Judged (The Mercenary Series Book 4)

by Marissa Farrar

  My mark was the next cubicle over.

  I walked carefully, light-footed, alert for any changes. My skills might be rusty from my time inside, but I was still a killer, a predator. Never did I feel more alive than when I was going in for a kill.

  I stopped beside the bunk Callum inhabited.

  The man lay asleep with his mouth open, breathing in not quite loud enough to be a snore, but not far from it. Disdain rolled within me. This was a sorry excuse for a man. The world would be a better place without him.

  I removed the spring from my sleeve.

  Leaned over the top of him, the metal weapon poised.

  His breathing suddenly stopped and his eyes snapped open. He saw me, and the instant knowledge of what was about to happen filled his face.

  I didn’t hesitate.

  With a single smooth stroke, I brought the straightened end of the spring down at an angle, directly through his eye socket and then up into his brain. The eye popped in a bubble of fluid, and the orbital bone behind crunched as the spike drove straight through it. I clamped my hand over Callum’s mouth, holding down hard, using the rest of my body to pin down his arms and legs to stop him flailing around. I didn’t want any noise or movement he made to wake anyone else. The alcohol earlier had done its job, and his friends around him were all out of it.

  I held Callum down until he stopped struggling. His breathing grew shallow, his remaining eye wide and staring in distant agony at the bunk directly above. I would have hit the part of his brain that controlled the body’s base functions such as breathing. He wouldn’t last much longer.

  I was right. In less than thirty seconds, his body slumped beneath me. A dark patch spread out across the sheets at his groin where he’d lost control of his bladder.

  My night’s activities weren’t quite done.

  Working carefully, I placed my hand on Callum’s forehead and pulled the metal back out of his eye. It came free with a strange sucking sensation, but I had a strong stomach and it didn’t faze me. I’d seen and done worse.

  With Callum dead, I turned my attention to the man I knew was responsible for actually killing Eddie. The one who’d done the dirty work. Callum might have been the one to order the job, but that asshole was the one who’d carried out the act. I wanted to kill him, too, as he snored, unaware his friend was dead, but I needed someone to take the fall for this. I wiped my fingerprints from the spring using my shirt, and then held the end of the metal using the same piece of shirt.

  He slept with his hands folded across his chest, on top of the sheet.

  Carefully, making sure I didn’t disturb his slumber, I lifted one of his hands slightly and placed the coiled end of the spring beneath it. It only needed the slightest touch to transfer his prints over to the weapon. Then I gently released his hand again. I froze for a moment, making sure there was still no change in breathing from anyone around me—except of course, for the man I’d just killed. Everything remained the same.

  With the same caution, still using the bottom of my shirt to hold the end, I pushed the spring beneath his mattress, just out of sight.

  The job was done.

  I turned slowly, as cautious not to wake anyone now as I had been at the start. I needed to get back to my bunk without anyone seeing me, or it would be obvious I’d been the guilty one.

  No one moved, the sound of sleeping all around me continued. I had no reason to think anyone had seen me. But then I saw one person was awake and staring right at me. The older Jewish guy, Gil, the same one who’d organized the hooch. We locked eyes and my breath stopped. But then he gave me one slow nod, and closed his eyes again.

  I had a bottle of water, which I used to quickly rinse off my hands, wiping them down on a tissue which I threw back into Callum’s cubicle. I’d deliberately chosen the eye socket as the place to kill him, knowing the blood loss would be a lot less than if I’d cut his throat or stabbed him in the heart. I’d also known the death would be quick. While I didn’t believe he deserved a quick death, I also didn’t want to get caught.

  I climbed into bed, and waited for morning for all hell to break loose.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  X

  The blare of the alarm tore me from sleep.

  “Everyone out of the bunks,” C.O. Damps ordered. “Face down on the ground.”

  The prisoners were groggy and slow moving. Those who moved too slowly received a shove in the back from one of the guards.

  “What the fuck, man!” one of the prisoners exclaimed.

  I moved quickly and quietly, knowing exactly what was going on. Callum’s body had been discovered. I tried to catch a glimpse of his bunk. A lump lay beneath the sheet, which was pulled right up over the top of his face. I could only assume the body hadn’t been moved as they’d need to check the scene. Whoever found Callum’s body would have been able to tell the cause of death right away. It wasn’t as though they wouldn’t be able to see he’d been stabbed through the eye. No one would have been able to get rid of the murder weapon overnight, so the guards knew it was in here somewhere.

  The guards stormed the bunks, tossing off sheets, pulling at mattresses, emptying out bags and drawers, ripping posters off walls—though I couldn’t see what good that would do. I remained on the floor, my hands over my head. Fellow prisoners lay all around me in the same position. I risked lifting my head and looked up. I caught Gil watching me. Would he say something? I didn’t think so. He hated those fuckers as much as I did.

  “Boss!” came a shout from Callum’s cubicle. “We got something.”

  I couldn’t see from the angle I was lying at, but of course I knew what they’d found.

  I spotted Shawn lying on the ground a few people away. The guards approached him, grabbing him from behind and pulling him to his feet.

  “Your buddy do something to piss you off?” Damps snapped at him. “What the fuck did he do to deserve that?”

  Panic flitted across his face. “What? I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

  “Bullshit. We just found the weapon under your mattress. You work in electrical. You had access to it.”

  “I don’t know nothing about no weapon! Someone’s set me up.”

  I kept my head down, deliberately not wanting to make eye-contact with the man. I knew if I did, I’d end up with the finger pointed at me.

  He was hustled away, still yelling about how he’d been set up.

  “The rest of you,” another guard yelled. “Into the cafeteria. You’re gonna be staying there until the cops get here and sort this fucking mess out.”

  The corrections officers would be in trouble for this, too. Two deaths in the jail in a matter of days. Heads would roll. I couldn’t feel bad for them, however. There were a couple of good guys among them, but the rest were cruel and jaded. Maybe the murders would mean there would be some changes around here, though I doubted it. I hated to think that Eddie’s death had been for nothing, but not everyone’s lives could mean something. Most of us just existed for a short while, and then we were snuffed out. Life was cold and hard that way.

  We got to our feet and were hustled out into the cafeteria. The prisoners who worked as kitchen staff went about their duties as normal, but the atmosphere in the place was even more strained than usual. I hoped one of the other racial groups wouldn’t be blamed for Callum’s death. The prison didn’t need any more racially motivated hate.

  Would the men on the outside ease up on Vee now that Callum had been taken out of the picture? They had no reason to link either me or her to Callum’s death. This would get blamed on one of their own, no matter how much he tried to declare his innocence. I’d made sure his fingerprints were all over the murder weapon, and that he’d had access to the mower. My only weak link was Gil, but I didn’t think he was going to cause me any problems.

  I needed to get hold of Vee and tell her what had happened. I would try to call her at the first opportunity, but I knew we wouldn’t be getting out of the cafeteria an
y time soon.

  I just hoped Callum’s death wouldn’t cause her any problems in the meantime.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  V

  A hand shaking my shoulder woke me with a start.

  “What? What’s happening?”

  Nicole was standing over me, her face taut with worry. “There’s men at the gates.”

  I sat up, instantly awake. “What kind of men? Dad?”

  “No, those rough looking guys who stopped us out on the street. They’re banging on the gate and demanding to be let in.”

  “Shit.”

  The Blood Legion and Leon Millen, no doubt. What had happened?

  I reached out and grabbed both my phone and gun from under my pillow. Swiping through the phone, I located Dylan’s number. Had Dylan and his crew been giving the Blood Legion a hard time, despite me telling them to let them have the business?

  I called his number, and he answered on the first ring. “Verity?”

  I didn’t bother saying hi. “Any idea why I’ve got half of the Blood Legion trying to break down my gate?”

  “What?” He sounded as surprised as I was.

  “Yeah, those sons-of-bitches are hammering on my gate like they’re trying to escape a zombie horde. I thought you might know something about it.”

  “Nope. Not me. We’ve been doing exactly what you said and letting them have the business as long as they promised not to hurt anyone else. Not that we haven’t been getting complaints about it, but as far as we know, there hasn’t been any more physical violence.”

  “Dammit.”

  What the hell did they want, then?

  “You want me to come over, bring some of the guys?”

  I didn’t like accepting help, but it was just me and Nicole in the house. The memory of being stopped in the street the last time was still fresh in my mind, including the threats they’d made to Nickie, and I didn’t want to take any risks.

  “Yeah, okay. Thanks, Dylan.”

  “I’ll be there in fifteen. Be careful.”

  I hung up, and then placed a second call. It wasn’t something I’d normally do, but I had the feeling this was going to turn ugly.

  Quickly, I pulled on my standard outfit of maternity jeans and a loose shirt, then Nicole and I ran downstairs. I checked the security cameras for the front gate. Sure enough, there were Leon and his friends, with a couple of ridiculous sized, souped-up trucks behind them.

  “What are we going to do?” asked Nicole. “Do we wait for Dylan to get here?”

  “They’re only going to get more pissed the longer we leave them out there. I need to find out what they want.”

  I went to the intercom and pressed the buzzer to allow me to speak to them. “Leon,” I said, watching the camera to make sure he’d heard me. He turned toward the speaker and then looked up at the camera. “What are you doing here? I gave you what you wanted.”

  He leaned in. “Callum Hooper is dead.”

  I frowned. “Who?”

  “Our main guy on the inside. The same one who threatened your guy. You want to tell me what the fuck is going on?”

  “I have no idea,” I said honestly. “I don’t even know who this guy is.”

  “No? Well, we also have another one of our guys inside being charged for his murder.”

  “So they had some kind of beef with each other inside? I really don’t see what this all has to do with me.”

  Should I let them inside or not? I didn’t want to. Hell, every part of me screamed to keep them locked out, that it would be safer for us, but then I couldn’t control what they’d do to X on the inside. They had contacts that I didn’t, and even if the main guy had been killed, it didn’t mean there weren’t plenty of others willing to carry out Leon’s dirty work.

  Had X been responsible for killing this Callum guy? I wouldn’t put it past him. After all, killing was his job. Rare anger toward X bubbled up inside of me. Why would he have taken that risk when I was doing what I could out here to get him free? I’d given away part of my business to keep him safe, and he was playing God while behind bars. I thought I knew him better than that. He was supposed to have been keeping his head down while I found proof that would set him free. If someone discovered he was responsible, it wouldn’t matter if I proved he’d never killed Harvey Baglione. He would go down for Callum Hooper’s murder instead.

  No, I was making too many assumptions. I didn’t know for sure that X had killed Callum. Leon said himself that another guy had been accused of the murder, even though he denied the killing. If it had been X, he must have had good cause. He wouldn’t do anything rash to risk our future. He’d only do something so drastic if he thought his own life was in danger, wouldn’t he?

  Whatever had happened, I needed to talk Leon down. He had the contacts inside, and if I didn’t convince him X had nothing to do with this guy’s death, I didn’t doubt he’d use them.

  I leaned in and spoke into the microphone. “I’m opening the gates.”

  Nicole hissed at me. “What are you doing?”

  “I don’t have any choice. Keeping them locked out only makes me look uncooperative and guilty.”

  “Ah, shit.”

  “Don’t worry,” I tried to reassure her. “Dylan and his men will be here soon. They’ll have our backs.”

  “Yeah, right up until the point our father shows back up, and then we’ll both be screwed.”

  I knew she had a point, but I couldn’t worry about our dad right now. We had more immediate problems on our hands.

  I leaned in and hit the button to open the gates.

  The moment there was enough space, both of the big vehicles barreled through onto the property. Leon hadn’t bothered to climb back in, and he strode along beside them. A number of other men jumped out, leaving the doors open. I recognized several of them from when they’d ambushed us on the street, and another from the church the other day. With shaved heads and covered in tattoos, these guys looked like they meant business.

  I approached Leon, my hand on my hip where I could feel the shape of my gun beneath my shirt. “I don’t know what you expect from me, Leon. I know nothing about what’s going on inside.”

  “I want payment for my guy’s life, that’s what I want.”

  “Money?” I said.

  “We want more business. Things are gonna be tough for our gang inside without Callum and Shawn to run things.”

  “This is bullshit. You don’t even know it was my guy who killed him.”

  “Shawn would never have done anything to Callum. They’re white brothers. They had each other’s backs for years. Then your guy comes on the scene, and now this. We’re gonna be feeling Callum’s loss for years to come, so you better make things right.”

  A low roar of approval rose from his men at his little speech.

  I gritted my teeth. “I’m not giving you anything. We had an agreement. I haven’t broken it.”

  Leon’s lip curled. “Fine. If you won’t give us any more business, we’ll take a life for a life.”

  “What?”

  “You heard me,” he said with a snide smile. “We could make some extra dollars with one of you two. Men will pay good money to do whatever the fuck they want to you.”

  I bristled, my fingers tightening around the handle of my gun. “You stay the hell away from us. What do you think my father’s going to do if he saw you’d been trying to pimp out one of his daughters?”

  “Yeah, where is your father lately? Seems to me like he’s left you ladies in the lurch. I’m wondering if he’s got himself in a bit of trouble. Maybe he’s never coming back, and this whole city is open to a takeover.”

  “You’re wrong. He’ll be back, and he’ll kill every one of you if you hurt either of us.”

  Frustratingly, Leon laughed. “You know what, I think that’s bullshit. I think he’s not coming back, and you two are in way over your heads.” He looked to the men beside him. “Now, which one of these two bitches is gonna be payment for Ca
llum?”

  “You’re not taking either of us,” I snarled, my hand edging beneath the hem of my shirt, ready to pull my weapon. I didn’t want to start shooting, but I wasn’t going to let this asshole lay a finger on us either.

  They looked us both over. “Not the one with the tattoos,” said the man standing beside Leon. “She’s getting fat. Take the young one, instead.”

  “No! Don’t you fucking touch her.”

  They ignored me, and the guy who’d commented stepped forward. I pulled my gun, but instantly found three more weapons pointed directly at my head. Nicole let out a shriek, and then more of the men were moving, stepping in behind us. One of them grabbed her, pulling her arms behind her back, though she wriggled and fought against him. There were too many of them—eight against our two. I couldn’t shoot all of them. If I even tried, I’d end up dead.

  “You fucking bastard,” I snarled at Leon.

  He laughed. “Come on, let’s get her out of here.”

  “No!” Nicole yelled.

  The man who had hold of her joined in the laughter and started to pull her toward the front door. He barely made it through the open doorway. A gun jammed to the back of his head, and a figure moved into view.

  Dylan.

  “You heard what the lady said. Let go of the girl.”

  Leon curled a lip. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

  Dylan’s gaze flicked to me. “I work for the Guerra family, and I’m sure as hell not going to have some asshole come along and try to take liberties. Now let go of Nicole or I’ll blow your friend’s fucking head off.”

  Leon nodded at the man who had hold of Nicole. He must have released his grip, as she yanked out of it and hurried to stand back at my side.

  “You okay?” I asked her.

  She nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

  “Leon,” I said, straightening. “Our business dealings are over. Don’t come anywhere near my family again, or I’ll make sure you’re the ones who end up pimped out. Got it?”