Revenant (The Midnight Society #3) (13 page)

Chapter Twenty-One

Shadow

I knew of forty-six different ways to kill a man with my bare hands. Right now, I wanted to use fifty to murder the smug bastard sitting across the table from me.

Nathan Tse, the boss of the Triad—a man who I gave the world to, fucked me over the first chance he got.

He smiled at me.

“There’s probably a lot we should discuss,” he said, leaning back on the leather chair in my office.

“Fuck you, and don’t sit in that chair. It’s my favorite chair and you’re soiling it with your backstabbing ass.”

Nathan sighed. “I guess I deserve that.”

“Oh believe me you deserve a whole lot more.”

He looked at me thoughtfully, and then folded his arms across his chest. “Tell me, Shadow, what motivates you?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“What motivates you as a man? What motivates you to seek out your sister?”

Was this guy serious?

“My motivation is to seek out assholes like you and obliterate them,” I replied.

Nathan smiled. “Revenge?”

“You could say that.”

“Do you know what motivates me?” Nathan asked.

“I don’t care.”

“Fear,” he replied. “I’m a man that’s driven by fear. When I first started off with the Triad, you have no idea what I had to endure, all because half of me wasn’t pure Chinese. Every single night I went to bed afraid of what the morning would bring.”

“So why did you stay in the Triad then? Flee like the coward you are.”

Nathan chuckled. “I joined out of desperation. I stayed because once you entered the organization there was no leaving it unless it was in a coffin.”

“So you’re a pussy. I get it. Are we done with the chit chat now?”

“Still so impatient,” Nathan sighed.

“And you’re still a dirtball.”

“I built my empire with fear always looming over my head. Believe it or not, fear is an excellent motivator to get things done. Fear also keeps you on your toes and allows you to make the best possible decisions through logic and reason as opposed to emotion. Today, I’m here Shadow out the same fear that has allowed me to build an empire.”

“I don’t think you’re hearing me,” I stated. “I. Don’t. Care.”

“Trust me, you will,” Nathan said. “After Elena’s death, I did my best to conceal the body and bury the whole ugly affair. However, as you know firsthand, keeping a secret such as this is difficult when you’re part of an organization as large as mine. The whispers of one man in particular found their way to Yuen Xi and suddenly the Triad was at the forefront of Elena’s murder.”

“I heard Fat Tsung is no longer with the Triad,” I said. “I assume he was the one that talked?”

Nathan nodded. “His motivation had always been out of jealousy. The stupidest motivation, if you ask me. You start thinking, acting, and more importantly, speaking stupidly. When Yuen Xi came knocking on the door of the Triad I was able capitalize on Fat Tsung’s weakness of effective communication and turn the tables on him. It also helped that Fat Tsung was the ‘leader’ of the triad at the time of Elena’s death. He was quick to be sacrificed, along with a few of the older triad members who I no longer had a use for.”

“One of the benefits of the entire smoke and mirrors bit you and Tsung were playing,” I stated.

Nathan nodded. “Yes. Everyone knew Tsung as the boss of the triad while I remained hidden, ruling in the shadows. Really, it’s the best way to do things. I had all the power without the bull’s-eye placed on my chest. Sadly that’s over now. Yuen Xi is a smart man. When he came to Hong Kong, he managed to sniff me out as a man of authority. I am now officially the head of the Triad.”

“Congratulations.”

He ignored my sarcasm. “He also took away someone precious from me. I’m afraid for her safety, Shadow. And that’s why I’ve come.”

“You want me to help you?”

“No, don’t be foolish,” Nathan said. “You’re weak compared to Yuen Xi. There’s nothing you could possibly do. The Triad now works for the Dragon.”

I started laughing.

“What so funny?”

“You’re a bigger pussy than a thought,” I said. “I gave you the money to fund an army, one that could rival the Revenant’s and the Midnight Society. Yet the first time danger comes knocking on you door in the form of an old Chinese man, you wave the white flag.”

Nathan frowned. “Put yourself in my shoes. Would you have gone toe-to-toe against Yuen Xi? The man has all of Asia practically behind him not including sleeper cells across the globe.”

“He’s just one old man,” I stated. “Grow yourself a spine you fucking coward. You had your own empire for all of a day, only to lose it after. You may be a smart guy but you’ll always be someone else’s bitch.”

“I’m here to help you, Shadow. Pissing me off is not advisable.”

“I can’t wait to hear how you’re going to
help
me.”

“Yuen Xi believes Lincoln is responsible for Elena’s death.”

That wasn’t news to me. “Which is just plain dumb. Lincoln didn’t hire Duckface to murder her.”

“I agree,” Nathan said. “Secretly, I’ve been having my men dig deeper into this little mystery. I know Lincoln wasn’t involved and I don’t believe Calisto was either.”

So who was left?

“However, Yuen Xi has evidence that Lincoln ordered the hit. No doubt this evidence was forged, and forged well. Yuen Xi is a very intelligent man but even he was fooled by this fabricated evidence.”

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“Well this brings us to why I’m here today. As you very well know, Yuen Xi is a cruel and vindictive man. Having only Lincoln suffer his brand of justice isn’t enough. He wants his loved ones to be terminated as well.”

“Loved ones?” I raised a brow. As far as I knew, Lincoln didn’t have any loved ones unless he was talking about…

“I believe you know this lady in the picture,” Nathan said as he passed me the photo. Seeing Aria’s lips pressed up against my ‘best friend’ ripped a hole in me each time.

“Yes,” I stated, coldly.

“I believe that’s your woman that Lincoln is kissing.”

“It is.”

“I don’t want to pry…”

“Then don’t,” I said. “My personal life is none of your concern.”

Nathan frowned. “Typically I’d agree. But you do understand this photo was given to Yuen Xi. He believes that Aria is Lincoln’s lover. My orders are to bring her back to Yuen Xi, along with you.”

“That’s not happening.”

Nathan rose from his seat. “Yes, in that I agree. You see Shadow, I owe you much, and because of this I’m going to do you and Aria a favor.”

“You’re going to let us go?”

Nathan shook his head. “You know that’s not happening. However what I
can
do for you is to ensure that Yuen Xi never gets his hands on you.”

“How do you propose on doing that?”

Nathan’s smile was sharp like daggers. “Before this night is done, I’m going to ensure that both of you are dead.”

#

Chapter Twenty-Two

Lincoln

The doors of the transport truck finally opened, filling my lungs with fresh, clean air.

It had been a bumpy ride the entire way seeing as how Braydon drove the truck the same way as he drove his bike: reckless.

“Still in one piece back there?” he asked.

I leapt out the back and landed on the soft earth outside of a quaint looking farmhouse.

“Where are we?” I asked.

“Meeting point,” Braydon said. “We’re just waiting for the others to arrive.”

“Is it safe here?”

“Should be. It’s one of the safe houses for my club.”

In the distance, I heard the sounds of another bike fast approaching and sure enough, Beau found his way to us as well.

He dismounted from his bike and pulled his helmet off. “Others show yet?” he asked.

I shook my head.

Beau frowned. “How long we giving them before we move on?”

Braydon shrugged. “I don’t know. The original plan was to get in touch with the command center once we got here and then figure out where to rally. The line on the other side has been dead for the past thirty minutes. I can’t get a hold of Cairo or Isadora either.”

A feeling of cold dread engulfed me. These days, I couldn’t help but expect the worse.

“You have a phone?” I asked.

Braydon shook his head. “We abandoned our phones for this mission. Too easy to run a trace on them and pinpoint their frequencies. All we have are our headsets.”

“And you haven’t heard anything form either Shadow or Aria?”

“Nothing. As I said, the other side went dead.”

I grimaced at his words. It almost seemed like Braydon placed an emphasis on the word ‘dead.’

“So now what, bastard?” Beau asked. “We sit on this place and wait? We still don’t know if Cairo made it out. And I assume the crazy witch went and got herself killed.”

Braydon shrugged. “Until we get a hold of someone on the other line, we don’t have any place we need to be. We can sit here for a little. The location is remote enough that I figure we can spend a few hours before we need to move on.”

We were interrupted by the sounds of another vehicle coming towards us, a storm of dust clouds trailing in the distance.

Instinctively, both Braydon and Beau reached for their weapons.

“Shit,” Braydon said. “For sure I thought we lost the tail within the tunnels.”

“Maybe you’re losing your edge,” Beau suggested. “All your time out there living in Canada has made you soft.”

“Shut up and look for cover.”

My hands felt glaringly empty.

“You guys got a weapon for me?”

Braydon shrugged. “I packed light. There’s a wrench resting atop of that old tire over there?” he said, pointing to the black rubber a few yards away.

I shook my head and addressed both brothers. “You two are more alike than you’d ever believe.”

The black Mercedes soon appeared into view. Those were the same cars the Chinese were driving.

“Let ‘er rip?” Beau suggested.

“No,” I stated. “The car’s slowing down. Let’s see how this plays out.”

Beau sighed. “You ever hear the phrase better safe than sorry?”

“You ever hear the phrase shut the fuck up and do what I tell you to?”

Braydon chuckled. “I like you, Lincoln. Glad I rescued you.”

We watched intently as the Mercedes pulled into the driveway and came to a rest. Meanwhile, both Braydon and Beau had their guns locked on the vehicle.

“I got driver’s side covered,” Braydon said.

Beau nodded. “I got the passenger’s side then.”

Slowly the driver side door opened.

I held my breath, anticipating for the enemy to step out, guns blazing.

It was Isadora who exited the vehicle instead.

There was blood on her shoulder, where a bullet might have grazed it. Otherwise she seemed in once piece.

She looked pissed, however, though I supposed that wasn’t anything new.

“I almost had her,” she said.

“Who?” I asked, rising from cover. “Calisto?”

Her nod confirmed it. “I was only inches away, just inches. And then her fucking troll of a bodyguard stepped in the way. It was the same piece of shit who gave the order to murder everyone I ever cared for on my own fucking wedding day.”

“Buchanan,” I muttered. “That guy gets the nod for being the biggest prick of the past century.”

Isadora walked over to the trunk of the car, and then gestured for me to come have a look.

I did.

The trunk door popped open and when I saw what was inside I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

Buchanan was tied up like a hog. I removed the gag from his mouth.

“Hey there, buddy,” I said. “Long time no see.”

He spat. “Fuck the two of you and the whores of mothers you both have.”

I turned to Isadora and smirked. She cracked a smile as well.

“It’s good to see you again Isadora. I missed your wild antics.”

“Likewise Lincoln. I’m glad you’re safe.”

“So what do you think we should do with him?” I asked.

Isadora folded her arms across her chest. “I figure depraved torture is an absolute must. If we have time, we could put him out of his misery, though usually I run out of hours in a day when I’m trying to inflict the most pain humanly possible on someone.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” I agreed. “Hell, Buchanan, if you’re lucky enough Isadora might feel inclined to show you mercy a lot sooner, but that’s only if you’re nice enough to tell us where Calisto is hiding.”

He laughed. “You’re not getting anything out of me.”

Isadora shrugged “Only one way to find out isn’t there?” she said. “Lincoln, I take it you’d like to join me?”

“I wouldn’t miss it for the whole wide world.”

#

Buchanan was true to his word and refused to give up Calisto’s whereabouts, despite having monstrous levels of pain inflicted on him.

I had to give him credit where credit was due: he was one tough son-of-a-bitch.

Eventually the “creative” punishments Isadora dished out were more than I could stomach. I left the shed and tried to erase the image of seared flesh from out of my head.

“He end up talking?” Braydon asked, leaning up against the tree and taking a deep drag of his cigarette.

“Not a single peep from him.”

“I figured as much. Men like that don’t break. You can see it in those hard eyes of his. The worst that could happen to him has already happened in another lifetime. You should tell Isadora to end it now, before she loses any more of herself.”

“The same thing you said about Buchanan applies for her as well,” I said. “The worst has already happened to her. She’s got no more of herself to lose.”

Braydon dropped the cigarette to the floor and snuffed out the tip of it with his boot. “Fair enough.” He glanced at his watch and frowned. “I don’t think Cairo is coming back to us.”

I had been so caught up in the interrogation that I completely forgot about the big lug.

“Shit,” I said. “No word from him at all?”

Braydon shook his head. “None. Chalk him up as collateral damage in this operation.”

No, I couldn’t accept that.

There was no way I could place the value of my life over Cairo’s, or any of the others here for that matter. Shadow should have never risked their lives in trying to rescue me.

“We have to find him,” I stated.

“Let’s be realistic. The second we split up, communication from him went dead. He knew our meeting spot. It takes two hours to get to from the airbase to here,” Braydon began. “We’ve been settled here for over four. Cairo is not coming back.”

I clenched my fist and held it into a ball.

Cairo had always been a good guy, despite him punching me in the gut before the rescue attempt.

He deserved to come back in one piece.

“Any word from Aria or Shadow?” I asked.

More bad news as Braydon shook his head.

“We may have to accept the fact that the only people walking away from all this are me, you, that bastard brother of mine, and the wicked witch in the shed.”

“We’ll head back to Shadow’s place,” I said, “As soon as possible. Once we get confirmation that they’ve been taken—” I swallowed hard, “Or worse, we can decide what to do then.”

“Getting myself killed wasn’t part of the job description,” Braydon said. “I’m saying no.”

“You always were a pussy.” Beau emerged from out of the house, a can of beer in his hands. “Hard to believe that we’re cut from the same loins.”

I sighed. “The same cloth you mean,” I corrected him.

“Whatever,” Beau said. “You get the idea.”

“I’ve got no incentive to continue on helping you people,” Braydon said. “I’ve got no emotional attachment to any of you folks.”

“You also won’t get paid,” Beau pointed out. “You forget that you get full payment only once the job’s completely done.”

“Meh,” Braydon replied. “To tell you the truth, I was never desperate for the money. I figured this gig would bring a bit of excitement in my life. As you can imagine Canada doesn’t have nearly the opportunity for mischief and mayhem that the states do.”

“Right, because everyone there are docile sheep,” Beau said.

Braydon smirked. “You haven’t met the right Canadians.”

I stepped into the conversation. “We’re heading back to Shadow’s place. End of story. Braydon, if you stay with us, I would appreciate the help. If you decide to leave however, I won’t stop you.”

The big man thought about it for only a moment. “I guess I don’t have anywhere else I need to be. Besides I do take pleasure in watching Beau screw himself over repeatedly.”

“You have a selective memory. If you recall, I was the one who dragged your imprisoned ass out of that Russian gulag a couple of years back.”

Braydon sighed. “You ever going to let me forget about that one?”

“No.”

“Fucker.”

“You bet.”

It was then that the door to the shed opened and out walked Isadora, casually, as if she just came out of a boutique.

Her hands were covered in blood.

“Have I ever mentioned how much that chick scares me?” Beau whispered. “Christ, every time I see her, she’s drenched in blood like that teenager on the rag from that Stephen King movie.”

Isadora gave us a look that crackled my bones.

“In the end he didn’t say a damn thing.”

“He’s dead then?” I asked.

She nodded. “I put him out of his misery with a knife in his heart. Strangely enough, his last words were asking for forgiveness.”

“We all say strange things moments before we die. I guess it’s all of our past catching up to us,” Braydon said.

Isadora nodded. “I’ll see this man again. His ghost will come back to find me at one point or another.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Beau shiver. “Man, everything about you is straight out of some spook show, isn’t it?”

Isadora smiled. “I am who I am. And you are who you are: a tequila-hazed Neanderthal.”

“I’ve been called worse.”

Isadora turned to me. “Still no word from Aria?”

I shook my head. “We’re going to head back to the house. Meanwhile, pray for the best. We’ve seen way too much of the worst already.”

“And Cairo? He still hasn’t returned,” she asked.

I frowned. “We can only assume he didn’t make it.”

I didn’t want to lose any more good people.

We’ll all make it out of this alive,
I thought. But that thought was just a lie, one that I used to fool myself into believing that things weren’t as bad as they actually were.

The reality was things were much worse.

#