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When Hawkins heard the noise and the shooting start, he didn’t bother to answer Marcos’ question. He already knew what it was and wasted no time making it down the stairs and out the back door wondering, how the fuck did they find me? Maybe they got a tracking device on me or some shit, he thought as he made it to his car. He tossed the burner in the street and stepped on it before he got in the car.
As Hawkins got out of there, one of Marcos’ men fired as he ran toward the back door. Rain returned fire and hit him in the chest when he turned to fire at her. Jackie went after the other man as he ran toward the back door. The man fired a few shots at her before he ran out. Jackie kept firing until he was out of sight before she went back inside.
As another of Marcos’ men fired shots wildly at them, Baby Chris fired back and ducked behind the wall while he fired away. When he stopped shooting, Baby Chris came out from behind the wall and hit him with three shots to the chest.
Carter started up the stairs slowly with his gun raised to get Marcos. As soon as Carter reached the second floor, Marcos opened up on him right away. Then he ducked in a room and closed the door behind him. Marcos quickly reloaded his weapon and pointed it at the door and fired blindly. When his clip was empty, Marcos jumped out a window, just as Carter came in the room. He went to the window and saw Marcos get up and start to run. Carter raised his weapon and fired two shots, but Marcos was much too far away.
Absolutely overjoyed to have survived another encounter with The Family, Hawkins drove straight back to his hotel as fast as he could. He looked over in the seat next to him at the knapsack that he’d gotten from Marcos and was glad that he got it before the shooting started. But it did bring another important point into focus for him. That was only half the money that he needed to get from Marcos. And now the rest of it is gone.
Wh
en he got back to the hotel, Hawkins put the car in park knowing that taking that loss meant that he couldn’t leave.
“Not yet.”
No matter how crazy that sounded based on what he had just barely escaped, but he knew how much money he was going to need to do what he needed to do. He grabbed the knapsack and went to his room. He was a little disappointed when he got to the room and found that Vangee was gone, but that was probably safer for her anyway.
But damn.
He tossed the knapsack on the bed and stretched out next to it. He kicked off his shoes, picked up the remote and turned on the television. His next thought was that instead of getting comfortable, he needed to pack up and move to another hotel.
Now.
He was about to get up when the phone rang and since Vangee was the only one who knew where he was, he answered on the second ring.
“Hey,” he said excitedly.
“Hello, Hawkins,” AD said. “We need to talk.”
“I already told you—”
“Not over the phone,” AD interrupted. “I know that you’re having some problems that you’re trying to get away from,” he paused. “As a show of my appreciation for all you’ve done, I’m in a position to offer to be of some assistance with that. I’m gonna send a car for you in the morning.”
Hawkins didn’t say anything, but he was thinking, what do I have to lose. “What time you sending the car?”
Chapter Thirteen
Hawkins sat there with the phone in his hand for a while before he put it down. He took a second to consider his options and weighed them against his reality. Knowing that he had few options available to him, he had no other choice but to seriously think through AD’s offer.
At this point, AD had to know what was going on with him, so he had to know that there was nothing that he could contribute to Rona’s proxy war with The Family. And if that were the case, what was there to lose in meeting with him?
Right?
“He could be tying up loose ends,” he said aloud.
So, what he had to lose was his life. But could he take the chance that AD’s offer wasn’t genuine? The answer was no, he couldn’t. So, meeting him was really the only option and if that were the case, Hawkins knew that he had to protect himself.
He picked up his phone and dialed a number. AD answered on the first ring. “What can I do for you?”
“Don’t bother sending a car.”
“I think that it would be in your best interest to meet with me. At least hear me out.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to meet, I just said don’t bother sending a car. I’ll call you back and let you know where to meet me.”
“I will look forward to hearing from you,” AD said, and he ended the call.
Hawkins quickly dialed another number. He didn’t want to, but he had little choice.