CANARY

by Tijan

  He’d been studying them for an hour now. Maybe two.

  Cavers came back and reported who the pimp was, but Raize only grunted when he told him. He never looked away from those papers.

  I was standing and watching Raize, trying not to be obvious about it. He shut the door, then motioned for me to follow him. Jake came over. Gus as well.

  “What’s going on?” Jake asked in a whisper.

  “No fucking clue,” Cavers said. “He told me at a gas station to get a car for him tomorrow, make sure it was fully gassed, and put all the weapons in the trunk. He wanted a nondescript car. I don’t know if I want to know what he’s planning, because whatever it is, it ain’t like anything we’ve done. Or I’m guessing anything he’s done—”

  “I have twelve targets.”

  Raize stood in the connecting room’s now-opened door. His hands were balled into fists at his sides, his eyes shining with a fierceness I’d only seen in a few private moments.

  “And I have two days to hit them. Two. Days. And none of them are in the same fucking city.”

  I started for him, but he jerked his hand up, his head twisting to the side. “No. Don’t touch me, not now.”

  I ignored him, going right to him and plastering myself to his chest.

  My hands tunneled up into the back of his shirt, letting him feel my skin against his.

  He didn’t hug me back. I didn’t expect it.

  But he did groan, and I felt that through his chest.

  “I have to commit mass murder tomorrow night—enough to classify me as a serial killer,” he said. “You do not need to comfort me.”

  I tipped my head back, finding his eyes. Some of that fierceness was gone.

  Good.

  Some of my Raize was back, and a rueful look flashed over his features as he put a hand on my back, pulling me close.

  “Hey, man,” Jake said, gesturing around the room. “We’ll help. We’re like the Criminal Squad. You know, we’re elite and tight and…” Gus lifted his head from where he’d jumped up on one of the beds, his tail thumping on the blanket. “We have our own Rocket, except he’s not hella smart and he can’t assemble weapons, but he’s the literal dog to beat in a fight. Which might not be a good thing, but you know, works for us.” He clapped his hands together, smiling. “Am I right? I’m right. Everyone knows I’m right.”

  Gus woofed.

  “Gus knows I’m right.” Jake went over and sat on the edge of the bed.

  Gus wiggled close, putting his head in Jake’s lap. So much petting. Gus was in heaven.

  “Who are the targets?” Cavers asked.

  Raize went down the list, and yep, that was a lot, and none of them were small.

  After a pause, he looked down at me. “Bronski is the last one.”

  Bronski.

  Ice was starting to settle in my chest. “You got the all-clear for him?”

  He nodded. “I did.”

  “I want to do it.”

  “Not a chance.”

  I zeroed in on Raize when he said that, but I could feel Jake and Cavers sharing a look.

  They liked to do that now. It was their thing. They’d bonded.

  I stepped farther back, folding my arms over my chest. “Excuse me?”

  Raize sighed, and I didn’t need to see him rolling his eyes to know he was rolling his eyes. He moved back into our room. I followed. He shut the door behind us, and I heard Gus whining.

  I was focused right now. I’d let Gus in later.

  Raize went back to studying the papers. “I can’t entertain this conversation. It’s not going to happen, and you don’t want it to happen. You’re just not admitting that to yourself.”

  My mouth dropped open. Rage shot up my spine. “Excuse me?!”

  He groaned. “You’re good—like, good good. You hate when I kill someone. You’re traumatized from the two guys you did kill, and you don’t like to talk about them. You killing Bronski—”

  “My rapist.”

  He got quiet.

  He couldn’t say it, so I would. “I am not who I was when I started in this world. Things are different. I’m harder. Too many people have been killed in front of me, and it affects me. Every night.”

  “I know.” His tone was soft. “I feel you jerk in bed, and shake, and I know you cry in the shower.”

  Right.

  All that.

  He knew all that?

  I was blown away, but man, I shouldn’t have been.

  I closed my eyes, took one breath, and went back at it. “Have you ever been raped?”

  “What?”

  “I’m aware that men get raped, so I’m asking you if you ever have been?”

  “No.”

  “Then you can’t tell me who I do or don’t want to kill. You cannot make that decision for me.”

  He leaned down, his eyes going tender, and I almost couldn’t handle it.

  It made my heart thump in a weird way.

  “You killed in self-defense,” he said softly.

  “I didn’t.”

  “You did. If you hadn’t attacked that guy, he would’ve killed Gus, and you knew you couldn’t just distract him because he would’ve killed you next. You made a decision, and you told yourself it was in defense of a dog. You hate when innocents get caught in the crossfire. No one enjoys that, but it’s part of this job. Yet it torments you. I know you’re worried I’ll go back and kill that officer and his family, and that’s the good in you. You. Are. Good.” He tapped my chest. “I am not. I’m a killer, straight up. Nothing good about me. All bad. I get told to kill, and I do it. You’re the closest thing I’ve got to a conscience, and even you know the bad guys gotta go.”

  He didn’t get it.

  He never would.

  “If you don’t plan for me to pull the trigger on Bronski, I’m going to slip away and do it myself. He’s not the top of my list, but he’s not far down.”

  Because I was a little petty, I went to take a shower and left the door open. He could hear me getting naked, and he knew he wasn’t welcome in here. But once I stepped in the water, all that went down the drain, and it was just Bronski.

  Me feeling him.

  Me hearing him.

  Him, him, him.

  He was everywhere, and I couldn’t fight against him.

  He was… I gritted my teeth, raising my face and letting the water pound down on me.

  Raize didn’t get it.

  39

  Raize

  She’d been in the shower for an hour, and I had no clue what to do.

  The hours I had to get these targets done were ticking by, but I had a woman now, and I cared about her, and she’d been raped, and she wanted to kill her rapist, and she was in the shower, and I had. No. Fucking. Clue. What. To. Do.

  The water turned off, but she still didn’t come out.

  I waited, trying to study what Downer had sent me about my targets, but the facts and locations and time schedules were all muddied in my head.

  Fuck it.

  I didn’t know where Maxim’s men would be tomorrow, but I knew where Carloni was tonight. I knew where Bronski was tonight. She wanted to kill Bronski.

  Fine. We’d go kill Bronski.

  ASH

  I stepped out of the bathroom and stopped short.

  Raize was dressed all in black, every weapon was packed up. His papers weren’t spread out anymore.

  And his eyes, a chill went down my back.

  I didn’t have a good feeling, so I tightened my hold on my shirt. “What’s going on?”

  He tossed my gun on the bed. “Suit up. We’re getting this done tonight.”

  My mouth went dry.

  Man.

  My mind went blank.

  40

  Raize

  We went over the plan. Everything was ready.

  Cavers crawled into the cab of the truck he stole an hour earlier, pulling himself through the back window. Once he was in, he righted himself and glanced back. I w
as driving. Ash had refused to sit inside. She’d gotten in the back, scooted to the far corner of the bed, hugged her knees, and hadn’t moved since. Jake was back there keeping an eye on her.

  “Boss.” Cavers looked back again, and I knew who he was checking on.

  I had a feeling Jake told him to push this.

  This wasn’t Cavers. Even being a snitch, he sucked. He did nothing.

  He did his job for me, and cooked.

  Now he was coming in here? He was going to press me about Ash? Was that it?

  Jake put him up to it, but I knew he did it because he cared.

  Still. Bullet in the ass could be a thing.

  “Maybe we should’ve left her with Gus.”

  Gus hated being left behind. Hated it. He’d been barking when we left, so we had to put him in the bathroom, which everyone hated. Even me. He was a good guard dog for Ash, but where we were going, he would’ve been a disaster. He was the opposite of stealth.

  I shrugged. “She said she wants to kill Bronski.”

  “Yeah. I know, but…” His silence was long and suffering, so fucking suffering.

  I growled, taking another turn. We were almost there. “Say your fucking piece, then get your ass back there, and don’t fucking move again.”

  His mouth snapped shut and he straightened with a nod. “Got it.”

  “Now say your piece.”

  “Doesn’t seem like I need to. You’re going to let her go in anyway.”

  “Yeah.”

  He sighed. “Got it. Some shit never changes, huh?”

  I swung the wheel over, hitting the brakes. Jake and Ash would be fine. They’d learned how to ride in the back of a truck. I slammed it into park and grasped Cavers’ throat, pressing him against the side of his seat.

  “You wanna say that shit again?” I squeezed. “We’re doing it this way tonight, because things have changed.” I tightened my grip. “When you going to fucking get that? Everything’s changed.”

  Something cracked behind him, and I heard banging. Muted yells.

  I could kill him. Right here. Right now. This way.

  I could squeeze just a little harder, feel his throat pop and his neck snap.

  The old me? He came to work for me to betray me. That enough would’ve put him in the ground.

  This new fucking me? I didn’t like this new fucking me.

  My door wrenched open, and I tensed, expecting hands to yank me back.

  Ash was on me, crawling over me, getting to my hands and digging her nails in, breaking my skin. “Get off of him! Let him go!”

  He was close to death.

  He knew it. He was looking right at me, and he saw it. He saw that I wanted to kill him, but fuck—I wanted to kill everyone. Panic flared, and he started fighting.

  I liked having this power—a cold sweat broke over me. No, I didn’t like this power.

  I didn’t like it at all.

  But fuck him.

  I squeezed one last time before letting go.

  That’s when my hearing cleared, and Ash was screaming at me. “Oh my God! You almost killed him!”

  I withdrew my arm, now bloody, and Ash gave me a look of hate before she turned back toward Cavers.

  He got out his side of the truck, coughing and doubled over. She scrambled with him, tending to him.

  Jake came to my side, waiting for me.

  He saw my arm and handed over a bottle of bourbon. “Thought you were going to kill him.”

  I grunted, upending the bourbon over my arm. I should’ve felt a burn, a good, solid one. I felt nothing. This was how it was when I killed. Everything in me shut down. I had to do what I had to do. And I would do it. Then I’d turn myself on again later, when it was safe to be on again.

  “You sent him in there.” I leveled him with a look. “I’m not the one to push tonight.”

  Jake swallowed, then nodded. “Figured I messed up enough, but I’m worried about her.”

  “That’s why you’re the one with her in there. Got me?”

  He dipped his head quickly, briskly. “Got it.”

  “You and me, there’s static because you’re my number two. You can lead, if you need to. That’s the reason for the static.”

  He dipped his head again. “I know.”

  Good talk. It was done.

  I leaned back against the truck. I’d gone on countless missions, but not the blatant execution type—not like this, not with these stakes.

  I should’ve warned them.

  I looked over the back of the truck to find Cavers rubbing his neck and glaring at me. He was already starting to bruise.

  “There’s a diner just ahead,” I told him. “You guys can stay there. Wait an hour and then call a car to take you back to the motel. I’ll do this alone.”

  “Hey.”

  I looked up from the driver’s seat.

  “I know where you’re going. I know what night it is. You’re going to need at least one more with you.” Jake shut my door for me, pounding down on the opened window. “I’m with you.”

  The truck shifted as someone got in next to me. Ash.

  She had her gun out. “Let’s go.”

  I stared at her a second, but she was shut down. After a second’s hesitation, Jake climbed back in next to Cavers, then jerked his chin up. Cavers wouldn’t look at me, but we were good to go.

  “Ash—”

  “Don’t,” she hissed. “I don’t know what set you off, and I don’t really care right now. You and me? I don’t know what it is, and I don’t know if I even want it, so you do not need to worry about me. My head is about my sister and killing Bronski. Do not put some weak-female shit on me, because I’m so far from that that I’m ready to wrap my legs around your neck and squeeze until you’re dead. You got me?”

  Shit. I started the truck and pulled ahead.

  I got her.

  41

  Ash

  We parked, and everyone suited up in the alley. It was dark, but I could make out Raize pulling out a box of some sort and hitting a button. A red light flashed twice, then went out. He gave hand signals to Cavers and Jake, and both nodded. Then he handed out silencers. Jake attached mine to my gun. He secured a second gun to my back.

  Cavers distributed masks, and we pulled them down over our faces. Only our eyes were visible.

  We also had earplugs, but Jake only attached mine to my ear, letting it hang down.

  After that, Raize motioned for us to go.

  He went first.

  Cavers went next.

  Jake indicated for me to go before him, and he brought up the rear.

  We hit the building, and by the time I rounded the corner, the four security guards were down. Raize and Cavers were through the door and running up the first flight of stairs. The guards just inside the door were unconscious as well.

  I started to go after them, but Jake touched my arm and motioned that I should proceed forward on the first floor.

  I nodded.

  He moved ahead of me, leading the way. We worked our way through the floor. Anyone Jake saw, he took down.

  Body after body, and I had a moment, a short one when I faltered, but Jake kept moving forward. I needed to remind myself that these men were here for a reason. They weren’t any better or worse than us, and God knew we deserved bullets as well. The killing we did, the evil we committed? That was the death I knew was coming.

  I was okay with that.

  So I shut myself down, summoned up the Ash I’d been in the truck with Raize not long ago, and moved forward.

  I hadn’t used my gun. Yet.

  Above us, we heard slight thumps. I assumed Raize and Cavers were clearing their floor, same as us.

  I didn’t get why no one was calling ahead, sounding the alarm, but on our way up a second flight of stairs, I saw one of the men Raize or Cavers had already taken out. His hand was out, his phone in it, but the device was totally dead.

  There was another phone by another body and the same thing.<
br />
  I didn’t pull my phone out to check, but I guessed Raize had hit a cell phone jammer.

  The yelling didn’t start until Jake and I were halfway through the second floor. The shouts were muffled, but clearly from the third floor. Jake took off sprinting. I was right behind him, and when we got there, the door to a large room was open.

  Jake put his earplug in and motioned for me to do the same.

  I heard zaps from inside the room.

  People were running.

  More zaps.

  Gunshots were traded.

  More thuds.

  We stopped just outside the door, waiting until both our earplugs were in and then we entered.

  I tried not to count how many men I had stepped over, until I realized what I was seeing.

  It was a poker game, and some hadn’t even left their seats before meeting their end. I saw Carloni and two of my previous bosses. There was another man in the corner, his security men surrounding him, but all were down. The guy’s body had fallen back and slumped to the floor, a bullet hole in his forehead.

  There was one man still alive, and he cowered under the table.

  I swept over, seeing it was the dealer. He met my eyes and raised his hands.

  I didn’t shoot him, motioning for Jake to let him be.

  Jake whirled to take down the few remaining men at the outskirts of the room with Cavers.

  Raize was gone.

  A door at the back of the room was open. Likely Raize had gone through it.

  I scanned the bodies, the room. No Bronski.

  Where’s Bronski?

  There was a last zap, and then Cavers was running, his footsteps like an entire herd of horses stampeding through the room. He disappeared through the door.

  The shooting began again.

  Jake had stopped to gather phones and wallets from the men. He produced a bag from somewhere—where he’d had that stashed, I didn’t know—and I helped him. We did this to everyone in the room, the dealer as well once Jake knocked him unconscious. I didn’t think that was necessary, but he didn’t shoot him. That was something.