Chapter 21
One of the first things I’d learned when I’d taken over for Antoni was how much I liked the chase. The elation when I caught my prey was a high like none other. It was why, up until recently, I’d done my own hunting. I’d scoured the city for those doing me wrong or disobeying my edicts and taken their punishment into my own hands.
Rey’s assassination had forced me to take a more conservative approach and allow my people to do the job for me, but fuck, I’d missed it. The poor fool running from us had no idea what he was in for.
Cameron and I darted through the light pedestrian traffic, struggling to keep him in sight in the sea of bodies. He skirted the sidewalk vendors, keeping close to the water, but he didn’t seem to be trying to lose us. That told me he was trying to lead us somewhere else.
Knowing Cash’s penchant for quiet chaos, he wouldn’t take us anywhere that made a huge splash. He liked things done behind the scenes. In the dark. Somewhere unexpected.
“He’s heading for the library.” Quiet place, easy to lose someone in the stacks and somewhere even I wouldn’t dare make a scene. Too public. Plus, there were tons of exits. He could’ve had a militia waiting in the basement, and we wouldn’t know until we showed up. “You stay with him, and I’ll herd him in from the other side.”
“Absolutely not,” Cameron snapped. “You’re not going anywhere alone right now. We go together or not at all.”
There were times when I wondered how Cameron was okay so soon after Rey’s death, when it had nearly destroyed me. Then I realized he wasn’t; he just hid it well. Looking over, I saw the fractures my cousin tried so hard to keep below the surface. If I went without him, he’d never forgive me, and I couldn’t stand it. “We’ll need to cut him off.”
“And we will. Together.”
“Fine. Together.” I ran through my mental GPS, trying to decide what alley would work best to pull him into. Hell, I’d take an abandoned building—whatever it took to get the answers I needed. Thinking through the nearby streets, I took a calculated risk and led us a block over from our runner. We were still close enough to see him occasionally, but we’d mostly fallen out of sight.
All the better to stalk you, my dear.
Less than a block later, our man started stumbling over his feet.
“He’s gassed out,” Cameron said.
“Let’s give him a break.” I pulled ahead, leading Cameron another two blocks up and circling back until I found the back alley of a rundown pub that’d seen more than a few gang hits. I knew for a fact that it wasn’t covered by cameras, and anyone who stumbled on us would walk away, even in broad daylight.
In other words, it was perfect.
After he handed me the zip ties he always carried on him, my cousin and I settled on either side of the alley’s mouth, hidden by large metal garbage bins. It wasn’t the best thing I’d ever smelled but it was temporary, so I ignored it and promised myself a long shower to wash the scent of rotten food out of my hair. While we waited, I took a minute to send Greyson and Dominic a text, hoping one of them was free to pick us up when we were done.
It was Dominic who responded.
ETA 15 minutes. That work?
Gives us plenty of time to talk to our friend.
Good luck. Let me know if you need cleanup.
I wasn’t planning to kill the guy; we needed him alive to send a message. It was time to bait the trap.
It took no time for our prey to find us. Huffing and puffing, he stuttered to a stop at the end of the alley, trying to catch his breath. He obviously didn’t run much, and I sent a mental thanks to Greyson for forcing me to do cardio most mornings before work.
We waited until he was thoroughly distracted, craning his neck to try to spot us in the crowd. When we had his back, we pounced.
Cameron shoved him into the wall, making him cry out, while I looped the zip ties around his wrists and pulled tight. Too tight. He’d lose circulation soon, but I didn’t care much about that. Cash could cut him loose later. Cameron shifted so he had an arm wrapped around the guy’s throat, dragging him to the farthest corner of the alley. Of course, he struggled the whole way. Couldn’t make things easy on us.
Only when we were out of immediate eyesight did Cameron let him catch his breath.
“What the fuck?” He darted wide blue eyes between my cousin and me. “Where did you come from?”
Settling against my side of the alley, I let my body relax a little. We still had fifteen minutes until our ride came. Didn’t need to be tense the whole time. “I should be asking you that. There a reason you were following us, kid?”
And he was a kid. What I’d thought was a man in his late twenties was anything but. Is he even legal to drink?
As if he’d heard my thoughts, Cameron asked, “How old are you?”
“Nineteen.”
We both cringed.
“Jesus.” He was barely legal to vote, but he was running with Cash?
“My name’s Jerron.”
Right. “Okay, Mr. Tough Guy. There a reason you were following us, Jerron?”
God, the kid was a terrible liar. So bad I could see him deciding how to lie before he opened his mouth. “Just taking a run.”
I flicked my eyes down to his pants and grimaced. “In jeans? That can’t be comfortable.”
“Yeah. I was late to a study group at the…”
I raised an eyebrow.“The library?”
Jerron gulped, and victory surged through me. I fucking knew it was a trap. If I needed another reason to think Cash was a waste of space, taking on a nineteen-year-old without the skills to effectively lie his way out of trouble was a mistake I couldn’t overlook. It was criminal and not in the way I enjoyed.
“Seriously, how did you beat me here?”
I didn’t answer. Even if he wasn’t an Ace, I wasn’t giving him shit.
Cameron laughed behind him. “Don’t worry, kid. We tend to get the best of most everyone.”
Not wanting any unfortunate surprises, I frisked Jerron, pulling out a burner phone, a wallet with nothing but a few twenties, and a small pocketknife. I left him the cash and took everything else. “What the hell made you join the Aces?”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about. I was just photographing the buildings for school.”
“I bet those pictures turned out great. It’s a perfect day for them.” He said nothing. Rolling my eyes, I snatched the camera from around his neck and shook it at him. “Let’s take a look. I’m dying to see how you did.”
By the way he was trying to make himself smaller, I had a feeling I wasn’t going to like what I found. It took seconds to get into the gallery, which was surprisingly full. Passing over a few dick pics, some more artful nudes of him and a few women that I hoped were consensual, and more than one video I refused to watch, I finally found what I was looking for.
Picture after picture of Ash. Getting out of a car in front of Little Sal’s, some of her through the window of the restaurant, and a handful of us leaving together. The only saving grace was that there were none from before we met, so I had a feeling he hadn’t followed her that far. That was good.
Holding the screen out to show Cameron, I focused my attention back on the kid. “I’m going to give you one chance to tell me the truth. Don’t even think of lying to me, Jerron. Not only will I know, but I won’t be inclined to let you try again. Do you understand?”
He nodded quickly, his throat bobbing as he swallowed.
“Why were you watching her?”
“B-because I was told to.”
“By whom?”
“Beckstrom.”
Cash. Of fucking course. “For how long?”
“Just today. Boss wanted to see how useful she could be.”
Meaning, he wanted to know what I would do to keep her alive. The answer was a lot. Aislynn O’Bannon had become somewhat of a sister, despite her own familial ties, and I’d do anything to keep my family safe. But I was curious how far Cash was willing to go with Ash. Fatherly love or not, if Cash hurt her in any way, Sean would rain holy hell down on him and anyone he’d ever known. Was that intentional, or did he just not know his opponents?
The silence got to Jerron the same way it got to everyone else. “P-please don’t kill me. I only joined because my friends did, and to be honest, I need the money. My folks are…out of work, and my sister needs new clothes.”
Addicts, was likely what he meant. Plenty of people in the city were. It was why I tried to keep the most harmful substances out of my territory. We already had hungry children; more drugs would only amplify the number.
Pity struck me in the heart because I believed him. I believed this doe-eyed nineteen-year-old boy joined a fucking gang to buy his sister a new pair of sneakers. It killed me that he was going to die instead.
“I’m keeping this.” I waved the camera around. “In exchange, I’m going to let you go with a message. It’s time your boss and I had another chat. Tell Cash I’ll meet him at the old Cosera Lighting warehouse at noon in two days. If he isn’t there, I’ll assume that he’s vacated my city.”
The kid shook his head. “I don’t want to tell him that.”
To be honest, I didn’t want him to either, but there was nothing either of us could do. Or was there? I pulled up the phone and dug through the contacts again. There was only one: B.
I had a way to contact Cash directly.
“Is this his number?” I held up the phone, and Jerron nodded. Fuck. Grey was going to have my head. “Is there anyone else you can stay with? Someone in another state, perhaps?”
Jerron blinked, and I swallowed the urge to tell him to hurry up. “My grandma lives near Mount Shasta.”
California. Perfect. “The train go there?”
Blink. Blink. “I think so, yeah.”
“And she can take care of you and your sister?”
Finally, I saw some understanding on his face and, dare I say it, a little hope. “Yeah. She’s been trying to get my parents to move there for ages.”
“Good.” I fished out the money clip that I always had attached to my clothes—because you never knew when you were going to have to sprint for your life, and I was not losing a few grand in cash because of it—and slapped it in his hand. The poor kid’s eyes were wider than saucers. “Go home, get your sister, and get on the next train out of Seattle. Don’t stop or call anyone until you get to Oregon. Buy a ticket to California from there, just make sure it stops in Mount Shasta but doesn’t end there. Cover your tracks when you can. Got it?”
More nodding.
“Leave everything Cash gave you behind, and don’t use a cent of this for your parents. They’ll find their own way out. Focus on you for right now.”
“Okay.”
“I don’t want to see you step foot in my city again, okay? Get gone and stay there.”
That one was harder. He swallowed again, and I understood he was worried for his parents. I flipped the money clip over and tapped the card I always kept on me. “Leave this for your parents. Fourth Street Sanctuary will take them in and get them treatment. I promise.”
His hand clenched around the card like he didn’t want it to blow away. When he spoke, he was still staring at it. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why are you helping me? I’m the enemy.”
The laughter was a reflex. Hell, even Cameron laughed. “You’re barely legal, kid. You’re not my enemy. Besides, I’m trying to avoid bloodshed. Getting you out of here is one less body on my conscience. Two, if you count your sister.”
He thought about that for a minute, and I could feel the grains of sand ticking in the hourglass. If he wanted to leave the city alive, he needed to hurry. “Thank you.”
That made me uncomfortable. “I’m not doing this for you?—”
“I know, but you don’t have to do this. You could’ve killed me the second you made me and no one would’ve batted an eye, but you didn’t. You’re giving me a chance. You’re giving my sister a chance. That means something to me. So, thank you. If you ever need anything, let me know.”
This time, when our eyes met, I saw steel in his. Somewhere beneath the kid who’d begged for his life was the heart of a warrior. I hoped he had the chance to find it.
Nodding for Cameron to twist him around, I carefully cut Jerron’s hands loose. “Your thanks isn’t necessary. I won’t be calling to collect.”
“Why not?”
Sighing, I twisted him back around so he could see how serious I was. “If you only listen to one thing I say, listen to this. No more gangs, Jerron. You get a second chance. Don’t fuck it up.”
He looked like he wanted to say something again, but I waved him off. “You need to be out of the city by dusk. Better hurry.”
When he walked away, he did so with a stronger stride than he had when I first saw him. I hoped that strength took him far in life, just like I hoped he took my words to heart. Time would tell, and there was nothing I could do either way.
I’d given him another shot at a real life. It was more than most people in our world got.
“I’ve already got one of the new guys trailing. He’ll make sure the kid and his sister make it to Oregon.” Cameron fiddled on his phone a little more and huffed a laugh. “Geneva said Ash is home and fuming at being under house arrest. Said if this is how I treat my wife, she’s already considering a divorce.”
Snorting, I used the burner phone to send a single text to B, which I hoped stood for Beckstrom.
Cosera Lighting. Noon. Two days.
Not waiting for a reply, I cracked the phone in half and tossed it into the trash. No way was I taking it home with me when I knew the number would be disconnected before we could do anything with it.
“Do you think he’ll show?” Cameron asked as Dominic pulled up in the SUV.
“No, but there’s always the backup plan.” In fact, I was counting on Cash being too cocky to show. But he’d pop his head up somewhere, and when he did, we’d be ready.