Chapter 27

Beast

Beast drove the car into the front parking lot, destroying the stop arm at the entrance. Time was against them.

Mills waited for him at the door, vigilant.

Beast walked out of the car and opened the trunk, taking out a five-gallon gas can.

This is it.

Beast poured the gas over the mattresses, boxes, computers, cameras, everything.

“This shit is going to burn so bad.”

“They made it easy.”

Muffled moans of pain to their right called their atention, it was the guard, the one who was supposed to watch the screens, he was regaining consciousness.

Too late, though, he was already tied up and gagged.

They stared at him as he realized what was going on, then he started “yelling” even louder.

“Chill the fuck out,” Beast boomed, “we’re not going to burn you alive.”

His eyes were pleading, holding back tears and rage, he was trying to say something.

“Go to him,” Mills said, “I’ll do this.”

Beast left the gas can on the floor and walked to the man, taking the silver tape off his mouth in a swift motion.

He screamed in pain.

“What do you want?” Beast asked.

“You can’t leave me here—”

“I told you, we’re taking you outside.”

“No! They’re gonna kill me!”

Shit. He was right. The Salianis weren’t known for being understanding and merciful, after all.

That’s not my problem.

“I can’t let you go.”

“I haven’t seen you, I don’t know anything about you. Please, man. I just work here.”

“Not with an Assault Rifle you don’t. You would have killed us if—”

“Listen, it’s just a job, I—”

Beast put the tape back on his mouth.

“Be quiet, unless you want to smell your own burning flesh in a few minutes.”

That quieted him down.

“Are you done?” He called at Mills, who was no longer in sight.

“Almost,” he replied from somewhere on the back of the warehouse.

“All right.”

“So what do you think? Are we going to do it?”

Mills didn’t reply, maybe he chickened out.

“Sure, fuck it, let’s do it.”

Beast smiled. It was Mills, he never chickened out of anything.

He walked to the next rack of mattresses and pulled out a knife.

“Ready?” Mills voice echoed in the dark.

The job was done. They just needed to do one more thing.

He stabbed the mattress in front of him, gasoline stained his coat, the smell wouldn’t come off for weeks.

“Two minutes,” he said.

They were artists, and this was their masterpiece, a killing blow to the Salianis.

He just needed two more minutes.

* * *

“You got the hard drives?” Mills asked.

“Yeah, all of them here.”

They would get rid of the security feeds later.

“You wanna do the honors?” Mills asked, handing him a box of matches.

“Glad to.”

He lit a match and threw it inside. It wasn’t like in the movies, where the whole building catches on fire instantly and then explodes.

This was much different. The warehouse took a few moments to really catch fire, and after half a minute or so, the inventory began burning.

The smell of gas quickly turned into an overbearing, melting plastic one. They waited until everything inside the building caught fire.

“It’s done,” Beast said, walking to their car.

The fire grew bigger, consuming everything, its raging fury beginning to take hold. Glass began to break, black smoke rose in the air thicker and thicker until the sky was completely dark.

They hopped into the car and drove away.

“What about the guards?” Mills asked.

They’ll find them soon enough, Beast replied as he passed them by, sitting at the edge of the parking lot, inside a run down car, still tied up.

“You think they’ll make it?”

Beast shrugged, “If they’re smart they’ll free each other and flee the city.”

“If they’re smart,” Mills replied.

“Not my duty to save their asses.”

Mills smiled as the vehicle gained speed. It had been too clean, too perfect.

“Finally, we can relax,” Mills said.

“Finally.”

But no one was relaxed. They just literally fanned the flames of war.

Things would either get worse, if the Salianis got their heads out of their asses and fight back at them instead of each other.

Or.

The boss would send them to do more hits. They proved themselves supremely able to pull them off. Caronte would become the king of Chicago, he and Mills his personal executioners.

His stomach churned.

He did what he had to do to stay alive. This was what he got. But he could never get used to taking a person’s life, even if it was for self-defense.

his beacon in the dark.

After this, they might finally relax, his boss would be busy taking over the city, shipments would go up. Money would flow.

Beast smiled.

He couldn’t wait to see Jena. To kiss her beautiful lips.