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“You have to understand he will kill my family if I…” For fuck’s sake. I press the button again and listen while he screams. His feet make contact and the blood sprays into the air coming down like red rain. It falls at my feet like toxic poison, but also serves as a gateway to another world where vengeance is gotten. His screams fill the air, tortured and bleak like the choir of death.
I press the button knowing he has maybe minutes before the loss of blood drains him and seconds before I lose the little food I have eaten. “Tell me and I will make the pain go away.” He is wheezing, life leaving his eyes. He looks at me and whispers.
“My pocket. Thumb print. Text message.” His last words before he is gone. I pull his phone from his pocket, place his thumb on it and turn to walk away. Before I reach the car, I turn around. Pulling my pocketknife from my pants, I climb the ladder I used to string him, grab his hand, and slice his thumb off. I put it in a napkin and place it in my pocket. What? I am going to need it plenty. Dropping my calling card, I stumble to the car, feeling like I was given a dose of something.
I barely make it back to the car when the smell of copper gets me, and I lose the very little inside of my gut. Over and over I wretch on the side of my car, gasping for relief but finding none. Finally, an eternity later, I stop vomiting and sag against the car, “Jesus. You are not going to give me a break are you?” Getting in the car, I open the window, so I don’t have to smell my own vomit lined mouth. Key in the ignition, I stop and take a second, thinking about where this is going to go.
A week ago I woke up, feeling dizzy and not like myself. I thought I was coming down with something and took some Dayquil and kept on going. Two days later, I found myself in a doctor's office, using a translation app to tell them my symptoms and trying to understand what they were saying to me. At the end of it, they told me I was pregnant.
Pregnant.
Me.
I sat in their patient room, confused and in denial. I mean there is no way in hell I can be pregnant. I am a killer. A woman out for vengeance, destined to die or spend her life in jail. There is no way I can be carrying something so innocent and fragile inside of me.
I walked out of there, stumbling my way to my car before it hit me, and I cried. I wrapped my arms around my waist and cried for this life that is going to be ruined if born to me. I cried for the life I can never have with the man I will always love but have to run from. I simply cried. Once I was done, I knew what I had to do. I cannot have this baby. I mean of course I can have it and give it up for adoption, but then what? He or she turns 18 and looks for me to find, what? A mother who is a serial killer? A mother who dies by the same sword she lived by?
So, I decided to go to a clinic and have it taken care of. Only when I drove there, I couldn't do it. I physically could not get out of the car. I told myself I needed a little more time to come to terms with the decision I had to make and that is where I am in that process. Coming to terms and seems the baby is making itself known. Reminding me the clock is ticking. Like a bomb ready to shred what is left of my heart when I have to do it.
* * *
I pull up outside of the property where Yonis is hiding Ruslan. I have been here for hours, staking it out trying to figure out a way in and maybe I can get out of here in one piece. So far as I can tell there are five maybe six men inside. I have seen them coming and going in the last two hours.
It is not lost on me that I should be scared. I should be hesitant, fearful, and smart about this. I shouldn’t be doing this alone and I know that, but the reality is, I am alone. I am the only one left to seek retribution for my father.
In the six weeks I have been here, I discovered who actually pulled the trigger that ended his life. Ruslan Popov. Sure, it was at the order of Romeo DeSantis, an order given in exchange for pieces of the DeSantis empire all over the U.S., but it is the hand that carried it out that I am most interested in. I know Aurora and her family will take care of Romeo. But this one, this one is mine.
I wait a little longer, glad when two of the men get in cars and leave. I know this is likely my only chance of having fewer of them inside and makes my chances better of getting out alive.
Deciding it is now or never, I pull both guns, from my back and the other from my ankle. I check and make sure everything is ok. I put four of my throwing stars in my belt, and grab my knife. My car is tucked away by a wall, with the vantage point on me, but it can be visible if they look close enough.
I get out of the car, pull my hood up and begin walking toward the building when a hand around my mouth and one around my waist, has me kicking, reaching for my belt so I can stab whoever this is. “Shhh. Calm down, Angel. It’s me.” His voice whispering in my ear deflates the fight in me, briefly, until I am pissed again wondering how the fuck he found me.
His hand moves from my mouth, and I try to calm myself. “Put me down, agent.” Please before I ruin your shoes, is the thing I don’t say. My feet touch the ground again and I whip around, arms crossed, clearly pissed off. Do you know what he does? He smiles and pulls me into his arms.
“Fuck, I missed you baby.” Damn it. I don’t uncross my arms, but I am not pushing him away. The truth is being in his arms is the single best feeling in the world and right now, having him in front of me is soothing. It is like my heart has slowed down.
“What are you doing here?” I ask him, trying not to give away how happy I am to see him.
“I am here for you, baby. To tell you this is an ambush, but given how cautious you have been and how much havoc you have wrecked here, you must already know that.”
“I knew it before I got here. My tech guy was compromised.”
“Yes. That is also how I found you,” he says running his hands through his hair.
“Hiram? You got it from Hiram? How did…" I didn't finish the question. I don’t have to. His expression tells me everything. “You didn’t have to kill him, Callum.”
“He was a risk. He put you in danger. He had to be dealt with.” Why does that make me feel all warm and throbby?
“How did you find me today?”
“I have been following your trail of bodies, baby. You have been a busy girl.” He clicks his tongue, mock reprimanding me. He is not wrong. Besides the guy I offed earlier, I have taken out two more in six weeks.
“Whatever. I don’t have time for this. You should leave. You don’t want to be here for this.” He looks at me like I am crazy.
“I am going nowhere. You can’t really…” he doesn’t finish his statement. A car comes barreling down the street. I hear shouting in Russian. Before I can grab my gun, shots are fired at us and then all hell breaks loose.
EIGHT
