Titan Fall - Book 18 of the Damned of the 2/19th

She knew...

Lightning flashed, illuminating the bedroom.

The bed was a four poster bed, angels on the posts. The carvings on the headboard and footboard were ornate, baroque, and lavish. Inlaid with gold.

The comforter was at my feet and I stood and stared as the lightning faded and thunder made the windows rattle.

Blood dripped from my hands, from the soaked through sleeves of my flannel shirt. The brass knuckles on each hand were clotted with blood and gore, the knife sheathed, the pistol loaded and in the holster at the small of my back.

I stood in the darkness, listening  to them breathe.

He had a name. The Russian rat had written it down along with the address.

I didn't care.

His wife lay next to him. Fat. Dripping with jewels even in her sleep. Jewels that had been draped on her while they were still warm from the body heat of their original owners. Her face was cruel even in sleep.

She not only knew what her husband did, she didn't care.

She would.

I moved around the side of the bed as the lightning flashed again.

My mouth was full of the taste of iron and copper. The lizard was busy jumping up and down on a brushed steel plate, trying to force down a creature made up of black goo and mouths that gibbered and screamed in rage.

Thunder rumbled the room less than five seconds later.

The storm was still hammering Olympia/Lacey/Tumwater.

The manor was in Lacey, in the richer section, where new money squatted near the Capitol building to try to influence laws, grease the right palms, to prevent any repercussions for the deeds done in darkness and blood.

The cops were paid off. I knew that.

But I wasn't the cops.

Lightning flashed and I drove a fist into the man's crotch, the heavy brass knuckles crushing flesh.

He sat up, vomiting, and I hit him in the chest hard enough I felt a rib go.

He flopped back down as I climbed on top of him, driving my ass into his gut.

His wife sat up, opening her mouth.

I punched her straight in the triangle of death. Right between the eyes with a right hand line drive.

Bone crunched. One of her eyes bulged out of the socket. She collapsed, pissed the bed, and writhed.

I held the guy's head with one hand, forcing him to watch.

I hit her again, bone crunching again.

She shit the bed and went still.

"She knew how you made your money," I said conversationally.

The guy groaned, staring at me with a combination of fear and hatred.

"I'm here to kill you," I told him. I dug out my pack of cigarettes and lit one, closing my eye till I snapped the lighter shut. I took a drag and looked at him as I tucked away the smokes and the Zippo.

"You're a dead..." he started.

I punched him in the teeth. The brass metal wrapped around my fist shattered enamel, blood and teeth choked him.

"How long it takes depends on you," I told him, taking a deep drag and exhaling smoke.

"My guards..." he started.