Page 150 of Emperor of Wrath

Behind him, I shake my head.

“Why, Tengan?” I snarl. “Sota treated you so well, for so long.”

He starts to weep. “I…I had debts. I got in deep with the Koreans at the casino.”

My lip curls. “You fucking idiot.”

“I’m sorry,” he blurts. “I was desperate, and Valon got to me.” He cries out in pain when he tries to glance back at me over his shoulder. “Kenzo, Valon needed that deal with you and Sota. He paid me to help him push it with the two of you.”

“Why.”

Tengan shudders, coughing blood as he sags against my blade.

“He owes someone money, and they’re going to start killing people to get it.”

Yeah, like Valon’s own fucking brother, I think, remembering that Besor Leka was just murdered in prison over his brother’s debts.

I sneer at Tengan. “So—what, having you wait here in the dark and shoot me was his plan to get paid?”

Tengan whimpers as he shakes his head. “I wasn’t going to shoot you.”

I bark a bitter laugh, kicking away the gun he dropped a minute ago.

“Really,” I spit.

He shakes his head again. “Over there,” he chokes. “The duffel bag.”

My gaze slides past him, and sure enough, my vision has sufficiently adjusted to the dim light to spot a canvas gym bag on the ground.

“Sota already paid Valon for a test run. He brought in a shipment of electronics for Sota, like a low-pay tryout.” He nods his chin at the bag. “When you came today, Valon wanted me to tell you to take the money back to Sota, then come back here and wire Leka a sum of money. Then he’d let Annika go.”

Wait, what?

I stare at the bag.

Something smells like bullshit.

Tengan cries out, screaming and collapsing to his knees as I let go of the blade with it still through his chest. I leave him like that as I walk over to the bag and yank it open. Yep, it’s filled with cash.

“What’s the catch?” I hiss, turning to glare at him.

Tengan is half-slumped against the wall, his face drained of color.

“Catch?”

I dump the bag upside down, spilling the money onto the ground before peering inside. I almost miss it. But the thin strip of moonlight filtering down the tunnel glints off something in the bottom of it.

I peer closely, and my jaw tenses.

It’s a wire.

I grip the little strip of black fabric over it, yanking it back.

Fuck me.

The whole underside of the bag is lined with plastic explosives, with wires leading to a remote trigger.

Valon didn’t want me to deliver money to Sota.

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