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The sound of shattering glass was followed by a flash grenade. Hollis grabbed the boy and ran into Jagger’s office right as the weapon went off behind them. The shouts increased and a man screamed. Cops started yelling for everyone to stand down.
“We have a warrant!”
Hollis hit the floor, and the kid cried out because he half landed on him. His flashlight slipped from his hands, disappearing into the heavy darkness of the windowless room.
“Sorry,” he murmured, pushing the teen away. “You remember where the shelves are? Crawl that direction and stay down.”
“Why aren’t my generators on?” Jagger bellowed as more crashing came from the direction of his desk. A light hit Hollis’s face and he winced, lifting one hand to shield his eyes. “What the fuck are you doing in my office?”
“Brought the kid.” Hollis nodded toward the corner on his left. “He was getting hurt in the hallway.”
Jagger moved carefully around the desk, closing the distance between them, while the flashlight danced over a pair of chairs and a thick Persian rug. “Get up and find a window. Here.”
A gun was thrust at him and Hollis barely held back from rolling his eyes as he took it. Instead he stood, squinted into every shadowy corner in the office while Jagger moved back behind his desk. They were alone. He kicked the door shut behind him, locked it to keep his men out, and raised the gun. He aimed it right at Jagger’s face. “Looks like you’re surrounded, so you might as well give up.”
Jagger went silent and he stayed that way as the generators kicked in and the lights flickered back on. Hollis stood still, gun unwavering on a face he wanted to blow into chunks. A smirk twisted the man’s lips and once again, Hollis was struck by the fact the man could have been a famous Hollywood actor or model. Even at nearly sixty, he was gorgeous with a thick head of dark hair and a massive, fit body. Jagger crossed his arms, stretching the sleeves of his expensive suit, and stared back at Hollis.
“One of my men mentioned seeing you at Rialto.” His eyes narrowed. “I’ve heard the restaurant is good, but that wasn’t why you were there, was it?” He uncrossed his arms and placed his palms flat on his desk. “Are you a cop or are you with them?”
Hollis kept the gun steady and one corner of his mouth kicked up higher. “As if either is mutually exclusive. Maybe I’m an ambitious guy.”
“Motherfucker.” The word was uttered low and so filled with venom, it would have poisoned Hollis if he’d stood any closer. “You sorry motherfucker! You’re going to regret this and so are your friends.”
“The ones who’ve managed to outsmart you over and over?” Hollis lifted an eyebrow. “Those friends, you mean?”
“They’re dead men walking!”
“Dead men walking?” Hollis snorted. “Don’t you have more original threats like…‘I’ll get them, my pretties’ or ‘Tomorrow I’ll cut off their johnsons’?”
Jagger merely stared at him as gunfire continued to sound, muffled, outside the half-assed soundproofed office.
“Right. Originality is overrated. Don’t feel bad; my sense of humor is subjective.”
“You have no way out of here, so is it humor or sheer stupidity?”
“I assure you, I’m not stupid. I managed to worm my way inside your house, after all. And in a very short amount of time, I might add.”
“Ian is a dead man.”
That gave Hollis pause. How the man had clued in that he was interested in Ian out of the friends wasn’t a real shocker, not if he’d been seen at his restaurant, but his pointed threat said he knew it was more than interest.
“I heard you don’t kill your…pets.” Hollis had no idea what the man called the boys he exploited, and he didn’t really care. He was only trying to stall to give the cops enough time to swarm the building. “You’re saying you’ll go after Ian now, too?”
Jagger’s smile filled Hollis with heavy dread. When he didn’t speak, Hollis frowned.
“I will shoot you. I will so happily shoot you; I’ll still be celebrating when I’m old and wobbling my way down nursing home halls. Do you not realize you’re surrounded and the cops are hauling out your precious cargo as we speak?”
“You don’t know,” he said with a little chuckle that sent a chill skittering down Hollis’s back. “I sent someone after Ian earlier tonight.”
It took every pathetic bit of acting ability Hollis had to keep his expression flat. “I know better.”
“Do you? Did you know I saw him in Over-the-Rhine where I was eating dinner tonight? Do you know that the man I sent after him is the size of a tank?” Jagger watched him closely, his smile creeping Hollis the hell out. “You eat at that restaurant for him, huh? He’s a sweet thing, isn’t he? I had such fun with him.” Jagger leaned farther over his desk. “I have another question for you. Did you know I took him in despite the fact he was older than I like them? And do you know why?”
