They say pride always comes before a fall. Well, I don’t know shit about that. But I do know one thing – all my life, any moment I’ve been truly happy, that moment has been about four hot seconds from a tumble.

And this one was no different.

“Jason,” Don Lorenzo’s lugubrious voice growled, no more than a couple of inches from my ear. “So kind of you to join us on such short notice…”

I spun, adrenaline pumping into my veins like gasoline from a pump. I felt just like I did on God knows how many battlefields in God knows how many countries over the course of God knows how many years.

“Jason!” Jessica squealed as she was roughly tugged away from me, held tight no fewer than three of the Don’s biggest, hardest men.

My vision narrowed, until it was little more than a tunnel of fear and anger – anger that this prick and his half wit goons thought that they could fight me and get away with it; fear that right now they had my woman in their arms.

And there was nothing I could do about it without risking her life.

I threw myself backward, knowing that in order to save Jessica’s life – and my own – I had to abandon her.

Just for now.

“Leaving your bitch, are you?” Lorenzo chuckled, his voice a grating insult to every shred of decency inside me. “I imagine she expected more of you, Jason. But we know better than that, don’t we?”

My jaw clenched. “Fuck you, Lorenzo,” I growled, desperately searching the air bridge for a weapon – anything, really. “How the fuck did you get in here? It’s a fucking –.”

“Airport?” Don Lorenzo grinned.

I ground my teeth together and stayed quiet, crouching down behind the controls that ordinarily maneuvered the bridge to the airplane. Right now, they were all that stood in the way of me and a bullet from Don Lorenzo’s pistol.

I didn’t think that even he would be stupid enough to fire a weapon inside one of the most heavily secured locations in the state.

Then again, I didn’t think that the Don would be here at all! The second Jessica and I had made it through the magnetic security barriers, and stuck our luggage through the x-ray scanners, I’d relaxed for the first time in days – presuming I was safe.

“I know what you think of me, Jason,” he said as the man behind him leered at Jessica. “I know you think I’m a relic, a holdover from the past. Maybe I am. Hell, in this world of cybercrime and online fraud, good old-fashioned mob men like me probably don’t stand a chance…”

“Spit it out, Lorenzo,” I spat. “Get off your soapbox and tell me what you want.”

“It’s simple,” he replied. “I thought you would have figured it out by now. I want you and your bitch – dead.”

“What are you going to do, shoot us here?” I replied, glancing up and down. The way my heart was beating – and the adrenaline pumping in my veins – it felt like minutes must’ve passed, but I knew better. That was just the effects of fear compressing the timeline inside my head.

No, the truth no more than a few seconds had passed since Lorenzo and his men from my grasp.

“No,” Lorenzo said, shaking his head. He jerked his pistol at the door just to the left of him that led down to the runway. “Go –,” he growled at his men. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“Jason!” Jessica yelled. “Don’t let them –!”

Crack!

The sound of a slap echoed around the small air bridge, drowning out the happy noise of children making their way down the corridor as the economy class passengers began to trundle their way towards the plane.

I pushed the knowledge of what had just happened out of my mind as I cast a quick glance backwards. I couldn’t see the line of the company passengers yet, but I knew we had only a matter of seconds.

Jessica fell silent, and as I turned back to look at her being dragged by her hair through the security door and down to the concrete 30 yards below, I saw a trickle of blood dripping from her mouth.

And then the door swung shut behind her, leaving just me and the Don.

The sight of this girl hurt – this girl I’d only known for days – filled me with rage. I charged forward, not even bothering to see where the Don was pointing his pistol.

“I’ll kill you, you rat fuck,” I spat.

The truth was, I knew better than to shout. All those years in the SEALs – and then as a hitman – he told me one thing. It’s a whole lot smarter to act cool when you’re about to do someone harm.

It scares the shit out of them.

And fear makes people do really stupid shit.

Like look backwards nervously at the door that just closed behind them.

Like send their bodyguards away from them, just to kidnap some chick.

Like take their eyes off a man who’s seen action in twenty countries across half a dozen continents.

I smashed into the Don with the force of a bull. I drove him forward against the wall of the air bridge, and force the air from his lungs. His pistol went skittering – somewhere, I don’t know where the hell, and I didn’t care.

I punched the Don in the throat.

“You’re coming with me, you prick,” I growled. As he doubled forward, clutching his neck as if desperately trying to force air down into his lungs, I took the opportunity to pat him down.

I found what I was looking for in seconds – the key card that operated the security door down and out of the air bridge.

“Time to go,” I said, swiping the card into the locking mechanism. The door beeped green, and I shoved Don Lorenzo through at the precise moment the crowd of happy families on their way to the holiday of a lifetime in Thailand came bustling through towards the plane.

The door clicked shut behind me, and I heaved a sigh of relief. I might not be armed – but at least I had the Don.

And you know what they say: he who has the Mafia boss makes the rules.

I gripped Don Lorenzo by the neck, and he struggled desperately for breath. I held him just tightly enough that he wouldn’t be able to find the energy to fight me – but not too tightly to kill him.

At least, I didn’t think. But it’s not like I put much thought into it. I was beyond caring.

An evil thought entered my mind.

“Hey, piggy,” I grinned. “I’ve got an idea…”

I unbuckled my belt, made it into a nose and put it around his neck – as though he were a dog wearing a collar and a lead.

I pointed down the stairwell that led down to the concrete. “I bet I’m right in thinking,” I growled half an inch from his ear. “That you and your goons paid off the ground stuff in this zone. It’s going to be nice and quiet out there, isn’t it? Quiet enough for me to strangle you to death without anyone noticing…”

I pushed him forward, and he stumbled down the stairwell – only held back by the leather around his neck. It took only a few seconds for us to make it to the concrete runway.

As the cool blast of air greeted my face as we stepped outside, and the roar of jet engines filled the night air, I heard a man say, “Boss?”

I pulled Don Lorenzo close into my body, pulling the leather nose tight in my palm. Lorenzo’s goons pointed their weapons at me.

Actually, only one did.

The other pansy ass bitch pointed his pistol at Jessica’s temple. Another surge of rage flooded like a tsunami inside me.

“Drop your weapons, assholes!” I yelled over the noise of jet engines. Lorenzo’s two goons glanced back and forth at each other – clearly with no idea what to do. They didn’t look like the sharpest tools.

“Jason,” Jessica whimpered, her lower lip trembling. “Leave me, I’ll be fine!”

“I’m going nowhere without you, Jess,” I promised. “You and me, we’re going to live a nice, friendly, gentle life on an island somewhere. Just like we talked about, you remember?”

“I remember,” Jessica replied, her voice little more fun.

“Shut the fuck up, bitch,” the goon on the right growled. “And you!” He said, jutting his ugly chin in my direction. “Let go of the boss or I’ll fill your hooker’s head with lead.”

“Now that,” I muttered, “was a really stupid thing to say…”

I saw the surge of rage come across Jessica’s face. She’d told me how angry she got when she had to listen to me call her a prostitute.

But this ugly prick saying it?

It was a recipe for disaster…

Jessica drove her elbow down low, into goon number one’s ball sack. He crumpled in an instant, falling to his knees.

“Oh shit,” I grunted.

My body acted of its own accord. I flung the oxygen starved Don Lorenzo forward at the one remaining bodyguard, and the fat lump’s weight knocked into his goon, driving both of them down to the ground.

I took advantage of the momentary lapse in the bodyguard’s attention, taking a step forward and driving my shoe into his wrist. The bones crunched against the concrete, and the man let out a bloodcurdling squeal that was only just drowned out by the sound of jet engines. I pressed my full weight into the battered limb with all of the raging anger that was burning inside me.

I took another step forward, crouched down and drove my fist into the man’s face, knocking him out in an instant. His head smashed back against the ground, bouncing against the concrete.

I wasn’t sure if he’d ever wake up.

I look to the left, and saw Jessica sitting on top of the other bodyguard, whaling on him as he grabbed his crotch, still in agony. A smile of pride stretched across my face. She had him well in hand.

“Fuck you,” she yelled angrily – but completely justifiably. “You won’t touch me now, will you!”

I could do what I needed to do: concentrate on Don Lorenzo.

With one bodyguard unconscious, and the other out of action – the Don just looked at me nervously, fingers scrabbling to loosen the noose around his neck. His eyes begged for forgiveness.

Forgiveness I wasn’t in a mind to give.

I grab the leather noose, pulling it tight, until his eyes bulged from the lack of oxygen. This was the second time the fat Mafia boss had struggled for air tonight.

But it was going to be the last.

I held the noose tight, until the evil, twisted man’s body stopped struggling. And he fell silent for good.

“Come on,” I said, yanking Jessica by the arm. “We’ve got to go!”