Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 90607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90607 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 453(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
The cartel was hiring ex-military now. Was that shot just for Tommy, or was there a reason he was lurking, to take another shot at the club? This shit was getting real, and it was getting dangerous. His father did warn them all.
Pat heard footsteps coming toward him, and instead of waiting, he charged toward the sound. He and the sniper collided. The man dropped his weapon, and Pat hit out, slamming his fist against the man’s face.
Without a second between the attack, the other man struck out, but Pat blocked him, crossing his arms, and then jamming him in the side. After several hits, where the sniper was blocked, Pat shoved him hard, landed a blow, and stepped back. When he did, he saw a man he’d not seen in a very long time. Solomon. That was all he knew him as.
During his stint in the army, Solomon had been known as The Ghost. He could move in and out undetected, taking out enemy leaders before anyone realized what had happened. He was the one the men relied upon. Solomon had saved his ass a few times.
“I know. I know,” Solomon said. “I still look pretty.”
Pat panted as he looked at someone he had considered a friend. He couldn’t let his guard down, because he had attempted to shoot him.
“You could have missed,” Pat said.
“I don’t fucking miss. Damn, Patty boy, you certainly have pissed a few people off, haven’t you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Pat said.
Solomon laughed, but it was a forced sound. “You’re so full of shit. You said you were part of a club, Pat, you never said that club made a shit ton of enemies, including the fucking cartel.”
Pat looked at him. “And they hired you?”
“Dude, what more is there to life than fucking and killing?” Solomon shrugged. “They kicked me out because I wouldn’t follow their fucked-up rules, and then I decided to go my own way, and surprise, surprise, they didn’t like that.”
Pat stared at a man he had once considered a friend. Someone he would die for. He always knew Solomon rarely followed orders. He went with his gut, and if it told him to make the kill, then he would make the fucking kill without any questions asked.
“What happened?”
“Got cut from the draft. Dishonorable title or shit.” Solomon shrugged. “Saved a lot of men’s asses back in the day, but they didn’t care about that. They only cared about what their superiors wanted to know.”
“And now you’re in the cartel’s pocket,” Pat said.
“I’m not in anyone’s pocket, Pat. I make my own way. Rich too.”
“Why did you kill that man?”
“He was a target. He did his job, and it would seem the cartel doesn’t like to reward the people who do their dirty work for them.”
Pat knew Solomon was waiting for the right time to attack. He already had his hand on his gun. His other one had fallen down the stairs during the collision.
He and Solomon were two very different people. Solomon didn’t like to follow the rules. Pat hated to follow the rules, but he did what he had to do.
“Is your next hit the club?” Pat asked.
“No, not yet. The cartel has me taking care of unfinished business right now.”
Pat smiled. “And you’re your own man?”
Solomon took aim, but Pat was already there, and he fired his gun, hitting him right between the eyes. Just as he fired his weapon, Grant was there.
“You knew him?” Grant asked.
“Served with him in the army,” Pat said. “He was ... a good man.”
“I guess he’s not anymore,” Grant said.
Pat moved closer and crouched down, looking into the past. He reached out and slowly lowered the man’s eyes, sending up a prayer. He had become the enemy, but he hadn’t always been the enemy.
After he paid his respects, he searched Solomon, locating a book, along with a cell phone. Pat pocketed them, then made his way out of the old warehouse building. Dead bodies, and problem buildings.
“We need to burn them.”
Pat, Rip, Grant, and Bud got to work dealing with the bodies.
****
Ava stepped out into the cold night, and sure enough, there was Pat. He already had collected Bernice from her mother’s, and she couldn’t help but smile as she went straight to his arms. She felt him pressing his face against her neck.
“I missed you,” she said.
“How was work?”
“It was normal, I guess. Kind of slow, actually.”
He kissed her neck, then pulled back. “Come on, let’s get you home.”
He opened the passenger side of his car, and she climbed in but quickly reached out to stroke Bernice, who nuzzled her hand. She loved her dog so much, and she missed her.
Securing her seat belt before Pat had time to, he was already turning over the ignition and taking them back to her apartment.