Chapter 4 - The Mark Returned
The sound of Colton’s jaw breaking echoed off the cold concrete walls of the warehouse.
Blood sprayed across the polished metal surface of the desk as Colton slumped onto the floor, clutching his face, whimpering like a wounded dog. His cockiness, his grand delusions of taking over Chicago’s underworld, had vanished in less than thirty seconds.
Daniel stood over him, wiping a small drop of blood from his coat sleeve with a white handkerchief.
“Kang,” Daniel said softly.
Kang stepped forward, placing the heavy steel briefcase on the desk. He unlatched the brass locks with two sharp clicks and opened the lid.
Inside rested a portable propane torch and a custom-forged iron rod. At the end of the rod was a solid steel emblem—a detailed mirror image of the Han family seal, a stylized tiger surrounded by traditional Korean lattice line work.
Kang opened the valve on the propane torch and struck a spark. A bright blue flame erupted into the dim room, hissing loudly in the quiet space. Kang held the iron head directly over the flame. The metal began to glow, shifting from dull grey to deep orange, and finally to a brilliant, blinding white-hot radiance.
Colton looked up from the floor, his eyes wide with absolute, primal terror as he realized what was happening.
“No... no, please,” Colton sobbed, his broken jaw making his words thick and slurred. “Please, Mr. Han... it was a mistake! I was pushed! It was the Boston guys—they told me to do it! They promised me the docks!”
Daniel didn't answer. He turned his back to Colton and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling office window, looking out over the grey, smog-choked horizon of Chicago as the first light of dawn began to break through the clouds.
“In my country,” Daniel said quietly, his voice carrying clearly over the hiss of the blowtorch, “there is an old saying. If a dog bites a child, you do not blame the dog’s master. You break the dog’s teeth so it can never bite again.”
“Mr. Han! Please! I’ll leave the city! I’ll go to Europe! You’ll never see me again!” Colton crawled backward across the floor until his back hit the bottom of a steel filing cabinet.
Kang stepped down, his heavy boot pinning Colton’s shoulder to the ground. Colton thrashing wildly, but Kang’s weight was absolute, like a concrete slab resting on his chest.
Two tactical operatives stepped forward, stripping Colton’s heavy leather jacket off his arms and pulling his shirt over his head, exposing his chest and shoulders.
“Do you know what my daughter said to me when she walked into my office tonight?” Daniel asked, still facing the window, watching the sunrise over Lake Michigan.
Colton couldn't answer; he was hyperventilating, choking on his own blood.
“She said her back hurt,” Daniel whispered.
Daniel turned around slowly. His eyes were completely hollow.
“Kang.”
Kang didn't hesitate. He thrust the white-hot steel brand down directly onto the left side of Colton Pierce’s chest, right over his heart.
A horrifying, high-pitched scream filled the room, accompanied by the sickening sizzle of burning flesh and a plume of thick white smoke that smelled of copper and ozone. Colton’s body convulsed violently, his legs kicking against the floor as the iron burned deep into his skin, cooking muscle and tissue down to the bone.
The screaming lasted for ten endless seconds before Colton’s eyes rolled back into his head and he went completely limply unconscious from the shock of the pain.
Kang lifted the brand. The red-hot metal pulled away with a wet tear, leaving a blackened, charred tiger seal burned permanently into Colton’s flesh.
The room fell silent once more, save for the low hum of the portable torch being turned off.
The three lieutenants kneeling in the corner kept their heads pressed firmly against the concrete, trembling so hard their knuckles were white.
Daniel walked over to the unconscious body of Colton Pierce. He looked down at him for a long moment, then looked at the three kneeling lieutenants.
“Lift him up,” Daniel commanded.
The lieutenants scrambled to their feet, rushing forward to grab Colton under his arms and haul his limp, bleeding body upright.
“He lives,” Daniel said coldly. “I want him alive. Put him in the back of a car and drop him on the front steps of the Federal Building downtown at eight o'clock when the news cameras arrive.”
Min-ho nodded. “And the rest of his family, Boss? His cousins in Boston?”
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Daniel adjusted his cuffs, his expression completely tranquil.
“Send them the video of this room,” Daniel said. “Tell them that if any man carrying the name Pierce sets foot in Illinois again, I will not mark them. I will erase them from the birth registries.”
