Page 2

He’s leaving.
I could grab him now and throw him in my trunk, but because he’s so drunk, he’ll piss in it and probably even shit from the terror. I want him fully aware and sober so he can experienceall the pain and torture I have planned. The liquor will only dull and shut it out.
My pointer and thumb find my chin again. “No.” A low fire simmers in my vision as I watch the car back out sloppily and speed past me. My head follows it stiffly as I jam down on my jaws.
“We had him right where we wanted Ro,” Mal hisses in my ear. She’s always been ready to kill, fighting a fight that was never her own but made it that way.Loyal, dependable, and ready to fuck shit up at any given moment.
“Soon.Muito em breve”
Because I’m feeling generous, I’ll let him live his last worthless night getting shit-faced, only for the next day to come and for me to rip his spleen from his back.
It’s why they call me Poison. I surge into your stream, slowly replacing the reek of your putrid blood, only to kill you from the inside out until you’re just a pile of mist and disgusting goop.
I dip my head back, resting against the headrest, shutting my eyes as I grind on my bottom lip. A rise in my heartbeat causes me to grin deeper.
“Ro, we have an incoming. It’s time,” Mal adds in.
My eyes jolt open, and I refocus my thoughts on the bigger things at hand. Something much greater than myself that needs my attention.
“Do we finally have a location for the target and where she’s being held hostage?” Opening my laptop, the dashboard light shines across my face, blurring my vision for a second.
“Fifty-fourth Cove off Daunting road,” Boone intercepts through the earpiece.
I type in the location on the screen. A digital map of lines and dots zoom out before circling and zooming back into the destination. I tap it twice, allowing it to pull up a building that looks completely abandoned.
“It looks like an empty building. Easy enough for dumbasses to attempt another hostage situation.” I slam the laptop shut, my mind shifting to the duties of my job.
My purpose.
No one will have to suffer what I went through. Not As long as I’m alive.
“What’s the ransom for this one,” Mal speaks through with disgust practically pouring into the ear device.
I stare off into the light flicking above the dive bar door. “Two million.” My knuckles flex as I squeeze it in, the joints cracking.
“Let’s go.”
Chapter 2
Ronan
Arm, mouth, tongue?…?fuck it all the limbs
It’s moments like this that spark a jolt in my stomach, the anticipation rising higher, clenching the muscles tighter. It fuels the adrenaline pulsing through my body to keep going. My one goal, my only motive, is to rescue the person from the tragedy that results from the hands of sick fuckers that have nothing to do.
Dark surrounds me and I adjust the vision goggles, as I peer around the area that seems abandoned, detecting anything that moves. I won’t fire off without knowing for sure it’s not the hostage.
I don’t glance over my shoulder to see if Mal and Boone are a few feet behind me because I know they are. I can’t hear them, but they are there, lurking and ready to evade. Extensive training is an advantage—it allows us to sneak up on the prey without a peep being heard.
I raise my gun, cocking it. I flatten my hand on the steel door, opening it slowly with one push to avoid the screeching sounds from the overbuilt rust forming on the hinges. The unpleasantstench of stale dust and rotting wood stings under my nose as I amble my way through the door. I extend my hand back looking forward, and when the door weight lifts from mine, I continue.
“God, it fucking stinks in here,” Mal utters through the earpiece.
I shrug, focusing my attention. “You’ve smelled worse,” I mumble.
The building is nearly a century old; the walls are crusted and gray with caked up dirt and grime between the concrete. It’s a wide space, and up ahead is a narrow staircase that leads to the target.
I twist my head slightly over my shoulder, gesturing to the stairs. Then, I place my fingers to my lips with a ‘shhh’ motion. One thing I don’t want is anyone detecting us before we find them. It’ll only end worse for them.