Chapter Twenty-One

Declan Coyne knew he was in trouble the moment he walked into his building and saw his secretary laying face down at her desk, a small trickle of blood trailing onto the desk from a wound he wasn't quite sure he could see. He approached her cautiously, trying to find his cell phone in his pocket. When he did find it, he pulled it out and dialed the emergency number, but got no signal. He cursed and tried it again, but got the same result as before.

Ever fiber in his being was telling him to run while he still had the chance. Perhaps he could manage to evade his pursuers long enough to get help. Or to at least get a good look at the people, who were now, obviously, out to hurt him.

He didn't move a muscle. He wasn't going to run like some coward. He didn't know how many of them there were or by what means they could use to kill him, but he was going to give them a fight. That much he could assure himself of.

"I don't know why you're here," Declan said into the darkness that consumed the other part of the building, where his office was, "But I'm not going to run away."

To his surprise, a voice answered him back. "That is wise of you, Mr. Coyne. I wouldn't want to make more of a mess than I have to."

"Why? Why are you here?" Declan asked. "If you're going to kill me, shouldn't I at least know why?"

"Are you so sure you're going to die?" The voice in the darkness answered.

After a minute musing, Declan nodded. "Yes. I am pretty sure I'm going to die." He paused and then added, "At least one of us is."

The darkness didn't answer right away. Declan turned slightly to see if he could make out a figure in the darkness but once he turned around, the voice finally replied.

"You took on the case of Clare Diana Edwards. You're going to die because of her."

"Clare?" Declan repeated, bemused. "What is your problem with her? She's as innocent as they come."

A silence followed that statement. Declan waited for a reply, but none came. He reached for something to defend himself with when he felt a rather large arm wrap around his neck and begin to squeeze. He struggled as he heard the reply, "Not as innocent as you think."

Declan fought off the darkness as long as he could.

As the lawyer went limp in his arms, Scorpion released him and let him fall to the floor. He was merely passed out, which Scorpion wanted for the nest stage of his plan. He pulled his gun out of the holster and walked over to the also unconscious secretary. He put the gun to the back of her head and pulled the trigger twice, ensuring that she was dead.

With that, he retrieved the noose from the trash bag and attached it to the ceiling. He put a chair underneath it and situated Declarer's unconscious body into it. When he awoke, he would panic and thus hang himself.

Before leaving, he smeared Declan's hand all over the gun that he'd used and dropped it near the now dead body. It would look, to anyone without an invested interest, like a murder-suicide. In fact, there could be a twist added: Declan, who was known to have an affinity for the women, had cheated on his wife with the secretary. She threatened to tell the wife about the affair, and Declan killed her and out of guilt, killed himself.

It would be spotless.

Content with his work, Scorpion left. As he got into his car, he checked his watch and knew that Kyle would be walking right into the mess he made. He'd probably check to make sure both of them were dead, and would leave prints. After a lengthy trial, he would once again be incarcirated and would need Scorpion's help to get out of it. Effectively making him a life servant to all of Scorpion's causes.

Because all he knew... was that he was getting tired of waiting for Kyle to give him the results he'd been seeking. He had, Scorpion had to admit, done a number on Clare. That wasn't enough. With Declan dead, a new lawyer would need to be found and Scorpion would make sure they got one that would be on his payroll. Basically sentencing Clare Edwards to a female correctional facility.

And that's where the real fun would start.

Scorpion was not a man who laughed often, but as he could see his plan reaching its conclusion, he couldn't help but feel satisfied with what he'd done. He pulled out of the parking lot of the law firm, and continued along his route. As he turned the corner, his iPhone began to ring and he pulled it out. It was a burner number, so knew knew it was Kyle. He must've come across the he'd created. Reluctantly, he answered it. "Yes?"

"I'm not a murderer, Scorpion. I agreed to help you get revenge on Clare Edwards. She is now lying in a hospital bed with possible brain damage. What more revenge do you need? We never agreed to murder. I won't kill the lawyer."

Scorpion lowered his voice menacingly. "I suspected you would betray me, Kyle. I knew you were too weak to do what was required. That's why I already paid Mr. Coyne a visit. I did what I knew you couldn't." He paused, allowing that to sink in. "You agreed to do anything to get out of jail, Kyle. Did you think that, somehow, murder wasn't on that list of anything? You're in need of a lesson of the consequences of crossing me." With that said, he ended the call. Kyle, whom had always been afraid of him and his reputation, would now be scared shitless. He had, to all intents and purposes, crossed him.

It was time for a personal lesson.

Scorpion made the next turn, heading towards Kyle's apartment.