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I tried not to count how many men I had stepped over, until I realized what I was seeing.
It was a poker game, and some hadn’t even left their seats before meeting their end. I saw Carloni and two of my previous bosses. There was another man in the corner, his security men surrounding him, but all were down. The guy’s body had fallen back and slumped to the floor, a bullet hole in his forehead.
There was one man still alive, and he cowered under the table.
I swept over, seeing it was the dealer. He met my eyes and raised his hands.
I didn’t shoot him, motioning for Jake to let him be.
Jake whirled to take down the few remaining men at the outskirts of the room with Cavers.
Raize was gone.
A door at the back of the room was open. Likely Raize had gone through it.
I scanned the bodies, the room. No Bronski.
Where’s Bronski?
There was a last zap, and then Cavers was running, his footsteps like an entire herd of horses stampeding through the room. He disappeared through the door.
The shooting began again.
Jake had stopped to gather phones and wallets from the men. He produced a bag from somewhere—where he’d had that stashed, I didn’t know—and I helped him. We did this to everyone in the room, the dealer as well once Jake knocked him unconscious. I didn’t think that was necessary, but he didn’t shoot him. That was something.
Then we backtracked, going through all the downed men in the hallways, and returning to the first floor.
When we got to an exit, Cavers came down the back stairwell, a bag in hand. He went through first, leaving the door open.
Jake followed. I was next.
Cavers took my bag and dropped it into his own, which was now opened, but he was zipping it closed.
Where’s Raize?
Where’s Bronski?
I didn’t ask. We’d done all of this in complete silence. We ran, single file, back to the truck. Cavers got behind the wheel. Jake jumped in the back and gripped my elbow, helping me up as I threw myself in behind him.
Then we were off.
Cavers put the truck in reverse.
I gripped the side to brace myself. We hit the street, and he kept going, right into the next alley.
A door flew open, light hitting the alley’s pavement, and Cavers hit the brakes, stopping right in front of it.
Raize appeared, his chest heaving and blood all over him. He had a body thrown over his shoulder, either dead or unconscious. Jake stood to help him, and when they put him in the back, I froze.
It was Bronski.
Raize met my eyes fleetingly before he gripped the side of the truck and launched himself up next to me.
Once he was settled, he hit the side of the truck and pushed me down to lie flat on the bed. Jake settled down as well, rearranging some of the bags they’d thrown into the back of the truck earlier. He used them to brace himself. I crawled forward and did the same as Raize flattened down behind us. He grabbed my leg and Jake’s to hold himself still, before taking hold of one of Bronski’s arms. Jake took the other. They anchored him as we drove out of the city.
Cavers took us from one road to another, slowing, then speeding up. He was keeping to the darker side streets—fewer cameras, less lighting.
I couldn’t say how long the drive was. It felt too fast, and it felt like it was days.
Once we hit gravel, exhaustion crept over me, and one last thought flashed in my mind:
I never used my gun.
“What’s your name, sweetie?”
I shook my head, shoving that memory away.
42
Raize
We stopped at a wooded lot, and right away, Cavers and Jake grabbed all the phones and wallets. They took the cash out, everything else went into a pile. A healthy dose of lighter fluid was added, and everything lit up.
Jake came back to the truck and grabbed one of the bags we’d pre-packed. He took the bag and dropped to the ground. Both he and Cavers stripped their clothes, reached in and put on the new ones.
Ash came over, still watching the guys. “Why are they doing that with the phones and wallets?”
“We took everything that could identify them to give us time.”
She rocked back on her heels, her hands in her sweatshirt’s front pocket. “Oh.”
I looked over at Bronski, then her. I had to make a decision.
Jake paused, seeing where I was looking.
Catching the look, I nodded in Ash’s direction. He moved his head from side to side in response, and there was that.
Going to the front of the truck, I grabbed duct tape and zip ties. Then I opened the tailgate, grabbed Bronski by the feet, and dragged him toward me. I looped the zip ties around his ankles, crisscrossing them and doing six more loops. He could cut it off, but it would take him a long time.
