Rising (Anderson Special Ops #2) - Melody Anne Page 0,7
He’d obviously had a lot of fights, but never with someone like Smoke. Smoke was seriously bummed he wasn’t going to be able to teach this man a lesson. But that wasn’t the plan — for now.
When Muscleman was a full stride away, Smoke threw his head back, laughing like a hyena for several seconds, before he stopped, then let out a monstrous burp. The sound was enough to stop the forward movement of the men intent on fighting him. Smoke didn’t look at them again as he bent his head down like a mad bull and then took off fast as lightning through the restaurant and out the front door.
The restaurant went utterly silent for at least five full seconds as each person in the room looked around in confusion. They weren’t sure what in the hell they’d just witnessed.
“I think it’s over,” Green said, his face dripping blood. He’d obviously given himself a little cut to sell the fight, but the patrons didn’t know that. “It goes without saying that dinner is on the house. I’m so sorry this happened.” Green deserved an Emmy for his acting ability. He’d say he was the best. Of course, each of the team members would say the same.
“Where’s Jorge?” Muscleman suddenly asked as several of his group pulled out their chairs to sit again. Obviously, they were used to strange events like this happening, and they were assuming they were going to go right back to eating. Jorge, nor the two men who’d been sent to find him, were back.
Jorge’s wife looked around, still stunned and confused. “I don’t know. With all of the chaos I didn’t notice he wasn’t back,” she said, tears overflowing her eyes as reality settled in on her. Maybe she wasn’t as used to the chaos as the rest of the group.
“Move!” Muscleman barked to the two men who were at his side, disappointment on their faces that they hadn’t been able to brawl. The people who’d began to sit, immediately stood up again. Muscleman moved to the back of the restaurant and quickly entered the bathroom, where he found his boss gone and the men sent to find him passed out on the floor.
Muscleman left the bathroom and rushed into the kitchen, finding it empty, food burning, pots boiling over. The back door was busted wide open. The team wanted him to know it was an outside job. They didn’t want any revenge taken out on the staff at this place.
“Manuel, did you find him?” one of the men called to Muscleman.
“He’s not here,” Muscleman called back. “What in the fuck happened?” His voice thundered through the entire place.
He heard a noise that made him pull out his gun as he moved toward the walk-in freezer. He opened the door and found the terrified staff huddled together, looking up at the fierce man in front of them with genuine fear in their eyes.
“What happened? Who did this?” Muscleman thundered.
“We don’t know. Two men with guns broke down the door, then locked us in the freezer. We didn’t see anything, just heard a lot of commotion,” a small man said, his skin slightly blue, his teeth chattering.
“I want descriptions,” Muscleman shouted. “Give them to me now or I’ll throw you back in the freezer and lock it.”
“I don’t know. They were huge, but they had masks on,” the man said, terror in his eyes.
Muscleman slapped the worker, grabbed him by the collar, and pulled him up on his toes. “You have two seconds to give me what I want.”
“That’s enough, Manuel. Let this man go,” Jorge’s wife said, steel in her tone. The team was impressed. They hadn’t thought she was capable of it from her sweet demeanor. It made sense though, since she was married to a dirtbag. She had to have some spine to survive.
“No, Marcia, not until this idiot tells me what happened,” Manuel screamed.
“We only saw them for a couple of seconds, and they didn’t say a word, just pushed us in here,” a large woman said, her hands on her hips, her eyes filled with defiance. She was obviously used to dealing with huge male egos.
“Useless. All of the staff here are useless,” Manuel said, shoving the small man away, making him land on his butt. He didn’t move, just looked down and hugged his legs as he rocked himself.
Sleep stepped inside the room, looking injured and frightened. Manuel turned his rage on him.