“Have fun, you two,” Killian said as I tightened up the last loop on Marissa’s legs and rolled her to her back. But then the bastard pulled a dirty trick. My hands on the ropes, he slid an arm around my waist and pulled me hard against his chest. “Don’t get her too bloody, lass. Okay?”
I stared up at him, far too close for comfort, feeling the air between us crackle with a chemistry I didn’t like and yet found myself craving. “Get lost, Killian.”
He dropped a hand to my ass and gave it a swat, then walked away. I turned to see Marissa glaring up at me with a venom usually reserved for mortal enemies. Killian had not made this any easier. Noah glanced at me and shook his head. “Good luck.”
I was going to need it.
“Genzo is going to kill you,” she snarled. “You and that cheating piece of shit.”
I crouched beside her, careful not to get too close. Electricity was not something I could block if she was able to touch me and get me juiced up.
“Genzo will have his shot if you tell me where he is.” I reached for the knife in my boot. “You want to tell me now, or are we doing some plastic surgery?”
Her mouth flapped open. “You don’t have it in you.”
“Do you not know who I am yet?” I smiled down at her as I lifted the tip of the knife to the soft curve of her cheek.
She blinked, but no tears fell. Tough customer. “Fuck you and Killian.”
“Your way then.” I pressed the knife against her skin enough for the sharp edge to split it like the skin of a peach.
She yanked her head away from me, dragging the blade further across her face, all the way to her ear.
“Now, that was stupid,” I said. “And unnecessary. I’m willing to let you go, Marissa. But you need to tell me where Genzo is.”
“Stocking Street. Third apartment from the top.” She whispered the lie and I shook my head.
“Lying is not a good idea with me.” I jammed the tip of the knife into the soft point of her shoulder closest to me and used it as a handle to drag her along the ground. The knife dug into her clavicle, sticking hard.
A scream erupted out of her and the tingle of electricity was a quick warning. I dropped her as the current erupted over her skin, burning off half her dress, some of the rope and singeing the grass around her body.
I waited while the current pulsed and glowed. Minutes passed and I waited her out. Killian had a limit to his abilities, she would too. I was banking on her running out of juice soon enough.
Her body slumped and the current slid from her skin. “Kill me then.”
“Oh, eventually. If you don’t give me what I want.” I put a boot to her, and pushed, checking.
A shock of electricity ripped through me, arching my back and snapping my teeth shut tightly. I couldn’t breathe, my vision danced and my heart squeezed as though fingers had wrapped around it and forced it to stop beating.
The weight of my body arching backward made it so that my boot slid from Marissa and the electrical current was gone as fast as it had hit me. I knew I needed to move, though.
“Coming for you, bitch,” Marissa growled and I struggled to get my body to do what I wanted. It was as if all the connections between my brain and limbs had been fried. Hopefully temporarily.
I sucked in a big breath of air, and managed to yank my legs toward my chest, getting them under me so I was crouched on the ground. With my torso folded over my legs, I stared at her. “You should have killed me.”
“Give me time,” she whispered.
I pulled Dinah out and pointed her with a very shaky hand at Marissa. “Damn, my aim is off.”
I squeezed the trigger and the bullet slammed into her guts. Her whole body jerked upward and I stayed where I was. “You going to talk?”
“You shot me and think that will sweet talk me?”
“The next bullet will be incendiary. I’m guessing fire will hurt you?” I stayed where I was, my body shivering and dancing with the leftover impulses. All the way down my spine the electricity quivered. Almost like it was pooling there.
I blinked a few times and realized there was no pain in my body. I pushed to my feet, my muscle tremors stilling. “Where is he?”
She glared up at me. “And if I tell you, you think you can hurt him and his Yakuza? You think you can do anything?”
“He has my son.” The truth slid from me and Marissa’s eyes widened. “I want my son back, Marissa, and I will do whatever it takes to make that happen.”
She closed her eyes, a tear sliding out. “The old jail on the east bank of the river.”
Truth. She’d just told me the truth and I didn’t care why. I grabbed the end of the rope and dragged her away from her car.
“You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?” I could feel her eyes on me, on my back, and the edges of my tattoo. “I know who you are now. You’re the one they call Phoenix.”
“I am.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nashville was humid and the sweat rolled down the sides of my face as I dragged Marissa, Irish ex-girlfriend of Killian Fannin, across the pebbled ground near her car, her gut wound from Dinah leaking profusely.
She sucked in a sharp breath, gasping for air so she could speak. “You are what?”
She’d asked me two questions and I’d answered in a way that could have meant yes to one or both.
“I’ll leave it up to Killian what he wants to do with you.” I searched the area and found him sitting in the car, his head back against the seat rest. Totally unconcerned with the life or death threat I’d faced, or that his ex-girlfriend might end up mincemeat. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that. Noah watched me closely, though, standing beside the car, his hands pressed flat against the hood.
“What do you want to do with her?” I called out.
“She give you a location? And do you be sure it’s the right place?” He opened his eyes and looked over at me.
I let the rope go. “Yes.”
“Please, Killian, she’s already shot me. Please, let me go,” Marissa cried.
He slid from the car and came around to where she lay on the dusty ground. “Marissa. You tangled yourself with Genzo, looking for more power, did you?”
Tears tracked down her cheeks. “How did you know?”
“I know you, Marissa. You aren’t about love, are you? I was just another stone to you to bring you what you wanted.”
“I . . .” She looked up at him and sniffed again. “Please, please, don’t kill me.”
“Go home to Ireland, Marissa. Go to your mam and stay the fuck out of trouble.” He flipped the ropes off her, ignoring the fact that she was quite naked, having burnt off all her clothes with that final burst of electricity.
I took a few steps back, with the pretense of giving them a moment. But what I really wanted was a moment for myself.
The electricity Marissa sent into me had lit something in my brain, like a super jump charge on an engine previously dead. Almost like . . . like Vivian had been right about me and abnormal abilities that were deeply asleep. I put a hand to my head and tried to work my way through what was going on in my body. Vivian had said I could survive anything if I knew how my abilities worked, and that I could be the most dangerous abnormal alive. That Bear could be just like me.
A part of me wanted to cheer, because the more dangerous I was, the better chance I had at getting my son back in one piece. But I knew there was a flip side to that coin. The more dangerous I was, the more there would be a target on my back. A target that could slip sideways and land on Bear, once more.
“Fuck,” I whispered as I tried to figure out how to tap into whatever this ability was that I had. There, at the base of my spine it sat with the electricity. I blinked and stared out over the landscape. I could feel the electricity. Like I was holding it and could . . . use it?
My mouth snapped dry as a thought raced through me. “Dinah, you willing to be a guinea pig?”
Her answer was full of skepti
cism. “For what?”
“If I run something through you, think you could direct it into the bullet?”
“What the hell are you talking about, run something through me?”
I pulled her from the holster and aimed at a tree about twenty feet away. “I have an idea.”
“An idea for what?” Killian’s voice cut through my study of the tree, my study of the electricity in my spine.
“For killing things,” I said. “You ready, Dinah?”
“Shit, I don’t know.”
“I’ll do it,” Eleanor said.
I put Dinah back in her holster and pulled Eleanor. “I don’t know if this will work.”
I breathed through the sudden fear. I would not go into a fight not knowing my weapons, not ever. And if I’d truly become a weapon . . . then I needed to understand how I worked.
I adjusted my grip on Eleanor and steadied my legs. “On three.”
Killian was silent, the weight of his eyes heavy on the back of my neck.
“One.” I dug my feet deeper into the loose sand.
“Shit, shit,” Dinah whimpered. “Don’t hurt her.”
Eleanor was silent.
“Two.” I breathed in and held it, reached back and touched my lower spine as if I could push the magic out of me. I jammed my thumb against it and it raced up my spine, toward my right hand and Eleanor.
“Three.” My breath whooshed out, and I squeezed the trigger.
Electricity burst along my arm in a violent bluish purple streak, through Eleanor and she screamed as she fired three successive bullets, a continuous arc of lightning connecting me to the tree. The first bullet split the trunk, the second and third cracked the two halves on either side.
The current dissipated and I ran a thumb over Eleanor. “You okay?”
“Holy fucking shitballs, that was amazing!” she howled, shocking me. “Do it again. I loved it!”
A shaky laugh rolled out of me. “Not right now.”
“You didn’t tell me you were abnormal,” Noah said, coming up behind me.
I turned to face him. “Didn’t know until recently.”
“Or that you be Irish,” Killian added.
“I’m not.”
The gangster shook his head, his green eyes thoughtful. “Only Irish can throw current like that. It was almost as strong as mine.” His eyes narrowed. “What are you, Phoenix?”
I didn’t answer him, because I didn’t have an answer. I pushed past him and then stopped. Marissa was sprawled out on the ground, unmoving. “She dead?”
“She tried to shove this in me mouth.” Killian held up a tiny pill that all but pulsed with green death myst.
“Sweet of her.” I shook my head. “You know where the jail is on the east side of the river?”
“Nah, but her car has a GPS in it. You want to look at the map before going in?”
“Already have an idea, but sure.” I walked to the car and slid into the driver’s seat. I was not going to talk about what had happened to the tree. I was not going to discuss what kind of abnormal I was or wasn’t.
Now was the time to get my son back. To kill Genzo and his Yakuza and deal with the Ikimono drug. I had a sudden longing for Abe, to have his steady presence with me to know that he had my back.
I rubbed a hand over my face and looked at the GPS in the dash. I pulled up the coordinates for the jail and tightened the image as much as I was able.
“I know the place,” Noah said. “It was a jail I took prisoners to early on in my career.”
I glanced at him. “And?”
He tapped the screen. “It sits right on the water. There will be entry points that won’t be as guarded as the front gate. I know for a fact there were sluice tunnels that led out into the river. We could use them to get in.”
“I don’t like water much,” Killian said. “And I didn’t bring my swim trunks.”
“Well, you go on, walk in the front door . . .” I stopped talking and stared at him as a thought crashed into me. “Would Genzo grant you an audience?”
“You mean if I offered him a better deal than Romano?” He tipped his head to the side. “Possibly. I could call him. See if he’s in town.”
He pulled his phone out and flipped through his contacts before hitting the dial button. He hit another button, putting the phone on speaker mode. I arched an eyebrow, but had to admit it was the best way to keep me from being suspicious of what was said.
The phone rang twice before it was picked up. A rather cultured voice with no discernable accent spoke. “Hello, Killian. I wondered when I might hear from you.”
“Genzo, old friend,” Killian said. “And I wondered if you might reach out to me first. Knowing my connections are far more loyal than others.”
There was a soft laugh. “Please, Killian, your fondness for the underdogs will one day end your life. You realize that?”
“Ah, perhaps, but for today, I’d be interested in discussing Ikimono. About where your best interests may lie with it, and who might give you the best return on your . . . connections.”
An intake of breath. “You know of Ikimono?”
“I know enough to know I want in, Genzo. Why does that surprise you? Or have you been listening to lies from the Italian piece of shit again?”
It sounded like a hand was pressed over the mouthpiece on the other end, the muffling of someone trying to hide a phone. But who would Genzo hide his phone from? As leader of the Yakuza, he should have been the guy to be afraid of, not the one hiding.
The line opened again and a voice I knew all too well came on.
Luca Romano.
“Fannin, I’m rather surprised to hear you have interest in Ikimono. Never mind the fact you are alive.”
Killian shot a look at me and I shrugged. This was his game to play, not mine.
“I have an interest in anything that will make me money, Romano. But you don’t play fair so I want to talk to Genzo.”
“He’s busy now.”
I noted that neither of them talked about the attack on Killian’s place.
Killian shook his head. “You’re a piece of gobeshite, Romano.”
“Always colorful, Killian.”
My father was going to hang up.
“Romano.” I said his name, just his name, and I knew I could hold him on the line like a shark on a hook.
Silence echoed back to me. I took it as an invitation to speak. “You have a very simple choice, Romano. You can give me my son back, and I will disappear, again, and never bother you until the day you die when I will spit on your grave.”
“And if I don’t? Let me guess, you’ll kill me.” He barked a laugh. “Something that even you could not manage with a gun at my temple, Phoenix.”
I smiled. “Oh, Luca, do you not understand yet that I have the coded papers? That they’ve been decoded and I know exactly how to kill you . . . I know exactly what I need and I will make it my life’s mission to see you buried, even if it is only seconds before my own life cuts short. That is, if you don’t give me what I want.” I sighed. “You underestimate me, Romano. You always have.”
He was silent for a heartbeat. “He is not your son any longer. I will make him the tool you were incapable of being.”
There was the sound of barking in the distance, behind Romano. Could that possibly be Abe? No, even I knew that was too long of a shot.
The line clicked off and I stared at Killian. “We go now.”
“He won’t kill the boy, will he?”
I shook my head and started the engine of the muscle car. I steered us out of the empty parking lot and the fenced yard, onto a deserted city street.
“No, I think he’s going to do far worse than kill Bear. I think he’s going to try and turn him into his heir,” I said.
I hit the gas, and the tires squealed and smoked as we took a corner, drifting through it. We needed the element of surprise, we needed to get into the fucking jail as fast as we could. As far as Romano knew, we were sti
ll in New York.
We raced down quiet streets, until we were alongside the river on an industrial road that paced the Cumberland River. In the distance, I could see the hulking tower of the jail. Noah pointed as if I were too blind to see it on my own.
“There. Do you see the pipes sticking out over the water? That’s our in.”
I nodded. Even this far away, there was the glimmer of steel and fences against the concrete structure. I pulled over to the side of the road and parked under a swell of flowering dogwood trees that shaded us well.
“Last chance to get off the crazy train,” I said as I pulled my bag out of the backseat and opened it.
Noah shook his head. “I’m in. Justin would never forgive me if I didn’t try to save his son.”
Killian stepped out and stripped off his coat. “I never shy from a fight, lass. Never.”
I made the mistake of looking up as he took his shirt off. The man was ripped, muscles popping out where they had no right to be. Several scars crisscrossed his chest and a tattoo that looked like some sort of Irish design covered his left pec. I might have made a small sound of appreciation.
“Like what you see?” A lopsided grin inched across his lips.
I arched an eyebrow and put a hand over Dinah. “I can’t keep my guns from speaking, you know that.”
“So, it was Dinah who made that noise?” His green eyes were damn well twinkling. I kept my expression as neutral as possible.
“They are female, Killian. I can’t tell them when they have bad taste.”
He snorted a laugh and Dinah grumbled under my hand about taking the heat for something she’d not done. I flattened my palm against her. “Shut it, Dinah.”
Time to change the subject. “Where did you get the scars?” I looked up, noting the pride in his eyes that he’d caught me staring, even if he thought it was Dinah who’d made the noise.
“A very bad man,” was all he answered with, his expression darkening. Good. That was better. No more googly eyes from me.
I looked down at my own gear. The spider silk suit was what I would wear into the water, and into the fight, of that I had no doubt. It would protect me like nothing else.
Blood of a Phoenix (The Nix Series Book 2) Page 26
