Page 20 of Like a Hurricane

“What business?” I press.

“It really doesn’t matter,” He tugs more furiously at the collar, “Now if you’ll excuse me, honey, I have a business dinner to attend.”

“Can I come?” I blurt.

“Really?”

“Yes! I mean yes,” I fix the desperation in my tone, “Please, it would be nice to have an evening out of the house.”

“Sure, honey, you can come.”

Chapter Nine

I’ve been following the two men for the past hour; they were in too much of a public place for me to take a good shot, so I’ve had to monitor and adjust the plan. I promised Victor the job would be complete today and it will be, it just has to be done at the right time.

I pull the car up outside the same restaurant they just stopped at, waiting a few minutes before I follow them inside. Hanging back, I watch them interact with the owner, talking in hushed tones which instantly gets my hackles up. This was the shadiest shit I’ve seen them do, but I suppose there could be blackmail and bribes being had that I don’t know about.

The older of the two, Kenneth, shakes the owner’s hand before he and his son head through to a table and take a seat. When the owner’s back is turned, I sneak past him, heading through the door behind the front desk and down a narrow corridor, finding the small room they call an office where the security feed is running on the monitors.

I click through them until I find the camera that clearly shows the men’s table, but something catches my eye, so I double up the screen.

Arryn is here. With Victor and another man.

They are in the private dining suite right behind where my two targets are sat. And that screams bad news.

This was no coincidence.

Arryn was pissed at me, but she’d forgive me, I’d make sure of it.

But this whole situation right here is making the hair on my neck stand on end. Wrong. It felt wrong.

I was raised to read rooms, people, and body language, I could tell someone’s next move just by studying them for a few minutes and the men at the table had this strange sense of calmness to them, like they had settled on something and was ready to see it through.

I couldn’t go in there and demand Arryn leave without exposing myself, and I couldn’t take the men out in a dining room full of people without giving myself away. I’d gone this long without ever having a police tail, but if I were to be sloppy right now and remove the threat from Arryn, that’s how this would end.

I keep both cameras up, watching the two of them as my targets eat and chat quietly, and Victor sells whatever the fuck he’s selling to the single other man in the dining room with him. Arryn sits there quietly, chewing her lip until it’s red, raw, and swollen. I hate that I’ve scared her. I could have lied when she asked me if I had been at her house before, but I didn’t want to do that either.

About an hour passes when the restaurant starts to empty out, even the bar staff and wait staff leave until the only two people that remain are my targets and the three people in the room behind them. The owner clicks the lock on the entrance door and starts to head my way.

Shit.

I have no regrets when he walks through the door, and I jump before he can even set his eyes on my face. My hands frame his skull, and a quick, hard twist snaps his neck clean. He drops at my feet, lifeless, head twisted at an unnatural angle with vacant eyes staring up at the ceiling.

This fucker was clearly in on whatever my targets had planned and any threat against Arryn would be terminated without question.

My feet pound as I sprint down the hall, hand pulling out the Glock ready to defend, but the dining room is empty when I make it out.

“What are you doing here!?” I hear Victor shout before the tell-tale sound of a gun firing echoes through the building.

No.

“Arryn!” I roar at the same time she screams. It was the kind of sound that rips right through you, rattles your bones, and sets your teeth on edge.

I make it through the door to the sound of a second gun shot, watch as Victor’s dinner guest goes down with a thud, head thumping off the edge of the table as he slumps to the floor, dead. And Arryn, she’s fighting the son, trying to get away from him while he tries to wrap his hands around her throat.

“Hey!” I yell, lunging for him. Kenneth startles at my voice and fires blindly, hitting Arryn in the arm. She cries out, a wail of pain slicing through me. Sirens screech in the background, the shrill sound of it cutting through the room and I’m not the only one to hear it. Kenneth and Malakai spring into action, getting ready to flee. They scramble from the room, leaving the dead behind.

I should have chased them, ended them, but I don’t. I go to Arryn as she slumps down the wall, going pale with a mix of shock and pain. Her father was dead, the second man also and she had watched it all happen.

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