Chapter 15 - The Slaughterhouse
The abandoned slaughterhouse loomed in the pouring rain like a decaying, rusted metal fortress.
There were no streetlights on this desolate edge of the city, leaving the massive compound completely shrouded in terrifying darkness.
Jax parked the black SUV three blocks away, insisting we approach the perimeter completely on foot to avoid detection.
The freezing rain soaked right through my thin jacket, but the burning rage in my chest kept me entirely warm.
Jax handed me a small, heavy black pistol, showing me how to click the safety off with my thumb.
"Only shoot if he is going to kill you, Elena," Jax instructed quietly as we crouched behind a rusted dumpster.
"Leave the tactical takedown to me."
We slipped through a broken chain-link fence, navigating through a maze of discarded shipping pallets and shattered glass.
Jax used a heavy pair of bolt cutters to silently snap the rusted padlock on the rear loading dock door.
We stepped into the cavernous, echoing facility, the air thick with the smell of old blood and decaying metal.
A single, flickering industrial light bulb illuminated the center of the massive killing floor.
Tied to a heavy metal chair directly beneath the light was my beautiful daughter, a thick strip of silver duct tape covering her mouth.
She was crying, her terrified eyes darting wildly around the dark shadows of the warehouse.
I immediately stepped forward to run to her, but Jax forcefully grabbed my shoulder and yanked me behind a concrete pillar.
"It is a fatal trap," Jax whispered, pointing to the ceiling above Chloe's chair.
Suspended by a thin wire directly above her head was a massive, rusted meat hook, rigged to a heavy industrial winch.
A thick pool of highly flammable gasoline had been poured in a perfect circle completely around her chair.
David walked slowly out of the shadows, twirling a silver flare lighter in his scarred hand.
He looked absolutely terrifying, a twisted, burned mirror image of the man I had once loved.
"I got the notification that you canceled the wire transfer, Elena," David's voice echoed loudly off the metal walls.
He flicked the lighter open, igniting a small, bright orange flame in the darkness.
"You really should have just paid the money," he sighed, casually tossing the burning lighter directly toward the pool of gasoline.
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Jax did not hesitate for a single second.
He stepped out from behind the pillar and fired three deafening shots directly at David's chest.
