Raptor came running with Squirrel in a fireman’s carry. Phoenix was bringing up the rear and climbed in next to me. Raptor tossed Squirrel in the back of our SUV and jumped in as he pulled the door shut, hollering, “Roll out!”
Blood pounded in my veins and I fought to slow my breathing. A final explosion sounded behind us. Looking out the back window as I climbed over the seat, I saw the glowing ball of flames shoot up into the sky.
“Jesus, Phoenix,” Voodoo said as we screeched around a corner.
Ripping open Squirrel’s clothes, I worked to assess the damage. He’d been hit multiple times, and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to save him. “Fucking hell. It’s bad,” I muttered.
“Do what you can,” said Voodoo from the driver seat. I glanced over my shoulder, and our eyes met in the rearview mirror.
“Jesus fucking Christ. What the fuck went wrong?” Raptor gasped as we followed the predetermined circuitous routes home. No one had an answer.
I did what I could to save Squirrel, but I wasn’t exaggerating—it was bad. Which meant I had no guarantees that he’d make it.
Leaning back against the inside of the SUV, I fought to keep my eyes open and pulled my phone out of the bag we’d left in the back. Two missed calls.
One was from Korrie. Then, a single missed call from the prospect at the gate, both minutes ago, but no message from either, so I wrote it off as not a priority. I posted a message in the secure chat app telling them we needed Goob and Hawk to know we were possibly coming in hot and to set up the treatment room. With that, they’d know to call Doc because he wasn’t on the group chat since he’d retired.
Once I sent the message, I tried to call the prospect, but it was busy. One of the other brothers must’ve beat me to it. Instead, I dialed Korrie’s number to let her know we were safe. I had a fierce need to hear her voice.
It kept going to voicemail.
“Goddamn it,” I muttered. Figuring her phone died, I called Hawk.
“I heard what happened. You okay?” was his immediate greeting. Fading fast from trying to save Squirrel, I laid my head back against the glass.
“Yeah. Hey, Korrie’s phone died, can you get her for me?” I asked him.
“Of course. Hold on.” I heard him talking to Julia, then his boots walking down the hall. Then he knocked on her door. He knocked again. “Korrie?” he called before I heard the door open.
More footsteps, him calling her name again, then I heard him talking to Jasmine and Trace. A heavy feeling began to settle in my stomach.
“She’s not in here,” he said, sounding confused. “Let me see if she’s with Kira.”
When she wasn’t with Kira or any of the other places he checked, dread spread like hot tar within me—heavy, sticky, and toxic.
A commotion in the background sent my already rattled nerves into overdrive.
“Prospect at the gate just called in and confirmed she left the compound in your truck. Says she left to go to the store for the kid but hasn’t come back yet.”
“What?” I shouted, then reeled myself in.
“Easy, son. We messaged Facet, and he’s on it. He’s already looking at footage and checking traffic cams for signs of which direction she headed.”
“Why the fuck didn’t the prospect check with one of you to see if anyone cleared her leaving? He was told no one in or out!” I was rapidly losing my shit.
“He’ll be dealt with,” Hawk assured me.
Voodoo glanced in the rearview at me in question. His phone rang, and he answered it over the speaker system. “Yeah.”
“We have a problem,” Venom’s voice carried through the vehicle.
“I think we already know,” he replied in a worried tone as his eyes locked with mine in the mirror.
“Angels”—RobbieWilliams
Again, Angel had left for something termed “club business.” I didn’t bitch, because he’d warned me before that his job was extremely private. The only thing he’d told me about what he did was that they cleaned up the trash that beat the system or that the system let go free. With what I knew, I had a pretty good idea that they were some kind of mercenaries or hit men.
Angel may have distracted me the other night, but I hadn’t let it go. An idea had come to me, and tonight was the perfect opportunity.