King of Ashes: A Novel
by S. A. Cosby
Contents
Chapter Nine
Overview
Summary
Late at night, Dante wakes Roman with a phone call from Torrent demanding they meet at the crematory in twenty minutes. Roman drives them in grim silence, expecting to dispose of a corpse for the Black Baron Boys as part of the deal to pay down Dante's debt.
At the shop, Yellaboy and Splodie arrive and pull two living, hooded captives from their trunks. Roman protests that this wasn't the agreement, but Splodie explains Torrent wants Roman to get his hands dirty so he can't snitch later. Yellaboy leaves, instructing Splodie to kill Roman and Dante if they refuse. When the hoods come off, the captives are revealed as Getty and Cassidy, Dante's associates. Splodie reveals Getty tried to blame Roman for stealing the missing product.
Roman, unable to see another way out, tells Dante it's "him or us." They assemble a cremation box. Dante can't bring himself to participate, so Roman drags Getty into the box and beats him unconscious with his fists when he resists. Roman tapes the box shut, loads it into the oven, and ignites the flames, telling himself Getty is unconscious as kicking and screaming erupt from inside.
Cassidy suddenly bolts for the door but Splodie backhands her down and casually asks if they need another box. Before Roman can answer, Dante, who has silently retrieved a ball-peen hammer, strikes Splodie twice in the head, killing him. Dante, splattered with blood, says he couldn't let Splodie make Roman burn Cassidy. Roman is left wondering if he would have done it, and chooses not to answer his own question.
Who Appears
- Roman CarruthersForced to murder Getty by burning him alive in the crematory oven to protect Dante and himself.
- Dante CarruthersWakes Roman for the meeting; unable to participate in killing, but kills Splodie with a hammer to save Cassidy.
- SplodieBlack Baron Boys soldier overseeing the executions; killed by Dante with a ball-peen hammer.
- YellaboyBlack Baron Boys member who delivers the captives, then leaves Splodie to enforce Torrent's orders.
- TorrentBlack Baron Boys leader who orchestrates the murders by phone to entrap Roman in complicity.
- GettyWhite dreadlocked associate who blamed Roman for the missing product; beaten unconscious and cremated alive.
- CassidyGetty's girlfriend, taken because she witnessed the kidnapping; survives when Dante kills Splodie.
- Keith CarruthersRecalled in memory through his teaching that bodies are just meat by the time they reach the crematory.