Cade Burns
I didn’t have the time to sit in on their training sessions often, so when I finally got the chance, I sat in the corner of the room, slipping in quietly enough that only Serg had seen me enter. Aria made small talk with him, though I could tell precisely how determined she was to gain the upper hand. She used his replies as an advantage, trying to best him.
It shocked me when she almost succeeded a handful of times.
This woman was not the same one who had run to me for help at the event weeks ago. She wasn’t the same defenseless woman I’d brought into this house months prior. It gave me a sense of pride as I watched her do maneuvers that should have taken her years to learn. I supposed that with Serg as a teacher, it only made sense that she’d learn more quickly.
As they began wrapping up, I stood, and Aria looked over her shoulder and saw me for the first time. She straightened immediately. “How long have you been here?” she asked.
I dodged the question. “You’re learning quickly,” I told her, nodding in approval.
She narrowed her eyes and nodded slowly. “You’ve been here the whole time.”
It was less of a question than a statement, and I only shrugged in response. “There’s somewhere I’d like to take you today.”
“Looking like this?” She gestured to the sweat that coated her skin, and I licked my lips involuntarily. The sight of her sweating like this… It certainly sent my mind to other topics. I forced myself to exhale deeply through my nose.
“It doesn’t matter how you look. We have places we need to be today.
Meet me in the car in fifteen.”
She paused, examining me as if to determine if I was serious or not. When she took in my entirely straight face, she nodded, moving from the room quickly. She gave me a quick once over, pausing in the doorway.
“How should I dress?”
“In clothes,” I remarked, and she rolled her eyes, striding away.
When she was out of earshot, Serg spoke, giving me a similarly weary expression. “I see that gleam in your eyes. Where are you taking her?” “The Freeport Road drug house,” I told him.
He narrowed his eyes and shook his head as if in disagreement. “Why the hell would you bring her there? Are you itching to kill someone today?”
I wasn’t. I didn’t necessarily want to bring her anywhere as dangerous as this drug house. I would have much rather stayed here to do some paperwork. Frankly, I would have rather done anything else, but I shook my head. “The training you’re doing can only go so far. She has to have reallife experience in a controlled environment.”
He shook his head, running a hand over the top of it in uncertainty. “Hell, man. That environment is the furthest thing from controlled.” He took a deep breath. “You’d be stupid not to know exactly where this is going to go.
You’d be lucky if you only put one person in the ground.”
I knew the risks, but it was the only way she would learn to defend herself in real life. “I know.”
“I respect your decision, man, but if something happens to her because of it-”
“Nothing will happen.” He had to know me well enough to know that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her, even though we were doing something risky-something that may have been ignorant to even consider. “It’s either she uses what she’s learning now, or it happens later. She needs to know that she can defend herself without my help before her life depends on the situation.”
***
We pulled into the drug house’s driveway, and I glanced over at where she sat. I hadn’t given her any direction on what outfit to choose, but she made a good decision. The shirt was conservative and fitted, and her jeans were tight without accentuating her impressive curves too much.
“What is this place?” she asked, disgust oozing from her tone as she looked at the raggedy house. It needed substantial renovations, but none of the people who lived here cared. They were a few of my test mules. They tried a batch out of each of my shipments in exchange for a place to live. I had only chosen them because they would never recover. Some people were addicts for the rest of their lives, and these men were examples of that lifestyle.
If they weren’t here, they’d be finding their supply on the streets, and they’d be more of a problem than they were worth.
The only time they caused a problem now was when larger parts of my shipments were going missing-parts that should have been sold. “This is a
drug house,” I told her. “It’s where we store all of our shipments temporarily before transporting them to the dealers for sale.”
“Okay…”
“The people inside are responsible for quality testing the shipments. It’s mostly to ensure nothing is laced, and everything is quality before we send it out to the consumers. Recently, there have been large chunks of the drugs going missing before they are set to be retrieved. I need to take care of it.”
She nodded. “And by ‘take care of it,’ you mean…”
“Exactly what you’d expect.”
I knew she was wondering why I’d brought her with me, but she didn’t ask me the golden question as I stepped out of the car and allowed her to follow me.
“Can I expect there to be some level of bloodshed when we get inside?” she asked.
“It all depends on how they respond.”
“Great,” she said tersely, falling a couple of steps behind me. I knew she dreaded this, and I wasn’t too keen on it either, but it had to be done. And bringing her would ensure that she could handle herself if the situation ever arose where she needed to.
“Stay behind me.”
I reached the house and took a deep breath before opening the door and raising my weapon. Three men were on their feet in an instant, another two unfazed and still passed out where they sat. I had two guns pointed at my chest, and my scowl deepened.
When they saw who I was, they relaxed, lowering their weapons.
“God, boss. You should have announced yourself. We could have shot you to high hell,” one of them said. He seemed to be the least high, but the needle marks on his arm proved that if he were sober at the moment, it wouldn’t last long. The others didn’t say a word, and I could see as they tried to focus on their surroundings.
“Who the hell is stealing from me?” my voice boomed. The two men on the couch jerked awake with my booming voice, and they eyed me warily. “We don’t steal, boss,” a thin, sickly-looking man said. He took a step forward, his head out in front of his body as he slouched. Somehow, he still moved with an overconfidence that had my anger rising. “We take this stuff you offer us and protect the rest. The deal is too good to steal.”
I could tell that he wasn’t the culprit from the sincerity in his tone. If there was one thing that drug addicts couldn’t do while high, it was lie. I turned to the other men, and I knew immediately which one was guilty. He still sat on the couch, looking at his friends as if trying to figure out which of them to blame.
“What did you do?” I asked, looking at the one who seemed to lead them. I knew he wasn’t guilty, but I still pointed the gun at his chest. “Sell the shit
to make a little more profit? Did you take it all yourself?”
He held up his hand, reaching for his gun with the other.
“If you touch a gun, I swear to God, I’ll blow your fucking brains all over this wall right now,” I told him, and he moved his hand from his weapon immediately. “What happened to my stash?”
I wondered briefly if the true culprit would tell the truth to save his friend, but he didn’t move, seemingly happy to be off the hook. I knew that these men weren’t the honorable sort. They wouldn’t give their lives for the other people who lived here, especially not when their minds were fixated only on the drug they’d been receiving for months, but seeing it still disgusted me.
I hated that I had to have people like this on my payroll-people who would continue using until the day they died.
“I didn’t touch your stash, man,” he said, shaking his head.
“I’m going to kill you in five God damn seconds if you don’t give me answers,” I shouted. Aria gasped at my back as I started counting down.
“I don’t know anything,” the man repeatedly shouted, begging me to wait. I continued counting, observing the reactions of everyone in the room.
They all looked panicked and innocent-all except for the one man.
I knew who had done it, and I didn’t even need to ask him.
I turned my gun and fired at the last second, splattering the guilty man’s brains across the entire back of the chair.
Everyone in the room fell silent, and the leader of the bunch looked between him and me uncertainly. I knew that this show would serve two purposes today. It would prove that they shouldn’t push me too far, and it also took care of the problem I’d been having… hopefully. If I found that my supply continued going missing, I’d take matters into my own hands again.
But I didn’t think I needed to worry about that-not when everyone else here seemed like they had no idea what was happening.
I glanced back at Aria, and I found her gaping at the scene before her. I didn’t hesitate before turning back to the man in charge and pointing toward a back room. “We need to have a conversation,” I told him, and he nodded quickly. I pointed toward the door and met Aria’s eyes. “Make sure none of these men leave,” I told her.
She nodded uncertainly, and I followed the man into a back room, careful to monitor all the noises from the main room. I was close enough to know if something happened, but I was far enough that I knew at least one of the remaining men would get bold.
Now, I just needed to wait and pray that none of them grew too bold.