I blinked against the darkness, unable to see. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the bag over my head or the fact that one eye was swollen shut and the other was bleeding. My head was pounding and the left side felt like it was on fire.
I’m going to come out of this.
And when I do, I’m going hunting.
I’m going to torture and kill every fucking Dragon I can find.
I’m going to beat the fuck out of them until they’re pissing blood.
I knew the moment I mentioned the Dragons’ stash house to the Knights I was playing with fire. I was so sure that setting Jimmy up to take the fall would be key in saving our asses.
It would’ve worked too if I hadn’t fucked up, but it’s my fault I’m lying here beaten and bloody.
Jack wasn’t kidding when he told Wu I was the best in the surveillance business.
I was.
I wired every fucking inch of Wu’s building and in the process I set myself up for my own fate. I’m the one who signed my death certificate the moment I took the mask off in the hallway of the stash house. I saw the footage with my own eyes. I was naked when I woke up from the blow to the head, handcuffed to a pipe and at the mercy of the Red Dragons. Wu played the video back for me and he played it over and over again, each time he did he struck me with a whip.
They maneuvered me into the back of a van, covering my head with a canvas bag as they drove me to wherever it was these fuckers thought they would kill me.
I may have made a mistake and been reckless but I wasn’t going down without a fight.
I’d go “Jackie Chan” on their asses.
Jack was right about something else.
We all need heart, it’s what keeps us from being reckless, keeps us breathing.
I needed to breathe.
For Kitten and for Pea.
I only wish I had found my heart before my mistake.
The van came to a sharp stop causing me to roll around the floor of the truck.
“Son of a bitch!” I screamed, as my welted body ached in pain.
This is it.
Time to fight.
I’m a motherfucking Knight, only Satan can drag my ass to hell.
Someone jumped into the back of the van with me, grabbing my arms and dragged them, tied at the wrists, across the floor.
“I will kill you, after I kill the woman who bore your pathetic ass,” I hissed.
He shouted something in Chinese and then another voice replied in, surprise, surprise… Chinese! I was never eating Lo Mein again.
The van took off, speeding, and I felt the air wash over my naked body, figuring the door to the van was open. They shouted some more bullshit I didn’t understand and then I heard the familiar sound of gunfire.
Music to my ears.
Then my body was thrown from the van.
What a fucking way to go.
“Shit. Riggs!” I heard Bones’ voice over the gunshots starting to die down and the distinct sound of tires screeching against the pavement.
“Holy shit,” Pipe, yelled.
Someone grabbed my body, forcing me to sit up and pulled the bag from my head. I brought my hands up to my face, trying to shield the sunlight that threatened to blind me with my tied hands.
“What happened?” Jack demanded.
“Bulldog, look,” Wolf said, turning my head slightly.
“What?” I asked. “Shit, I have a hole in my head don’t I? Someone untie me!” I shouted, trying to feel for the hole, my hands stilled when I touched my hair—it felt off.
I lifted my eyes to Jack as he crouched down in front of me.
“Who did this to you?” He asked calmly.
“Wu,” I replied. “He knows we took the drugs it’s on camera,” I hissed.
He lifted his eyes to my head again.
“Jack why is my hair missing?” I asked hastily, looking around at my brothers. “Someone tell me what the fuck is going on,” I demanded, before I reached for the pocket knife on Jack’s belt and flipped the blade open. I lifted it to my head and with the eye I could open I tried to see the image reflected in the knife.
Someone decided to give my fine self a new do, and by that, I mean a fucking chop job.
I looked like one of those rappers that shaves his mama’s name onto his head.
Bones held my head, turning it slightly to the right, so I could see what they were gawking at.
There was something I couldn’t make out faded into the hairstyle, something legible if you had two working eyes.
“What’s it say?” I demanded.
“Two hundred and fifty,” Bones whispered.
Wolf turned my head around, inspecting it for anymore messages before glancing back toward Jack.
“They fucking carved a price tag to his head,” he ground out.
That was a bit dramatic even for Wolf.
I ran my hands over my fucked up hair and scowled.
Jack straightened up, running his hands over his face before he turned to Pipe.