Shadow Men – 2 – Rafe and Steele

The two men met a few minutes later in an alley behind the sleazy hotel where their target was holed up.

After checking their respective weapons, Steele asked, "Which room?"

"Four sixteen," Rafe replied as he began to work on the locked backdoor of the hotel. When he got it open he stepped aside to let Steele in, joined him, and they moved quickly and silently up the fire stairs. Upon reaching the fourth floor they paused long enough to get their bearings then moved in tandem to the room they wanted. Rafe tested the door handle and then knelt to deal with the lock. A quiet click told him he succeeded.

Steele swung the door open. He moved his gun right to left, as Rafe did the same from his kneeling position. Dim light from the far window let them see the man in one of the beds as he jerked awake and reached under his pillow. Steele fired, his silenced gun making a small popping sound. The man froze when the bullet whistled by his ear.

"That wasn't a miss," Steele told him softly as he pointed his gun at the man's chest.

Rafe crossed the room quickly and removed the pistol from under the pillow. "Nice. Something to add to our collection," he murmured with a smirk as he stuck it in his waistband.

"You, up," Steele ordered the man.

"Who the hell are you and what do you want?" the man growled as he complied.

"We're the transportation system. Someone wants a few words with you," Steele told him. "Get dressed."

"How much to forget you found me?" the man asked as he picked up a pair of slacks laid out neatly on the other bed.

"You couldn't afford it," Rafe replied with a small chuckle.

"Tell me."

"A mil each."

The man snorted. "Think highly of yourselves, don't you?"

"We'd need that much and more to go into hiding if we let you go," Rafe said seriously.

"Enough with the banter. Finish dressing and let's get on our way," Steele barked out.

The man did. When he was ready he stepped toward the door—and Steele. Suddenly he was a blur of fists and feet as he attacked. Steele countered easily, deftly avoiding the worst of what the man threw at him while Rafe watched with an amused smile on his face. The fight was over almost before it began, the man prone on the floor with Steele's knee in the small of his back.

Rafe stooped to pick up Steele's gun from where it had slid under the desk. Then he handed Steele a pair of cuffs, which immediately went around the man's wrists.

Steele stood, pulled the man up and swung him around. "Got that out of your system now?"

"I had to try," the man replied.

"Can't blame you for that."