Unexpected Family - A Cold Killer’s Warm Heart

Craig

THE HOUSE WASN'T MUCH to look at. Weathered gray boards, cracked windows, tattered curtains, surrounded by golden waves of grain rippling in the late summer breeze. A person driving past might easily mistake it for abandoned, with the weeds growing through the sunken wooden porch and the rusted out vehicles in the backyard.

But Craig knew better.

He'd parked on the road, wary of the occupants hearing his engine and getting wise to the fact that their hideout was made. There hadn't been a whisper from inside the rundown building as Craig stalked up to the front door in his black suit and shades.

Because Craig knew the house wasn't abandoned, he knew the quiet was the artificial kind. It was the kind of quiet you got when rats were hiding under the floorboards, holding their breath and hoping not to get caught. Either they'd been tipped off, or more likely someone had spotted him as he'd pulled up in the van.

It didn't really matter. There was nothing the occupants of the house could do to save themselves now that he'd found them. The Boss wasn't known in New Justice City for his mercy toward traitors, and Craig, as the long arm of undercity law, wasn't known for his gentle touch when meting out the Boss's justice.

He pressed his back against the wall next to the door, removed his shades and slipped them into the inside pocket of his suit jacket. Then he pulled out a silencer and screwed it onto the barrel of his pistol--even out in the boonies, a guy couldn't be too careful in his line of work. He lifted the gun and reached his left hand down to rap on the door.

His knock was answered by a shotgun blast, which ripped the old gray plywood door to pieces where Craig would’ve been standing, sending splinters flying in every direction. Craig didn't flinch. He pulled a small canister off his belt, pulled the pin, and tossed the device through the hole in the door.

© 2024 Nicholas S Fordley (Äänikirja): 9798347856329

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Äänikirja: 8. joulukuuta 2024