Page 104 of Carnage
“We need to get those girls,” Ghost says. “Before shit goes down.”
Phantom pulls his gun from his chest holster and cocks it. “Let’s do this.”
I raise my hand. “Patience. We need to hear where Leon is and who this cartoon-looking motherfucker is.”
“I don’t like to be fucked around,” the redhead says. “You’ve got to the count of five to tell me where to find Leon or you eat a bullet.”
“Fuck, man,” Brooklyn squeaks as two other men get out of the van, walk over, and pull him up by his tied arms. “I don’t know. He called earlier and told me about a change of plans. He said he wanted to meet me at the house I was sent to and you guys were there instead.”
“Funny, because he told me to meet him here at nine-thirty and didn’t mention that he was sending someone else to my fucking house.”
Even from here, the smell of urine tickles my nose, and I assume Brooklyn has just pissed himself.
“He fucking owes me,” the man yells. “I got these fucking girls for him and I want my goddamn money.”
“He didn’t tell me nothing about girls or money. We just had a deal for some pills, man. I swear.”
“This is a waste of time,” one of the other guys says. “Let’s go. We need to find this Leon asshole.”
The redhead shoves his gun in Brooklyn’s mouth and doesn’t hesitate as he squeezes the trigger. The girls scream in terror and one of the guys shoves them, slapping the loudest one.
“That’s enough of that,” I murmur. “You guys ready?”
“Fuck yeah,” Phantom says.
“You bet,” Ghost adds.
The three of us creep out of the darkness and attack. I already know Whisper will focus on getting the girls to safety, so I close in on the redhead, clothes-lining him and dropping him to the ground.
Straddling his waist, I punch him in the face twice just to get his attention. “Who are you?” I growl.
“Fuck you,” he spits.
The sound of a gun firing pierces the darkness. “You hear that? Your crew is dying tonight. You want to talk?” I shrug. “Or I can just cut your throat. Your choice.”
“You don’t know who you’re fucking with, man.”
“Why don’t you tell me?”
“Leon set this up, didn’t he? That fucker is gonna pay for this.”
“I don’t work with Leon. Who do you work for?”
Suddenly the area is lit up and I can clearly see the man below me. The van’s headlights are on and then I hear the engine roaring, but I can’t worry about who’s behind the wheel right now.
“Tell me,” I growl, grabbing the man by his collar. When he still doesn’t speak, I unsheathe my knife and hold it to his neck, digging the tip in just enough to make my point.
“Okay, okay.” He looks around for a second, then back at me. “I work for Seamus Balfe.”
That’s when I grab his wrist and notice the shamrock tattoo. “You killed one of your own.”
He shakes his head. “No. That guy wasn’t with Seamus. There’s been copycats popping up all over the city. Seamus told us to deal with them when we find them.”
“And Leon?”
“Just a cog in the wheel. He’s been talking a big game about how he can get quality shipments for Seamus. He wants into the crew.”
“Leon wants to work for Seamus?”
