Deleted Scene - Quiet Chaos

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Quiet Chaos - Deleted Scene - Unedited

Catch and Release

Mecca

The date was set and after several short phone conversations between me and my future husband, I would be married within a week. A June wedding was usually the most sought after time of year by most brides, but for me it didn’t matter the date or time as long as the knot was tied.

“Tie him up and throw his ass in the back,” I shouted to the two officers that were nice enough to lend me a helping hand. I couldn’t even think about my wedding properly for motherfuckers acting up.

Once the men had the rat-with-no-tail, bound, gagged, and tossed into the back of the van, I stood between the open back doors and cast a deadly glare down at him. My gaze sat on his and remained until the intense heat blazing in mine mingled with the fear in his.

“You dirty fucking diseased rat. Your snitching got two of my men killed.” I spat my words at him. The officers had tossed him on the dirty metal floor of the van like he was nothing more than a leaking bag of stinking trash.

His irritating groans and muffled pleas were going to drive me nuts, but it was nothing compared to having him running around snitching to cops. He gagged, choking on the dirty rag stuffed in his mouth while he struggled to break free with a series of sharp jerks.

I had recorded proof of the conversations he’d been having with is handler. “You’ve been a CI for a while now haven’t you?” I asked, knowing he couldn’t answer.

Instead of a finger, it was HB I pointed and shook at him. “It took me a lot of planning and time to figure out the right angle to catch you and the asshole cop thinking he was going to make a case against the Black Saints, but I got you. When you get to hell, say hello to your cop friend for me.”

I lifted HB to my lips and kissed the metal tip before I winked at the squirming man, hinting at what had happened to the cop he had been snitching to. My actions and devious smirk caused his fear-drenched expression to turn into one of shear horror before his groans grew more intense.

I slammed the doors shut on the rat before stepping away. The officer’s scanning eyes locked on me and their wide unbending smiles deepened as they leaned on the hood of their car and watched me. On my way to the front of the van, I waved at them before climbing into the driver’s seat.

“Thank you for the delivery officers. Have a good day,” I called back through my open window. They knew not to ask me any questions. Catch and release was how I had trained the officers I dealt with.

“You do the same ma’am,” the tall dark-haired one replied while the short muscular one waved.

I swiped my phone and hit Zelda’s number while the man’s muffled groans flowed into my ear. Zelda was appropriately nicknamed, ‘The Undertaker.’ Whenever I needed a body gone, she was my ace. She worked at the Coroner’s office, so she had all the secrets on how to make a body disappear, forever.

“Hey Z. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes. Are you ready for me?”

“You know I got you,” she replied. Zelda’s job dealt in death, but she always had a hint of cheer in her tone. When I’d gotten the call that the cheese I’d spread around the streets had snagged one of the rats I’d been trying to catch, she was the first person I called. She’d had the keys to one of their transport vans and a set of her work scrubs waiting for me, knowing what was about to go down.

“Thanks Z. I’ll see you in a little bit,” I replied before hanging up.

In this business, there was always problems to solve, rats sniffing around, and lazy motherfuckers that wanted quick money without laying the groundwork to earn it. I didn’t tolerate any of it and didn’t care about getting my hands dirty.

The top of the hospital appeared, peaking around other buildings as if to say, “Here I am, bring me that rat you’re carrying.”

Slowing my approach into the parking lot, I eased my foot off the gas. I knew where to turn and what isles to drive down to reach the back of the hospital without being spotted on cameras.

When I turned the van and backed into the loading dock, Zelda stood atop a thick slab of concrete waiting for me with a gurney. Once the back of the van was aligned securely into the nook of the building, all activity of what was coming from the van was hidden from prying eyes.

I hopped out and entered the door she had left open for me. Once I approached, she drew me into a warm hug before I cracked the back door of the van open.

“Dammit Mecca,” she said, rolling her eyes at me. “You know I don’t like it when you bring them in all hopeful and still fighting for their lives and shit.”

I fought the smile inching across my lips, knowing she hated me showing up with live rats. I bet she wanted that warm hug she’d just given me back.

“I know you don’t like seeing them like this, but sometimes situational awareness comes into play, and I have to take them as I get them. Besides, I wasn’t going to kill him in front of two cops, no matter how dirty they are,” I said before I lifted HB, screwed on the silencer, and aimed at the frantic man’s head.

“Shit. Hold up,” she whispered harshly before turning her back. “I don’t know how you can look them in the eyes and do it.”

Frantic movements, strained groans, and desperate eyes were what met me, but I felt nothing at seeing the man beg for his life.

Tap! Tap!

The blood and brain matter that seeped from is skull wouldn’t be questioned as the corner’s van, a mobile casket, provided the perfect cover for fresh death.

Zelda reached for the legs of the gurney on her side, and I took them on my side. Once we had it aligned with the van, she glanced down at the man shaking her head, but not showing sorrow.

She wasn’t going to asked what he had done or why I’d killed him. She never did. She’d grown up in the same streets as me, knew the code, knew that he’d had a stack of street violations on his head if he was coming to her.

One of the wheels on the gurney missed, making a knocking sound as we rolled it. The mirrored walls up ahead gave me a picture of how we looked. We blended in, two hospital employee’s rolling a dead body.

My gaze ran the length of the white sheet before I reached across the body and handed Zelda the keys to the van.

“Let’s do this again sometime. Our girl time just doesn’t last long enough.” My stupid comment made her laugh despite the man we were rolling towards the incinerator leaking his head contents.

“See you later and be careful out there. I know that they are itching to test you since your uncle left you in charge.”

“I keep my ears to those streets, but I will be careful.”

One last wave and we separated at the fork that would lead her to the incinerator and me back to the main lobby of the hospital.

One rat down, but how many more was there to go?

***End of Deleted Scene***