Sunken cheeks, waxy skin, dull gray eyes with barely a flicker of light left in them. Silvio looked pale and extremely, pitifully, painfully thin, as if his naturally slender body had been reduced to the point of starvation overnight. I wondered if Benson had fed him some Burn pills or if he’d just used his Air magic to suck out Silvio’s emotions and the majority of his life along with them. Either way, the vamp was a beaten, brittle, broken husk of a man. I’d never seen someone look that close to death and still be standing upright, although the two guards propping him up were helping Silvio with that.
I was a bad guy, I was an assassin, and I killed people, but at least I didn’t torture them before I sent them off this mortal coil.
I might make an exception for Benson, though.
Through my earpiece, I heard Xavier let out a low whistle. “They worked him over good, didn’t they?”
I gave no indication that I’d heard him. Instead, I focused my attention on Benson again.
“Actually, you’re right,” I said, finally answering his question. “I am here to get Silvio back. So if you will be so kind as to send him over to my friends.”
I pointed at the two guards holding Silvio, then over at Bria, Xavier, and Owen. The men shifted on their feet, their eyes flicking back and forth between me and their boss. They didn’t want to disobey Benson, but they didn’t want to tangle with me either.
When it became apparent that they weren’t going to release Silvio, I grinned at them. “Or I can always come get him myself,” I said, flexing my hands into fists. “I haven’t killed anyone yet today, and it’s almost noon. Time to rectify that, don’t you think?”
Benson laughed. “Oh, I’m not giving you Silvio. He’s going to die for betraying me. But I will offer you a deal.”
“And what would that be?”
“Silvio has already admitted that he gave you something of mine. A ledger. Give it back to me, and I’ll make the rest of his death quick and painless. I’ll also let you and your friends leave here alive.”
“Oh?” I said. “You mean that ledger?”
I pointed at Bria, who reached through the open window of her sedan and pulled out the black leather-bound book.
Benson blinked like an owl, but he didn’t say anything.
“Fascinating stuff you have in that little recipe book of yours,” I said. “Although I have to admit that I skimmed over all the drug formulas. Science isn’t really my thing. What I found the most interesting were the names of all your dealers, suppliers, and top-tier clients. Kind of sloppy of you to write all that info down in one place. I imagine your clients would be plenty pissed if all those damning details got out about them.”
“What are you proposing?” Benson snapped, a sharp edge to his voice that hadn’t been there before.
“It’s simple. You turn yourself over to my sister, Detective Coolidge. I’m sure you remember her.”
Bria gave Benson a toothy smile, then tossed the ledger back through the open window and into the sedan.
“You go along with Bria peacefully, since she has more than enough evidence to arrest you now. And when she drags your sorry ass into the police station, you admit to everything—and I do mean everything—involving your drug empire, including Troy’s murder. Max’s too.”
He arched his black eyebrows. “You don’t really expect that to happen, do you?”
I let out a pleased laugh. “Of course not. But I had to give you the chance, which is more than you gave Catalina.”
Benson swept his hand out again. “And why would I agree to any such deal when I can just order my men to kill you where you stand and take what I want?”
The vamps raised their guns. Half of them aimed their weapons at me, while the other half targeted Bria, Xavier, and Owen, still standing by the sedan. Instead of taking cover, I held my hand up and snapped my fingers.
Crack!
A bullet punched through the front windshield of the Bentley and sent the rearview mirror flying. Benson flinched before he could stop himself, while his guards and the crowd ducked and screamed.
“Show-off,” I muttered.
Finn laughed in my ear.
“I wouldn’t suggest a firefight, unless you want your brains painting the street,” I said in a pleasant tone. “I have two very good snipers just itching to kill as many of your men as they can. Before they put a bullet through your skull too.”
All of the guards snapped up their weapons and scanned the surrounding rooftops, but I knew that they wouldn’t spot Finn or Phillip in their snipers’ nest. After several seconds, Benson made another sweeping motion with his hand, and his men slowly lowered their guns.
“What’s your proposal?” he finally asked.
“Why, Beau, isn’t it obvious? The Grim Reaper has come knocking on your door, and I’m here to make sure that he doesn’t go away disappointed.”
27
Benson eyed me, and I could almost see the wheels turning in his mind about how he could wiggle out of this. He was more than happy to strap me down to a chair and pump me full of drugs, but fighting me on equal footing was something else—something that all his calculations, observations, and experiments hadn’t prepared him for. I’d changed the rules of the game by coming here, by openly challenging him, and he didn’t like it—not one little bit.
Too damn bad.
After a few more seconds of silent contemplation, Benson threw back his head and laughed, as if my challenge was some great joke. His dark, evil chuckles rang out through the street, and mutters of unease rippled through the crowd. They knew what Benson was capable of, and they didn’t want any part of it. Couldn’t blame them for that.
But I was ready to end this—and him.
“Ah, come on, Beau,” I said, when his laughter finally died down. “I’m here, you’re here. We’ve even got a crowd to see our heavyweight title bout. Don’t tell me that you’re going to be too chicken-shit to take me up on my offer.”
Instead of waiting for him to laugh at me again, I turned to the people behind me. More of them had gathered while I’d been jawing with Benson, with others walking this way and more cars cruising in this direction.
I threw my hands out wide. “C’mon,” I called out. “Don’t y’all want to see a show?”
Whistles, claps, and screams of approval roared back to me. I faced Benson again, my grin even wider and more predatory than before.