Damian
It was well after eleven when I finally pulled into the parking lot of the old, decrepit warehouse – the same old, decrepit warehouse where I'd taken four bullets from Mendoza in what seemed like another lifetime.
As I stared at the derelict building, it struck me that the symmetry of it all was too neat to be a coincidence. I'd always suspected that Mills had put Mendoza up to killing me to begin with. And now, he had me by the balls and was going to finish the job himself at the same place this whole fiasco had started.
Though getting shot sucked beyond words, at least one good thing had come out of it – Cara. If not for Mills setting me up and Mendoza shooting me, I might not have ever gotten as close with Cara as I had become. And for that, I was thankful.
It was a small slice of happiness in a lifetime that was, for the most part, terrible, but at least I'd had that slice of happiness at all. I was grateful for that time, as brief as it had been.
“It's about damn time!” Mills shouted as I stepped into the warehouse.
He was there with four of his most trusted lieutenants. They were standing in a half-circle around Cara and Austin, who had their hands bound, were gagged, and sitting on the floor. Mills' attack dogs were carrying AR-15's – obviously products from their new business venture – and had them pointed at Cara and Austin.
“I'm here,” I said. “Let them go.”
I walked across the warehouse and stood in front of Austin and Cara. Tears streaked down both of their faces and the fear coming off of them was palpable. I gave Austin a wink and an encouraging smile, hoping to alleviate some of his fears. Judging by the look on his face though, I'd failed to even make a dent in them.
“You didn't seriously think I was going to do that, did you?” Mills asked. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe you're not actually all that smart after all.”
“You son of a bitch!”
I lunged forward a couple of steps but stopped in my tracks when Mills' men raised their weapons and had them trained on me – their fancy little laser scopes painting four red dots in the middle of my chest.
“They're loose ends. Like you are,” Mills said. “And if there's one thing I can't abide, it's loose ends. You and your little girlfriend here are the only things tying me to the killing of Mendoza and his guys. I take you out, that problem goes away, never to be heard from again.”
I looked over at his guys. “See this?” I asked them. “This is what you can expect someday too. This son of a bitch is a liar and has no honor. He never keeps his word. One of these days, that's going to be you – so enjoy the ride now, boys. Because he's going to fuck you over just like he's fucking us over.”
“Shut the fuck up,” Mills snapped. “It didn't have to be this way, Damian. All you had to do was go along with the program. If you had, you'd be swimming in cash right now.”
“Maybe money isn't what drives me,” I said. “Maybe, unlike you, I don't like killing, and I don't like being a psycho fuckbag.”
“Watch your mouth,” Bryan snapped – Mills' right-hand man.
“Oh, gee, I'm sorry. Did I offend you?”
“Your very existence offends me,” Mills said.
“That's unfortunate.”
He shrugged. “It's a mistake that's about to be corrected though, don't you worry.”
The sound of bikes rolling up to the warehouse filled the air around us, the roar of their engines echoing off the walls. I looked down at Cara – her eyes were wide, and I couldn't help but see the terror on her face. Austin was still sobbing – and had wet his pants on top of it.
My heart went out to the both of them, and I wished more than anything that I could get them out of there and take away all of their fear. They didn't deserve to be caught up in the middle of my shit like that. I needed to come up with a plan to get them free – quickly.
I had no idea who was coming through the door, but it sounded like a lot of the guys had come. Mills looked positively triumphant as he looked at me. He knew he'd won and that he was going to be free to shape the Kings any way he saw fit – and that all of his loose ends were about to be tied up.
But there was no way in hell I was going down without a fight. I just needed to time it right. Needed to pick the perfect moment to strike. My hope was that I would keep Mills and his guys distracted long enough that Cara and Austin could get the hell out of there.
“Welcome, brothers,” Mills said as the group who'd just arrived stepped into the middle of the warehouse.
I didn't even bother looking up to see who'd arrived – I was too busy trying to come up with a way to get Cara and Austin out of there. But the sound of rounds being chambered – a lot of them – drew my attention quickly.
“What the fuck is this?” Mills shouted, his voice unsteady.
“Change in leadership,” Crank said as he stepped forward.
I looked up to find that Crank and a dozen other guys had their own AR-15's trained on Mills and his four lieutenants. The four guys looked at Mills, their eyes wide, uncertainty filling their faces. Mills looked absolutely apoplectic.
“You are going to pay for this, Crank!” Mills screamed. “What in the hell do you think you're doing?”
“I told you, we're here to conduct a little regime change,” he said. “Your leadership sucks harder than a five-dollar whore, so we're going to put somebody in the big chair who can handle the job – somebody who's not a twisted, corrupt, greedy, murdering asshole.”
Crank gave me a wink and playful punch in the shoulder. I could give him a big, sloppy kiss for what he was doing. With his eyes, he motioned toward Cara and Austin – telling me to untie them. I dropped to my knees, undoing their bonds, and taking the gags out of their mouths.
“You get them out of here,” Crank said. “We'll take care of Mills and his boys.”
“What are you going to do with them?” I asked.
Crank shrugged. “We'll take care of ‘em,” he said enigmatically.
At that moment, I didn't give a shit what he did with them. I just wanted to get Cara and Austin out of there and to safety – and that's exactly what I did.