Hidden Motive - A Hamilton Kane Mystery

Chapter 10

I was on the floor covered in bits and pieces of dust and wall. My ears were ringing and even though I was laying still on the ground, I felt as if I was rocking back and forth on a ship out at sea. Oh crap...Here comes the nausea and...Yeah. I have motion sickness so out came whatever food I had recently eaten.

"Get up, Detective! You need to run!" a panicked voice snapped me out of my confused state as I turned towards its owner. It was the officer who was walking behind us. Us. Suddenly I felt my whole mind slow down as I turned to where Logan had been standing before he pushed me out of the way. I could see nothing there but burning debris and a whole lot of smoke.

"Logan. You stupid idiot!" I felt the tremble in my voice as my eyes blurred from the tears. In that moment, I remembered him slipping something into my hand just before everything went boom. I looked down and saw that I was holding onto the key to his Mustang attached to a bunch of other keys on a weird looking clown keychain.

What the hell, Logan? I thought to myself when I heard the same voice shouting at me even louder.

"Detective Kane! You need to run. NOW!" yelled the officer as he took out his gun from his holster.

I thought it was odd that he wasn't on his feet himself when I realized why. His right leg was pinned by an exhaust vent that had fallen down during the explosion. I quickly got up and tried to go around and see if I could lift it when a shot rang out and missed my head by a hair's breath. I ducked behind the exhaust vent and was reaching for my own gun when the officer grabbed my hand.

"You have to run, Detective. Death is coming for you to get to the King," he said through gritted teeth.

I was stunned at what he said and was about to ask him how'd he know the message that was written on the envelope I found in my apartment. All that thought left my mind when he took out a grenade from his jacket and said, "Run. I will hold him off," as he pulled the pin.

My legs were running even before my mind could process what he was doing. As soon as I exited the garage, the grenade went off and I barely managed to duck under the staircase next to the lift lobby.

What the hell is going on here!? Why would a regular IA officer have a grenade on him? What the hell was he saying about Death oming for me? And who the hell is the King?!

All these questions and so much more were running through my head as I ran up the flight of stairs to get to street level. As soon as I burst out of the side door, I made a bee-line for Logan's Mustang that he had parked a few blocks away despite my lungs feeling like they were going to explode.

Once I was inside, I tried to put the key into the ignition but my hands were shaking so badly I dropped them onto the floor. I bent down to retrieve it when I caught a glimpse of someone sitting in the backseat. I immediately drew my gun and pointed into the person's face only to come face-to-face with Franco.

"You need to drive fast, Signorina. Death is swift and he will not hesitate once he has caught your scent. I will cause a diversion," he said as he calmly exited the backseat.

"Franco! Wait! Who is Death? Why is he after me? How can I escape him?" I blurted out as he seemed to be taking a moment to take in the dawn and inhaled.

"Go to the Foxhole. You'll find someone there with the answers," he replied as he handed me a name card with just an address printed on it and walked towards the direction I had come from. Watching him go, I took in a deep breath to steady myself before I tried to insert the key again.

Whatever the hell is going on, the person I'm meeting had better have a very good explanation for it because all this does not a shred of sense. What on earth had Reggie's team dug up that they triggered this kind of response from someone known as Death. Is that the hired professional assigned to take his team out? What kind of information warrants silencing an entire team of officers? Then, why is he after me now? I'm not even on the team and now I'm on his shit list! Is the King like an informant? Then how is the King connected to me? Who is the King? I needed answers and I need them now.

The Mustang roared to life as I hit the gas and drove west towards the address I had entered into Logan's GPS. Logan. Clarke. Shaw. Rasul. Reggie. Five lives have been snuffed out. That's five lives too many. The Captain can handle the madness back at the station. I'm getting my answers wherever I can find it. Even if I have to crawl into the Foxhole.