CHAPTER 104: BIG GAME

His hands were trembling. His tongue was a leaden weight in his mouth. He could not speak. He could only imagine what Adam would do to him.

"Adam please!" Sophia cried out her voice a little louder this time.

Adam took a deep breath. He plunged his knife into Pablo’s heart. Pablo’s screams stopped instantly. He was finally dead.

Adam pulled his knife from Pablo’s chest and wiped the blood on his own shirt. He turned and looked at Johnny.

Johnny burst into tears. "I’m sorry," he sobbed. "I was wrong. I was a fool. I was so ambitious I wanted to be a part of the big families. I attacked you without thinking. Please forgive me."

His voice was a pathetic whimper.

Adam walked over to him and sat down beside him.

Adam looked down at his bloody knife as if admiring his own handiwork. "I forgive you," he said his voice a flat emotionless monotone that was more terrifying than any shout. "But in return I want you to deliver a message to the big families who are targeting me."

A flicker of desperate hope ignited in Johnny’s eyes. He saw a way out a chance to survive this nightmare. He nodded eagerly his body still trembling.

Adam looked up from his knife his cold dead eyes locking with Johnny’s. "I’m coming for them," he said his voice a chilling promise that hung in the air like a death sentence. "Tell them I will reach their throats soon. And nothing in this world can save them. Their deaths are certain whether they come for me or not."

As soon as the words left his mouth Adam stood up. Johnny did not waste a single moment. He scrambled to his feet and ran for the exit a pathetic whimpering mess disappearing into the night.

Adam went back to the pile of scrap metal and pulled Sophia out from her hiding place. He gently helped her to her feet. He then stripped the clothes off one of the dead mercenaries and changed out of his bloody hospital gown.

Sophia stood beside him in silence her body still trembling uncontrollably. She could not look at him. She could only stare at the carnage around them.

He was about to lead her out of the factory when the night was shattered by the wail of sirens. A fleet of police cars and fire trucks was descending on the factory their flashing lights painting the gruesome scene in strobes of red and blue.

"Go," he said to Sophia his voice a firm command. He pointed her towards a small side exit. "I’ll meet you a few blocks from here. Just run and don’t look back."

Sophia wanted to argue to protest. She did not want to leave him. But she saw the look in his eyes a look of unwavering resolve and knew it was useless. She nodded her face streaked with tears and ran.

Adam did not fear the police. He was beyond fear now. He walked towards the main entrance his combat knife still clutched in his hand his face and hands still covered in the blood of his enemies.

The police commissioner Captain Miles was among the first to arrive. He had been given strict orders not to send any of his officers to this location. But he had come anyway. He saw the smoke pouring from the other building. He saw the carnage inside the factory. And then he saw Adam walk out of the main entrance a demon emerging from the depths of hell.

"Get on the ground!" one of the officers shouted his gun trained on Adam’s chest. "Drop the weapon now or we will fire!"

Adam just smiled a slow cruel smile. He casually wiped the blood from his face with the back of his hand his eyes never leaving the commissioner’s.

The commissioner saw his face and his own eyes widened in recognition and a dawning horror. "Hold your fire!" he roared his voice a desperate command. "No one shoots!"

The other officers were stunned. They looked at their chief then back at the blood-soaked boy. They did not understand.

Adam walked slowly towards the commissioner his steps steady and unhurried. He was in no rush. He was in complete control.

"Everyone leave this boy alone!" the commissioner shouted again his voice filled with an authority that bordered on panic. "Go about your business. Secure the scene. And remember you didn’t see anyone here tonight. Do you understand?"

A few of the younger officers looked at him with questioning expressions. They did not understand why their chief was letting this boy a potential suspect go.

"Do you value your lives?" the commissioner yelled his voice filled with a desperate urgency that finally broke through their confusion. They understood then. This was not a normal situation. This was something else entirely. They backed away leaving Adam and the commissioner alone in the flashing lights of the emergency vehicles.

"I knew you’d come," Adam said as he stood before the commissioner his voice a low mocking whisper. "After all I have a pet dog like you to clean up my crimes."

The commissioner’s face flushed with a deep and impotent rage. "Do you think you’re safe just because I gave an order?" he hissed his hand inching towards the pistol at his hip.

He pulled out his own pistol and pressed it against Adam’s forehead. "I could kill you right here right now," he said his voice a low growl.

But there was no fear in Adam’s eyes. Only a cold amusement. And that worried the commissioner more than anything else. He could not take any official action against Adam. But if he could make him fear him he could still control him. He needed that fear. He needed that leverage.

"What’s the matter?" Adam asked a cruel smile playing on his lips. "You’re not going to shoot?"

"I don’t want to take the law into my own hands," the commissioner stammered his bluff called.

"I left some gifts for you," Adam interrupted his tone dismissive. He turned to leave as if the man holding a gun to his head was of no consequence.

"Don’t worry," he said over his shoulder a final parting shot. "Your turn will come soon."

He walked away calmly and deliberately disappearing into the night. He left the commissioner standing there his gun still raised his hand trembling uncontrollably.

He was a powerful man a man of authority. But in that moment he felt like the most powerless man in the world. He was just a pawn in a game he did not understand a game played by monsters.