Page 75 of Azrael

I rolled to my hands and knees, sucking in painful breaths through my bruised throat.Balal lay sprawled a few feet away, his hand fumbling inside his jacket.I lunged for him, catching his wrist as he pulled out a small pistol.We struggled for control of the weapon, our blood making our grips slippery and uncertain.

The gun discharged, the shot deafening in the enclosed space.I felt the bullet’s heat as it passed inches from my face.With a surge of desperate strength, I slammed Balal’s hand against the concrete floor once, twice, three times until his fingers went slack and the gun fell free.

I grabbed the pistol and pressed it to his forehead.“Give me one reason not to end you right now,” I rasped, my voice a painful whisper.

Balal looked up at me, blood covering half his face, one eye swollen shut.For the first time, I saw fear in his remaining eye.

“Mazida,” he said, his voice weak.“She needs her family.”

“She has family,” I replied.“Us.The club.People who actually give a shit about her well-being.”

“You don’t understand our world,” he insisted.“There are others who will come for her.Worse than me.”

I pressed the gun harder against his skin.“Let them come.”

His good eye searched my face, looking for weakness, for hesitation.Finding none.Despite everything, Mazida might not thank me for executing her brother, monster though he was.Even if she’d seemed to understand his death was necessary, I wondered if the reality would make her feel differently.

I made my decision.Standing, I kept the gun trained on him as I pulled zip ties from my pocket.“Hands behind your back.”

He complied without resistance, his strength seemingly spent.I secured his wrists tightly, then hauled him to a sitting position against a nearby pillar.

“I’m taking you back to the compound,” I told him.“Then we decide if you live or die.”

Balal nodded wearily, his one good eye already calculating, planning.Even defeated, he was dangerous.But he was also my best chance at understanding the true threat to Mazida.

I pulled out my phone and called Chaos.“It’s done,” I said when he answered.“Bring the van to the old textile factory.And call Doc -- we’re going to need him.”

“Balal?”Chaos asked.

“Alive, for now.”I glanced at the bloody, battered man slumped against the pillar.

“We’re ten minutes out.”

I hung up and returned to Balal, checking his bindings.He watched me through his swollen eye, his breathing labored but steady.

“You’re making the right choice,” he said quietly.

I gripped his jaw, forcing him to look directly at me.“Understand something.The only reason you’re still breathing is because I’m letting my President decide what to do with you.Nothing more.”

Fear flashed across his face, quickly masked by a pained attempt at dignity.But we both knew the truth.For the first time in his life, Balal Quadir was at someone else’s mercy.And mercy wasn’t something I was known for.

Chapter Twenty-One

Azrael

One Week Later

I leaned against the back wall, arms folded across my chest, watching as Charming took his place at the head of the table.The fluorescent lights flickered overhead, casting harsh shadows across the faces of my brothers.Nobody spoke.We all knew why we’d been called here tonight.

Every office and patched member of the Devil’s Boneyard gathered around the table.Some sat, others stood.A few nursed beers, but most remained sober, understanding the gravity of tonight’s meeting.

Charming cleared his throat, and the room went silent.Even the ice in the glasses stopped clinking.

“Brothers, it’s done.Balal Quadir’s body has been shipped back to his people in Tel Aviv.A clear message that the Devil’s Boneyard doesn’t fuck around when someone threatens one of our own.”

Murmurs of approval rippled through the room.I nodded, feeling a cold satisfaction settle in my gut.Balal had deserved worse than what we gave him, but time constraints meant we couldn’t get too creative.In the end, Ripper had been the one to kill him.As much as I’d wanted to do it, Charming had thought I should step back since the man was technically part of my family.

“Mazida is safe,” Charming continued.“Her brother won’t be trying to drag her back to Israel anymore.Or anywhere else, for that matter.”

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