When a Hitman Gets Haunted by a Ghost
Chapter 77: Smooth Operation Team

Chapter 77: Smooth Operation Team

Hunter pulled up to the riverside just before sunrise. The rose-gold light skimmed the water, catching on a sleek car parked by the bank.

"Fuck’s sake," Hunter muttered, eyes narrowing at the vehicle. "Did Jones beat us to it? When did the bastard get a new car? I’m tellin’ you, he’s already selling something."

Kant stared at the silver car, not listening.

It was Gabriel’s. What the hell was it doing here?

They stepped out into the crisp air. Hunter strode over, inspecting the vehicle with suspicion. Kant followed, pressing his fingers to the hood, his thoughts circling like anxious ants.

Ice-cold. If Gabriel had driven here, it had been hours ago. When he’d left his apartment last night, this was where he was headed to?

Kant turned, scanning the treeline.

Nothing but silence. What could Gabriel possibly be thinking? Had he been inside the cult all this time? Did he get caught?

They threaded into the forest, walking in silence for a good while.

But Kant’s obsessive looking around got Hunter watching him like a very nosy psychiatrist again.

"I knew it. Anything related to the damn cult makes the screws in your head loosen." He shoved at Kant. "Hobble back. I’m doing this alone."

"I’m keeping an eye out for guards." Kant pushed back and walked ahead.

Hunter narrowed his eyes at his leg. "Not convincing. You’ll only drag me down."

"I won’t."

"Really? Because your fucked-up balance is telling a different story."

"Even like this, I could still take you down," Kant muttered, trying to hide his limp. Only after saying it out loud, he realized how childish it sounded.

Hunter smirked and clapped Kant’s shoulder. "You cocky bastard. Lucky the knife didn’t hit an artery, eh? But we can always change that."

Kant raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Won’t you be sorry?"

"For fucking what?"

Kant gestured at his leg. "All that effort stitching me up, just to tear it open again?"

"I can just stitch it up again." Hunter barked a chuckle. "Hell, I’m open to using your body as a stitching dummy. By the time I’m done, you’ll look like one of the embroidered pillows on my wife’s couch."

"I’ll kill you before you get the chance."

"Just don’t fly into your psycho state again," Hunter fired back, brushing the snow off his shoulder.

Kant furrowed his brow. "My what?"

"Your tunnel vision."

"I don’t have tunnel vision."

"Yeah, right. You get set off, and suddenly your lower half’s free real estate." Hunter nodded towards Kant’s injured leg. "If that ain’t tunnel vision, then you’re just a sloppy idiot."

Kant rolled his eyes, trying to ignore the sting in his ego and his thigh.

Hunter huffed, pushing the cold branches out of the way. "Everyone acts like I’ll attack without warning, but say one word wrong with you and you’ll bite someone’s head off."

"You’ve said plenty to deserve your head bitten off."

Hunter pulled one branch taut, then let it go, turning just in time to watch it hit Kant in the face. "I say what I think. If it offends you, it’s your problem."

"Damn it," Kant fought the branch off. "Alice must’ve been a saint to tolerate you."

"And I’m a saint to tolerate you," Hunter snarked back, flinging another one into his face.

"Tch."

Hunter was still chuckling when Kant suddenly stopped short—too sharp. His smirk dropped. "Did the tree get ya?"

Kant stepped back slowly, hands hovering near his sides. His fingers twitched toward his knife out of instinct—

Cold steel pressed against his temple.

He froze. His pulse slammed against his ribs as the sharp click of a safety being disengaged cut through the cold air.

"Don’t," a voice warned.

Across from him, Hunter started to reach for his own weapon, but another gun was already at his forehead.

"Fuckin—" Hunter’s jaw clenched. "—hell."

Kant exhaled through his teeth, sweating despite the cold biting his face. "Told you they upped the security."

They were marched deeper into the forest by three guards, guns at their backs.

When they were walking up a low slope, Kant and Hunter exchanged a glance. It lasted half a second.

Then they moved.

Kant drove his elbow back, hitting the throat. The guard behind him grunted. He twisted, ripping the gun from the man’s hands as Hunter lunged, catching his captor’s wrist and wrenching the weapon away in one swift motion.

A shot went off—too close for comfort.

The bullet whizzed past Kant’s eye, stealing his breath for a second. His stolen gun was already coming up—he fired. The third guard crumpled to the ground with a scream, clutching his leg.

Hunter dropped his guy with a brutal strike to the temple before spinning on Kant’s guard. The poor bastard hesitated for half a second, caught between running and fighting. Hunter solved the dilemma for him with a swift boot to the gut.

Silence. Just the sharp pants of breath curling in the cold air.

They’d taken them out, temporarily at least.

But the bang of the gunshot still echoed through the trees.

Kant’s grip on the pistol tightened. That noise would’ve carried. If the cult had anyone else nearby, they’d be coming fast.

Hunter wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well. That was bloody stupid."

"No shit," Kant muttered.

Hunter exhaled sharply through his nose. "Let’s move it." His gaze flicked toward the direction of the floored guards. "I’m not waiting for a welcome party to arrive."

Kant’s eyes darted between the trees, his brain running hot. They needed a way to throw off the incoming guards. Cover their tracks.

His eyes landed on the fallen bodies. All three were out cold. Convenient.

An idea clicked.

"Let’s move them." He crouched, already grabbing one by the arms. "Make it look like we ran the other way."

Hunter scowled but followed suit. "The fuck kinda plan is that?"

"You got any better ideas?"

"Didn’t say that."

Together, they hauled the bodies, dragging them through the snow away from where they actually needed to go. Heavy prints and blood streaks carved a false trail deeper into the woods.

As soon as they finished—they ran back toward the cult. That should have bought them enough time.