The morning after I killed Karen, I cautiously left my safe house. Before she died she had told me her accomplice would be waiting for me, but there was nobody in sight as I made my way to my Town Car and headed out of the subway access tunnel where my lair is hidden.
My first stop was Mina's, the bar where I had made my first contact with Karen the night before. Mina and I go way back, it's one of the reasons I meet my clients at her place. When you're conducting my kind of business, it's nice to start off in a place where at least one person's got your back. I was hoping that Mina still had mine. Mina is one of those exotic Asian beauties you see in the movies, but there is nothing even remotely submissive about her.
I couldn't imagine Mina setting me up. She was my first great love, and even though we hadn't worked out, the friendship remained. I even introduced her to her husband, Michael, my best friend. Years later, after Michael was gunned down by some gang banger punk, Mina became the first of my 'darker' clients, the ones who hire me to kill rather than protect. We had a very interesting night exacting our revenge, and our bond should have been unbreakable.
As soon as I slipped my key into the lock, someone yanked the door open and sent me sprawling inside. Someone really big. Someone who thought it would be funny to kick me in the ribs while I was down. No way was I going stand for this crap. As I rolled over, seeming to protect myself from more kicks, I slipped my favorite throwing knife from its hiding place on my belt. I pushed myself up from the floor and let the deadly blade fly. I don't care how big you are, three inches of steel in your eye tends to take all the fight out of you.
As he slumped to the floor, I relieved him of the silenced pistol in his shoulder holster. I'm not usually big on guns, any idiot can kill with a gun, but I recognize their usefulness when unknown numbers of people are actively plotting my demise. I quickly checked the rest of the bar and kitchen areas and, not finding anyone else, started to make my way toward the stairs to Mina's private apartment. I was getting more and more anxious as I climbed the stairs, wondering if Mina was alive, hoping she was okay.
When I reached the top, her door was ajar I could see Mina on her bed. I carefully stepped through the door, felt something wet on my face, and then darkness took me…
I woke up naked, with my hands and feet tied to the bedposts. 'This can't be good' I said.
'It's definitely not good for you', said someone, a female someone I couldn't quite see through the glare of the lamp pointed straight at my face, 'How nice of you to rejoin us'.
'I'd offer to shake hands, but I seem to be all tied up at the moment. How about cutting me loose here?'
'Not just yet, I think. We are here to teach you an object lesson, and make you an offer.'
She pulled the lamp away from my face, and as my eyes adjusted to sudden loss of light, I began to realize just how deeply screwed I was. The woman before me would have been the spitting image of woman I had killed last night, had she lived another twenty years. Same deep red hair, same rock hard body, same gorgeous eyes, just a few more lines around them.
'I believe you met my daughter Lauren last night, Mr. Blades'
My mind raced, if this woman was calling me Blades, then Mina hadn't spilled my true identity. Maybe there was some hope yet. I had to keep Mom talking.
'Lauren, huh? Not Karen? Nice to have a real name to go with a corpse'
'Bastard!' She shrieked, and leapt onto the bed. 'In less than a day you have taken my daughter and my lover from me. You are going to suffer mightily, starting now!'
From her pocket she drew the knife I had used on the man downstairs, apparently the lover, and slashed an angry line across my chest. Lucky for me she didn't know what she was doing. The cut hurt like hell, but wasn't deep enough to do any damage. She got off the bed and disappeared from view. I could hear a kind of rumbling sound, and then she was back, pushing an office chair. As she came around the bed I could see Mina's naked, beaten, bloodied form tied to the chair.
'Now let's see how you like it when your lover dies' she said with an evil grimace.
