“Say we wanted to know the reason our targets had been selected? Can you or Dustin provide us with that kind of information, or is it strictly confidential? Just a straightforward ‘do as you’re told and don’t ask stupid questions’kind of arrangement…” Levi beat me to the punch, stepping forward as he slid his hands into the front pockets of his dark-wash jeans.
Dane laughed as he sat up and pushed off the couch to stand, adjusting his shirt and pulling his jeans up from where they had started to sag on his hips.
“Yeah, I figured you’d ask that at some point… When we’re given the initial assignment, Dustin sends us the details of the crime they’ve committed so we can better judge how to handle their untimely departure. Whether it be a quick bullet to the head or something more prolonged and drawn out.”In other words, torture.
“And this target?” I jumped in, referring back to when he’d mentioned that this would befunat the gym.
“I’m not going to give this piece of shit the respect of even uttering his name. But as far as the crime? Drugs, and lots of them.” Dane dragged his hand through his dark, mussed hair, breathing a heavy sigh before continuing. “As you can imagine, street drugs are a rapidly spreading problem—one that’s hard to control even for the government, and while we might not be capable of eradicating the issue from this city—yet—we can at least contain and regulate it. However,thisson of a bitch is making it hard even to do that since he started lacing his supply with Fentanyl. Your target’s been the cause of more than one hundred overdoses—just in the last month. He’s a fucking disease and deserves to be brutally murdered for all the lives he’s taken.”
Holy shit.
“Well then, what the fuck are we waiting for? Let's give this guy the farewell party of his fucking life.” Levi smirked, and I could feel his shift in demeanor—the confidence and enthusiasm that radiated for the kill.
I wondered what he had planned… But then again, I suddenly had ideas of my own.
Daneescortedustothe suite where he’d restrained our target, the shit eating grin on his face not faltering for a single second from the moment we left the lounge. His excitement was contagious, and even had Levi walking with afuck around and find outswagger.
I felt a rush of adrenaline wash over me as we approached, ready to teach a lesson and discover just how dark a path we were paving.
Levi nudged me in the arm with his elbow as we stopped in front of the door—the same brotherly check-in I did with him back at the mansion.
Even though I knew I could handle what we were doing, there was always that little voice in the back of my mind constantly urging me to rethink my decisions, but there was no room left for self-doubt, not anymore.
I had to be confident in my future choices. Weakness would only get us killed, and as impulsive as I was, the last thing I wanted to see was Levi dead because of me.
“Luke…” My brother whispered while Dane pulled a white key card from his back pocket and held it to the black scanner on the wall.
“Yeah?”
“Remember all those times we were told we weren’t good enough or would never amount to anything? That we’d become nothing more than menaces to society?”Odd time to bring that up… but sure, let’s open an old wound…
“In our teens, yeah…”
“Well, this is where we prove all of them wrong. Prove that the Castiel brothers are fucking badasses.”
“Billionaire badasses.”
“Exactly—”
“If you two are done with your little pep talk…” Dane interjected, bored. “Your target and test number two are waiting for you inside.” He gestured with his free hand through the door while sliding aside to allow us in.
The suite was dark, but as we stepped through the entryway, the living room lights switched on one by one to their lowest setting, triggered by motion detection and revealing our second target in the middle of the large living room.
“Sensory deprivation is a bitch, isn’t it?” Dane spoke in greeting to the man bound to a chair with his mouth sealed shut.
All furniture that would’ve filled the massive area had been shoved to the outer edges, turning what must have been a luxurious living space into a temporary torture pit.
The target tried to answer—or scream, his response muffled by all the duct tape slapped across his mouth…and eyes.
“Did you know that if you remove one sense from a person, in your case—sight—the others are substantially heightened to compensate?” Dane paused as he paced around the room, asking a question that he knew the man wouldn’t be able to respond to. “Did you also know that certain drugs, like hallucinogens, can amplify or distort the same five senses?—I mean, of course you did, you sold them after all—more specifically, your bestseller,Angel Dust.”
The man started to squirm in his chair at the name, his wrists twisting in the thick zip ties used to restrain them. Even with the low lighting, it was hard to miss the dark crimson marks that had started to break and bleed from the friction.
“My protégés have a choice. To let you die quickly and easily, or to let you explore your senses for just a little bit longer.” Dane extended his arm and pointed behind us to a bar cart positioned against a wall with a cutout.
Displayed on top were three items, a gun and a knife, which were to be expected based on the first night, but the third—a syringe, loaded with a milky white liquid.
My brother and I eyed one another, with the same burning question, and knew the all-too-obvious answer. Dane wanted us to inject the target with his drug of choice before ending his life.
