TheAngryDoveAndTheAssassin (6 page)

Grey nodded. “You’re right. We should get moving, so we can hit as many of them as possible.”

He started to leave, but stopped and turned to Caley. Wrapping one arm around Caley’s waist, he brought him in for one quick, hard kiss. Then without saying another word, Grey walked out of the room.

Alger let out a low whistle. “You are in so much trouble.”

“Why?” Caley asked, still a little light-headed from the kiss.

“You know how I said Wolves can be territorial about land?”

“Yeah?”

“The same can be said about potential mates, and he just all but marked you.”

For some reason, that didn’t scare Caley at all. Instead, it gave him a heady thrill of excitement.

Chapter Six

They found him at the second bar they went to—Axel, a Weasel shifter who was the biggest…well, weasel in town. Not only did he have a toe in every illegal activity in the area, but he had his oily little nose in every criminal’s business. Which was exactly why Grey wanted to have a little
chat
with him.

The bar, if it could even could be called that, was situated between two shifter-run restaurants. It was as seedy as hell. The floors were warped from years of use and from the various spills of both drinks and bodily fluids. The walls were full of patchwork drywall repairs along with holes that had yet to be repaired. The tables and chairs were all mismatched and looked like garage sale rejects. The bar, which was situated in the front, was nothing more than a worn wood plank with a flickering neon sign behind it. The lone bartender looked like he could eat nails and spit them back out at anyone who dared to mess with him. A handful of waitresses moved around, dodging the hands of the patrons of the bar. More than one of the servers was armed with daggers, which they weren’t afraid to use, going by the fresh bloodstains on the floor.

All-in-all, it was far from the Ritz.

Grey nodded over to Axel. Simon and Toby nodded back to indicate that they saw him, too, and knew what needed to be done. They then entered the door and made their way toward his table.

As soon as the three assassins entered the bar, a hushed fear settled over the place. Everyone in the shifter community recognized the assassin uniform and knew what it meant. They all feared it, too. So to see it coming their way was not a good thing for them.

As they came closer to Axel’s table, it looked for a moment like the Weasel was going to make a run for it. A slight shake of Grey’s head put an end to any of those thoughts. The Weasel let out a resigned sigh and settled into his chair. He then pasted on the most disgusting, oily smile Grey had ever seen.

“Grey! Why it’s been forever since I’ve seen you. And you have Toby and Simon with you, too. How wonderful,” Axel oozed out the charm.

“Can it, Axel. You know we’re not here to talk about the wife and kids. We need some information, and you’re going to give it to us,” Grey snapped.

He took a seat next to Axel, while Toby sat on the other side. Simon sat directly opposite of him. So even if Axel did try to make a break for it, there was nowhere he could go without having to pass an assassin. He was in a position that nobody ever wanted to find themselves in.

Axel spread out his fingers and leaned back in his chair before crossing his legs, looking all comfortable, but Grey could smell the fear oozing off the guy. Axel had thinning hair he wore in an unsuccessful comb-over. His attire for the evening consisted of a powder blue suit that looked like it had come directly off the racks of some consignment shop. Under it he wore a cheap holster with an equally cheap gun strapped to it. In other words, he was trying hard to look the part of a gangster and failing badly. While he might have wanted to look like a Michael, he really was nothing more than a Fredo and never would be. The
Godfather
would have been so disappointed.

“I don’t know what little old me could possibly know that would be of help to you fine gentlemen,” Axel said.

“We’re here to ask you about a Wolf named Rand,” Grey stated firmly.

Axel might have tried to keep his face emotionless, but he failed miserably. Or at least, he did for somebody with Grey’s training. It was only the slightest of twitches, but it was there. Axel knew Rand alright, and he had information on the bastard. Now all Grey had to do was get the Weasel to spill.

“Never heard of him,” Axel said much too quickly.

“Boy, you are really stupid,” Toby said. “Don’t you know I can smell the lie on you? It reeks like shit and pisses me off. Do you know what happens when I get pissed off?”

Axel let out a soft whimper. “I’m not lying.”

Grey slammed his hand on the table. “Toby asked you a question. Do you know what happens when he gets pissed off? Now, answer him.”

Axel began to shake so violently that the table moved. “No, what happens when he gets pissed off?”

Simon tilted his head to the side. “People begin to lose body parts. And Toby, selfish little bastard that he is, doesn’t give them back. He likes to collect them. Personally, I’d prefer if he’d collect something less disgusting like say
Beanie Babies
, but you know how Leopards are. They just love their gore. So we have put up with the stench of rotting flesh. You know how tiresome that is at times. And now you’re going to add to it. Which is going to piss me off. And you don’t want two assassins pissed off at you, do you?”

Axel shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t know anything.”

Simon let out an exaggerated sigh and sank his head. “Okay, I’ll give you ten good reasons why you’re going to tell us everything you know.”

Before Axel could ask what they were, Toby reached out, snatched Axel’s hand, and slammed it palm down on the table. Toby then took out his sharpest dagger and pressed the blade against Axel’s index finger. He didn’t cut all the way through, but he did go deep enough to draw blood.

“Now, are you going to tell us about Rand?” Grey asked in a falsely sweet voice.

The smell of urine filled the air. Simon wrinkled his nose. “Dude, you could have at least waited to do that until we started cutting. It’s a bit premature to lose control, don’t you think?”

“Okay. Okay. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Just don’t cut me up,” Axel pleaded.

“Where is Rand?” Grey asked.

“That, I honestly don’t know,” Axel said. “He keeps moving around. He’s afraid that Chris will send you guys to finish him off.”

“I don’t know if I believe him,” Simon said, before he nodded to Toby.

Toby dug the dagger in deeper, and the blood really began to flow, the crimson fluid dripping on the already dirty table.

“Please! Don’t!” Axel squealed.

“Then give us something we can work with,” Grey said, not feeling sorry for the guy one bit.

“I know where one of their camps is. Maybe Rand is there,” Axel said.

It wasn’t much, but it would have to do for now. Once they got their hands on one of Rand’s men, Toby would be able to convince him to tell them a bit more. Toby was good at that.

“Where? And if I find out that you’re lying to us, Toby here, will be paying you a home visit. Trust me when I say that you don’t want that,” Grey promised.

“It’s at that old State Park a few miles up north from here. You know the one they closed down for lack of funding?”

Yeah, Grey knew exactly what Axel was talking about. It was now a place where the homeless and drug addicts hung out. Or at least they used to. If Rand had indeed taken it over, he’d probably chased them all away.

“Is that all you wanted to know?” Axel asked hopefully.

“Not quite. Rand is using some pretty high-end weapons. Where is he getting them?” Grey asked.

When Axel hesitated, Grey nodded to Toby. Toby made a tsking sound as he dug the blade in deeper. By this point, Axel was in serious danger of losing his finger. Grey really hoped it didn’t come to that because Toby would insist on taking it with him. Simon hadn’t been bullshitting when he’d said that Toby liked to collect gory things. Gotta love having a Leopard in the family.

“If I tell you, I’ll lose more than just a finger,” Axel sniveled.

“If you don’t tell us, I’ll off you,” Toby said. “And I like to play with my prey before I go in for the kill. I’m quirky like that.”

“Oh God.”

“He’s not here to help you. It’s just you and me, Weasel,” Toby said in a dead voice.

It was at times like this Grey was glad Toby was on their side. Because while he, Simon, and Tabitha might have some mad skills of their own, they were nothing compared to Toby’s cold-hearted brutality. Simon had been right when he said Toby was a dead man walking. Nothing seemed to touch him emotionally.

“It’s an arms dealer named Thorn. But he’s so big not even you guys can touch him. There’s talk that he even works for the government.”

“Where does he deal out of?” Grey asked.

“Oh, shit. He’s going to know I told you,” Axel sobbed.

“That’s not our problem. We’re not the ones who tried to play with the big boys. That was you,” Simon said. “Now it’s come back to bite you in your sleazy ass. You want us to feel sorry for you? You should have seen what those weapons did to Alpha Chris’s Pack dwelling. There are women and children in there, you fuckhead. So don’t color me sad that your sorry head is now on the chopping block. In fact, count yourself lucky that I don’t just gut you myself right now.”

Grey was shocked by Simon’s passionate speech. He hadn’t realized that Simon was already that attached to the pack in the few short days that they’d been there. He’d known out of all them Simon had wanted to find permanent roots, but he hadn’t realized how much until that moment.

“He deals out of an abandoned warehouse on the Detroit River,” Axel answered.

“Give us an address,” Grey said. “There are dozens of places like that on the river.”

Axel rattled off an address Simon wrote down. Once he was finished, Grey nodded to Toby who moved the dagger away, but not before making a big show of licking the blade clean.

“You know how gross that is?” Simon asked. “It’s a good way to get Weasel cooties.”

“I’m immune to them,” Toby said as he put his blade away.

Axel jerked his hand back and pulled it close to his chest. “I hope you guys are happy. Now I’m going to have to leave town or else they’re going to kill me.”

“Oh no, Axel! We’re going to miss you so much,” Simon declared with mock horror.

“Fuck you,” Axel growled.

“Not even on a dare,” Simon retorted. “My dick would probably rot and fall off.”

Axel got up and all but ran away from the table, leaving behind a puddle of pee and a smaller puddle of blood. The three assassins watched him go before turning to each other.

“So, where do we go first?” Simon asked once they were alone.

“The camp. I want to get what weapons they already have before they have a chance to use them on the pack again. Then we go after the warehouse and blow it sky-high,” Grey said.

Toby smiled. “I like the sound of that plan. You know how I love to make things go boom.”

It took them over an hour to locate the camp. They spent another hour scouting it out, determining how many Wolves were there. Much to Grey’s disappointment, Axel was right about one thing, Rand wasn’t among the inhabitants.

It wasn’t even a good camp. There were a few threadbare tents, but that was all the shelter that Rand had offered his men. A small fire sat in the center and a few Wolves were huddled around it. Some of them were drinking bottles of illegal shifter booze, while a few more were off to the side, fighting with each other. The ground was littered with garbage, leftover deer carcasses, and dirty clothing.

The men were all dressed in even dirtier clothing. Grey’s nose twitched, telling him that none of them had bathed in a good week or so. Not that he was usually judgmental about things like that, but there was a perfectly good clean lake several yards away, for cripe’s sake.

Grey nodded to Simon and Toby, and they moved out. They wanted to circle the camp before moving in on it. Grey estimated that the camp had about twenty men in it, so they would have to use stealth as their main weapon.

Since they only needed one man alive, they worked their way in, silently taking out the men who had been assigned to guard the perimeter. Those Wolves were killed before they even had a chance to issue a warning. Hell, they were killed before they were aware that there was a danger coming their way.

Next, the assassins picked off the stragglers, the ones who weren’t huddled around the fire. Grey took out one guy mid-leak. The guy looked over at Grey, opened his mouth to scream, but died before he could get a sound out. Grey wiped his blade clean on the Wolf’s dirty shirt before glancing around for his next victim.

Damn, it was a kid who couldn’t be a day above eighteen. Why in the hell would Rand put a pup that young out in the field? The kid spotted Grey and froze, a look of pure horror on his young face.

Grey knew there was no way he could kill him. He might be an assassin, but he wasn’t heartless. He walked over to the kid and applied a firm pinch to the pressure point on his neck. The kid’s eyes rolled up in his head, and he passed out. He would wake up with one hell of a headache, but at least he would still be alive.

Grey stepped over the body and moved inward, looking for his next victim, only to find that all that were left were the six Wolves who were left huddled around the fire. Grey spotted Toby hiding out in the brush directly across from him. He nodded to the Leopard.

Toby lifted his sniper rifle and squeezed off five precise and quick shots. Five of the six Wolves fell forward, dead from bullet wounds in the center of their heads. The one Wolf left began to panic. He picked up his rifle and shot randomly into the woods. His eyes were wide with terror, and even from a distance, Grey could smell his fear. In other words, they had him right where they wanted him.

Toby fired one more time, but this time it was to shoot the rifle out of the Wolf’s hand. The Wolf let out a howl as he brought his injured wrist to his chest. Blood poured from the wound, mixing with the dirt on the ground.