Chapter Fourteen. #2
“Are you insane? Jesus. It’s Lieutenant Richards,” I hissed.
“What’s he doing here?” King wondered.
“Good question.”
“Rascal, Hallie, are you there?” Richards called.
“Yeah, we’re pinned down,” I replied.
“What direction is she shooting from?”
“Your east. Richards, King is injured.”
“Okay, Rascal, backup is on the way.” I glanced around the wall and saw Richards beginning to reverse. Moments later, Kira shot a hail of bullets at the car. Shouting and cursing erupted from inside, and Richards hit the brakes.
“Bitch has a suicide wish,” King muttered. I finally realised Hallie didn’t have a top on, so shrugged off my cut and ripped my tee off. I handed it over as fire engines came into sight. Well, they’d taken their time. Problem was, with an active shooter, they couldn’t tackle the blaze.
More sirens wailed, and police cars sped into view. An unmarked skidded to a halt near Richards as several black and whites moved down the road.
“Anyone injured?” Lio called.
“King has a bullet wound to his shoulder. Hallie keeps coughing from smoke inhalation,” I shouted.
“I took a bullet to the ribs. Bitch shot my car up,” Richards added.
Jesus Christ. She’d shot a cop. Kira was toast.
“Uniforms are checking the neighbourhood. Ambos are on their way, but we can’t let anyone in until the area’s secure,” Lio informed us.
“Bet you’re loving this, detective. Coming to rescue me,” Richards quipped.
“If I’d known it was you, I’d have taken my time!” Lio retorted.
“You’re an asshole, detective,” Richards retorted.
“Yup, comes with being a Hawthorne.”
“Lio! You’ve got injured,” someone called.
“Yeah, Miguel, but you can’t approach; the shooter’s not secure.”
I struggled to place the name.
“The cop needs attention,” Miguel argued.
“Don’t you dare move, cousin!” Lio ordered.
“But—”
“No. You do, and I’ll arrest you!” Lio threatened. Ah, Miguel was one of the Hawthorne cousins, I realised.
“You’ve two injured people and the lieutenant sounds serious,” Miguel argued.
A cackle came over the radio. “All clear. We’ve found where the suspect was shooting from, and she’s gone,” a guy said.
“Thanks, Carter,” Lio replied.
“We’ll stay here; Deveraux’s with me. I’ll keep a couple of uniforms to secure the scene. Guess you’re taking point?” Detective Carter asked.
“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”
“No skin off my nose,” Carter answered. Moments later, the fire engines moved, and paramedics rushed forward. Richards and King were piled into one, and Hallie and I followed behind. I was worried about Hallie’s cough. It didn’t sound great. This was the last thing she needed.
I ground my teeth. Kira Barnes needed ending.
Hallie
Wearily, I crawled into bed after showering.
My lungs still hurt, which didn’t make sense considering Rascal and I had swallowed the same amount of fumes.
King was released with his arm in a sling to immobilise his shoulder, and Richards had been kept in.
Kira was unravelling. She was beyond dangerous now.
I couldn’t imagine what was happening in that warped mind of hers.
Rascal lay in bed already and hauled me close. “King settled?”
“Yeah. I shoved painkillers down his throat too,” I murmured as I wrapped my arms around him.
“You okay?”
“To a degree. I’ve been trying to figure out what made Kira turn like this. I can’t think of a single event.”
“Kira was always the quiet one in class,” Rascal mused.
“But I remember stopping some kids from bullying her once. And while you weren’t Miss Popular of the Year, you had a wide group of friends and classmates liked you.
Maybe when people compared you, she got bit of an ego boost. And then when I helped her out, Kira twisted that up? ” Rascal suggested.
“Could be. Until Kira’s caught and we speak to her, we’ll never know,” I replied.
“You think we’ll take her alive?” Rascal snorted.
“You don’t?”
“No. Kira’s going down in a hail of bullets. She can’t have me, and she can’t steal your life anymore. Kira’s unravelling at a terrifying speed. Plus, she won’t come peacefully because her illusion is being shattered. It’s tragic, but she’ll suicide by cop,” Rascal said.
“Or by one of us,” I murmured, feeling a chill sweep through me.
“Yeah. Kira won’t let anyone bring her in because that means she’s in the wrong. She won’t be able to accept that. She’ll take the harder road and will fight her way out. That’s going to be bloody, messy, and end in at least her death.”
“Does it sound bad, after all Kira’s done, to say I feel sorry for her?”
“No, it just shows you’ve some empathy left.”
“Don’t mistake me. I really want Kira to pay, and I wish everything that happened to me to happen to her.
But there’s something sad in not being confident in your own skin that you need to steal someone else’s.
Rascal, I still don’t understand how Kira thought this would go.
Did she believe she could walk into my life?
That you’d forgive ‘me’ for ‘my’ actions? ”
“Hallie, without knowing what’s in her mind, nobody can say. As said, I don’t think we’ll ever know. Kira certainly won’t tell us before striking,” Rascal replied.
He settled down further into the bed, and I closed my eyes. My gut told me this was coming to a fast conclusion. And I’d no idea who’d walk away. Hell, I couldn’t even predict Kira’s next move. That annoyed the hell out of me because I hated not being in control.
Harlequin
I gazed at the flowers and wanted to stamp all over them.
“There’s a message,” Jinx said.
I nodded as I pulled it out. Opening the envelope, my lip curled up. It was a picture of me with a bullet hole through my head. Nice. Bad enough we had Rascal’s psycho stalker to deal with, and now April’s was amping back up.
“You telling Chance?” Jinx asked.
“Yeah. Prez needs to know. What the hell is happening lately? Ain’t shit meant to have quietened down after the war?”
“Oh, it was worse than this before,” Fanatic said, joining us.
“Bull,” I retorted, and Fanatic shook his head.
“Seriously. We had kidnappings, murder, mayhem, abusive assholes; Clio was hauled out of a moving car; this is tame compared to that,” Fanatic stated, and I held his gaze.
“Surely a lot of that was exaggerated; we all like bragging,” I replied.
“Nope. Chaos reigned and still does. Trouble follows an old lady. Although a few brothers had some drama in our background,” Fanatic snorted.
“Everyone has secrets,” I agreed.
Fanatic’s eyes landed on Jinx before moving away. “Yup. And some are terrified they’ll lose everything when the truth emerges.”
“Who wants another drink?” Jinx asked, getting to his feet. After taking the orders, he walked away.
“You’re frightened he’s hiding something big.”
“No. I know Jinx is. Whatever that is, terrifies Jinx, but I’ll stand by his side when it comes out. I owe him,” Fanatic replied.
“Me too. You believe whatever his shit will implode?”
“It will tear the club apart. I can see that coming. Chance can too, which is why he’s trying to get Jinx to trust him with the secret.
Jinx won’t open up. He seems almost desperate to be a part of us and wants to live it up while he can.
I can’t think of anything that the kid could have done that could be so damaging. ” Fanatic frowned.
“Jinx lives each day as his last,” I mused.
“Yeah, and I love Jinx for that. He’s suffered over those two shootings and that walk.
Jinx still limps, but doesn’t let that stop him.
Nope, whatever Jinx is hiding, he’ll not tell anyone yet.
And no matter what this costs me, I’ll be by the kid’s side, even if that puts me against the club,” Fanatic stated.
“That’s huge coming from you.” Fanatic was Chance’s nephew and slated to take over until Dax was old enough. Fanatic didn’t realise it, but the rest of us did.
“It’s what’s right. Jinx risked himself for me. I won’t do anything less,” Fanatic replied. And that was why the prospects, at the very least, would follow Fanatic into hell.