The Troubleshooter

46- Benji

Nico POV

"Wakey-wakey" I sing, dousing Benji with the bucket of stagnant water I found in the storage locker. Feeling satisfied at his spluttering and retching as he wakes.

"For fucks sake Nico! That fucking stinks" Matt gripes. Ok in hindsight, maybe it wasn't my best idea in an enclosed space. "I'm opening a door before someone throws up" Matt announces.

Benji finally stops retching, glaring up at me through one eye, his other swollen shut. I smirk a little at the poetic justice. An eye for an eye and all that.

"You fucked up Chun." I tell him simply.

"Maybe," he shrugs casually, as if he's not a man strapped to a chair bleeding from his eye socket.

"There's no maybe about it. You won't be leaving here alive Benji." Matt informs him.

"If you say so."

Benji is taking the entire situation way to casually and it's pissing me off. If he thinks our old friendship will save him he couldn't be more wrong.

I step forward picking up the bolt cutters from beside Benji's seat. I'm satisfied to see his eyes following my every movement. Betraying that he's not as confident as he's pretending to be.

His sleeves are already pushed back exposing his arms, bare except for the hideous chunky gold bracelet on his wrist. Something so tacky that Mr T wouldn't wear it.

"You shouldn't have hit her" I tell him, "I'm gonna make sure you can never touch another woman again" gripping the pinky finger of his right hand in the jaws of the bolt cutter and squeezing. Benji screams curses at me but I don't give in until his pinky finger is lay in the dirt of the floor.

"Did I not warn you to stay away from Lili? Didn't you learn your lesson back when we were in our teens?" I ask pressing my thumb where I know the metal plating is still beneath the skin of his jaw.

"You don't own her" he grits out.

"Fine. Didn't she tell you no? So what? you try messing with her family, stealing her business? You can't fucking blackmail your way into our family!" Matt shouts at him.

"Oh so you only take in the orphans of smackheads?" He spits, a cruel smirk on his face as he looks at me.

He doesn't even have time to scream before the next finger hits the dirt.

"Do you think you're being brave? Or maybe clever? Because I want you to know, you're going to die. And no matter how brave or smart you think you're being, nobody will know. The only thing people will remember about Benji Chun is that he was an abusive womaniser who died crying and pissing himself. I promise you that." I finish, snapping his middle finger off.

"I'll see you dead, you fucking Nancy boy" Benji curses spitting blood from biting his own lip.

"It's nice that you still have dreams, a little late though." I tell him snapping off his next finger. I could have just finished him on the boat. One shot between his eyes. But Sophie told me to make him suffer. I can't let her down can I?

Benji's thumb drops to the floor and I deliberately step on it en- route to his left hand.

"Hurry up Nic, I've got a bad feeling about this place" Matt mutters. I roll my eyes and ignore him. I swear he's gone soft since he met Sophie. He was never a killer if he could find another way, but he wasn't this skittish before either.

"Wait outside if you don't want to watch" I shrug letting Benji's left pinky drop to the floor.

"It's not that. I just have a bad feeling. He's too calm" Matt says, tipping his head towards Benji.

"He's probably high" I dismiss Matt. But my stomach clenches at his words. "Anything you'd like to share, Benji?" I ask him lining up his next finger.

"Yeah. I hope you die miserably and they throw you in a grave marked Faggot!" I clip his finger off twisting the cutters against the stump, making him howl in pain.

"What have you done you smug son of a bitch?" Matt suddenly snaps, pushing me back and grabbing Benji by his collar. "He's too fucking smug. He's done something" Matt shouts.

Benji's face cracks into a terrifying smile, his gums bloody around his bright white teeth.

I'm about to step forward, suddenly aware that Benji knows Penny's address, and all of our family are there. When the first shot is fired.

Pain radiates across my back where I'm hit. Forcing my body forward. My shoulder burns when I try to move, but I try to ignore it drawing my gun.

My ears ring at the sound in this enclosed space, but I hit my mark between his eyes, swiftly throwing Matt aside, out of the firing line.

I hit my second mark as a bullet rips through my arm, making me grunt in pain. This is going to fucking hurt when the adrenaline wears off.

A gunshot fires from beside my ear deafening me, my vision blurs and I stagger forward trying to regain my senses. I manage to steady myself right before a fist connects with the side of my face.

A quick punch to his throat leaves him a choking human shield as I fire at the men entering behind him. How the fuck did they find us?

The room is in chaos, we're still outnumbered at least ten to one, I can't even see Matt but I know he's still fighting across the room.

I fire two shots watching the bodies drop, giving me a brief glimpse of Matt, his face streaked in blood.

Fuck I need to get him out of here Lili can't lose him. I throw my human shield towards three attackers and fire hitting them all between the eyes, casting my now empty gun aside I pull my second. Aiming for the crowd surrounding Matt I fire, methodically taking out his attackers.

I realise my mistake too late, the sudden warning shout from Matt a second overdue as the sharp pain hits the back of my head and darkness washes over me.