“Would you shut the fuck up already, it’s almost over,” Bo growls.
He’s inside the container.
There’s scuffling. “Goddamn it, you’re a real pain in the ass.”
I can’t contain the white hot fury that boils within me, blinding any sense of rationale I had. I lunge toward the entrance.
POW.
A gunshot echoes inside, threatening to bust my eardrums, echoing on and on inside my head with a sonic boom.
In front of me, I can make out black shadows shifting inside, and I can hear the sounds of screams and wails as if they were from underwater.
“JO,” I know I’ve said her name, but I can’t hear it.
In front of me, someone stands. I’d recognize that female body anywhere, it’s been haunting me day and night since I laid eyes on it. Then she raises her hands, the faint glint of metal gleams in the darkness. Pointed right at me.
CHAPTER 26
Jo
My hands are shaking.
They’re numb, and my heart is jackhammering inside my ribcage, trying to run the hell out of here. I scramble, fumbling to get the duct tape ripped off my ankles. I’ve got to get out of here.
I SHOT BO.
I didn’t know what he was doing, he’d had me on my stomach, I couldn’t let him find the gun, I couldn’t let him take my weapon, my only opportunity for freedom. I was afraid he was going to rape me. I shot him. I had to. I had every intention of it, but when it came time to do it, when he came in here after Daisy got my bindings free, I wasn’t sure I could go through with it.
With the atrocities I have lived through, with the hell that is my life, I wasn’t sure I could kill someone. Even as he lays lifeless and his warm blood oozes on to me, I can’t believe I did it.
Another man is standing at the entrance, I can’t hear anything through the deafening ringing in my ears, I feel like my head imploded. I raise my shaking hands with the gun clutched tightly in my grip, I’m shaking so hard, I can’t believe I can hold it. I try to hold still, try to aim for the largest body part like Hawk told me.
One or two well placed shots, baby, that’s all you need.
Hawk.
It’s Hawk! He came for me!
He came. He came…but did he come for me? Or did he come to make sure I was sold with the rest of them?
I grip the gun tighter, and aim.
CHAPTER 27
Hawk
She’s going to shoot me!
I run forward, the women cramming the small space separate like one entity, leaving a path from me to Jo. I jerk to the side as she fires, feeling the whiz of the bullet skate past me.
“GODDAMN IT, JO, I’m here to get you out of here!” I think I’m yelling at her, I can hear the words inside my head, but not outside.
She probably can’t hear me either.
Fuck!
I grab the gun still held in her hands, the one I gave her, and twist it out of her grip, with my other arm pinning her to me in a vice grip. Shoving it with the other at my back, I drag her out of there. The wildcat fights me the whole damn way. When I’ve got her feet planted on the cement platform, I grab her by the shoulders with my face in hers. Shaking her, I yell, “I came to get you!”
Her eyes are wide, she’s probably in shock. When she registers what I’ve said, she nods her head, bobbing jerkily up and down.
“Good,” I growl, as I crush her against me and my mouth crashes with hers.
Desperation, fury, relief, everything is in the kiss. Hers and mine. The intensity rattles me to the core, shattering any disbelief of what I feel for this woman. I know I need her, and now I can’t deny I love her. The realization is like a dead weight has been lifted from me, like a burst of light into my darkness.
Her body trembles against mine reminding me that this isn’t over yet.
It’s just the beginning.
I pull away and grab her hand. “Come on.”
Looking back inside the container, I know Daisy is still in there, along with all those terrified women. I see an arm rise and wave.
I turn and drag Jo behind me to the white van. She digs her feet in, resisting me, fighting against me. She doesn’t want to get back in the van. I can’t blame her, the only thing she associates with the vehicle is kidnapping and human trafficking. She has to, I need the van. “You’ve got to get in, we don’t have time,” I tell her, staring into her eyes with her face clutched in my hands. I don’t know if she can hear me yet. But slowly, I can see she understands as she begins to relax.
She gets in the passenger seat as I get behind the wheel. Revving the engine, I pull out of the docks, my eyes searching everything in front of us, and behind us in the rearview mirror. No one should know what’s happening tonight, not yet. They will soon enough. I glance at my watch. Not for another ten minutes. Gunning the engine, I head for the drug factory from the other night. I’ve got to see when it happens.
Pulling up to the curb on a secluded street, I can see the building a block away, I turn off the engine and sit back.
Jo doesn’t say anything for a few minutes, her eyes locked on what’s in front of us. Then she turns her head and I can feel her gaze burning into the skin of my profile. “What are we doing?” My head is starting to clear because I can hear her, her voice is calm. I’m humbled by her strength, the woman just went through hell, again, and she’s as solid as a rock.
I turn to her. I know she can hear me better because the ringing has lessened in my own ears.
“I was always coming for you, Jo. I want you to know that. Trust me.” This moment, the need for her to trust me, her and me, is the culmination of everything we’ve had, and everything that’s yet to come. Everything is balanced on this moment.
She has no reason to, she knows I did something with Niles, the DJ, however, I’m not sure what she knows. The request terrifies the hell out of me. I’m not that guy, the guy you can trust, the one who won’t let you down. There are two dead women to prove that. But I want to beg her, I would get down on my hands and knees for this woman. I would build a bridge for her of her enemies. That I can do.
I am, that’s what tonight is for.
“Just tell me what’s happening,” she’s still leary, I can see it in her eyes. She’s struggling with all of this, with wanting to trust me, but the unsaid question if I killed her friend, Niles, is hanging heavy between us.
A slow grin lifts the corners of my mouth. “You see that building, the one that takes up the whole block?” I motion with my head.
She turns to look out the front window. “Yes…”
“That’s one of Castillo’s drug manufacturing facilities. There are more, and they’re all going down. Tonight.”
I watch her face as her eyes go wide and her mouth opens in shock. “How?” the word comes out on a whisper.
I turn my face forward. “You’ll see. Trust me.” It’s a plea, a prayer, a request for redemption.
I can feel her eyes on me again, like the feel of her fingers running over my skin, just as penetrating and just as strong.
We don’t say anything as the minute’s pass, I don’t even know if either of us are breathing. As we sit in silence the events of my time since I crossed over the Mississippi line flash through my mind. Jo is everywhere, everything that has happened has all been centered around Jo. And her bar. The images move perfectly, each frame another step to the final culmination of tonight, the one that’s yet to happen.
The one I’ve been waiting for.
Up ahead, I see a flash through the wood upstairs covering one of the windows before an ear shattering BOOM blasts out all the glass. Fire explodes upward through the roof, immediately followed by the sound of crashing. The building is collapsing.
“OH MY GOD,” Jo’s whisper is as loud as a cry.
I turn to gaze at her, just look at her expression. I want to remember this moment, I want to burn it into my mind, the moment she realizes her hell is about to be over.
“One down,
” I murmur as I turn the key in the ignition. As I do a U turn in the street, I watch her. She doesn’t tear her eyes away from the scene.
“It’s really happening, isn’t it?” she asks quietly, eyes still fixed on the fire.
“Yes, Jo. It ends tonight.”
The scene slips from view, and her eyes meet mine. They’re filled with hope, and goddamn, if it doesn’t gut me.
We can hear the screech of sirens in the distance, but we’ll be long gone before they arrive.
It’s not far to the next location. It’s a trap house, not that this place actually needs one, they’ve got the motel for that. Apparently, there still are some strung out junkies around here, and they need to keep them all nice and organized in their little corner, don’t want the filth mingling with the monsters, now, do they? The house is an old three story at the other side of the piers with the windows boarded up, the only structure in the vicinity that still has all four walls. This is the location where they make Ecstasy and Roofies, the date rape drugs. I was told they give them to the women and girls when they’re shipped out to be sold, makes them a lot more agreeable when they’re getting raped, beaten, and gangbanged by their captors. They even include a nice little welcome packet that’s sent with the girls, a sample if you will. I guess it’s good for repeat business.
I knew it would be on fire when I got here, if all was going according to plan. The flames are hissing and crackling, stretching long fingers into the sky, screaming from all the corruption that’s embedded into the walls.
We don’t stay around to watch it fall into the bowels of hell where it belongs.
I’ve got a date. Three of them precisely.
I pull a cell phone from my pocket, it’s not mine. Scrolling through the names, I find who I’m looking for, and type in the text.
Me: Someone lit up the house.
Joe: I heard. I’m on my way. Anyone left?
Me: No.
Placing the phone on the console, I pull the van around the corner and park. Turning to Jo, I decide she needs to know what’s happening, at least right now.
“Castillo has a traitor, and he asked me to find him. He’s coming here now,” I pull out her Glock. “I don’t want you to use this, unless you have to. Killing someone is a sentence I don’t want you to live with, Jo.”
Her eyes travel from my face to the gun in her hand. “There’s only one person I need to kill, Hawk. One man who owes me the life he stole.” Her tone is steel. I can’t argue with her about this, not right now.
Eyeing her while I debate on what to do with her when this goes down, I decide it’s best if I take her with me. After what I just pulled her from, if it hadn’t turned out the way it had, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happens to her now. I tell her, “Come on.”
We get out of the van, I keep Jo behind me, and come back around the other side of the block. I see headlights approaching fast from the oncoming street. I turn to Jo, “Stay here. Do NOT allow yourself to be seen. They think you’re half way across the ocean right now on your way to bringing them probably a couple million dollars, a pretty American girl like you. They’ll do whatever it takes not to lose that money.”
The hard reality of my words hit her like a slap in the face, I can see her body recoil.
I clasp her chin in my hand and pull her face to mine. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Just stay here. I’ll be right back.” I kiss her, to reassure that I mean every word I’m telling her.
She doesn’t have time to reply. Joe’s here, the slamming car door signals it’s time to give this piece of shit what he deserves. I let go of her and walk out into the street. Joe’s cursing, he is not happy.
He spins around when he hears me approaching. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he sneers. Then realization crawls across his features. “YOU did this.” He actually laughs. That makes me smile. “Oh, I’m going to really enjoy this, boy, almost makes me grateful you gave me a reason.” He pulls out a gun, but not quick enough. Not before the blade I had waiting lodges in his chest. Dropping the gun, he falls to his knees and clutches the handle, his expression a mask of pain and confusion.
“I wanted to see your face before I told you I know everything.” Now standing over his body, I shove him with my foot until he falls on his back, then press the knife further into his chest with the bottom of my shoe. “I haven’t told Castillo yet; I’m waiting until we had the right audience. That’s where I’m going next.” I reach down and take his phone from his pocket. “Do you mind? You’re not going to be needing it any longer,” I ask politely, holding it out to him as blood pours from the hole in his chest, and oozes from his mouth. He gurgles some response as the life disappears from his eyes.
Scrolling through his contacts, I find who I’m looking for, and type out the text.
Me: Meet me at the bar.
Him: I’m already there.
Me: Be right there.
Turning around, I find Jo staring at what I just did. Her expression is frozen in…I’m not sure what. Terror or shock. We don’t have time to discuss this, for me to comfort and soothe her. To make sure it’s not me she’s terrified of. I walk back to her, my eyes never leaving her, her eyes are fixed on the dying man on the ground. When I’m right in front of her, I say, “It’s about to get a whole lot worse.”
I have to prepare her.
Her eyes meet mine, big and round, the gun held tightly to her chest. “I hope so,” her voice is even.
Pride swells inside me. I grip her hand and lead her back to the van.
It’s time for revenge.
We don’t speak as we head back to the bar. I can see she’s tense, but she’s strong, a lot stronger than most men I’ve crossed paths with. No ordinary woman would have reacted to what she’s just witnessed without falling apart. The bar I’m sure was once her safe haven when her dad was alive. It turned into her hell. When the devil arrived, he strode in and claimed everything in it as his own, condemning it to eternal damnation.
He forgot the Grim Reaper always comes for his souls. He’s pulling up now to take what is owed.
Parking in the side lot near the semi cabs, I cut the engine. It’s dark, and she’ll be hidden here, and hopefully safe. Until I’ve finished what I’ve got to do. I turn to her. “Stay here, Jo. Don’t come inside until I come and get you. I don’t want anyone to know you’re here…”
“Oh, no you don’t. You’re not taking this from me. I deserve to do this!” she’s already got her hand on the handle and is opening the door.
I shake my head at her. There is no way I’m letting her go in there, not yet, and not after. “I knew you were going to be difficult.” I wave my hand.
“What the hell are you doing?” Terror and rage fills her eyes as she jerks her head around, ready to shoot somebody.
“Put the gun down, Jo,” I say, but she’s not listening to me.
Then she freezes when his face fills the window.
“OH, MY GOD, NILES,” she screams as she shoves the door open and jumps into his arms.
“Yes, baby girl, who else did you think would come save your ass?” he’s squeezing her tightly.
“I thought…I thought…,” Jo’s sobbing, she can’t finish the sentence, maybe she can’t bring herself to say the words.
“Hush now, darling. That man of yours might be big and bad, but he’s doing right by you,” the little prick has the audacity to wink at me over Jo’s shoulder.
Jo pulls herself from him and looks back at me, her face streaked with her tears. “I know,” she tells me, and everything she’s feeling, every single emotion I never thought I’d see in anyone’s eyes is staring back at me.
I can’t do this, not right now. I open the door and begin to step out, but turn back to Jo. Dave is now standing behind Niles, all of them watching me.
“Go. I’ve got them. Don’t worry,” Dave tells me. “Finish this.”
I nod. “I’ll be back. I promise. Whatever you
see, whatever happens, do not step foot inside there.” My eyes bore into Jo’s. I don’t wait for a response.
Leaving them, I walk across the parking lot to the front door. The place is still packed, and I’m not sure it’s a good thing, or a bad thing. It’s probably irrelevant. It’s going to happen regardless.
Inside, I don’t stop at the door. The DJ is still playing everything the crowd does not want to hear, and they do not look happy. There are two guards working the bar, and some guy I don’t know at the door for the back offices. When I stop inside, Joe’s sidekick is there by himself. When he sees me, he takes a step back. I look down and notice I’m covered in blood.
“Busy night,” I tell him as I walk past him and open Castillo’s door. Taylor’s in there.
“He told me to meet him here,” Taylor is arguing about something with Castillo.
Castillo’s eyes fall on me. “What the fuck happened to you?”
“Was doing what you asked me to do,” I pull out Joe’s phone and start to scroll through it. “I meant to ask you, do you know that Joe is Taylor’s son?”
I don’t bother to lift my attention from the phone in my hand. Not yet.
A long silence stretches, filled with the sound of fabric rubbing against leather. Taylor is shifting in his seat; the only other sounds are coming from the bar.
“I wasn’t aware of that,” Castillo’s tone is deathly quiet.
I found what I was searching for, so I place the phone on the desk in front of him. “Didn’t think so. Figured you didn’t know about this either.”
My eyes are fixed on Taylor’s face, now pale white with sweat beading on his forehead. Out of my peripheral, I watch as Castillo picks up the phone and scrolls through the conversation.
“Frank,” Taylor begins, his voice shaky. The guy’s about to shit himself.
“Where’s Joe?” Castillo asks eerily quiet.
Hawk's Revenge Page 21
