Hitman: Captured | #1 - HIATUS

► Chapter 24

Neil Madden

"Give me one good reason not to kill you right here, right now." Frank threatens in a dark tone, brown eyes glowered distrustfully at the assassin. His body was tense, keeping close to me as he maintained a grip on his weapon.

A frown reaches my lips, "He can't talk."

Mudo glances at me, blue eyes gleam with something I can't put my finger on. It still confuses me as to why he wanted us to meet here, on an empty road, with no one in sight. Keli could be hiding somewhere waiting for us to take the bait on whatever Mudo is offering.

"I know ASL." he informs—catching me by surprise.

The chestnut hair man warily raises his hands, making a series of motions. I can't necessarily see very well except Frank seems to be able to know what he's saying anyway.

Whatever he said has Frank stiffen, peering over to me. "He says he knows where Matt is."

My head snaps to Mudo, "Where is he?"

He shakes his head doing more gestures with his hands again.

Frank sighs, "He doesn't know the location, but he knows the mansion inside out."

Mansion? Danio said that too.

"When was the last time you were there?" I ask.

He lifts three fingers and does more motions.

"Three days ago," my father reveals. "Keli calls him in at random times—once or twice a week and sometimes not at all."

"How do we know you're not setting us up for a trap?" I narrow my eyes, drifting my attention elsewhere in case someone decides to jump out of the shadows and attack us.

Frank translates again. "Keli doesn't know he's here. He just wants to protect someone important to him that Keli has been using to get Mudo to do what he wants. Mudo never wanted to hurt Matt."

"Yeah, sure," I say bitterly. "Totally didn't stab him in the stomach."

Mudo's hands progressed rapidly, looking more like sporadic movements than an actual language.

"He said he didn't have a choice. Keli's men were getting closer and he had to make it look like he failed."

Come to think of it, Matt was holding a gun before I saw a knife sticking out of him. Did he disarm Mudo? Mudo is an assassin, a professional killer and even I know how to not let myself be disarmed by anyone—except my father. This could all be coincidence or Mudo intentionally allowed Matt to have the upper hand.

There are too many things to consider. And it doesn't appear we have much to gain considering he works for Keli. Whether or not Keli is hanging someone's life by a thread to make Mudo do whatever Keli wants, it doesn't change the fact that he may be doing the same thing now.

"Where is he?" Frank asks this time. After a few moments, Frank interprets it again. "In a mansion in the middle of nowhere. It's heavily guarded but he's seen and has communicated with Matt several times. Whenever Keli calls him, he needs to be in a certain location, gets blindfolded, and he estimated it took about two hours for him to get there."

A glimmer of hope washes over me, wishing I can believe he is actually trying to help us get Matt back. Keli has been fucking with us for months, this could just be a setup. "We need proof that Matt is alive," I demand.

The brunette nods, inserting his hand into his pocket under Frank's watchful gaze and hands it over to me. Unable to see the content, my fingers feel the material as I take out my phone to use the flashlight. My eyes widen at the photo of Matt, his dark mane a tangled mess, bags under his eyes and an unhealthy pale skin. In his hands is a newspaper with the date of three days ago.