Page 10 of C is For Corruption (Horsemen #3)

Leighton

An unsettling sense of relief washed over me as I accepted the tool and settled beside him.

Ian had been a quiet man as long as I’d known him, but it never ceased to catch me off guard just how well he seemed to know when I needed something to do.

It used to have me preparing for an attack, but now I was grateful for it.

Ian knew I didn’t have feelings I needed to talk out; so we tinkered silently for hours before Dawn appeared in the garage doorway.

“Lunch is ready. You boys clean up.” She said softly before turning back into the house.

I washed up quickly in the downstairs bathroom before making quick work of the sandwich left on the kitchen island for me.

It was weird that Dawn hadn’t wrangled everyone around the dining room table for the simple meal, but I barely had a chance to ponder it.

Az strolled into the kitchen looking haggard as I swallowed down the last bite of my food.

“Craig has pulled what he could. We already knew the Tenth, Lotus, and Union were gone, but we’ve lost the safehouses on Vermillion and Parkside.

There are cars that aren’t ours patrolling our neighborhood, Temptat!

on, the warehouse on Cathedral, my office on Third, and the entire area around our drop site on North Twenty-Fifth.

It doesn’t look like they know where that drop site is and are hoping to catch one of ours out. ”

“So we start east and work our way through,” I replied, mentally mapping out the locations he’d mentioned.

“Maybe… West,” Az hesitated. “We’ve completely lost eyes to the east. Craig hasn’t been able to access the city’s systems yet, but the coverage on the east side of the city has always been shit.”

“West…” I replied slowly, “That’s awful close to Jackal territory, you sure it’s a good call?”

Az raked his hands through his hair and tugged at the strands in frustration.

“I don’t know. From what Craig can gather, the criminal underground is crawling damn near all over the city like cockroaches looking for us.

I don’t like the idea of you and Joey being so close to enemy territory, but it seems like the only fucking place nobody is actually looking right now. ”

“Sounds like a solid plan to me.” I shrugged. I wasn’t against the idea of a run-in with some Jackals. If anything, taking some of them out would give me something useful to do.

Az frowned at me, digging into his jeans pocket to pull out a set of keys. “Don’t do anything stupid, Leighton.” he drawled as he handed me the keys. “These are for a silver minivan, the best Phil could do on short notice, but I looked it over, and it won’t draw attention.”

“Me, do something stupid?” I gasped in mock offense as I snagged the keys. “I would never .”

He sighed heavily, rolling his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. I smirked at him as he shook his head and muttered something unintelligible. Snagging my paper plate from the counter, I tossed it in the trash and clapped him on the shoulder.

“I’ll grab Joey and we can go do some Danger Duck bullshit.” I grinned as I strolled away. I couldn’t suppress the chuckle as I heard Az silently curse under his breath.

Joey was where I left him—holed up in his bedroom, reliving his emo phase. “Yo. My chemical imbalance, it’s time to roll.” I almost had to yell to be heard over the sappy ass music he was listening to.

“Fuck you, L.” Joey clipped, rolling his eyes as he stood from his bed.

“We’re bromo, not homo my dude. Now get your ass up so we can go to work. We might even get to stab some fucking Jackals today.”

“I am up, shithead,” he said, motioning to himself standing, stepping into his shoes, and hastily putting on a hoodie as he stalked toward me standing in the door.

Spotting a conveniently laid-out pair of scissors, I pushed past him and lifted them up. “Don’t forget your thumb holes. Gotta have the thumb holes.”

“Let’s go before I stab you with those scissors. I’m not in the mood,” Joey said over his shoulder.

“Fine, but you’re driving the mom-mobile. I’m not cut out for this parent of a moody teenager shit.” I replied, tossing him the keys Az had given me.

I was practically bouncing in the passenger seat as we navigated closer to where our territory bordered the Jackals.

Joey had kept up the sad sap routine the entire drive, but I wasn’t letting his shitty attitude ruin what I knew was about to be one hell of a good time.

Aside from a few angry glances in my direction, he’d moped right up until he pulled into an empty parking lot a couple blocks south of our first stop.

“You sure you didn’t want to stop for eyeliner on the way?” I grinned. “We still can; there’s a shop just a block up.”

“What the fuck is wrong with you, man?” Joey snapped.

Shaking my head at him, I climbed out of the van and moved to the back, opening the trunk to arm up before responding. “I mean… What isn’t wrong with me? You’ve met my parents, they’re not the type to have me tested so we may never know.” I shrugged as I inspected a particularly interesting blade.

“I get everything is a fucking joke to you, L, but we just buried my brother. Give me the space to have it hurt.” He said, slamming the van door as he climbed out. “And you could at least act like it fucking bothered you.”

“What do you think I brought your ass along for?” I snapped.

“Stabbing Jackals is helpful. It’s downright fucking cathartic, I’d assume.

You shouldn’t be out here in your current headspace.

Even I know that. But I also know how fucking good it feels to get your hands on the enemy and tear them to fucking shreds.

So, if you’re quite fucking done, we have a job to do and people to kill. ”

I mentally patted myself on the back for the mature way I’d handled my response to Joey’s outburst. It was almost parental . Ha.

Joey huffed a response but didn’t continue his little tantrum. He just moved up to the back of the van and held out his hand. “Fine, if we’re stabbing, then I want my knife.”

We spent the next several minutes arming up as best as possible while I continued to mentally congratulate myself on being a responsible parent.

I was full-on beaming when we shut the trunk and started toward the first spot on our list. It wasn’t a safe house, per se, more of a guardhouse to keep eyes on our border, but if Az was right, we might find some of our people still there.

By the third stop, we still hadn’t found any of our people, and I was growing antsy from not having stabbed anyone yet.

“You see that?” Joey asked, nodding to the odd colored lighting coming from the window of the house we were heading to check.

I followed his gaze and noticed what looked like some weird failed attempt to have lights without them shining through the window. “Yep. Looks like we get to stab someone finally.”

We crept closer, sticking close to the other houses’ shadows until we were close enough to peek in one of the windows.

Two of my street guys were tied down to wooden dining chairs, beaten and bloodied.

A third was on the floor at their feet with a bullet hole in his head.

My eyes scanned the room more closely; I spotted three injured men I didn’t recognize and another five who appeared uninjured, sporting clear Jackal tattoos.

“Eight. Three injured, but I can’t see any identifiers from here. Could be Jackals, could be run of the mill thugs helping with the dirty work. Three of ours, one dead.” I rattled off to Joey in a hushed tone. “We should check–”

The words died on my lips, my mouth falling open in shock as Joey stalked to the front door and kicked it in. Under normal circumstances, I would have reveled in the chaos he’d just unleashed, but Ian and Dawn would murder me if I let the dumbass get himself killed.

“Mother fucker ,” I huffed before pulling knives into my hands and chasing after him. “I’m supposed to be the chaotic stupid one!” I bellowed as I charged through the busted door, shouldering one of the Jackals Joey had taken by surprise out of my way.

“Shut up and start stabbing!” Joey hollered back.

“Wait a fucking minute!” I shouted as I turned back and thrust my blade into the Jackal’s gut and jerked it to the side, spilling his entrails. “That’s my line, damn it!”

I looked over as Joey dropped the body of his first Jackal, something feral on his face as he faced one of the unmarked thugs.

The two unmarked men paled, and a wet spot started spreading on the nearest one’s pants as he pissed himself in the face of Joey’s rage.

Barking out a laugh, I sent a blade flying toward them, only missing because they seemed to wise up enough to make a break for the back exit of the house.

I moved toward our bound men as Joey continued to rampage.

The little alpha could use the release, so I’d let him keep the other four Jackals busy while I untied our guys.

“Sit still. When you’re out, go straight to the Spotted Cobra, get patched up, and then I want check-ins.

” I ordered as I cut through their bonds.

They froze up, and the looks on their faces warred between shock and fear.

I furrowed my brows as I worked my blade through the ropes.

“I told ya’ll to go to the Spotted Cobra; I’m not going to hurt ya’ll.

Unless… is there a reason you’d think I might? ”

“No… No, Sir. It’s just..” One of our men rattled off before jerking his head to indicate behind me.

“Joey’s just keeping them busy.” I rolled my eyes as my blade sliced through the last bit of rope, freeing our second man. “Don’t tell me you fucks are getting soft.”

The pair exchanged a glance before shaking their heads. Clapping them on the shoulders, I gave them a subtle push to get them moving and turned back to dive into the fray. Except… where the fuck was the fray?

“What the fuck, dude?” I shouted, taking in the sight of Joey standing in the center of a pile of bodies, covered head to toe in blood like Carrie on prom night. “You asshole, I wanted to stab some fuckers.”

Joey didn’t answer me; instead, he lunged down with his blade ready.

My eyes tracked him, and I realized one of the men in the pile wasn’t totally dead after all.

I struggled with the urge to rip Joey off his last victim so that I could add to my own kill count, but something in his demeanor kept me rooted in place.

I wasn’t watching Joey take a life; I was watching a feral animal eviscerate its prey.

I shuddered, wondering briefly if the tickle up my spine was what fear felt like, before snapping back to myself.

“Bro, there’s nothing left,” I called out finally after Joey had gone far beyond brutalizing the body. My words didn’t stop him, causing me to step forward and grab his hoodie, giving it a firm jerk. “He’s way past dead, man. Now you’re just beating a dead horse, and we got shit to do.”

He didn’t respond so much as snarl, struggling to escape me. I had to pull him further away, feeling like I was holding onto a feral cat and trying to avoid getting scratched.

“Joey! Stop!” I yelled, pushing him hard away from the pile of corpses, causing him to trip and fall, landing against a wall. For a moment, he just stayed there blinking before standing again and turning to face me. The wild look was gone from his eyes, but the cold anger had taken its place.

“Since when did you have a problem with carnage?” He sneered. “I was just doing what needed done.”

“Since when has overkill been your thing?” I snarked back. “And you didn’t even leave any for me, which, come on. Party fucking foul dude.”

“Don’t be childish. You did your job, I did mine. So what if a cockroach ends up a little more smashed than the others. No one cares.” He rolled his eyes, brushing past me.

“Me? ME being childish? Have you listened to half the shit coming out of your mouth the last couple of days? All you’ve done is be fucking childish about our damned woman, but I’m being childish. Be fucking for real.” I shouted, moving into his space.

“It’s not childish to recognize a fucking snake in the grass after it’s already bitten you. It already took us too long to figure it out, and I can’t get you chucklefucks to see it!” He yelled back, crowding toward me.

I shoved him back, intentionally slamming him into the wall this time.

“I warned you. I fucking warned you. What happens next is on you, I just want to make that cl–” My words cut off as I felt a sharp prick in the back of my neck.

Joey grunted and reached toward his shoulder, drawing my eyes to see where a dart was sticking out of him.

I reached my hand back and pulled out a dart from the back of my neck, squinting at it as it came into my line of sight. “What the f–”