“I didn’t lie when I told you that you’d get to keep your brains in your head,” I whispered to him.
The third kick clearly opened up something in his neck. The rhythmic tip-tapping sounded when something thick in front of him began to leak and fall to the floor of the garage. The skin at the back of his neck had stretched like rubber with each downward kick I delivered, improving his unnatural angle. It appeared that the bottom half of his body was crawling under the SUV while his head bobbled in its stuck position.
“Are you always so brutal?” Patrena asked behind me, her tone calm and hushed and not matching the scene unfolding in front of her.
“Only when they hurt someone I care about,” I answered while delivering another vicious kick that nearly separated his head from his body, leaving his bottom half swinging and no doubt hanging on by skin alone.
One thing I had learned from my cousins about killing was that no matter how dead they appeared, make sure they were deader. I reached for my pistol and Patrena handed it back without a word. I fired two silent shots into the man’s back.
No sooner than my final shot punched into his spine, I caught his friend making his approach from the corner of my eye. I pointed Patrena to the backside of the thick support beam a few feet behind her and pretended I didn’t see the man making his approach. I returned to kicking the dead man at my feet and muttered curse words under my breath for effect.
The friend circled the van and met me with his wavering pistol aimed in my direction, his gaze switching back and forth between his destroyed friend and me. His anger was his weakness because I introduced him to hot lead in the face.
Although Patrena was staged behind the thick slab of cement, she was mindful to take up a steady aim and was ready to shoot as well. The notion kicked up the unusual sense of pride I had for her, but we weren’t out of the woods yet.
“Okay, overkill much?” Rhi questioned in my ear followed by his broken whistle. He knew better than anyone that if I had to step from behind the scenes, it was not going to be pretty.
“From where you are, turn to your immediate left, and take the next two sharp lefts. It’s the fastest way back to the street, but it presents the greatest threat. There’s a long hallway that may leave you vulnerable to the friends if you don’t clear it fast enough,” Rhi warned.
I moved quickly and didn’t have to tell Patrena to stay close. She was speed walking at my side and protecting her vulnerable areas like she’d been trained.
“When we hit the hall, you face front, and I’ll cover our backs.” I laid out our plan but got the sense that she didn’t need much guidance.
“Okay,” she answered without breaking her scanning gaze.
She had a professional way about her hold on the weapon, making it a part of her arm while peering through the sight with deadly intent. I believed her keepers had done a lot more than make her watch misbehaving syndicate members. I peeked around the corner and down the hall, finding it clear although Rhi had also given me the all-clear.
“Go now,” I ordered and ran pivoting sideways behind her as she sped down the hall. Our rapid steps and breaths bounced off the naked white concrete walls and made it sound like a crowd of people instead of two.
“At the end of the hall is a tight stairwell that leads up to ground level and faces the road we need to cross to get us back to the lot I’m parked in,” I told her. I was feeding her the info Rhi was giving me.
“Two approaching the hall and will spot you from the rear in about five seconds. Their weapons are drawn,” Rhi informed, his voice laced with concern.
We were more than halfway down the hall and there were no doors to duck into or structures to dive behind if they started shooting. We were stuck in a tunnel passage surrounded by dirt and concrete walls and our only escape waited at the opposite end.
“Faster, Patrena,” I warned in a low tone without telling her what was at our backs.
She didn’t answer, but she increased the pace of her jog. Her heels were dangling by the straps from the hand that supported the bottom of her pistol. The knowledge that I hadn’t seen her taking off her shoes was a testament to how quickly she had adjusted to the dangers surrounding her.
“Patrena, whatever happens next, I need you to keep going and don’t turn around. Understand?”
“Yes, I understand,” she confirmed. She picked up the pace, her feet smacking against the hard floor like she knew what was coming.
As Rhi had warned me, a quick flash of a head peeking from the doorway down the hall caused me to prepare my aim. I hadn’t had time to put on a protective vest, so my fate was about to be tested.
As soon as one of the men was bold enough to expose himself, I released a three-round burst. One of the bullets struck the target in the chest, taking him down, but not killing him. They were wearing body armor, but it didn’t mean the shot hadn’t hurt bad enough to put him on his ass.
I sent a few extra rounds at his fallen body, but the quick hands of his buddy shot out, gripped his legs, and dragged him out of my sight. Our weapons were silenced. Therefore, I doubted anyone had caught wind of what was going down in the basement unless they were unfortunate enough to have found the one dangling by the neck from the back of the SUV.
Three quick shots came at us without warning, fired from the hand that flashed low to the cement floor. They weren’t giving up their quest to kill us, and the one firing off rounds wasn’t using his sight, knowing that the straight line of the hall gave him an advantage. All he needed was an opportunity to take up a good aim and pull the trigger.
The first shot he released hit the wall a few feet behind me. The second hit the ceiling above my head. The third traveled halfway down the hall before punching into the side of the wall and sending chips of concrete flying.
I didn’t hesitate to unload a clip at the passage, praying they were crazy enough to come through. I dropped my empty clip, reloaded, and continue to fire to prevent them from getting any more rounds off.
“Stairway clear,” Rhi informed.
Patrena shoving the door open sounded as I continued to fire off rounds until I was at the door’s threshold. As soon as I stepped across the doorway and turned so that my feet landed on the first step, two rounds struck the door, making fire spark off the metal. I even managed to catch a glimpse of one of the men who was bold enough to enter the hall and take aim.