9. Zira
ZIRA
“Peter!” Dragging my jeans over my legs, I chase Peter through the apartment. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Peter comes to a stop in the living room and tears through the wall unit. “Where are your car keys?”
“You’re not taking my car. It’s not road safe, remember? Why do you think I take the bus?”
“Where are the fucking keys?”
“Tell me what’s going on!”
He throws his hands in the air and spins to face me. “They’re dead, Zira. What more do you want to know?”
“Who?”
“The other half of Harris’s group. The men who robbed the ship while we were stealing from your store. Fucking hell, can you try and keep up?”
Dead?
How can that be? Harris, as much as he’s a complete asshole, is usually pretty damn smart when it comes to shit like this. It’s the only reason he hasn’t ended up in prison all these years, because he’s usually one step ahead of the cops.
Bradley suddenly enters my mind and a cold sensation flushes through my stomach. “How do you know?”
“How do I know what?”
“That they’re dead—and will you stop tearing up my stuff!” I lunge forward and snatch an ornament out of his rampaging path. “I already told you the car won’t run. It doesn’t even have gas.”
“Fuck!” Peter spins back to me with his fist raised and there’s a single, cold second where I fear he’s about to hurt me. That second passes and he clutches my shoulders instead.
“Harris had people watching the places where they lived, okay, and a group of really scary fucks turned up and started shooting. They’re dead so we have to go, okay? If any of them told those assholes about the diamonds, then we have to move them somewhere else. We have to go and help him.”
My grip tightens on the ornamental dolphin. “No.”
“No?” Peter’s brows dart up. “The fuck you mean, no?”
“How can you even consider helping him after what he did? Fuck him and fuck those diamonds. He kidnapped you and put me through hell trying to save your life, or did you forget that? Harris is a monster, and if some guy is hunting him down, then I say let him be hunted!”
Peter’s hand flies upward suddenly and collides with my face, slapping me so hard that the dolphin slips from my fingers and shatters into a thousand pieces at my feet.
“Are you stupid?” he yells in my face, shaking me by my other shoulder.
“Those diamonds are the only money we have! Do you want me to get back into gambling trying to scrape by? Do you want me to fall back into old habits because your pride stops you from accepting millions of dollars? We’re supposed to be in this together, surviving together, and you want the man who helped us to rot? ”
“Help?” I yell back as anger surges inside me like a hot wave. I shove both my hands against his chest and push him away as hard as I can. “He had me kill someone, Peter!”
“He didn’t force you, did he?”
“He did! He told me if I didn’t then he would kill you!”
“Sounds like you made a choice.” His eyes narrow to slits. “And you’re trying to blame someone else.”
“He made me, Peter! Are you even listening to yourself? Fuck Harris and fuck those diamonds!”
“Oh, Zirconia, grow the fuck up, will you?” He lunges toward me so suddenly that I throw myself back against the wall, my heart pounding.
“You killed that man. You’re the murderer, not him.
No one forced you to do it. You made the choice and it’s not my fault that you’re so thick you thought he was serious about hurting me. ”
“But—”
“No buts! Now where the fuck are the keys?”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing, but it’s too hard to think with Peter yelling in my face. Pulling away from the wall, I duck under his arm and locate the car keys in a small drawer in the kitchen. As I hand them to him, he shoves the Arlecchino mask into my hands and my stomach flips.
“Come on,” he says, his voice gentler. “Enough with the dramatics. Let’s go get our diamonds.”
What little gas is left in my not-fit-for-road-use car scrapes us to the edge of the city and gives a dying wheeze as we pull into the parking lot of an abandoned gas station.
Harris is already there looking disgustingly proud of himself but as I climb from the car, I catch a glimpse of the panic in his eyes.
Someone’s hunting him, hunting all of us, and if they were capable of taking out the other four members of this cobbled-together team, then we really don’t stand a chance.
“About time,” Harris snaps. “What took you so long?”
Peter sends me a dark scowl and jerks his thumb toward me. “Princess over here’s got issues.”
“Who would have thought we’d be seeing each other again so soon?” Despite that panic, Harris smirks at me and my stomach rolls.
“I’m not here for you,” I mutter bitterly.
“Right. Listen, we don’t have a lot of time.
I’ve split the loot between those two cars.
” He points behind him at two black sedans sitting side by side.
“It’d be stupid to move everything at the same time, so I’ve cut it in half.
Just follow the route already typed into the GPS and call me when you get there, alright? ”
“Who’s driving?” Peter asks as the fourth member of our team walks over already wearing a Volto mask.
“Zira can drive one,” Harris says. “I’ll drive the other. Peter, I’m going with your sister because I can’t trust her. You can go with him.” He nods to the other Volto and then motions for Peter to follow. “Come get a mask.”
“Do I get a say in this?” I ask.
“No,” Harris remarks.
“Peter, can we—”
“Stop!” Peter hisses at me as he moves to follow Harris. “Just suck it up, okay?”
Shoulder to shoulder, Peter and Harris walk toward the gas station and vanish through the front door while the other Volto hands me a set of car keys without saying a word. Then he turns and walks toward the vehicles, and after a single moment of debate, I follow.
How did I end up here again? When I said I’d never see Harris again, I meant it, but here we are.
My stomach writhes like a nest of snakes has taken up residence there and my heart beats painfully slowly in my chest. All this stress is surely shortening my life span, but I’m at a loss for what to do.
Reaching my designated car, I watch the other Volto slip into his and shut the door, leaving me to the cool, quiet silence of the late-night air.
My argument with Peter leaves me on edge.
Time and time again, I’ve fought to get him help for his addictions, but no matter how much progress we make, we somehow always slide right back to where we are.
Now I have to drive to an unknown location with Harris and hope this really is the end of it all.
As I slump into the driver’s seat, my heart starts to race.
Harris splitting Peter and me up again has to be for a reason, and it unsettles me.
He already knows I’ll do anything for my brother, so is there something else he’s going to demand of me while holding my brother’s life over me?
And if he does, will it be worth it when Peter’s out here acting like I’m the unreasonable one?
As I mull it over, Bradley’s card suddenly pops into my head and I yearn to be back in bed tracing those gold swirls until I fall asleep.
Wait… Bradley.
Could he be my ticket out of this?
He told me to call the next time we were going to rob somewhere, but that clearly isn’t going to happen. But if he’s someone linked to what happened to the rest of our group, would I just be drawing the Grim Reaper right to my doorstep?
If so, maybe I can work out a deal. I don’t care for the diamonds or the gems or any of the shit we’ve stolen. I just want to get my life back with my brother, and a car full of gemstones should give me enough to bargain with that man.
I hope.
Slipping my phone out of my pocket, I type a quick text saying there are no more jobs, but we’re moving the diamonds. When it comes to putting in Bradley’s number, I freeze. I don’t have his card with me, and replaying the number in my head trips me up on the last digit.
It was a two… or a seven. Was it two? Maybe a seven? Both look right in my mind even as I replay tracing the gold letters with my eyes.
Shit.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I glimpse Harris and Peter exiting the gas station, both wearing their respective masks.
The urgency of Harris approaching my car after patting my brother on the shoulder has me typing in the two and hitting send, then shoving my phone back in my pocket. If it’s wrong, then it doesn’t matter.
It’s not like I’ll be able to reply to a text or call with Harris in the car.
The car door opens, and Harris slips inside. He leans forward and taps the screen of the GPS until a route flashes up on the screen. The car next to us revs its engine, then pulls away with my brother inside, and my heart starts to pound.
Grow up, he told me.
Bastard.
Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for him, and he has the nerve to throw it all back in my face.
“Drive,” Harris barks, his voice twisted by the mask’s tech.
“You can’t see it, but I’m rolling my eyes right now,” I reply bitterly as I start the car. At the exit of the gas station, our route takes us left while my brother’s car goes right, sending a shiver down my spine as I watch his vehicle get smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror.
“Where are they going?” I ask as we pull onto the highway. “My brother, where are you sending him?”
“They have their own instructions,” Harris replies. “Just drive.”
“Where are we going?”
“Shit, your brother was right. Do you ever stop asking fucking questions?”
“Excuse me for trying to understand this a bit better. You drag me and my brother out of bed at shit o’clock in the morning and force us into helping you rescue your fucking diamonds…” I shake my head with a deep sigh, channeling all my panic into anger. “Do you have something on him?”
“What?”
“Peter. You’ve got something on him, don’t you? That’s why he keeps going back to you. Why can’t he seem to let you go? I work myself to the bone trying to make a better life for us and I’ve put up with the shit you’ve made me do, and for what? He just goes back to you like you’re fucking friends.”
Harris doesn’t reply. He relaxes back in his seat and gazes out the window.
“So, you’re going to ignore me?”
“I’m tired.”
“So take a fucking pill, I don’t know. You make me drive, you’re going to answer my questions.”
“I don’t answer to you,” Harris snaps. “But before you get any ideas, remember which one of us has blood on their hands. No matter how this goes down with the cops or the bastards hunting us, you’re the one with blood on your hands.”
My fingers curl tighter around the steering wheel as nausea pulls through my gut.
Is that what it’ll come down to now? Nothing Harris does will ever be worse than my taking the life of a man who, somehow, isn’t actually dead.
I keep that truth to myself as we drive in silence down the highway, my eyes locked on the road ahead and my thoughts bouncing around concern for my brother and hatred of Harris.
Eventually, the route cuts off the highway and we drive along several winding roads lined with tall, dark trees that grow thicker and thicker the longer we drive. As the dark open road before me grows in shadows, I lose track of the last time I saw a house or even another car.
“Where are we?” I murmur, peering at the GPS. Unfortunately, the screen doesn’t display a road name or even a nearby town. I glance at Harris who hasn’t moved in so long, he might actually be asleep. “Harris?”
He jolts suddenly and faces me. “Huh?”
“Where are we?”
He shifts up in his seat. “Keep driving.”
“Not until you tell me where we are or where we’re going. I haven’t seen a building in at least thirty minutes.”
“Just stop!” he snaps suddenly. “Stop questioning, stop complaining. It’s so fucking grating. Just keep driving until it tells you to stop, alright? Fucking hell, I’m trying to sleep.”
I snap my mouth shut, grinding my teeth against the inside of my cheek, then I reach into my pocket for my phone. The second the screen lights up, Harris kicks into action.
“The fuck are you doing?”
“Calling my brother.”
“Fucking hell—give me that!” Harris lunges at me, slamming me into the car door with his weight while grabbing my wrist and twisting so painfully that my phone slips from my fingers with a pained gasp.
The car skitters across into the other lane, and I have to fight with the wheel to get us straight back on the road while Harris slumps back in his seat.
“No one’s calling anyone!”
“The fuck is wrong with you? You’re making me drive into the middle of nowhere and expecting me to trust that there’s some grand plan here, but you know what?” I slam on the brakes, sending us both forward into the dashboard. “Fuck that. I’m not going anywhere until you let me talk to my brother!”
I turn to Harris and freeze as the lights from the dash glint off the barrel of the gun he has pointed at me. His mask whines slightly with every wheeze.
“Drive,” he barks. “Or you’ll never see your brother alive again, understand?”
His cold words confirm the worry in my mind. He did split us up for a reason. How did Peter not see this happening? His blind trust in Harris despite his kidnapping makes no sense to me, and as I stare at him, a deep hopelessness floods my chest.
“Drive,” Harris orders, and when I don’t move immediately, he raises his voice. “Drive!”
“Is this how it’s going to be now?” I gasp, flinching as I start the car again.
“Whatever you have on my brother gives you free rein over both of us, huh? He follows you like a puppy, so it must be something good. Did you make him kill someone too so he’s always in your debt?
Well, let me tell you something, I’m not stealing for you again and I’m not hurting anyone else, you hear me?
” Tears begin to flood my eyes. “I’m tired.
You’ve forced me to be someone I hate and I can’t stand it.
Everyone has a limit, Harris, and when you—”
The next bend in the road has me slamming on the brakes with both feet, bringing the car to a screeching stop in the middle of the road. Several black SUVs block the road in front, illuminated by headlights that blind us, and I screw up my eyes, raising one hand to combat the glare.
“The fuck?” Harris grunts.
“This isn’t you?” I say while squinting and trying to peer through my fingers.
“No,” Harris remarks. “This really isn’t me.”