Chapter forty-seven(contains intense swearing and a disturbing situation)(Jace’s life)
I sat at the long table, looking around at the thugs that were my co-workers. I couldn’t help but wonder to myself why I was working with them. They were all thieves. One had bragged that he only preyed on the elderly as they couldn’t fight back. Others were bank robbers, and just about all of them had killed another.
I was just like them, if not worse. My thoughts however weren’t about their crimes or mine. My thoughts were about how they all bragged about their achievements; about how not one of them had any brains. It really annoyed me the way they bragged to each other and fought about whose crime was worse.
I tuned them out most days. I wasn’t here to listen to them. I didn’t particularly care what they had done; how they had killed their mother or brother or whoever, or even what they would go on to do in the future.
I was staring at the wall when one of them jumped up and threw himself over the table towards another. I didn’t bother moving from my chair to stop them, instead I turned to watch them start to punch and kick each other, both drawing blood. The other thugs around me started cat calling and yelling for their champ, egging them on. I just yawned as I watched them lay into each other and couldn’t help but wish that they would kill each other.
Just as I had that thought, the door opened and Kris walked in. Everything went completely still and no one made a noise. I was disappointed as the two who had been laying into each other stood up, straightening their clothes as they looked at Kris, terrified.
“Cowards.” I mumbled under my breath, looking away from them. I watched Kris with a smile playing out on my face. He was unpredictable and you never knew what he was going to do. Some days it was highly entertaining the way he treated his employees.
He simply glared at the two who were still standing there, staring at him, waiting for what I was waiting for: a scolding.
“Sit down.” Was all Kris said to them, disappointing me.
He moved over to the projection unit and turned it on, flooding the stained wall in front of us with light. A moment later there was a picture of Dakota Anderson was on the wall where the light had been.
“Right, I am going to show you all pictures of who you are being assigned to.” Kris announced, his eyes sweeping over everyone in the room. “Two of you will each be assigned to a family member. I want you to follow them; watch their every move. I want you to know what they do at any time of every day. I want reports back and if at any stage they are alone, you are to ring me instantly and I will give you new directions.” Kris turned to two of the thugs nearest him before addressing them directly. “Mick, Leon, you are assigned to Dakota. Take a good look at the picture on the wall, that’s her.” Kris gave the two thugs a moment to study her face before changing the picture to one of Austin.
“This one is somewhat more complicated.” Kris continued with a smirk, turning back to the rest of us. “This boy often comes and goes from the house. His name is Austin,” He turned to another two thugs. “Tony, Slick, you two are assigned to him. You will have to watch the house day and night until he gets back to it. You will need to act quickly with this one, and I won’t be happy if you both disappoint me by failing.”
“Yeah, boss,” Tony replied. “You can trust us.”
“Excellent,” Kris muttered without emotion as he changed the picture once again. Dallas’ face popped up. “Brains and Fred, this one is yours. This is Dallas.” Kris said to another two thugs, both nodded before looking back at the face on the wall.
A second later the one face I knew well came up. Her hair was shorter then I remembered, but it was still her. I wanted to punch the wall the moment her smiling face appeared.
“Drew, Toad, this one is yours. Her name is Indiana.” Kris declared, looking at the photo himself, so he knew he had given us all enough time to study her face.
He was about to start talking again when a cry of ‘NO!’ came from the other side of the table.
Kris turned to look directly at the speaker. “What do you mean, ‘
no’?”
“No,” Slick repeated, grinning at the photo. “I want her.”
“I have already assigned you Austin, Slick.”
“Aww…” Slick groaned, “Come on boss, let me have her.”
I glared at him. He was fairly new to the group, so I didn’t know much about him.
“Why do you want her? What is so
fucking great about her?” I said, still glaring at him.
“Yes, I agree with Jace.” Kris added. “Why do you want her Slick?”
Slick simply licked his lips like he was hungry. He took another look at Indi’s photo on the wall before looking at me, then Kris. “I had a taste of her once. And I’m damn sure that I haven’t had my fill yet.”
Kris continued to stare at him as if he hadn’t said a word.
Without thinking, I threw myself up and over the table. I grabbed Slick around the neck and yanked him from his chair, holding him up in front of me. “Explain yourself, you cunt.”
“Put him down, Jace.” Kris said calmly from behind me.
Upon hearing the order from Kris, I threw the thug to the floor. He rose, smiling smugly at me.
“I can tell she wanted it. She was walking through the car park by herself, swinging her little hips, she was begging for it.” He said with a sick smile on his face. “If that stupid male nurse hadn’t shown up to spoil my fun I might have had enough of her.”
Without saying a word, Kris walked over to Slick and put his arm around his shoulders. Together, the two of them walked away from the rest of the group. They stopped not far from the door, but far enough for Kris to whisper to him without the other thugs hearing. He bent down and picked up a 2x4 piece of wood, and in one foul swoop, whacked Slick across the head with it. Slick fell to the ground with a blood-curdling scream. Blood began to rush from the open wound on the side of his face, small splinters of wood sticking out from it.
Kris didn’t stop there though. He hit him again, this time breaking one of the bones in his arm, as Slick attempted to protect his face with his arms.
“This family is mine,” Kris told him calmly, loudly enough for us all to hear. His calmness was psychotic. “I will not have you bringing your own personal objectives into this.”
Kris let the wood come back down upon Slick again and again, each strike not aimed in any particular place. Slick screamed out in pain twice more before suddenly going quiet, yet Kris continued to hit him with the piece of wood.
I was red with fury as I watched Kris beating the crap out of Slick. I needed my own release. Moving over to the two, I pulled Slick up by the lapels on his shirt before Kris could bring the wood back down on him again. I threw him into the wall. I watched as Slick’s body crumpled to the floor in a heap, and then picked him up again. I held him with one hand while I put my fist as hard as I could into his belly, making him grunt loudly. It wasn’t enough. Making another fist, I punched him hard in the jaw. I felt it crack under my hand as his face few backwards from the blow. Even more blood poured from his mouth, and his eye was swollen.
Grabbing his shirt with both hands, I let my knee come up and connect with his balls. I laughed as he screamed out in pain. “No
fucking outside activities. Do you WANT to bring the
fucking cops into this operation? NO.” I yelled at him as he tried to look at me through two extremely swollen, black eyes. “You find your pleasure in your own spare time, that goes for all of you” I directed to all the other thugs as well as the one in front of me.
Letting him fall to the floor, I started to lay into him with my foot. I felt one of his ribs crack under my shoe.
“That’s enough, Jace.” Kris said firmly to me. With another kick to Slick’s ribs, I moved a step backwards.
Kris looked down at Slick. There was almost a look of pity in his eyes. “Get out. I don’t ever want to see you again.”
Slick stood up shakily. He looked at Kris and then to me before he broke into a run, heading for the door. The last thing he expected as he opened it was the bullet that hit him in the back.