He, luckily, answered.
But I didn’t like what I heard.
***
Justice
“Mic check. One. Two,” I said.
“It’s working,” Yao said into my ear.
I had a very discreet, very high-tech earpiece in my ear that allowed me to hear what the team was doing and saying, as well as doing the same for them.
I still felt like I had a rock lodged in my gut.
“Remember,” Yao said. “Just look like you’re here to work. Don’t seem…”
“Overeager,” I repeated our decision. “I know.”
Yao sighed. “I got a bad feeling about this.”
I did, too.
And I wasn’t sure why.
I had three officers in my apartment upstairs, ready to come down at a moment’s notice. There were four stationed at Stratton’s old place.
And two were in the convenience store.
All of them ready and willing to act at the first sign of aggression on Marcus’ part.
We had our bases covered.
But it didn’t matter. I still felt like something was wrong.
When I got the text a moment later from Royal, that rock grew to boulder-sized in a heartbeat.
Royal: I’m going to visit with my brother. He’s being weird.
I told myself over and over for the next five minutes that there was nothing wrong, but the longer I tried to convince myself, the worse it got. It stayed like this until I couldn’t stop myself.
I had to call her.
“What are you doing?” Yao asked, sounding concerned.
I wiggled my phone, knowing that he’d see the movement.
“Calling Royal,” I answered.
“But Marcus…”
“Isn’t here yet,” I said. “It won’t take long.”
I was playing bait.
I was standing in my shop, working on a car, hoping it would be enough to flush Marcus out.
Only it hadn’t happened yet. Not in two long, never-ending hours.
“Why?” Yao asked.
“Because she sent me a text that she was going to visit her brother,” I said. “Said that he’s being weird.”
Yao grumbled something on his end of the microphone.
“I thought that she was at your home…” he paused. “Marcus just pulled onto Eleventh.”
The clearly lifeless tone of his voice sent chills down my spine.
“Yao,” I said when Royal didn’t answer. “Can you get someone to go to her brother’s place? Royal isn’t answering.”
As I said that, I turned off my phone, hating the fact that she didn’t answer.
Then I bent over the front of an old car—one that’d been a project of mine since I’d bought the place—and waited for Marcus to show.
It didn’t take long.
In fact, it took a lot less time than I thought it would seeing as Marcus was normally one to make me wait.
“So…” Marcus said as he strolled into the forecourt of my garage. “You’re back.”
“Been working,” I said. “Gotta make money to buy myself food and all that.”
Marcus crossed his arms over his chest. The black swirling designs of his tattoos looking darker and more contrasting against his olive skin tone under the fluorescent shop lights.
“You failed to accomplish the task I set upon you a few weeks ago,” he said. “Why?”
I dropped the wrench I’d been holding, and it clattered loudly to the floor beneath the open hood of the car.
I turned my head and stared at the piece of shit in front of me.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “But when did I become your bitch? If you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself.”
Marcus grinned then.
“Yeah?” he asked.
And the way he said ‘yeah’ had a chill of dread practically ripping down my spinal cord.
“What is it that you want from me, Gomez?” I asked. “Because I’m not liking being led around like a dog.”
Marcus leaned his hip against the part of the jack that was holding the car off the ground, looking for all the world as if he was barely affected by the conversation.
I followed suit, leaning my elbows against the metal of the car and crossing my arms.
I would not show him how much I hated him.
I would not.
Would. Not.
“I wanted you to do what you were told,” he snapped. “Yet you couldn’t even follow simple orders. Now, I’m going to have to show you why that was wrong.”
I opened my mouth to ask ‘what he was going to do,’ but another car pulled into the parking lot then.
“Go close the doors,” Marcus ordered, eyes locked on mine.
I would humor him.
Mostly.
Who I wanted to see had eyes on the shop regardless of the big bay doors being open or not.
After closing the doors, I walked back to my original position and waited.
That was when I heard the hard ‘thump’ that reverberated from the inside out.
I tensed.
Who was in the trunk?
But, for some reason, I didn’t need confirmation.
I knew exactly who it would be from the moment that the door to the car opened.
“Open the trunk, Bruno.”
Bruno opened the trunk using a button inside the car, not bothering to get out.
“Bruno, get the fuck up and bring her to me,” Marcus ordered.
Bruno shook his head. “No.”