CLASS ACT (A BRITISH ROCKSTAR BAD BOY ROMANCE)

by Julia Gardener

  “The bad news?”

  “The Black Fang has probably made their move on him,” Jackie answered with a frown. “I’ve kept my ear to the ground. It seems like Gregori’s men are asking about Colman’s whereabouts. They know he was last sighted near that building.”

  I sighed. “That doesn’t make things any easier.”

  “Their alliance lasted longer than I expected. They’re looking to silence Colman before he makes a deal with the CIA.”

  “So we’re on a clock.”

  He nodded. “Sooner or later, someone is going to snitch on Colman. It could be a maid at the hotel who talks on Facebook about the weird hotel guest at work. Or someone Colman’s working with betrays him for a bigger payday from Gregori. That’s when it will be lights out for him. If we want answers, we have to get to him before they do.”

  I had gotten used to this line of work always being so complicated. “What’s the plan?”

  “It’s pretty straightforward all things considered,” he replied. “We’ll use the maintenance elevator to go directly to the penthouse. It’s clear this time of day so we shouldn’t encounter any hotel staff or guests. The cleaning staff have their break during this time.”

  “Is there any security on the elevator? Do we have to break the lock on it or something?”

  He shook head. “No, it just needs a four digit passcode. As for Colman’s room, I have a security override card. I bought it off black market. It looks like a disgruntled maintenance worker sold it to hackers.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Is there anything money can’t buy on the black market?”

  He laughed. “The sky’s the limit. They even offered to scramble the security footage for us. A bargain all things considered. We just have to be take the ride up straight to Colman’s suite.”

  I felt a shiver running up and down my spine. I gripped the handle of the gun hidden in my jacket. “This seems too easy.”

  “It’s normal to feel uncomfortable when things seem simple in this line of work,” Jackie said in agreement. “I’m more worried about Colman. With luck, he doesn’t try something stupid once we get the drop on him.”

  We would get him to talk… before killing him.

  The two of us found the maintenance elevator in the parking lot. The passcode worked without a hitch. The ride up was a silent one.

  I wasn’t a wolf like Jackie. I didn’t have his killer instinct. But I couldn’t let Colman get away.

  The doors opened and we headed to Colman’s room. Thankfully, no hotel staff were here. There wouldn’t be anyone to disturb us. Jackie slotted in the security override card. Within seconds, the door was open.

  However, he didn’t open it just yet. Like a one man SWAT team, Jackie got out his gun and prepared to swing the door open. He glanced at me to back me up. I held out my gun and turned off the safety.

  With expert precision, Jackie opened the door and drew his gun.

  Colman wasn’t in the immediate vicinity.

  The apartment looked luxurious enough. However, I could tell it hadn’t been cleaned in some time. I guessed that Colman had requested no one enter the suite, including the cleaning staff.

  I scanned the room for any signs of life. There was a window washing scaffold just beyond the window to the side. It blocked much of the outside view but no one seemed to be using it.

  I worried that Colman had given us the slip. However, we heard the clatter of keys on keyboard. There was someone here.

  Jackie heard it as well and we followed its source. He was like a bloodhound following a scent trail. I felt like a hunter trying to keep up with his pace.

  Finally, we saw Colman craned over a keyboard. Despite being in the lap of luxury, it didn’t look like he was having the time of his life. His hair had grown long. He looked gaunter from the last time I saw him.

  He didn’t seem to even notice us. I readied my handgun with my finger just off the trigger. It felt a bit heavier than usual due to the suppressor.

  Suddenly, Colman stopped typing. He didn’t turn around. Instead, he slowly moved his hand off the laptop’s mouse.

  “You reach for that gun under the table and you’re a dead man,” Jackie growled, aiming his gun at Colman’s back. “Hands where I can see them.”

  My father’s killer did as he was instructed. After pocketing Colman’s gun, he made Colman stand up. With a gun still pointed at Colman, Jackie pushed him against the wall and did a search on the man. The hitman found a penknife in his pocket which he handed to me. Otherwise, we had him dead to rights.

  Satisfied, Jackie turned him around and said. “Hello, Mr. Colman.”

  He shuddered in terror. “Did Gregori send you?”

  Jackie laughed. “No, we’re something much worse. Well, we will be if you don’t cooperate.”

  Colman’s eyes widened in surprise when he saw me. “Wait, I know you! Your hair is shorter but you’re Chambers’ girl. The one everyone’s looking for!”

  The man looked like he had seen a ghost. Worse, the ghost in question had a gun aimed at his heart. “You killed my father.”

  “I didn’t mean to,” he said in his defense. “It got out of hand-”

  “Shut up!” I yelled. Colman immediately recoiled in fear. “Tell us where Gregori is.”

  “No, anything but that!” he said, trembling where he stood. “He’ll torture me before executing me!”

  “You’re a dead man either way,” Jackie warned. “Between us and Gregori, we’re the softer option. Now talk before we decide to give you to Gregori and cheer him on.”

  It was a bluff but Colman didn’t call it. “Okay, all of it is on my laptop over there. It has a list of all of his safe houses and when he enters them. It has everything! Just let me live!”

  Jackie glanced over at the laptop. “Kelly, you’re on him. I’ll check out if he’s telling the truth.”

  I aimed my gun at him as the hitman searched the laptop. “One wrong move and you’re dead.”

  Colman gulped.

  Jackie didn’t have to search long to find pay dirt. “We hit the jackpot. This thing has the safe houses Gregori switches to on a weekly basis. I have the times his security rotates and what weapons they carry. It even has the time and location for when his private jet departs.”

  My ears perked up at that. “Do you know how long he’s staying in the United States?”

  “He’ll be in the country for another two weeks. After that, he’s cutting his losses and heading home. The man will gather his remaining fortune and head to some private airstrip in Russia.”

  Colman gave a nervous laugh. “See? I told you the truth. I was collecting it for the CIA but you can have it! Now, please let me live!”

  Colman looked haggard. Both of us were on the run but I had actually taken care of myself. Now, the man thought he was going to get off scot free for committing murder.

  “Alright, Colman… I’ll let you live,” Jackie said, shooting me a smile. “But that doesn’t mean you’re off her chopping block.”

  Colman turned pale. “What?”

  “You killed my father!” I growled, venom in my words. I wanted him to be afraid. I wanted to put the fear of God in him. “You killed him in our very home!”

  The man’s fell to his knees. Jackie watched on in silence. “Please, I’ve given you what you want. Let me live. Have mercy-”

  “Mercy?” I said with a cynical laugh. “Did you give my father any mercy when you shot him so some Russian drug kingpin could hold onto his blood money? Did you think of the daughter he would leave behind?”

  Colman’s voice was faint. His eyes looked up at me without hid head moving. “Please…”

  “You killed my father,” I whispered, hot tears streaming down my cheeks. I took aim at the man. “You killed him…”

  I fired the gun.

  Jackie looked shock for the first time since I had met him. His expression turned from shock to confusion when he saw what I had done to Colman. A puff from smoke bellowed fr
om the suppressor. There was a spent shell casing on the floor.

  But there was no blood.

  I had shot to the side of my target’s head.

  Colman patted himself to make sure he was still alive. “You… you didn’t kill me…”

  “That’s the last thing my father saw before he died,” I said, my tears coming to an end. “Get out of here and don’t ever come back for your sake. Don’t ever come across me again or else I’ll finish the job.”

  Jackie looked on in surprise but didn’t comment. Instead, he took Colman’s laptop and gestured for me to follow him. If he disapproved of my decision, then he didn’t show it.

  When Colman was out of earshot, I finally spoke. “I-I just couldn’t do it, Jackie. He looked so miserable already. Maybe he’ll live with the guilt for the rest of his life.”

  He gave a small chuckle. “Heh, I haven’t seen a man look so pathetic in all my years.”

  “You must think I’m weak…” I said, with a soft laugh. “I make a big deal about getting back at Colman and I can’t even do it.”

  He shook his head. “On the contrary, that was a very brave thing you did. I wouldn’t be as strong as you.”

  “Colman deserves hell…,” I mused. “But it’s not up for me to play judge, jury, and executioner. I don’t have that… killer instinct that people like you have.”

  “People like him eventually get what’s coming to them, Kelly,” he consoled. “Let’s go home-”

  We heard a sharp noise followed by a loud yell. By now, I was familiar with the sound of gunfire. Jackie and I exchanged worried looks. “That sounds like Colman, Jackie.”

  He brandished his handgun. “Someone else is here.”

  My first thought was to get Kelly to safety. However, I didn’t know whether or not there were more enemy combatants. I guided her under a desk in the living room. “Stay here. You see someone come from the front, then take aim!”

  “Got it-”

  A hail of bullets filled the room. They made mincemeat of the furniture. I took cover behind a wall. The sound was as loud as jackhammer. “Son of a bitch is using an assault rifle!”

  I glanced over and saw my assailant.

  It was a one eyed-man holding a military grade assault rifle.

  It was Sergei Petrov. “Damn, it’s Sergei!”

  “How’d he get in here,” Kelly asked amongst the gunfire. “He didn’t come through the front.”

  I fired off a few rounds that forced Sergei to take cover. When my gun was empty, I didn’t bother to reload. Instead, I used Colman’s gun to fire a few more shots. That’s when I noticed bits of broken glass next to a window. “He got in through the scaffolding!”

  Kelly slid her gun across the floor to me. “You need it more!”

  I prayed she would make it out of this firefight alive. I took Kelly’s weapon as a backup after reloading my gun. Petrov had me out-gunned. The only thing going in my favor was that he was using an inaccurate firearm and had no sidearm that I could see. However, it was going to be a battle of attrition which I would eventually lose. The man had a squad’s worth of ammunition strapped to him.

  My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a pin being pulled. I hadn’t heard it since my days in Afghanistan. “Take cover Kelly! He’s got grenades!”

  Kelly curled into a ball inside the desk. A series of large explosions of shrapnel filled the room. Thankfully, Sergei had overthrown the grenades. Much of its intense blast was localized in the next room.

  “I’m alright, how about you?” Kelly yelled. I sighed in relief that she was unhurt. “Jackie, he got in through the scaffolding. Can’t he use it to get out?”

  It was a plan. I let out a series of rounds at Petrov until the gun was empty. “Wait for my signal!”

  Kelly dusted herself off and got ready to sprint. “Okay!”

  I was down to the gun Kelly had given back to me. I waited for Petrov to fire his weapon at us. However, it never came.

  I peeked over the wall and saw Petrov angrily swat at his firearm. An assault rifle looks imposing but it’s meant for suppressive fire than for kill shots. It gets enemy combatants to hit the ground. You need a long-range rifle or a sidearm to finish the job. There’s also the fact that full-auto can eat through your ammunition or jam your gun.

  “His gun is jammed!” I said, feeling the rush of adrenaline. “Now’s our chance! Run and I’ll cover you.”

  Kelly got up. “Let’s go!”

  Together we rushed past Petrov and toward the scaffolding used by the window washers. The Russian cursed at us as he tried to fix his jammed assault rifle. The man needed to learn the value of a good, reliable handgun.

  The two of us jumped into the scaffold. I peeked over the edge to see Petrov still struggling with his weapon. It would only be a matter of time before he unjammed the gun and open fire on us again.

  “How does this thing work?” I asked in bewilderment over the electronics before us. “Do we pull a rope?”

  Kelly pointed to a panel. “Up or down?”

  I heard Petrov’s gun click. “Up! There’s an elevator on the roof.”

  She pushed the button. “Going up!”

  It was just in time as our assailant let loose a volley of bullets. They tore through the metal of the scaffold. I felt a sharp pain in my arm but I could deal with it later.

  I watched Petrov disappear as we arose.

  A streak of blood lined his cheek.

  One of my shots had just missed his head.

  He was the one who ordered my mother’s death.

  I’d get him next time.

  Finally, we escaped Petrov and reached the roof. Kelly pointed to the elevator shaft. “There’s our way out.”

  We raced to the elevator and opened it with the keycard I had. Thankfully, it hadn’t been damaged in the gunfight. “They might be expecting us to get off on the maintenance level. Let’s hop off the second floor and use the staircase.”

  Kelly nodded before her eyes widened in surprise. She was unharmed but covered in debris and dust. “You’re bleeding, Jackie!”

  I saw some blood tricking down my right bicep. “It’s a graze. The one you pulled out of me earlier was much worse. I’ll live.”

  “We’ll have to make sure it doesn’t become infected,” Kelly said, her medical training kicking in. “That Petrov did some real damage for a guy with one eye.”

  “He’s got skills but no sense,” I chucked. “He could have had us dead to rights with a more accurate weapon. However, he likes to go in heavy and loud with automatic weapons. That’s just his style.”

  “At least we got what we came for,” she sighed. I brushed some debris off her face. “You have that laptop right?”

  I took it out of my jacket and waved it. “It’s still intact. At least one thing came out of there without a scratch.”

  After the excitement of the gunfight, the elevator ride down felt like an eternity. We got off the second floor and used the fire escape to leave through the back. We left just before the police and firefighters arrived. I didn’t know whether Petrov escaped as well. Knowing my luck, he probably got out without a hitch.