Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 14425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 72(@200wpm)___ 58(@250wpm)___ 48(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 14425 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 72(@200wpm)___ 58(@250wpm)___ 48(@300wpm)
People continue to dance and sway as I weave in and around them. No one's paying attention to me as I leave. The girl will barely remember my face, but she will remember what I told her to do. She will remember the story I told her that convinced her to send a random guy at a bar with a broken nose outside.
The drive is silent, aside from random banging inside the trunk of Victor's car. With his hand gripping the gearshift, mine sits on top of his as the music plays to drown out the screams of despair accompanying the random bangs inside the trunk. It puts a quirky grin on both our faces.
My father's house sits in the dark like a black hole in the line of homes on the street. We keep it that way as Victor cuts the lights to his car and pulls into the driveway. As soon as he opens the trunk, Hammer tries to jump out. However, he doesn't get very far.
Victor's bullets are muffled and don't ring out. The only thing that breaks the silence is Hammer's cries of pain. We quiet him down and move him to the shed.
8
VICTOR
Twelve feet wide and nearly twenty feet long, the Emerson shed is a decent size for a jeweler's workshop. But it's empty. There's not a bench, or anything else inside that even hints at a craftsman tirelessly creating pieces of art. Well, the plastic tarp hints at a different sort of craft entirely.
Hammer's not too big of a guy, especially as he lies on top of the tarp. Chelsea straddles his unconscious body, bleeding from the holes I put in his leg.
"I need my bullets out of him," I tell her.
Chelsea nods as she pulls out needles and vials from a small satchel, which she rolls out beside her. After strategic injections all over his body, Hammer's eyes open, pain riding his face. The warring emotions washing over him aren't surprising. His expressions change from pain to rage to defeat once he realizes he can't move.
"What do you want?" Hammer pleads.
"I want to know why you decided that in a small town like Mapleton, New fucking Jersey, you decided to rob a jewelry store. This isn't the kind of town where that happens simply because it's a Thursday night. It happens because someone specifically chose my father's store. Who was it?"
Chelsea doesn't wait for him to answer before she pulls out a knife with a smile on her face. The marble handle molds perfectly to her hand as if it's a piece of her palm. She cuts through our captive's jeans, using the bullet hole to tear it open further.
"Why can't I move?" Hammer asks. His voice barely squeaks above a whisper. Tears well in his eyes, and panic blankets his face.
"That's right. You missed the part where she stuck you with all her fancy needles. We needed you to be docile. Now, answer her question." I tell him and nod at Chelsea.
She begins to dig into the area I shot on his leg. It sounds as if Hammer's throat is closing around his screams and shrieks of pain. Chelsea takes her time slicing through his flesh to carve my bullet out of him. The pain causes Hammer to dry heave and flop his body onto its side, Chelsea moving out of the way.
Hammer's entire body trembles as he finally chokes out the answer. "Nigel."
Chelsea balks at the name. "You're a liar."
"Why would I lie?" Hammer trembles, pain etching into his face, knitting his eyebrows together, and desperately trying to catch his breath.
Chelsea doesn't care as she begins digging around the second bullet hole in Hammer's leg. He screeches in pain from behind his clenched jaw until he passes out.
"Let's get this over with." I pull out my gun, but Chelsea raises a hand to stop me.
"Victor," she pauses. "As much as I love what I do, I'm not digging your bullets out of this guy's head."
"At this range, it'll go straight through. Besides, no one's going to find his head to retrieve trace evidence now, are they?"
Chelsea's soft laughter sounds deeper in the shed. "So you had me fishing bullets out of his leg for the fuck of it?"
"No, it gave you something to focus on instead of killing him before we got the answer to your question. What do you want to do about your father?" I ask her.
"After we get rid of Hammer here, we're going to pay my father a visit."
Chelsea runs her knife across our captor's throat. We clean up the mess and leave the Emerson home together. I'm not sure what Chelsea's going to do, but I decide it's better to tag along with her after we get rid of Hammer's body.
When we end up at the hospital, it doesn't surprise me. The only shock that comes to either of us is when we reach Nigel Emerson's hospital room. He's not alone, and whoever's inside with him is pissed.