Chapter 21
KIRA
Ipull away from Keon’s chest when my phone starts ringing, smiling when I see he’s still asleep. It’s like a weight has been lifted off since I know he and Ari are both taking this recovery seriously.
I grab my phone from the nightstand and walk quietly into the hallway to answer so I don’t wake him up. “Hello?”
“Kira, I need you to listen to me.” My back stiffens when I hear the seriousness in Blaze’s voice. “I need you to stay calm.”
“Okay.”
“The safe house might have been compromised. I need you to grab Jason, and I need you to pack what you can, as fast as you can. Kane, Jaxon and I are on our way to move you.”
“Where are the other guys?”
“We’ll talk about that when we have you to safety. Move quickly, Kira.”
I disconnect the call and run downstairs where I can hear the TV. I find Ari asleep on the couch, but no Jason. I run outside, and he looks up from a book when he hears the door open. He jumps to his feet when he sees the look on my face. “What’s wrong?”
“Safe house compromised. We need to pack. Fast.”
We’re both moving into the house when we see Ari awake on the couch. “What’s going on?” I exchange a look with Jason. “Start talking.”
“Blaze just called and said the safe house might be compromised. That’s all the information I have, but they’re on their way.
” I tug on Jason’s hand and we go back upstairs in opposite directions.
I grab bags and just start shoving everything that I can find inside, my heart beating out of my chest.
“How can I help, Mama?”
I jump and spin at the sound of Keon’s voice. “Help Ari.” My phone pings with a message, and I jerk it from my pocket to read a message from Jaxon. “They’re ten minutes out. If Blaze is driving, we have roughly six minutes.”
“Breathe, Mama.” Keon kisses my forehead quickly before going downstairs.
I sling the first bag into the hallway and start on the next one. I have three bags packed within minutes, and see Jason carrying out three more. “That’s all up here,” he says.
We carry them downstairs and just step into the living room when the front door flies open. Keon jumps into action, shoving me and Jason behind him. The sound of the AK echoes around the place when Keon opens fire. I duck behind the arm of the couch and drag Jason down with me.
The sound suddenly stops, and I peek over the arm of the couch.
One guy comes out of nowhere and hits Keon with a flying tackle.
Ari moves faster than I’ve seen him move in weeks.
He grabs the guy by his hair, jerks his head back and slits his throat.
Keon shoves him off and slowly gets to his feet.
I see the blood soaking his shirt and know that hit ripped his stitches back open.
“Help me,” Keon says, wrapping Ari’s arm around his neck. Ari is pale and dripping sweat. Jason runs over to his other side, and we’re moving toward the backdoor. “Call someone and tell them we’re on the move.”
I quickly dial Jaxon. “We’re on the move. They found us.”
“Understood. Follow the treeline heading west about a mile. We’ll double back and pick you up there. Just keep moving.” I hear the engine roar over the phone before Jaxon ends the call.
Keon presses a Glock into my hands. “You know what to do, Mama.”
I hear branches snapping behind us and bring up every calming technique I was ever taught.
My heart is pounding out of my chest, and there’s a slight tremble in my hand.
We’re too out in the open here, and Ari isn’t up to running.
I chance a look at him, and he’s trying his best to keep his weight off of Keon and Jason.
We step in between some trees and a shot rings out, making birds take flight.
I spin, aiming, waiting for someone to come into view while walking backward.
You can do this, Kira. These guys risked everything for me, the least I can do is get them out of this alive.
Someone in tactical gear steps into my line of sight, but before I can get a shot off someone hits me from the side.
Me and the gun go flying, and I hit the ground with a pained grunt.
“Stupid bitch,” the guy growls in my face, and then I watch with wide eyes as his head separates from his body. He slumps down on me, and I look up into Kane’s eyes while he’s lowering the bloody machete. Kane kicks him off and helps me to my feet.
Kane starts moving me quickly toward the opening in the trees, and I look behind me to see Blaze helping Keon, and Jaxon with Ari. I smile when I see the death grip Jason has on Blaze’s hand. “Are you hurt?” Kane asks, pulling my attention back to him.
“I’m fine.”
“The urge to fly you back to New York is overwhelming.”
“No—”
“I said the urge. I didn’t say I was going to.” A black SUV comes into view, and Kane jerks the back door open. “Yet.”
He all but shoves me inside, and I crawl into the third row with Jason following behind me. Blaze helps Ari in, and Jaxon does the same with Keon. Jaxon climbs into the back between me and Jason while Blaze jumps behind the wheel, and Kane gets into the passenger side.
Blaze pulls out so fast that Ari groans in pain. I reach up to rub his shoulders. “I’m okay, Mal’akh. You did good back there.”
“I got football tackled.”
“But you were standing on business,” Jaxon answers. Jaxon wraps his arm around my shoulders and kisses the top of my head. “The next safe house is about twenty minutes from here. Tivon and the guys are going to meet us there.”
“What the fuck happened?” Keon asks, putting a bandage that Kane handed him over his ripped stitches.
“I got a phone call from Tivon,” Kane explains. “They found Abraham, and he said the safe house was probably compromised.”
“Where the fuck is he?” Ari growls, and I squeeze his shoulder harder.
“I do not know the specifics,” Kane answers. “Are you sure you can trust Tivon?”
“Yes,” Ari answers without hesitation. “He’s not giving up our location.”
“We have company,” Jaxon chimes in, looking through the back glass. “Black SUV.”
I turn to look and blow out a breath so big that I deflate. “It’s Tivon.”
Ari’s phone starts ringing, and he flips it to speakerphone. “Hello?”
“Hola, Papi.” Tyler’s voice filters through, and Ari shakes his head. “Everyone in one piece? We checked the safehouse, and it’s wrecked. We grabbed the bags.”
“How did you know to check?” Ari asks.
“Nolan. He got Jason’s distress alert.”
“Okay,” Jason says. “Maybe I don’t hate this watch anymore.”
“Holden is coming by later to fit everyone with trackers. We can’t fuck around anymore,” Tyler says. “Shit just got real again. We’ll explain what we found at the safehouse. Be safe.”
Tyler hangs up, and it makes me feel even better knowing they’re behind us.
The question is, how long is this going to go on?
The rest of the drive to the safehouse was uneventful. We get everything inside and settle around the living room.
“Tell me what happened,” Ari demands, easing himself onto the couch with help from Tivon.
“Short version? We got to the apartment, some guys were there, we took them out, grabbed what we needed, had company, ran from them, and then followed them,” Tyler explains in one breath.
“We found them going into an old prison, and Nolan hacked the cameras. Abraham is hiding out there. Tivon said he was planning to grab you again, and called Kane to remove you from the safehouse.”
“What about the laptop or whatever we needed to find this Cryptic?” Ari asks.
“We were going to take it to Nolan, but he must have filled Axel in on what was going on. He told us to go to you guys, and he would swing by to get it.”
Ari looks at Tivon. “We can’t let him get away again.”
Tivon nods his head once. “Agreed.”
“So, what’s the plan? We can’t storm it again, because he runs,” Keon responds. “Stealth is out, because it’s a goddamn prison.”
“And he’s not going to leave,” Tivon adds. “He’s got everything that he needs there.”
“They already had this in place, didn’t they?” I ask.
“More than likely,” Tivon answers. “They know what Aryeh is capable of. They knew there was a high chance that he would get away the first time.”
“So, no more going out alone,” Ari says, his eyes locking on Tivon. “We can’t get separated like that.”
“There’s still too much to be done,” Tivon argues. “We can’t just sit here.”
“You think I just want to sit here?” Ari says, his face red with anger. “I couldn’t even protect them today.”
“But you did,” I cut in. “You got that guy off Keon.”
“And I’m not saying you want to sit here,” Tivon continues. “But until you’re able to go out into the field, it falls on me. We just need to be more careful.”
“How much more careful can we be? How the fuck did he even find us? Nowhere is safe until he’s dead.”
“I’m aware,” Tivon says between clenched teeth. “I don’t know how he found us.”
“Could one of your guys be working with him?” Ari asks, and my eyes widen.
“No,” Tivon bites the word out. “You know the technology that he has available to him.”
“We have to think about all possible options,” Jaxon says. “Anything electronic can be tracked. You just need one hit on it to get a lead.”
Kane gets to his feet. “We need to get back to Elijah. When you have a plan to take this motherfucker down, call me.”
Kane, Blaze, and Jaxon all kiss my head on the way out the door. Tivon turns to Keon. “Let me see how bad.” Keon lifts his shirt, and the bleeding has already stopped. “Just a few busted open. I can fix them.” Tivon turns to Ari. “You need to rest.”
“You need to stop telling me what to do.”
“Ari,” I hiss.
“You want to be back on your feet so bad? Then you need to listen.”
With that, Tivon and Keon go toward the kitchen. I make the mistake of looking at Tyler, and he’s smiling. I know he’s up to something.
I just need to find out what.