Chapter Nine #3
Overhead, a bell dinged, and the doors slid open.
There were metal detectors downstairs, so I hadn’t brought my gun inside with me.
No fucking way was I leaving this guy his weapon so he could shoot me in the back when he regained consciousness.
I freed it from his holster before stepping over him.
The gun went into my purse, my phone came out of it, and I took off toward Gran’s room at a run.
Pain burst through my bad leg from hip to ankle, but I ignored it.
I called Jakob as the hallway flew past me.
“What happened?” he barked.
“That guard just attacked me in the elevator.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?”
“Why do you sound like you’re dying, then?”
Ouch. Guess I was more out of shape than I thought. “I’m running to Gran’s room. Dr. Perez isn’t here. She went for lunch early and hasn’t been heard from since.”
A door opened up ahead. I slowed to a walk as an elderly couple emerged from it. I heard another door open behind me. A second later a woman screamed. They’d found the guard.
“What’s happening?” Jakob demanded.
I kept to a stately saunter and smiled at the couple as I passed them, pretending I hadn’t heard the scream. As soon as they were gone, I picked up speed again. “Sorry, just passed someone. Jakob, I think I saw a Joker tattoo on another guard’s arm.”
He swore. “Get ready. We’re coming in to get you.”
“Be careful. They’re armed.”
“So are we,” he said. The line went dead.
I made it to Gran’s room and knocked on the door.
“It’s open!” she called.
I nearly had an aneurysm. Her door was unlocked. Anyone could have come in here and—
Stop it, I urged myself. Now wasn’t the time to freak out about the what-ifs.
I rushed inside and locked the door behind me. Remembering Jakob’s move from the other night, I grabbed one of Gran’s kitchen chairs and tried to wedge it beneath the doorknob. It wasn’t as easy as it looked, and it took me three tries before I had the thing braced in tight.
“Well, this is some greeting,” Gran said.
I strode over to her and pulled her into a hard hug. Thank God she was okay.
Her gaze dropped to my leg as we pulled apart. “Uh, sweetie, you have blood on your jeans.”
“It isn’t mine.”
She sighed. “It never is. Who’d you get into it with this time? Amy again?”
I frowned. Amy? Oh hell, she was talking about Amy Smith—the girl who went after me one day on the bus. That was back in middle school.
I stared at Gran, looking for the telltale faraway look in her eyes that meant today was a bad day. Sure enough, she gazed past me as if listening to a tune only she could hear.
Damn it.
“Hey, Gran. How would you like to stay with me for a day or two?”
She smiled. “That sounds lovely. As long as it isn’t an inconvenience.”
“It’s not.”
I led her into her bedroom, and together we quickly packed an overnight bag.
I found her meds in the kitchen and shoved them in my purse.
We could grab anything I forgot at the store in town.
No way in hell was I leaving her here another day.
There’d be hell to pay for what I did to that guard—if he really was a guard—but if he was a gang member, which I was willing to bet good money he was, I’d just painted a nuclear-sized target on my back.
Where was Dr. Perez? Had she said the wrong thing to the wrong person, and they’d silenced her? Or had she been in on it after all, and that phone call asking Jakob to come with me was nothing but a lure?
“Are you going to tell me why you felt the need to creatively reinforce my door?” Gran asked.
“We think some bad men may be in the building,” I told her. No sense in lying.
She frowned. “Who’s we?”
“Me and a man named Jakob Larson. I’ll introduce you to him in a few minutes.”
I hoped.
I moved back to the door, my ears straining for the sound of gunfire. The Kings had superior numbers. I’d been annoyed when Jakob arrived with the cavalry, but now I was thankful for it. Hopefully the men downstairs would see that the odds were stacked against them and decide not to put up a fight.
“I met Jakob yesterday,” Gran said.
I whipped around. “You remember Jakob?”
“Of course I remember Jakob. Hard to forget that handsome bastard.”
I frowned. If she wasn’t having a bad day, then what was with the glassy look in her eyes?
Oh no.
I stepped toward her and took a deep breath through my nose.
She put her hands up and stepped back. “What are you doing?”
The earthy, herbal stink of pot hit my nose. “Gran! You’re not supposed to be smoking dope!”
“It’s for my glaucoma,” she said.
“You don’t have glaucoma.”
She dropped her hands and sent me a flat look. “Then it’s for the headaches my overbearing granddaughter gives me.”
I deflated. “I’m sorry. I just worry about you so much.”
She patted me on the arm. “I know you do, sweetie, but you have to let me have a little bit of fun once in a while.”
I decided that now wasn’t the time to point out that her drug test told me just how much fun she’d been having lately.
My phone rang in my purse, and I scooped it out and answered. It was Jakob.
“We’re walking up the hall now,” he said. “Get ready to open the door.”
I pulled the chair free from the knob. “I didn’t hear any gunshots.”
“They took one look at us and bailed.”
“Did you recognize them?” I asked.
“No, but one of the guys with me did. You were right. They’re Jokers.”
Fuck. “Do you think they took Dr. Perez?”
“We’ll look into it,” he said. “What the hell did you do to that guard?”
“Who? Defenseless old me?” I asked, dropping an entire cup of honey into my voice.
“Cut the shit,” he said. “I already apologized.”
Ugh. He was right. I was keyed up and taking it out on him. “You did. Sorry. I kicked him very hard several times and then kneed him in the face.”
“He didn’t get a hit off first?”
“No.”
“Good,” he said.
Heaven help me, he sounded proud.
A second later, there was a knock on the door. I glanced through the peephole to double-check that it was Jakob before pulling it open. We stood there, facing each other for an awkward moment. I was not going to hug him.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Hello again, Jakob,” Gran said, coming up behind me. “Oh, you brought friends.”
I swung the door wide, revealing the small, leather-clad army behind him. Men and women crowded together in the hallway. Several were open carrying military-grade weapons. No wonder the Jokers had taken off.
“Ready to go?” Jakob asked.
I nodded. “Gran’s going to come stay with me.”
“You can’t go back to your place,” he said.
I sighed. I should have seen this coming.
If the Jokers had Dr. Perez or if she was working with them, they’d know by now that I was the reason the Kings were busting up their little operation.
I’d heard through the grapevine that the Kings had safe houses they used for situations like this, and if the intractable look on Jakob’s face was anything to go by, I was about to spend some time inside one.
“Fine,” I said.
I went to grab Gran’s bag, but Rob stepped in and hefted it up.
“I got it,” he said with a wink. He had one of those deep, purring baritones that rolled right through you when he spoke.
Gran perked up when she heard it. “Ooh, isn’t that a voice.”
He tipped his head toward her. “Ma’am.”
“Thank you for such chivalry,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Izzy.”
My grandmother, the flirtatious prom queen.
“Can we please get going now?” I asked after they shook. “The cops have to be on their way.”
Miraculously, we made it out of there before any flashing lights arrived.