“The mirror! He’s in there!”
I looked up and saw the mirror, obviously a one-way window.
“Stay here,” I said to her, and then I shot the window.
It shattered. I saw flashes of bodies scattering inside, and I quickly pursued them, jumping in through the shattered glass.
I could feel shards shove themselves into my skin as I came up in a quick rolling stop, but I didn’t care. I had one mission and one mission only: stop the Broken Hearts. I was fully in the throes of my blood lust, and nothing could stop me. Rage and anger swirled through my body, and I couldn’t think about anything except for finishing what I had started.
I went out the only door and saw them running away ahead. I followed, not bothering to call out.
Up ahead, I turned a corner and came to a screeching halt. Standing at the end of the hall were three men: Joshua, a man I recognized as Al, and Tommy, the man that ran the boat touring company.
Joshua was frantically trying to unlock the door in front of them as I slowly advanced, gun held out.
“Stop,” I said softly.
All three men looked at me and put their hands in the air. None of them were armed.
“This ends here,” I said.
“Okay. Okay. We’re done,” Joshua said. “Nobody has to die.”
“Your hired goons are all dead.”
“They were scum anyway.”
“You took Claire.”
Joshua was quiet for a second. “It was just business, Nathan. Only business.”
I clenched my jaw.
“Listen to him, son,” Tommy said, stepping forward. “It’s going to be okay. We only wanted to scare Mister Forester. We would never actually hurt the girl.”
“You told the pirates where to find us,” I said to him.
He nodded. “Yes. I’m sorry about that.”
I quickly took aim and shot him once. His knee exploded, and he collapsed onto the ground in agony.
I quickly aimed back at the other two. Their eyes were wide with shock and fear.
“Why Claire?” I asked. When neither of them answered, I yelled my question again.
“Motivation,” the man named Al said quickly. “Forester doesn’t care about anything but his money and his daughter.”
“What was your plan?”
“Blackmail. Get him to drop out of the deal in exchange for his daughter.”
I looked at Joshua. “Who are the Broken Hearts?”
He cringed. “We’re an old fraternity, a secret society. Or at least we were. Now we’re more like the local mafia.”
“Why do you want Forester out?”
“He’s dangerous. He fucks up the local economy everywhere he invests, bringing in foreign money and screwing over the people that lived in the town their whole lives. He’s done it many times in the past, and I couldn’t let him do it again.”
“We’re protecting our families,” Al said.
I stared at them quietly. The only sound was Tommy rolling side to side.
I walked closer to them, my body flooded with anger and rage. I wanted to kill these men so badly. These men were the ones who had orchestrated everything, who had started coming after us. They were the reason Claire saw me kill a man. They were the reason she was almost snatched outside her father’s club.
And for what, because they didn’t like Jonathan Forester’s business tactics? Nothing excused hurting an innocent girl. Nothing at all.
I took a deep breath. My rage was overwhelming me, threatening to drown me, and I knew it. I knew I needed to take a moment, regain the Zen I had lost. And as I did, as I calmed myself, Al decided to make his move.
He reached for his jacket. I watched, almost in slow motion, as he went for something hidden in his pocket. As soon as I saw the barrel emerge, I fired, putting two bullets in his chest. He dropped to the ground, the gun falling from his hand.
I wheeled on Joshua, who didn’t move an inch.
“I’m glad he made me do that,” I said to him quietly, “because I want to kill you all.”
“Please. You don’t have to do this.”
“You’re right. Killing you would cause me more trouble than it’s worth. The mercenaries don’t have families or people that care about them, but you people are a part of this place. You can’t just disappear.”
I lowered my gun but remained ready.
“Leave town and never come back. Take care of this mess and then leave. Otherwise, I will hunt you down, and I will end you.”
He nodded, terror in his eyes. “Okay.”
I turned and walked away.
I could have killed them, but it would have brought a lot of heat down on me. Fortunately, Al had made that decision easy for me. I knew that once they saw one of their own gunned down, they were going to keep quiet. These weren’t hardened criminals, as much as they liked to pretend they were. They were just scared men trying to save their dying way of life. Plus, who knew what kind of incriminating shit I could dig up with a cursory glance through the damn creepy factory.