’t lift.”
“Yeah, yeah, alright, fair enough…” Lucas skirted around Malik to pick up the black gym bag, searching through it and frowning when he couldn’t find what he was looking for. “Aw, whaaaaat?”
“What?”
“You didn’t pack the red ribbon?” He whined, dropping the bag to the floor after removing the roll of duct tape and a bungee cord.
Lucas…
