Chapter 17 #2
A whimper released when he touched her shoulder.
Rich rolled her over gently, and his eyes immediately went to her stomach.
“Why did you let her do that to my son?” he asked, his voice breaking.
“I didn’t,” I said, lifting Karma and Pressure.
Rich froze.
His eyes found mine, and something shifted in them. Confusion first, then recognition.
His mouth parted.
“Koko?”
His expression emptied instantly.
I pulled both triggers. The first shot snapped his head backward hard enough to splatter blood across the wall behind him, and the sound of the gunshots echoed through the abandoned clinic.
I didn’t stop pulling the triggers until both magazines were empty. His body jerked with each round, convulsing backward until he crumpled onto the concrete floor.
I stayed on the floor another second, breathing hard while blood spread across the concrete beside him. Then I hopped up. His two men would be coming. They’d heard the shots.
I ejected the empty magazines and reloaded, my hands steady even as adrenaline pumped through my veins.
Footsteps thundered through the hallway. I moved to the side of the door frame and waited. My finger rested against the trigger guard, my body coiled tight like a spring.
But they never made it to me.
My team intercepted. Screams cut through the clinic, then silence. I didn’t need to see it to know my men had handled Rich’s men the way we’d planned. I had positioned them perfectly in the hallway.
I stepped over Rich’s body without looking back and moved into the hallway, my guns still warm in my hands. The smell of gunpowder hung thick in the air, mixing with the scent of blood.
Booda appeared at the far end of the hallway, his expression unreadable as always. Behind him, two of my crew members were cleaning up. One of Rich’s men lay crumpled near a doorway, his blood dark against the linoleum.
The other body lay sprawled across the reception area, exactly where we’d positioned the second ambush point. Everything had gone exactly how we planned.
“All clear?” I asked.
“Yup, and we got the bag of money,” City Boy confirmed, moving around me. “The cleanup crew is being prepped. They’ll have this place wiped down within the hour.”
I nodded, looking down at my hands. My weapons were heavy, and I’d fired them so many times today that my shoulders would probably ache tomorrow, but right now I felt nothing but the lingering buzz of power.
“Hannah?” I asked.
“Safe house. She’s waiting for us,” City Boy replied, throwing me a towel.
I wiped myself as much as I could, and we filed out of the clinic.
The trucks were waiting just outside the exit.
I climbed into the back of the truck, and Booda slid in beside me.
The engine started, and we pulled away from the clinic without looking back.
The city blurred past the tinted windows as we drove, and I finally allowed myself to exhale.
Though every time I blinked, I still saw Rich’s face when he realized it was me on that floor.
My phone buzzed. A text from one of the crew members stationed at the safe house: She’s asking for water.
I smiled and typed back: Give her whatever she needs.
Booda’s hand found mine in the darkness of the truck bed, and I gripped it tightly. His thumb traced circles across my knuckles, a tender gesture, given what we’d just done.
We pulled up to the safehouse just after midnight.
I climbed out of the truck first, my legs stiff from the drive.
My guns were secured in their holsters now, hidden beneath an oversized hoodie I’d changed into during the ride.
My hands were clean, but I could still feel the phantom weight of them, the recoil echoing through my muscles.
City Boy and two other crew members stayed outside to secure the perimeter while Booda and I headed inside. The door was unmarked, just like everything else about this place. I punched in the code, and it swung open silently.
Hannah was in the back room, exactly where we’d left her. As soon as I entered, her head whipped in my direction.
“Did you get him?”
“I did. Rich is dead. You’re free.”
Hannah’s body stiffened. She stared at me for a long moment, and then relief flooded her features, and tears fell down her cheeks.
“He’s really dead?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Really dead,” I confirmed.
She sat back slowly, her hands trembling as they fell into her lap.
I pulled a chair over and sat down across from her, studying her face. Fear wasn’t the first thing I saw in her anymore. There was something different in her eyes now, a hardness that hadn’t been there before, or maybe it had always been there, and fear had just buried it so deep I couldn’t see it.
“You know this wasn’t supposed to work the way it did,” Hannah said quietly.
I tilted my head. “What do you mean?”
“The plan. When I told you about it, I wasn’t sure you’d actually go through with it.” She looked up at me, and there was almost a smile on her face. “But you did. You did exactly what I asked.”
“Rich was obsessed with having a son,” she continued, her hands still trembling slightly. “It was all he talked about. He wanted someone to carry on his name. He didn’t care about our daughter the way he cared about the idea of a son. That was why I knew my plan would work.”
“Thank you. Now, I’m about to take a quick shower. When I’m done, we’ll drop y’all off at the train station like you asked.”
Hanna wrung her hands in the sheets. “I think I prefer to drive. If you don’t mind, I want to go home, so I can pack us some clothes, and get the stash I know you missed.” She grinned, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Aight. Give me thirty minutes, and we can go.”
“Okay,” Hannah replied as she pulled her daughter onto her lap, hugging her tightly.
I left the room and rushed to the bathroom. Showering quickly, I let the hot water run over my skin until it turned red.
Thirty minutes was a promise, and so I did what I needed to do.
I dressed in dark jeans, a fitted black tee, and my oversized hoodie was back in place with the twin eagles secured at my sides. My hair was still damp when I walked back out to find Hannah and her daughter waiting by the door.
“You ready?” I asked.
She nodded, and we headed out.
City Boy had the truck idling, and Booda was sitting in the backseat when we climbed into the car. We drove through the city in silence, the streets growing quieter as we moved away from downtown.
Hannah stared out the window, her daughter curled against her side, fast asleep. I watched them both, noting how different they looked now. They were at peace.
The drive to Rich’s house took about twenty minutes. City Boy pulled the truck into her driveway and hopped out to open the door.
Hannah unbuckled her daughter and climbed out slowly, like her body still wasn’t quite sure it belonged to her. I watched her pause at the truck door, her hand gripping the frame.
“Don’t leave yet,” she said, turning back to me. “I need to get something from inside. Something for you.” Hannah’s eyes met mine, and there was that hardness again. “Give me five minutes.”
I exchanged a look with Booda, but we waited. Hannah was back in less than five minutes, just like she’d promised. She climbed into the truck and settled back into her seat, but this time her hand was closed around a flash drive.
She held it out to me without a word, and I took it, turning it over in my palm.
“You really need to see what’s on this,” Hannah said. “Rich recorded everything. Everything he did, and everything he said. He said that was the only way he’d have leverage on people. He was paranoid about losing control, so he documented it all.”
“Everything?” I asked, my eyes still on the drive.
“Everything,” Hannah confirmed.
I looked up at her. “Why give this to me?”
Hannah’s jaw tightened slightly. “Because, compared to the monsters I saw on that flash drive, you’re a saint.”