Page 103 of Ruthless Enforcer

Something creaks overhead.

I stop and glance at Jake.

He nods and points upstairs.

We move.

The staircase curves along one wall, wide oak steps polished by generations of Turners. We take them slowly, guns raised.

A voice comes from somewhere above us. “Gabriel Reyes and Jake Callahan.”

Turner.

We both stop, ducking toward the railings.

His voice carries down the hall, smooth and amused. “Come on up, gentlemen. You went to so much trouble to find me.”

Motherfucker.

Jake nods, and we continue up the stairs.

“Come out, Turner,” I call out.

“Still giving orders.” A soft laugh. “I wondered whether marriage might improve you.”

Every muscle in my body locks. “Leave my wife out of this.”

“Can you?”

We reach the landing and take cover near a wall.

Four doors. All open except the one at the far end.

Turner's voice comes again. “It’s kind of sweet, the big bad enforcer falling in love with his family’s enemy. So Romeo and Juliet of you.”

My finger tightens against the frame of the trigger. I want to say I don’t love her, to draw his focus away from Clara, but I can’t make myself deny it. “And who would that make you in this play? Oh right, the court jester.”

He laughs. “I’m not the fool. You married a woman you'd known for days.”

The voice isn't moving, and it’s not muffled by a door. My eyes sweep the hall.

Then I see the speaker.

He's not talking to me. He recorded this. Cold slides down my spine. I point at it. “Jake.”

We both notice the tiny red light blinking beneath the console table at the end of the hall at the same time.

Turner laughs again. “I’m going to decide how I go out, and I’m taking you with me.”

Fuck.

“Out!” Jake yells.

The house explodes.

71

COLE