by Kenya Wright
“But they haven’t attacked yet.” She tapped her thigh. “That means something.”
“It does. They may just want us to go in the building.”
She never stopped tapping that finger. “Or to shoot us as we get out.”
“No. They see my men.” I gestured at them. “It would be a fifty-fifty chance on who would survive.”
My guys had parked too. They were good enough to have probably noticed the presence of armed men in the area and were waiting for my command.
“Who knew you were coming here?” she asked.
I thought of the small list. Not many knew. Even my driver hadn’t given the instructions until ten minutes before the time. If he was giving out the information, we would’ve beat the Jamaicans here.
I studied some of them. Boredom decorated their face. Every now and then, they glanced at the limo but hadn’t touched their guns or even made a move.
“I’m supposed to go inside the building. They’re not here for me.”
Emily nodded. “They’re here to kill your men.”
“And whoever is in the building, or on the floor with the lawyer, that’s who’s supposed to kill me.”
She pulled her phone out of the clutch, turned it on, and wrote in it.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Looking up the building’s floor plan.”
“Interesting.” I should’ve been worried, but I’d maneuvered out of scarier situations than this.
I was more worried about keeping her safe. She was not only my washer but was becoming an important asset to have on my team. Her speedy alertness had noticed that the Jamaicans were out of place and from that, she’d logically concluded to at least get me back in the limo to assess the situation further.
I’m sorry, mysh, but how can I ever let go of you now?
“Okay.” She shut the phone off and faced me. “I’ve got an idea. Do you trust me?”
“For now.”
“Here’s what we should do.”
Chapter 10
Emily
We left the limo. My bodyguard, Luka stayed on my right. Kazimir walked on my left. No one was on his side. My nerves flared. Logically, I would want my new employer to remain alive. If someone was killing his people, and trying to murder him and me today, I wanted him to be victorious.
“I really think someone should be with you too,” I whispered as we crossed the street.
“No.” Kazimir unbuttoned his jacket. “Then, it will look like I noticed something was wrong. I usually keep my guards several feet around me, but not too close that it’s suffocating. We should continue to look the part.”
Dread hit me, but I stayed the course. Kazimir had two guns with him, one in each holster under his jacket. Confidence glittered in his eyes. I had no doubt that he knew how to use them.
“You just stay alive.” Kazimir placed his hand at the corner of my back, and the spot warmed from his fingers. “And stay close to me.”
“I will.” I inched to him as we hit the pavement so that we appeared more as lovers taking a stroll.
He slipped his hand to my hip and tightened the grip. “When we’re safe, I’ll make sure that your brother comes home tonight. I owe you for right now.”
Surprised, I almost stumbled, but kept my balance and continued to follow Luka who marched in front of us, studying each suited Shower Posse member in front of the building.
“Stay calm, Luka,” Kazimir said. “We don’t shoot unless we have to. Save your bullets for inside.”
The bulky man said nothing.
We arrived at the building.
I didn’t make a big show of it, but I studied some of the Jamaican gang members closer. They never reached for their guns the closer they got, still staring at the cars full of Kazimir’s men.
Kazimir had been right. The guys standing outside was to make sure Kazimir didn’t have back up when he needed help from whatever was going to happen inside.
Kazimir brushed his lips against my ear. “Giggle as if I’ve said something funny and you love me.”
I giggled and tenderly hit his chest. “Oh, stop it, Kaz. You’re such a bad boy.”
“Oh, Emily. You haven’t seen bad yet.” Playfully growling, he moved his hand to my ass and squeezed it hard.
I gasped. “Kaz.”
He laughed, yet desire blazed in his gaze.
Luka opened the door for us as he scanned the front. There was a hall. Ten feet down was a metal detector with two men dressed in cop uniforms. One had a scruffy beard and dreads hanging from his cap which I didn’t think cops even wore inside buildings.
I whispered, “Definitely not cops.”
“Luka, kill them.”
Luka grunted.
We stopped in front.
One of them stepped up. “Do you have any—”
In a flash, Luka pointed the gun at his head and pulled the trigger. The bullet hit the center of his eyes. Before the man dropped to the floor, Luka shot the other. Again, right between the eyes—no hesitation. Minimal blood. Just a dripping from the bullet lodged in their skulls.
Damn.
We walked through the metal detectors. Bells rang as we passed. It didn’t matter. No one was in the lobby anyway. Someone had cleared the building.
I glanced behind my shoulder.
No one had come behind us.
“What do you think?” Kazimir asked me.
Luka scowled. “We’re following her?”
“She’s the one that noticed the Jamaicans here in the first place.”
Luka gave no retort.
I checked the elevators and spotted the fire exit I’d seen in the building’s layout on my phone. “We can’t go upstairs. It could be something like a bomb or—”
Luka snorted.
I raised my hands in the air. “Hey, I know it sounds crazy, but I’m not going upstairs. They cleared the building. Why? Due to a possible gun battle? I doubt it.”
“So, we go out the back?” Luka gestured with his gun. “Guys will be there.”
“No.” I shook my head. “That’s not the plan.”
Kazimir smiled. “Apparently, Ms. Chambers can get us out of the building without any one seeing us.”
Luka rolled his eyes. “What are we doing? This is too dangerous. I should have not let you come in here, sir.”
“I can get us out of here.” I looked up at the ceiling. “We just have to hurry.”
“Because of a bomb?” Luka snorted.
“Yes.” I kicked off my shoes, picked them up, and scurried away. I would’ve been able to run, but the dress was too tight. Had I been truly thinking, I would’ve worn pants.
But Kazimir had made me wet last night, and I wanted to get him back. His erection when I walked up to the limo was well worth my hurt feet.
He started it.
But now, I would be ruining the shoes and the dress. Because where I had to take them, nothing would get the stench off us.
They followed my fast walk to the fire exit.
“There will be men behind the building,” Luka grumbled.
“We’re not leaving the building.” I went to the door on the right of the fire exit and turned the knob. It was locked. Luka was too busy to notice as he gazed out of the fire exit’s tiny window glass.
Kazimir took one of the guns hidden under his jacket. “Stand back.”
He shot the knob. The door swung open on its own from the impact, revealing a rusty dark room that led off to somewhere that wasn’t used.
“They’re fighting outside.” Luka gripped his gun with both hands. “Wherever she’s taking us, we need to go now.”
“Come on.” I turned on my phone and shined the light inside. “We’ll have to go in there. It will lead us to Farley-Morgan tunnel right under 9th avenue.”
“In here.” Luka pointed with his gun. “This is your way out.”
Kazimir curved his full lips into a smile. “Genius. That’s how you escaped Luka last night.”
I slung my shoes inside the dark space. I wouldn’t take the heels with me now, but maybe I could come back and get them.
We headed inside. The door slammed behind us. I shined the light along the room. Cigarette butts and dirt covered the floor. I hated not having my shoes on.
“Some of the janitors or maintenance probably smoke in here, during the winter, when they don’t want to go outside.” I stepped forward.
Kazimir stopped me. “No.”
“What?”
He put his gun up and then picked me up as I protested, “What are you—”
“No. You don’t have any shoes on.”
I struggled to get out of his arms. “I can’t walk in this tunnel with those heels on.”
He gripped me hard and walked forward. “I’ll carry you, until you can walk in those heels. Luka, grab them.”
The big man did it.
I tried to get free. “Kazimir, it’s a long fucking hike—”
“And you are the small woman who saved my life.” He smiled within my cellphone’s light.
“I haven’t saved it yet—”
An explosion stopped my sentence. It came from up above, rocking the entire foundation. We all fell to the ground, yet somehow Kazimir had kept his hold on me, so that when we fell, he hit the concrete first.
My phone cracked somewhere next to me. It was completely dark. A boom vibrated through the concrete just like an earthquake must’ve felt. Sirens blared off in the distance, but I couldn’t hear them well. Everything was muffled. More cracks and noises rose.
Still, Kazimir held me as all three of us listened to the horror above.
“Are you okay?” Kazimir whispered in my ear.
I couldn’t see him, but clung to his hard body, knowing I would be okay as long as he was near. “Yes. I’m fine. But my phone is probably broken.”
Luka sounding more chipper, volunteered, “She can use my phone, if she needs to.”
I reached out and then I paused. “Maybe, we shouldn’t turn on your phones. Someone could track them and know that you both are still alive.”
“And I would like them to think we’re dead.” Kazimir helped me up in the darkness.
I inched close to him, smoothing my body against his and not caring how he took it. This was a time for survival, not for manners and insecurities.
“Do you think you can find her phone on the ground, Luka?” Kazimir asked.
Scuffling sounded near my right. Another explosion crashed through the short silence. I didn’t know if the person had put a bunch of bombs up on Rumi’s lawyer’s floor or if the bomb had triggered other things to explode.
“I’ve got it.” Luka must’ve pressed for it to come on because a light streamed from his hand, and partly illuminated the room. He handed it to me. Luka’s words swam in a thicker accent than Kazimir. “Good call on the tunnel.”
“Thanks, I’m big on staying alive.” I took the phone.
Kazimir picked me up.
I protested again, “I don’t think—”
“I thought the bomb ended that argument.” Kazimir carried me forward. “Which way do we go?”
“We keep walking until we see red smiley faces.”
“Why smiley faces?” Kazimir asked.
“That’s how Max, Theo, and I would find out way around the tunnels. We would draw them all over the walls and floor with hidden arrows to show us how to get out.”
“Hmmm.” His chest tensed against me. “Whose idea was the smiley faces?”
“Always Max. Why?”
“I’m just wondering about meaningful coincidences.”
Chapter 11
Emily
We continued down the hallway. A moldy scent filled the air. Large cob webs dangled in corners. Rats scurried by. Luka jumped and came close to shooting one.
“Save your bullets, Luka,” Kazimir said.
“I hate rats,” the man grumbled as he stomped forward.
“How long have you all been marking these tunnels?” Kazimir asked.
“Since we were kids.”
“Who else knows about them?”
“I’m sure the city and retired maintenance and train workers. People like that, but it’s not something that others know.” Enjoying Kazimir carrying me quite too much, I shined the cellphone along the walls. The man was a muscled personification of contradictions. His arms were hard, yet soft. So close, he smelled dangerous, but I absolutely felt safe.
“So, only your brother and this Maxwell knows about these tunnels?” Kazimir asked.
“My friend Kennedy too, but she almost never goes down with us, so she wouldn’t know her way. It’s always been a big secret of mine.” I considered what I’d said and almost cursed at myself.
I’d just led Kazimir and Luka into my biggest escape method. Now if I ever had to get away from the Russians, I would need another way. Fear knotted at the pit of my stomach.
Let’s hope I don’t have a reason to escape.
We must’ve walked for twenty minutes in dark silence with only the cellphone’s light guiding the way.
I wondered what both men were thinking.
Surely, they’d dealt with worse in Russia. Their lives couldn’t have been perfect white picket fenced houses full of love. These guys were big, tattooed, and rough. That came from hard living and a tough life.
Kazimir held me the whole time, never stopping to rest his arms. The butt of one gun tapped against my side every other step.
But I had no reason to complain. His arms were safe and comfortable. Warm and powerful. His scent drew me closer. For those minutes of silence, I’d been wondering what his cologne was mixed with—pine or maybe a designer musk. Something expensive and exclusive. Other minutes of silence, I yearned to lean my hand against his shoulder and rub my face against his chin and neck. . .so close, I’d been imagining licking and kissing it. Doing dirty, nasty things to it.
“What’s on your mind, my little mysh?” Kazimir whispered through the silence.
I licked my lips. “I’m just thinking.”
“About?”
How sexy and strong you are.
“This whole thing must’ve been planned a long time ago,” I said instead. “The bomb. Rumi’s death. It’s all very well calculated. Killing Rumi would’ve been hard. Personally, I thought I would be the only person that could do it.”
“Why?”
“I. . .uh. . .just thought so,” I muttered, realizing that my true response might not have showed me in the best light.
“What were you going to say?” Kazimir pushed further. “We’re friends now. We know each other’s secrets.”
“Do we?” I enjoyed the comfort of his arms too much no matter how I tried not to. I cleared my throat. “You know about my tunnels. What secret do I know of yours?”
“That someone close to me is trying to kill me. That would be valuable information to any of my enemies. What else do you want to know, Emily?”
“Where’s my brother?”
“At the brothel you were at last night.”
“How long has he been there?”
“Since you said you would work for me.”
“He’s safe?” I asked.
“Of course.”
“And you’ll bring him to me tonight?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.” I sighed. “I was going to say that I’m the only one that has a secret passageway into Rumi’s building. It was why I set him up in that building years ago.”
Kazimir stopped and turned to me. “Secret passage?”
“Yes. The stairwell doesn’t stop on the second floor. You can keep going down to the basement. And there’s a door for an old boiler room that they don’t use anymore when they renovated the place.”
“And the boiler room leads you to a tunnel?”
“An old subway track to be exact, which could link you up to anywhere.”
“So, whoever killed Rumi probably knew about that passageway?”
; “No.”
He started walking. “Why do you say no?”
“Because that would mean that either Darryl, Maxwell, or I killed him. And that’s not the case. Darryl couldn’t kill anyone. Maybe get someone to do it, but he wouldn’t be able to do it himself. Maxwell would only do it if. . .”
“What?”
I’m telling him too fucking much.
I gritted my teeth. “Maxwell would do it, if I asked.”
“He loves you?”
“Like a brother.”
“Hmmm. And what about you? Where were you when Rumi was killed?”
“I was busy. . .dating.” At least, I thought so. I was damn sure too fucked up to kill someone. “Anyway, I don’t think anyone would’ve used the passageway.”
“Maybe, we could check it out and see later.”
“Maybe.” And then excitement rushed through my veins. “There’s a smiley face.”
Several little red ones covered the wall and then ran into a line continuing before us.
Luka and Kazimir saw the smiley faces and then exchanged looks.
I shifted in his arms. “Do you need to rest?”
“No. I’m ready to get above ground.”
“Okay. We’re close to my gallery.”
There’s no way I’m showing you the tunnels that lead back to my house.
Another twenty minutes passed. We made it to the ladder that led up to my office’s closet. Kazimir let me down. Luka handed me my shoes.
“Thanks.”
Kazimir studied the ladder and then the tunnel. “I can’t believe you walked down here last night. Were you by yourself?”
“Yes.” Holding my shoes and phone, I managed to climb up the ladder, but very slowly. “I do it all the time.”
“Not anymore.”
“It’s safe,” I said.
“I’m putting more men on you.”
“I know how to keep myself safer than any of your men could—”
“The discussion is over.”
Oh, really?! The discussion is not over. I am having it in my head! And I say I’m going back into the tunnels again. So, there!
Frowning, I made it to the top of the ladder, opened the hatch, and scooted out.
