by Sam Crescent
She unbolted the door and ran down the hallway to the elevator, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited. It was late, so she couldn’t stop imagining a bunch of paid hitmen ganging up on Viper.
When she reached the ground floor, she rushed out into the street. She didn’t care that she looked like shit, her mind only on finding Viper. As she wandered back and forth, wondering which way she should try first, she noticed two black SUVs parked in front of the condo. When she looked closer, the men inside were staring at her with recognition in their eyes. A shiver of fear ran down her spine as she realized how much danger she’d put herself in.
If anyone could handle himself, it was Viper, a trained mercenary with a track record of clean kills. But Pepper was only twenty years old, trapped on the street with no way to get back into the safe haven upstairs, and a worldwide hit on her head.
Chapter Seven
Viper stood in the pizza place. With his order already placed, he looked through one of the menus on the counter. He’d ordered three styles of pizza: pepperoni, spicy meat, and one with anchovies. He didn’t like anchovies, but maybe Pepper did. If not, then he could just remove them, and eat it himself.
With his hand in his pocket, he glanced outside of the pizza place, and knew without a doubt that he was being watched. All of his life he’d been trained. If Pepper thought the story he told her about the pups was bad, she didn’t even know the half of it. That wasn’t so bad compared to the other shit he went through. The people who owned him would make all the kids stand in line, and anyone who failed a task was beaten by another child.
No!
He wasn’t going to think about that shit again. The moment he could, he got out. He’d learned to fight back, and he killed every single one of those motherfuckers. Boss had also helped, and that was how he and Boss had become acquainted. That man was a machine and had one of the highest kill ratios in the world.
“Sir, your pizza is ready.”
“Thank you.”
He looked out of the window and saw the man all dressed in black. This wasn’t a kill from Pepper’s stepfather. This was something else.
Moving back to the counter, he smiled at the man. “My wife has been nagging me for weeks. You know the pizza wheel thing you guys use, I don’t suppose I can buy one from you guys? It’ll save me a big headache.” He held out a hundred, and the guy was more than happy to oblige.
“Thank you. You’re a life saver,” Viper said, winking at him.
Leaving the shop, Viper walked down the street aware of the man following him. By his side, out of everyone’s line of sight, he held the pizza wheel. This wasn’t the most threatening tool to have, but for Viper, it was all he needed.
In the reflection of the shop windows, he saw the man getting close. He made a right turn, placed the pizza boxes on top of a garbage can, and counted to three. As soon as he rounded the corner, he grabbed the stranger, slamming his head against the brick wall. Viper caught him around the throat, and pressed the wheel right next to his artery. With enough pressure to cut the artery, and make the man bleed, it would bring death within seconds.
“Who do you work for?” Viper asked, growling the words.
The man was dazed and didn’t answer right away.
Releasing him, Viper picked up the man’s gun, pressing the barrel against his head.
“Who do you work for? I’m only going to ask this last time.”
“Bianchi, that’s the name. You killed one of their guys, and now you’ve got a big target on your head.”
“That’s not good,” Viper said. The gun would make too much noise. Back to the pizza wheel, he sliced the man’s throat, waiting for him to drop. Pocketing the pizza wheel, he grabbed the pizzas, and left the dead man in a heap in the alleyway.
He whistled as he started to walk back toward his place. When he saw Pepper running toward him, he tensed up. What he didn’t like was the SUV following behind her.
“What the fuck are you doing out of my apartment?” he asked, grabbing her arm, and pressing her up behind him, protecting her.
The SUV came to a stop across the street. It was a pretty busy stretch of road, with people passing. No place to have a gunfight and not get attention. He passed Pepper the pizzas and returned to the body only feet away in the alleyway. Bending down, he touched the hips of the guy that he had just killed, and found a knife. The guy must have been pretty good to have come with both items, a gun and a knife. The people who stole him as a child taught them how to make everything at their disposal a weapon. A weak person was the kind that couldn’t kill at a moment’s notice. Viper wasn’t weak.
“Stay here,” he said.
He walked over toward the SUV, smashed the window in, and plunged the blade into the first man, and holding his gun out, he aimed it at the second. “I suggest, if you want to live for the next few moments, you step on that gas and call a guy named Boss. Whatever you think you’re looking at here, she’s not the answer.”
The man wasn’t a pro. Anyone who came in an SUV didn’t know what the fuck they were doing.
Viper stepped back, and watched as the men drove away.
It was a close call.
This shit with Pepper was getting dangerous. Looking back in the alley, he didn’t know what that guy’s deal was, but they needed to get off the street and fast. He had no doubt that fucking SUV was going to come back. The only way they were safe were back at his place.
“You want to tell me why you’re not at my fucking place?” he asked, angered beyond anything.
“Are you like completely insane?” She held his cell phone. The one that had received a text message—the one he couldn’t read because that was his biggest secret. He couldn’t fucking read. Pepper was behaving as if a few moments ago men weren’t intent on taking her and killing her. She was so close to having gotten killed.
This was one of the reasons why he didn’t fuck on the job. It always ended up getting someone killed.
Gritting his teeth, he held onto her arm, and marched her all the way back to his apartment, dealing with each of the codes that was necessary before they were secure.
“Stop it, Viper. Please listen to me.”
“Do you have any fucking idea how many people want you dead? Those men in the SUV were not even fucking trained. They were just a bunch of wannabes, and you think I want to listen to you? I told you to stay fucking here!” he yelled. Viper grabbed the pizzas, shoving them under one arm before pushing her against the elevator that would take them up to the main floor of his home.
“People want you dead as well, so guess what? We’re both up shit creek. I saw those guys, and I ran, okay? I made sure I got somewhere that they couldn’t take me. They were a little shocked that I did it. I got away, no big deal.”
Viper just stared at her, teeth gritted. “You and I are not alike. What you got today was fucking lucky.”
“I know that. You went out even though there’s a massive bounty on your head. Check your cell phone. Go on, check it. See for yourself. You looked at your cell before leaving. Why did you go out? Pizza doesn’t mean anything to me, Viper. We could have made something from the stuff in your kitchen.”
She held the cell phone up, and all he saw was Maurice’s name. That was it. He’d intended to give his friend, correction, associate a call to make sure he was okay.
“You shouldn’t have been outside.” He released her arm, and she gasped, making him look back down. There was blood on her arm.
“Viper, you’re bleeding.”
“It’s not my blood.” Even as he spoke, she grabbed his hand, holding it out. “See, no cut. It’s not my cut, and the difference between the two of us is the fact I know how to handle myself. You had no consideration at all for the fact that you could have been watched.” The elevator doors pinged open, and he stepped inside.
The happy zone he’d been in moments ago had vanished, and now he was fucking pissed. He went to the bathroom sink, and washed off the blood that he’d gotten onto his ha
nd, tossing the pizza wheel in the sink as well.
“Viper,” Pepper said, standing near to him. She held the phone out. “Read the text.”
“I don’t need to read that shit. I was prepared, okay?”
“That pizza wheel is covered in blood. You had no idea of that threat or you would have taken your guns.”
Viper moved away from the sink, dried his hands on a towel, and grabbed a slice of pizza. “Are you going to eat?”
Pepper washed the blood off her arm, and then turned to look at him. He didn’t like the way she was assessing him.
“Eat some pizza. Do you like anchovies?” he asked.
“I hate them,” she said. “Back in the hotel room, you asked me to read you something. And on the cell phone, you told Boss not to text you.” She tilted her head to the side, and stared at him. “You were taken as a child, tortured, trained to kill.”
“Again with the whole information dump. As fascinating as this is, I’m bored.”
“You can’t read, can you?” she asked.
Viper took a bite of the pizza and stared at her. He didn’t tell anyone that secret. Boss didn’t even know. As far as Boss was concerned, Viper was an asshole for demanding vocal instructions. He didn’t give a shit what anyone thought of him. Maurice didn’t know, and the bastards who kept him as a kid made sure their killing machines did as they were told. They were not taught or allowed to read. He knew numbers, and that was all.
“What are you staring at?” he asked.
Tears flooded her eyes, and she shook her head. “Wow, you’re going to be an asshole, is that it?”
“Babe, I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, but you’re paying me to keep you alive, and that’s what I’m doing. I’m keeping you alive. You got a problem with that?”
She shook her head. “No, I don’t have a problem with that.” Pepper stormed away, and he cursed himself.
“Pepper, you’ve got to eat.”
“What I don’t need right now is to be around an asshole like you. That’s what I don’t want!” She slammed his bedroom door closed, and he tossed the pizza in the trash. He was no longer hungry. How the fuck did she figure that shit out from one text?
He’d kept this secret for a long fucking time. No one knew.
Tapping his hand on the counter, he was about to go and see Pepper when his cell phone rang.
“What?” he asked.
“Mind the attitude. Bianchi has put a hit out on you.”
“I was out to get pizza and found a guy lurking. He’s dead so there’s no reason to worry at all. What I didn’t like was the fact there was an SUV scoping my place. I can’t stay here. They’ll be back.”
“You’re going to need to move. I’ve got a safe house set up for you. It’s secluded, and you’re not going to have to worry about anyone finding it,” Boss said.
Viper was intrigued. “Where is it?”
“It’s my house.”
“Boss, I’m not going to hang out at your place.”
“You’ve got no choice. The bounty on your head is high enough, and Pepper’s has just doubled. I’m not about to lose money.”
Viper tensed, and Boss tsked.
“I’m not going to fucking kill you, Viper. The money they’re offering is not enough.”
“How much?” Viper asked.
“Two mill. That’s not enough to kill you in my book. I can earn that from you in a few months, and that’s exactly what I intend to do. You’re a good worker,” Boss said.
“Ah, would you miss me if I ended up dead?”
“Don’t push your fucking luck.”
****
They were back on the road again, the scenery passing her by as they made their way once again to another safe house. Pepper rested her head on her hand refusing to look at the man she had given her virginity to.
Yes, she had been afraid when she saw those guys in the SUV. She knew Viper wouldn’t let anything happen to her, and so she had run. The last thing those guys needed was to expose her kidnapping on the television. Being in a public place was the best thing for her. Her stepfather needed her to die of natural causes. Being run down by a car was kind of natural until they investigated. His ass would get thrown in jail, and the money wouldn’t go to anyone but charity. The business would be broken down, and sold off piece by piece.
No, her stepfather didn’t want that. He wanted control.
“I’m sorry,” Viper said.
She turned to find him still staring straight ahead. It was early evening. The sun was still shining in the sky, and they were traveling on a busy road.
Pepper didn’t say anything, and instead went back to looking outside.
“Did you hear me?”
“I heard you. I’m choosing not to listen. It’s what a woman does best, so I’ve been told.”
She heard him sigh, and refused to help him with this. He had been a total asshole.
“I was worried, okay? It has been a long time since I had a bounty on my head. I was unprepared, and I fucked up yesterday. I shouldn’t have gotten pizza, and then I saw you running toward me, and I flipped out.”
“Yeah, well, normal boyfriends don’t have to deal with a band of killers chasing after their girlfriend, do they?” She ran her fingers through her hair, hating every single second of this. “Are we there yet?”
“Still got another thirty minutes. I want to stay in public. It’s the only way I’m keeping you safe. How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine!” She snapped the words out, and then regretted it. “I’m sorry. It’s been a really shitty day. Actually, you know what, scrap that. It has been a fantastic day that has turned into a crappy one. I’m going from one safe house to another because of some asshole, and now I’m arguing with you. I don’t even know why you’re angry with me. I asked you a simple question, and you behave like this? You know what? Forget it. Forget I ever said anything. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask to be killed, or to have my mother murdered. I just wanted to live a normal life, or as close to a normal life as one can get.” She was nowhere near done. “You know what? I’m sick and tired of all of this. I was a good person. That asshole who came along destroyed everything. He killed my mom. You know what is even stupider, as I’m sitting here right now all I can think about is how good last night was. I gave my virginity to you, and then you treat me like this. I want to hate you so much.”
There, she was done.
Once she realized what she had said, she groaned.
“I don’t think stupider is a word,” Viper said. He sounded so calm that it had her looking toward him, and yes, he was staring straight ahead at the road. “You can’t take my word for it of course. I don’t know if there’s a word like that in the dictionary.” She froze. “You’re right, and I hated to admit my weakness to you.” He glanced over at her. “I can’t read. I’ve never been able to read.”
“No one taught you?”
“The bottom line was money, Pepper. I don’t need to know anything but numbers, and that’s all I know.” She didn’t need to know that there had been someone there who had his back. His entire childhood had been one fucked up mess after another, but even when he’d been at his worst, there had been one person who helped him through—Bain. Bain was the only person from his past that he’d any kind of feelings for. They were sworn together as brothers to fight those who had taken them and hurt them. After they had completed their mission by taking out those sick fucks, he’d only seen Bain once or twice throughout the years. Viper rarely thought about him, but there were times he wondered if the bastard was dead.
“How can you take orders?”
“Boss tells me. I have a great memory, and the thing about GPS nowadays, they tell you what to do.” He shrugged. “No one knows. You’re the first person to figure it out.”
“Were you born to that way of life?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You talk about being in some kind of prison. Were you
born there?”
She watched as he stared straight ahead. “I don’t have any memory of the time before. I know I wasn’t born into that way of life. I did some digging. I was stolen from my mom’s side when I was three years old.”
She covered her mouth, shocked. “You must have been afraid.”
“I can’t remember. Growing up there was fear. It didn’t change, and when I was old enough, I settled the score with those bastards.”
Pepper didn’t know what to say. “You had no idea that there was a hit out on you?”
“Nope.” He said the word with a pop to it.
“You’re not afraid?”
“Nope. This won’t be the first time I’ve had a bounty on my head.”
“How did you stop the bounty?”
“By killing the person who placed it on my head. It’s not easy to do with a target on your back.”
“We need to kill my stepfather.”
“Yes, we do.”
“And we need to kill Bianchi?”
“We do if I want to have a life.”
Pepper sat back. “Wait, I can be seen in public, right? My death has to be of natural causes.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Why don’t I just go home?”
She saw she had confused him.
“Think about it. I could go home. No one knows where I’ve been. We can go public, and I can tell them that I had married you.” The more she thought about it, the more she liked it.
“Pepper—”
“That company is mine, Viper. Every single part of it. I can just go and take it. I don’t need to be on the run. We can kill two birds with one stone.”
She watched as he started to tap the steering wheel.
“It’ll get us closer to my stepfather.”
“How do you say you met me?” he asked.
“Simple. You’re my bodyguard. One thing led to another, and we’ve been locked away on some island off the coast or something. No television, no nothing but our romance. We can make this work. People make this kind of stuff work all of the time.” Silence met her plan. Pepper was excited. “The sooner we get to my stepfather, the sooner we can end this. Bianchi wouldn’t be able to take you out being in the public eye, right? It would offer you some form of protection, too.”
