Hers to Protect

by Nicole Disney

  “I’m sorry,” Kaia said. She tried to cover the wound in the girl’s chest, but it gushed over her fingers. When Kaia looked to her face, she was dead. She tried to check another who was writhing in pain. When she reached out to touch him, he died. Again and again, they died at her touch, but she couldn’t stop herself from racing on to the next, and the next, trying to help.

  “No,” she said to herself. “Stop. Stop!” But she kept reaching for them.

  * * *

  Kaia was tossing in the bed. She was drenched in sweat and mumbling. Adrienne reached out and touched her arm. She was burning hot.

  “Kaia.” She tried to wake her gently, but Kaia kept muttering “no” and “stop.” Adrienne touched her shoulder and gently shook her.

  “Kaia, you’re dreaming, honey. Wake up.” She shook her harder. Kaia finally jumped awake. Her eyes raced around the room. She was obviously confused about where she was.

  “You’re okay,” Adrienne said.

  Kaia was breathing hard. She touched her shirt, realizing she was soaked in sweat. Finally, her eyes found Adrienne and she started crying.

  Adrienne wrapped her arms around Kaia and pulled her close. She’d never seen Kaia fall apart, but she was comfortable handling it. She ran her fingers through her hair and held her. When her crying quieted she whispered, “You okay?”

  “I kept killing them. Ted and those recruits, and then just everyone. When they shot at me I wanted to kill them. I wanted to kill them desperately, but when they died I just wanted them back.”

  Adrienne squeezed her again. She felt fragile. Adrienne hated herself for ever doubting who Kaia was, for harassing her about police corruption. She wasn’t some robotic killer, she was the same sweet Kaia, and she was horrified by taking life.

  How could she have been with ruthless Gianna, overlooked her remorseless violence for power, but have reservations about Kaia just because she had a badge?

  “I’m so sorry, Kaia.”

  Kaia leaned back to the bed but kept her arms wrapped around Adrienne, nestled close. Adrienne closed her eyes and breathed her in, letting herself transport back to the nights they fell asleep this way when they were sixteen and their worlds were so simply each other. She should have never let go of that. They should have run away together. They should have been together.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Anna had a hard time convincing Gianna not to go to the funeral. It was understandable she wanted to be there, but gang funerals often got violent, which gave the police an excuse to monitor them. They’d be here today for sure. It was getting harder and harder to convince her old friend to make careful choices, which was concerning and out of character.

  Marco had convinced the recruit’s family to let the Wild AKs control most of the funeral planning. They hadn’t wanted to, but Marco promised the funeral would be ruined entirely if they didn’t, so they’d been able to fill the room with their blue WAK banners and include rap lyrics in the memorial.

  Anna found Christina and Celeste, along with an East Side WAK with mocha skin and young, boyish features. When she walked up, they fell quiet.

  “What?” she asked. They shifted uncomfortably. “Come on, what?”

  “We were talking about Gianna,” Celeste said.

  “What about her?”

  “We think it’s weird she’s not here.”

  “You know she can’t be.”

  “Fuck that,” the East-Sider said. “I’d be here no matter what.”

  Anna looked from one face to the next. She expected this, but never from her own circle. Why were Celeste and Christina humoring this? Even engaging it?

  “What’s your name again?” Anna asked the East-Sider.

  “Carlos.”

  “Gianna has to stay away. She didn’t want to, but this was a recruit, not a member, and she’s dead. Gianna can’t change it, and she’s going to prison for a long time if the cops pick her up. It would be stupid of her to show up, and the second she did they’d be crashing this place and ruining the whole thing.”

  “The recruit had a name, yo. Karina. And Gianna got her killed. Just because she was a recruit doesn’t mean she don’t matter. All she ever wanted was to fly blue, be Wild, and roll with you and Gianna. Now Gianna can’t even be bothered to show up and you don’t know her name.”

  “Wanting to be a Wild AK isn’t enough to be one. You have to prove yourself. That shit is dangerous. Not everyone makes it and she knew that. If she wanted in so bad then she respected it.”

  “Yeah, whatever. Fuck you both. Neither of you are real.”

  “You sure you know who I am, homie?” Anna took her knife from her pocket and flipped it open.

  Carlos paled even as he tried valiantly to stay hard. “You killing members now?”

  “Nobody disrespects me. You think I’m going to stand here and let you call me fake and question my loyalty? No way, baby boy, especially not from some skinny little bitch that probably got jumped in last month. You think you’re going to just walk in here, start talking trash about two original members, and then walk away? You need to shut your mouth before you get hurt.”

  His cheeks flushed. “Look, my bad. I didn’t mean any disrespect. She was just a friend of mine and emotions are up, you know? Trust me, I got nothing but respect for you. And I know you were in the car too and you’re here.”

  “I wasn’t ID’d. It’s not the same.”

  “Yeah, I know. Look, I’m sorry, for real. I’m actually excited to see you take things over with Gianna on the low.”

  Anna was much better at disguising her adrenaline than he was. She’d had much more practice, been in much worse situations. He would never know her heart was racing too. She had been aware Gianna was taking heat for the shooting going wrong, but she couldn’t believe they were openly bashing her. Until Carlos, all Anna had received for her involvement in that night was praise for guts of steel. In fact, members had started calling her for advice. They looked at her differently. It didn’t make sense to her; they’d been caught up in shootings before. She could never guess what was going to travel and what was going to get buried. Marco had even given her point on the drug game while Gianna hid, which was no small task with Adrienne no longer supplying them.

  She knew she was taking Gianna’s place, and it made her both ecstatic and sick. Gianna had led their escapades since they were kids. She’d never minded following Gianna’s lead. She liked being her backup, the one person with enough guts to keep up. Now that the opportunity to lead had presented itself, she realized she did want it, but she didn’t know how Gianna would take it.

  “How long you been Wild, Carlos?” she asked.

  “Six months.”

  “Okay,” she said. “You’re still new so let me explain something to you. Gi has been hustling these streets for fifteen years. She’s as Wild as they come. She doesn’t need to prove shit to you. She bleeds blue.”

  “That’s cool,” he said. “I feel you.”

  “You have to think big picture, kid. You know what Gi going to prison for most of her life does to this gang? And over what? A formality? Ceremony? Trust me, she’s torn up about Karina, but this shit happens. It’s about what’s best for the gang. Always.”

  The staff asked everyone to sit for the ceremony. Carlos was more than happy for a reason to break away. Anna glared at Celeste and Christina.

  “What the fuck was that? You were humoring that crap?” She walked away without waiting for a response. She’d deal with it later.

  A coffin sat at the head of the room, a podium for the reverend was center. The reverend looked scared stiff when he came in, but once he started reading his passages it was like any other funeral. When he finished, a recruit that had joined up with Karina draped blue blankets over the coffin.

  A small, squat, Hispanic woman in the front row stood in a rage and ripped it off. She pointed at the recruit, yelling at him in Spanish. Anna couldn’t understand a word, but she was enraptured by the display.
<
br />   The recruit ripped the blanket from her hands and put it back. The woman ripped it off again, threw it to the ground, and spat on it. Half the room stood up in a fury. The recruit reared back to slap her, but a member stopped him.

  “Not her mom! Not at a funeral.”

  Another voice chimed in. “She spit on our flag.”

  The room erupted. The staff hurried out and the cops rushed in. Most scattered for the doors. Anna felt hands on her wrist.

  “You’re under arrest, Fields.”

  “Fuck you, I didn’t do shit.”

  “In relation to the attempt on Officer Sorano’s life.”

  Anna spun and head butted the officer. His head flew back and his hands cupped his nose. She ran for the back door. She heard the officer screaming into his radio that she was headed out the back, but she had no choice. She’d have to blend into the chaos. She burst out the back door and ran beside a group of members, splitting off as the cops cut in for them. She made it out of the cluster and ran down a side street. Most of the cops were distracted by the others, but there was one on her heels still. She led him down an alley, pulling him away from his cover.

  She hadn’t brought a gun. She didn’t want one on her in case cops did crash the funeral, but she hadn’t known she was wanted for attempted murder.

  “Stop!” the cop screamed. It occurred to her he might shoot her in the back. She was wanted for trying to kill a cop. But she was thirty feet ahead, and she couldn’t bring herself to stop. She had him. She rounded into an alley and stopped at the corner. She grabbed a piece of wood by the dumpster. When he came around the corner, she swung at his head. He managed to get his arms up, but it still dazed him. She hit him again and he stumbled. She tried to kick him, but he grabbed her leg and slammed her to the ground hard. She scrambled away before he could get his weight on top of her. She took off again. She must have hurt him because he had a harder time keeping up now.

  She turned out of sight as fast as possible and stripped down to her tank top. She was about to toss the blue shirt into the bushes when Celeste pulled up at the end of the street. Anna kept the shirt and sprinted to the car. She jumped in and Celeste squealed away before the cop was visible again. Anna breathed in relief that he hadn’t spotted Celeste’s car. That was the last thing they needed.

  “Shit!” Anna screamed.

  “I got you,” Celeste said and turned away from the flashing lights ahead.

  Anna completely forgot her hard feelings about the discussion at the funeral, now as mad as everyone else at Gianna. Anna fist bumped Celeste. “Thank you, girl. They’re going to try to box us in. We need to get out fast.”

  “Scanner.”

  Anna turned the scanner on her phone on. It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than nothing. “Try Seventy-first.”

  “We can’t get stuck at the tracks right now,” Celeste said.

  “I know. If it’s stacked up we’ll find a way around.”

  Celeste took the turn. Anna held her breath until they were over the train tracks and well out of the area. When she was confident they were in the clear she fished for her phone. She got Gianna on the line.

  “Gi, your fucking girlfriend is snitching. It’s official. They just tried to pick me up on the shooting. She must have told them I was there.”

  “Fuck,” Gianna said. “Where—”

  “Fucking handle your bitch, Gianna!” Anna hung up and threw her phone at the floor of the car.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Kaia was on her phone in the other room. Adrienne didn’t understand why she always crept so carefully out of bed just to talk too loudly in the next room anyway, but it made her laugh. They’d spent another chaste night in the same bed. It was becoming easier now that they’d done it a couple times, but Adrienne still felt the pull of Kaia’s gravity in the quiet moments before sleep. Adrienne forced herself away from the warmth of the bed. Kaia hung up just as Adrienne walked in the room.

  “They tried to pick Anna up. She got away.” Kaia nervously tousled her own hair. Her blue T-shirt pulled out the striking color of her eyes and made Adrienne’s head swim. She struggled back down to the low those words deserved.

  “So now they know I snitched and they’re both still free.”

  “I’m sorry, Adrienne. But we’re safe here. They’ll find them.”

  Adrienne was shocked by her own calmness. All of the Wild AKs would be after her now, not just Gianna, but she almost felt relief.

  “We should be out there.”

  “What? No.”

  “They know they’re wanted. Your people are never going to find them. They’re not going to come out. The only thing they’ll risk that for now is me.”

  “You want to be bait?”

  “I want this to be over. I don’t want to be afraid of her the rest of my life, and if we don’t get her soon she’ll disappear.”

  “It could go so wrong.”

  “Call your cop friends,” Adrienne said. “Do it smart. Set her up.”

  “But we can’t control when she shows up.”

  “We show up in WAK territory. They’ll see us. They’ll tell her.”

  “What if they don’t? We’re probably both shoot on sight.”

  “Gianna wants me. Probably you too. She’ll have word out she’s claimed us.”

  “I don’t know, Adrienne. That’s a huge gamble.”

  “Yeah,” she said. “But it’s how we catch her.”

  She watched Kaia weigh it all out. This was a risk to her life too, but Adrienne knew that wasn’t her hesitation. Finally, she nodded. “You’re sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  Kaia got back on the phone and gave the plan to Davis. It seemed to take less convincing than she’d expected. Soon they were in Kaia’s Taurus heading back to town.

  They’d agreed to go to the patio across from the site of Reid’s attack. Since then it’d become a popular WAK hangout, a symbol of defiance. They were sure to be seen.

  “This is going to be an obvious move,” Kaia said.

  “Yeah, and that’ll piss her off,” Adrienne said. “She’ll know we’re calling her out, but she still won’t be able to resist.”

  “And you’re sure they won’t move on us without her?”

  “As sure as I can be.”

  “I should do this alone,” Kaia said. “They want me worse than you. I killed one of them.”

  “No, they hate you, but they can respect a shootout. I’m a snitch. They hate me more. And I’m Gianna’s ex so she has a more valid claim on me that they’re more likely to respect. If anything I should do this alone.”

  “No way in hell.”

  “So we’ll do it together.”

  When they pulled up, Kaia checked her gun and shoved extra magazines into her pockets. She verified backup was ready, then looked to Adrienne. “Ready?”

  Adrienne grabbed and squeezed Kaia’s hand. “Ready.”

  They found seats on the patio in plain sight. The familiar smell of piss soaked alleys that seemed to crawl all over Chicago was particularly damp and noticeable after being at the secluded safe house for a few days, yet it was also somehow comforting and familiar. Adrienne’s heart raced as she swept the crowd for blue. She didn’t see any.

  “Someone will see,” Kaia said, reading her thoughts. “They have hired eyes at these businesses.”

  Adrienne nodded. All she could focus on was looking over Kaia’s shoulder, making sure no one snuck up on her. A half hour had passed when Kaia’s phone rang. She answered.

  “Yeah?” She listened. Kaia looked completely relaxed at a glance, lounging in the deep patio chair. The way her eyes stayed trained on Adrienne told her her mind was anything but.

  “They have Christina watching near the Laundromat,” Kaia said. “They’re ready to grab her if they have to. She’s on the phone.”

  Adrienne grabbed Kaia’s hand. She leaned across the table and gently kissed Kaia on the lips. She felt Kaia tense in surprise, but Adrienne kne
w she’d catch on. It was a tactic, a show, all business, but Kaia’s warm smell made her dizzy and she felt like she was falling. She hooked her fingers behind Kaia’s neck, pulling her intimately closer. Kaia’s soft lips responded, accepting the bold strategy. When they parted, Kaia’s phone rang again. She hung up without saying anything.

  “Good,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  Adrienne’s heart hammered as they went back to Kaia’s car. They went directly to the gang unit and were quickly shuffled inside.

  “Ladies,” Davis greeted them. “Want to tell me what that was about?”

  “Christina is part of Gianna’s inner group,” Adrienne said. “She’ll report that straight to Gianna. The more personally offended Gianna is the more rash she’ll get.”

  “We want this to be Gianna’s fight,” Kaia said.

  “Well, I think it worked,” Davis said. “Whoever Christina called it looked like she got hung up on. Hopefully by a pissed off Hernandez.”

  “Perfect,” Kaia said.

  “Now what?” Adrienne asked.

  “We’re upping our surveillance on members in hopes she reaches out. As far as you two, I recommend you get back to the safe house.”

  “If we drop off again so will she,” Adrienne said.

  “What do you want to do? Stay in the Sixty-Second Street house?”

  Adrienne glanced at Kaia.

  “Absolutely not,” Davis snapped. “That wasn’t a real suggestion.”

  “No, that’s too dangerous,” Kaia said. “But we can stay in a hotel. Close to WAK territory but not in it. Street visibility. We need to look like we’re hiding but not be.”

  “I know a place,” Davis said. “Easy to monitor, about a mile north of the WAK border. We used to do drug stings there.”

  “Perfect.”