Page 132 of Caught in the Crossfire

Time for a good old-fashioned stakeout.

43

WYNN

“Is your hand okay?” I murmured into the quiet between us. It was almost 1 o’clock, and we were still staking out the tunnel.

He eyed me. “I’ve told you time and time again it’s fine.”

“Your grip on your gun has been loose,” I said, glancing down. I’d been watching him, and his hand was definitely not normal. “You hold it differently than before.”

“I don’t care about my hand, Wynn,” he said with a frustrated huff before turning back to the street. “I’m typing slower than normal, and it’s stiff, but I seriously couldn’t care less. I’m strong. My work is fine. You and Leona are alive. That’s all that matters to me.”

My heart sank. I knew it was still causing him problems. I opened my mouth to reply, but a car pulled up to the curb, and a man hopped out. He began walking toward the tunnel entrance. After just a few steps, the car sped off.

It wasn’t Ervin Vokshi.

Ciel and I exchanged a look.

“Follow him?” he asked.

I nodded.

We followed a good fifty feet behind him for almost an entire block. He blew past the steps to the tunnel entrance, and I was about to tell Ciel that he might not be Albanian when he glanced over his shoulder, spotted us, and then immediately ducked into one of the multiple businesses lining the street.

“Let’s go,” I said as we sped up. I slipped my brass knuckles on and pulled out my pistol while Ciel unwrapped his garrote.

The business was an electronics store. I kicked the door open and entered while Ciel fanned out behind me to cover me. Rows and rows of shelves filled with old electronics greeted us. Stereos. TVs. Bulky computers. Ciel paused in front of a shelf filled with old parts and wires, and I smirked at how cute he was for getting distracted.

He caught me staring and rolled his eyes before catching up to me. Together we looked down each row, behind the bigger electronics, and behind the check-out counter along the wall of the store.

The man was nowhere to be found.

A dim light flickered from the ceiling, reflecting on the dirty linoleum floor. He couldn’t have just disappeared.

“Wynn,” Ciel murmured, jerking his head to a door slowly swinging on its hinges at the back of the store. I nodded as I carefully crept forward.

I was just using the barrel of my gun to open the door when the man jumped out from behind it, pointing his own gun at my face. I swiped my arm at his weapon, pushing it upward and away from us before I punched him in the stomach. He doubled over, wheezing, while the gun slipped from his grip. I grabbed each side of his face and kneed him in the nose. He sprawled backward onto the ground.

“Wait, wait!” The man spluttered, holding his hands out in front of him. He scooted away, fear etched on every part of his face.

Behind him, the door swung slowly. Stairs led downward. I narrowed my eyes as I walked toward it.

“Watch him, Ciel,” I said as I stepped closer. The door opened to reveal an entire staircase that led down to a metal grate fence. The stairwell itself was tiled on all sides, big enough for about two bodies to go through it side by side. My boots echoed hollowly as I descended until I reached the grate. It was locked, but it went farther underground until the shadows consumed it.

The tunnel entrance.

This was how they were moving. Not through the main, sealed off entrance, but through this one.

If it was locked, the man above had to have the key. He came to this place for a reason.

I stomped back upstairs, and Ciel held his gun to the man’s face while I rifled through his clothes until I found it. It was all I needed to seal this man’s fate.

“What do you want?” he blubbered.

“Shut up,” Ciel said.

I walked back down to the grate at the entrance and inserted the key into the lock, just to confirm. It popped open easily. I locked it back up and tucked the key away into my pocket. They probably had more keys, but until the rest of us could get down here and figure out what to do with the entrance, I kept it.