CHARLES

 

I never dealt much with explosives. Most of my time in the Army was spent with heavy firearms. I put men down from a distance, not able to look them in the eye until death had already come calling.

But I wasn’t enough of a layman that I didn’t know what I was doing. And it was a good thing, considering what Petey gave me.

I had enough C4 to level a building.

I rode through town that night on a mission. I kept my headlights low and stayed off the main streets to avoid drawing any attention.

Blade’s place was far away from town. A small mansion on a hill that was above the rest of Ivory. He was a small-time dealer trying to live the life of someone more important. That was the second biggest mistake he ever made. By the time he came calling for help, nobody would be able to get to him in time.

I parked my bike behind some trees as I scoped his place out. There was an armed security guard standing at the entrance. Security cameras along with everybody being on high alert meant that I would be spotted as soon as I got anywhere near it.

I joked about waltzing through the front door. Now I planned on doing just that.

I walked up to the entrance where the security guard was standing. He immediately pulled his pistol from his hip and pointed it at me.

“It’s all right,” I said as I put my hands up. “I’m just here to see Blade.”

“Is that right? Gimme one good reason I shouldn’t put a bullet in your fucking head right now.”

“Because…”

I slowly zipped my vest down. All of the C4 was taped to my chest. I held my phone up to make it clear to him.

“This shit is rigged to go up if anything happens to me,” I said. “It’s tied to my heartbeat. You put a bullet in my head, you might as well put a bullet in your own head along with everybody else in this mansion.”

The security guard stared hard at me. He knew he didn’t have much of a choice.

“He’s here,” he said into the radio on his shoulder.

He kept his gun pointed at me as he opened up the front door.

“Don’t try anything stupid,” he said.

“Too late for that,” I replied.

He escorted me into the mansion. I stepped into the main hall and saw a couple more security guards, armed and ready for me. If it came down to it, they weren’t anything I couldn’t handle.

They all walked behind me as I made my way up the stairs. I moved down a long hallway until there was another set of double doors with another security guard in front of it.

“You got any weapons?” he asked me.

“Gun on my waist.”

I stood there while they pulled my pistol from my belt. I kept my eyes locked on the man guarding the door. I couldn’t help but smile at him.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “I don’t plan on blowing all of us up. Just one man.”

“Shut the fuck up.”

He opened the double doors and shoved me inside. My entourage of security guards stayed behind me as I entered the room.

The place was more lavish than the rest of the mansion. It wasn’t very big but there were gaudy gold and platinum pieces of art along the sides. Expensive-looking paintings hung on the walls. But I didn’t pay too much attention to the marble floors or the small chandelier on the ceiling. I was only focused on the man lounging in his chair, staring out toward his balcony window.

“Leave us,” he said.

The guards followed his orders and left. The doors clicked closed behind me. I stood there, patiently waiting for the man to give me his attention.

He waited a few moments before finally getting up out of his seat.

Slick-backed hair. Expensive suit. Over-sized watch. Cheap cologne. Yeah, he was the definition of a man who wanted to play the role of a big shot.

“Charles Lawrence.”

“Blade.”

“The man Asia actually fell for. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

He walked toward me with a grin. It was the same kind of smile you’d see from cocky punks like him. Cheap cologne and an expensive haircut weren’t enough to mask who he really was.

“There’s no need for that,” he said as he pointed at all of the explosives on my chest. “I instructed my men not to kill you. I wanted to talk to you one on one. It’s a shame we have to meet under such circumstances.”

I didn’t bother listening to him. I just stood there, my fists balled and ready to punch a hole in his head. Everything he did to Lenora was still playing over and over in my thoughts.

“I remember the first time I met her,” he said. “She was such a beautiful girl. But she was alone. Lost. She didn’t have anybody. Just like me. I came to this town because I wanted to find myself. I ended up finding it in her. Asia was the girl I always dreamed about. Someone who had nothing but finally made something of herself.”

“You used her. You pimped her out so you could fatten your own pockets.”

“Asia would be nothing without me. She would be dead if I hadn’t saved her.”

“Saved her? You put her in the hospital—”

“I loved her!”

He was getting worked up, breathing hard through his nose. He tensed his jaw. I locked my stare on him, just waiting until I could finally put my hands on him.

“I loved her,” he whispered. “I loved her more than any woman I’d ever met before. I was gonna make so much money and take her all over the world. I was gonna take her to the beach she wanted to visit so much. But then she had to go and break my heart.”

“What do you expect? She could never be with a man like you.”

He laughed in response.

“And I suppose you’re any better,” he said. “A man who traveled all the way to Ivory to kill someone? Oh, but you’re better than me, I suppose.”

Holmes started pacing back and forth in front of me, his hands behind his back.

“I did my research,” he said. “It’s not hard to get information on somebody with a criminal record.”

The familiar smirk on his face returned.

“Charles Lawrence. Former army ranger. Enough confirmed kills to fill a cemetery. You have more blood on your hands than I ever will. And you have the audacity to claim that you know what’s best for Asia?”

“I have blood on my hands. I won’t deny that. But none of it is Lenora’s.”

He stopped smiling at me. He just glared at me as he took off his jacket.

“Ivory is a peaceful little town,” he said, tossing his jacket off to the side. “Everybody here just wants to enjoy their lives in comfort. When you came here, you disrupted that harmony. You should have never come here. I would be happy. The people in this town would be happy. Asia would be happy.”

“She was never happy in Ivory. Living in this city, her whole life has been miserable.”

“And I suppose you’ve come to do something about that? You’ve come to save her from her miserable life?”

“I’m not here to erase the past. I’m not here to save her from her miserable life. I’m just here to give her the justice she deserves.”

“Justice… It’s a shame that you and the federal agent can’t let a man live. Then Asia had to go and break my heart when I loved her so much.”

He unbuttoned his sleeves and rolled them up. He put his hands on his waist.

“I’ll make you a deal,” he said. “Walk away. Leave Ivory right now and I’ll never speak of you again. I won’t come looking for you and I’ll find a way to deal with Lieberman so she won’t bother coming for you. I’ll even give you some cash.”

I took a step forward.

“You think you can buy me off?” I said.

“Why not? Everybody has their price. You should know that better than anybody else. You fell in love with someone after paying for her.”

It was taking every muscle in my body to hold back. I dug my boots into the ground to stop myself from moving forward.

“No?” he said. “I didn’t think so. That biker pride getting the best of you. I gave you my best offer. Now you’ll just have to take what I give you.”

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small switchblade.

“I don’t give a shit what kind of military background you have,” he said. “They call me Blade for a reason. Take off that C4 and find out why.”

I deactivated the detonator on my phone. Then I took my vest off and let the bricks of C4 drop down to the floor. Blade put his hands up, the switchblade pointed right at me.

“I won’t enjoy this,” he said. “Killing a man is never fun.”

“You’re right. But for you… I’ll make an exception.”

I put my hands up and swung at him. He moved out of the way and slashed me across the arm. I immediately pulled my arm back from the stinging pain.

“So sloppy,” he said with a chuckle. “Didn’t they teach you anything in the army—”

I yelled at him and rushed back at him. He swiped at me but I was ready for it this time. I moved my head out of the way and clocked him right on the side of the head. He fell to the ground but quickly worked his way back up to his feet.

The smile on his face was gone. He held back whatever smart ass remarks he wanted to give me.

I kept swinging at him but he kept moving out of the way. All it would take was one swift slash for him to end everything. And with the blade, he didn’t even have to make good contact.

He sliced at me. He cut my shirt. He cut my jeans. He drew more blood from my arms and chest. But none of it was enough to stop me from trying to get my hands on him.

“Give it up, Lawrence. You know you can’t beat me.”

I roared as I rushed back toward him. He moved out of the way.

Before I could recover, he raised his hand up and dug the knife deep into my arm. I grunted in pain as he pulled the blade out of me.

“Shit…”

I muttered, trying to hold back how much it hurt. I reached my hand up and felt the blood trickling out of my arm.

“That’s all it takes,” he said. “Just one little stab and it’s all over. I can already see it. The life draining from you.”

I fell to my knee while Blade continued gloating. He paced back and forth, admiring my blood on his knife.

“Don’t worry,” he said as he pressed the tip of his knife with his index finger. “I’ll take real good care of Asia. I’ll let her know that the brute who came from out of town won’t ever hurt her again.”

Lenora.

She was the only thing that mattered. She was the only reason I was here.

I had to do this. For her. It didn’t matter if I died, too.

“You forgot one thing,” I said.

“And what’s that?”

“You don’t care about her. You only care about yourself. You just used her to make your fortune off of her.”

“And you didn’t use her to try and get to Walsh? You didn’t pay her off so you could stick your cock in her?”

“I did those things. I would have done it again. But now… Now I don’t care about me. I don’t care if I live another day. Just as long as Lenora survives. That’s the difference between me and you.”

Blade chuckled. He was laughing so hard that I could see his stomach moving in and out underneath his shirt.

“Admirable,” he said. “But pointless, considering you’re about to die—”

I reached into my pocket and pulled my phone out.

He stopped talking as soon as I held it up.

“All I have to do is reactivate it,” I said. “It won’t detect my heartbeat. We’ll all go sky high.”

Just the distraction I needed.

“What are you doing?” he said, his voice nervous.

“I don’t care what happens to me. All I care about is her. And what’s best for her is that you die tonight. That’s all that matters.”

“You stupid motherfucker—”

He rushed forward and tried to stab me again. He was in such a panic that he was careless about it. I ducked out of the way and grabbed his arm. With all of my strength, I snapped his elbow in the wrong direction.

He yelped in pain and the blade fell out of his hand.

I leveled him with the hardest punch I’d ever thrown in my life, rotating his head on his neck.

He stumbled back to the floor and tried to get back up to his feet.

It was already over.

As soon as he got back up, I slugged him right in the mouth again.

“This is what she felt like,” I said. “This is what she felt when you put your hands on her.”

I punched him in the face again.

His legs were wobbling. His face was bleeding. His mouth trickled with blood. He looked like he was barely conscious. But somehow, he still managed to smile at me.

“All of this for some fucking whore,” he said.

He spit his blood into my face. I clenched my jaw and punched him hard in the nose, shattering it into pieces.

“This is what she felt.”

I wrapped my arms around him and picked him up from the ground. I lifted him as high as I could before slamming him back down on the marble.

He writhed on the floor in pain, still barely conscious. I took a knee down next to him and kept hammering my face into his, making sure not to put him out for good.

“Her name is Lenora,” I said.

Blade looked up at me. His eyes were as red as the rest of his face.

“You’ll never get away,” he said. “You’ll always be on the run.”

“I’m a nomad. I’ve been on the run my whole life. The same as Lenora. We’ll find a way… People like us always find a way…”

He kept glaring at me, struggling to find his breath. But his demeanor suddenly changed. It was finally dawning on the motherfucker that this was the end.

His eyes started to water.

“I loved her,” he said. “I was doing all of this for her but she had to go and break my heart by talking to the feds. She’ll do the same to you. You know I’m right.”

“You didn’t love her. If you did, she would have never turned her back on you. You betrayed her first.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. He struggled against me but he wasn’t strong enough. I clenched my jaw and squeezed my hands as hard as I could. I looked right into his eyes, letting him feel how she felt.

His body slowly stopped moving. His eyes became lifeless.

I stared at him and sighed a deep breath.

I struggled back up to my feet. I ripped the remains of my shirt off and tightened it around the wound on my arm.

My life was slowly bleeding out of me. With a bunch of security guards waiting outside for me, I’d have a tough time getting through them. I couldn’t take any chances.

I strapped the C4 back to my body and reactivated the detonator. It would be the only thing to stop them from killing me.

I was determined to make it back to Lenora. But if I didn’t, I would rest peacefully knowing that she no longer had to worry about the man who hurt her.