CANARY

by Tijan

  I knew that now.

  I wished I’d known sooner.

  It was all about the lines.

  He licked his lips again. He’d be making his move soon. His head swung back, looking toward where Jake had gone. “You guys moved on Igor, then Maxim? I got it wrong? It’s Roman making the move?”

  I didn’t respond. That’s not the move either of us was waiting for now.

  I just waited.

  “Why’d you take me? Why not kill me there?” he asked.

  “You know why.”

  He fell silent. “Guess I do.”

  Well. There it was. “You still rape girls?”

  He looked at me. I saw no remorse, but he seemed to have lost his calculation. It was like he knew there were no more moves for him.

  “Yeah.”

  “You must enjoy that?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “Right.” I lifted my gun and shot him.

  He was as surprised as I was, but by the time he saw the gun, it was too late.

  I thumbed off the shot and got him in the chest.

  He fell back, blood spilling from him. He began choking, more blood spewing up and out of his mouth. He rolled to his side, then the other side.

  He was trying to crawl away.

  I frowned. That wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

  Then again, I didn’t know how any of this was supposed to happen.

  I didn’t follow him. I didn’t have it in me to shoot him again. I already loathed myself. Raize was right. I was going to hold on to this for the rest of my life.

  I twisted to the side and vomited into the ground.

  Bang!

  I froze before looking back.

  Jake stood over Bronski, his gun smoking. The last shot was to his forehead.

  Bronski was dead.

  I threw up again.

  I’d been wrong again. My last line.

  44

  Ash

  I didn’t want to be in my body anymore.

  I decided this an hour later.

  Not anymore. No, thank you.

  So, I left.

  I was gone, off, floating outside of my body.

  It felt better this way.

  Safer.

  Not so scary.

  I wanted to stay like this forever.

  45

  Raize

  I’d had to send a text ahead of time to get the newest burner phone’s number.

  Downer picked up after the first ring.

  “It’s done,” I told him.

  I was about to hang up when he said, “That girl you have?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Roman asked me to ask around.”

  I didn’t like that.

  “There was a poster about a missing girl that got our attention. One of our guys said they looked similar. Don’t know if you want to know this, but the missing-poster girl? I found the house she’s working from. You probably did her pimp tonight.”

  “Maybe.”

  He gave me an address and a name.

  Yeah. That guy had been done tonight.

  “So you know, we’re calling that house in—anonymous tip. Roman doesn’t work girls. We’ll be sending authorities to all those houses, so she’ll be rounded up by the government. They’ll be classified as sex trafficked.”

  He gave me the address where she was, and I hung up and made a second call.

  Jake answered after the first ring. “Boss.”

  “What’s happening there?”

  “He’s gone.”

  “Who?”

  He paused. “Her, then me.”

  “Her?”

  “Yeah.”

  Okay then.

  “We’re heading back.”

  “Okay.”

  46

  Ash

  The guys showed up and the body disappeared. I couldn’t tell you a time. That had ceased for me. I was in zombie mode. Nothing mattered at the moment.

  Then Gus was licking me, trying to squish me with his wiggly body.

  There was a lot of Gus.

  I showered.

  Raize helped me change my clothes.

  In the days that followed, I remembered being told to eat, so I ate. Being told to drink, so I drank. Being told to lie down, so I did. I couldn’t fall asleep on command, but Raize had taken to holding me in his arms at night. That helped. It wasn’t normally like that. We slept together, but usually there was space between us. He liked to be free in case he had to jump out of bed.

  And Gus had taken to joining us on the bed some nights. Other nights, he went with Jake.

  “Where are we?” I asked Raize one day.

  He and I were sitting on the patio in the backyard of the house where we’d been staying. It was nice. There were mountains around us, a creek down the path.

  Raize looked over to me, and I looked down. There was a blanket on my lap.

  That felt nice, too.

  “We’re in West Virginia.”

  That made sense. By the mountains. We must’ve been in a valley. Did they have valleys? I didn’t know much about West Virginia.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “We did a lot of bad shit. We need to lay low.”

  Oh yes. Right.

  I blinked a few times. “How long have I been like this?”

  “A week.”

  A week? Wow.

  I remembered what Bronski had said…

  “My sister…”

  Raize’s bench squeaked, and I was momentarily shocked by that because one, he’d moved and made a sound, and two, he’d sat in a chair that squeaked. The world was ending.

  Also, I’d just made a joke. The world really was ending.

  “We need to have a conversation about your sister.”

  Well, duh.

  Right?

  Wait…

  “What about?”

  “Your sister is alive.”

  “That’s what Bronski said.” Goddamn Leo Dipsicky. What a name. “I got the wrong boss.”

  He frowned. “What?”

  “The wrong boss. I thought I did my research right. I didn’t want to be too obvious and come in through Brooke’s boyfriend’s boss. But I got the wrong boss, under the wrong brother.” A tear slid down my cheek. “I had it wrong the whole time.”

  “Listen.”

  Razie moved to sit next to me, and I didn’t know how I felt about that. Raize wasn’t a comforting guy.

  He proved my point because his voice came out rough, like he was uncomfortable, too. “You’re right that if you’d gone in under Leo’s direct boss, you would’ve been flagged. You wouldn’t have made it past the car doors. They would’ve killed you. Your face is too much like your sister’s. Unless Leo worked you both, it wouldn’t have been approved. They have certain protocols to cut down on getting caught. Certain types of girls they prey on.”

  Prey.

  Protocols.

  Fuck them. Just, fuck them.

  “Tell me you killed them,” I said softly. “You killed them all. Tell me you did that.”

  His tone was gentle. “I killed them. Leo. His boss. All of them. Your sister’s newest pimp. I got them—anyone who knew enough to be a threat under Maxim and Igor. The operations had been weeded out before, and I worked it so Igor thought he was getting hit by Maxim, and Maxim thought it was retaliation for the 63rds.”

  “They never suspected Roman?”

  “No. He’s the youngest and kept his operations under wraps in Russia. They never knew how large he’s gotten. Now he’s moving everyone over here, almost everyone. The streets are going to be in chaos for a while. Cops, FBI, whoever, Roman kept everything off the grid. We had new burner phones every day. New ways to communicate. I was his lone wolf here, and now we’re gone. We’re supposed to stay low for a few more months.”

  My mind whirled. “Wait. You said Brooke’s new pimp?” My mouth went dry. How many had she gone through?

  Did I even want to know?

 
Yes. If she went through it, the least I could do was hear it.

  “Roman sent in the authorities. Anonymous tip, though. They don’t know it came from him. He doesn’t run girls. It’s a market he loathes, so all those girls got swept up by the cops. They should be classified as sex trafficking victims, but there’s always a risk that the government will get them wrong. Call ’em regular working girls.”

  “What’s the difference?”

  “A lot, actually. One can get resources, help. The other gets charged, and if a new pimp moves in, they’ll be back to work within the day.”

  “My sister?”

  “She was charged with prostitution.”

  “Oh my God.”

  “But Roman sent in some information. They’re watching to make sure her charges are changed.” A pause. “There’s a couple other matters.”

  “What?” My voice cracked.

  My sister was alive. I had to run down my list again, but I was fairly certain Raize had single-handedly taken care of most of them. What else could there be?

  “Your father.”

  It took a few seconds for his words to penetrate. “Huh?”

  “You said your dad was a drunk.”

  “He was. Our mom died, and Brooke started going off the rails. My dad kinda went with her.”

  “He went to rehab.”

  “My dad went to rehab?”

  Raize nodded. “He went three times.”

  My mouth dropped open. “Three?”

  Whoa. Wow.

  “What’s the problem with that, though? That’s good, right?”

  His eyes were hooded, guarded. “It is, but people who come out of rehab after it finally stuck sometimes become problems. We need to know if he’ll become a problem or not.”

  “Oh.” I shook my head. “I don’t know. We—we weren’t close to him, ever. My mom’s death wrecked him. He was gone by the time she died, but we all saw it coming. But then Brooke was gone, and I cared more about her than him. I chose to go after her.”

  Brooke.

  I could taste the tears sliding down my face, but that was it. The salt.

  Raize moved in, his hand cupping the back of my neck, and he lifted me onto his lap. This felt more like Raize, except the cradling was still new.

  I relaxed, resting my head against his chest.

  I grabbed ahold of his shirt. He was wearing a gray Henley. I always liked when he wore these.

  “Do you want us to bring her here, too? She’s not—”

  “No.” My answer was immediate and strong. I sat up. “Brooke and I were never close, but I loved her. We grew up together. I know the trauma she’s endured, and she can’t be here. She’ll be a liability. Knowing she’s not still there, still doing that work, that’s good enough for me.”

  He cupped the back of my neck again, moving my face to meet his gaze. “Besides your dad, is there someone we can call for her?”

  My throat swelled. “Maybe. Let me think about it.”

  “Okay. We’ll wait.”

  My chest lightened. Relief swept through me.

  “I never got to blow up Oscar’s building.”

  Raize stiffened before a bark of laughter erupted from him. His arms tightened around me. He buried his face in my neck.

  I liked that feeling. I liked that sound, too. I wanted to hear more of it. I reached for his hand, entwined our fingers, and settled into him. “Thank you.”

  “Yeah.” He squeezed my hand. He ran a finger down the side of my face, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “You wanna stay Ash? Since we all know your real name now...”

  I shook my head. I’d stopped being that girl a long time ago.

  “I prefer Ash.”

  But not Ashley. I wasn’t Ashley.

  “Wait. You said a ‘couple other matters.’ What’s the other one?”

  He seemed to hesitate a moment. “You.”

  “Me?”

  “Other reason we were sent to West Virginia is you. You were reported missing.”

  I couldn’t—that didn’t make sense.

  Then he added, “A neighbor reported you. Not your dad.”

  ...the girl got off the bed and walked toward me.

  She held her hand out. “My name is—”

  47

  Ash

  I remembered what else Bronski said later and nudged Raize with my toe. “Hey.”

  We were in bed. I had no clue what time it was, but it was dark out.

  “Hmm?” He opened his one eye and rolled his head my way. Gus was on the floor in the opened doorway. At our voices, his head popped up, and we could hear his tail starting to thump.

  “Bronski said he’d heard rumors about the canary.”

  “Yeah. I heard ’em, too. It’s why I came to get you at that game.” He frowned at me. “We didn’t talk about it before.”

  I shook my head and nudged him again. Something had been bugging me. I remembered tonight. “They used to use canaries in coal mines.”

  “You know those stories.” He rolled to his side, propping his head up on his hand. I stared up at him as he fingered a lock of my hair, showing me the blonde.

  I nodded. “They’d keep one down in the mines with them, and if it stopped chirping, it’s because toxic gases killed it. That would alert the coal miners to get out. It’s silence signified death was coming.”

  “Yeah.”

  “Canaries sing to save lives. I sing and someone dies.”

  A deep shudder went through me.

  I pushed up, angling so I was resting on my elbow and staring Raize right in the face. “Don’t use me that way again. I can’t do it. Not anymore.”

  He studied me in the dark, seeing what he could see. I didn’t know. I was able to make him out, but I felt like I was still in the shadows. He sighed, and it was soft and low. It seemed almost surrendering. He touched a strand of my hair. “When Marco learns you’re the one who can tell him about his brother, he’s going to come for you.”

  I sobered, feeling him tense next to me.

  His hand slid around my neck, cupping the back of my head. He leaned forward, another soft sigh and his forehead touched mine. “I won’t let that happen.”

  I slid my hand up his stomach, his chest, over his arm, his bicep, and then back down to his stomach. I tucked my hand under his boxer brief’s waistband and opened my fingers, pressing against him. “I know.”

  He hadn’t untensed, and his rough words drew my attention. “Roman is smart, but he’s not as ruthless as Marco. I fear Marco. I don’t fear Roman.”

  “But he’s not sending sicarios after you?” I asked.

  “He will.” Raize’s eyes flashed, and he flipped, sliding his hands up my arms and his feet down on the insides of my legs as he lowered himself over me. He pushed up against me, grinding a moment before he paused. “We’re in a pocket of time right now—between one war and the next.”

  “Against Marco?”

  He ducked his head, his lips nuzzling my neck. He slid a hand down my side, causing me to arch my back. I wound my arms around his neck.

  “There are other players, and with Roman pushing to take over for both his brothers, I don’t know what the fallout will be, but yes—Marco won’t stop.” He skimmed his nose up my throat, his mouth settling over my jawline as he tasted me. “Shit will change when he finds out about you.”

  He switched to his side, wrapping his arms around me and taking me with him.

  He held me there, tucked close, propping his chin on my shoulder.

  “Do you miss Mexico?” I didn’t know why I asked, but he lived there. He had a whole life down there.

  “Yeah. I mean, I’m fine here, but Mexico is beautiful. It’s not all about the cartels there.”

  “What do you miss about it?”

  “The culture. The history. It’s family-oriented. There’s a warmth to the people down there, even to me. People smile a lot down there. Friendly. Helpful. It’s… I had to get used to it at first, but then they�
��d learn who you are, who you're working for, and that’d go away. But there’s wine country. We have the best tacos. And the beaches. The whales. It’s a world away from a world, if that makes sense.” He chuckled. “Gifts are opened on Christmas Eve and Santa’s gifts come the next day. In the south, January 6th is when the three wise men bring the gifts.”

  “You celebrated Christmas?”

  “Yeah. With my sister a few times. Just a few times. And for Halloween, it’s The Day of the Dead. We celebrate it in November, putting out altars with food, photos, and candles. It’s an offering for the dead.” He drew me close, dropping a kiss on my shoulder. “Yeah. I miss Mexico.”

  “What about the women?” I had to know.

  He tensed, before lifting up to look at me better. “The women?”

  “In Philly, you had so many women. They’d come to your room. I heard them, Raize. Do you miss that?”

  He stared at me long and hard before his hand lifted, cupping the side of my face. “I was a different persona then. Had to be. Carloni must’ve learned at some point I worked for Roman, but for a while, he didn’t know. I needed to be a different person.”

  He hadn’t answered me. “The women? Do you miss them?”

  His mouth curved up. “They were cleaning my room.”

  It was the mouth. Everything was straight face, monotone voice for that monotone answer and I hit him in the shoulder. “Are you kidding me?”

  He laughed before lowering his head, pressing a kiss to the crook between my neck and shoulder. “I don’t miss any woman except you, my sister, and my mom. I never will.”

  Well.

  I might let it slide then.

  Moving my leg between his, lifting it, twisting the curve of my foot to slide down the outside of his leg in a caress, I smiled at him.

  He looked down, grinning at me.

  “What do you think is going to happen with Marco?” I asked, knowing we needed to talk about it.

  He held my gaze a bit and loosened his hold on me. “I don’t think he’ll make any move to progress into the US until he’s taken over the Morales Cartel. That would require him killing his father, and I don’t know what he’d do to my mother and sister. We share our sister, so he might leave my mother alive.”