Page 2 of Guardian
Bitterness coats the back of my throat.I gasp like a fish, but my lungs won’t fill with air.
My heart, already racing, races faster.Dizziness hits.
Get up.The worse guys are coming.Get up, get up, get up.
“Ravi?Fuck.”That sounds like Brennan.He’s poking at my neck, slapping at my face.“Jalen, grab him and get him outside.We’re going to need to call a fucking ambulance.Jesus, Ravi, you’re a fucking menace.”
My lips and tongue are weirdly numb.I can’t make them move.It feels like I’m dying.I don’t want to die.
I was only trying to help.
I really hope I did.It’s the last thing I think before the lights go out.
Chapter One
Liam
“Please.I swear.I don’t know anything else.”After hours of begging, the man’s voice is raw, cracked by desperation.Good.
Everyone in my line of work plays favorites with their tools.Some have pet names for their knives and guns.My favorite knife doesn’t have a name.Just a purpose.
“Reece.Give me the fillet.”
My employee hands over the blade.
The man tied to the stainless-steel chair starts thrashing.Water drips down his face with the steady, annoying cadence of a broken faucet.
Thunder claps outside the East End warehouse.Storm season in Belle Argo, Florida lives up to the name.Comes in handy.The drips from holes in the roof aggravate the interrogee.Thunder muffles their screams.
The former bartender we tracked down is good looking, pretty even, with his blue-gray eyes and artsy, new-school tattoos.Or he was before we got hold of him.Between my knife and my employee, Reece, who smashed the guy’s head into concrete when we picked him up, he’s not looking so pretty now.
“Okay, let’s go over this again.”I place the tip of my knife at his sternum and press in.Not a lot.Never go big when you can go small, I say.It’s enough to get this guy’s lower lip quivering.
“Several wealthy young men and women were taken from parties over the span of a few months’ time, and the interesting thing is you just so happened to bartend at almost all of them.You’re telling me your interactions were only ever with the party promoter.He’s the one who gave you the money and the drugs and told you who to slip them to.Nobody else?”
He bobs his head.“Yeah.Yeah.Exactly.This guy, Tony, he seemed to be at all the parties.Always used the catering company I worked for.He’d slip me a grand and a picture.All I did was put the shit in their drink like he asked me to.I don’t know who was paying him or who he was working with.I sure as fuck wasn’t the one shipping them out of the country.I just needed the money, okay?”
My knife “slips” a little.The sound he makes is more of a whimper than a scream, but I enjoy the way the tendons stand out on his neck.
“What’d you need the money for?”We’re probably going to kill this man anyway.Even if he was desperate for the cash because his little sister needed a kidney transplant or something, he could’ve gotten the money some way that didn’t traumatize people and tear up families.Still, it’s worth asking.
“Man, I had gambling debts, okay?I moved here to try and lie low while I made some cash, but the dude I owed sent a guy, and I was running short on time.”
I glance at Reece.He raises an eyebrow, thinking the same thing I’m thinking.We’re definitely killing him now.
I crouch down so I can look into the eyes in his sagging head.“Here’s the trouble I have with all that, my friend.You knew they were drugging people.You probably knew exactly what they were going to do with them, and you still sold them out for a measly few thousand dollars.”
Over to the side there’s a stainless-steel table where I keep my tools and my phone.The device is on silent, but the screen has been lighting up with notifications.
Ravi has left home.
Where’s the little shit going when he doesn’t have class for hours?I’m going to need to have a talk with him.I take a breath and turn back to the man in the chair.
“I didn’t know,” he protests.“I didn’t know they wanted to, like, sell people or whatever.I thought it was a little harmless fun.”
This is where Reece comes in out of nowhere and slugs the guy in the side of the face.“A little harmless fun, you sick piece of shit?Drugging kids?You’re telling us you were all right with assault, but kidnapping is where you draw the line?”
I glare at Reece.He’s one of my newer guys, so we’re still working on communication.“Give me some warning next time, huh?You almost got the business end of my knife.”
