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“Because the kid isn’t the job,” he said harshly. “Believe it or not, we’re not here for the little guy. This is about the big picture, something you keep conveniently forgetting.”
I had to laugh at him for that. “You think I forgot the objective? I could have gotten out of prison and run, but I went with Baz to get you information, not that it really mattered since you didn’t stay in touch one fucking time while I was on the inside.”
“I got the warden’s position,” he argued. “I was there.”
“Yeah, you really did a great job looking out for me.”
“You knew the job going in,” he snapped.
“Alright, let’s put this argument on hold until we get the kid back,” Johnny cut in. “We need to get him to safety, then we can hash out the rest of this.”
He was right. I had to think about Parker right now. Nothing else mattered at this point. “We need to get Skylar and Rae out of there,” I said, trying to think despite the pounding in my head. “They’re not safe.”
“Rae’s already packing,” Johnny informed me.
“Is Skylar with her?” Pete asked.
“Yeah, she’s getting her out,” Johnny told him. “We’ll meet up after we get Parker back.”
“Bullshit. You can’t leave in the middle of the job,” Rafe snapped.
“There is no job. Baz is dead.”
“The job is to get inside the organization. Yes, it would have been easier with you on Baz’s side, but now that he’s out of the way, you have the opportunity to take over.”
“I couldn’t take over even if I wanted to. In case you didn’t notice, I just had my brain scrambled, and from what it looked like, it was on your orders!” I shouted, immediately regretting it when my head pounded even harder.
I squeezed my eyes shut and took a calming breath. I had to hold it together until we got Skylar and her son. Then I could lay low for a while and forget about all this shit.
“Think what you want about me, but this is our best shot. I’m telling you to go back in.”
I slid an angry look Rafe’s way. “I don’t fucking work for you anymore. You dropped us, and none of us have forgotten that.”
“Fucking pathetic,” he hissed. “What the fuck happened to the three of you?”
“I don’t think you want to push us right now,” Johnny said. “We’re all a little tired of your shit. The job is over. Your plans to take down the organization are over. You have no more people in place. No one’s coming to help you out anymore.”
“We’re getting closer. If you would just?—”
“No,” I said, leveling a glare at him. “It’s over.”
He knew there was no point in arguing with me. There was nothing left to say at this point. A few years ago, we were by his side all the way. But things changed and Rafe was no longer by our side, leading us through all his battles. It changed my perspective, as well as Johnnyand Jason’s. If he hadn’t sent us to work with his brother, we might never have changed. We’d still be going through life doing what he wanted us to do without any thought to what we could have if we only let go of the bloodlust Rafe taught us to carry around.
But those days were over. It was time to move on with life and try to live it as best I could while I still had a chance to.
“Here,” Rafe said, breaking the silence in the car. “We’ll have to be fast. If these guys have the kid, there’s no telling what they’ve already done to him.”
“Who are they?” I asked, staring out the window at the shitty apartment that looked condemned.
“People you don’t want to fuck with. They’ve all been to prison and they’re not exactly willing to live by society’s rules. They dabble in anything from drugs to prostitution to slave trading. If they took the kid, it’s because Rico fucked them over on something.”
“Which means we don’t have a lot of time,” Jason surmised.
“If he’s even still here,” Rafe added. “If Rico didn’t give them what they wanted, the kid could be dead already.”
I hated to admit that he was right. It was likely that Parker wasn’t here anymore. They would have wanted to get rid of him right away or send a message of some kind. But Rico was with me at the abandoned hospital. If he cared at all for his son, he wasn’t showing it.
“What’s the plan?” I asked Rafe.
