Page 70 of Hiding In the Dark (The Righteous 4)
The door banged hard into someone and bounced shut. Kes gave it another kick, and it slammed open with force this time. The guard was on his knees, hands covering his nose, which was gushing blood all over the hallway. With a hard thrust and a twist, he sank the throwing blade into the guard’s eye socket. Yanking it free, he kept walking as the rage continued to build. It coiled in his system like a once-slumbering great dragon now awakened to find that its dearest treasure had been taken. Zumi was his family, and no one fucked with his family.
He rounded the corner at the end of the hall. There was a doorless entrance to the bar. Music loud enough to mask his entry thrummed and echoed, explaining why no one was running into the hallway to greet him. He could see the man of the hour sitting at the bar with a naked brunette on his lap. She looked more interested in the glass of whatever she was drinking than in the man beneath her. Kes had endured a conversation with Vance once before. It had gone a little along the lines of, ‘If you mess up your girls, you rip them off, or you bring in anyone underage to work for you, I’ll fucking cut your dick off and make you eat it.’ Either he’d forgotten the little conversation, or Chelsea had done something to warrant punishment. The question was, why take Zumi?
He could make out the edge of an arm on either side of the door, which had to be a set of guards. Kes stuffed the gun into his jeans and opted for a second throwing knife. He twirled the special blades that he’d designed for himself until they sat comfortably in his two palms like a deadly spike sticking out either side.
Kes had no idea how many people were on the other side of that door, but it didn’t matter. He’d kill every last one of them to get the answers he was after.
His jaw clenched tight and his lips pressed together in a hard line as his body coiled, and then, with a burst of speed, he bolted for the opening. With the precision that comes from slitting too many throats, he cut straight through the carotid artery on both men in one swift slice as he ran past like the devil himself was on his heels. Inside the guarded room, a couple of booths were occupied with guards relaxing while being entertained by girls that worked for that piece of shit.
Screams filled the room as he released his two blades, each one a killing blow finding its mark in a man struggling to his feet from the booths. He was fast, and he was deadly accurate. This was an art he’d perfected overseas and kept practicing like a ritual.
“What the fuck,” Chelsea’s pimp, Vance, yelled and jumped up, depositing the girl on his lap on her ass with a thud. She crawled away and rounded the bar out of sight.
Four guards ran in from two different directions as girls ducked and bolted for the exits. Kes pulled one of his guns and fired at the two rushing at him from the front. Confident in his aim, he spun while pulling free his longer blade from his back sheath.
“Stop, don’t go near him,” Vance yelled, and the remaining two guards’ faces morphed into confusion as they looked between their boss and the threat that had a gun on them. “Put your guns down and back up.”
Kes looked over at Vance, suspicious as to what he was trying to do. He was tempted to squeeze the trigger anyway and kill them both guards, but one of the men in the place may have taken Chelsea and Zumi, and if all the men were dead, then his fastest way to find them might die with them.
The two guards placed their guns on the floor and did as their boss asked, backing away until their backs were against the wall.
“Have you come to kill me?” Vance asked.
“Most likely,” he said, his voice as threatening as the rest of his appearance. “Where are Chelsea and her daughter?”
“That’s what this is about?”
“Answer the fucking question.” Kes’s voice came out deep and rough with the strain of his control.
“The bitch had it comin’. I sent two of my men to pick her ass up and teach her a lesson. She stole over five grand in cash and some party products. I have her on camera, and this is a business. I can’t have her or any of the others making a fool of me.”
“Why take the girl?”
“I know nothing about that.”
Kes ground his teeth. “Where did they take Chelsea?”
“I don’t know.”
Kes marched across the space, his hand squeezing the large blade tight as he pictured thrusting it up into the man’s jaw and not stopping until he hit his brain. “Call them now, or I will kill you.”
One of the guards thought he’d be smart and dive for his gun while Kes’s attention was elsewhere, or at least the guy thought it was elsewhere. Kes could clearly see the motion out of the corner of his eye, and as soon as the guy made the dive for the gun, Kes swung his gun around and fired. The man dropped dead, his hand lying on the gun.
“Jesus Christ,” Vance jumped back, his back hitting the tall bar blocking his retreat.
“I’m pretty sure he’s not coming to save you. Your men seem to have an issue with listening to orders. Maybe it’s the men in this dump that you needed to teach a lesson to and not the girls.” Kes knew he hit a nerve when Vance’s eyes flared, and his lip twitched up in response. “Make the fucking call!”
Kes glanced outside to the front of the bar and the people strolling by on the sidewalk—the mirrored finish made it so no one could see the drama taking place a few feet away. The man dug around in his pocket and pulled out his phone. As soon as the pimp had the phone unlocked, Kes snatched it away from his hand. He’d never had any intention of letting Vance use his phone.
“What are their names?”
“Igor and Ricardo.”
Kes glanced over his shoulder to the one girl still on a booth as he thumbed through the apps. “Be a dear and pull those knives out for me and bring them over.”
He was shocked when she jumped up and, with minimal squealing, pulled the two knives from the men’s skulls before holding them out like they might bite as she brought them over. Kes slipped the long knife home into the sheath along his back. “Thanks, you can go sit back down,” he said, taking the two blades and wiping them off on his pants before sheathing them on his chest. He found what he was looking for, and his eyes found Vance. “I’m keeping this, and you better pray that the girl is not dead. I don’t give a fuck about the mother, but if one hair is harmed on the daughter’s head….” Kes stepped in close, his nose almost touching the other man’s nose as their eyes locked. Fear wavered in Vance’s eyes as Kes’s enraged ones said more than even his words could. “I will be back, and I will hold you accountable for what they’ve done.” Vance sucked in a sharp breath as the tip of the knife pressed into this stomach. “I will make sure you suffer. You will beg me to kill you, that much I can promise. There will be nowhere you can hide that I won’t find you.”
Spinning back the way he’d come, he saw a subtle flinch in the guard that was by the wall as his eyes stared at the gun.
