by K. A Knight
Calmly, Keanu watches me while unbuttoning his jacket. “Stay in the car, Brat.” He grins and gets out, slamming the door behind him. Keanu stands in front of the car, almost blending into the air with his suit, with his hands dangling casually at either side of him calmly as we watch the van speed towards us. I wince.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, are they going to stop?
When I think they are going to hit us, they jerk to a halt, idling, and I hold my breath until suddenly, something explodes just above me. I duck, covering my head as shots ring out, one after another, not like you would hear in films or TV. It’s so deafeningly loud and scary as hell. When it stops, I look up, frantically searching for Keanu, but he’s nowhere in sight.
Oh God, let him be okay. Don’t do it, I warn myself, but I have to know, so I open my door, and when nothing happens, I slip out and crouch behind the car, crab walking to the tail and peeking around it. But all I see is the van and a man standing near it, searching for Keanu like I am, holding a semi-automatic gun in his hands.
As if dissolving from the dark itself, Keanu comes up behind him, and I watch with wide eyes, the headlights nearly blinding me, as he grabs the man and cuts his neck, holding him as he jerks. He takes the gun from his hands and knocks him in the head with it as blood splatters on the asphalt. Keanu tosses the gun to the side as the door opens on the van again and bullets spray.
Keanu dives around the back as I cover my mouth and the gasp that wants to escape. Fuck. The man gets out and follows him, but I have to trust he’s okay. I’m a sitting duck, so I open the back door and search for anything to use as a weapon just as I hear a click and feel something cold press against the back of my head.
“On your feet, bitch,” comes a snarl, as the unmistakable sensation of a gun barrel prods my head.
I hold up my hands and get to my feet as he pushes me around the car and into the middle of the road. Oh, Keanu is going to be pissed. I’m going to get a spanking if I survive this. I’m scared, my knees nearly shaking, but I force it back, faking calm.
“Hey, asshole! We have your girl, you have thirty seconds to come out before I shoot her,” he yells into the dark.
I hear a crack and see a man’s body fall from behind the van as Keanu steps out and into the road to face us, tossing yet another gun aside as his eyes narrow on us, anger flashing across his face before he looks at me.
“Okay, Brat?” he inquires, and I nod, wincing when the barrel digs in farther and I see the man who’s hurting me. Death flashes in Keanu’s eyes. Oh boy, I would hate to be him right now.
“You want the brat?” the man shouts.
Keanu starts walking towards us. “Only I call her that,” he replies and glances at me, his eyes telling me something. Fuck, I hope I’m right ‘cause otherwise he might just kill me too.
I elbow the guy and drop to the ground, hearing a shot go overhead. I turn onto my back on the asphalt just in time to see Keanu tackle him to the road. I scoot backwards and watch as he grabs the man’s hand and smashes it into the ground enough times for him to drop the gun, and then Keanu kicks it in my direction, and it skids, coming to a stop before my feet.
Max took me shooting once—a deal we had made—so I know it’s a handgun and the safety is off. I grab it and point it in their direction, but Keanu has it in hand so I drop the barrel, not wanting to shoot him by mistake. He smashes his fists into the man’s face, raining down blind fury. “You dare touch what’s mine?” he yells into the man’s face, and I see the pure fucking anger in him at how close he came to losing me.
I know later on he will be mad at himself, but right now he’s pissed at the man. Blood splatters from the guy’s face as he chokes on it, his feet kicking at the ground, unable to defend himself. Keanu is a machine, brutal and deadly as hell.
A noise has my head swinging around just in time to see a man trying to sneak up on Keanu. Before I know it, I’ve raised the gun and pulled the trigger. I’m thrown backwards slightly from the recoil, but watch with wide eyes as blood blooms on the man’s chest. He gazes down in shock and dawning horror before falling to his knees.
Keanu jerks around, his eyes going from the dying man to the gun I’m holding. He comes towards me slowly, his hands outstretched. “Give me the gun, baby,” he coos softly.
I pass it to him and swallow, watching as he turns and strides to the man he was with, unloading three shots into his head before wiping the gun and tossing it on his chest. He turns then and points at me. “Watch him,” he orders. I nod and survey the man he was beating up, but he isn’t even moving. Is he dead?
Keanu strides to the van and I hear him searching it, the minutes stretching on as we begin to hear sirens. Shit. He comes back and grabs the man, hauling him over his shoulder effortlessly and watching me with dark eyes. “Get in the car, Brat,” he orders.
I scramble to my feet and dive into the front, crawling over the gear stick and slamming my door shut as I feel the car dip when he throws the man in the boot before getting behind the wheel, calm as always now, like he didn’t just go crazy on the man for pointing a gun at me.
He starts the car but looks at me, his eyes searching my body...for wounds? “I’m okay,” I tell him, and as soon as I said it, I am. I shot that man, but it was to protect Keanu, and I would do it again.
“Good.” He starts the car and his tires squeal as he spins and pulls away, grabbing his phone from his pocket and dialling as he drives.
“Spider, I have an interview, text me a location. Need clean-up and masking on Long Field Road, police on scene, shots fired.” He ends the call and grips the wheel tightly.
“We need to get out of here, I don’t want the police questioning you,” he murmurs, and then passes me his phone. “Read me the location.”
I open the text from ‘unknown’ and rattle off the address, my hands shaking as I lock it and place the mobile in my lap. He glances over at me with a frown and cups my hands. “You okay, Brat?” he inquires, his voice softer now.
“I think so,” I reply.
“It’s hard the first time you shoot or hurt someone. You didn’t kill him, though, I did,” he informs me and I nod.
“I’m not bothered by that. I did what I had to in order to save you. I think it’s just nerves or something.” I grin and he throws back his head and laughs.
“Not nervous shooting someone or during a barrage of fire, but nervous after, God, you’re one of a kind, you crazy girl.” He chuckles, squeezing my hand and grabbing the wheel again. “We’ll question and dispose of him.”
“Okay,” I agree, “but I’m staying with you.”
“I didn’t doubt that at all,” he retorts gently.
We pull up at what looks like a closed down shop in a residential area. He gets out and I follow as he grabs the man who’s still unconscious and throws him over his shoulder before locking the car. The shop door is open and the lights are on as we head through. He shuts the door behind me, flips the lock, and turns and makes his way through the empty aisles, the register still sitting on the counter. Keanu heads to the back, past the fridges to a wooden door. He kicks it open to reveal a small square room with a chair in it. He drops the man there and ties him up, and I lean on the wall, watching as Keanu hooks up what appears to be jumper cables to the passed out man and a battery before standing back and looking at me.
“You can wait out there if you want, shouldn’t take long, but I need to shut the door so it’s soundproof. Can’t have people ringing the police,” he teases.
I hold his gaze and very purposely step inside and shut the door behind me. I know he hates this side of himself, finds it monstrous, a necessary evil, but it doesn’t bother me. Maybe we are both fucked up. His eyes darken and he takes a step towards me when a groan comes from the man, making us both turn to look at him.
He blinks an eye open, the other swollen shut, and his lip is busted and his whole face looks like he’s been through a meat grinder, but he’s still alive at least. “Where the fuck
am I?” he demands, a slight twang on his words, an old accent I can’t pick up.
“Hell,” I joke, and when Keanu shoots me a look, I shrug. “It’s true, you’re going to fry his ass for touching me. How romantic.”
He sighs and stares at the guy, whose one good eye is swinging back and forth between us like a lone testicle. “She’s right, you’re going to die for touching and threatening her, but how much pain you suffer before then is up to you.”
“You two are fucking crazy,” he snarls, blood hitting the floor just in front of Keanu’s shoes as he struggles in his chair.
“I keep telling him that, it’s like yin and yang, his crazy matches mine,” I mumble, and they both look at me, so I mime locking my lips and putting the key down my shirt, which draws Keanu’s eyes there and that hungry look is back.
“Oh God, you two aren’t going to fuck in here, are you?” The prisoner gags.
“Maybe.” I grin just as Keanu says, “No.”
He glances at me and I shrug again. “Girl’s gotta keep her options open. Proceed.” I wave my hand in the general direction of the tied-up guy.
“How about we start simple, what’s your name?” Keanu questions, stepping in front of me and drawings the guy’s eyes.
“Go to hell, I should have shot that bitch when I had the chance,” he sneers, and Keanu nods and steps towards the battery, making me wince and the man start to struggle again. When he flips the switch the man jolts, his hands contorting on the chair, his face going tense, mouth open, and spittle flying from it as the currents pass through his body. Keanu flicks the switch again and the man sags, sucking in deep breaths, almost wheezing.
“Try again,” Keanu orders, his finger hovering over the switch, but the man only spits on his shoes.
Oh shit.
Keanu hits the switch and we both watch as he wordlessly screams. This time the current is on longer as Keanu teaches him a lesson, and when he flips it off, he stares at the man in disgust. “Want me to do it again? Yes?” he taunts when the man doesn’t reply in time.
“Wait, wait, wait,” he begs, lifting his head, his eyes streaming, his lips mottled and covered in blood from catching his own teeth on it. “Please,” he pleads, his voice hoarse, almost breaking.
Keanu steps away from the switch and the guy sags in his seat, then slowly lifts his head like the very movement hurts. “My name—” Cough. “My name is Ted, Teddy to my friends.”
“Last name,” Keanu barks.
“Green.”
“Ted Green?” Keanu confirms, and the man nods. “Okay, Teddy, we know you were ordered to pick up the girl, we know the owner was helping you drug the girls and get your marks. I need to know who your boss is. Who’s giving you orders?”
“I don’t know,” the man splutters, coughing, then screams as Keanu hits the switch again. When the electric buzz stops, the man starts to cry. “I really don’t, none of us do. We’re all paid cash, all in contact with someone different each time. The fucker, whoever it is, is a fucking ghost.”
“The girls, where do you keep them?” Keanu questions, stopping in front of him. “When you drop them, do they go somewhere else? How do you find your targets? I want to know everything.”
Two hours later, I’m sweating, my feet hurt, and I’ve heard more screams than a horror film. The scent of piss is in the air, he lost his bladder after the sixth round, and his trousers are still damp from it. We haven’t learned much, what he said is true. The man or men behind it are smart. Each person only knows their job and nothing else, so if we capture them, they can’t give much away.
Apparently, the girls are dropped at processing houses where they are either videoed for sale, or discarded and taken to be used as the men see fit. The only role this man plays is to get the girls and take them to a processing house. After that, he knows nothing. He reels off the addresses of two processing houses, the only two he has ever used. He talked easily once he realised how serious Keanu was, but now he’s crying.
“That’s all I know, I swear. We aren’t allowed to touch the girls at all, just pick them up, give over the money, and get them to the locations. There was one guy, he-he is the head of us couriers, as we’re called.”
I step forward then, drawing his eyes. “The guy at the club tonight? Big guy, scary eyes?”
“That’s him,” he agrees with a cough and I frown. We need that guy, he might know more. Keanu must think the same. We also need to check out these processing houses, but if he truly knows no more...
“That information is very helpful, thank you. I’m afraid you won’t be leaving this room alive, though, and it will hurt. You will suffer for hurting her, touching what isn’t yours,” Keanu tells him softly, the cascading quality of his voice sending a bolt of fear through me as the man starts to scream. Keanu watches coldly before flipping the switch and turning and heading to me.
“Let’s go.” He nods at the door, my eyes go to the seizing man then back to Keanu and he steps closer, blocking my view. “He was going to suffer for touching you no matter if he talked or not, Brat, get over it. Now come on, we have an address to hunt down…unless this is too much for you?”
I lick my lips and ignore the smell of burning flesh and hair. “Let’s go,” I reply...I don’t mind too much, but it will be a long time before I can eat anything fried.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Keanu
I wait until we’re in the car to call clean-up, then I look at a frowning Nadia. “It’s a start, further than we’ve got. That man in the video is in my software now. If he surfaces anywhere, it will let me know immediately, but until then, we check out the processing houses, okay?”
She nods, looking over at me. “Let’s do it, we need to save them...w-what if we can’t stop this though? Fuck, this is bigger than I could have ever imagined, the type of power they need to not only cover this but…build the connections?” She shakes her head and I sigh and grab her hand.
“I know, I’ve been thinking the same thing, but you forget one thing, Brat.”
She searches my eyes. “What’s that?”
“They are just men. They are not invincible or indestructible. No one ever escapes the Spider. I’ll hunt them across the fucking world if I have to. They aren’t getting away from me.” I make sure my voice is strong and a smile flickers on her lips.
“Good, they need to be stopped. Sometimes, I guess you have to fight evil with evil,” she murmurs.
“Something like that,” I agree, and lift her hand and kiss the knuckles. “Buckle up, I need to take my car to the shop. We can’t be driving around with bullet holes or we’ll get pulled over.”
She laughs. “Jesus, how strange my life has turned out to be. Bullet holes.” She shakes her head, grinning at me.
“Regretting you met me yet?” I tease, but inside nerves start up.
“Never, who needs boring anyway? Normal is no fun.” She winks and I laugh as I fire up the car and head downtown. I park in the empty shop, leaving the keys, and take the Audi waiting for me. I had texted ahead, but he was out picking up the van, so he told me to take this one.
Soon we’re back on the road, the courier’s words ringing in my head, “A ghost.” Something about that is nagging me. These types of cover-ups and connections are hard to come by, not even the mafia have this much...this isn’t your normal, run of the mill sex ring or criminal. This is a business with a seriously trained man at the helm…
A ghost.
The term is used in our industry...usually for people like me. Who the fuck is the man or men?
“What’s the plan? There could be more...c-couriers.” She stumbles over the word. “Are bad guys there?”
I flash her a grin. “If there are, I’ll kill them, since this isn’t a hostage situation. They die unless they know something, each one of these men are responsible for innocent women and girls disappearing. The law won’t help here, they would simply be let free from lack of evidence. No, they die by my hand. One less to deal
with.”
“Okay, let me guess, I’m waiting in the car?”
“Until I clear the building, you can bet your ass you are. By now I reckon they realise he’s missing or dead, so they won’t want to chance any evidence left behind. They will have moved operations, but you never know, it could be a trap. So you wait until I’m sure, I won’t put you in unnecessary harm’s way. One near-death experience will have to be enough for one night, Brat,” I tease.
We reach the next street over and I pull up at the corner and turn to her. “I’m leaving the keys here, keep the car locked. If there are any issues, drive away and call me or Max.”
“Got it.” She grabs my arm when I try and leave. “Be careful.”
I grin. “Don’t get soft on me, Brat, or a person might think you care.”
She snorts and pushes me away and I laugh as I get out. I take off my coat and suit jacket and lay it on the back seat, then grab the emergency weapons from the boot. “See you in a minute.” I wink and shut the door.
I move through the night and head for the building, which is on the corner. It looks like old flats framed between two rundown houses, with a glass door and buzzer to the right. I spot the cameras in the corner of the door and make sure to stay out of its field of view as I go around the back instead and find a fire door partially propped open. I listen at the door but don’t hear anything, and I didn’t see any cars out front. I’m betting they have left, not wanting to leave behind anything for us to get our hands on.
I slip inside and wait in case there is any sort of trip wire. There is a camera in the corner again, so I move to the left to see if it moves with me. It doesn’t and the light isn’t blinking, but I can’t be sure, so I remind myself to find the controls before I leave and wipe the memory—unless it’s a remote upload to a phone, then there isn’t much I can do about it, not that I’m hiding the fact I’m here. They can try and hunt me too, but they will never find anything.
I head down the hallway and place my back to the open archway leading to the rest of the building. It opens to a lobby with the glass doors before me, black mailboxes, which stand open, to the left, and a door under the stairs. I go there first and have to kick open the lock. Inside, I find the controls for the security system. Luckily it isn’t remote or backed up, so I quickly disable it and upload the contents from the past to my computer. Once that’s going, I pull out my gun and head upstairs, taking the steps two at a time.
