Razorback turned and grabbed Clown by the front of his costume. He dragged the big man closer until they were eye to eye. “You do what I fucking say, or you’re just another liability, Clown. You fucking got that, or you need me to make it clearer?”
Clown’s makeup had started to run at the sides of his face. He quivered beneath Razorback’s stare and it made Razorback smile triumphantly. “Remember, without me, you’re nothing.”
Clown nodded. “Yes, Razorback.”
As they faced off with each other, they didn’t notice what was happening at the entrance to the ballroom. A few of the Rabble were tired of waiting and restless. Most of them were getting off the high they had hoped would get them through the heist. A few of them slipped out of the room, eager to have some fun.
Doors were busted open; men beaten until they couldn’t move. Women were raped without hesitation, and others looted and pillaged until they had enough reward to satisfy their greedy minds.
Inside the ballroom, Razorback let go of his grip on Clown’s costume. “You keep the Rabble in line, you got that?” he repeated again.
Clown nodded, straightening his costume before turning around. He noticed the Rabble looked fewer and cursed underneath his breath. At that moment, he heard a few gunshots ring from outside the ballroom.
“Get those fuckers in line,” Razorback shouted with the wrath of hell in his eyes.
Clown nodded, moving towards the man in charge of the Rabble. “Where the fuck have they gone?”
“They’re just having some fun while your boss man tries to figure out his next move. Nothing like rich pussy to make them more motivated than before.”
Clown cursed, not because they were raping and pillaging the guests locked into their rooms but because it sounded like a hell of a lot more fun than what he was doing. He grabbed his radio and started talking.
“Where the fuck are you lot?” he screamed into the radio.
There was a little static before one of them answered. Clown could hear the screams of a woman in the background. “Having us some, fun boss. We’ll be back soon.”
“You get your fucking asses back in this ballroom right now, or Razorback will deal with you.”
“In a minute,” the guy laughed. “It usually doesn’t take him longer than that. I might need five.”
“Now! You touch one more goddamn woman and I’ll personally fucking kill you.” Clown switched off the radio and turned to find Razorback behind him.
“Make sure no one else leaves the ballroom!” Razorback seethed before heading back towards Devilbunny.
One floor up, Carson, Delilah, and Mac listened to the transmission.
“They’re raping women,” Delilah said, shaking her head.
“This needs to end,” Carson seethed. “We need to get out of here before they find us here.”
“I’ll be fucking waiting,” Delilah said, glancing at the door. She wasn’t about to stand back for a shit-faced teenager on a power trip. She’d break his dick before killing him.
“We need to save those people, Delilah. The sooner we get out of here and down there, the better. We’ll go after them later.”
“D-d-d-Delilah? I thought your name was Avery?” Mac asked, confused.
“Second name,” both Delilah and Carson answered at once.
After grabbing everything they needed, they headed out. Carson, in his skull mask, went first. After scanning the hallway and making sure it was secure, he allowed Delilah and Mac to follow him. As they walked, they knocked on doors, warning people to hide. Carson knew they were putting themselves at risk by shouting, but he needed to protect as many people as possible.
They slipped through a service door and walked a few paces before Mac stopped. “Here’s the ventilation system entrance. If we move through the vents, they won’t be able to see us coming.”
Carson glanced at Delilah. “He’s right. It’s going to be tight, but it’s safer.”
Delilah nodded and climbed in first. The vent was square and narrow, just big enough for Carson and Mac to crawl. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but it would be safe.
As they moved through the vents, they heard woman screaming for help, children crying as their rooms were pillaged. Delilah wanted nothing more than to go after the men tormenting the guests in their rooms but knew it was better to cut off the head of the snake than the tail. She crawled ahead, determined to make the head pay.
From everything they heard, it was clear the leader was named Razorback. She drowned out the cries of guests as she imagined holding her gun to Razorback’s head and pulling the trigger.
They finally reached the service elevator and climbed out of the vents. The elevator was small and nondescript, nothing like the fancy guest elevators with mirrors, music, and brass rails. Mac slipped in his key and hit a button before the elevator started to descend.
In a few moments, she would be back in the room she had escaped from hours ago. But this time, she would step into that ballroom a different person. This time, her target wasn’t Carson Royal; this time it was Razorback.
This time, she didn’t have grief to drive her to kill him, she had anger, and enough of it to make sure he didn’t even know what was coming.
“You’re not going to kill him. They’ll suspect you’re part of the gang or in charge. You need to keep your focus, Delilah,” Carson said beside her, as if reading her mind.
“I’ll make it look like an accident,” she said wryly over her shoulder.
“We’ll secure them and let the police do the rest. We don’t shoot unless they shoot first.”
“Fuck, Carson, this is my plan. Don’t tell me what to do.”
The elevator stopped and Mac stepped out. Carson pulled Delilah back, cupping her face in his hands. “I just found you; I don’t want to lose you. Don’t do anything you’ll regret.”
“I already regret meeting you before I killed you,” Delilah said with a crooked smile.
Carson laughed before pressing a kiss to her mouth. “I regret making love to you; I already want to do it again.”
“Are you coming?” Mac whispered fervently.
Delilah and Carson smiled before turning to Mac. “Let’s go.”
17
The passageway was darker than Delilah remembered as she and Mac walked towards the entrance of the ballroom. The nearer they came, the more aware Delilah became of the severity of the situation. She could hear gunshots in the distance, the police calling to them from outside, and the sound of Razorback’s voice still shouting demands to stay in control.
They stayed close to the wall, their steps quiet as they moved towards the ballroom. While they headed back, Carson was doing the same from another side. He had the radio with him and without it, Delilah felt momentarily lost. She and Mac had no idea what was going on; all they knew was that when it sounded like all hell broke loose, it was time to open the door they had escaped through and hope that hell didn’t find them.
“I hope I make it out alive,” Mac said, wiping sweat from his brow as he glanced nervously at Delilah.
“You’ll be fine, Mac, if you don’t shoot yourself.” She hoped the teasing would calm him a little. It was clear that Mac had never been a hero, never placed himself in the line of danger. The fact that he was doing it now made Delilah respect him even more. “Your family will be proud if they know you tried to help, Mac.”
“I’m not so sure. My wife will be mad as hell if I get hurt.”
“I’ll make you a deal,” Delilah said, coming to a stop. “You don’t shoot yourself, and I’ll make sure no one else gets a chance.”
Mac laughed and quickly placed a hand over his mouth to conceal the sound. “Deal.”
They moved closer towards the boardroom, stealthily, as if they were big cats hunting their prey. Delilah moved behind Mac, tracing his steps until he suddenly slipped into a concealed passage a few yards before the ballroom. “Mac, what is it?” Delilah whispered furiously.
“Look,” Mac
said, pointing towards the door to the ballroom.
Delilah peeked her head out just enough to see a man in a goblin mask guarding the door with a machine gun. He wasn’t tall, wasn’t even built, probably another teenager that Razorback had recruited to do his dirty work. She felt sad for the young man, sad that he had to die.
The only way for Delilah and Mac to help these guests was through that door, and the only way through the door was through him. She retreated back to the safety of the concealed passage. “Close your eyes, Mac, I’ve got to get rid of him.”
Mac frowned, shaking his head. “Just because I’ve never killed someone doesn’t mean I’m squeamish; I’ve just never needed to. But we can’t do it now; we need to wait for Carson to make his move. Otherwise the gunfire will alert them of our presence.”
Delilah smiled in the darkness; Mac could only see her teeth and the whites of her eyes in the dark. “Good thinking. We’ll hang back here for a moment.”
On the other side of the building, Carson stepped out of the shadows and joined the masked men who were all heading back to the boardroom. He knew he should remain invisible, be grateful that they were done looting and pillaging for the moment, but he wanted nothing more than to beat in their heads until justice was done for those they had just terrorized.
Just before the entrance to the ballroom, Carson slipped away into a service corridor that Mac had told him about. In the darkness, he switched on the radio and waited to hear what was going on.
He didn’t have to wait long before he heard Razorback’s voice speak.
“You might wonder why these demands are being made, why you are the group of people we chose to take as hostages, but it’s actually fucking simple. You’re the cream of the crop, the head of the snake, the dick that fucks the rest of the world up the ass. You’re self-important pricks that deserve to pay for what you have. If your ransoms aren’t paid, we’ll be taking you out, one by one, until the cops come to scoop up your remains.”
Carson cursed as he heard screams of fear and tears of defeat. The more he listened to Razorback’s skewed ideals and demands, the more he came to one conclusion that changed his perception of the man in charge.
Razorback wasn’t in this for the money. He enjoyed the power, the high of being in control. Carson could hear the way his voice pitched when everyone cried out for mercy; to Razorback, this wasn’t about the wealth or the demands. The money was something to motivate the people working for him. For him it was all about causing fear and having the control to make demands that would otherwise be ignored.
He was a supremacist, Carson deduced from the way he spoke to his men. A misguided sociopath that manipulated those around him to follow him without question. Carson figured the assholes had chosen tonight because Mardi Gras created enough chaos for a heist to go unnoticed for a time. Clever move, he mused as he concluded that Razorback had also chosen tonight because it would make headlines.
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth; maybe it was time for someone to question Razorback. Delilah had asked him to create a diversion, and Carson knew just what diversion he would create.
When Razorback stopped his epic speech to take a breath, Carson jumped on the radio.
“Ladies and gentlemen. Pricks, cowards, and the crazy bastard that calls himself Razorback. Here are a few things you should know.” Carson spoke in a deeper voice than usual and hoped to God that the cops had somehow intercepted the frequency and were listening as well. “Tonight you all thought to attend a ball. A ball that could have changed lives; a ball that could have given you the opportunity to help the less fortunate, to help the people of New Orleans. Instead, this raging madman decided to ambush the ball and take you hostage. I know some of you are injured, some of you fear for your lives, and others are praying for your ransoms to be paid, but rest assured, you will survive tonight. Tonight, your lives will be changed because you will realize that madmen exist and that there is evil in this world. As for the cops, I’m wondering how you can sit outside behind your barricades after swearing to protect and serve? Do you know that the guests are being raped and tortured in their rooms as we speak? Do you know that this asshole that calls himself Razorback has no intention of letting these hostages go? Maybe it’s time you decide if you’ll have a clear conscience after tonight, knowing you could have at least tried to help, but instead you hid behind your barricades? And as for you, Razorback, you missed one very crucial part in all the planning you did for tonight. You underestimated me. You underestimated the will to live that most of these guests have. Have you considered for a moment whether you and your pricks will survive if they decide to fight back? Sure, you have guns, but will they shoot fast enough to even the odds. You’re outnumbered, Razorback, and soon, the tables are going to turn. I look forward to seeing you dragged into the back of a cop car. The night isn’t over just yet.”
Carson ended the transmission and attached the radio to his belt before stepping out of the service corridor. In front of the ballroom, it was chaos as some of the Rabble had listened to his speech. They were nervous fools, eager to scratch and claw themselves out of the hole they had dug themselves into.
With his skull-faced mask, Carson stood around and listened as Razorback turned from a gloating sociopath into a stammering fool. He was assuring his men everything was under control. Demanding they find the man who had intercepted their feed and bring him to Razorback.
What they didn’t know was that Carson was standing at the entrance to the ballroom, right beneath their noses.
18
Mac and Delilah stood in the dark passageway and listened to Carson’s speech as the man with the goblin mask turned up the volume on the transmission. Once Carson signed off, all hell broke loose inside the ballroom.
Delilah readied her gun to take down the goblin-masked man, but before she could, Mac stepped out of the corridor and started shooting. The first few shots were missed, until the last five landed in his torso.
He fell to the floor, his goblin mask still in place as blood seeped through his clothes. Delilah stepped over the body and grabbed Mac’s hand, knowing he might feel remorseful over his first kill. Instead, Mac surprised her. “God, it feels good to do something instead of hiding. Let’s go rescue some f-f-f-folks.”
Delilah laughed before they carefully opened the hidden door. Delilah made sure her appearance looked disheveled to blend in with the crowd. She crawled out from under the curtain and touched the first person she reached. “Send word, quietly. Follow us.”
The woman looked surprised and Delilah could see the doubt in her eyes. She didn’t blame her; it was hard to know who to trust amidst the craziness of it all. “You can trust me; we’re trying to save you.”
The woman nodded and turned to the man beside her. She didn’t even utter a single word; instead, she just cocked her head towards Delilah. Delilah smiled and gestured for him to follow her. They started crawling back towards the door as Razorback was amidst a temper tantrum.
“What the fuck just happened? Who the fuck was that? I want him found! Find him now!” Razorback demanded.
The Clown cringed and shook his head. “We don’t know who he is, or if he’s even in the hotel. What if it’s just a cop trying to rattle you?”
“That wasn’t a cop. That was someone inside. How else would they know what’s going on in here? Find him!” Razorback shouted again, louder than before.
Delilah was grateful for the distraction as everyone was too focused on Razorback to notice that they were helping guests escape. As soon as the first woman was through the door, safe on the other side with Mac, the others followed. There were already twenty people through the door when one of the masked men noticed the movement. “They’re getting away!”
Delilah moved with the speed of light. She grabbed the body of a guard and used him as a shield as she started to fire. Behind her, a few more people managed to join Mac as she retreated back to the door. Gunshots sounded through the room over the sound
of Razorback’s fury. Delilah tossed down the body and slammed the door shot. Mac locked it before turning to Delilah with a broad smile. “Twenty-six!”
“Good, let’s go!” Delilah said, hearing the commotion on the other side of the door. They were banging at the door, too stupid to just shoot the lock open. She shook her head. “Pricks.”
Mac was in the lead, Delilah holding up the rear as they quickly moved through hidden corridors towards a stairwell. Delilah could hear shouts above them as they descended quickly; they had finally managed to break through the door. “Mac, hurry!” Delilah called over the heads of the people they had rescued.
Mac simply held up his hand with a thumbs-up sign. Delilah prayed that Mac wouldn’t need to catch his breath; otherwise the men would catch up with them.
A few minutes later, they reached the first floor. Mac led them into a very big modern kitchen. There were lines and lines of burners, stoves, grills, and some appliances Delilah didn’t even recognize, but then she’d never been one to cook. It didn’t make sense to go through all that trouble for one person. For a moment, she wondered if she would go through the trouble of cooking for Carson and quickly shoved the thought away; she couldn’t think of him now, not until these guests were safe.
Mac pointed at a large steel door that reminded Delilah of a vault. “This is the pantry. It’s temperature controlled and large enough for everyone.” Delilah nodded as he unlocked the door and allowed the guests to step inside. Delilah and Mac followed them in and Mac promptly locked the door from the inside.
“Oh God, thank you,” one woman whimpered as she collapsed on the floor in tears.
“Just tell us how much; we’ll make it up to you.”
Before Delilah could decline, Mac cleared his throat. “Knowing we saved you is enough payment.”
Delilah smiled proudly at Mac. When had he become so brave? Earlier this evening he had been a stammering old man, constantly out of breath; now he was brave and humble.
Billionaire's Killer Page 7
