“Not right now. I think you need to handle whatever it is you’ve got going on.”
He grabbed his cell phone and dialed Chains’s number.
“Yeah,” Chains said, answering within a couple of rings.
“Has there been any update?” Shadow asked.
“Nothing. Everything’s gone quiet, and there’s no sign of any action either. The bakery is clear.”
Chains had been watching the bakery since they left it.
Shadow stared at the screen. “Something’s not right. I’m calling Boss.” He hung up the phone, and began to dial Boss.
“What makes you think they’d come after me in the first place?” Riley asked.
“You took out their man. It’s logical to go after the person who made the hit.”
Boss wasn’t answering his cell phone.
“That doesn’t necessarily make any sense,” Riley said.
With every passing minute he was getting more and more pissed off. Shadow stared at Riley while scrolling through Maurice’s contact info on his cell phone. “What the hell do you mean?”
“You work for this Boss, right? He’s the one that pulls the strings?”
“Yeah, so?”
“Well, he’s the one that took the contract. What’s to say there’s not one out for him?”
“No one can take down Killer of Kings. Boss is the one that pulls the strings. We bring people down that are no good.” He didn’t add that they’ve been known to also kill innocents as well. Sometimes innocent people had to die in order to protect many more people. His job wasn’t always fair, but everything he did, he had a reason for.
“So you’re known by a lot of people, right? What happens if you’ve pushed too far? People are probably tired of losing
against your organization. Why not take matters into their own hands, and rid themselves of your boss?”
Shadow didn’t like that she made sense. Killer of Kings had a fantastic reputation for getting the job done. Boss only ever employed the best men, and he was the deadliest motherfucker alive.
Pressing Maurice’s number, he stared at Riley. “I hope you’re wrong.”
She wasn’t wrong. He knew it in his gut more than he knew anything else. It was the only explanation for why Riley hadn’t been hit.
“Shadow, thank God, I’ve been trying to reach everyone. I had to warn you about Boss. His security codes were accessed, and his main building infiltrated with at least a dozen men, maybe more. He sent me a code black,” Maurice said.
“A code black, you’re sure?” Shadow asked.
“Yes. I’ve told Viper and Bain. I don’t know what to do. Killer of Kings is only worth anything if Boss is alive.”
“Maurice, send me Boss’s current address and the codes I’ll need to access it.”
“That’s not protocol. He said that when a code black is initiated, you’re to get the hell out of Dodge.”
“I’m not going to do that. I’m not a fucking coward, and I sure as hell ain’t going to hide away and let Boss die.” He couldn’t do it. For as big a bastard as Boss was, he was still someone Shadow highly respected. A man who’d helped him up when he was down. “I want all that info within the next few minutes.”
He didn’t waste time talking. Hanging up the phone, he pocketed it, rushing up the stairs toward his weapons room.
“What are you doing?” she asked, chasing behind him.
“I’m going to go and clean up this mess.”