I sat in the back of a black Cadillac Escalade. Contrary to what I had thought earlier, Red Eye had come alone. There was no one else. She had waved her gun at me and led me to her car, taking my entire backpack containing the encrypted hard drive and the laptop.
She was driving.
Red Eye was a woman, yes, but that didn't mean I could use my masculinity to overpower her and unfuck myself from this situation. She looked experienced in her craft—sharp, fit, and highly intelligent.
It would be stupid to try and fight, especially when she had a gun readily accessible. Even when the car stopped at traffic lights, I saw it unwise to jump off the vehicle. The doors were not locked, and she looked unbothered about my presence in the car, which was its own form of threat.
"Don't do anything stupid," she had warned over five times. "You are already in trouble, but be on your best behavior."
I didn't know what she was capable of, which made her even more dangerous. From the looks of it, she knew everything about me.
I was a fucker, not a fighter.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked from the back of the car, hating how small my voice sounded in the spacious cabin.
She looked at me in the rear-view mirror, her dark eyes reflecting a chilling lack of sympathy. "Oh, you've finally found the courage to talk now?"
"You are leaving me no choices but to talk. Silence won't give me any answers," I countered, trying to project some of my Swagger, even while disarmed.
"That's a smart choice. I love talking. It makes the journey shorter," she said, accelerating onto the main highway.
"Where are you taking me?" I asked again.
"You will see when we get there," she said dismissively.
"What do you want from me?" I asked, cutting to the chase.
"Really, motherfucker? So you are gonna pretend as if you don't know why you are a wanted man?"
I leaned back, trying to appear relaxed. "Care to remind me?"
I had to ask. I had no idea why the hell I was being hunted by Big Mom's people.
She smiled—that same cold, unsettling smile. "You missed the drop. You didn't show and went MIA. Nobody skips the drop. Whether you are sick... or you lost your legs, you crawl to the motherfucking spot. No excuses. Even if your dick is stuck inside of a pocket pussy, you drag that thing to the fucking spot. You know how much you've cost us, huh?"
I looked confused.
"We are talking about drugs, Druski. I was supposed to deliver youbricks of coke," she finally revealed, her voice dropping the amusement and going razor sharp. "And you weren't there. You left us exposed, you wasted my time, and you cost Big Mom resources. Now, I'm here to do what I do best: enforcement. I'm taking you to her."
I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second. Drugs. The old Druski wasn't just a virgin; he was a pusher, a mule, and a liability. His failure to show up meant he was perceived as having turned or flipped.
I opened my eyes and looked at Red Eye's reflection. I had to assume she had no idea the original Druski had been replaced.
I could only imagine what this Big Mom was going to do to me. Did she think that I had flipped? I knew what they did with snitches in this part of the country—they disappeared permanently, usually after a very public, bloody warning.
Was I going to be tortured until I died? That wouldn't be a nice way to go. The system hadn't brought me back to life just to let me die in less than two weeks.
Even if I wasn't killed, and they somehow ruled me out of the equation of being a snitch, there was this drugs issue. I hadn't shown up at the supposed drop and it meant that they had lost a mojor deal. There was no way I wasn't going to get away without being punished.
What methods did this gang use for punishment? Did they pluck out nails, cut off fingers like the Yakuza, or pour water whilst you are gagged?
There are many ways to kill a cat.
"Are you going to kill me?" I asked, the desperation finally cracking my cool exterior.
Red Eye looked at me again in the rearview mirror, her eyes devoid of warmth. "That's for the boss to decide, though I will admit that I would love killing you myself for making me look like a fool. Torturing you slowly so that you would wish you never existed..." she said with a cold, almost pleasurable smile.
I shuddered. I began sweating, and chanting a silent prayer. I was afraid to die.
The Escalade continued to speed down the highway, eventually leaving the urban sprawl for industrial zones. Red Eye occasionally glanced back at me, her mouth curving into a cruel smile.
"So you skip out on a drop carrying a hundred thousand dollars worth of Big Mom's product, and where do I find you? Fucking a whore in a two-star motel, Druski," she mocked, shaking her head. "I bet you thought that porn was going to solve all your problems, didn't you? The thought of that is genuinely hilarious."
I said nothing, gripping the leather seat, staring out the window at the passing factories and warehouses. My mind was calculating.
My staminameant I could take a beating, maybe, but even the smallest cut or internal injury could sideline me permanently. My swaggerwas useless right now, unable to charm or intimidate a professional executioner.
I focused on my only defense, searching for an exit story of survival.
The Escalade finally slowed, pulling into a large, enclosed yard guarded by a high chain-link fence topped with razor wire. The yard was cluttered with empty shipping containers and a few idling trucks. The main structure was a massive, windowless building that looked exactly like a warehouse—the kind of place where things were stored and people disappeared.
Red Eye stopped the car near a loading dock door. She turned off the ignition, the sudden silence of the car amplifying the pounding in my ears.
"We're here," she stated, grabbing the suppressed pistol from the center console and tucking it into the waistband of her jeans. She then reached back, yanked the door lock open, and pointed.
"Out. And don't try anything, Druski. There are more eyes on you now than just mine."
I swallowed hard, my fear turning into ice-cold resolve. I opened the door and stepped out onto the damp concrete, my eyes darting around the grim industrial compound.