Alone in the Dark

Ken had do

He hadn’t done anything like this in twenty-five years. Not since his and Demetrius’s prime income came from the drugs they transported up I-75 from Florida. Those were the days. Joel had still done their books, but Ken and Demetrius had made the rules. And had broken them whenever the hell they wanted.

Shit. When did we get old? Except there was no ‘we’ anymore. Demetrius was gone. Dumb bastard. You had to go and make me kill you.

He pulled on a ski mask, then bunched it up so that it was perched on the top of his head and topped it with a ball cap. He zipped up the coveralls, pulled the cap’s bill down to cover his face.

Showtime. He got out of his car feeling a giddy nervousness. Like he was going on his first date. He should have done this all along instead of depending on other people to do it for him. The day he stopped getting his hands dirty was the day he’d started becoming soft. Old.

He circled the building and came in through the front. He’d work his way to the back.

He drew a breath as he pushed open the front door, pulled the mask down over his face and the coverall zipper down his chest. He had the rifle cradled in one arm and a handgun in the other hand when the woman at the front desk looked up and Ken smiled.

Excellent. He’d already found Gayle E

‘I’m sorry, we’re closed for deliv—’ She had a moment of stu

A burly security guard who’d been standing in the corner rushed forward. He hit the ground ru

Gayle screamed long and loud, warning her fellow office mates.

‘Go ahead and scream, Miss E

She clamped her lips shut, trembling so hard he thought she’d faint. He dragged her away from her desk and checked the main office that had ‘M. O’Ba

‘I don’t know.’

‘Doesn’t matter. He’ll come for you.’ He found the woman’s cell phone in her pocket and quickly dropped it into one of his own pockets, just as the first employee ran into the room and went down in a burst of bullets from Ken’s gun.

Gayle screamed and Ken approved. ‘Very nice,’ he murmured in her ear. ‘That’s how this is going to go down. I shoot, you scream. Your friends come to save you and I shoot some more. Got it?’

He dragged her from the lobby through a door into the newsroom, where a group of cubicles sat in the middle of the room. A third guard fired, then retreated behind a bay of cubicles as the bullet whizzed past Ken’s ear. That was too close.

‘I’ll kill Gayle,’ Ken called to the guard, pulling her a little closer, completely unashamed to be using a woman as his shield. Whatever works. ‘Show your face.’

Ken saw a shadow on the newsroom wall, and he aimed for its source. Ken saw the guard’s uniform sleeve emerge seconds before the man’s full body came into view. Another burst of bullets sent the third guard sliding to the floor.

A door to the left had ‘S. O’Ba

Ken pushed the door open, but once again found the office empty. Sonofabitch. ‘Where are they, Gayle?’ he asked quietly, but she clamped her lips together and refused to answer.

He dragged her through the cubicles, most of which were empty. The last one had a middle-aged woman huddled under the desk, trying to hide. Ken fired another burst of bullets and Gayle began to sob.

‘Stop,’ she moaned. ‘What do you want? We’ll give you what you want.’

‘Yes, you will.’ Because what he wanted most was Marcus O’Ba

‘I’m here.’ Stone O’Ba

‘Drop your weapons on the floor and kick them over here and then we’ll talk.’ Ken waited as Stone took a handgun from his pants pocket and another from an ankle holster and kicked them away.

‘Let her go,’ Stone demanded. ‘Take me instead.’

‘I don’t want to take you. I want to kill you.’ Ken fired another burst, most of the bullets hitting Stone’s broad chest. Stone was thrown back, rolling to his side in agony so that the next burst hit his left leg.

Gayle whimpered. ‘Stone. Nooo. Please no.’

‘Where’s Diesel?’ Ken demanded.

‘I don’t know,’ Gayle gasped. ‘Not here. He left hours ago.’

‘I don’t believe you. His car is outside.’

‘He leaves his car here. No parking on the street where he lives.’ Gayle grabbed his wrist and pulled it down, trying to get away from the gun under her chin. Ken just shoved the barrel into her chin harder.

He’d started to drag her toward the back door when he heard the cocking of a rifle. To his right was Cal Booker, holding a shotgun in his hands.

Cal lifted the shotgun to his shoulder. ‘Let her g—’

Cursing, Ken shot another spray of bullets into Cal’s chest. The older man staggered and fell to the floor and Ken resumed dragging the now-hysterical Gayle out the back door. Opening the door set off an alarm, ironically enough. ‘Watch your step, ma’am,’ he said as he dragged her down the back stairs to his vehicle. He shoved her through the front passenger door and told her to kneel on the floorboard with her head on the seat. Then he set the child locks so she couldn’t escape and cuffed her hands behind her back. He tossed an old blanket over her trembling form and drove away.

Not the best op he’d ever done, but he had been out of practice.

As soon as he got his new guest settled in the basement cage, he’d call Marcus. That was a call he was totally looking forward to.

Cinci