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Az nodded, leaning down and undoing the binding on one of her wrists.

“What the fuck?” I demanded. “We letting prisoners dictate how they’re kept now?”

“Joey,” Craig warned from beside me. “She’s only here because she’s Candy’s second. She’s not the one that pulled the trigger.”

“Yeah, Joey,” The woman drawled, her head rolling in my direction as she squinted her eyes at me. “I already know I’m not leaving here alive, a little mercy ain’t gonna change that.” she grabbed the drink from Az and took a deep swig. “Fucking Candy. I knew that bitch was gonna get me killed some day.”

She downed the rest of the drink and motioned for another. Az complied, and the rest of us waited silently as she drank it, letting it wipe out the lingering grogginess from the sedation. When she’d finished the second bottle, Az finally broke the silence.

“What happened, Jen? How did we end up here?”

Her shoulders slumped forward, and she puffed out a heavy breath. “Me and Candy went undercover with the Jackals about a month before your arrest. There’d been some evidence they were encroaching on our territory, but nothing solid to prove it, so Helen sent us in to find out for sure. Candy did whatever needed to be done for us to climb the ranks, but we never got farther than her running her own crew. The Golden Devils run a tight ship, but it’s nothing like what the Jackals got going on. Moving around in the ranks is near impossible, and nobody but a select few at the very top even know who’s running the show. How they manage to stay so locked down without the right hand knowing what the left is doing is anybody’s guess. However you swing it, we weren’t getting anywhere with figuring out how they were getting product into our turf without it linking back to them because nobody was talking outside of their own crews. Then word came down that the big boss wanted your girl.” She nodded her head toward Victoria.

“We’ve been aware of that for a while. It doesn’t explain what happened.”

“It was every crew for themselves. Word came down that whoever snagged your girl would be rewarded with a special assignment. Nobody ever said for certain, but it was heavilyimplied that the assignment was where we needed to be to figure out how they were slinging on our streets. Another crew got to you first in that cabin. We figured that meant our chance at finding what we were after was shot and started making plans for extraction. But then Craig killed the hacker.”

“It would be nice if you would just get to the fucking point already.” I snapped, earning a nasty look from Az.

Jen lifted her chin in defiance and stared me in the eyes. “Or what? You’ll kill me? I’m already a dead woman, it won’t hurt you to hear me out.”

“Enough.” Az interjected. “Finish talking.”

“Where was I… Oh, right, Craig killed the hacker. There must have been something you took from her house when you snuffed her because upper management lost their shit. The order came down that we were throwing everything at you boys. The big boss wanted your entire empire wiped out. Had a couple meetings between the crew leads with targets and a date for a coordinated strike. That’s about the time Helen contacted us. She said the game had changed. She wanted us to get the girl and one of you for questioning and leave the rest as a distraction for the Jackals while we fortified our streets.

“Candy called in every contact she had. Mercs, independents, you name it, she called them. The plan was for them to get to you first and corral you to where we would be waiting so we could follow Helen’s orders and then stage a car accident for our extraction. We took her Jackals crew to the location we’d been assigned, waited for the fighting to break out and then slipped away in the chaos. The plan worked perfectly. You boys went right where we wanted, as far away from the actual fighting as we could manage, all while thinking the Jackals were on your ass. I don’t know why Candy decided to disobey orders to leave all of you alive. Take one and leave the rest alive, that’s what Helen told us. It’s why we used contacts wecould call off as soon as we were clear instead of bringing along the Jackals.”

“So, you got Craig and Victoria in the vehicle, and then what? Called everyone off as soon as you were clear?” Az asked.

“That’s about the gist of it, yeah. Helen knew you’d think the Jackals were behind the abduction and that the four left behind would be hellbent on taking them out. You’d either manage it or get yourselves killed in the process, either way was a win for us. Knowing Helen, though, the minute she realized you weren’t really a threat to your girl, she’d have sent you an offer of assistance. We’ll never know for sure since Candy fucked it all up killing Rich.”

“Are we done now?” I scoffed. “None of this fucking matters. What matters is Rich is dead and we’re owed her goddamned life for it.”

Jen cringed instinctively before looking down at her lap. “Look, there’s one last thing, and then I ask that you have a little mercy and make it quick. I overheard Candy on the phone with someone when we got back to Devils’ territory. I didn’t catch much, but what I heard sounded like she was planning on handing your girl over to the Jackals the second Helen turned her back. Your girl there put a wrench in those plans when she lost her shit over Craig.” Az stepped forward, pulling the pistol he had stowed under his jacket from its holster. “Wait! Shit, please.” Jen pleaded.

Az cocked his head to the side and studied her as she used her free hand and her mouth to unclasp a chain around her neck that had been hidden by her shirt. She carefully held it together with her freed hand and offered it to him.

“You can do whatever tests you think are necessary, but afterward, can you please get this to Helen to give to my sister? It’s the only way she will believe I’m not coming back alive.”

“Yeah. We can do that.” Az answered, motioning Craig forward and handing him the necklace. “Anything else before we…"

Jen pressed her lips and started to shake her head slightly. “Just make that stupid cunt suffer. I shouldn’t be here; we all know it, so make her suffer for it.”

“Fuck’s sake,” I huffed, drawing my weapon and stalking forward. “No more of this bullshit. We’re not dragging it out anymore.” I placed the muzzle of my gun against Jen’s forehead as soon as I was close enough. “Bye, Jen,” I said, pulling the trigger.

Victoria’s alarmed yelp echoed around the warehouse with the sound of the gunshot. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from sneering at her. She didn’t belong here.

“Is there any way to wake this bitch up, or are we going to be sitting around here waiting again?” I snapped.

“Actually, I think I have some Naloxone in a bag in the SUV.” Craig answered.

“And you’re just telling us now?” I asked incredulously.

“Nobody fucking asked, and I am, y’know, a little bit out of sorts from the pain medication for all of my injuries. You don’t have to be a dick about it.” He said over his shoulder as he slowly returned to the SUV. A few minutes later, he was back, shuffling toward the chair that Candy was tied to.

I snatched the applicator from his hand and administered the naloxone. Craig glared at me over my impatience, but no way in hell were we letting him get close enough to administer it in his state. I tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for it to kick in, barely holding my tongue when Candy’s eyes blinked open.

Her head jerked upright, and she blinked rapidly as she took in her surroundings. “Fuck.”