There was a do not disturb sign on the door and the sight of it just didn't sit well with me. It didn't match with what I already knew of Philippe Valo.
He was the consummate playboy, devil-may-care thief. He was implicated in a dozen or more antiquity thefts and even a few bank jobs. There had never been enough evidence though to pin an indictment on him.
He may be flashy, but he was smart too. He liked money and he was good at getting it, by all accounts. He led an easy-going life.
He was the kind of guy that would proposition a cleaning lady, who accidentally walked into him having sex, into joining along in the act. Hanging a 'do not disturb sign' on the door just wasn't his style. I glanced at Rafferty and I saw he was thinking the same thing. We both drew our guns.
I was about to knock on the door when I heard a muffled cry of pain from within the room.
Probable cause.
That was all I needed. I shot the key pad lock, disarming it in the process, as it returned to its default setting and then I side-kicked the door busting it open and tearing the security chain off with it in the process. Rafferty ducked past me into the room as I swung in after him. In a split second of realization I took in the grisly scene of the room. Three tall black men were gathered around the only bed in the room, where they were systematically cutting up Philippe just as they must have done to Ahmed.
The words 'Police! Freeze!' stuck fast in my throat, as the savage eyed men turned towards the door and us with nothing but deadly intent in their eyes, as they lobbed bloody knives at us. I ducked to the side of a knife that slammed into the wall where I had just been and took aim on one of the men that was pulling a pistol clear of his waistband. I shot him in the shoulder, but with a grimace of pain, he kept bringing the gun up and I shot him three times in the chest, killing him.
The man beside him was running straight for me and I aimed for his leg and missed. He slapped my gun away so hard it felt like my trigger finger was almost broken off, as the gun flew from my grasp. I ducked as his fist plowed into the drywall where my head had been. I continued on around him and helped his forward movement by shoving him hard into the wall, but before I could secure him against it, he jack knifed backwards into me sending an elbow into my ribs that had me sucking for air and back pedaling away fast.