Primacy of Darkness Read Free Page B

pain. With another cry of rage, he tore the electrodes from his body and cast them aside.
    Blinking away the scintillating motes of light, he took an unsteady step toward what was supposed to be an easy meal. Trinh’s hand was in motion, twirling something over her head he could not quite make out. Her arm flashed forward. He raised a hand to shield his face. A cable whipped around his wrist and bit into his flesh.
    Steven tried to grab the weighted end of the cable, but it was wrapped around itself, and Trinh was not going to give him the chance to free himself. She jerked on the cable to prevent him from gaining a hold on it, before clipping it onto a dumpster with the large carabiner attached to the end. Steven roared and lunged at her, but she rolled away. Steven collided with the dumpster with a metallic thud and grabbed for the carabiner attaching him to the steel box.
    Dull popping sounds filled the alley and he cried out at the slugs plowing into his body. He blocked out the pain as best he could and charged. Trinh backpedaled as she continued to fire round after round into Steven’s body from her silenced pistol. Instead of stopping him, the shots seemed to fuel Steven’s rage. He reached the end of his tether. The cord jerked his arm back and cut deep into his flesh, but he punched forward, dragging the dumpster squealing after him.
    Trinh lowered her aim and shot at his knees. One round struck him in the kneecap before the weapon’s slide locked back on the empty magazine.
    Steven’s leg buckled. “You bitch, I’ll kill you!”
    “Trinh!” Carol shouted from the end of the alley.
    She raced forward with something gripped in her hand. She tossed it at Trinh when she got close. Trinh caught the sword, drew it from the scabbard in a single, fluid motion, and pressed the blade to the back of Steven’s neck.
    “Your killing days are over, Steven,” Trinh said without emotion. “Do something helpful in the last few seconds of your parasitic life.”
    “Go to hell, bitch!”
    “I have been there and back again.”
    “What do you want?”
    “Leonard Malone.”
    Steven looked up, his face a mix of confusion. “Leo?”
    “You know this thing?”
    “Everyone knows Leo, or at least knows of him.”
    “Tell me where I can find him, and maybe I will let you live.”
    Steven shook his head. “You are going to kill me no matter what I say.”
    “Maybe you can find some redemption in whatever awaits you.”
    “It doesn’t matter. I don’t know him. I don’t know how to find him, but I hope you do.” Steven laughed. “I hope you find him and he cuts your goddam head off. You have no idea what you are hunting.”
    “You are wrong, Steven. I know exactly what he is.”
    Trinh’s jian flashed, and Steven’s head dropped to the street with a dull thud. She wiped the blade clean on Steven’s trousers before sheathing it. Trinh turned, wrapped her arm around Carol’s waist, and walked her out of the alley.
    “One less monster in the world.”
    “But he wasn’t the one.”
    “No, but I’m getting close. He’s in this city and I will make him pay for what he has done.”

 
    CHAPTER 4
    Castillo ran her finger across the name etched into the polished stone. Juan Castillo, the uncle she never met but felt as close to as any member of her family. Her father had set a place for him at the table every family holiday, even going so far as to wrap a present for him on Christmas, despite the fact that he had died in Vietnam years before she was born.
    Her father was already enrolled in the NYC police academy when the draft orders went out. He very nearly dropped out to go with his brother to that hellish place, but her abuela had threatened to break his legs if he did. Even that threat did not deter him. Juan promised to put him in a coma if he tried to follow him to war. It was not until he and his brother got in a fistfight the day Juan was to board the bus to Ft. Benning, Georgia, that her father finally