Smoke {MJ SLASHFICTION}

Chapter 13

Delicate feet pivoted atop the roof.

He'd been here many times before on his previous missions but none of them had been as important or personal to him as this one. He loosened his collar, feeling sweat drip over his brow. He honoured the close feeling of metal against his skin and tiptoed to the precise position of Michael's balcony.

Everything remained untouched. Kane felt a flicker of hope that things were still just as they'd left it and Evander was sound asleep in bed. He felt is fingers flex in preparation through his black gloves. He tried the door and it was still unlocked, allowing him passage freely back into Michael's spare room.

He tiptoed past the bed. The bed sheets were still wrinkled, and the room looked void of life in Michael's absence. He felt a chill do down his spine as his eyes locked onto the door less gap ahead of him. He stepped toward the hallway, peeked down the darkened tunnel and swallowed, slowly bringing his gun out of his waistband and cocking it.

He let the gun lead the way as he snuck closer to Evander's door and without hesitation this time, he gave a curt knock. He waited patiently, but no movement could be heard. He knocked again and still there was silence. It was a good sign that the bastard was still asleep.

He took a chance and turned the doorknob and this time unlike the time prior, he felt it move with ease, cocking itself obediently to the right at his command. He felt triumph as he was able to push the door forward and to his relief it moved.

Air rushed through his slightly flared nostrils.

He took a gradual step in, keeping his gun at the ready he poked his head around the corner. More of the bed came into view the further in he leaned and finally when the door was completely ajar much to his own surprise, he found that what he had stumbled upon in the dead of the night was nothing.

Absolutely nothing but empty bed sheets and dented pillows.

Shit.

He didn't have time to contemplate what Evander's absence meant, because an arm quickly snaked around his neck from behind.

"And now. You die." The gruff voice had said.

The large man's form didn't feel like Evander's. His arms were bulky and immeasurably strong. He knew Evander was fairly thin and wouldn't take up this much space behind him. Evander was only slightly taller than himself but this man towered above him.

His first instinct was to fight the choking grasp, eventually tossing himself into a forward roll and tripping the big guy up, pulling him to the ground with him. Kane straddled him, and in a split-second window he absorbed the face of the assailant. He recognised him as one of the bodyguards Evander had sent earlier to check on Michael. He was indeed large and intimidating but nothing Kane couldn't handle.

He was big and bulky for a reason, mostly to appear threatening but he was too big to be fast and precise in movement. These types of guys were built for one to one combat. Even Kane understood that you didn't attempt to fight a big guy like that.

You shot them from afar.

Kane hit him hard in the face with the base of his gun and with a pinch of reckless hope, he took off running toward the door. The guard chased him down, getting to his feet much faster than Kane had anticipated. More importantly he hadn't been knocked out easily, and furthermore he was twice as angry.

Kane picked up the pace and fell halfway down the stairs in his haste to get away and the big guy followed him down toward the back door. Kane was trying to get to the kitchen to find a weapon to be used up close only to be tripped up and dragged back into the centre of the room by the leg. It was his turn to be straddled and the man hit him right back in the temple. It had been a long time since Kane had seen stars hovering above his face but at that point, they were large and plentiful.