Heading across the floor, I make straight for the back room. There’s no time for subtlety. I get there just as Camilo is coming out, and when he sees me his eyes go wide and he reaches inside his jacket.
“No,” I growl, grabbing his arm and wrenching it hard enough to make him yelp. “Camilo, this is no time for old feuds. Your boss is going to want to hear what I have to say.”
Chapter 12 – Val
Apollo’s face darkens. He searches my eyes, but he won’t find anything there except honesty. “Someone in my organization is talking to the feds,” he says in a low growl. I see his gaze sweep the room, as if the culprit might step forward out of the shadows at any moment.
“Maybe,” I tell him. “Either that or the feds will find someone they can squeeze. But the more immediate problem is you have a business rival and your daughters are at risk. Is there a back way out of here?”
He laughs. “Valiant, I don’t have business rivals. From time to time little cockroaches get the idea in their head that they are lions. They might roar but they still squash underfoot easily enough. We will deal with this cockroach ourselves.”
I seethe through my teeth, shaking my head. “You’re not listening to me. Outside right now there is a professional hit squad. Whoever this is, they’re no cockroach. They’re big time. From another city, perhaps, looking to move in on your territory. Whoever they are, Scamp and Pip are in danger and you need to get them out of here.” I turn to Scamp and see the fear in her eyes. She knows I’m telling the truth. “Right now.”
“Papa, please,” she says, pulling Pip tight in her arms.
“Samos and Penelope,” he says, apparently ignoring Scamp’s plea, “are my concern more than they are yours. If you cared about them so much you would not be trying to take them away from my protection.”
“I can protect them better than you can, because I’m not a part of all this. Not anymore. But right now we are on the same side. I can’t take them out the front, it’s too risky. Is there a back way out of here?”
To my surprise, it’s Camilo who speaks. “There’s a service corridor accessible from that door,” he says, nodding to the back of the room. “It leads to the parking lot. I don’t think anyone outside the organization knows about it.”
“Good,” I say, nodding. “We’ll have to hope nobody is talking to this new player yet. Apollo, take your daughters and get out of here. Camilo and I will hold off anyone that tries to follow.”
“What?” Scamp’s eyes go wide. “No! I’m not leaving without you!”
Just at that moment, there’s the sound of automatic gunfire from the front of the casino. Shouts, shots, screams. Chaos breaks loose. Pip squeals and tries to pull out of Scamp’s arms, moving towards her father, and I don’t blame her. For all he is and all he’s done to them, Apollo Volos is strength incarnate.
As for him, a look of fury passes over his face. “Who would dare to come into my casino like this? I’ll kill them.”
“No time,” I tell him. “Please, Apollo, trust me right now. Take Scamp and Pip and get out of here. Keep them safe.”
He nods, his jaw set, and moves across the room, even as Scamp struggles to hold onto her sister.
She’s shaking her head. “No! No, I won’t leave.”
“Come on,” Apollo tells her as his other bodyguards head out of the doors into the main casino. Camilo and I stand back, a last line of defense if it’s needed. “He’s right. If you truly care about him, you’ll let him do this for you.”
“No, I’m not going with you.”
“Yes, Scamp, you are,” he says, finally using the name she chooses for herself as he grabs her and lifts her and her sister clean off the ground. A second later I see them disappear through the doorway, and turn to Camilo.
“Like old times, huh, Garcia?”
“Don’t get used to it,” I tell him.
He laughs. “Blaze of glory?”
The thought of Scamp’s face passes through my mind as I nod. Her beautiful face. Those green eyes, the way they looked when they were gazing up at me earlier, when she was on her knees in front of me, my cock buried in her throat. If I have to die right now, I’ll do so knowing she’s safe.
“Apollo Volos!” A voice rings out, clear and deep. “Come out here and nobody else has to die!”
“Who the fuck shoots up a casino in the middle of the day?” Camilo says, shaking his head, and I agree with him. This isn’t playing by the rules of the game. There are innocent people in here, parents, schoolteachers, doctors. The Volos family wouldn’t do this.