by Nova Drake
Jess took two reluctant steps back. She never ran from fights or showed weakness. But there wasn't a good option here. She couldn’t fight a cop. Everything she’d done would be for nothing.
“What are you doing here?” One of the men finally asked.
“Just cutting through the alley on my way home,” Jess answered innocently, hoping Cash wouldn’t call her on the omission.
The guy sized her up, then noticed the dumpster had been moved to the window. His eyes narrowed. “She’s lying. Who do you work for?”
Jess shook her head, taking another step back, against her better judgment. “Seriously. I don’t work for anyone.”
The two goons closed in, and she glanced at the cop who was still standing there. And apparently not going to come to her rescue. He wasn’t enjoying this, though. She could see it in his eyes. Regret. Good, he should feel guilty. It was his fault.
Not seeing any other option, Jess took off. Ugh, this was so bad for her reputation. She’d have to make up for it with twice the violence next week. But right now, she needed to get the hell away from the police.
She took off toward the front of the building, hoping to hide in the abandoned car she’d been hiding in for days. But as soon as she made it around the other side, three men near another door joined in, along with a few more men from inside.
That would explain why she couldn’t attack the two guys. Their friends would have heard the fight, and she would have ended up with the whole building on her ass. Now she just had to outrun them. That wouldn’t have been a problem if more men hadn’t shown up in front of her.
Jess pivoted and took off in another direction, heading between two more buildings. She’d started putting distance between them when a stabbing pain in the back of her leg took her down. Jess fell with a roll that caused more pain.
She reached back and pulled a small knife out of the back of her thigh. It hit awkwardly, not sinking in deep, but it still hurt like hell. She stood anyway, planning to take off again. But it was too late. She was surrounded by no less than ten guys, three more waited across the street.
Cash stood, arms crossed, in front of the building, sunglasses again covering his expression. Nice. There was no getting out of this, but that didn’t keep her from breaking the nose of the first guy that tried to grab her. Or the elbow of the second. She cracked a rib on a third guy, but his second attempt got her in a bear hug from behind. She swung her head back into his mouth. A blindingly painful punch to her temple followed before he released his grip.
A flash of white filled her vision, and she staggered as she was dropped. Another jarring pain filled her head as she hit the ground, the last sensation before darkness took over.
Chapter 11
“Ugh, damn it,” Jess muttered, bringing her hands up to hold her aching head before she even opened her eyes. When she got out of this, someone was going to pay. She wished she’d gotten a better look at the asshole that punched her. She couldn’t figure out which one it was. Well, she took out three, it had to be one of the seven that remained uninjured. Maybe she’d make sure she got all of them before she left.
Slowly, Jess opened her eyes. Her head was still throbbing. Probably should have given herself a little longer to heal from that last head injury before getting into more trouble. Her eyes wandered over her surroundings, a supply closet, mostly empty, but with a few bottles of old cleaning supplies still lingering on the shelves.
It was dark except for the little bit of light coming in from under the door. She rolled to her side and peered under the door. Surprisingly, there was no one standing outside. Justice was suddenly grateful that she hadn’t given her name. Normally she was happy to boast, but she didn’t have the upper hand this time. If they’d known who she was, what she was capable of, the door would definitely be guarded.
Overall assessment, things could be worse. She wasn’t too worried just yet. Justice was confident in her skills, and sooner or later she’d get free. Hopefully, before they figured out who she was.
Jess pushed herself upright. Her head hurt, her temple was badly bruised, but she wasn’t seeing double this time. So that was something. She took inventory of her weapon situation. The knives had been removed from her pants and the tops of her boots. She still had the hidden knives in the heels of her boots, and the lock pick in her bra. Unfortunately, there was no lock to pick. Just a smooth handle that wouldn’t turn, and a metal door - figured.
Jess leaned back against one of the shelves, wondering how long she’d been in there. When no one came by for quite a while, it became obvious she was going to have to entertain herself. She opened a couple of bottles of floor cleaner and squeezed them out on the floor under the door. The pressure pushed the liquid out onto the tiled floor, and it made its way across the hall.
She waited for a long, rather boring, amount of time before she finally heard footsteps, followed by a loud smack. She held back a chuckle and stood. The door opened, and the pissed off guy on the other side was rubbing his head.
“That sounded like it hurt,” Jess said with a fake grimace.
“You’re going to regret being a pain in the ass,” the guy threatened as he reached for his gun. She pulled him closer and jammed her knife through his throat before he could yell. Sidestepping his falling body, she left him bleeding to death in the locked closet.
Jess snuck through the halls not quite sure if she was looking for the info she came for or an exit. She would decide when she came across one or the other. It seemed like they stuffed her in some unused corner of the building with nothing but empty rooms and utility closets.
Finally, she came to a door that led into the warehouse and paused. It was a flimsy swinging door, she stayed back but nudged it with her foot to get a peek of what was on the other side. There was no one from the angle she could see, but the shadows of two feet appeared on the other side out of view. Stepping back behind the wall, she pressed flat and waited. Slowly the door pushed open, and someone came through. She had her knife to his throat before he could turn his head.
“Don’t speak. Is Key here?” she whispered. The guy she was holding shook his head. “What about Harris?” He tensed up but didn’t respond. Justice dug her knife a little harder before he finally nodded.
She grabbed a fistful of the back of his collar and steered him away from the door, shoving him back to the closet she’d been locked in. Slamming his head into the door frame, she dropped him to the floor with his friend. Hopefully, she’d be gone before his friends found him.
Shoving her back against the door, Jess managed to cram the two guys in far enough for it to close. With a huff, she headed back for the warehouse.
Once again, she tried to get a peek through the door but was quickly met by two more goons. It would have been helpful if she'd had a chance to get information out of them, but she couldn't risk letting them alert the others.
They came through like a couple of oafs, not even wary of what they were walking in on. Jess just shook her head and frowned at the first guy as he took a second to register what he was seeing. He pulled his gun but never had a chance, her knife was in his throat before he could make a sound. The guy behind him, however, had a couple of extra seconds to draw his gun, and probably the attention of anyone nearby with the loud string of curse words. Jess quickly grabbed his wrist, aiming the gun away from her and spun inside his reach with her knife, making sure he wouldn’t make any more noise.
She had to get out of there before anyone came to see what the commotion was. She stuck the gun in her waistband and dragged them through the nearest door. They left a trail of blood that was going to put everyone on her tail soon. Jess headed away quickly, not bothering with the warehouse again. That had turned out to be a bust.
She made it to the other side of the building before all hell broke loose. Their men were everywhere, and she was the prize.
Hearing agitated voices coming, she ducked into an empty room. An old office being used for storage. Dust
and boxes were piled everywhere. She locked the door and ducked behind some boxes to wait out some of the initial search.
If she could stay hidden long enough, they would likely think she escaped and stop looking. That would make it much easier to sneak around. Making her way to the back of the room, Jess slouched down against the wall in the corner and made the most of her time by digging through the nearest boxes.
Most of what she found was meaningless records, invoices, contacts, documentation of transactions. She started leafing through each box, setting aside anything that looked promising.
There were times when any records would have been electronic, but electronic records were hackable and traceable. The average person could no longer afford personal computers or electronic devices anyway, and though the larger criminal enterprises could probably afford basic devices, paper had made a comeback simply for its lower cost and the ability to make evidence disappear in a hurry with nothing more than a simple match.
There was still plenty of tech used in the elite cities, but those places and their fancy gadgets were mostly inaccessible to the masses. Tons of companies had gone bankrupt with the death of the middle class.
They blamed generation after generation, but overall it was the shortsightedness of funneling all of the money to the wealthy that created a country full of people who could barely afford to feed themselves, let alone splurge on gadgets or restaurants or pretty much anything else.
Only international corporations and those that catered to the elite rich had survived. The death of the corporations meant the loss of jobs, and the vicious cycle continued. At some point you would think they’d realize that a thriving working-class would raise their profits, but no. Their greed just kept driving the divide and would continue to do so until they had everything and those with nothing finally died out.
Jess gathered up five boxes to go through and moved back to her corner to start reading. Starting with some old payroll records, Jess dug back several years and leafed through a thick file full of unfamiliar names labeled ‘September.’ She closed up the box and set it back on the stack, keeping the file she’d pulled out. Next, she dug through the transaction documents, again searching records from five years prior.
This time there were tons of folders full of transaction records for the time frame she was searching. She frowned, this was going to take forever. Apparently, the operation she stumbled on did pretty well for themselves. There were so many kills alluded to in those records that she wondered how Archer got any business at all. She’d known she was surrounded by killers, but she hadn’t quite realized the level of people she was dealing with.
Jess sized up the box to determine the chances she could get it out of the building to review in the comfort of her own safe house. Sneaking over to the lone window, she peered down, hoping it was possible to get the box out that way. Unfortunately, the only part of the window that opened was a tiny rectangle. She might be able to squeeze through, but there was no way the box would. Not without breaking the glass, which anyone could hear.
Jess went back to reading, hoping a solution would come to her while she waited out the initial hunt for her head. Her eyes scanned down page after page, taking in as much information as she could.
A jiggle of the handle made her freeze halfway through a file. The handle moved again, and she quickly shoved the folders back into the box and lugged it into the tiny coat closet with her. She reached out and lined the boxes she’d set aside back up with the others to make her tampering less obvious and silently pulled the closet door closed.
Justice sat perfectly still in the dark, disgusting closet, which still had a single coat that reeked of smoke. That alone alluded to how long it must have sat there, real cigarettes hadn’t been made or sold in decades. She could almost imagine how many curious spiders were surrounding her as she sat there in the midst of what was surely their long-time home.
The sound of the door to the office bursting open drew her attention outside the closet. Voices wandered the room quickly, two men. They neared the closet, but walked right past, and then back out again. The door closed behind them with a bang. Thank God for low-level morons.
Jess reached for the handle to let herself back out, but it went nowhere. She tried harder and still nothing, the handle was stuck. Pressing her shoulder to the door, she tried to force her way out, but the door wasn’t about to budge either.
Muttering a few curse words, Jess sat on her box and glared at the door. She could kick it down easily, but not quietly. Would waiting do her any good? She’d have to break the door down, and then the window and be able to get away lugging a box full of papers. Yeah, probably not happening. Before she made a decision, the door opened again and quietly clicked closed again. She heard one set of heavy footsteps this time, making his way around the room more slowly than the last set of idiots. That made her more nervous. Footsteps moved slowly past the closet door and then paused.
Jess silently reached down and retrieved the knife from the heel of her boot. The person in the room took two more steps in front of the closet and stopped again. Jess slowly stood, her knife ready. The handle turned. At least she was about to be freed from the closet. The door opened, and she was met by a set of gorgeous green eyes behind dark lashes. She’d swung as soon as the door opened, but tried to pull back when she realized she was about to stab a cop. He caught her wrist, but the blade sliced into his hand in the process.
“Shit! I didn’t mean to…” she started.
“It’s just a scratch,” he interrupted, looking around distractedly.
It wasn’t serious, but it was more than a scratch. He was bleeding. Crap, she just stabbed a cop. A crooked cop, at that. Things were not looking good for her.
“I didn’t realize it was you. They’re trying to kill me,” she laid on her best innocent act, pretending to be frightened.
His gaze flashed back to her, quickly shifting to amused. “Yeah sweetheart, you must have been terrified. I saw the trail of bodies you left behind.”
One side of her mouth turned down into a frown. Realizing she was screwed, she straightened her posture. She could at least go down with some dignity. “Well, they would have killed me if I didn’t get them first,” she answered flatly.
Cash’s answer was interrupted by the sound of more voices. His eyes widened, and he shoved her back into the closet, crushing her into the wall as he followed her in and pulled the door closed behind them.
“No,” she started to object, but he pressed a massive hand over her mouth before she could explain. The closet closed with a small click, and her eyes closed in frustration.
Cash froze, pressing her into the wall as more men filed into the room. Her eyes opened again to let her glare settle on his face, which was now inches from hers.
It took him a minute to notice her annoyance as his eyes adjusted to the dark. He shot her a look of warning but didn’t move off of her. He had her pinned, and if he was anyone else, her knee would already have crushed his manhood. Listening to the voices in the room, she decided not to pick a fight and reveal their hiding place.
His eyes traveled over her face, as he pulled his hand off her mouth. The rest of him stayed put. His hard chest pressed into her, their legs intertwined. She hadn’t been that close to a man since the couple in the Underground, but she hoped her glower hid that she was almost enjoying it. His cocky grin made her doubt it.
She placed her hands on his chest and tried to press him back a step. Not that there was much room to be had, but he didn’t have to lean on her. When he didn’t budge, she pushed a little harder. He just smiled back at her, obviously enjoying her discomfort.
He shifted, muscles flexing under her hands, and she quickly pulled them away, thumping her elbow back into the wall in the process. She held her breath, and his hands grabbed on to her to keep her still. Luckily the coat had gotten caught between her elbow and the wall and muffled the sound somewhat. But they both remained motionless, not even daring
to breathe while they waited to see if anyone heard.
After a moment with no reaction, he raised a knowing eyebrow. Her eyes narrowed with anger before turning away from his face. Some of the voices started filing out of the room, and Jess let out a quiet breath of relief.
“Did you check that closet?”
Every muscle in Cash’s body tensed against her.
Chapter 12
“What closet?”
Cash slowly turned to face the door, and silently wrapped one hand around the handle.
“Right there, behind that stack of boxes.”
“Didn’t even see it.”
The voice was right on the other side of the door. Jess held her breath as she heard the handle turn. She felt Cash lean toward her slightly as he pulled his weight against the door. The handle rattled rapidly as the guy tried to get in, but the door didn’t budge. Cash held it tightly closed, the guy on the other side would have to be huge to pry it away from him. Though, the door handle might not hold up to much abuse.
