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He turned away, hiding his face in the pillow. “They hurt me.”
I had to lean in, thinking I hadn’t heard him correctly because his voice was so low. “Did you just say someone hurt you?”
“Yeah.”
He finally turned his head to look at me, and my heart broke at the look of defeat on his face. “Tell me what happened.”
He swallowed, but I knew he’d tell me. He was terrible at keeping secrets and this one looked like it had been eating him up.
“There are these guys. I don’t know why, but they don’t like me.”
My body went tight, fury riding me hard. Nobody hurt my little brother and got away with it. “Names.”
Lenny sat up, sighing. “Why do you need to know? I told you why I don’t want to go to school.” He brushed his hair off his face, reminding me that he needed a haircut. “Now can I stay home?”
“Only for today. And only if you give me names.”
“Fine. It was Ronny, Dan, and Victor.”
“From your basketball team?”
He nodded, embarrassment on his face.
Kissing his head, I left him with instructions to at least eat one meal today that wasn’t pizza. He’d probably have cereal.
If I didn’t have to go to work, I’d find the little assholes who’d terrorized my brother and put a stop to it. But that had to wait for another day. Because I was late for the job that provided the perfect cover for my real one.
6
JUDE
Fuck.This isn’t good. What’s happening to me?
I was standing in a hardware store, picking out paint colors I thought Ariel would like.
I’d planned on renovating the apartments as tenants moved out. But Ariel’s apartment needed a fresh coat of paint, new floors, and an updated kitchen and bathroom about ten years ago.
I’d already purchased tiles and a new shower and sink. They’d arrive in a few weeks. I hadn’t found a kitchen that would work yet since the space was so small. But in the meantime, I’d paint their rooms.
Maybe I needed to shoot something to get my head back on straight. I’d check with Gabriel if they had any jobs coming up. In the meantime, I’d have to hit the shooting range more often. I usually went twice a week but had been too caught up doing surveillance on my neighbor recently.
Leaving the paint samples behind, I fled the store and drove straight to the shooting range. It took nearly two hours to get out there, but the drive was always worth it.
When I entered the converted tunnel, my eyes adjusted to the low light. Officially, it was a shooting range. But if you were granted special access, you got to test out anything. There were no limits: automatic weapons, flame throwers, even rocket launchers.
I usually stuck to handguns and rifles, but today I felt like blowing something up. And it was always a good idea to keep my skills up-to-date when it came to rocket launchers. I’d used them more than was probably healthy, but they always got the job done. Even if it was messy.
I waved to the owner of the range, who was always there, no matter what time or day. “Hey, Bear. How’s it going?”
“Jude. Haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Been busy. You got any rocket launchers I can use?”
He let out a deep laugh, his large frame shaking at the movement. He was easily 6’5, with a beard so thick it was hard to understand him sometimes. He was my father’s age, but just like my father, he hadn’t let himself go as he was getting older.
I didn’t know when he had the time to work out, but he somehow looked like someone ten years his junior.
“Of course I do. Just got a new shipment in.” He grabbed a key card out of his pocket and pointed to a door off to the side. “You can choose one and use it in the outside range. Just make sure to point it at the target. It’s expensive to fix the walls.”
