Page 22

CHAPTER 21

JOAQUIN

W hat the hell was Books doing here?

You know what? That wasn’t even ranked in the top five issues on my fucked list. "We have a problem."

I stepped inside and shut the door behind me. How the fuck were we going to go take care of this with Books sitting here was beyond me. There weren't enough cryptic words in our repertoire for me to send this signal to Kim and Beasty without spilling to Books.

"Leave." I nodded toward the door.

Books returned my dead stare with one of his own. "No."

"What the fuck do you mean, no? I have business we need to take care of, and you're not welcome."

Glancing quickly at Beasty and the worried frown marring her face, Books shook his head. "Sorry. If there's trouble, I might be able to help."

"Since when?" Books didn’t just dirty himself up for giggles. He made the loans and got out.

"Since I have a vested interest in Beasty."

I couldn't stop the downward pull of my brows anymore than I could stop my feet shuffling forward, right up to Books' chair. "Get the fuck out, or I will throw you out myself and cancel all of our partnerships."

It would sting. Books was an honest and cutthroat businessman, but they were a dime a dozen in the sea, and probably many more who I could actually direct like puppets on our string.

"Joaquin." Kim's voice penetrated my thoughts.

"What?" I snapped.

"Books has appointed himself as Beasty's friend . They have history and he wants to keep her safe."

"Too fucking bad." I pressed my lips together and lightly kicked the chair leg in warning. "Out."

"Joaquin." Beasty was standing now. "What's going on?"

"We don't have time for this shit–"

"Then tell us."

What the fuck, Beasty? "In front of this man? Who's an unknown?"

"He's not unknown to me." Her eyes were wide, and she implored me with way too much skill.

"Fine. We have to go. Lake was meeting an informant, and he got ambushed by some lower-level Pescis."

"Oh shit." Beasty was already heading toward the door, Kim not far behind her. I closed the gap, giving a fuck all about Books staying in here. Everything was encrypted and we didn't keep anything on paper. He could have a field day. I didn't care.

Except he caught the door before it slammed shut behind me. As we raced to the garage where I'd parked today, he was with us step for step. At the SUV, he ran around the side to pop into the backseat.

I stopped the door from opening. "What are you doing?" They were short lethal words.

"Coming with."

"No." It was one thing to entertain this conversation later. Not that it would get very far. It was another to let him into our business to give him any sort of ammo against us.

"He's not a threat, Joaquin. Let's just go. Lake needs us." Beasty stretched up so she could see me over the top of the SUV.

"Fuck. Fine." We were wasting time, and while Lake hadn't sounded in immediate danger, anything could happen in a few minutes. "If you do anything to hurt us or cause trouble for us, I will ruin you."

"Noted." Books shut the door after he was in the backseat.

Hopping in the front, I started the car and put the pedal to the floor.

"What happened?" Beasty's voice shook and she pressed a hand on the dash to stop herself from getting jostled around.

"Lake had an informant with information on Danny Pesci. He showed up, and it was an ambush. The message he sent said that it was five of their lower-level crew and they were armed but wanted to have a conversation."

"That's all the information you have?" she shouted.

I flipped my visor down as soon as the sun-splashed bright light across the windshield. "Unfortunately."

"Where is he?" Kim’s voice shook as he leaned forward, placing his head next to Beasty's headrest.

"On County Mill Road by the old industrial plant." I rubbed my forehead with two fingers. This was so fucking bad.

"What's the plan?" Beasty asked, opening and closing tabs on her phone like she needed to do something but had no idea what.

I laughed. "Good question. We need to see exactly what the situation is before we can figure that out."

"Where's Atlas?" Kim asked.

"He's on his way there to meet us. If he does what he's supposed to, he won't go in without us." Knowing Atlas, he would. Just because he felt fucking invincible and he lived to shave years off my life.

Kim snorted. That was exactly how I felt.

"The Pescis," Books said quietly behind my seat. "Why does that sound familiar?"

"They're the mafia," I deadpanned. "You've probably run into them a time or two."

Books scoffed. "There's no mafia in West Virginia. I also don't spend enough time here to mix with them. They still sound familiar."

I didn't have time to give him a politics lesson. "Beasty, in the glovebox is a handgun. Grab that. Give it to Kim."

She did as I asked, and the glovebox slammed shut. "What about you? Or me?"

"I'm armed. You don't need anything."

"Why don't I need anything?"

I collected myself before answering. "Because you're going to sit in the car. I just needed you close by while we save Lake. I wouldn't put it past those idiots to break into Snatched and steal you, using this as a decoy."

"Wouldn't sitting in the car away from you all be just as good of a place to steal me from?" There was only a slight amount of sarcasm there. She was right. There were no good options.

"Fuck!" I slapped the steering wheel. Wait. "That's why Books is here."

He wasn't much to look at, but surely in his line of work, he'd have to know how to take care of himself. "Books will stay with you in the car while Kim and I go in and extract Lake."

Beasty was silent, and I took that as her agreement. I should have known better.

"What about the guards you employ?" Beasty asked.

I hesitated. We had a full staff of guards for both Snatched and our house. They were some of the top fighters in the industry, and several had come with military backgrounds. Except, we didn't trust them. It was hard to place our lives in the hands of men, knowing our driver had fucked us over.

We'd get Lake ourselves, and then jump back on the bandwagon of trying to vet at least a couple men we could count on for backup.

We pulled up to the industrial lot, and I slowed down. There were no signs of cars, no people. This place was deserted. Whatever grunts ambushed Lake had probably parked inside one of the bays.

I scanned the tops of the buildings. What were the chances this hellhole had cameras? I didn't see any, but that didn't mean they weren't there.

"Lake said he's in the last building." Shit, there were no good parking spots where Beasty would be out of range. Maybe I should have left her in Snatched.

"Fuck it, I'm parking here." I slammed the brakes and threw the car into park. We jolted forward, but I was already unbuckled and out of the car before it came to a full halt.

Beasty was right there with me, and so were Kim and Books.

"Get back in the car," I whisper-shouted at Beasty, pointing at the driver’s seat. That was an idea. "You can be our getaway driver."

Her chin tilted up but her eyes slanted toward the car. She was thinking about it. It was written all over her face. Come on, Beasty. Please.

Atlas came around the corner, melting from the shadows, strapped with so many guns and knives, he had to have an extra fifteen pounds on him.

"Here." Atlas handed Beasty a gun for her right hand and a wicked sharp knife for her left. “You said you’ve handled guns before, right? Linda taught you?” he asked in a low voice.

"What the fuck, Atlas!" It was a rasp of words.

He shot me a disgruntled look. "I'm not going to let her walk in there unarmed."

"She's not walking in at all. Neither is he." I yanked my thumb toward Books.

Atlas turned toward Books like he just realized he was standing with us. He straightened to his full height and looked down his nose at the man.

Books held up his hands. "Look, I'll stay here. You don't trust me, and I'm not much of a fighter anyway. I'll sit in the driver's seat and as soon as you hop in, I'll get us out of here." He glanced at Beasty. "Are you sure you don't want to sit here with me?"

"I'm sure."

Books sighed like that was the answer he expected. "If you're not back in fifteen minutes or if I see anything I don't like, I'll call in some friends."

"You wouldn't run in and save us?" Atlas smirked, nothing nice in the expression.

"Did you hear me? I'm not a fighter. But I have people."

"Fine. We don't have any more time to waste." I tossed the keys to Books and motioned for the others to follow me.

We weren't fighters either. Lake had that on lockdown for us. But we'd done enough drills and training in case fans ever got too rowdy that our skills were decent. That had to be enough, and once we were all back home, I was hiring fucking black ops to come teach us. Maybe some seals. We would have all the tools we needed to stay out of fuckers, like Lucas’, hands.

The last building was a warehouse with a faded Kibble sign on the side. It hadn't been used in years. There was a door under the sign cracked open.

That could either be a lucky break or a bad omen. Yet, we didn't have any other choice available to us if we wanted to get to Lake quickly.

I glanced back, checking on the others. Kim was right behind me, then Beasty with Atlas pulling up the rear. Good. We had the best of us sandwiched.

At the door, I leaned forward, listening. Faint voices reverberated and a breeze of stale air wafted through the crack. Nudging it with my foot, I pulled the door open, careful to go slow just in case it creaked.

When it didn't, which an old door should have, I slipped in. Sunlight temporarily brightened the perpendicular hallway. This was good. The Pescis wouldn't be able to see the sudden burst of light.

Once Atlas was in, he let the door close back to the crack.

We walked down the hallway and then turned right toward the interior of the building. The voices were faint and I couldn't make out anything they were saying. Another hallway came at the end of this one and I cursed.

This place was like a maze. How the fuck did we get to the center?

A tap on my shoulder stopped me in my tracks, and Kim pointed to a door with a window. On the other side, there was an open bay just visible past rusty metal panels and scaffolding poles.

I got closer, keeping my face slightly to the side.

That was definitely an arm of someone through the panels. And movement!

I nodded at the others and pointed. Pushing on the handle, I held my breath. It made noise, but not enough to alert anyone to our presence. Their voices were too loud.

When the conversation continued, I pushed on the door. Slowly.

It opened with just as much stealth as the other one. If I had any doubts about this building still being in use, this killed them.

"What makes you think you have anything we want?"

We edged around poles and scaffolding still set up along the edges. A few big pieces of tin made makeshift tunnels, hiding us from the center.

There was a gap, and I could see Lake.

Fuck. He was on his knees with his hands tied behind his back. His hair was ruffled and a drop of blood dripped down his chin from a split lip.

"I'd say we have information you don't, but you idiots don't seem like the type to care about information."

I pushed closer to the gap, careful to stay in the shadow. Four men. Okay, that wasn't a lot. We could handle four men.

The man directly in front of Lake snorted. "Why would we care about any information you have? You fashion boys are nothing in the crime world, just pretty trinkets to be put on display."

"How did you hear that name?" Lake growled.

"What? Fashion boys? It's made its rounds." His words echoed back to him, and he stepped forward, his footsteps just as obnoxious.

The four men were spaced out. All close to our tunnel, all facing Lake. This couldn't have been planned better. Except, if Lake hadn't gotten ambushed at all.

I stepped back and huddled with the others. "There are only four men," I said so quietly, the words were barely a breath. "If we can each find a gap in the tin, we can take them out."

Beasty looked a little green.

I shook my head. "Not you. You don't have to do this."

She dipped to the side to see through the crack. Then she came in close again. "I have to, otherwise it will give the last man standing time to hurt one of us,” she whispered.

It would be Lake. That was the answer she didn't want to speak. He was tied up and a sitting duck.

I pressed my lips together and exchanged looks with Atlas and Kim. Each wore a grim frown.

"Okay. Take out the man closest to you, don't cross shots." I paused. "Aim for the head. The bullets might go straight through them and we don't want to take a chance of any strays hitting Lake." They all nodded. “You know how to use that?” I nodded to the gun in Beasty’s hand.

Beasty had said Linda showed her but that meant shit if Linda had a different type or model of a gun.

She bit her lip, and Atlas whispered in her ear. She had a double-action pistol with no safety, and pulling the trigger would both cock and fire the weapon.

"Move down, and when I give the signal, shoot,” I mouthed.

I stayed in the same spot. I could see all of the men from here, and if Beasty couldn't do it, then I could take out the last man.

"Why do the Pescis want us so bad?" Lake asked, sounding bored. "If we're just fashion boys, they shouldn't give a fuck about us."

The man who'd been carrying the conversation shrugged. "I just follow orders."

Another man on the end decided he had an answer. "The Pescis aren't to be fucked with. Donnie and Danny wouldn't be the most powerful men in town if they let you live after you taunted them, whether you're important or not. You don't let a mouse bite at your toes. You crush it."

Lake pulled back in disgust. "We don't crush mice with our feet. What kind of sicko are you?"

Down the line, we were all in place with Beasty the furthest away. It wasn’t ideal, but I wasn’t sure how good of a shot she was, and I didn’t want to take any unnecessary chances with Lake’s life. I held up three fingers. Three, I mouth. Then I put down a finger and mouthed two. I dropped to one finger.

They had already turned back to their gaps, and I did the same, aiming for the man closest to me. As soon as I mouthed one, as if they could see me, we fired simultaneously.

The loud boom of multiple shots echoing off the tin stabbed at my eardrums, but one by one, each man fell, leaving only one upright. A second shot took him out and he dropped hard.