“What if he doesn’t fall for your little trap?” Jason crossed his arms.
“Doesn’t matter. We’ll return, and Octavia can stay if she wants. She’ll be safer there than here. The war’s almost at our doorstep. We’ll have to find a new place anyway.”
“I won’t leave my men or my city, and I’ll need you here,” my father said. “But I’ll consider your idea. Octavia needs to be safe.”
“There’s nothing to think about, Dad,” I said. “I like that plan.” Anything that brought me closer to ending this and making Roberto pay for everything he’d done was a perfect plan. “We can’t really fight him on his own territory, but if we scare him off if he thinks Aaron told us everything, then he’ll have to go into the unknown. His men can’t all be with him if he wants to keep fighting for his area, and if he really wants to get to Aaron and me, which I’m sure he does, he’ll come after us, especially if he thinks you abandoned me. He must have planned that we would all just stay here and that he’d kill us all.”
“Are you sure he’s going to believe that?” my mom asked.
“We’ll see,” I said. “But I want to try.”
“What if he goes somewhere else and sends only his men after them? Or hires someone?” Dylan cracked his knuckles. “Many things could still go wrong.”
“I know,” I said. “But we have to do something. We can’t just sit here and wait. Aaron?” I gave him an expectant look because I was sure my family wouldn’t bother to ask what he wanted to do.
“I’ll go with you wherever you want,” he said, and Jason made a gagging sound.
“Good. Marco?”
“I can help out with your plan, but first I have to find my father and get him out of this mess,” he said. “If you let me.”
“Sure,” I said, and Jason jumped to his feet, waving his hands.
“Are you just going to let her decide everything?” He faced our father. “If I did something like this, you’d tell me it’s your decision. She doesn’t even have the experience I do. She’s younger than me, and yet you listen to her more than you ever listened...”
“Maybe that’s because you’re getting on everyone’s nerves,” I bit out.
“Octavia, Jason. That’s enough.” My father shook his head at us. “I’m the head of this family and the ultimate decision will be mine, as always. I’ll think about everything you said and tell you tomorrow what I decided.”
My mom couldn’t contain her smile and placed her hand over her mouth. My father got to his feet and strode out of the room, my mom following behind him. She winked at me as she passed by, which meant that even if my father didn’t agree, she’d convince him. I had a feeling she believed Roberto wouldn’t go after me, so she thought she was sending me to safety, far away from the war zone.
Something beeped, and Tony jumped, groaning as he pulled out his phone. “The cops got involved in one of our fights.”
“I thought Viteri had them on a tight leash,” Jason said.
“Apparently not all of them. Besides, they have to pretend they’re doing something about all the shooting people are reporting in the neighborhood. One place got torched to the ground just because our dealers hang out around there. They’ll burn the whole city if they have to, just to drive us out and destroy all of our shipments.” Tony tapped his phone. “We have to strike back. Can’t just play defense all the time.”
“We’ll lose too many people if this continues,” Michael said. “If our plan doesn’t work...”
“It’ll work,” I said, offering them a small smile.
“Yeah, and then your boyfriend will take over what’s his, make you Mrs. Viteri, and... Well, take what’s his.” Jason shot a deadly glare at Aaron before striding out of the room.
“What is he babbling about?” Marco looked at me.
“Don’t listen to him.” I waved my hand in dismissal. “It doesn’t matter what he thinks anyway.” Snuggling close to Aaron, I rested my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. God, I was so tired.
“We have a room for you,” Tony said, but his voice sounded so distant and I just couldn’t bring myself to care what he was saying. I felt Aaron lifting me into his arms and I lazily draped my arm around his neck, then simply drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 19
“How long has that car been behind us?” I glanced over my shoulder. As expected, my father had agreed to Michael’s plan, and Aaron and I had done our best to hide who we were and to lose anyone who might have tried to follow us. We were very close to entering the city we’d picked as the best place. It had a few neighborhoods that didn’t belong to anyone, and neither Roberto nor we would have any problems entering or being there without permission of any of the drug lords who operated in the rest of the city.
“Too long,” Aaron said. It was the middle of the night, and the traffic on this road wasn’t so heavy. Even though the car tailing us was keeping its distance, it had been with us for longer than usual. Still, it was possible someone had picked the same route as us to get to the city, so that didn’t necessarily mean someone was after us.
“What are we going to do? Try to lose them once we get to the city?” There was a gas station where we could stop, but it was too risky, because they could attack us. But if we circled around the city, they’d know we were planning to stay there, and we didn’t know if it was some bounty hunter—or a few of them—who wanted our heads, or if it was someone reporting to Roberto who wouldn’t want to engage us.
“We’ll wait to see if they’ll take a turn somewhere before the city,” Aaron said.
“My wig isn’t that bad, and if they recognized us, why did they start following us after we got halfway to our destination? They could’ve attacked us earlier.” I twirled a curl of my dark brown wig. “Maybe it’s just someone random after all.”
“We’re going to find out.” Aaron stepped on the gas. “It’s possible my father sent his spies to watch all the roads to see if we are really running away as the rumors say or if it’s all a lie to protect us. And he also needs to find out where we went. If he sees we’re unprotected, he’ll definitely want to come to finish us off himself.”
“I suppose you have a plan.”
“I do.”
“Good.” I glanced back at the car, and it was still there in the distance, despite the fact that we’d increased the speed. Yeah, it was very likely that car belonged to Roberto’s spies.
***
“So what’s your plan?” I asked once we entered the city and Aaron took a left turn. The suspicious car was still behind us, and now that I could finally see it better under the strong street lights, I realized it was black and nondescript.
“Get a map of the city and find an abandoned factory or building. It doesn’t matter. We need a place where we won’t have witnesses and won’t attract the attention of the local cops.” Aaron slowed down because the traffic was much heavier here, and the suspicious car stayed a little behind, letting another car pass in front of it so it wouldn’t come too close. Yep, definitely Roberto’s spies, or maybe even bounty hunters. We had way too many enemies these days.
I searched for buildings that were for sale or abandoned and then studied the map. “I think I got one place. It’s an old building in the industrial zone. There aren’t supposed to be many people there at this time of the night.”
Aaron glanced at the map as I turned the phone screen toward him. “Looks fine.”
“I assume we’re going to try to lose them... permanently.” If the car followed us there, then they definitely weren’t after us with good intentions. “Should I contact my family?” Michael and Dylan were supposed to be coming too, along with a few of their most loyal men, but since they had to be very careful and disguised, they’d opted to go by buses and trains and take various different routes, traveling separately so it would be harder to follow them if someone recognized them despite all the precautions. They’d left me a number to contact them, though. I had a phone that had been borrowed
or stolen from someone from this area so the presence of its signal wouldn’t be suspicious.
“No, there’s no need. We don’t want to be seen together too early anyway. These might not be my father’s only spies.”
“Unless they’re bounty hunters and are looking for a way to kill us.”
“They would’ve just pushed us off the road. No reason to follow us all the way here where we can disappear in the crowd,” Aaron said. “The only thing we don’t know is if they’re counting on us seeing them. Maybe they’re here to divert our attention from someone else who’s also here after us.”
We were getting closer to our destination, and the traffic had become much lighter. As I turned my head, I couldn’t see the car behind us at all. “Do you think they left? Or that we’ve mistaken some random people for spies?” We had plenty of reasons to be paranoid, though.
“Doubt it. They just want us to think that.” Aaron steered in the direction of the building, which used to be a factory of some kind.
“What are we going to do? Hide in the building and jump them when they come?”
“Something like that. That building has a parking lot behind it, so we can leave the car there. They’ll come to investigate, and we’ll see how many of them there are and wait for them in the building. But we need them alive so we can question them. We should have enough time to get into the building since they won’t want to come immediately out of fear we’ll spot them easily.”
Aside from the parking lot, there was a huge grass field surrounded by a wire fence, so the building wasn’t close to any others, which meant we’d definitely be able to see anyone coming toward it if we found a good spot from which we could see every side. “Maybe they’ll just get to the parking lot and plant a bomb under our car.”
“We’ll find another one.” Aaron stepped on the gas as we neared the ramp that was blocking the entrance to the parking lot. We smashed right into it, and I cringed, closing my eyes for a moment.
“That probably left a dent in the car,” I said as I looked back at the ramp that was lying broken on the ground. Aaron pulled over in the middle of the parking lot, and we hurriedly exited the car. Once we had our weapons on us and made sure no one was watching us, we strode toward the building.
“Do you think they have a guard here?” I whispered as we came closer.
“Don’t know, but they have an alarm.” Aaron pointed at the red blinking light. “And cameras. Wait for me here.”
It was safe for us to be close to the wall, but if we got near the door, we’d probably trigger the alarm. I nodded, and Aaron dashed toward a power supply box. He raised his gun and shot at it various times until it sparked and burst open, the lights on the parking lot and in the building going off.
“Won’t that trigger something too?” I asked when Aaron got back.
“Probably, but it’ll take time for someone to come check. They won’t realize, or they’ll think the problem will go away... Besides, there’s not much to steal in here. They probably emptied everything.” He went to the door and pulled something out of his pocket.
“You know how to pick a lock,” I said with a smile as I waited behind him.
“With this, yeah.” The door clicked, and Aaron opened it, stepping aside so I could pass.
I didn’t move. “Umm, you go first.”
Aaron turned on his phone to shed some light, his eyes filled with amusement. “As you wish.”
I followed him into an empty, dark hallway, and a shudder ran down my spine. “This is creepy.” Abandoned buildings at night so weren’t my thing. I gripped my gun, just in case.
“Stay close,” Aaron said, his phone in one hand and a gun in the other, and we padded toward a metal stairway. There was some kind of machinery covered with white sheets, and everything was full of dust. One of the rooms we passed smelled heavily of mold. I didn’t think anyone had cleaned in here for a long, long time.
“Come on,” Aaron said quietly and we made our way up the stairs, which were creaking slightly with each step we made. “There’s a huge window in the middle of the building, and it might have been an office. It looks out on the parking lot.”
“What if our guys come from another direction?”
“They might try that, but they’ll enter through the same spot we did if they don’t want to cut or climb the fence. They’ll go on foot, and if it’s more of them, they’ll split and come from all directions.”
We reached the first floor, and I thought something rustled in the darkness behind me, so I pressed myself closer to Aaron. Our steps were rapid and we managed to find the room with the huge window in two tries. Aaron had been right about it having been an office. There was still a desk with a super old computer on it, and a bunch of empty shelves. Of course the boss had probably wanted to have the best view and the biggest office.
“Stay behind the wall, just in case someone decides to shoot at us,” Aaron said. I reluctantly stepped away from him and hid behind the wall on the other side of the window. The only good thing about the window was that there was some light, although minimal, coming from the street lamps that were still on.
My heart was thudding loudly in my chest, and I had to stop my mind from wondering if there could be ghosts or zombies in here. If there wasn’t anything important to steal here, then why keep it under alarm and with cameras? I must have watched way too many horror movies. The protection was probably here to discourage people from trying to occupy the building.
“There they are,” Aaron said a few minutes later. I took a quick peek through the window and saw two dark figures disappearing behind the bushes near the fence.
“Is it only two of them?” I leaned back against the wall, hoping I hadn’t just wiped all the cobwebs with my wig.
“As far as I can tell, yeah.”
“What if they realize we’re in here and just call for reinforcements?”
“They can’t get here that quickly. We’ll get them first.” Aaron turned away from the window and used his phone to get us some the light. “Besides, they need to make sure we’re here alone and not meeting someone. Or that we haven’t simply left the car and gone to get another one.”
“But this place’s huge. How are the two of them going to check it all out? We could literally be hiding right under their noses and move out of their way just as they got closer. And if they split, we could do the same and ambush them. I bet they’ll be careful not to be seen or choose all the right paths to approach the building so we can’t shoot them from a window.”
Aaron was quiet for a moment. “You’re right. There are too many rooms here, and the other guy might escape if we catch just one. We need to get them both.”
“We do, but they can use different entrances and...”
“I think I know what to do.” Aaron looked at me, a smile spreading across his lips, his face illuminated by the white light coming from his phone.
“You look like you just came up with the evilest plan ever.”
“Maybe I did. But first we need to make sure it works.”
Chapter 20
“We need to get out of here,” Aaron said, “and wait for them outside.”
My eyebrows shot up. “I suppose you don’t mean in plain sight.”
Aaron shook his head. “Not at all. We don’t know if they’re here to report on us or kill us, but after they don’t find us and nothing happens to them, they’ll have to meet outside to discuss what they found and plan their next move.”
“They might have a phone or a way to contact each other without having to meet,” I said.
“But they’ll still go out the way they came, and it’s very likely they’ll do it together, and not one by one. Besides, if one of them comes first, we can throw his com or phone on the street or close to some source of noise. The other guy won’t immediately start running the other way, try to climb the fence, or anything like that. He’ll come to check.”
“Okay, sounds good to me. But how are we going to get th
ere unseen?” I wanted out of this place as soon as possible.
“We’ll wait for them to enter the building and slip outside. Even if the other guy stays out longer, he’ll come in eventually too, probably through the back door.”
“I think this place has like four or five doors.” I followed Aaron through the hallway and downstairs.
Once we reached the last steps, we tried to be as quiet as possible, just in case the men were already here.
“Come.” Aaron’s voice was barely audible, and he tugged my arm. We crouched behind one of the machines in the hallway. It was big enough so that we could circle around it without being seen. After what seemed like an eternity, the door creaked, and someone whispered something. Aaron had turned off his phone and we were in almost complete darkness, the only light coming from one of the barred windows, but it was way too dim.
Two flashlight beams crossed through the room, and I squeezed Aaron’s hand two times. The men hadn’t separated like we’d expected. They’d just parted briefly to circle around the building and make sure we weren’t hiding anywhere or that we hadn’t found a way through the fence to continue on our way in an attempt to lose them. Maybe they thought it was more likely they’d find us here and not in the other parts of the building, or that one of them couldn’t take on the two of us alone.
I felt Aaron shift next to me, and his lips brushed my ear. “Gun,” he said, and I knew there had been a change of plan. We’d just attack the men here. All we had to do was wait for them to pass next to this machine and come out from behind them.
“They’ll see the flashlights,” one of the men whispered, and I realized they were closer than I’d thought.
“Then turn them off,” the other hissed.
“Why would they be here in the dark?”
“They’re upstairs. In the rooms. It smells like shit in here.”
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