“I’d hardly say you had me all to yourself, Danny Boy,” I say, scoffing. “Looks like you’re sharing me out with all your boyfriends. What say you send them all away and we settle this like gentlemen, yeah?”
In an instant, his expression darkens and his face changes to one of pure evil. He lunges forward with lightning speed, producing a knife from behind him as he does. He takes me by surprise — I didn’t expect him to be capable of such speed and precision. He grabs Chambers by her arm and drags her toward him. He pulls her close to him, turning her so he has her pinned with her back against him. He moves the knife to her throat and presses the sharp metal against her flesh.
“Fuck you, Adrian!” he says, practically spitting the words at me. “You’re going to suffer, and you’re going to watch everyone die before I end you! You took everything from me, and now you will feel the full extent of my wrath!”
I instinctively take a step back, dropping into a loose fighting stance. I’m unarmed and surrounded by eight men who aren’t… Not exactly the best situation I’ve ever been in… My mind quickly flashes back to my first morning in San Francisco, when the FBI had put me in the exact same situation in front of City Hall.
I look at Chambers, who’s seemingly put her opinions of me to one side and is staring at me with frightening, pleading eyes.
Ironically, the closest thing I have to an ally right now is an FBI agent. How far I’ve come…
“Danny, let her go!” I urge, trying to subdue the desperation creeping into my voice. I’m no stranger to bad circumstances, but the last few days have been a particularly shitty run of luck. I need to catch a break and turn this whole thing around.
I realize how dependent I actually am on Josh and his ability to give me information that can save my ass. I’ve not been doing so great without him. He better pull through or I’m screwed!
“What do you care about one more victim?” hisses Pellaggio, as he presses the blade harder against Chambers’ throat. “You’re Adrian Hell — master assassin! You’ve got more blood on your hands than anyone here. How can you plead for someone’s life, when you’ve taken so many yourself? What gives you the right?”
“Hey, I only take contracts to kill people who deserve it,” I say, defending myself. “Bad people who’ve done bad things. You know, like your old man?”
Rage erupts in his eyes and he points the knife at me, giving Chambers a moment’s reprieve.
“You don’t get to say his name!” he bellows.
Jesus, this guy’s losing it. It’s almost like he has a split personality. He can flip and go from zero to crazy in a heartbeat. I need to be careful… I might have underestimated exactly how pissed off Pellaggio is.
“Fair enough,” I say, raising my hands defensively. “Let’s talk about your name. Why call yourself The Shark?”
Pellaggio visibly calms down and his chest swells a little with pride.
“Because the shark is a beast… a predator… that’s been honed to genetic perfection through evolution,” he explains. “It’s immune to all known diseases, it smells blood from miles away and it strikes without conscience or fear. It’s nature’s ultimate killer!”
“Fuck me, you’re insane! It was definitely a mistake not going back to finish you off when I had the chance… I would’ve been doing the world a favor.”
Before Pellaggio can react, a voice shouts from the back of the warehouse, echoing around.
“Danny, stop playing with him. You’re wasting time.”
The voice is calm and calculated. The outline of a figure emerges from the plywood office area at the back. There isn’t much light coming from back there, so I can’t make out their features, but the voice sounds oddly familiar.
Pellaggio smiles and turns to greet the silhouetted figure as they approach. The light is slowly washing over them, revealing them piece by piece from the ground up. I see a nice suit, light gray. Shiny black shoes…
Before the light reveals their face, I feel a sharp explosion of pain in the back of my—
17
“Hello, Adrian.”
I open my eyes slowly. The bright light forces me to squint, so I close them again. I frown as I feel the dull ache throbbing at the base of my skull.
Okay, I’ll leave the eyes for a moment.
How long have I been out?
I’ll try moving instead… I twist my shoulders, but feel my arms bound together behind me at the wrists.
Shit.
I try to stand, but my legs are tied to whatever I’m sitting on at the ankles.
Double shit.
Fine… let’s try the eyes again.
I open them slowly, letting them gradually adjust to the light.
“Wakey, wakey, Adrian,” says the voice.
There’s that voice again… who is that? I recognize it from somewhere…
I blink rapidly to clear the last of the fuzz and look around. The first thing I see is Jimmy Manhattan sitting in front of me, perched on the end of a desk.
And… triple shit!
I knew I recognized the voice. Great…
I frown again as I try to process the fact he’s here and figure out why. I look around the rest of the room. I’m guessing I’m in one of the makeshift offices at the back of the warehouse. The space is small — no bigger than fifteen square feet. The door must be behind me, because I can’t see it from where I am.
I look down and see I’m sitting on an old, wooden chair in the center of the room. In front of me is a desk — the surface of which is clear, except for Manhattan who’s sitting on it staring at me.
Jimmy fucking Manhattan.
He’s the last person I expected to see again, although the more I think about it, it does explain a lot — namely, Pellaggio’s bankroll and the intricate planning of his attacks.
“What the hell are you doing here?” I manage to ask.
“I’m helping young Daniel get revenge for the death of his family,” he replies, matter-of-factly.
“Ah, okay… So what are you really doing here?”
He smiles, like he didn’t really expect me to buy his first answer.
“I’ve always said you were smarter than you look.”
“Not that smart,” I say. “I’ve no idea how you managed to track me down in the first place? I took the San Francisco job on a whim…”
“I know you did,” says Manhattan, flashing a knowing smile across his thin face that doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “I was worried I wasn’t subtle enough at the start, but once your little British friend was out of the picture, I knew you’d have too much going on to notice…”
He lets his words trail off, and my brain starts ticking over.
What does he mean?
My mind’s racing in a thousand different directions at once, and I can’t focus on any one thing. I have to figure out how to get out of here without getting killed — something that seems to be getting harder and harder to do… I’m also worried about Chambers. I have no idea where she is or what’s happening to her.
I take some deep breaths, calming myself.
Focus, Adrian…
They’ve been playing me from the start, setting me up so I’d be right where they wanted me, when they wanted me there. But how?
Wait a minute…
Oh, you sonofabitch…
“The Richard Blake job was a set-up, wasn’t it?” I say, finally.
Manhattan smiles again and nods, remaining silent and letting me come to the conclusions myself.
“There was no gangster,” I continue. “You’re Nathan Tam, aren’t you?”
Nathan Tam… hang on a minute!
“…which is an anagram of Manhattan — goddammit!”
He laughs. “Well done, Adrian. All on your own, too. As I say, I was worried I hadn’t been subtle enough, but it’s all worked out perfectly.”