KILLER INSTINCT (A Mafia Bad Boy Romance Novel) (18 page)

He was covered in blood but looked well enough to fight. I prayed he was not injured. Jackie stopped to affectionately glance at me before returning to the fight. If he was emotionally disturbed by the death surrounding him, the man didn’t show it. He was a killing machine.

Another Black Fang came to attack him in close quarters combat. Jackie responded by grabbing the man’s forearm and wrenching the gun from his hand. Then, he broke the man hand before using the man’s own gun to finish him off.

It was like watching a deadly dance. I had never seen Jackie in action. During the shootout at the penthouse, I was too scared to do anything but hide.

Jackie stopped and surveyed the battle. There were dozens of dead bodies. The Black Fang had killed many men. However, we were winning this fight. Soon, there were only a few enemies left. Jackie’s marksmanship and Gregori’s arrogance had sealed their fate. One by one, they went down.

However, Sergei Petrov was still alive.

And he was the only enemy left standing.

“You son of a bitch,” the man roared, taking out a knife from his vest. The man must have run out of ammunition. It was no wonder considering how he sprayed gunfire everywhere. “Come, fight me like a man.”

“Give up, we have you dead to rights,” Jackie said, point a gun at him. He was joined up with other Pastore soldiers who had survived the battle. I was no soldier but I knew Jackie had him at his complete mercy. Sergei Petrov was a dead man. “You’re alone and out of ammo. We can make this quick and painless. It’s more than you deserve.”

“Running away from a good fight?” Petrov sneered, waving his bowie knife at Jackie. “Your mother was better sport. I watched as they caved her skull in!”

I knew there was nothing stopping Jackie after that.

The man I loved dropped his gun. In its place, he pulled out a small switchblade. The expression on his face was of pure hatred. “Let’s settle this once and for all.”

Petrov eyed the other Pastore men who had their guns pointed at them. “Doesn’t seem like a fair fight, Italian.”

“Then, let’s make this interesting,” Jackie said calmly, flicking open his knife. I knew the man well enough to see that his rage just bubbled under the surface. “My men will not interfere while we fight. If you win, my men will give you a ten minute head start out of here. If you lose-”

Petrov tossed his large bowie knife back and forth between each hand. “I won’t lose!”

I saw a trickle of blood trailing down Jackie’s sleeve. He must have been wounded during the shootout. I couldn’t lose him now after all we’ve been through together. “You’re hurt Jackie. Stop this insanity!”

It was trying to stop a boulder that was rolling down a hill.

Jackie brandished his switchblade. “I’m good enough for this.”

“I’ll kill you,” Petrov snarled, lunging at Jackie. The hitman stepped to the side and dodged the attack. “Then, I’ll come back for your woman!”

I stared at Petrov’s large knife. I knew that it was the skill of the user than the length of the knife that mattered. Nonetheless, I felt scared for Jackie.

However, my lover had a laser-like focus on his opponent. He didn’t attack Petrov. Instead, he dodged his enemy’s attacks and did the bare minimum to keep me at bay.

This strategy enraged the Russian ex-solder. I could see his mouth foam like that of a rabid animal. “Come and fight me!”

It was exactly what Jackie he wanted. Petrov overstepped and nearly tripped as he blatantly missed his opponent. Jackie took the opportunity to grab Petrov’s wrist and whish his knife away from him.

It clattered onto the floor just a few feet from me.

Jackie slashed his knife and Petrov cried out in pain. “AHHHH!”

A bloody line appeared across Petrov’s face. He used to have one good eye. Now, he was completely blind. The man covered his face and cursed Jackie. “Fuck you, you son of a bitch-”

Jackie interrupted him with a swift kick to the chest. Another punch to the abdomen sent the Russian reeling backwards. He bled profusely on the floor.

Even with no working eyes, Petrov had a stunned look on his face. He had been utterly bested by Jackie. He tried to get on his feet but his knees buckled.

“You kill my mother,” Jackie growled, punching Petrov in the face. The strike broke the man’s nose but it was the least of his worries. “And you threatened the woman I love! Death’s too good for a monster like you… but that’s what you’ll get.”

He grabbed the Russian head and slit his neck. The man gurgled on blood before breathing his last. The man collapsed on the floor as a lifeless husk.

This time, I didn’t look away.

However, Jackie hadn’t gotten through this battle unscathed. I rushed over to my lover’s side. I was just in time to stop him from falling over. He let go of the knife in his hand. It clattered on the floor as he spoke. “It’s over…”

I held the man I loved in my arms as blood flowed out from his body. Soon, I felt the most powerful man I knew go limp in my hands. “Jackie? Say something!”

Some of the surviving Pastore men gathered around us. One of the men gave a grim diagnosis. “He was shot multiple times when he rushed in to protect you. God knows how we was able to keep on fighting.”

I put the college girl in me in the backseat and put the medical student in the front. I tore off a piece of my shirt and used it to apply pressure on Jackie’s wound. It was like trying to stop a knee-deep boat leak with a small bucket. “He’s lost a lot of blood. Someone get help! He needs to go to the emergency room!”

One of the Pastore men rushed out of the warehouse. The other used his cell phone to make a call. I prayed help would arrive in time.

Jackie stared at me with his beautiful eyes. “Kelly…”

I rocked him back and forth. “It’ll be alright Jackie. It’ll be alright.”

It had to be alright.

I lost mom.

I lost dad.

I couldn’t lose Jackie.

It felt like I was floating. It was as if a cloud carried me to heaven. I didn’t want to go to heaven. I wanted to live.

I wanted to be with Kelly.

“Kelly!”

I heard the voice of a man. “He’s up! How is he?”

Another voice, that of a woman, made me open my eyes. The man was a mystery but I knew this woman. “His vitals look good. He’s going to be fine!”

The light blinded me before I could focus. I saw the ceiling of what seemed like a well-furnished room. There was an IV feed filling my veins with something. I hadn’t been this bedridden since a mortar shell-shocked me back during the war.

Wherever I was, this place didn’t look like any hospital that I knew of. It looked like mid-scale room you’d rent from a hotel. It wasn’t a fancy hospital but it was much nicer than a triage tent in the middle of the desert.

“He’s coming to,” the woman said again. Her voice was enough to force me to wake myself. “Give him some space.”

Finally, my vision came back. I awoke on an unfamiliar bed with bandages covering much of my body. I saw the woman I loved standing over me. “Kelly! Are you-”

“Shhhh,” she said, silencing me. “You need your rest. I will explain what happened. Just sit back and take it easy.”

Her eyes were almost as weary as mine. She must have barely slept for however long I was unconscious. “Kelly… how long was I out?”

“A week and a half,” she said sighing in relief. “After the battle, we needed to get you help. The hospital was too far away. So we took you and the other wounded men to a nearby veterinarian who lived near the docks.”

I would’ve laughed but the pain in my chest didn’t agree with me. I caught a reflection of myself in the metallic casing of the medical equipment. I looked like a mummy. “That’s the downside of having a fight in the middle of nowhere.”

“What were you thinking?” Kelly said, her look of relief turning into a glare. “Fighting Petrov when you had him cornered…”

“That’s why I have you, Kelly,” I said with a smile. “You do the thinking for me so I don’t end up doing something stupid.”

She didn’t return my smile. “You actually died for a moment. We thought you gone. I thought I lost you after all we’ve been through.”

Even raising an eyebrow hurt. “Died?”

“Your heart gave out when we took you to the veterinarian,” she answered, holding back tears. “We gave the man some hush money so he’d operate on human and keep it a secret. When he first saw you, he was ready to declare you dead, Jackie. I took some chest paddles from nearby and tried to resuscitate you. After five minutes, I managed to revive you. Don’t ever do that to me again!”

“I’m sorry for putting you through that, Kelly,” I said. Tilting my head, I saw an elderly Asian man in the room with us. He wore a look so unassuming I would’ve ignored him if it wasn’t for the unusual circumstances. “Who is he? And where am I?”

The strange man smiled. “We’ve been in contact before. However, this is the first time we’ve actually met face to face.”

“I’ve heard your voice before,” I mused, trying to jog my memory. “Are you one of Mr. Lee’s men? We’ve talked about missions before over the phone.”

“I am Mr. Lee,” he said to my shock. He didn’t look anything like I expected. Then again, that was a virtue in his line of work. “Not too many people have the pleasure of hearing my voice. You’re one of the few men I can count on to trust. It would be a pity to lose you, especially after ridding me of a man like Seymon Gregori. He was bad for business.”

“We went to Mr. Lee to get you and the other severely wounded men proper medical attention,” Kelly said. “I thought of the idea once we stabilized you at the veterinarian. Mr. Lee had the resources to nurse you back to health. We couldn’t transport you to a hospital without all of you ending up questioned by the police. Half of you are wanted by the FBI. Besides, we needed a place to hide you. We were afraid any Black Fang survivors would take revenge.”