by Amy McKinley
I matched his grin. “Not messin’ around.”
“Let’s get this done.” Mike drove several blocks until we arrived at a storage facility. We’d rented a back-corner unit that was large enough to park the vehicle in. The place had undergone a renovation, and there was even a drain in the larger section, which was useful for situations like this.
After the garage door was shut and locked, I dragged Billy from the car and tossed him into a chair, where Mike secured him with zip ties.
We had a single bulb we’d hung for necessary interrogations. Its pale light illuminated Billy and shrouded the rest of the area in darkness. I stepped closer so he would see enough of me to be intimidated.
“Wake him up,” Jack commanded.
Mike, Jack, and Chris stood behind him, so the only one he would get a visual on was me. Several of these guys should’ve already seen me around Red. I saw no need to give them extra intel on my team.
I slapped the guy on the face a few times until he started to come to. After a few seconds, he jolted in his chair. His wide-eyed gaze locked on me then darkened with fury. I let him struggle for a few minutes so he would realize he was secure and not going anywhere, at least not until we got what we needed from him.
“What the fuck do you want?” he growled as if he had power.
I chuckled. He had none. “You have information I want.”
“I got nothing for you.”
From behind my back, I pulled a seven-chamber revolver from the waistband of my jeans. We didn’t use these types of guns unless we wanted to play Russian roulette during an interrogation like the one we were undertaking.
With a click, the cylinder slid out, and I spun it for effect. There were no bullets in it. From my pocket, I retrieved two and put them in randomly before popping the chamber back in place. I spun it one more time so we didn’t know what position they were in then pointed it at his leg. “We’re going to play a little game.”
“Fuck you! You have no idea who you’re messing with. You’re a dead man.”
I laughed. “Who’s the one holding the gun, and who’s tied up? Think you’ve got that wrong, Billy. I know who you are. Do you know who I am?”
“You’re the dude helping the girl. You’re on our hit list too. Only a matter of time.”
“Let’s get started.” I was tired of his game and ready for one of my own. “You know how this works, right? I ask you a question, and you answer it truthfully. If you don’t, or you lie, I pull the trigger. You may or may not get lucky.”
He glared at me, his body straining against his restraints.
“What’s the plan with Max?” Ultimately, I knew they would kill him. I couldn’t believe they had any use for him beyond getting to Red, but I needed to know all I could find out.
Silence met my inquiry. I raised the gun, aimed it at his right thigh, and pulled the trigger. The click echoed off the metal walls.
“Let’s try that again. What do you want with Max?” We already knew he owed money. How much was the question, and why he wasn’t in the hospital, missing digits, or dead was the other.
Sweat beaded on the guy’s upper lip as a drop rolled down his temple. “We didn’t do anything to him yet. Not really.”
Except beat the shit out of him.
“He owes over a hundred k and is late on payments.”
I lowered the gun. That helped. Max owed a lot, but there would be time for him to run into luck and make a significant payment—that’s probably what they were holding out for. “And now? Plans must have changed. Why is that?”
“Go to hell.”
Huh, he was getting brave again. I raised the gun and pointed it at his thigh once more, just right of the femoral artery. There was no sense in shooting him and having him bleed out. We needed answers.
In slow motion, I pulled the hammer back, giving him every millisecond to change his answer. The bang from the gun was louder. “Look at that.” His mouth hung open as blood bloomed through his pants. “There was one bullet.”
I slid the cylinder out, inserted another bullet, and gave it a spin before popping it back in place. “One more time. What are the new orders?”
Billy laughed, the sound maniacal. “You. You’re the target. We’re to take you out and secure the girl.”
“No shit. Last chance to tell me something worth my while.”
“Fuck you.” He spat the words, spittle hanging from his lip. “I’m not telling you anything else.”
I aimed at his right shoulder and pulled the trigger fast and hard. The click emitted a hollow sound. “Why the girl?”
He reared back and launched a wad of spit. I fired the gun again. Another empty chamber. Fucking hell. “We can do this all day. I’ve got more bullets in my pocket and easy access to a scalpel. What’ll it be?” I raised my eyebrows, waiting.
“I’ll see you in hell, motherfucker.”
I squeezed the trigger, not caring that my temper was leading the interrogation. Worry for Red overrode my sense of what was right. The explosion from the barrel hurled a bullet and struck his shoulder with a pop.
Instead of firing off another question, I let him stew in pain for a few minutes. He would survive. I had been careful not to hit anything vital.
“Let me tell you what I know as fact. You’re muscle, four men beneath Stan Jones, the top man for Tridel’s northern territory.” Porch Guy to me. “You think you have more brains than the men ahead of you but haven’t had a chance to prove it and move up. You’re stuck in the same position, being a lackey and answering every call that the guy above you doesn’t want to do. It pisses you off, doesn’t it?”
Fury burned in his red-rimmed eyes. I watched with fascination as a vein throbbed at the base of his neck. “You’re ambitious, and being hired muscle isn’t enough. What is it you want? What’ll you do to surpass the others that are in your way to the top? Will you defy orders? Grab the girl and what?”
He laughed, and I waited. I knew I was on the right track because Chris had filled us in on everything he’d uncovered on this arm of Tridel, including personality profiles and anything out of the ordinary.
The guy had been doing more than collecting money owed. He’d somehow found out what the orders were ahead of time. Then he usurped the person above him, taking several of the jobs on and completing them before his superior could. It made the next guy in line look bad. Billy planned to move up. It made sense that Red was his ticket.
I needed to stir things up, get his emotions involved, and amplify his fear so he would slip up. With a pop and spin, I rotated the cylinder again then raised the gun, aimed at his abdomen, and pulled the trigger.
“What the fuck!” Billy sputtered. The hollow click saved him. A stomach wound just sucked. He would be lucky to survive it, and we both knew it. I’d seen where the bullet was before I’d locked the cylinder, but he hadn’t.
“Tell me what you know.” I aimed at his stomach again. “Next one is your throat. Ever seen that? The bullet will tear through that soft skin, shredding the tissue. You would probably bleed out before help arrives. What do you think breathing would be like? Drowning in your blood? Would your esophagus be gone?”
Sweat poured off his face, drenching the collar of his shirt. “The brother blabbed, and our objective changed.”
Max had talked.
“Grab the girl and kill you.” His lips pulled back in a mocking grin. “You’re a loose end that was supposed to be snuffed out years ago. Stan was pissed when you turned up with the girl.”
Porch Guy had recognized me. “Still not enough. I already know that.” There was no way I would have clued him in to my surprise that they’d figured out who I was. “What else you got?”
I’d made him mad. He pressed his lips together, probably to stop from swearing at me. “The orders trickled down from Tony, and I only know what I told you.”
Tony was one guy above him. He had another source. I raised the gun higher and pushed it against his neck. I was tired of
playing around.
Panic flashed in Billy’s eyes, along with an innate sense of self-preservation. “That’s all I know, I swear. His directive to kill three birds with one stone was divided up on a need-to-know basis to get the job done.”
Chapter 20
Hawk
Stale air greeted the seven of us as we crowded into the small, dark columbarium at the Bay Area cemetery where her parents and grandparents had been laid to rest. Somehow, Stella had talked us into taking a side trip rather than holing up at the lake and working on whatever the hell Billy had meant by “kill three birds with one stone.”
Billy was in the capable hands of the men our CIA contact had sent. He’d received medical attention and was being detained by red tape, as we’d hoped.
Red tugged on my bicep to get my attention. Over the past few days, I’d been getting used to her constant touch, and I liked it. I was probably just as bad. We didn’t have any alone time, and I wished we did. Being near her soothed a part of me I hadn’t known existed. For the time being, I would go with it. In the back of my mind, I knew our relationship was temporary—she would realize I wasn’t good enough for her down the line.
“Do you want to know how I figured out the clue?” Excitement radiated from her sparkling eyes and wide smile.
“Absolutely.” Hayden had called us when we were halfway back with instructions to meet them at the cemetery. I could picture Keegan fuming at the change of plans in the background. But Stella was adamant, and I understood. It was about her grandma, a connection, and the chance to help her brother. We wouldn’t let her part with any heirlooms found, and we also wouldn’t stifle her hopes.
“Pay attention.” She tugged on my arm again, and I focused on her. “That last note connecting to Oma’s past and the one holding her heart referenced her brother or husband. I don’t think it was about her parents. That doesn’t feel right to me. She grieved all her life for Stefan, and my grandfather was the love of her life. She told us that all the time.”
“And you eliminated the brother as a possibility because?”
She turned a little green. “His body wasn’t, ah, laid to rest in the States.”
Realization dawned, and I wrapped my arm around her. I’d forgotten that her uncle had died during the Holocaust. He was a part of a group of German teenagers who’d opposed the Nazis through music—at least, it had started that way.
“So it has to mean my Opa, my grandpa. Especially since Oma told me her mother had her carry their family heirlooms to misdirect suspicion when they immigrated.”
I nodded. That made sense. Going through a child’s possessions might not have been a high priority.
We walked farther in, our flashlights illuminating several niches that held urns. Stella directed us to where her family was. They had all been cremated, and she had the keys.
Silence fell as we stood before the openings. Each family member’s name and dates were below their respective urn. Her parents and grandparents had been put to rest side by side in order of when they had been born: grandfather, grandmother, mother, father. There were two empty spots in the same row for Red and Max.
Stella raised a shaky hand and inserted a key into the door that housed her grandfather’s ashes. With a turn and pull, the door swung open. I angled my flashlight for her to see what was inside. Carefully, Hayden lifted the urn out in case anything was behind it.
The cubby went deeper than expected.
She gasped and reached in to remove a dark, rectangular object. She set it on the ground then paused to give me a watery glance. Hayden put the urn back, and we all hovered around her, waiting.
After a deep breath, Stella opened the lid on the wooden box, which had a bouquet of flowers painted on the top. An antique mirror on the inside of the lid caught and reflected her face. Nestled in the velvet-lined interior, along with a ribbon-tied stack of letters, were several small bags.
One after another, she opened the pouches to reveal various antique rings and necklaces. Sapphires, emeralds, rubies, and pearls lay against the dark-red lining of the jewelry box. There was a handful of large gems, several karats in size—they were extravagant. “Those are pieces you would find in a museum.”
“They must be my great-grandmother’s.” Tears rolled unchecked down her face. “I can sell one and save my brother, paying off his debt. I bet one of these emeralds alone would bring in enough money if there were few infractions.”
I shot a sharp look at Jack and Mike. All of our expressions said hell no. We would end it another way. The jewels were Red’s and her brother’s. She would keep every single one of them.
Hayden locked the door that held her grandfather’s urn and handed Stella the key. With great care, she replaced the jewelry into the velvet bags and closed the box’s lid. As she raised her head and stared at the names of her family members, I decided to give her space. Stepping several paces back so she could have a few minutes to mourn her family, I turned to Jack, keeping Red in my sight.
“There is no way we’re allowing her to sell any of those to pay off a loan shark.” Anger rolled in my gut. As I looked at each of the guys, I noted similar reactions in their expressions.
“Agreed,” Jack stated, his voice hushed. “Hayden, you’re going to take Stella’s family heirlooms on the jet to Hannah and Liv. We’ll tell her you’re selling a single piece that she chooses, but in the meantime, Hannah and Liv will keep them safe.”
“That will only work because she’s aware of the danger here. I’m not positive we can get her to part with all of it. She may insist on selling one of the rings or necklaces herself,” Mike added.
“Nah, she’ll go along with the plan because she likes me best.” Hayden winked at me, a silly grin on his face.
I snorted my response. He would think that. “It’s because you’re so pretty.”
Hayden laughed. Not much fazed him. Call Keegan pretty, and he would answer with a fist to the face. It was strange how much they looked alike, though they weren’t related.
“If she sells anything in haste, she runs the risk of undervaluing the piece,” I said. “We’ll make sure she knows the loan sharks have their hands in the pawnshops. What good would that do her family?” I would convince her that this was the best plan, even for her brother. We would have this wrapped up before anything else happened, I hoped.
Stella turned, and we fell into silence as she made her way over to us, the jewelry box cradled awkwardly in her arms. I took it from her, and she flashed me a grateful smile.
I explained everything that the team had discussed regarding her find. It took a bit of convincing, but she finally agreed to let Hayden take the box of jewelry to Maine. There, Liv and Hannah would catalog the jewelry. Then they would get back to her with prices—it helped that Liv came from money.
Liv had plenty of experience with heirlooms. She could help Stella determine which ones to sell, and they would handle it for her. Or we would let her think they would sell it. I knew it would break her heart to part with any of her grandma’s history, so I wouldn’t let that happen.
With the box secure in my arm, I placed my other hand on the small of her back to lead her out with the guys.
“Wait.” We all paused for her. “I want to put this in there too.” She reached around her neck and lifted the chain that held the ring her brother had given her, the one he’d said he had to take back for some reason. From under her shirt, the small silver ring with its delicate etchings flashed in the dim light.
Jack lurched forward, his expression stricken. “Where’d you get that?”
Eyes wide, Stella froze. “My brother gave it to me. He said it was to remind me that he loves me. Why? It’s not worth much, or I would have sold it.”
Pain lanced Jack’s eyes, and Red gasped in reaction to the raw emotion. Fuck. I finally figured out where I’d seen that ring before—back in high school, on Jack’s girlfriend’s finger. This isn’t good.
Jack took hold of the small silver ring w
ith the infinity symbol and floral etchings and turned it until he found a small scratch. There was no longer any doubt in my mind, and Jack confirmed who it had belonged to, his voice clogged with emotion. “This was Jenni’s ring.”
Chapter 21
Hawk
Back at the lake house, Jack paced from one end of the house to the next, a glass of whiskey in one hand and his Glock in the other. Our past was catching up with us, and not in a good way. When we were in high school, Jack had dated Jenni, Rex’s younger sister. Rex had been the neighborhood drug dealer and had a gang of his own, and he hated Jack. Everything escalated and went to hell before we got out of there, thanks to a local detective who for some reason gave a shit about us.
Jack passed by again before pivoting to pace back to the other end of the house. He wasn’t taking it well.
Everything was going to hell. We suddenly knew what Billy had meant when he said he was ordered to kill three birds with one stone. The objective wasn’t Stella and Max, not really. They were bait, collateral damage. It went way back, and the presence of the ring could only mean one thing. Rex was out of prison.
Stella had tried to give it back to Jack, but he’d said no. It was better off with her.
I had no idea how Rex had gotten his hands on the ring. One of his gang must have taken it off her finger after everything had gone to shit that night so long ago.
The rest of us shared uneasy glances while Chris typed furiously on his keyboard. “Got him.” At Chris’s words, every one of us stopped what we were doing and turned to him. “Rex is still in prison. Unless there is a new hearing I’m not seeing, he’s not due to be released for another month.” He leaned back and let hesitation cloud his features. “If that’s the case, I’m not sure if the two are connected.”
But we knew. Somehow, everything was connected. Besides, Rex had all that time in prison to hash out a plan to take us down. We’d fucked up, big time. After Detective Watters had struck a deal for us and we’d left our old neighborhood, we’d assumed Rex was out of commission.