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I have no way of helping, and yet, I tiptoe out from behind my hiding place and creep a little closer to the warehouse.
“Hey, Pietro.” Archer says the man’s name so easily. Like they’re old pals. His kind tone, his laidback familiarity, has me pausing mid-step. Then the way he goes in for a hug makes my stomach rebel.
But a hug turns to a squabble, and the silent squabble ends when Archer wraps his arms around the man’s neck. With a simple twist to the left, he ends a life and relieves his former friend of a gun with a long silencer on the front.
Letting the man fall to the ground, Archer aims and fires a shot straight between the eyes of the guard across from him.
My body, tensed and ready for a loud BANG, still jumps when the sound is more of a POP. The second body falls, then from inside the warehouse, I hear Felix’s cruel laughter, and then, “Ohhh! We have visitors.”
“Hold your fire, Felix!” Archer raises his hands, but the tone of his shout says he’s enraged and ready to end a third man’s life.
His own brother’s.
Walking toward the hangar doors, Archer carries a gun in each hand, but though he doesn’t point them, he keeps them close. “Don’t you fucking shoot me, Felix.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” his brother responds playfully. “Did you not just exclude Pietro from future family dinners?”
When Archer disappears inside, my stomach swirls with nausea and dread. I can’t see him, and not seeing him, not being there to help if he needs it, makes my hands sweat and my heart threaten to beat out of my chest.
Bending low, I pick up the largest rock I can hold in one hand, then I run down the small embankment and come to a stop with my back against the doors.
I’m silent.
Careful.
But the way my breath races might be enough to give me away.
Crouching low, I crawl closer to the entrance, and when I’m sure the way is clear, I duck into the warehouse and hide behind a large pile of wooden crates. The floor inside the warehouse is dirt, making my steps silent and my movements unnoticed by either Malone or Felix’s fanboys.
“Where is she?” Unafraid, Archer walks to the middle of the space where Felix waits. It’s been more than a decade between visits, and yet, Archer moves toward him as freely as he would Tim.
When Felix says nothing and silence hangs but for a taunting snigger, Archer roars, “Where is she?”
“You’re dating a doctor?” Just as casual as his brother, Felix leaves his hands by his sides and circles. Circles. “What the fuck is that, Arch? A doctor!”
“I won’t ask a third time.”
“She’s hot.” He licks his lips and hisses like a vile snake. “Tastes good, too. Did she tell you we hung out for a while? Caught up.Got to knoweach other.”
Archer’s jaw clenches. Enraged. Incensed.
“She’s not as stupid as Anne was,” Felix qualifies. “I’ll give her that. But, bro?” He leans a little closer and laughs. “Dating a doctor, animportantdoctor, can’t be a smart move for a guy wanting to lie low. I can’t see how ‘my family is wanted by the cops’ could be a decent pickup line.”
“Felix…” Archer maintains space between them, just enough to bring his gun level again if needed. “Why are you here?”
“Where’s Tim?”
“I don’t know!” he barks out. “Probably dealing with his dead girlfriend. Why’d you kill her?”
I have to clap a hand to my mouth to keep the sound in. To stop myself from crying out.
“Why’d you hurt her, when you don’t even have to be here?”
Shaking his head and prowling, Felix only sniggers. “He’ll get over her, Arch. I promise. Especially when he finds out she was mine all along.”
Fresh tears spill over and streak across my cheek.
“She was an implant?” Archer’s voice grows darker. More dangerous. “You put her here?”
