Page 39 of Under Control

Easy enough. Alex wrenched Iglesias’s arm up to another satisfying cry of pain, and held the thumb out towards Tracht. “Come on, let’s get you out of those.”

Tracht held out his hands and Alex swiped Iglesias’s thumb against the cuff locks, which opened up. Tracht shook the cuffs off.

“Thank you,” Tracht said. “Can you use those on him?”

“Yeah, with pleas—”

“Alex! Behind you!” Espinosa shouted.

Alex whirled around and saw the second goon lunging at him, a second too late. Alex took the hit and sprawled forward, his head ringing. Fuck.

Iglesias scrambled away, yelling, “Kill them! Kill them all!”

Crap. Alex rolled away from the next kick, which brought him close to Tracht. He stood and put his body between Tracht and the others, bringing his arms up in a defensive pose.

He didn’t like the odds on this. He thought he’d be able to handle the big guy, but not while also keeping Tracht safe, not with Tracht like this. Iglesias was helping the smaller goon up, which didn’t bode well.

Then Alex remembered the whip in his pocket. He could use that. There wasn’t really enough space to crack the whip, and he didn’t trust himself to aim, but the length of it might as well have been a rope. He pulled it out of his pocket and held it loosely between his hands.

The goon snorted. “You think that scares me?”

“Figure I’ll just literally whip your ass when I’m done with you,” Alex countered.

The guy lunged forward, aiming towards Alex’s head. Alex dodged and wrapped the whip around the guy’s arm, forcing him down, and then quickly wrapping the rest of the whip around the guy’s neck. He pulled hard, the guy struggling against him, but it only took a few seconds for the guy’s body to fall limp. Alex kept pulling anyway, just in case; he’d pretended to be knocked out before, too, in the hopes of his opponent letting go early.

Only when the goon’s weight began to feel heavy did Alex unwrap the whip from around his neck and toss him to the floor. The goon didn’t even grunt as he landed in a hard thump.

“Fuck, did you just kill Fred?” the smaller goon shouted, his voice all nasally.

“Nah. He’s still breathing,” Alex said, and he smiled widely. Behind him, Tracht laughed.

The smaller goon wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve and eyed him warily. Iglesias pushed him forward.

“Go on! Get them!”

“Uh—”

Tracht stepped forward, so he was standing just behind Alex. “Mr—ah, I don’t know your name. But I don’t really care about you. Leave now, and all you deal with is that broken nose. If you stay, well. You saw what Alex has done already. We just want Iglesias. How much is he paying you? Is it worth all of this?”

“Nice try, Tracht, but my people are loyal to me,” Iglesias sneered. “And when I tell the Nilsens about all of this—”

Shorty shook his head and stepped backwards, straight into the elevator. “Yeah, sorry. I’m out.” He hit a button, and the elevator door slid shut in front of him.

Iglesias’s expression was comical. Alex bit down his laugh and rushed forward, grabbing Iglesias while he was still off guard. Iglesias struggled, and while he had some bulk on him, he wasn’t nearly as strong as Alex.

Thank fuck too, because Alex was starting to get tired. “Tracht! Bring the cuffs over!”

Tracht did as asked, taking a wide berth around the still out goon.

“Tracht, just help me up,” Iglesias countered. “I’ll make things really nice for you.”

For a second Tracht hesitated, looking confused, and that had to be the drugs because no fucking way would Tracht ever pass up a chance to get revenge on somebody. Alex twisted Iglesias’s arm up high enough to make him shout, and that broke Tracht out of it.

“I think we need to gag him,” Tracht said. “As much as I would love to hear his cries, this is too dangerous.”

Alex snapped the cuffs around Iglesias’s wrists, a difficult task with Iglesias trying desperately to dislodge Alex. Once Iglesias’s hands were bound behind him, it got easier to keep him restrained.

“His socks?” Alex suggested. He clamped his hand over Iglesias’s mouth. “Oh, and his trousers. You can wear those.”

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