Chapter Text
The solid thunk of a boot connecting with the bone of a jaw echoed through the room. The sound that followed was one of a body heavily hitting the ground. There was no other noise, not a single grunt of pain or protest.
"Stay down," snapped the woman, her braid of red hair swinging in her back as she set her foot back down on the ground. "You're not going anywhere."
The men in the room stared at the scene, some with approving smirks, others with grim looks.
"Looks like the second-in-command ran," one of them was saying into his phone. He was tall, dark-skinned, serious and clearly dissatisfied. "Stern's men were trying to protect him and their boss and that's what bought him time. No, she's dead." A pause. "Well, we were planning on keeping a few alive but another one came in and nearly killed them all off, the rest are rather badly injured. He's the only one left in good shape." Another pause. "We're in the left wing. Are you- Yes. Right. "
He hung up and looked over at the other two. "Markus is on the way, he wants to see this for himself."
She muttered something under her breath that sounded disapproving but no one asked her to repeat herself.
"How did he react?" asked the blonde man standing behind her.
"He laughed."
"Oh," chuckled the woman, and she looked down at the killer at her feet with a grin. "You're in trouble."
He stared at her and said nothing. There wasn't even a hint of fear or challenge in his dark eyes, just placid expectation as blood trickled down his nose and lips. Dirt and red scuff marks littered his pale face but he didn't look in pain.
"North, watch him. Simon, make sure law enforcement hasn't been alerted. I'll put someone in charge of the clean-up."
"Sure thing," answered Simon as he took out his phone.
"He's handcuffed, Josh," stated North like he was being stupid.
"Yes, but he's also the most dangerous of Blue Delta's men we've come across tonight. Let's not leave anything up to chance."
The killer's apprehending gaze silently flickered over to him. He didn't talk, and Josh didn't have any time to lose on another one of his boss' soon-to-be chew toys when it was this unyielding. Getting someone to speak when it was needed was more North's specialty. Josh spun around and quickly looked over the rest of the group members, singling out those who would need medical attention and ordering those who were still fit for combat to check the place for anything useful, evidence that would be left behind or surviving subordinates from the Blue Delta group that could be still lurking around the building. Then he stepped away from the room to expedite a call to their cleaners and went to walk back inside at the exact same time his boss showed up.
Markus Manfred wore a bronze suit which wasn't the slightest bit out of order since Josh had last seen him just before they'd launched the raid, and the only notable change was that the man's lustrous shoes were now stained with blood splatters. The man wasn't ever one to go unnoticed, even though they'd all asked him time and time again to dress accordingly given how important it was that they went unnoticed until the very last second for operations like this one. The result was that they always had to hit fast and hard.
Markus smiled warmly at Josh and the latter let him pass through the doorway first with a small nod. The hand that then laid on Josh's shoulder was as friendly as it was threatening, and once they were in the room Markus told his people in a voice he never needed to raise to get heard: "Good job out here, except for letting Kamski go. What's your excuse?"
"He escaped before we even got to Stern," North said. "Looks like he was ready to jump ship, he might've been told about the raid."
"And Stern wasn't?" questioned Markus.
"No idea, but at least she was there."
Markus' gaze soon landed on the man kneeling next to North and his oddly colored eyes glittered with curiosity. His obvious interest alleviated some of the tension in the place.
"Let's see what you caught."
"No gunshots were reported by any passerby, but there's a patrol car due for these parts in half an hour," Simon intervened, cautious as always. "We can't stay here for long."
Markus just nodded and approached Amanda Stern's henchman in long, even strides.
"Markus," Simon insisted. "Let's relocate before they find us."
"Who, the thirty-one officers I've got in my pocket? Relax, Simon. I made a call, the patrol car will be taking a different route today." Markus stood in front of the man and grinned. "We can have some fun."
"Markus," quietly spoke the man for the first time. He looked wary now in a way an animal had of gauging whether it was safer to stay still or attack.
"In the flesh!" jovially said Markus. "Connor, is it? I had a feeling it was going to be you Josh was talking about. Taking out my men left and right, I gotta say, you're good at sniffing out traitors. I've had my eye on you for a while." Markus crouched at his level. "And now here you are, like a dog left on the side of the road."
Connor narrowed his eyes at him.
"Oh?" Markus smirked. "Think your owner will be back soon?"
"You're nothing to the Blue Delta group," Connor clearly enunciated, spite in every word. "Just a cocky upstart. They'll crush you."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"Why should I care? I won't be there to see it."
Markus lifted an an eyebrow. "Didn't you hear what I said? I've had my eye on you for a while."
"Do you expect me to shift loyalties for a handful of pretty words?" retorted the other. "We both know you can't let me live."
"Look around you, Connor, your home is destroyed. There's nothing left for you here. Kamski abandoned you and he's not coming back," Markus said in a soft voice dripping with faux solicitude. "How long have you been Amanda's? Ten years? More, right, I remember hearing that you've always been by her side. Don't you know a pet can't survive when it's left out in the wild? You should let me take you in."
"So this is what the head of Jericho does to widen his ranks, waste his time coming up with tasteless metaphors in hopes that they'll be convincing enough to recruit," coldly said Connor. "Ridiculous."
"Oh, so you'd rather die then betray your group even now that your boss is dead," Markus said, fakely impressed. "How courageous of you. How stupidly proud. Utterly pointless, if you ask me. You do know the goal of the game is to survive?"
"This isn't a game." The last word sounded like an insult in Connor's mouth.
Markus leaned on the side with his chin in his hand. "You're a grumpy one, aren't you. I bet fun isn't even part of your vocabulary. Do you at least enjoy slashing throats?"
North scoffed. "We're not all psychos here."
Markus flashed her a grin and then focused back on Connor. "From the sound of it you didn't hesitate before killing your own people, so maybe bullets are more your thing."
Connor stared at him like Markus was more of an annoyance than a threat, and just said: "No one will talk now."
"Not even you?"
Connor lifted his chin. "Least of all myself."
Markus kept the same pensive pose. "What you know isn't that important. We didn't need you to find this place, we won't need you to find her second-in-command when he's on the run and his group is this weakened." He chuckled, sounding amused. "It's funny that you think he'll crush me. What, are you imagining a sequel to this? The Return of the Stern? I like your sense of humor."
Irritation became more obvious on the other man's face. "I see nothing is serious to you. You'll lead your people to their death with that kind of behaviour."
"Your people are the ones littering this place with dead bodies, professionalism sure didn't save them," pointed out Markus.
Connor's jaw clenched.
Markus smiled and he let his hand fall in his lap as he leaned forward. "You're fun to talk to. Grumpy ones are so easy to annoy."
"Are you trying to bore me to death?"
Markus' smile widened. "Oh, no, that's definitely not the way I'd like to see you go. I wonder in what ways you made yourself useful to Amanda? I've heard murder this, murder that, I know you were her bodyguard and one of the higher ranking members of her group. Is that all?"
"Fuck off," Connor said. There wasn't any heat behind it, he just sounded done.
Markus's gaze sharpened dangerously, but then it started to follow the slow trickle of blood down Connor's lips and the way it steadily dripped from his chin to the floor. He was distracted, fascinated as he often was when faced with the sight of this particular fluid. Then he reached out to slowly smear the red across Connor's face with a hungry expression. Before North had the time to roll her eyes at Markus' odd but well-known fixation or either Simon or Josh to think that this behavior decidedly never got less creepy, Connor jerked into action. Brown eyes glinted with sudden hatred, teeth flashed and sank in Markus' hand in a second. North's features twisted in anger and she kicked Connor across the face again as Markus jerked back in surprise.
This time North stomped her black boot down on Connor's head and leaned forward, hissing: "You wanna die?"
A broad smile spread across Markus' face and he let out a laugh. "Careful, it bites!"
Connor glared at him from beneath North's boot.
"Did you bite your old master too?" prodded Markus.
The other man remained silent, his body tense as it was forced into this vulnerable position. Markus gestured at North to remove her foot and she reluctantly obeyed. Connor immediately lifted his head off the ground and straightened, blood matting the hair on the side of his head. Resentment sharpened his fine features and he didn't look like he'd learnt his lesson at all.
"Prideful, are we?" said Markus with a smile. "Very nice."
Josh knew what it sounded like when Markus had made up his mind. "Shall we move out?"
Markus got back to his feet, cast one last glance in Connor's direction and then turned to his men. "Yeah, let's go. North, you know what to do."
"Stand up," she ordered Connor.
His defiance faded slightly once Markus had stepped away but he still looked irritated and it made North smirk to notice it. Of course Markus had managed to get under this guy's skin, their boss had the weird power of knowing how to rub anyone the wrong way.
"Are you deaf? I told you to get up," she loudly said when he didn't comply, and she fisted the back of his bloody collar to heft him up. He went with it.
"Are you finally going to kill me?" he asked her.
"Markus has other plans for you."
"I won't join your ranks."
"He doesn't care. Grit your teeth."
It was fortunate that Connor was already very tense and his jaw clenched as a result, because he didn't have time to understand what she meant before North's gloved fist hit him square in the chin with such speed that his head snapped back and the world instantly went black.