The Hunter's Prey

Chapter 9- Death in the unexpected

     ROWAN HUNTER - The Angel's Darkness

I dug behind my blazer and pulled out my father's old revolver, my finger resting on the trigger as I inched toward the cabin. I nudged my head leftward, signaling Raymond and Atlas to head toward the entrance while I searched the back. Whoever had barged in must have killed at least one of my men, perhaps all of them before we even arrived, but still... whoever it was couldn't be too far off.

My eyes razed around the back of the building for signs of intruders and forceful entry, there was nothing. No broken or open windows, no marks or damaged handles, and no loose screws or warping frames. I paced toward the entrance, slowing down as soon as I sighted both men pointing the gun in the direction of the front door.

"Did you see anything?" I approached them.

Atlas ran his hand through his long Viking blonde hair as he shook his head "No sir." He muttered, a sigh of slight relief making it across his features. "No one broke in. The shot came from within the cabin."

I wondered why Atlas looked relieved, if anything he should be even more agitated than he was before, after all, I had only left my most trusted men in there: Cal, Lorenzo, Kole, Luis, Stevens, and that dweeb Julian... Of all six men in that cabin, there was only one gunshot, I had no clue who could have shot him or why, but if I had to guess who the bullet went through...

Someone fucking killed Julian.

        Julian was an idiot, but after he very generously assisted in finding Cassie, I had intended to spare his life so long as he brought me Kyle's head on a silver fucking platter, but now the fucker was dead.

One of the men in there had killed him, and I was more than willing to bet my right arm that whoever it was was the bastard that told my business to Ian.

        I lowered my gun, knowing my brooding annoyance was a serious hazard for my retired set of trigger-happy fingers, I feared for myself, almost as much as I feared for whoever dared to sell me out and kill my own captive without my approval.

       Raymond and Atlas began to creep in, their guns firmly pressed between their hands as they strategically angled themselves against the walls by the entrance before simultaneously kicking down the large wooden aperture and bursting into the room.

     I strolled tiredly behind them, hardly seeing a point in the theatrics now.

    Julian was already dead, and since the cabin had been awfully silent after the gunshot, it either meant there was an ambush waiting or that everyone in there was dead as well. Seeing as it would be a hell of an inconvenient time for me to have to deal with an ambush, I really just hoped for the latter... one of them was a rat anyway.

       I shoved the revolver into the back of my pants as I paced calmly into the room, my brow cocking as my gaze waned across the commotion on the cabin floors. As I suspected, everyone was dead... Julian, shot right in the forehead, Lorenzo in the stomach and temple, Kole between his eyes, Luis in the chest... and Stevens and Cal... were nowhere to be found.

       The entirety of the room looked like it'd been thrown into chaos, there were conspicuous splatters of blood on the walls, blood pooling out of the gaping holes in which they'd been shot, the tables, the mantle, the chairs, the rifle my father hung on the wall for his weekend hunting... everything was upside down.