A whimper released when he touched her shoulder.
Rich rolled her over gently, and his eyes immediately went to her stomach.
“Why did you let her do that to my son?” he asked, his voice breaking.
“I didn’t,” I said, lifting Karma and Pressure.
Rich froze.
His eyes found mine, and something shifted in them. Confusion first, then recognition.
His mouth parted.
“Koko?”
His expression emptied instantly.
I pulled both triggers. The first shot snapped his head backward hard enough to splatter blood across the wall behind him, and the sound of the gunshots echoed through the abandoned clinic.
I didn’t stop pulling the triggers until both magazines were empty. His body jerked with each round, convulsing backward until he crumpled onto the concrete floor.
I stayed on the floor another second, breathing hard while blood spread across the concrete beside him. Then I hopped up. His two men would be coming. They’d heard the shots.
I ejected the empty magazines and reloaded, my hands steady even as adrenaline pumped through my veins.
Footsteps thundered through the hallway. I moved to the side of the door frame and waited. My finger rested against the trigger guard, my body coiled tight like a spring.
But they never made it to me.
My team intercepted. Screams cut through the clinic, then silence. I didn’t need to see it to know my men had handled Rich’s men the way we’d planned. I had positioned them perfectly in the hallway.
I stepped over Rich’s body without looking back and moved into the hallway, my guns still warm in my hands. The smell of gunpowder hung thick in the air, mixing with the scent of blood.
Booda appeared at the far end of the hallway, his expression unreadable as always. Behind him, two of my crew members were cleaning up. One of Rich’s men lay crumpled near a doorway, his blood dark against the linoleum.
The other body lay sprawled across the reception area, exactly where we’d positioned the second ambush point. Everything had gone exactly how we planned.
“All clear?” I asked.
“Yup, and we got the bag of money,” City Boy confirmed, moving around me. “The cleanup crew is being prepped. They’ll have this place wiped down within the hour.”
I nodded, looking down at my hands. My weapons were heavy, and I’d fired them so many times today that my shoulders would probably ache tomorrow, but right now I felt nothing but the lingering buzz of power.
“Hannah?” I asked.
“Safe house. She’s waiting for us,” City Boy replied, throwing me a towel.
I wiped myself as much as I could, and we filed out of the clinic. The trucks were waiting just outside the exit. I climbed into the back of the truck, and Booda slid in beside me. The engine started, and we pulled away from the clinic withoutlooking back. The city blurred past the tinted windows as we drove, and I finally allowed myself to exhale. Though every time I blinked, I still saw Rich’s face when he realized it was me on that floor.
My phone buzzed. A text from one of the crew members stationed at the safe house:She’s asking for water.
I smiled and typed back:Give her whatever she needs.
Booda’s hand found mine in the darkness of the truck bed, and I gripped it tightly. His thumb traced circles across my knuckles, a tender gesture, given what we’d just done.
We pulled up to the safehouse just after midnight. I climbed out of the truck first, my legs stiff from the drive. My guns were secured in their holsters now, hidden beneath an oversized hoodie I’d changed into during the ride. My hands were clean, but I could still feel the phantom weight of them, the recoil echoing through my muscles.
City Boy and two other crew members stayed outside to secure the perimeter while Booda and I headed inside. The door was unmarked, just like everything else about this place. I punched in the code, and it swung open silently.
