Chapter 96

***Levi.***

***November 27th, 19 years earlier***

*Damn! Detroit was cold at this time of year*. I shivered, clutching my coat.

I tried to distract myself from mum eating alone this thanksgiving. It was no use carrying thoughts of her during missions like this. She had pleaded fervently, when I packed up my bags to go on this trip, hours ago. But I had left. No valid explanation.

I missed the old us.

"Someone's coming." Black Pea's usually hoarse voice filtered into my thoughts. Immediately, we took cover behind a ship. We were in the docks. Our eyes alert, assessing the approaching figure. The air smelled of water and fish. Three men approached, one who matched the description of the contact we were to meet.

"That's the guy." Black Pea pointed out.

This was the first time we were alone, since Freddy's death. The entire drive to Detroit had been awkward and I found myself inwardly wondering the reason Rowan had paired us for the mission.

"For what it's worth, am sorry about Freddy's death." I was quiet.

There was no visible reaction from him. He only maintained his gaze on the approaching men.

Just before the men reached us, he said. "First rule of being cold hearted, never ever apologize." Then he went towards the men.

We were to make a drop of ice with them and they were to pay us.

I had done this countless times, since I got my new alias and tattoo. However, this was my first time doing it away from home. I shivered nervously inside. But I tried to keep myself in check. Miles from home, with a guy that held a grudge against me and three strangers. I looked at the picture of the Blessed Virgin in my arm and prayed that her virginal mantle covered me.

Coming out to join them, I tried to keep a stoic face; watching them silently as they dealt. I didn't take the ice since I joined them. I usually watched the others get wasted on it. I loved my senses in order, because I hated been caught unguarded.

Black Pea asked for the ice and I pulled the pack out of my backpack, handing it to him. The men barely spared me a look. They just focused on Black Pea.

When we finished, they moved away in a different direction from the way they came. I slipped the dough in my bag, waiting for Black Pea to make the usual call to update Rowan. Rather he pulled out a cigarette and lit one each for the both of us. I took it, nonetheless.

"You know that night the police came to carry most of us because of the death of those business men, I wanted to snitch on you." Black Pea revealed.

His face expressionless. I stilled, the lit cigarette burning in my mouth.

The cops had seen footages of me delivering Rowan's pizza to each of the men, shortly before their abduction. And they had stormed Rowan's Pizza hut. A front he used as cover. We had each been questioned and there had been no evidence to hold us down. Each man had been found dead in front of their luxurious gates. Their eyes gouged out. Bled to death.

Mum had been devastated, when she had been called into the station and her cries had broken me. But I was now committed to them and could never back down. This world had now become my identity.

Taking the cigarette from the mouth, I stubbed it beneath my foot. My body shook with rage at the bitterness from Black Pea.

Choosing indifference, I shrugged.

"You should have. At least you would have had a clean conscience." I glared at him.

A menacing smile replaced his distant look. He nodded his head and pulled his phone out of his pocket. I watched him for a few seconds, before I turned my back on him. Slinging my back pack and pulling out a cigarette, I lit it.

*Dock!* I heard Mum's silent voice. But I ignored it and dragged on the smoke.

Bang! Bang!

A searing pain shot through my left shoulder. Burning. Agonizing. Sending me straight to the dirt covered ground. I tried to lift myself off the floor, to pick my gun from my back pocket. But it was no use. The pain sliced through me. I cried. Breathless. I shifted, dragging myself to a sitting position with my right arm. My eyes came face to face with Black Pea's gun. But I was already growing dizzy.

Anger and pain flared in me, my eyes shut. I tried reaching a shaky hand to stem the bleeding, but it was pointless.

"You shoot like a girl." I spat, panting. He smirked. A devilish gleam in his eyes.

"Then you wouldn't mind being fucked by me right." He drew closer, that awful grin on his face.

I wanted to shoot him. But I was already losing blood so bad. As he pointed the gun to my forehead, my eyes already dim, I thought of something that I knew would drag his attention from me.

Summoning my last ounce of sense, before I succumbed to unconsciousness. I pulled my lighter and set my bag with the money in it on fire. The bag caught fire quicker than we both thought and soon we heard someone blowing a whistle nearby. Black Pea bolted as fast as lightening. And I instantly pulled my gun from my pocket, flinging it far into the bushes. I hoped it was far.

The exertion of that exercise suddenly drained me and I felt myself slipping. Cold seeping into me. My arms weak. I succumbed to the dimness.

Everything grew dark. The sounds of feet thudding in the background, like a distant memory.

"SonnyKid! Kid! Wake up!" I faintly heard a man call. Another voice alarmed, said.

"He's bled bad. Let's take him to the hospital before he dies. The wound is deep."

*Black Out.*