Burn Up (Steel Veins Book 2)

by Jackson Kane

  Slick grabbed an apple and a knife off the linoleum countertop then leaned against the counter where he began peeling the fruit. “Your sister says ‘Hi’.”

  “If you’ve hurt Anna....” Maya’s voice was shaky, but there was an unmistakable edge to her tone. She’d become a person not to take lightly.

  “You’ll what?” he asked, calmly sliding the knife underneath the skin of the apple, letting it fall to the floor in ribbons.

  Maya said nothing but held his gaze defiantly.

  “We both know I’ve never had a damn thing to worry about from you,” Slick continued after a sharp, mean laugh. “You tried taking Anna from me legally then illegally, and you failed both times.”

  “How?” Maya spat.

  “How did I find her?” Slick casually popped out the core of the apple. “Well… I got a little lucky. You see, I got eyes everywhere. When I put up a one-hundred-K reward, those eyes got reeeeaal chatty. One trail led to the driver that shuttled Anna to a lonely little house way out in Speerville, Kansas.”

  I clenched my jaw and glanced at the floor a moment, reflecting on all the people Slick had murdered to get Anna out of that safe house. The radio said it had been a bloodbath. It wasn’t a state- or federal-funded operation, so any kind of reasonable security force wasn’t involved at all. All those battered women and their children had no one to call for help.

  No one even found the bodies until a full day after it happened.

  “When are you going to learn, you little traitorous bitch?” Slick pointed the knife at Maya and sneered. “Anna is my property. I OWN HER.”

  Maya bit her tongue, probably not wanting to let on that the real Steel Veins were actively on the hunt for Anna. If Remy was half as cunning as the rumors said he was, he’d find Anna in no time.

  “What really disgusts me about you, Maya, isn’t that you tried to take my property from me. Stupid fuckers try that all the time.” Slick chuckled sardonically. “No. What really disgusts me is that you failed.” He walked across the room and grabbed Maya roughly by her cheeks, eyes boiling with hatred. He lowered his face to hers and screamed, “Merritts don’t fucking fail!”

  He let her go only to backhand her to the floor. I called out in protest and received a heavy right hand to the stomach by one of his men restraining me. It knocked the wind out of me to the point that breathing was an active chore.

  “I know about the safe-deposit box.” Slick stood up and let the bloated silence suffocate the room as he walked slowly around her. After over a full minute, he finally continued. “When my little girl disappeared, I tore her room apart, looking for signs of where she went. That’s when I found a letter from the bank. Apparently they sent a few. So what did your mom and your poor, dead Uncle Robbie put in there, huh?”

  “I don’t know!” Maya retorted, wincing through the pain and the split lip. “It might not be anything but baby photos.”

  “But it might be something.” He carved off a chunk of the apple and ate it. It was an intimidation tactic and a good one too. He wanted us to see just how relaxed and in control he was. That he held all the advantages here. “And that’s why I want you to go get it.”

  “What? The bank is closing, and you still want me to get it?”

  “When a bank closes, unclaimed property goes to the state. I don’t want ‘might be nothing’ to turn into ‘a pain in my ass.’”

  “No,” Maya flatly stated. “I won’t do anything for you.”

  Slick put down the knife and apple then ripped off a paper towel from a nearby roll, cleaning his hands and mouth. He studied her quietly and sighed. Then he drew out his gun and shot me in the thigh.

  “Hendrix!” Maya screamed.

  I grunted and fell sideways to the floor, refusing to cry out to give him the satisfaction. The pain was searing, but I was no stranger to being shot, so I, at least, knew what to expect. Fortunately the bullet must have passed right through my leg, which meant I might be able to avoid going to a hospital and the inevitable police bust for violating my parole... but that was only if I made it out of this alive.

  “Seems you two have grown attached to each other. That’s nice. I’ll tell you right now, though, you shouldn’t get involved with bikers. They’re bad news,” Slick teased then raised the gun to fire again.

  “Stop it!” Maya stepped in front of me.

  “You think I’m fooling around?” Slick arched an eyebrow when she wouldn’t step aside to give him a clear shot. He glanced beyond her to his guy and cocked his head to have her dragged, kicking and screaming, off to the side. Now Slick had the line of sight on me that he wanted. There was nothing in arm’s reach for me to grab. I couldn’t move faster than he could fire, and he was a damn good shot to begin with.

  “Okay! You win! I’ll go!” She broke away from the biker’s grip.

  “I know.” Slick relaxed his gun and motioned her away with it. “Because Merritts don’t fucking lose.”

  She stubbornly resisted, not wanting to leave me and her aunt and probably fearing that she would never see us alive again.

  “It’s all right.” I controlled my breathing and barked the words through the pain. I had to convince her to leave. There was no point in pissing her father off if she was going to be forced out anyway. “Do what he says.”

  Maya worriedly exhaled. Yes, she really was afraid that Slick might shoot me again. I knew better. He was too smart to kill off his hostages until he had what he wanted. After he got that box, though, he was too smart to leave any witnesses alive.

  “Go with her.” Slick motioned to one of his minions. “If it looks like she’s doing anything aside from getting that box, you call me.”

  “Copy,” the enforcer agreed and forced Maya toward the door.

  “Wait. You won’t be able to get that box without this!” Slick reminded her just before the front door opened. Maya faced him, bemused, and he shoved a folded document into her stomach until she reluctantly took it and unfolded it. “Your mom, the clever bitch she was, apparently had paperwork drawn up giving you power of attorney over her estate when you reached the age of twenty-one.”

  “She must’ve known even then what a pile of shit you were,” Maya sneered, glancing up from the letter.

  “And how’d that end for her?” Slick roughly grabbed the corner of her mouth tightly with his burly fingers, drawing her close to him so his eyes were all that she saw. “If you so much as cough suspiciously, I’ll put your boyfriend down like a dog. You hear me?”

  Maya slowly nodded, her steely-eyed gaze never leaving him. She wasn’t afraid of him anymore, but she was worried about what might happen to me and her aunt.

  “Good. Get ’er outta here.” Slick turned and strolled back into the kitchen.

  Maya flashed me a concerned look on her way out. I smiled, trying to ease her fears. It was best she focused on getting that box. On the drive here, she had expressed concern that Robbie never told her the pin number that would unlock it. It wasn’t something I could help her with, but I had faith in her that she’d figure it out.

  Somehow....

  Once Maya was gone, the strategy of the Broken Veins that remained was to guard us or trash the place. Slick opened the fridge and knocked a bunch of stuff onto the floor while another Broken Vein smashed Aunt Gina’s flat-screen TV over his knee and flipped over her vintage kitchen table, making this mess look like a robbery gone wrong. Aunt Gina winced with each loud crash, but she breathed forcefully and glared at Slick with utter contempt. That was when I noticed that her struggling was loosening her binds. She might be able to slip her hands free soon.

  Wait, I silently mouthed the word to her when she discovered me watching her efforts.

  At the moment, Slick’s two remaining men were too spread out, so if they caught her anywhere but the chair, they would gun her down before she could do anything useful. If we were to survive and stop this asshole from hurting Maya, we had to work together. Aunt Gina imperceptibly nodded back at me. It was ha
rd to know for certain if she was on board, but I hoped she’d figure out what I was up to and would follow my lead.

  Slick kept a vigilant eye on both of us as his guy went to the other rooms to spread the devastation and steal any valuables. Almost an hour later, the phone in Slick’s pocket rang, and he answered. “Go ahead.” Slick whistled for his guy in the other room to come back into the kitchen. “Good. Run into any trouble?... Okay. C’mon back.” He then hung up. “Wrex, wrap that shit up. They’re on their way—”

  “Bruce Merritt,” I interrupted Slick, letting the words linger in the air. I wanted him to know that I knew exactly who he was. I wanted all their attention on me. I slumped against the wall and played up my leg wound so that I made myself appear weakened, suffering the effects of serious blood loss.

  He smugly sauntered over, raised his eyebrows, and spread his hands out in an expression that said well?

  “I gotta know, man... did you have your brother Robbie killed because you knew you couldn’t control him or because he could fuck your wife better than you could?” I watched his fair-skinned face flush scarlet with anger. So that’s where Maya got that adorable trait from.

  “Do you have any idea who the fuck you’re talking to?” Wrex entered the room and was astonished that I would dare insult the president of the newly established Broken Veins.

  “Robbie told me this story about his brother. How when Brucie here was a kid, he used to rub peanut butter all over his dick just so that the dog would lick it off!” I laughed painfully, ignoring this peon’s question, while I exaggerated the difficulty in getting the words out. Truthfully, my leg was in rough shape, but for this to work, I really had to sell it.

  I had no idea if it was true, but I wasn’t about to let honesty get in my way. After all, I was talking to Slick’s guys, not him. It was a great story, and it seemed to be doing exactly what I’d hoped it would. Slick fumed at my insolence and swiftly rewarded me with a punch to the jaw. The blow dropped me to the floor, and I wasn’t faking my struggle to sit back up. I must have struck a nerve.

  “It’s a much better story knowing that he was talking about you,” I sputtered, offering him a bloody grin.

  Slick punched me again, only this time even harder. He grabbed my hair and jerked me up, jamming the muzzle of his gun right between my eyes. “My brother is dead because I said so! What do you think I’d do to some jerkoff I don’t even know?”

  “You could ask your guys to check the refrigerator for some peanut butter. All this rough play has got my cock rock-hard.”

  He thrust the gun even harder against my skull, striving to intimidate me, but I knew he wasn’t going to kill me… at least not until Maya returned.

  I covertly glanced beyond him and discovered Aunt Gina had slipped one of her hands free, but it wasn’t time yet. Fortunately, neither of them were paying any attention to her efforts because I wanted all eyes on me. Slick’s second minion was still too far away, while Wrex was hanging back, watching his boss beat the shit out of me. I needed him closer. I subtly shook my head, hoping she’d hold off just a little longer.

  We were only getting one chance at this.

  One of my teeth was loose enough that I was able to dig it out with my tongue and catch it between my teeth. Bloody drool oozed from my mouth into my beard as I smiled at Slick and spat the toothy projectile directly into his eye.

  Slick howled and jerked away, stuffing his gun into his belt before scooping the gore from his face. Then, half blind and fed up, he screamed his rage and relentlessly kicked me. I doubled over to shield myself as much as possible, but it would never be enough, especially with my hands bound behind my back. My body rocked with each heavy blow from his steel-toed boots, and there was no doubt in my mind that he had cracked a few ribs.

  “Hey, ponytail!” I coughed up the words while fighting down waves of excruciating pain that strangled my body. He even got a few well-aimed kicks to my head, and steel-toed boots were no joke. I was on the verge of blacking out, but I couldn’t let up. “You wanna show peanut butter dick here how it’s done? This is—” I cleared my throat, hocked up phlegm and coagulated blood, took a breath, and continued. “This is getting embarrassing.”

  “Wrex! Get him up!” Slick shouted as his control invariably disintegrated.

  Wrex finally squeezed past Aunt Gina, grabbed my dead weight, and forced me into a kneeling position. My body ached, varying from dull numbing in my limbs to sharp stabbings in my chest whenever I breathed. Now I nodded toward Aunt Gina, only hoping she had it in her to do what was necessary when the time came, otherwise we were both fucked.

  “I wanted Maya to see this, but she’ll just have to find your body instead.” Slick unsheathed his gun from his pants waistline.

  “Please, please don’t do this, Slick! I’m so sorry!” I thrashed and pleaded loudly, making a show out of it. It must have worked because they didn’t notice Aunt Gina grabbing Slick’s apple-carving knife off the counter and cutting her leg bonds free.

  “Die with some fucking dignity, Jesus Christ!” Slick was obviously disgusted at my pitiful groveling. He quickly checked the magazine on his gun to make sure that it was loaded then aimed it at my chest, nodding to Wrex who edged aside. “In the end, that’s all we really have.”

  Any time now, Aunt Gina! Stab the motherfucker! Unfortunately, she was struggling with the rope. Shit! She wouldn’t make it in time, and he was just out of my reach. I’d never be able to stop him. Well, it had been a good plan. Too bad it didn’t work.

  My last thought was of Maya.

  Chapter Twelve

  Maya

  “Looks like you made it in the nick of time,” responded the cheerful, blonde lady when I told her that I was here for my safe-deposit box. Glancing up at me from some paperwork on her desk, she gasped at my cleaned-up but freshly swollen lip. Aside from that, I still had a number of injuries from the past few days. “Oh dear! Your face! Are you all right?”

  “Oh? Yeah….” I glanced at the biker who stood a few feet away and was analyzing every word I said. “I, uh, I’m an amateur boxer. Just had a fight last night. You should see the other girl.”

  “Oh. Okay....” The blonde rose from behind her desk in her open cubicle and shook our hands tentatively, more out of habit than desire. Her face quickly returned to its default of all bright and practiced smiles.

  I handed her the power of attorney paperwork and my driver’s license while explaining the situation as best I could without implicating any foul play. It was a bit of storytelling gymnastics about me being her own personal assistant as she was quite the recluse, but I got her caught up well enough to get her to take me to the vault.

  “Just meet me right by that door, and I’ll show you to your box.” The bank officer strode off to inform her manager that she would be taking someone to the vault, which appeared to be company policy.

  Slick’s biker trailed me like a shadow as I headed over to wait for her. He had been forced to leave his gun in the rental car so he would not draw additional attention, but he made it crystal clear to me that if he had to pull out his phone regarding anything suspicious, people would die.

  “Do you have a box as well, sir?” the animated lady kindly asked the Broken Vein when she returned.

  “Uh, no, but I’m her husband, so I’ll head in with her,” he replied gruffly.

  “Oh, I am so sorry. Only customers with boxes can enter the vault. Bank policy, you know.” The lady squinted and shrugged in an overly apologetic gesture, then immediately brightened back up when she asked me for my license again. I fished it out of my pocket and handed it to her. Once again, she carefully reread my demographics, but I suspected she might have accidentally forgotten my name already. “Right this way, please, Mrs. Merritt.”

  I followed her through the office door and down the short hallway to the giant, rounded, metal door. It was open, pressed against the adjoining wall, and it was absolutely massive. Its rings and gears must have weighed more than m
y car. I’d never seen one like this in person, and I was immediately reminded of the many bank heist movies I’ve watched in the past. The small room beyond it was lined floor-to-ceiling with removable metal drawers with a small table in the middle. A concrete-and-iron tomb for untold riches.

  The smartly dressed woman approached one of the many drawers on the sidewall and inserted its master key in the lock. With a series of clockwise and counterclockwise turns, she unlocked the drawer revealing the locked safe-deposit box inside. She grabbed the thick handle and pulled the long yet flattened safe-deposit box out of its shelf. Placing it on the viewing table, she gestured me over. “Don’t worry. I won’t hover.” She giggled, having mastered the art of being overly bubbly while falling just shy of being patronizing. “We at SeaCoast Bank value our customers’ privacy.”

  I glanced up at the room’s cameras that were set into the walls and were hardly noticeable but, of course, were still there. Privacy, right... Not that I cared. In fact, I wanted less privacy.

  I wished I could explain the situation to the bank official, but beyond her, all the way down the hallway and standing in the doorway, the Broken Vein watched me like a hawk. He wouldn’t be able to hear what we were saying, but he would see the lady’s reaction and know that I’d told her something terrifying. It was best that I kept the conversation as short as possible with her.

  “When you’ve finished, just come right out and see me, and we’ll box your contents. No rush. We’re open for another hour.” She was nice enough, but she also seemed like she was the type of person who enjoyed the tap-tap of her heels on the tile floor far too much. A showman with a stage but not much real substance to offer.