“Then you already know how this ends,” Talon said coldly. “I’ve beaten you before.”
“You sure you should be so cocky?” Black asked, his lips peeling back in a jackal’s smile. “Pride’s a sin, you know. I thought SEE warriors were supposed to set a good example.”
Talon’s eyes narrowed at that. Before he could reply, though, Will drew his gun and turned the barrel on Lincoln Black’s chest. “That’s enough posturing,” he said slowly, giving them time to see the gun and realize he was deadly serious, despite his lack of a badge. “You guys can have your reunion later. Right now, I want hands where I can see them.”
Lincoln shook his head with a long-suffering sigh. “Haven’t we been through this before, Detective?”
“This is the last time,” Will promised, motioning toward the door with his pistol. “Outside. N—OW!”
His order turned into a gasp of pain, and Lauryn whirled around just in time to see her little brother finish punching Will in the stomach. Or, at least, that’s what it looked like. When Robbie’s hand fell away, though, the detective’s shirt was marred by a rapidly spreading stain of crimson. That was all she saw before he fell over.
“Will!”
She scrambled to the detective’s side, rolling him over to examine the wound. It didn’t look like anything too vital had been hit, but it was still bleeding too quickly for her own small hands to hold back, so she grabbed Will’s hand instead, shoving his palm hard against the wound. She was looking around for something to use as a proper bandage when she noticed Robbie was no longer beside her.
In the confusion, he’d scrambled to his feet and run to Lincoln, his face beaming. “I got him!” he cried happily, showing him the pocketknife Lauryn hadn’t even realized he’d had. “I got him for you, Lincoln! I called my sister, too, just like you asked. That makes us square, right? I can go now, rig—”
Fast as a striking cobra, Black’s arm snaked out to wrap around Robbie’s. He spun the younger man around in a smooth motion, positioning him so that Robbie’s back was caught against Black’s chest with his arm squeezing tight on his throat.
“No!” Lauryn cried. “Robbie, you idiot! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“What any sensible animal would do,” Black replied, squeezing until her brother’s eyes bugged out. “Trying to save himself. But what your poor fool of a brother doesn’t understand is that it’s already too late.”
“It’s never too late,” Talon said fiercely, drawing his sword. “Release him.”
Lincoln grinned at the order. “Oh, it’s miles too late this time, holy man,” he said, his voice mocking. “Have you taken a look around at any point during your little intrusion? Which, by the way, you might want to work on. Even if I hadn’t known you were up here the whole time, y’all bastards made enough noise that the whole building could have figured it out, and most of the bastards working here are high as hell.” He shook his head. “But like I was saying, you assholes are months too late to stop this. All that crap with the emerald liquid and the ODs and the little party in the burn ward? That was warm-up—priming the pump, you might call it—but this ball was set rolling ages ago, and there’s no stopping it now.”
“It is never too late,” Talon said again, making Black scoff.
“What, are you deaf, old man?” he asked, squeezing Robbie even harder. “There’s no recovering from this. Game’s over. You’ve already lost. You’re dead, your girl’s dead, the kid’s dead, your detective buddy there’s super dead. Damn, man, this whole city’s dead! You could not have screwed this up more if you’d tried. At this point, the only thing left is for me to give the word and send you all on your merry way to hell. Unless . . .”
His eyes fell on Talon, and Lauryn’s stomach tightened. “Unless what?”
“Unless you’d like to make a trade,” Black finished, tapping his fingers against Robbie’s throat. “I’ve got no use for another idiot cowardly pusher, but a SEE warrior? That’s a different story.”
Lauryn had already opened her mouth to say there was no way she was making a deal with such an obviously untrustworthy person, but Talon beat her to it.
“What do you want?”
Black’s smile turned crueler than ever. “You and I have unfinished business to settle.” He jerked his arm up, lifting Robbie clear off his feet. “You want to save the idiot? Here’s my deal: you put down your sword and swear to your precious God to let me do whatever I want to you, without fighting back, until sunrise or death, whichever comes first. You do that, and I’ll let all your little buddies here go free, no strings attached. The kid, the doctor girl, what’s left of Mr. Detective there, they can all leave this place no worse for wear. Hell, if they hurry, they might even be able to get out of town before the fun starts. How’s that for generosity?”
“Absolutely not!” Lauryn cried, whirling on Talon before he could say a word. “You are not sacrificing yourself for us! You don’t even know if you can trust him.”
“Oh, he definitely can’t trust me,” Black said. “But that’s beside the point. See, if Talon there doesn’t do what I want, baby Robbie’s going to be short one head, and my boys down there” —he nodded down at the warehouse where, sure enough, several of the masked workers had stopped processing the orders and were now standing ready with their guns out— “get to take a fifteen-minute party break. I’m happy either way, so what’s it gonna be, holy man? You or the kid? Choose quick, though. An offer this generous doesn’t stick around for long.”
By the time he finished, Lauryn was ready to punch that stupid smile right off his face. It just wasn’t fair. There was no way, no way they’d gotten this far only to fail now. She refused to believe that this horrible man was right. There had to be another way, and she was racking her brain to think of it when Talon lowered his sword.
“I knew it!” Black cackled. “You never could resist being the martyr, could you?”
Talon’s answer to that was a stony silence. Lauryn, on the other hand, had plenty to say.
“No!” she shouted, grabbing his arm. “You can’t do this.”
“If I don’t, we could all die,” he said stoically.
“If you go, you’ll definitely die,” she replied, digging her fingers into him. “Screw him and his deals. We’ll find another way. You’re the one who’s always going on about miracles!”
“At least I know now that you were listening,” Talon said with a warm smile. “But this is what I have to do, Lauryn. From the moment I met you, I knew I’d been sent here to help and protect you. ‘The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.’”
The calm way he said that was enough to break even Lauryn’s emergency-room-hardened facade. “You can’t die for me!” she said, her voice panicked. “I just met you! I can’t let you throw yourself away because my brother made a fatally stupid decision.”
“But I’m not throwing myself away,” he said, looking her in the eyes. “With one life, I buy three. That’s a good deal by any reckoning, especially since one of those lives is a brave young woman who’s finally learned to believe.”
Lauryn had no idea how to answer that. She wasn’t even sure if she could call the frantic surrender of common sense belief, but before she could think of another way to convince Talon not to do this, he turned his sword and pressed the hilt into her shaking hands. “Keep this,” he ordered. “I don’t want Black to touch it, and it might come in handy.”
Lauryn didn’t want to. If she took his sword, Talon would truly be defenseless. At the same time, though, the thought of that horrid man touching the beautiful sword made her stomach turn. But the longer she stood there, the more she realized he was right. Downstairs, the men with the guns had already moved to block the doors. All Black had to do was say the word, and they were all dead. It would take a miracle to get them out of this, and while Lauryn’s opinion on miracles had definitely taken a turn in the last few minutes, she didn’t think they’d be getting another one now.
But
that didn’t mean she was giving up.
“I’ll take this,” she said at last, clutching the sword with trembling fingers. “But only until I see you again. As soon as I get Will out, I’ll be back to save you.”
“Don’t,” Talon said softly. “It’s what he’s counting on.” When Lauryn tried to argue, he raised his hand. “You fight me on everything, but not this. My life is my own, and I count it a gift to spend it in God’s service. Promise me you won’t undo what I’ve done here by coming back.”
Lauryn shook her head frantically. “No—”
“Promise me!” Talon snapped, making her jump, and then he sighed. “Please,” he said, more quietly this time. “I appreciate your loyalty, but you have your own work to do tonight, Lauryn. Don’t throw yourself into the lion’s den when I’ve sacrificed everything to get you out.” He smiled. “Have faith. God does not lose.”
Lauryn barely heard him. She’d already opened her mouth to keep arguing when Will gasped on the floor, sucking in a pained breath through clenched teeth. It was a terrible, deathly sound, and the moment she heard it, Lauryn knew she was almost out of time.
“I promise I won’t come back,” she said grudgingly, dropping down to help Will keep his hand against the wound. “But I’m not going to let this stand, Talon. We’re going to find out what’s going on here, and we’re going to stomp it so hard, no one will ever breathe the name Z3X again. I swear, I won’t let this be in vain.”
“I’m counting on it,” he said, giving her a final smile as he walked openhanded to stand unarmed in front of his enemy.
“Well, well,” Black said with a delighted grin. “Looks like Christmas comes early this year.” He let Robbie go without a second look, reaching out with his newly free hand to point to the ground at his feet. “Kneel.”
After a second’s hesitation, Talon obeyed, and Black threw his head back with a joyous laugh. “Just what I always wanted,” he said, turning to Robbie, who was still doubled over, fighting to get his breath back now that he was no longer being choked. “Get the hell out of here. A deal’s a deal.”
For a moment, Robbie just stared at him like he didn’t understand what Black was saying. Then, with a final guilty glance at his sister, he turned and fled.
“Robbie!” she yelled, but he was already gone, taking the stairs two at a time.
Lauryn watched him go with a bitter curse, but she’d deal with her brother later. Will needed her more right now, and she turned back to him with an angry breath, tearing off a piece of her shirt to make a bandage. When she’d bound his wound as best she could given the circumstances, she grabbed hold of his bloody hand.
“Can you stand?”
Still gasping, he nodded, and together, they got him to his feet. When he was steady, Lauryn slid Talon’s sword under her arm so she’d have both hands free to help Will as they hobbled together past Black. True to his word, the assassin let them pass, even stepped aside so they could get down the stairs.
“Don’t look so shocked,” he said when Lauryn shot him a dirty look. “I can kill you at any time. But a chance like this”— he laid his hand on the still-kneeling-Talon’s shoulder, making the warrior flinch —“comes once in a long, long lifetime. Now run away, little girl. While you still can.”
Lauryn’s jaw tightened. She’d never wanted to do violence to another person like she wanted to with Black at that moment. The only reason she didn’t was the sound of Will’s labored breathing in her ear and the warning look in Talon’s eyes, reminding her of her promise.
“A deal’s a deal,” she whispered bitterly, sliding around Black to start down the stairs. The men in the warehouse kept their guns trained on her the whole time, but as Black had promised, no one made a move to stop them as she and Will hobbled down the steps, across the elevated fire escape, and back into the freezing night. The moment they were clear, one of the men stepped in and kicked the heavy door shut behind them, locking them out in the dark.
13
Bought with a Price
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were
bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
—1 Corinthians 6:19–20
By the time they made it down the stairs, Will was looking worse than ever. Even in the dark, Lauryn could see his color was fading fast, so she just stopped looking and focused on pushing ahead, using Talon’s massive sword like a cane as she struggled to drag them both across the factory yard toward the alley where Will had parked his car. An effort Will seemed to be doing everything in his power to undermine.
“Stop it, Lauryn,” he gasped, digging his feet into the snow. “You can’t carry me all that way. I’m too heavy. Just drop me and run.”
“Absolutely not,” she panted, taking another step. “We’re getting your car, and then I’m taking you to a hospital.”
“There’s no time,” he said. “Black was right. I’d seen the factories, but until Robbie, I couldn’t fathom just how bad this was.” He pointed at the snow-covered piles of Z3X on pallets that were stacked even out here. “It’s all over the city. It’s only a matter of time before they all end up like Robbie. You know what happens after that.” He dug his heels in. “I’m just slowing you down. You need to go. Get out of town before—”
“I am not running!” she yelled at him, setting him down in the snow to search his coat for his car keys. “If I can’t drag you to the car, I’ll bring the car to you, but I am going to save your life, Will Tannenbaum. I’m not losing anyone else to this insanity!”
Will stared at her with pleading eyes, but he was too weak to do anything else now. The snow around him was already stained with a frighteningly large circle of red. Looking at him, Lauryn almost wished her idiot brother had thrown him into the Z3X instead. That, at least, she knew she could cleanse, even if she still hadn’t taken the time to process how. A gut wound when you were stuck in the freezing cold snow with zero sterile tools, on the other hand, was a disaster she understood far too well. Enough to know just how bad Will’s chances were if she didn’t get him to a proper medical facility fast. But as her freezing fingers finally closed around the car keys in Will’s jacket pocket, something cold and hard pressed into the hair at the back of her scalp.
Lauryn had never had a gun to her head before, but it didn’t matter. The feeling of a pistol barrel pressed against your skull wasn’t something you needed to see to understand. She froze at once, hands shooting up automatically while Will began cursing like a sailor on the ground beside her.
“That’s enough of that,” said an angry, commanding voice. “Turn around.”
The gun pressed into Lauryn’s head twitched to the left, and she obeyed, turning in place to see a group of four masked men in full combat outfits flanking a fifth man in an expensive suit, the obvious leader. But while Lauryn only vaguely recognized him as someone she’d seen once on television, Will was baring his teeth like a cornered animal.
“Korigan.”
The name was enough to make Lauryn do a double take, and the chief of police flashed them a warm smile. “You’re not looking so well, Tannenbaum,” he said, frowning down at Will with his hands laced behind his back like he was observing a weak but still-rabid dog. “You should have taken my advice and gone home. I warned you this case was bad for your health.”
“You bastard,” Will growled, trying and failing to push up to his knees. “I knew you were crooked! But I’ve got you pegged now. I’ve got pictures tying you to every step of this. When the DA sees—”
One of Korigan’s thugs planted his boot in Will’s ribs, sending him toppling into the snow. Lauryn was already moving to help him when the man holding the gun to her head shoved the barrel down hard enough to bruise, forcing her to freeze yet again, helpless as Korigan nodded for the thug to grab Will off the ground.
“The DA isn’t going to hear anything,” Korigan said calmly as
the man set Will on his knees in the bloody snow. “I knew you were on my tail. Don’t worry, you were good enough that I never actually spotted you, but that didn’t matter, because I knew you. The moment I saw you staring at my limo, I knew you’d never let it go. I could have offed you at any point after that, but Black had plans for your girlfriend there, so I let it slide. But while I’ve had fun watching you scramble after my dust, all good things must come to an end, which is why we’ll be taking this.”
He walked over and shoved his hand into Will’s pocket, pulling out his phone.
“Like that’ll work,” Will spat. “You think I’m stupid enough to only make one copy? I’ve got evidence spread all over. You’ll never get it all.”
“Perhaps,” Korigan said as he slipped Will’s phone into his own pocket. “But tell me, Will, how will the DA get any of that evidence if you’re not alive to send it? Even if you were smart enough to set up some kind of automatic forwarding, it won’t matter. With all of Chicago caught in the grip of Z3X, no one’s going to care about a corrupt police chief, and by the time they do care, I’ll be untouchable. All your work will come to nothing, and in the end, you won’t be anything but a footnote on a very long mortality report.”
He finished with a smile that made Lauryn’s skin crawl, but Will was staring at him in confusion. “Why?” he gasped at last. “I get why you’re offing me, but why are you pumping this junk into Chicago? Why kill off the city you just bought your way into the top of?”
Korigan laughed out loud. “You think I care about this crime-riddled, freezing hellhole? This police chief gig was never anything but a stepping stone on my way to bigger things.”
“That’s why you unleashed this on us?” Lauryn cried, temporarily forgetting the gun against her skull as she whirled around. “Lenny, the burn ward, Robbie—all of that drama was so you could give yourself a promotion?”
“Not a promotion. The promotion,” Korigan said as the goon forced Lauryn back down. “You know nothing. You were born in a land of peace and plenty. I was born to war. All my life, war has been with me. It’s the water I drink, the air I breathe, and the food I eat. Even when I won, my reward was just a bigger battle with higher stakes. I never had peace, never had security. But with this move, all that finally ends. I’ve finally climbed high enough to reach the way out. Forever. Next to that, your suffering, their suffering”— he nodded at the dark city beyond —“it’s nothing. Just the crying of spoiled children that I no longer have to hear.”
Talon of God Page 23
