What Next?

Chapter 10

I remain lost in my thoughts for the entire ride and don’t realise where we are when the car stops. I look out the window and see a sign saying ‘CATS EYES MASSEUSE’. I turn and see Damon smiling, “What the fuck are we doing at a brothel?” I ask.

“Looking for some old sparring buddies of ours. After a good fight night the winners always came here to unwind.”

I drop my head, I should of have known he’d pull something like this. “If this is so you can get laid-”

“Yeah yeah I know, you’ll beat me to within an inch of my life. You need to get new material.”

“Not what I was going to say. If it’s so you can get laid, make it a quickie. We have more important things to be doing.”

“Cool, quickie then interrogation, I’m starting to like the way you think.” I can’t believe I set that up for him.

We get out of the car and he leads the way inside, where the ‘host’ who gives us the list of the house rules meets us. I don’t bother listening, as all I want to do is find someone I recognise and beat a name out of them. As soon as I find out who Sinclair’s second in command was, I can get Damon out of my life and disappear with Sera into eternity.

I watch as Damon disappears through a closed door and I sit down on the couch and wait. It doesn’t take long before I recognise a man walking past the outside doors, and I keep my eyes on him as he walks through the doors. He sits down next to me, “waiting for a favourite?” he asks. His voice is slightly gravely and deep. The master of ceremonies, if I remember correctly.

“No, I’m waiting for my ride home to finish her shift, she’s been on since last night.” I make my voice sound scratchy, so it matches my look. It obviously unnerves him, as he keeps looking at the door Damon went through. “Did you here about what happened to that Nomad psycho who thought he was better than us? Destruction said he really fucked him up, that it was one of the best beatings he ever handed out.” Time to find out how high on the food chain you are.

He looks at me then looks away in revulsion, “Don’t know how, he was knocked out in under ten seconds.”

“I meant after, when he came to. He went looking for a rematch.”

He looks around to make sure we are alone, “Yeah, he came back to the warehouse claiming he killed the boss. Course we’re all doing over the ex pig and he interrupts by challenging everyone. Destruction taught him a thing or two though, it was great.” You know fuck all then. “I haven’t seen you at the meetings this week.” He starts looking at me properly now. “Come to think of it, I’ve never seen you before.”

“You have, I just look a little different today.” I slide a needle of my left wrist and hold it between my ring finger and my palm. “I usually have longer hair. Lost a bet.” I shrug my shoulders, hiding the movement of placing the needle in my right hand

“Well don’t miss the one tonight, the boss is having their take over party.”

Interesting, lets see how stupid you really are, “didn’t hear about that, where’s it going down. I don’t want to offend the new boss and be taught a lesson in respect.” I should be an actor for this performance.

He starts laughing, “Club 85 of course.” Thanks, now I’ve just got to wait around at club 85.

I look back at the entrance and see one of the girls leaving through a side door, “looks like my ride homes finished, see you tonight.” I walk out the door, put the needle back in its place and get back in the car and wait for Damon to finish.

…………………

He comes out twenty minutes later and gets in the car smiling, “Damn I forgot how good the girls could be.” He looks at me and stops smiling, “what’s up with you? You could have gotten laid as well if you wanted.” He realises I’m behind the wheel, “I thought I was playing the driver today.”

Without saying anything I just start up the car and pull off like a bat out of hell, time for some answers that I want.

“CLAM THE FUCK DOWN WILL YA!” I don’t think he’s enjoying himself, “I CANT STOP US FROM GETTING THROWN IN A CELL YOU KNOW!”

I don’t slow down and I don’t take my eyes off the road, “why did you recruit me for your operation? I want nothing to do with law enforcement.” I swerve between two cars but don’t slow down, “You should already know who we’re looking for, you were in there for two years.”

“Doesn’t mean I knew everything going on.” He seems to have relaxed a bit, “I picked you because of Tiffany Solomon.” He breaths out but I still don’t take my eyes of the road, “in one night you did what I couldn’t prove in a year. You found out what was going on and freed her at the same time. You even managed to hide her from the world. We need a man like you on our side.”

I start to slow the car down now, we’re nearly at my planned destination and I risk a quick glance at him. He’s covering his eyes with his left hand and resting the elbow on the window ledge, with his head leaning on the window. Huh, I must of scared him more than I thought, or he’s finally realised I don’t like this black ops shit his life has become. “I don’t need your side, I’ve been doing well on my own for years now.”

I hear him moving around in his seat, “only thing I find out anything during my massage was that the girls aren’t afraid anymore. Apparently whoever is now running the show, has freed them from any debts they had to Sinclair and has promised new security for them.” Interesting. Win over the girls and the men will fall into line.

I turn a corner and pull up to our destination. “We’re here.” I get out of the car and go to the back seat and get my sword out of its box. While I’m tying it to my back I see Damon get out as well and look at where I’ve brought him. “Welcome to where it all changed.”

He looks through the gates at the deserted Solomon mansion then back at me, “what are we doing here? You said Solomon’s dead.”

“He is. His widow still resides here.” Time to face what you did when you showed me that folder. “I haven’t been back here since I rescued her daughter, but I think you should see what’s left behind. Your action caused this reaction.” With that I run climb the wall and sit on top of it, “you coming? Or do you want to stay oblivious to what you caused?” I drop down the other side.

It only takes him a minute to climb over the gate and join me. I point to the house and start a slow jog, he keeps up but I can feel his trepidation, he really doesn’t want to be here. We can’t all get what we want; if we could I would be with Sera right now.

In no time at all we’re at the front door, and I can see the fear etched into every fibre of his being. I reach for the handle and find the door is unlocked. I open it and walk into the entranceway and am greeted by thick layers of dust. Damon follows me in and shuts the door behind him. Remembering the layout of the last time I was here, I start walking towards THAT room when a noise from the top of the stairs stops me.

I look up and see what was once a beautiful woman. All the pictures I saw of her, before I came here, all showed her smiling and having fun, now she just looks like a hollowed out shell. Her blond hair that was once her best feature is now straw like and dead, her sparkling brown eyes are now dull and lifeless and even her figure has faded away. “What do you think your doing in my house?” even her voice sounds like it has no life in it. She doesn’t move from her position at the top of the stairs.

“Just visiting a memory I wish I didn’t have.” No point lying to her, she probably doesn’t even care we’re here.

“Let yourselves out when your done and don’t bother coming back. I like my tomb quiet, just like my daughter’s is, wherever that is.” she wonders back into whatever darkness she resides in now, leaving Damon and myself just standing here.

“We did that to her.” I say, and lead him toward the back of the house. I wait outside the door for him to catch up, and open it. I usher him inside and close the door behind me. I take a good look around this time and see we’re in a private study. On the far wall, over the fireplace is a painted portrait of Tiffany when she was younger, smiling like she has no care in the world. I march over to it; pull it down and start ripping it up.

“Where the hell are we and who was that woman we saw?” Damon asks.

“Christine Sinclair, Frank Solomon’s widow.” I turn to look right at him, “and we’re in the room I found her in. This was the room she was bought to whenever she was wanted. This room was where she was frequently raped, beaten and had her spirit broken. This room is what she has nightmares about.” This is the room that ended any chance of me being with Sera and sent me down the dark path I now walk.

“So I was right, she was being treated and abused like she was some sort of animal?” no sooner has he said it then I drop him with an uppercut.

“It wasn’t that simple,” I practically growl at him, “she thought she deserved it, her father, his friends, he even pimped her out to anyone who could meet his price.” I get right in his face now. “And you sent me in here to get her. Knowing the rules I lived by.” I stand up straight and take the sword out of its scabbard and point the tip at his throat. “Because of you, I can never go back to who I was. Come back here in three days and I’ll have the information you require,” I drop the sword from his throat, “but if I see you after that, other than at the hotel, I WILL KILL YOU. Now before you leave this place and go back to your happy existence, apologise to the woman upstairs for sending a demon to take her angel.”

I walk back through the house and am out the front door and over the wall in less than a minute. I walk over to the car, put my sword back in its box, get in the drivers side and pull off. I don’t care how Damon gets away from here, but I have things I need to find out. I need to find the R.R.K and hope they remember me.

…………………

I pull up half a mile down the road from a condemned factory. If memory serves, they move around a lot but like to stay off the radar, moving from one condemned building to another. This looks like something they would take up residence in. I just hope they know where this club 85 is.

I stay parked like this for five minutes before the passenger door opens, “you in the wrong part of town pretty boy.” I turn to my left and look at the owner of the voice, a slightly over weight boy no more than fifteen.

“I’m looking for Trey, I know he’s R.R.K and he owes me a favour.” Not technically true, but I doubt his foot soldiers know that. “Tell him it’s that scary mother fucker who took the kid from him.”

He closes the door and I watch him pull out a mobile phone, and I thought they didn’t like to use anything that could be traced. I turn my focus back to the factory down the road, while still keeping an eye on my new friend. I should of gone back and gotten my bike, but a car does have its uses. My new friend gets in the passenger side, “he says to go in but show all toys your carrying.”

I smile and point to the backseat, “just a sword and the needles on my wrist.” I start up the car and drive to the entrance of the factory. The kid reaches behind and touches the box, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, I’m very protective of that sword.”

“What makes you think Trey’s going to let you live man? You found us so now we gotta move again.”

Huh, he’s smarter than I give him credit for, but he hasn’t been with them long enough to have been told of me. The last time I was any where near these kids was when I found Claude. I stop the car just inside the gates, pull the box from off the backseat and get out of the car. “Someone might want to get rid of this, it’s got a tracer hidden on it somewhere.” The kid looks at me like I’m certifiable; I probably am by now, but pops the hood and starts looking around the inside of the car.

I walk towards the main doors of the factory and see the man I’m after standing there. He just looks at me and nods towards the box. I pull the sword out and tie it to my back, tipping the box upside down when I’ve done it to show there’s nothing left inside. I drop it to the floor and continue walking towards the doors. “Been a long time Trey, how you doing?” I ask.

He continues to look at me even when I walk past him into the factory. On instinct alone I stand to one side as soon as I walk through the doors, this is his place not mine. I turn to face the doors and see him with his head hanging down, shaking from side to side, “there’s a big price out on you,” he closes the doors and looks at me, “What you doing here?”

“I need some information and you’re the group that deals in it. Where is club 85? And who’s running Sinclair’s operations now he’s dead?” I know my being here puts him at risk; the R.R.K is the only national gang that nobody is willing to admit exists; they’re also the only gang that operates outside of anybody’s control.

He laughs, “That’s some expensive information you want. But I know, I knew Thursday morning who took over and put the two mil price on your head. But what in the name of all levels of hell makes you think I’ll tell you?”

“Truthfully?”

“It’d be nice.”

“I want out. I’m tired of risking my life, fighting everyone I come across, protecting certain people from things they don’t need to know about; hell I’m even tired of myself. Give me the info I need and I’m gone for good.”

He makes his way over to a beat up couch a lies down on it. He flips his long brown hair off his face and looks up at the ceiling, “chicks name is Haley Reed, and club 85 is what they call this old cinema she half owns.” You’ve got to be kidding me. “Her business partner don’t know nothing about it though, she thinks they just run a little martial arts dojo or some shit like that. Her name is-”

“I know who she is.” Someone up there has really got it in for me. No wonder Haley seemed to ask so much about me, and that final comment she made. If she knows I know who she is, then Sera is in danger. “Can your boys find and get rid of a tracking device hidden somewhere in that car in the next half hour?”

“What do you think they’re doing right now?” Good. I can still use the car for now. “When we find it, we’re leaving it in the river.”

“Doesn’t bother me, just make sure the car is still able to work. When I leave today, don’t send anybody to follow me. I disappear for good in the next week.” I walk over to the makeshift kitchen area, “Got anything edible? Haven’t eaten for a couple of days.”

“Sure, did a food run last night. Some of the stores help us out with anything that would go to waste, helps keep their numbers low.” Still living of the generosity of others, I’m glad nothings changed in fourteen years. Shame no one I knew is still around. I grab a packaged sandwich and tear into it, it will tie me over till I can leave this place and get something else. “What makes you so sure we wont try and collect the money offered for you?”

I look to the couch and see he hasn’t moved from it, “you fear me.”

He rolls of the couch and stands upright. At six foot four he can intimidate a lot of people, but he cant do it to me and he knows it. I put the sandwich down and walk over to stand in front of him. He glances at my sword then back at me, I shake my head slightly and he steps back. “The stories I heard about you true? You sold out to go mainstream?” I wonder where he heard that. Everyone I ran with is now dead or in jail.

“No. I was taken in and turned into a weapon.” I hear noises at least four hundred yards behind me, but I don’t look away from Trey. Betray weakness and he’ll be on me in a second. “Tell your people to stand down, I don’t want to hurt anyone. I got what I need. Thank you.”

He raises his left hand and lowers it, the noises I heard move further back. “Hope I never see you again man. Use another car, we’re destroying the one you brought with you.” Damn, I like that car.

I walk out the door and see the Subaru on fire. I look around and see a shit heap with wheels that used to be a jeep. I’ll walk till I can find something that will be able to move. At least I know where to go now. I walk past the flaming car out the gates and see the present they ‘arranged’ for me. Fully kitted out street racing V.W Golf. Somebody is going to be upset when they find their car missing. I slide my sword up over my head and put it on the back seat, hot wire it and drive off. Trey, stay off the grid and keep them all safe.

I drive around trying to make the past couple of days make some sort of sense. My Master was an Interpol agent who trained me to be some kind of weapon, Damon works for Interpol and is using me to gather information for him, and Sera’s business partner has taken on Sinclair’s underworld operations and has put a very large price on my head. Has it barely been a week since I returned home to watch my Master die?

I pull into a car park half a mile from the dojo and kill the engine. I only have a few options left to me and I don’t like any of them. I could kill Haley and disappear with Sera, but I could never tell her why, or I could just walk away from everything now and let everyone get by on their own, or I can go and get the info I need by torturing Haley until she tells me what I want to know. The only thing I’m worried about is Sera. If she finds out she is unknowingly connected to this world it would kill her inside.

I get out of the car, get my sword off the backseat and put it on. I’ve made my decision; I just hope it will work the way I want it to. I hope Sera obeyed my order to either go home or to her mother’s. I snap out of my thoughts and notice the sun has nearly set, I didn’t realise it was that late. I wish I had my bike with me right now.

I start to run at a reasonable pace and stick to the dark back alleyways all the way to the dojo. It doesn’t take me long to get here and I find the back door unlocked again. Either this is so people can come and go unnoticed or I’m walking willingly into another trap.

I open the door and can hear a woman scream in pain, I know that scream; I’ve been responsible for that scream before. I step inside and see Sera on the floor, blood coming from her mouth and a few small cuts on her face. I feel my body screaming to act, but I hold it in place while I quickly scan the hall. Four men unconscious on the floor, three men bleeding from scratches on their faces, standing over her and Haley taking a beating by two other men.

I charge right in and sweep the first guys legs out from under him, breaking his kneecaps in the process, and as he falls I punch him in the throat. I leaping back heel the second in the head and he also goes down. The third has now noticed me and pulls a pair of sai from his back. I draw my sword. He lunges at me and I sidestep him, quickly putting a needle in the base of his skull. He stops as he is. I turn to face the two standing over Haley. I don’t make a move but they look around the hall and can see the only way out through me. I put my sword back in its scabbard and take the needle out of their partner’s neck. He starts shaking slowly, but starts blood starts pouring out of every available orifice in his head. Forbidden way to kill someone, the only person who will know how he died will be me. They charge at me together and I jumping split kick them both in the chin, they fall onto their backs, and I land standing straight. The one on the left flips straight back up to find my fingers in his windpipe, he goes back down. The last remaining one gets up and charges me again. I open flat palm him at his heart. He slumps down to the floor dead. I look away; I’ve never used the dim-ock on a person before. Then again, till a few days ago I’d never killed before.

I make my way over to the four and check they’re still alive, they are. Judging by the slashes on them Sera took them down using the tiger style I taught her. I smile to myself, that was her favourite offensive style that she learnt. I walk over to Haley and see that she still has a strong pulse; I might change that later if she doesn’t tell me what I want to know. I pick her up and carry her over to Sera. I check Sera’s pulse and find it normal, I feel for any broken bones and find none, but I know by the blood she’s bleeding internally. I have a powder back at the house that will help, it tastes foul but it works.

I go out the main doors and go straight to the office. Once inside I pick up the phone and make an important call. The phone rings twice before it’s answered, “Hello?”

“David it’s William, put your brother on!” he better be there.

“What do you want? You left-”

“Shut up! Contact your superiors and tell them you need a clean up at the old dreamland cinema. Four unconscious, five dead. If they ask why tell them you did it. I should have the info you want soon.” I hang up as soon as I’m done.

I go back to the main hall and see Haley trying to get up, but falls back down again. A groan coming from Sera lets me know she’s still conscious. I shoot a glance around the hall and decide to get them out of here. I look out the back door and see Haley’s car parked up, I must have really been lost in thought to have missed it on my way in here. Then again I was thinking through how to make Haley suffer till she told me what I want to know. I walk over to her, “Where are your keys? I’m getting the both of you out of here.” I’m going to protect her for Sera’s sake, not hers. When I’m done, whoever wants her can have her.

“Bag by the door” she mumbles. I take a good look at her and see she has been put through the ringer. I almost feel pity for her, almost. I pick her up and carry her over to the door. I go back and pick up Sera as well, carrying her out the door and getting her to lean on the car bonnet for me. I go back inside and throw Haley’s bag out the door and carry Haley outside, kicking the door shut behind us. I dive into her bag and pull the keys out, unlock the car and put them both in the backseat, putting on their seatbelts for them. They both keep slipping in and out of consciousness. I take my sword off my back and put it in the passenger side with Haley’s bag as I get in behind the wheel, start the engine and drive them back to the house