34. Libby #2
Mac’s face is ghostly pale, his brow sweating as he works the cutters over the first padlock and pushes with all his strength to snap the metal.
He’s barely healthy, his strength is depleted, but he works hard to cut the metal, and jumps when, at the minute mark, the watches beep, like they have every other minute we’ve been wearing them.
“Keep going.” Evie’s murmur is like a chant. “Don’t stop, don’t stop, don’t stop.”
“How long?” he asks in a whisper. “How long on the watch?”
Evie casts a fast glance back to the bar to find Kane and Olly speaking. They discuss fortunes, they discuss hard work and ingenuity, and all the while, Gunner’s eyes remain on us. He sees what we’re doing. He wants to run to us, but the second he breaks formation, Olly’s gun will spill blood.
Evie pulls the watch from her vest pocket and chokes on a silent cry. “Nine minutes, thirty-three seconds.”
“Fuck me.” Mac’s gaze snaps to me as she slowly turns to give him the next lock. He knows what I know; there’s not enough time. There’s not even enough time for Evie, unless someone can disarm the vests. “Hurry, Smalls. Turn, but stay calm.”
“Drop the vest when you get the third undone, then you guys run.” I inch closer to the stage door and pray Olly stays distracted. “Run fast, and run far. The rest of us will follow.”
Mac nods and bites his tongue until it bleeds as he tries to snap the next lock.
“Give us the remote to deactivate the vests,” Gunner says. “Those explosives will take out the whole town. There’s no time for you to run. Switch them off, and we can talk.”
“No, I don’t think I will.” Olly dangles a keyring from the middle finger on his right hand, and with a taunting smile, pockets it and goes back to leaning over the gun like this is a game to him.
The sour-sisters have remained invisible to the Bishops, but three sets of brows shoot up in surprise as Stella finds her feet and meets their eyes.
“Hayes.” Gunner’s lip curls back in disgust when Zoey climbs up beside her sister. “You haven’t changed one fucking bit. Still like to suck dick for favors?”
“You don’t know us!” Zoey’s brows should be creating a wrinkle, but the Botox she injects on the regular makes it impossible. “Filthy little street rat. We thought you died.”
Gunner takes an arrogant step forward as a distraction as Evie’s next lock snaps open. “Didn’t you hear, Barbie? Bishop boys are like cockroaches. We just don’t die.”
“Pity,” Olly drawls. “So, here’s how this is going to play out – this club is our metaphorical chessboard, and now I’ve collected all of my pieces.”
“What’s the girl got to do with this?” Jay asks. He draws the gun toward his chest, but Gunner only repositions himself and takes the point. “Why the girl?”
“Because the firstborn son of every rich man should be his heir. Frankston made the wrong call the day that club whore died, he was banished and sent to work his own empire.”
“He was still successful,” Gunner interjects. “He had loads of money.”
“Yes, I know. He didn’t need Bishop. He did it on his own name, on my grandfather’s name, but it was still unfair. He shouldn’t have had to make his own way, and he shouldn’t have chosen that new bitch over my mother. Out with the old, in with the new. He tossed us out like trash.”
“He was sent to prison.”
“A real gangster would have made plans for that eventuality! I was made out to be a fucking foot soldier in my own compound, while her mother,” he points toward us and makes Evie freeze up in fear, “was living it up with her riches and silks. I served her fucking shrimp and salad, and I held the baby more than once, and though the bitch stared right into my eyes, she couldn’t see me.
” He slams a fist against his chest and spits, “She didn’t see me!
I was supposed to be the prince, but instead, I became the help, and when he was sent away, I was forgotten, and that bastard child was named beneficiary. ”
“So you sought me out?” Gunner’s hands slowly begin to lower. “You played a fifteen-year game, when you could have just told me who you were? We’re all victims of this bullshit empire, Olly. We were all cast aside.”
“Not them,” he sneers toward the other two brothers. “They weren’t cast aside. They were celebrated. They were honored. You said it yourself, didn’t you, Griffin? You came to town ready to eliminate them because of how they were celebrated.”
“Yes, I did.” He looks back to Kane. “I did. I came to take them out, because I thought they were like Colum, but–”
“We didn’t know of your world,” Jay says.
“We were celebrated as sons, as agents, but it was all an act. We were Colum’s front, his legitimacy.
We were sent through proper schooling and careers, and we didn’t step foot into a club until we were grown adults.
We were army brats, but we were shielded from the world you knew, because our ignorance made him invincible.
We knew nothing, and therefore, he was nothing but the story we knew.
It was bad luck for him that we were assigned to the Infernos case that brought Hayes down.
He can’t change our missions, he can’t influence that shit, so once it was assigned, it was too late. ”
“He knew,” Zoey interjects as though proud of her knowledge. “He knew, and Daddy knew.”
“Dirty coke,” Kane murmurs. He turns to Jay. “That’s why we got the dirty coke. It’s why you were fed batch after batch. It’s why we were separated all the time. It’s why he threw me into the alleyway.”
“It’s all so poetic, isn’t it?” Olly croons. “We all end up in an alleyway eventually. If you’re part of our world, you end up in the fucking alleyways.”
“Last one,” Mac whispers. “Evie, give me your hand. I gotta cut the cuff.”
The rattle of Evie’s cuffs draws Olly’s attention. He turns to us with mild curiosity playing in his eyes, and is caught off guard when he finds the steel frame of her vest open.
“What—” He swings the gun around with zero remorse, and half a second later, fire explodes around us as bullets race around the room.
Shots come from the level above us, drawing my eyes up to see Romeo standing on the balcony with his eye pressed to a shiny new scope.
Kane leaps forward when the sour-sisters squeal, and Jay jumps on Olly when Romeo’s shot knocks the heavy gun off the bar and Olly’s hand explodes with blood.
The sour-sisters scream.
Olly screams.
Evie screams.
Mac shouts at Evie to shut up.
And our vests give another beep that makes my heart stop.
“Move.” Gunner skids down beside us and knocks Mac’s bolt cutters out of the way in the same breath that the cuffs come free.
He tosses them at me without looking, hitting my thigh hard enough that my eyes cross, but he remains oblivious as he helps Evie out of the vest, and Mac crawls out from his space.
“Go.” He lays the vest on the floor with feather light movements, then he grabs Evie’s hips and flings her to her feet.
“Run straight through the front door. Your dad is waiting right outside.”
“He didn’t come in?” She’s hysterical, fighting Mac’s hands as he tries to lead her away. “He didn’t come for me?”
“He couldn’t fit in the crawl space!” Mac grabs her hand with a punishing grip and tugs her away. “They couldn’t fit. Let’s go!”
“Get her out,” Gunner shouts. “Jay! I need you. Mac, have everyone outside get back. This is gonna blow big in…” He checks the watch and lets out a string of cussing. “Four minutes. Go to Alex and tell him to push everyone back at least six blocks.”
“Six?” Mac screeches.
“Six! Push them back. Jay!”
“I’m here.” Jay skids to the floor and slams his knee against mine as he slides. “What do you need?”
“Bolt cutters,” Gunner murmurs. He takes a set of tools from his pocket and opens them on the floor beside the vest. “Get her out of that thing, then go. Run.”
I spin to Jay and lift my arm to give him room to move. The sour-sisters continue to scream, but one cuts off with a squeak at the same time a bullet zings across the room from Spence’s gun on the second level.
“She was armed and coming for you, Bish.”
“Thanks.” Kane slams Olly against the bar with shoves much more violent than anything I ever gave to the punk at the gas station. Blood explodes around Olly’s head, but Kane goes hard and slams a second time as he secures cuffs around bloody wrists.
“Get them out,” Gunner murmurs. He studies the vest and works on the wires, but when no one acknowledges his words, he looks up and around. “Get out! You have three minutes to move six blocks. Go!”
“One lock,” Jay grunts when he finally gets one loose. “Two more.”
“Go.” Kane shoves a weeping Olly at Alex when he rushes through the door. “Get everyone back. Griffin says six blocks.”
“Yeah, Mac just said. Everyone, evacuate now! ” He looks to the mezzanine level and waves Romeo and Spence down. “Let’s go. Everyone out. We can’t clear the space until you’re all out.”
“Go, go, go, go.” I try to hurry Jay on. “Come on, Bishop.”
“I’m trying.” His muscles flex and strain as he tries to close the cutters. “Hold on, Tate. I’m not letting you go.”
“Got it.” Gunner’s voice is like celebration and dread in one. “Disarmed.”
He literally picks Evie’s vest up and tosses it onto the stage, then he turns to me and begins pulling cords away to get a look. He takes the watch from the pocket, and in this moment, in this very second, my life flashes when his face pales.
“She had longer.” He looks to the useless vest as though in mourning. “She had three minutes.”
“How long does mine have? Gunner?” I grab his face. “How long?”
“One minute, twelve. Run.” He grabs the cutters from Jay’s hands and shoves him so hard he slams to the floor on his back. “Get up and run. You have one minute. Kane! Go.”