AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That was code for I was checking to see if you were still alive. Bastard.
“Been”—I cleared my throat—“a little busy.”
“Does that mean you have something for me?”
This was my moment of truth. Did I end it all now or keep playing the game? A shiver of unease slid down my spine. It would all go to shit if I chose wrong.
“The shop is clean.”
“That’s it. That’s all you have to say for your time there?”
“I have to go now,” I whispered and hung up the phone.
Blood coated my hands. The driver of the SUV, one of Piotr’s goons, face was now a mass of lumps and bruises. His ugly mug could use some rearranging. Considering one of my punches had actually straightened his nose, I’d call it an improvement. If I didn’t plan on killing him anyway, I might even charge him for the service I’d provided.
He spit the blood pooling in his mouth at me. “Pipa.”
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You forget yourself, Filip. I’m not my brother. He’s become too Americanized. Forgotten half the Polish our father taught us. I, on the other hand, am still perfectly fluent. As I recall, our father used to love to call a man a cunt before he cut them from chest to dick.”
I stood in front of him, running my knife along my nail as his partner screamed behind his gag, shaking the chair he was tied to with his movements.
“Your partner over there”—I nodded my head—“seems like he can’t wait to talk to me. Maybe he’s the smarter of the two, choosing a quick death over hours of torment. Come now, Filip. You’re new, but you can’t be that stupid. Everyone’s heard about The Butcher’s son, and I don’t mean Piotr.”
He snarled, but there was a flicker of fear in his eyes. And here I was, worried that Ryder’s morals had made me soft. Though it felt good to know that I hadn’t been completely forgotten.
“Shall we try this again? Where is the other tail Piotr sent?”
He spit at me again. This time there was snot mixed in with the blood.
“You saw them in front of the school.”
Was he really this stupid or playing me? It was tough to tell because, as Pops would say, “He ain’t got the good sense god gave a rock.”
“No. The man you replaced. The one who’s actually worth something rather than being a sack of meat taking up space like the other two Piotr sent.”
The sound of metal reverberating off cement echoed behind me as the other man’s chair fell to the floor from all his jerking about.
“Never mind,” I muttered, sheathing my knife.
When I set him upright and removed the gag, he stared up at me wide-eyed. His bindings were tight and each breath he pulled in was labored. He was considerably smaller than the other man Piotr sent, his gaunt shoulders shaking. Sweat trickled down the side of his pale face and I wondered if he was going to save me the trouble of killing him later by having a heart attack.
“I don’t know where Piotr sent him.” I loomed over him and, if it were possible, he grew even paler. “But Piotr has been talking to a DEA agent.”
His eyes were bloodshot, and his pupils were blown, but judging from the amount of cursing coming from Filip, he was telling the truth.
“What do Piotr and this DEA agent talk about?”
“Don’t say a fucking word, Jan.”
I made a show of taking the knife out of my ankle holster. Each of my movements was slow, methodical. His eyes widening even further as I stood. With the flick of my wrist, the knife embedded itself into the side of Filip’s throat. His friend watched as he gurgled, choking on his own blood.
“There now. Where were we? Yes, Piotr and the agent. What do they talk about?”
He tore his wide eyes from his partner and looked up at me. Fear came off him in waves as sweat dripped from his chin. The pungent stench of urine filled the air, and I sighed. I hadn’t even touched the man yet, and he’d already pissed himself.
“I overheard”—he swallowed—“a phone call once. Piotr said he’d upheld his end of the deal, yet Mikolaj still walks around free. Then he said something about a window closing and he’d just take care of you himself.”
“Hmm. I’m rethinking that quick death I promised.”
