Hard to Get (Killer of Kings 4)

When he neared the entrance, two dark shadows waited for him.

“You hear anything?” he asked.

Viper had a black hood on, concealing his face, and Bain was openly strapped with so much fucking firepower he could take out a small army. Both men looked ready for business. For them, for Shadow, their lives revolved around death and destruction. Boss had trained most of them one on one. Whoever infiltrated Killer of Kings was in for a world of hurt.

“Nothing. It’s too damn quiet if you ask me,” said Viper. “I’ve been here before with Pepper, so I have an idea of the general main floor layout.”

“So we get our asses inside, no?” Bain was a huge fucker, his ink climbing up his neck. He’d been friends with Viper since they were kids.

“There’s a massive foyer beyond the doors,” said Shadow. “I have the codes for the security system.”

“I’m going in,” said Viper. “Cover me.”

Shadow entered the code into the control panel, unlocking the double front doors. Viper kicked them open, two handguns outstretched in front of him. An alarm whined every few seconds, a few emergency lights flashing red. Shadow moved to the right, Bain to the left. They swept the foyer, then spread out through the main floor.

A while later they all met up in the lobby again. A figure stood in the doorway, they all pointed their weapons.

“Hey, it’s just me!” said Chains.

Shadow dropped his gun to his side and exhaled. There was no sign of Boss, no sign of a struggle. They still had to check the basement and second floor. Now there were four of them, so they had better odds.

“I’ll check downstairs,” said Bain after peering over the wooden banister. He pulled up an AR15, holding it chose to his chest as he descended into the basement. Shadow looked up to the second level, nodding to Viper and Chains to fo

llow him. Within ten minutes, they’d cleared the entire house, and it was no small task. Boss obviously liked the finer things in life, and for a man living alone, he had a lot of damn rooms.

They wandered around the main floor, trying to decide on their next move.

“Does anyone know how to turn off the fucking alarm?” said Chains. The constant grating sound kept the sense of urgency at the surface.

Viper pointed out the kitchen window. There was a large pool house in the near distance, bigger than Shadow’s house. They all moved without speaking, passing the massive infinity pool that overlooked a forested valley.

Bain kicked open the door, the crash shattering the silence, wood splinting inwards. Immediately, the familiar scent of blood caught Shadow’s attention. The moonlight reflected off the blood pooling on the floor, the dark crimson liquid the only witness to whatever the fuck killed Boss.

“Check the lights,” said Shadow. When the overhead lighting snapped on, the body swinging from the rafters, draining out on the tile was a morbid sight. There were other rooms, so he started to investigate the ones to the right. He knew better than to let down his guards, even if the leader of Killer of Kings had already been taken down.

“Check it out!” he shouted after entering a large guest bedroom.

The other three men came in behind him.

“Holy shit,” said Viper. “What a fucking freak show.”

There were bodies everywhere, in various states of dismemberment. The floor was covered in blood, flies buzzing around the corpses. Shadow had killed a lot of men and been to countless aftermaths, but nothing compared to this.

“Someone’s coming,” Bain whispered, pulling out his 9mm. He leaned against the inside wall, waiting to strike. Whoever walked through the living room, passing Boss’s body, was not trying to be quiet. Bain pressed a finger to his lips. The second the man appeared in the entryway, Bain had his gun pressed to his temple. “Try anything and I’ll blow your fucking brains in.”

“Spade?” Shadow lowered his weapon. It was one of the regular guys from Boss’s west end cleaning crew. He usually didn’t come up this far north. “Who the fuck called you?”

“Boss. Who else?”

“When?”

“Hour ago.”

Shadow pushed past him, Bain still keeping him at gunpoint. When he reached the body handing by its ankles, Shadow spun it around to get a good look at the bloodied and beaten face.

It wasn’t Boss.

“Boss called you—what did he say? Where is he?” asked Shadow.