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The next three barrel up the stairs and meet my new Merrill: Merrill II. I swing and collide with skull after skull, the wet cracks echoing down the stairwell. Those three go down, and I bounce out of the way to give Kendrick his turn.
We keep that up until the stairwell’s so cluttered with bodies that no more Vipers can get through. Kendrick muscles the door shut, shoving dead Vipers out of our way, and I help him secure it by pushing some heavy furniture in front of it. It’s not a permanent solution, but it’ll stall them long enough for us to figure out our next move.
I turn back to see how Keys and Neil are faring. Neil’s woken up by now and is standing over Keys, who’s furiously typing away at Ramsey’s computer. The flash drive is plugged into Ramsey’s laptop. Did he figure out what’s on it?
Before I can ask, the service elevator dings.
“Damnit, Kendrick, I thought you handled that!” I dart away, hoping to reach the elevator before the inevitable thugs onboard come streaming out.
No such luck. One gets a half decent shot in my thigh, and another tosses a knife that I barely manage to dodge. Three pops from behind signal Kendrick’s arrival, and half the Vipers in the crowded elevator collapse. At least one of the remaining goons shits himself, the stench unmistakable.
I rest Merrill II on my shoulder as I raise the gun in my other hand. “Great, they sent the Kindergarten Brigade after us.”
Kendrick steps to my side and levels his gun on the Vipers in the elevator. “Why do you say that?”
I gesture at the shaking Viper in the middle. “That dude just shat himself.”
It’s just a guess as to which one did the deed, but judging from the crimson hue his face takes, I’m dead on.
“See? He’s so green he turned red.”
The smirk on Kendrick’s face is priceless. “I guess you’re right. That’s a little insulting, sending the newbies after us. You’d think that by turning his stairwell into a graveyard, the Cobra would have more respect for us.”
The two unsoiled Vipers move to shoot, but Kendrick and I dispatch them before they can even raise their arms. The last one faints, and I step up to execute him for his own good.
“Keys! What do you have?” Kendrick shouts as we drag bodies into the elevator doorway to prevent it from closing and bringing more assholes our way.
I turn to see him still typing away. His face is flushed, his eyes wide. “Bunny, did you realize you were loaded?”
“What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?”
Kendrick rolls his eyes. “You seriously let us live in the Burrow like squatters?”
“Well, I mean, we kind of were squatters. Are still, I guess.” I put my hands on my hips. “Again, what does that have to do with anything? So what if we’ve got money? I thought you liked our life in the Burrow.”
“It could’ve been easier on us, you know. Why were you hiding the money?”
I try to give him the ol’ pouty lip, but I can tell he’s not buying it. “I wasn’t hiding it. I mean, Keys knows. Knew. Anyway, confusing tenses aside, it’s not a big deal. If we’d needed it, we would’ve had it. I just … I liked our life. It was simple. Beat the snot out of bad guys, help the community, take down some high and mighty CEOs in the process.”
“Keys, how much are we talking?”
Keys’ eyes flit to Kendrick, then back to the screen. “Enough to build a new Burrow from scratch, with bonus money left over for a separate clinic for Doc, a gym for you, a gaming center for me and Neil, andstillenough for a community outreach center for charity.”
Kendrick facepalms, and I feel so damn confused.
“What’s wrong?” Neil looks from Kendrick to me and back again. “Why are you guys fighting over this? This is great news.”
“I’ll explain later.” Kendrick puts his hands on my shoulders and looks down into my eyes. “Bunny, Ididlove our life together. I still do. But you shouldn’t have kept this from us. It could’ve helped us to do some things on the up and up, like buying medical supplies for Doc instead of stealing them, or buying an old, decommissioned ambulance at auction and retrofitting it to serve our needs. We didn’t have to have it as tough as we did.”
Tears fill my eyes, and I stomp my foot in frustration. “We don’t need extras. We did just fine before. Money doesn’t do anyone any good. Look at how it turned out for Sun Yi. Her second husband had money. That guy was a fucking nightmare. Sun Yi inherited his money, and she turned into a bitter old bitch. Both of them had money, and they both turned up dead. I was used and abused by him because he thought he could buy his way into Sun Yi’s heart—and he was right! That old hag actually thought he loved her.” I shake my head and turn away, fighting the deluge that threatened to spill onto my cheeks.
“Oh, Bunny …”
The heartache in Kendrick’s voice is enough to send me over the edge, and I fall into his arms, a blubbering mess.
“We love you with or without money, Bun,” he whispers as he holds me. “That’s not why it matters. I’m sorry I made you think that’s why I was upset.”
More arms wrap around us, and I open my eyes to see Keys and Neil hugging us both.
