A Dirty Business (Kings of New York #1)(28)

“You good to drive?”

“Wired for a fight, to be honest.”

He chuckled, relaxing a little. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that.”

I laughed, starting the engine and noting I’d need another tank of gas and a couple big drinks of straight caffeine. I had a two-hour drive ahead of me.





CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE


TRACE


We arrived, and the plan had been to grab the uncle and take him somewhere else for our interrogation. That was until we walked in and found the house in shambles.

The plan changed.

The place was empty. Ashton walked through the house while I surveyed the primary bedroom. The wife’s clothes were gone; an empty suitcase was thrown on the bed. There were more empty spaces in the closet. Spaces where other suitcases might’ve been but weren’t anymore.

Ashton came in. “Kids’ stuff is gone. Wife left him.”

I nodded. “We wait. He’ll be back.”

“And if she’s with him?”

I gave him a dry look. “She look like she’ll be coming back?”

“Domestic fight.” He was noting the holes in the wall, the shattered glass. “A lot of times they come back before finally leaving or getting dead.”

“We stay and wait. This is a small town. If we start looking for him, it’ll raise flags.”

Ashton gave me a nod.

Demetri, one of my guards, came in as we were in the kitchen. He gestured outside. “They got a shed in the back. We can take him in there?” He pointed at the other door. “Or the basement. There’s a room in the back that looks built for shit like this.”

Demetri and Pajn. My two guards. They’d grown up with me, guys we knew from the neighborhood, guys that got into trouble with Ashton and me when we were teenagers.

“What do you mean it looks built for this shit?”

He gave me a long and hard look. “Come see for yourself, boss.”

I followed him down, knowing Ashton was coming right behind.

He led us through a room that had chairs set up in the corner, facing the corner. A chalkboard was on the wall. There were no windows, no light shining in from outside. Cement flooring. We went through that room to another room, which was just as sparse. Another room that had canned foods lining the shelves and then to another room that opened from a small door that we all had to stoop to get through.

“Trace.”

I turned, seeing where Ashton was gesturing. The door opened our way. A lock was on the outside of the door.

My blood went cold.

“Boss.” Pajn indicated a post.

It had a chain wrapped around it. It was stained, and I knew the smell of dried blood. The post was drenched in it. At the base of the post was another stain from liquids, and I didn’t think it was only blood that made that stain. It circled out from the post.

He kicked a bucket. “Smells like this is used for piss and shit.”

“Goddamn,” came from Ashton, under his breath.

I was taking it all in.

A whip was hanging on the wall.

A knife.

A cleaver.

More chains.

Manacles that looked like they were from the medieval era.

“Fuck.” Ashton was staring at a pair of fuzzy handcuffs, and that was more than enough for me.

I growled, “We’re doing it in here. Right. In. Here.”

The guys were in agreement.



A pair of headlights flashed through the house as a truck slowed and turned into their driveway. Ashton and I were both waiting in the kitchen.

“He’s coming.” Demetri moved to the back of the door.

Pajn was on the other side.

They were big guys and could be mistaken for bodybuilders, but both were trained to handle themselves. They’d learned on the streets and moved like cats right now. Quiet and stealthy.

Ashton tapped the table to get my attention. He mouthed, “He alone?”

I leaned back, moving the curtain a slight centimeter. Billy Garretson was trudging toward the back door of the house. I nodded to Ashton and turned back, watching him coming.

His head was down. He didn’t suspect anything.

We heard keys jangling.

A key inserted into the lock, turned. The door was pushed open.

“Fuck dammit—” He stepped in, and we were hit with a rank odor coming from him. He fumbled inside, reaching for the light switch, and he flipped the light. It should’ve turned on, but the fuses had been turned off in the basement. “What the hell?” He stepped all the way in, shut the door, and flipped the light switch up and down before growling. “Bitch. She blew a—” He turned, making a startled choking sound as he came face to face with Pajn.

“Hi.” That was Pajn, and punch!

Pajn hadn’t wasted time.

Ashton and I both stood, expecting a fight.

It didn’t happen. Pajn hit him once, and the guy wavered on his feet before falling.

Pajn smothered a chuckle, stepping back and over the body. “The dude’s out.”

Both Pajn and Demetri knelt and picked up the body.

“Now you’re going to have an ego about this, saying you’re a coldcocker,” Demetri grumbled.

They lifted him together.

“Yeah, yeah. You can start now. Address me as Mr. Coldcocker from here on out.” Pajn made a gagging sound. “This guy reeks. Did he shit his pants or something?”