Page 72 of Knife in the Back (New Orleans #4)

She got all the kids out of the truck, easing them off the platform and onto the pavement that led to the street.

The boy who’d been struck with the butt of the man’s gun staggered, but two other kids held him up.

“The cops are on their way,” Naomi said.

“To help you,” she added when fear flared in their eyes.

“I know Gaffney is a cop, but the one I called is a good guy.” She got her phone and googled André’s name, relieved when a photo of his face popped up quickly.

“This is him. His name is André Holmes. The parade is starting. If you run that way”—she pointed north—“you’ll run into the crowd.

Stay around people until you see this man. Are there other kids?”

“Yes,” the first girl said. “Another ten at least.”

Naomi felt sick. “That many?”

“There were more,” the girl said, her lips trembling. “They died.”

Naomi swallowed hard. “I’ll try to find them. You guys run. Now. ”

She didn’t wait to see if they’d obeyed her, instead climbing back up onto the loading platform. She closed the truck door and replaced the padlock as she’d found it.

André, where the hell are you?

She couldn’t wait. The place was burning and Burke could be inside.

Loud voices caught her attention and she flattened herself against the wall of the loading dock. But the voices were coming from outside. She crept to the truck and peeked around the corner.

Five men were running away from the front door of the warehouse. Some coughed. Four were dressed in black T-shirts and jeans. The one man who wore a suit screamed, “Marchand, you fucking bastard!”

Kaleb was still inside the building.

The five men scattered like rats. She wasn’t sure if they were customers or if they worked there.

She hoped the kids she’d freed had gotten far enough away.

Find Burke. Find the other kids. Get them out.

And if Burke’s not here?

Hopefully Molly and Antoine would have already found him.

Her heart was racing when she opened the door into the warehouse. She could smell the smoke, but there wasn’t any in the air. Not here.

Not yet.

She slipped through the door and found herself in a long hallway. There were five doors on her right and just one on her left, at the far end. That far door on the left was in the same position as the front door, from which all the men had exited, so she ignored it.

She’d have to search room by room and hope she wasn’t discovered.

And that you don’t get burned up.

She’d entered the first door on her right when voices caught her attention. The room was filled with boxes, but no kids.

No Burke.

She peeked through the door to see the woman from the loading dock rushing another group of teenagers down the hall. Maya was barking orders for them to hurry. The man with the gun was nowhere to be seen, but Naomi figured he was coming.

Until Naomi saw the gun in Maya’s hand. It appeared to be the same one the man had been holding. They could have had similar guns, so she couldn’t assume the man wouldn’t follow.

But he hadn’t appeared when the kids passed by the door where Naomi was hiding. Maya was only about five-three, with a long, dark ponytail.

I can take her.

The ponytail would be useful.

When Maya had passed by, Naomi rushed from the room and grabbed the woman’s hair, winding it around her own hand and jerking the woman to a stop. She shoved Eleanor’s gun to Maya’s head.

“If you scream, I will kill you,” Naomi said quietly. “Drop the fucking gun.”

Maya began to twist her arm, like she was planning to shoot backward at Naomi, so Naomi fired once, hitting the woman’s arm.

Maya screamed and thrashed, but she dropped the gun. Naomi kicked it into the room with the boxes and tightened her hold on Maya’s hair.

She looked at the teenagers, who stared. “Are there any more of you upstairs?”

A few shook their heads.

“Good. I set the others free. Do you know any of them?”

One of the teenagers nodded silently, her eyes wide.

“All right. Go through this door and out the loading bay. Go north, away from the river. Find the parade crowd. Hurry.”

She forced Maya to turn toward the end of the hallway. “Move.” Maya fought her, so Naomi shoved the barrel of Eleanor’s gun under Maya’s jaw. “I will kill you. Have no doubt. Now move .”

Maya moved.

“Where is he?” Naomi demanded. “Broussard. Where did Kaleb put him?”

“I don’t know,” Maya said defiantly.

Naomi pulled the ponytail so that Maya was forced to her toes. “Try again. My son would have been trapped in here if your boss had been successful, so I am not inclined to be kind. Tell me.”

“In the panic room.”

“Take me there.”

“No.” Maya tried to shake her head, but Naomi held her in place. “It’s burning. We’ll die.”

Naomi shoved Maya forward. “Then you’d better hurry.”

—

Uptown, New Orleans, Louisiana

Thursday, February 27, 5:15 p.m.

Burke knew his time was running out.

You’ve been living on borrowed time for years , Winnifred Timms had said. I think your time is up.

It seemed that she’d been right.

Burke smelled smoke. Someone—probably Kaleb or his toady Wayne Stanley—had set the building on fire. He’d die if no one came to get him.

Kaleb wouldn’t free him. He wanted Burke dead but had been either unwilling or unable to do it himself. Fire was a passive way for Kaleb to achieve his goal.

But Burke hadn’t lost hope. He was ready if Kaleb did come to get him. He held the Kevlar kite string. If he wound it around a throat tightly enough, it would cut through skin. Possibly bone.

It would also cut Burke’s own hands, but freedom would be worth the pain.

He stiffened when the light came on and he heard voices.

“Open it.” The voice was muted but unmistakably female.

“No.” Another female.

A thump made the door vibrate.

“I said open it , bitch.”

Burke blinked. That sounded like…

No. It couldn’t be.

It could not be Naomi.

There was another thump , harder and louder this time.

“I said open it or I will shoot you again. I’ll start at your feet and fill you with holes.

I still have sixteen bullets and an extra mag when those bullets are gone.

Open the goddamn fucking door. Now. Or I will take your keys, free him myself, and leave you here to burn.

Your choice. You have one second to decide. ”

It was Naomi. Oh my God.

He stepped away from the door when he heard the key in the lock. The door opened and…there she was.

Naomi. With Maya. He recognized her from Eleanor’s neighbors’ security stills.

Naomi had hold of Maya’s hair and pressed a gun under Maya’s jaw. Maya held a set of keys in her shaking hand.

Naomi looked like an avenging angel.

She simply took his breath away.

“Naomi?”

She flicked her gaze to Gaffney, dead on the floor, then grimly met his eyes.

“Hurry.” She turned Maya, using her ponytail like reins. “Get us out of here if you want to live.”

The lights flickered and the entire hallway went dark. Smoke filled the air.

They began moving slowly, the darkness impeding their progress. Panic scratched at the edges of Burke’s mind.

Panic and awe and shock.

Naomi had saved him.

Again.

They came to a door that Naomi’s prisoner opened, dumping them into another hallway, which was thick with smoke.

“Move! Open the exit door!” Naomi snapped to Maya, who took a stumbling step forward, feeling around until she got the door open. They stumbled into what appeared to be a lobby. There were fancy sofas and a counter like at a hotel.

The door to the outside was just visible in the smoke. Burke’s eyes burned and watered, but he could see light from outside. The door was open.

And then a figure stepped in front of it, blocking their exit.

Kaleb.

“What have you done?” Kaleb snarled.

For a moment Burke thought that Kaleb was talking to him, but the question had been fired at Maya.

There was no warning before fire flashed from the muzzle of Kaleb’s gun. The woman cried out, then sagged.

Naomi grunted in surprise, but she was thinking on her feet. She hauled the woman’s body back up, using her as a shield as she pointed her own gun at Kaleb and fired.

Kaleb stared at them for a moment, then looked down at his chest. Then he laughed.

Vest , Burke thought and was about to jump in front of her because Kaleb was aiming at Naomi’s head.

But the woman who’d fascinated him all week fired again, hitting Kaleb’s wrist.

Kaleb screamed and dropped his gun. Burke dove for it at the same time that Kaleb did—and came face-to-face with his oldest friend.

Burke grabbed the gun and pointed it at Kaleb’s head.

And then he hesitated. He couldn’t do it. Couldn’t pull the trigger.

It seemed that Burke could no more kill Kaleb than Kaleb could kill him.

Kaleb scrambled backward, pushing himself to his feet. He turned and ran.

Burke wanted to scream, to berate himself for not shooting the man when he’d had the chance, but the fire was spreading. He could hear the roar of it now. Could feel the heat.

Naomi dragged the woman outside and dropped her to the pavement before kneeling beside her to check her pulse. “She’s dead. We need to find him.”

But they couldn’t just leave. Not yet. Burke grabbed Naomi’s arm. “We have to go back in. I think this is where he kept the kids.”

“I set them all free.” Naomi tugged her arm from his grip. “Move.”

He wanted to ask if she was sure, if she knew for certain that all the captive teens were safe, but she’d grabbed his shirt and was dragging him away from the burning building.

“Wait. Val. They said they killed her.”

“She’s safe. In the hospital.”

Relief made his knees wobble. “You promise?”

She gave his shirt another hard tug. “Yes. She’s safe. Dammit, Burke, move .”

She released her hold on his shirt and set off at a sprint with which Burke had a hard time keeping up. He still felt weak from whatever they’d given him that morning. But he pushed himself to follow her.

They ran for three blocks before hitting a wall of people. The parade had started.