Page 40 of Vicious Vows

“Mr. Garcia said don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything,” one of them said. “We’ll be right outside the door. They’ve been frisked. They’re clean.”

“I took this off one of them.” The other guy handed me a cell phone. “It might be useful.”

“Thank you.” I stepped into the room and stared at the two large men standing in the corner of the room. They were dressed in black, covered in tattoos, and not afraid to look me in the eye. Garden-variety hitmen.

Milo entered the room without our team as Lorenzo’s men closed the doors behind us. Milo drew his gun and trained it on the one standing in front of him.

“My brother will blow your head off if you try anything.” I shrugged. “He might do it even if you don’t try anything, so I wouldn’t make any sudden movements.”

“What do you want?” The taller of the two spoke.

“Who hired you?” I asked.

“We don’t know.”

“You don’t know or you won’t tell me?”

“Maybe if I shoot one of them in the foot that will speed up this process.” Milo squeezed his trigger and shot at the floor.

Both men jumped back.

“What the fuck!” one yelled.

“My brother didn’t miss by accident.” I grabbed the guy standing in front of me and shoved him against the concrete wall. “You have thirty seconds to tell me who you work for and who your target was.”

“And if we don’t?”

“My brother won’t miss next time.” I slammed his head against the wall, then threw him to the ground. “Is this your phone?” I showed him the one the guard had given me.

He didn’t answer.

“Maybe you didn’t hear me.” I withdrew my gun and aimed it at his head. “Is this yours or his?”

Still no answer.

I pressed the barrel to his temple. “I’m not going to ask again.”

“Okay.” He held up his hands. “It’s mine.”

“Who sent you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Milo.” I nodded toward the man my brother held his weapon to. “Make an example of him.”

“No!” the man shouted. “We came here with a man named Collins.”

Why am I not surprised?

“Shut up,” the man standing in front of me said. “You’ll get us killed.”

“You’re going to get killed if he doesn’t keep talking,” I said. “It’s your choice.”

Milo’s target said, “Collins fired the shots with us.”.

“The shots you fired at me and my brother?”

“You were the intended targets,” he said. “But when one of us hit the girl, we stopped. Collins kept shooting, but you and your brother had already taken cover, so it was too risky to continue.”