Page 61 of Dark Consequences

29

Raphael

Michael and I have a nickname among our allies.

The Twin Grim Reapers

And over time, it became a name our enemies feared.

When we worked together, we moved as one. We know what the other is thinking with just a single look. We were the last thing our enemies saw before we brought death on their heads. And today is no different.

Muted daylight streams in through the warehouse’s dirty windows. The scattered beams highlight the hazy atmosphere of dust and dirt among the maze of towering boxes and pallets, leaving us to move in the shadows like predators hunting our prey, silent and deadly.

Up ahead, a voice drifts, breaking the quiet, and we pause.

“When are they coming to pick up the shipment again?”

I slowly peer around a pile of boxes and count a pair of guards with their backs to us.

Idiots. You should never leave your back defenseless.

“Last time I heard, it was sometime tonight.”

The guard on the right smacks the other’s shoulder. “Hey, that gives us time to sample the product, yeah?”

“I like how you think, man. But I’ve got dibs on that young blonde kid. You know how I’ve got a thing for little girls.”

Fury fills me with their conversation and I don’t need to see Michael’s eyes to know he feels the same. These men are done breathing air now.

Silently, I approach the one on the right from behind, wrap a hand over his mouth, and bury my knife in the side of his neck, killing him instantly. Beside me, Michael is about to do the same to the other guard when he catches sight of me from the corner of his eye.

He turns on me, and I barely dive out of the way in time to miss the bullet he fires in my direction. Michael uses the moment to throw a knife at the man, his aim deadly and true, the blade burying itself in the guard’s neck.

“They’re Triads,” Michael reveals after shoving one of the dead guards over to see his face.

Sure as shit. When I push the other guard over with my shoe and stare down at his face, his Oriental features stand out. “So Xiao’s really behind this, then?”

Before he can say anything back, bullets start flying all around us. Seems the gunshot blew our cover.

Michael joins me behind a tower of crates with a sadistic smile. “Just like that time in Capri, huh?”

“You and I remember that summer in Italy very differently,” I remind him while I reach for my gun and cock it back.

“You have to admit it was fun.”

“We set fire and destroyed half an island.”

“Allegedly,” Michael corrects me. “We allegedly set a fire and destroyed half the island.”

“Because of a dare.”

“It was that or admit to Enzo that I fucked his cousin.”

“But you did fuck his cousin.”

Michael chuckles under his breath. “Exactly. But I wasn’t going to admit that. Even at sixteen, Enzo scared the shit out of me. ”

Rolling my eyes, I count as the bullets start again. When they’re forced to reload, we make our move. Leaving the safety of the wood tower, we each take a side and lay waste to the rat infestation.

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