8
As expected, Birdie is the ultimate distraction. There’s a crowd around the Skyline where she’s leaning on the hood and drawing attention to herself. “She’ll be fine,” Rafe says from beside me, halfway into the passenger seat. “Let’s go.”
I shake free of the concern creeping into my subconscious and follow suit. She can handle herself better than the rest of us, but this is a different environment, an unknown danger, and we have no idea what we’re dealing with.
The car rumbles to life and a few girls in our vicinity squeal as Rafe flirts with them subtly out the window. I rip from the parking lot toward the impound lot. If we time it perfectly, Birdie will be tearing from the start line and no one will even notice that we’re gone.
“You ready to call them?” I ask Rafe as I kill the engine a block behind the lot. The chain link fence will snap under the pair of cutters in the trunk and I make to grab them when my phone rings. “Good?”
“You need to be quick.” Murphy doesn’t even say hello, and it’s hard to hear him over the sound of the Skyline purring loudly in the background.
“We’re good,” I try to convince him as Rafe starts dialing 911.
“No,” Murphy barks. “Birdie is too fast.”
“Now.” I snap my fingers at Rafe who instantly starts the call as I grab the cutters.
“She’s already a quarter-mile ahead of the next guy and is cackling in the front seat like a witch. I’m actually terrified for my life!” Murphy yells.
“Don’t be a baby!” Birdie hollers from the background and I hear the car shift gears.
“You’re going to kill us!” His voice cracks and Birdie laughs.
“It’s called an adrenaline rush, Murph. Breathe it in!” She says again.
“Too tight, Bird! That corner was too tight!” Murphy snaps. “Can you two move please? She’s a mile out from finishing. We need sirens… like now.”
“Get into their system. We’re moving…” I nod to Rafe.
“Yeah, I don’t know, ma’am, it’s really loud and sounds dangerous.
They just ripped by my house! I have three small children asleep!
” he rants to the operator as we shuffle through the shadows.
“Get the cops out here now! Before I call a news station! Yeah, sure, say whatever you want! I know your type! Maybe it was racist, maybe I’m just fed up with this city!
Screw you! They’ll do something about the lack of police presence on our streets! ”
I shake my head at his dramatics, but it seems to work because he disconnects the call and immediately calls Murphy, shoving an ear bud into his ear so he can hear him as we move. Rafe uses his free hand to pull out his gun and flashlight before jogging after me.
“There.” He points and I look up at the camera above us with a nod right before the red recording light is cut.
The fence goes slack and I roll it back to let Rafe in ahead of me with his flashlight.
“Sounds like she took me seriously.” The sky around us lights up in red and blue as the sound of sirens howl into the Arizona clouds.
We pause for a second, listening to make sure the sound dies and the moment it does we start to move.
“Murphy said it’s west, four rows in at the back, between a red Toyota and a bike.
” Rafe leads the way and it’s another two minutes of searching the lot before the car comes into sight.
“BJK6390.” He kicks the license plate and starts to pick the trunk lock as I wander around to the driver's side door to do the same.
The trunk pops and we both go still, waiting for the alarm, but it never comes so we start searching. The glove box is empty and nearly everything has been pulled from the cracks and crevices, but the passenger seat is stained deep red.
I tug the knife from my boot and tear through the upholstery in a straight line to rip a large chunk of it free. “Here,” Rafe tosses me a roll of tape, “Murphy says to—”
I wave him off, “I know what it’s for,” I groan, unrolling a large strip and sticking it to the head rest a few times to pull off whatever hair I can. Between the blood and the hair, we might have an easier time figuring out who the hell these guys are.
“Two minutes,” Rafe warns, his eyes meeting mine. I nod, shoving the dirty strip of tape into my back pocket and pulling free of the car. “Trunk was empty… Holy shit he bled a lot.”
“If he died…”
“Cress is in a lot more trouble than we thought.” I close the door and direct him out of the lot back through the hole we came through and down the alley. “Stop,” I warn him. “Turn your light off.”
The soft click echoes over the sound of three voices up ahead, near my car, followed quickly by the sound of Rafe checking the chamber. I pull my knife back out as we come around the corner, and sure enough three idiots are rifling through my car.
“Where are your manners?” I cut into the silence, and they turn to face us.
At first glance it looks like a fair fight, the one in the front seat is weasel like, and small, like his bones are made of glass. But then the other two straighten out and I sigh. Both are practically giants, as wide as the doors and twice Birdie’s height.
“That’s not great,” Rafe chokes, but he raises the gun and steadies himself.
“We got bored waiting for you to get back,” he quips.
Rafe freezes. Whatever this is, the guys in front of us aren’t just street scum. They’re here for us…
“You didn’t think they let that car get towed on purpose?” He watches my expression closely as I figure it out. We walked into an ambush. My jaw tightens as my mind flashes to Birdie, Murphy, and Cress.
“We just wanted you,” he says, reading me. “He’s a surprise though.” He points to my brother and I turn rigid. “We’re just here to deliver a message, Riggs.”
“Then do it and fuck off,” I snap.
“Now who’s forgetting their manners?” He clicks his teeth at me. “He sees you. He wants you to know how pathetic your mundane life is.”
“Who?” I step forward and one of the elephant-sized men holds up a bar in my direction as a warning not to move.
“That wasn’t part of the message,” he sighs. “However, he did want to remind you what pain feels like.”
“Try me,” I snarl. “Take the little one—without that…” I say quickly, looking at the gun before they try to jump us. Rafe is pretty agile and we don’t need the extra attention.
He grumbles but listens. With Rafe at my back I shift preparing myself to take on Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb with nothing more than the knife in my hand and the need to make sure he hasn’t touched the rest of my family.
“Alright, oaf, let’s do this.” I inhale, stepping back on my heel to avoid the silent punch he throws.
As he retreats I invade that space and slash across his forearm, using the distraction to lay my boot into the soft spot above his knee.
I’m so focused on him I don’t notice his ugly friend blindside me with a punch across the jaw.
Copper fills my mouth, and I spit out a wad of blood as I stumble to the left away from his approaching form.
Rafe dances with the little one, narrowly avoiding his advances with quick steps and heavy attacks.
He’d always been fast, thinking one step ahead of his opponent.
He gets hit hard on a sideways attack and I scramble to put myself between them but the wall in front of me is closing in and I don’t have the space to get around him.
He lunges just like his friend did, only he’s smarter and follows through with a secondary swing.
The iron bar hits me in the chest and feels like it’s gone through me.
The inhale I’m forced to take burns all the way into my stomach and I cough hard as I walk backward away from him into the chest of the one bleeding.
“Alright boys, one at a time?” I ask, swallowing the blood pooling in my mouth.
When I turn I drive the knife forward, nicking him again but it’s not enough for him to react.
His arm snaps out and he catches me in the jaw with the intention of hitting me again but I duck and he slams into his own friend with a sickening crush.
“Riggs!” Rafe barks, and my eyes scan the alley to find the skinny one knocked out cold on the pavement.
“Get in!” he hollers, and I refocus just in time to slide out of the way of another attack.
I spin on my feet and the next fist reaches for my collar, but he misses and I slam my hand into his face before taking off out of range without being able to breathe.
I slide into the seat, barely getting the door closed before Rafe is knocking the car into reverse and ripping from the alley back onto the street. I lean forward, dialing Murphy’s number while massaging my jaw with my hand.
“Where the fuck did you guys go?” he barks over the speaker as the call connects.
“We got jumped by more assholes.” I cough up more blood and start feeling around inside my mouth to make sure all my teeth are still there. Rafe keeps looking over at me in horror but I wave him off and lean back against the seat with my eyes closed.
“Rafe?” Birdie’s voice comes through.
“Better shape than Riggs,” he says.
“What did they want?” Murphy asks, the faint sound of him clacking away on the keyboard trickles over the speakers.
“Riggs.”
“What?” Birdie’s question is followed by the loud screeching of tires.
“I’m fine,” I cough out. “Maybe…” I grimace as Rafe takes a hard turn.
“Good news is, we got what we needed.” His eyes flicker down to the bloody knife between my feet.