Shock and Awe (Enhanced Book 1)

Chapter 12

"What happened to his face?" The detective asks, gesturing to the criminal beside me.

I roll my eyes. "He fell."

Tugging at the whip tied tightly around his wrists behind his back, the criminal starts to thrash around. "She's crazy, man. Listen, I was doing some illegal stuff, right? I admit it. But she started whaling on me, man, like way too much, right? I got kids, you know, man? I can't be out here getting killed by some crazy bit—"

I pull my fist back, ready to punch this guy again, and he flinches with a scream. "Wuss," I sneer.

"This is the fifth one. Today." The detective says. "You keep beating these guys up and the DA is going to have to start letting them off the hook. You hear me? Do your job and do it right, or get off my streets."

Clenching my jaw, I unwrap the whip from the guys hands and shove him forward. He falls by the detective's feet.

"How about you stop eating 12 donuts a day and actually get on the streets yourself to catch these guys? I'm not your mule. Good luck taking them down without me."

I turn and start walking away, but the detective just has to open his mouth again.

"I'm reporting you to your agent. You are in violation of your Establishment."

"Bite me," I say, flipping him off before leaving.

It's been a week and a half with no sign of Crimson Current. Rowan is still out recovering, so I've been spending every night tracking down the bad guys without him and just waiting for Crimson to show up.

I've been needing someone to take my anger out on.

I know deep down that my relationships with Forrest, Mia, and the Jimenez family have been suffering, but I haven't been in the right state of mind to socialize with anyone.

I'm lucky to actually get up and go to school most days.

Taking my post on the roof of city hall again, I sit and wait. It's probably around two or three in the morning, so the criminals should be turning in for the night. I usually just wait until four before calling it quits.

"That guy took quite a beating," someone says from behind me.

I whirl around faster than a bullet and immediately lock eyes with Crimson Current who is only a few feet away. Without a second of hesitation, I roll out my whip and hurl it toward him. I've had plenty of practice over the last ten days, so it lands true.

The whip wraps around Crimson's torso and pins his arms down, but he makes no move to struggle against it.

"I'm sorry," he says.

I feel the tension in my face drop and I know I must have been sneering before his comment. It throws me off and I actually pause. "What?"

"I'm sorry about Amazing Man. He caught me in the street and attacked me before I could say anything to him. I promise you, every mark on his body was from self defense. I did not want to hurt him."

"You're lying," I want to sound tough, but my voice cracks.

Crimson takes a few steps toward me, limping slightly. Underneath his mask, I can see him wince around a black eye and I can hear his heart rate increase as a response to pain. His lip is split and crusted with dried blood on one side. "Why would I voluntarily come here — injured — if I wanted to fight you?"

"You're trying to confuse me."

"I'm not."

"Then what are you doing?"