by Lacey Silks
I might as well have been holding a squirt gun because he rushed at me with all his might, regardless of my weapon. Of course I didn’t fire, because I didn’t have any bullets – but I had something else he wasn’t expecting.
I set the cooler down, and I kicked him in the center gut as hard as I could. Winded, he fell back, then quickly got up and flew at me again. This time he grabbed my leg, trying to knock me off balance. Grateful for my self-defense training, I somersaulted sideways, executing a perfect landing, and threw a jab at his nose. The crunching sound of breaking bone echoed. He yelped in pain and fell to his knees. The truck full of narcotics and illegal organs was ablaze. My heart ached for the recipients who wouldn’t get their transplants tonight. On the other side of the truck, beyond the flames, chaos ensued as someone yelled for an extinguisher. By now a few more men had come out with their guns around the van and were heading toward us. I grabbed the cooler and the surgeon by his arm and ran out of the warehouse, heading straight for my car.
Shots were fired. Rounds of bullets echoed in my ears as I prayed that none of them would hit me.
“Get in!”
Holding the steering wheel with one hand and the gun with the other, I pressed my foot on the pedal without bothering to put on my seat belt or turn on the headlights. Thank goodness I’d parked away from everyone, behind a pile of scrap.
“They’ll find you, you know.”
“They won’t. No one saw me.”
“They have ways. I promise you that.”
His threat crawled up my spine in the form of fear, but it was too late to turn back. Right now, the only thing that mattered was getting to my mother and making sure that she survived.
“You can do the surgery, right?”
“I’m going to need help.”
“I’ll do it.”
“You’re not a nurse.”
Fuck!
He wasn’t going to do it. If he did, he’d know that my friend had helped me, and I couldn’t risk any more lives tonight.
“You know what? You’re right. I don’t need you after all.” I pointed the gun at him. “Open the door and get out.”
“You’re driving.”
“You think the chances of survival are greater with a bullet in your head than jumping out of a moving car?”
He hesitated for a moment and then opened the door. I gave him a nice push as I turned left to help him get out, and pressed my foot to the gas pedal again.
In my rearview mirror I watched the warehouse burn, and then I didn’t look back again. Twenty minutes later I arrived at a private clinic.
A few hours passed, and I was standing in blue scrubs behind a glass wall as my friend and her co-workers did the transplant. When I first approached her about the surgery, she didn’t agree. But I begged her like a vagabond and then cashed in on a favor she owed me. She still didn’t agree, and so I cried until there were no tears left, and she finally gave in.
The surgery lasted five hours. Jules removed her scrubs and cleaned up after the surgery before coming over to see me.
“The surgery went fine. I’ll need to observe her for a few days before she’s transferred to the clinic, though.”
“I owe you big time, Jules. Are you sure they won’t say anything?” I nodded to the other surgeon on her team and two nurses.”
“No. I trust them. Will you be okay?”
“Yeah, I think so. Once she’s at the clinic, I’m going to disappear for a while.”
“You know you can call me if you need anything.”
“Jules, I stole an organ from a cartel. I think it’s better for both of us if I stay away. At least until I can figure out what to do next.”
“All right. But Scar has access to people, and he can help. If you need a new identity or anything, just let me know.”
What I really needed at the moment was luck. A lot of luck.
“The fewer people involved, the better.”
“All right, you take care of yourself, Hope, okay?”
“I will.”
Once my mother was at the clinic, I submitted my request for a leave. The news of the warehouse fire spread quickly. The investigation would take a while, especially since I’d been right in the middle of it all. So far, though, there were no red flags. If anyone had seen me and recognized me, I would have already been arrested or dead.
“A year?” Mike, my boss asked. He’d only been at the precinct for two years, but he was a good boss. “We could use your help around here. There’s a good case the Feds want us to work on.”
“I’m sorry, Mike. It’s been tough with the house fire, and my mother’s not well, but I’ll be back. I promise.”
“I wish you well, Hope, and I hope you find the answers you’re looking for.”
I hoped that as well. I hoped that I’d find Jack Pace and could finally let my mother rest.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
I kept my lips sealed.
“All right, don’t tell me, but be careful. Please.”
“I will.”
We said our goodbyes, and I left to search for Jack Pace.
Chapter 21
Cameron
“Security!” A voice boomed from within the warehouse. Three brawny men who were sitting comfortably on the couch jumped up and took their guns from their holsters. They all rushed for the door at the same time.
Shit!
This wasn’t good. Tonight’s transaction was supposed to go smoothly, yet there was chaos in the warehouse. I stepped to the side and looked through the one-way window. A woman dressed in black, wearing a face mask, kicked one of the body guards dead center in his chest. It was a professional move, one I’d seen my younger brother Brook practice many times in karate. Winded, the guy fell back and lost his gun. When she grabbed the doctor by his arm, a fire caught the side of the truck. It exploded, throwing them both backward. Seconds later they got up and ran out.
Fuck! My father’s heart was in that truck! Without the vital organ, it was time for me to leave.
Shots were fired, and I fell flat to the ground. The smart thing to do would have been to escape, but when I crawled toward the back door that led out of the office to the other side of the warehouse, I felt a gun jab into my ribcage, and so I stopped.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“It doesn’t look like our business transaction will come to fruition tonight. I’m out of a heart and out of time.” I pointed to the blaze in the warehouse. “Cops will be here in a moment.”
“And we won’t be. Let’s go!”
Aaron Cortez pushed me forward, out the back door. Crossing him would have been almost as bad as crossing his father, Mateo Cortez. I’d never met the guy. I doubted that many had, but my options to find a viable heart for my father were limited.
Cortez’s name had come up more than once in my lifetime as a bounty hunter, but I’d never taken the risk. The offers were never high enough, and even if they had been, finding Cortez was impossible. Neither I nor any of my brothers would agree to a bounty for his head.
“Ease up on the weapon. I’m not armed.”
Unfortunately, not tonight.
He poked his gun harder into my ribs. I could have thrown Aaron’s gun right out of his hand, but that would have implied guilt. I was still hoping for an amicable solution to a disastrous evening, one that wouldn’t result in me becoming the hunted.
“You’ll be lucky if you get out of here alive.”
Yeah, maybe I was wrong. My defense mode kicked in after all, and before he realized what was happening, I turned around and struck his arm. The gun fell to the ground. I threw one punch, then another and another until Aaron was on the ground, heaving.
I sprinted to my car.
“Shit! She slashed my tires!”
If I’d ever found that bitch, I’d make her pay. Sirens wailed in the distance, and from the orange glow, I could tell that the warehouse fire was quickly becoming an inferno.
Pai
n exploded as someone struck the side of my head. “You’re going to pay for this,” Aaron grunted. The gun was back in his hand and he dug it into my side again, forcing me toward a black Hummer. The glimmer of hope that those tires were flat as well faded. The vehicle had been parked too far away from the warehouse, secluded and hidden between large bunches of shrubs. He pushed me forward until we reached the Hummer.
I was forced into the back seat between Aaron and a Hulk look-alike who reeked of sweat.
“Go!” Aaron said to the driver.
He took off before the door closed. How in the world had this night turned from a promising one to a disaster? And if I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I was wrong.
“Where are we going?”
“Shut the fuck up.” Aaron looked nervously through the window. Two minutes later, a firetruck passed us, followed by three cop cars. We drove for another half hour before parking underneath a bridge in one of Brooklyn’s industrial areas.
“Get out.”
I followed the Hulk and stepped out of the car. He pushed me to the side and forced my body against the hood. I twisted around and out of his grip, switching our positions only to feel the back of a gun handle on the same side of my head as before. This time, my skin gave way and split, and warm blood trickled down the side of my face. My eardrums rang, momentarily blotting out the world.
“You set this up.” Aaron pointed his gun at me and I lifted my hands up in the air.
“No fucking way, man. My deal was and is firm. You get me the heart, and I get you the money.”
“And where exactly is the money?”
“You think I’m stupid enough to carry over a million on me?”
“If you’re coming to make a deal with me empty-handed, you are.”
“My money was with the guy that bitch kidnapped. Listen, I’m sure we can still work this out. You get me that heart tonight and I can get another million. Simple as that.”
“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way.”
Oh, how I wished I had my gun on me! That, and all three of my brothers at my side. These bastards wouldn’t stand a chance. But they were both nervous, looking around and constantly checking to see if they’d been followed, which was good news for me. It meant that I still had a chance to turn this night around, at least to save my own life. One or two guns didn’t scare me.
“I get the heart, or we have no deal.”
“How the fuck am I supposed to get it? You want your heart, then you go back to the warehouse and get it from the charred van.”
“I didn’t make a deal for organ shish kabobs. I agreed for a vital heart and a surgeon, of which you don’t seem to have either.”
“Sue me, then,” he laughed. “I’m out of much more than just your fucking heart. But I can always serve you yours on a platter. Come to think of it, you’re a pretty healthy guy. I’m sure we could make a few bucks out of you.” He scanned me from the bottom up as if he were adding up the money he’d make out of my lungs, kidneys, and more. Unfortunately for me, I only had one kidney, and I wasn’t parting with that one.
“You can’t be saying what I think you’re saying.”
“I ain’t going back home empty-handed.”
But he sure as fuck was willing to go home without balls, because the way he was throwing threats around, his dick was quickly becoming number one on the chopping block.
Blue and red lights flashed on the bridge above us as another cop car sped toward the warehouse. Both men looked up. I used the moment of distraction to grab Aaron’s gun, and it fell on the other side of the vehicle. Hulk and the driver both flew at me with punches, but this time I was ready. I took a few, but gave a dozen extra more. The driver was passed out on the ground, Aaron was looking for the gun, and Hulk wouldn’t give up no matter how hard I hit him. By then, my face must have been permanently altered and I could already feel the bruises forming on my body where I’d taken some hits. As soon as I had the chance, I ran toward the bank and jumped over the wall.
I dove into the river. The good news was that the water wasn’t frozen but my body seized the moment it cut through the surface. I didn’t come up for air until I was sure I was too far away for a bullet to reach me. Except I was wrong. One did reach me, and it hit me in the side where one of my kidneys used to be.
The pain seared through like a heated iron rod from a forge. I pushed through the water toward the shore while Aaron screamed from behind, “You’re going to pay for tonight, Madden. I’m going to hunt you down, skin you alive, and feed you and your family to my hounds piece by piece.”
Fuck!
When my feet touched solid ground I felt spent. My body shook from the cold shock. I jogged through a park as fast as the wound would allow me to, toward a road. At least the bullet wasn’t inside, because I had an entrance and an exit wound, but blood was gushing out quickly. A set of headlights flashed ahead, and I stepped onto the middle of the road, waving and praying that it wasn’t one of Cortez’s cars. It wasn’t. The older gentleman drove me to the address I gave him. My brother left him a month’s worth of salary to stay quiet about the evening, then got on his phone while my other brother tended to my wound, pressing a cloth at the front and back.
“What happened?”
“A shitload. We’re not safe here anymore. None of us.”
My father rolled out of the living room on his wheelchair, and I felt a thousand apologies loom in my eyes and on my lips.
“I shouldn’t have let you go through with it,” he said.
“You know I would have, even if you disagreed.”
“Son, I’ve ruined your life.”
“You did nothing of the sort but we need to leave this house now. They’ll be here soon.”
My younger brother was already standing in the doorway with a silver suitcase that had everything we needed to move on and survive.
“We’ll drop you off at Mom’s. They won’t find you there,” he said to our father. Our parents had separated when we were young. After we were born, mother fell into depression and developed a fetish for a much younger generation. Mother used her wits to grow a very successful business venture, but one we chose not to partake in. She was the queen of disguise, and while everyone knew about her, no one really knew who she was. It was pure talent.
“Dad, I’m sorry,” I repeated.
“Don’t be. Just get yourselves to safety.”
“I’ll find them before they find us. I promise.”
“Come on. This place will be history in a moment. Hold this.” Dean, my youngest brother, pushed my hand onto the towel and helped me up from the floor.
Wrapped in bandages, I stood up. My head spun and my knees felt like rubber, and I wondered how much blood I’d lost. And if that wasn’t enough, as we pulled out of the driveway and onto the street, I saw my childhood home blow up into millions of pieces. Then nostalgia took over and I lost consciousness.
Chapter 22
Kate
Lola! I screamed in my mind as I shot out the side door of the church, but I didn’t get far. Someone grabbed me and my instinct took over. I elbowed my attacker in the gut, and she responded with a grunt.
“Ouch.”
“Lola? What are you doing here?”
“Shh! Don’t you know who’s in town?”
“Yes, but how do you know?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m a hairdresser. People talk. I listen.”
“Oh, Fath…” I paused. “Cam told me to find you.”
She rolled her eyes again, and I wondered where her annoyance was coming from.
“Yeah, he was supposed to do so quicker, not when they were already here.”
“What?”
She waved her hand. “Never mind. I would’ve been here quicker, but I was taking a shower.”
That’s when I noticed that her hair was still wet. “Wait, I thought you were working and people were talking?”
“They were. Ok, listen, Hope. I don’t have a lot of time
to explain. See that sewer over there?” I followed her pointing finger to behind the church. “It leads to a tunnel Ben and Mateo Cortez once used. One of the passages will take us to behind the Bistro. We’ll climb over the hill so they won’t see us, and I have an escape car waiting there. We’ll need to go through the mountains and over risky terrain, but that’s what I trained for.”
“Trained for?” What the hell was she talking about? How did she know about Cortez? What was happening here?
“That’s the easy way.”
“I never told you my name is Hope,” I said.
She shook her head. “You’re not going to stop asking questions, now, are you? I guess hard way it is, then.”
She jabbed a needle into my arm, and the world faded away.
My arm cramped and I shifted in my bed, sinking into the pillow-top mattress. I stretched my legs along the soft sheet and pulled the cover up to my chin, grasping it tightly in my fists. It felt softer than I remembered, and it smelled a little different as well: more masculine. I twisted again, this time with a little uneasiness.
Wait – I don’t have a pillow-top mattress.
I shot up and sat back against a cold headboard. My eyes were wide open, but they may as well have been closed because I couldn’t see anything.
Where am I?
“Hello?”
A door opened and I jumped up. The bright light that came through blinded me, but I had enough time to see a dark silhouette walk inside.
“Get away from me!” I screamed, pushing at the sheets with my feet in a weak attempt to move.
“Hope, relax. It’s me.”
“Lola?”
“Yes. You’ve been out for a while.”
“Am I at your house?”
“No, you’re not. But you’re safe.” A switch clicked and the lamp by the bed turned on. Lola leaned back against the wall and formed a bubble with the gum she was chewing. It popped, echoing through the modern room with prominently black furniture, white and gray fabric, and clean cut lines. Yeah, this was definitely not the kind of apartment I’d imagined my frivolous friend lived in. I’d never been to her home above the salon, but I knew that this couldn’t be it. From the look and smell of it, I was definitely not at the Bistro, either. Yet the manly scent was slightly familiar and I breathed it in again.
