Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Freeze!” Cass shouted.
The man before him—a man who’d run damn fast for someone who’d used a cane moments before—stilled just steps away.
They’d both barreled down a narrow hallway before Winston had kicked open a door and slipped into the growing darkness.
The faintest hint of gold still filled the sky, giving Cass just enough light to see his uncle.
Most of the Feds were inside. Like I didn’t know Gray would swarm. His cousin could be so predictable. A good thing.
A few Feds were probably watching the periphery of the building, but there were too many exits for everything to be thoroughly covered. And Winston had just found his escape hatch. Or, the man thought that he had.
This time, though, Cass would make sure his uncle did not get away.
Winston had a gun in his hand, Cass could see it. His uncle had ditched this cane, though. Cass couldn’t help but wonder how much the use of the cane might have been for show. Always trying to throw off potential enemies, aren’t you? Making them think you are weaker than you really are.
“Why yell for me to freeze?” Winston asked, voice curious. “Why not just shoot me in the back like you did before?”
“Turn around,” he gritted out.
“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Winston said with no hesitation. “You see, I really need to keep going. You would be wise to keep going, too.”
Unease pricked at Cass’s nape. “What in the hell are you talking about?”
Winston looked back at him. A glance over his shoulder.
“You think I couldn’t predict that you would be here?
Either you would come running after that woman was dead, after Bayne had finished carving her up, or you would figure out that you’d been betrayed by Bear and you’d make an appearance with her.
One way or another, though, I knew you would be in this warehouse.
And I’ll be honest, I was actually betting that you would come with her.
Otherwise, I would have been disappointed in you.
I hate being disappointed. Your father disappointed me, you know. ”
“Like I give a shit about your disappointment.” But the unease that Cass felt was getting worse. Stronger. Sharper. He’d left Agnes back in the warehouse.
“Your FBI friends came with you to the scene. They rushed to the rescue as soon as my men starting firing. I counted on that happening, you see. I suspect Gray was in there somewhere. You and Gray were always so close as children.” He still didn’t fully face Cass.
“Your father wasn’t the only one who liked to keep tabs on you.
I know all about your cousin, how close you were.
You are. Close with the man who became such a powerhouse at the FBI while you sank into the shadows.
” A brief smile teased Winston’s lips. “I never bought that you were fully in the dark. You had too many connections to the light. I blame that on your mother.”
“My dad had her killed!” Rage cracked through his control, and the hand holding the gun shook.
“No, I did that. She was one of the few people that I could never get your father to hurt. You and your mother. He had a soft spot for you both. Weaknesses. The wrong woman can truly make a man weak. You learned that with your pretty little Fed, didn’t you?
She’s gotten too close and made you weak when you needed to be at your strongest.”
“She doesn’t make me weak.” Quite the opposite.
“Sure, she does. When she explodes into a million pieces—along with Gray and the rest of the Feds in there, and the poor, unfortunate idiots who swore allegiance to Bayne and to me—well, when they are all dead, you’ll shatter apart, too.
That’s when the real weakness begins.” That smile again.
So very cold. “You see, my vengeance doesn’t come from me killing you.
Death is entirely too easy. My vengeance comes when you have to live in a world without the person you love most. When you have to suffer through every excruciating day. ”
When she explodes into a million pieces. His heart had stopped at those words.
“Is the bomb I left on a timer?” Winston asked. “Or do I have the trigger on me? What do you think?”
“Turn the fuck around.” A bomb. A bomb. A bomb.
“I’ll keep running, thanks. The better not to be hit by the blast. And you should run, too. Away from the warehouse if you want to stay alive. Or to it if you want Agnes Quinn to live.”
No, fucking, no. “You’re bluffing. You’ve never blown up a damn building in your life.”
“People change. We evolve. I had to pick up some new tricks in the last few years. Oh, come on, don’t be shocked, you had to suspect the truth. The Feds were working extra hard to bring down the Twins—”
“Because you and Bayne have been murdering people!”
“That’s just a side hobby. We’ve been making bombs. Watching the world burn. You like to do that, too, don’t you? You like—”
Bam.
Cass had fired. He’d gotten tired of the BS, and he did not have time to waste. Not if Agnes’s life might be on the line.
Winston screamed when the bullet hit him in the back of the leg. He fell to the ground, then twisted his body, bringing his gun up and aiming it at Cass.
But Cass was already on him. He’d lunged forward in an instant. He pointed his weapon at Winston’s chest even as Winston aimed his gun at Cass.
“If you have a trigger to some bomb on you, throw it to the side, now,” Cass barked.
Winston smiled. “No.”
“Right. Because there is no trigger. There is no bomb. You are bluffing.”
“You have about two minutes. I started the bomb the minute I watched the van pull into the warehouse. The driver wasn’t Raz, I saw his face. I knew you’d come to the party at that moment, so I set the timer. I knew the way things would end even before Bayne opened the van doors.”
Bullshit. Wasn’t it?
Winston laughed as he ignored the blood that soaked his jeans.
“How many lives can you save in two minutes? Or do you even give a shit about that? Do you care about saving anyone but yourself?” A smug grin.
“Maybe you don’t even care about saving her.
Maybe I was wrong about you. Maybe she’s not a weakness because you just don’t care about her at all. Maybe she means nothing to you.”
The door flew open behind him—he heard the hinges screech. “Cass!” Agnes called.
He held his gun in position.
Winston maintained his grip on his weapon. “Am I bluffing?” Winston asked him.
Dammit. “Agnes, we have to get everyone out of that warehouse, now.”
“What? Why?”
“Because there’s a bomb inside.”
Winston began to laugh.
Really? The dumb sonofabitch was gonna laugh?
“My brothers are in there!” she cried.
More laughter from Winston. Even as blood pooled beneath his right leg. Then his gaze darted toward Agnes. Cass knew exactly what the bastard was planning. Winston’s gun wavered, shifting position slightly—
The boom blasted through the growing darkness. The bullet also blasted a hole right in Winston’s upper arm. Winston’s gun fell from his nerveless fingers.
“Bas—” Winston began.
Cass fired another shot at him. This time, his left leg.
Winston howled.
Then Cass shot Winston’s left arm. Just so things would match up. And so your ass will not be able to fight back. Bullets in both arms and both legs.
“You’re not gonna be able to run away,” Cass told him. “You’re gonna die right here with everyone else. Was that in your plans, you dick?”
Horror filled Winston’s eyes. Horror and what could very well have been fear.
“You always did have one hell of a survival instinct, Uncle Winston.” Cass was betting on that survival instinct to kick in.
He heard Agnes’s feet rushing away. He knew she was going to tell the others to get out of the warehouse. That she was going to save her brothers. She’d better get that sweet ass of hers outside, too.
Cass sucked in a breath. “Tell me how to disarm it. Tell me where it is. Tell me—”
“We’ve got less than two minutes!” Winston screamed at him. “Get me the hell out of here! There is no stopping it! There is no disarming. It’s in the office on the second floor, hidden in the desk there. Get me the hell out of here! We have to go!”
Cass leaned over him. He snatched up the fallen gun. “I’m getting everyone else out.”
Winston clawed at his arm. “No, no, you’re not a hero. Don’t save them! You’re just like me, you’re just like— ”
Cass broke free, leaving him bleeding and screaming.
“You’re just like me!” Winston yelled.
“The hell I am.” He grabbed for the door.
And nearly ran straight into Gray.
“What’s happening?” Gray demanded.
“Bomb inside, second floor office, in the desk. We have to get everyone out.” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Someone will need to carry his ass away, but that’s the leader of the Twins and he has—"
Screams erupted from inside. Cass stopped talking. He ran in. Rushed through the hallway.
“Bomb! We have to get out! There’s a bomb!”
Agnes’s yell, rising above the others. The Feds were scrambling. The members of Bayne and Winston’s crew were fighting to get to the exits. Utter hell reigned.
Agnes rushed to her brothers. She and Ryan yanked Nash to his feet. Ryan slung Nash over his shoulder and hauled ass. Everyone was scrambling. Everyone was running for the doors.
But Agnes…she turned and ran back to Cass. What. The. Hell?
Her hand reached out to him. “Let’s go, Cass!”
His gaze flew around. Then up. The second floor. The office up there. In the desk. “Winston said the bomb is up there. Maybe I can disarm it—”
“How the hell are you gonna do that? You’re not the bomb squad!
” She launched at him. Grabbed him. “It’s a trap.
You can’t disarm it. Let’s get the hell out of here.
The bomb squad can come in. They can disarm it.
We are getting out of here, now. You made my brother promise I’d walk away, remember?
Well, here’s my promise. We’re walking away, together, right now, and—Cass! ”
Screw walking. He was running with her. Because she was right. It probably was a trap. Winston might not have given them two full minutes. It would be just like the twisted fucker to say they had more time than they actually did.
He tossed Agnes over his shoulder. He was rushing out, with the Feds in front of him. Everyone was scattering. Almost out. They were all almost—
And then he heard the eruption. Heard it. Felt it. Even glanced over his shoulder and up. He saw the rolling waves of flame coming out of the second floor office.
But he was at one of the open doors. He had almost made it to safety.
Screw almost. I am making it. He launched forward, holding onto Agnes, and even as the bomb detonated, he was still holding tightly to her.
He would always hold tightly to her.
We are both going to walk away, sweetheart…both going to walk away from this darkness and finally, into the light.