Together, we dive out into the carnage of the main casino room. Bullet holes pierce every available surface. The bar, the tables. Drink pours from shattered bottles and people lie on the floor, covering their ears, sobbing, not sure what’s going on. A roulette wheel is lying not far from my feet, bizarrely right-side-up, with the ball still in place. 21 Red. I wonder if anyone won.
As we move out into the main room, I see the same men by the door that were outside before. Their faces are covered now, but it’s them. Both Camilo and I raise our weapons, but shots ring out around us, stopping us in our tracks.
“Apollo Volos. Where is he?”
“Not here,” I reply. “He’s gone. You should too.”
What am I expecting as a response? Not what happens. He raises his weapon and fires, and beside me Camilo gasps as he falls back.
“Apollo Volos,” the shooter repeats as Camilo cries out, delayed by shock.
I glance to the side, seeing that he’s hurt but alive, and a shot whistles past my ear, hitting the wall behind me. I drop, starting to roll, bringing my gun to bear. If I’m going out, I’m taking at least that shooter down with me.
“Apollo—”
“FBI! Drop your weapons! All of you, down on the ground!”
***
As I sprint down the service corridor, Camilo’s hoarse words still echo in my head.
Better get out of here, Garcia. Someone’s going to have some explaining to do. Go after them.
His choked, bloody laugh as he groaned and held his stomach where the bullet ripped through him. His blank eyes. Will he make it? I don’t know. Part of me hopes so. We’ve had our differences, but in the end we stood together and that has to count for something.
There’s a squeal of tires beyond the steel door ahead of me, and I quicken my pace. Do the feds have the parking lot covered, or were they just here on a recon mission? Have Apollo, Scamp and Pip already fled and that’s just another patron who managed to get to their car before the shooting started?
Will I get out, or will I have to face questions before I can go to her?
That last thought makes me grit my teeth. No way can I last several hours of interrogation before I see her face again. I need to know she’s safe. I need her with me, where I can watch her.
Bursting through the door, I see a silver Mercedes disappearing down the parking ramp at high speed. It’s them, I know it. I can sense Scamp, I can taste her scent on the air. I’m not surprised they took longer to get here than I did. The way she was struggling when they went out of the door, it probably took everything Apollo has to keep her under control.
I can go to them at his house. I know where he lives. But the thought plays on repeat in my head: they’re not safe while they’re with him.
Whoever this new player is, they’re out for blood, taking out the biggest competition in Detroit before he can rally his own forces and find out who they are. They missed him in the casino, but it’s a setback, not a defeat.
Sprinting for the side of the ramp, I jump the bar that separates this level from the next, then do the same to get onto the ground level. The Mercedes enters the lot at the other end, heading my way, and I run without thought, right out in front of it. Tires skid, brakes squeal, the horn blares but the car comes to a stop two feet from my legs.
“Val!” Scamp’s voice cries out, echoing in the large, empty space as the back door of the car flies open.
She’s out of the car before her father can stop her, and I fix him with a sharp stare before turning to her as she breaks into a run in my direction. “Baby. I’m fine. I’m not hurt.”
A second later, I catch her in my arms, lifting her up against me, holding her close, kissing the top of her head.
“I was so scared for you,” she says. “You promised you’d never leave me again. You promised, Valiant.”
“I promised,” I tell her, nodding. “And I keep my promises. But your safety will always come first, Scamp. If it’s a choice between you being in danger and putting myself in harm’s way, I’ll always choose me. That’s just the way it is.”
“It’s what men do, protecting what’s theirs.” Her father’s voice booms out low, as he steps out of the car. “You’d better take both of them, Valiant. I might have a target on my back. They’re better off with you.”
I meet his eyes, and for the first time in a long time I see respect in them. He might not like me still. Leaving the family was a betrayal in his eyes. But he knows now that I will always look after what’s mine.