CHAPTER 8
The Pawn
I’m not surprised that she left without saying a word this morning.
I left a mark. I also left something else that she’ll be real confused about when she sees it in the back floorboard.
The best way to hunt is to get them confused and distracted…
and then take the shot when they’re least expecting it.
The only thing that truly surprises me…is that she hasn’t let any of this show on her since I started playing her game.
I got up and cracked open a bag of pretzels as I stepped into the bat cave, booting up all my gadgets and Bridget’s tracker.
The French restaurant I’ve been dying to take her to. Go figure.
Funny thing about all of this is that I missed a text from Malek this morning, asking me to find Seven too. I rang him.
“Glad I don’t pay your sorry arse anymore.”
I scoffed. “Glad I’m not the only one missing my lassie. Makes me feel less like a git.”
“You didn’t take my advice, did you…”
Not a question. He knows I didn’t read her fucking poetry.
“I don’t think I have to tell you that your sister is more complicated than that, Malek. Did Sev make you sleep outside like a mutt last night for all that poetry you read her?”
“Bugger off. She sings like a little canary when I spread her like one of her favorite books.”
“I can see your fuckin’ eye winking from here, brother.” I clicked on this and that, typed in a few things and rolled my eyes, listening to him snicker on the other end. “Been a while since you had me trackin’ her though. What’s wrong?”
“…It’s nothin’. Just tryin’ to keep her feet warm about some shite. Tryin’ even harder not to screw up Average Joe life. I’m starting to wonder if I’m cut out for it, Dec. Sometimes it itches, ya know?”
“Last time it itched, you needed antibiotics.”
“Get fucked, asal capaill.”
I cackled, confirming Sev and Bridget were in the same place and started closing everything down. “They’re at La Terrasse Rouge. If I know your sister, she’ll end up at her favorite nail spot within the hour.”
“Thanks.”
“You got it,” I huffed, shrugging my coat on. “They’re not the only ones that can go disappear into a vat of hot gossip, Mal. Just puttin’ that out there. I’m here if you need me for anything other than my genius.”
“Might take you up on that. Later, cunt.”
Sometimes the hunt can drag. Keeping eyes on her isn’t always a walk in a game store.
Parts of it are boring. But the hard truth is…
I’ve nothing better to do, and this isn’t some attempt to win her affection.
This might help keep her alive. It might help keep us all alive, if I’m right about what I wish I was wrong about.
I parked just far enough away to see Malek with the girls outside the eatery, and it’s painfully obvious that something is going on with him and Sev.
I’m almost pissed at myself for not tagging Bridget with a mic today, but at the same time…
he’ll tell me when he’s ready, if he’s ever ready.
It’s not my place. He didn’t linger, either.
That tells me he honestly just wanted to know she was safe.
I’ve seen this behavior in him before. For a few months after we found out about Shavonn.
After that little spell wore off, he was a completely different breed.
Once the switch was flipped, there was no stopping Malek.
Already an executioner, but reborn as a hellhound.
Knocking that switch back into its place must be tough as fuck for him.
I’m starting to wonder if this is what’s happening to me.
Once reborn…is there a way back to the person we used to be?
It’s something I’m gonna have to really dig into, because I’m kicking rocks off the edge of this cliff.
There’s no doubt, I’ll jump for her. I just wonder if she’ll want me once I’m someone else.
I’ve picked absentmindedly at the tear on my center console, waiting for them to come out of that nail spa, just to watch them both go straight into a cupcake shop. See? Told you it isn’t always fun. Now I want a fucking cupcake.
Once Bridget finally said her goodbyes, I watched Sev for a minute.
I see it now. She plays it off really well, but it’s all over her face and in her body language.
They’re going through something and it’s bothering them both a lot.
The minute she turned away from Bridge, her expression sank and her shoulders slumped.
I got outta the car, committing to getting me a cupcake or two, and saw Seven drive off.
Halfway across the street, and I nearly lost my wits when gunshots rang out—from Bridget’s parking lot.
“No! Fuck!”
I hauled ass, as did several others startled by the noise, across the road, dodging honking cars and screeching tires, until I made it around the side of the building where the nail salon is.
Bridget was crouched down, unhurt and dumbfounded…
and I spotted him. I felt it like a rubber band in my chest. Like the last few fibers of an unraveling lifeline.
I fucking snapped.
My legs took on a life of their own and she didn’t even notice me as I went straight for the bastard.
He ran one way, I ran the other, skirting down a back alley that led me right to where he thought he was about to hop on a waiting motorcycle and disappear.
I grabbed the first solid thing I could find and stepped into his way, just as he cleared the corner…
and I swung. Metal sang and his fuckboy head rocked to the side before he hit the ground like a sack of Irish taters.
I grabbed his feet and dragged him out of sight, next to a dumpster in the alleyway, and ripped his ski mask off.
He’s out cold. I checked his pockets, finding nothing.
No wallet, no license. Nothing but the gun that almost took my girl, stashed in the back of his jeans.
I tossed what was in my hand, realizing I’d hit the fucker with the remnants of a fire escape ladder, and immediately dialed Mal.
“I’m good, I found—”
“Malek…meet me at the storage unit. I’ve got a fresh one that just tried to kill Bridget.”
That silent handful of seconds, I knew, was the last bit of effort Malek had at trying to be an Average Joe. The killer in him is yawning and stretching. “I beg your fucking pardon, mate?”
“Seven’s fine. She left just a few minutes before, but whoever this is, was after Bridge in the parking lot. He shot at her. She’s fine, but she—” Squealing tires distracted me and I looked up to see her car flying past the alley I was hiding in, off to God knows where.
“She what?”
“She’s on the move. She didn’t wait for police. I just saw her burn rubber.”
“Kill the fucker!”
“No. Not until I find out who the fuck he is and why he’s after her. He’s out. I’m taking him to the locker, and he’ll bleed until he fucking talks.” I grabbed a fistful of his dark hair and turned his face from side to side to see if I recognized him at all.
“I’m not far. I’m gonna make sure Sev gets home and check the place. I’ll meet you there in thirty. Find out where she’s goin’, Dec. He dies tonight.”
“On it.”
Cold dumplings were sitting in Dan’s lap when I lifted the door to the storage unit, and he looked at me stunned for a minute. He’s about to be a lot more stunned. He had one between two chopsticks paused at his mouth as I tried to reel in my rage.
“Did you want me to leave? I can go.”
“Nah, mate. But if you stay, I’m warning you now…you’re about to see why that hoodie I was wearing was relevant.” Call me crazy, but I swear I see a look of understanding on his haggard face.
“Lemme help.”
I nodded once, and he hopped up from the cot to follow me out the door.
I was hesitant to pop the trunk open, but he didn’t even balk when I finally did and he saw a body tied up inside it.
We both took sides and hauled his sorry arse into the unit, lowering the door behind us.
The bloke started to wake when we tossed him onto the concrete floor.
Dan parked his hands on his hips and stared down at him.
“He’s not dead. You wanna interrogate him.”
“Yep,” I grunted, clearing a space in the corner. “And it ain’t gonna be pretty. He just tried to off my lassie.” When I looked over my shoulder, Dan was flipping the guy over and checking his arms and hands.
“Well, he’s Russian for one thing. Affiliated for another.”
I slowly turned and crossed my arms. “How the hell do you know that?”
Dan glanced up at me while he pointed at a small tattoo on the fucker’s bound hand. “Look familiar? I might be unfortunate, but I’m not stupid. You’ve got one too…just different clans. I recognize this, I just don’t know exactly which one he’s part of.”
Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor.
“What kind of area were you in over there, Dan the man?”
“Intelligence. Specifically, terrorism.”
Well, holy shit.
“So…you knew what you were lookin’ at when I had all these screens up. You know I could kill you, right?”
Dan stood and pocketed his hands. “You could. I’ll put up my best fight, but I’d rather be of some use. Either way, it’s not like you’re taking much. Nobody’s gonna miss me, dude. I haven’t been worth anything to anybody in a really long time.”
The sound of gravel and Malek’s engine rolled through the unit and Dan shot his attention towards the door.
“At ease, soldier. Only unfriendly if you’re the piece of shit that’s on the floor. But he’s gonna be a little less predictable than me.”
Malek banged twice on the door and Dan let him in. To say he looked more than confused was an understatement, but Mal didn’t linger on my new friend. His eyes were rife with psycho as he cut them towards me.
“String him up. Now.”
“What’d you tell Seven?” I asked, helping Dan drag the guy towards the corner. Malek pulled a roll of heavy plastic from a shelf on the side wall.