Page 20 of One (The Towns Syndicate #2)

Boogie

M y last job was a little too easy. Sometimes I wondered if King was giving me easy targets to keep me safe. I wanted to be angry with him, but now that I came home to Ally, maybe easy wasn’t so bad.

My last target was in a small mountain town called Mountain View.

He was hiding from the Irish mob and needed to be taken care of quietly.

The idiot was begging to be found and was now in my trunk.

I was going to a drop-off to get him transported back to Halloween Town, and I would ride my bike back.

The hitch was that I was very close to the only surviving family I had. The itch to go see my brother was taunting me, and I couldn’t ignore it when I was so close. So here I was in the quaint town of Sterling Ridge sitting outside of the local doctors office waiting for him to get off of work.

I had done extensive research on him, and Wednesdays were his later days, and I knew he was still working. A car pulled up close to me, ruining my view and a few people got out along with a little girl who looked to be six or seven.

The sound of a door opening caught my attention and there was Atlas talking to a nurse, looking so different but weirdly just the same. He locked up as he spoke to her, and they laughed before saying goodbye.

“Atty!” The little girl from earlier ran to him and jumped into his arms.

He said something to her that made her giggle, and he smiled as she hugged him. My chest tightened with longing to say something to him, even if it was just to run into him. The group that was with the girl all kissed him, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.

Atlas seemed to have found himself a little group of people to love too, and it made me wonder if the little girl was his.

My chest released a little bit of the tension I had been holding, and the urge to go to him was almost too much.

My little brother had found himself a family and I really wanted to meet them, but all his questions kept me hidden in the shadows.

How do you tell your baby brother that you were a sex slave for years, that you were used and abused by the richest men who like little boys, and when I was old enough the woman liked me.

My throat burned with bile, and I didn’t want to ruin him with my ugliness. His family didn’t need to be tainted.

Look at this pretty boy. So good for me.

I shivered from the memory while my lip quivered as Atlas, and his family walked down the main street to what looked like a small Christmas gathering that was happening.

The small boy in me wished I was good enough to enjoy life with him.

I took a deep breath, got on my bike, slid my helmet on and started the bike.

The vibrations grounded me enough to drive down the main road to get home and as I took off, I stopped at the same intersection they were at.

One of the men looked at my bike appreciatively when suddenly, the little girl waved at me.

My visor was still up, and I knew there was no way he would recognize me but if this was the only moment I had with Atlas, I would take it.

I waved back and the girl motioned for me to rev my engine, which I did.

She squealed and yelled thank you before I locked eyes with Atlas.

He smiled and waved at me too. My throat closed up with emotion.

I waved back and I took off, running away from my brother before I ruined his life with the ugliness of my own.

Years of perfecting my hard exterior were crumbling and before I knew it I couldn’t see through my blurry eyes.

I pulled over, and took my helmet off as I gasped for breath that didn’t want to inflate my lungs.

My ears were ringing, black dots spotted my vision as I fell to my knees.

I yelled, hoping to expel the hopelessness I felt inside.

Time suspended as I drowned in my sorrow, and I let myself be swallowed by it.

Vibration in my chest slowly pulled me from the darkness.

It wasn’t constant, but it came in bursts until it snapped me out of my meltdown, when I finally realized what it was.

My phone. Slowly, I shook out my limbs, and took a deep breath.

My fingers were cold and as I looked around it had gotten darker.

I was supposed to meet King and Ally at home tonight. Pulling my phone out, I had seven missed calls, all from King. I frowned when I saw it was only six. My breakdown felt like it had lasted ages.

Just as I was about to call King back his name appeared on the screen.

“Hello,” I answered, my voice gruff, from crying.

“Why the fuck haven’t you been answering?” He snapped, his voice full of panic. “Ally’s been attacked at the compound.”

“Fuck.”

This was the shock I needed to get my shit together. I grabbed my helmet and swung my leg over the bike.

“Is she ok?” I asked.

“Arthur said he thinks so,” he sighed. “I’m coming from a job about an hour away, but he says she was almost taken in an SUV, and she won't come out.”

“I’m on my way,” I said about to end the call.

“Be careful, we don't know if more people are on their way,” he said softly. “I… I can’t lose either of you.”

I was still raw from earlier, my lip trembled. “You won’t.”

He ended the call. I put my phone away, put my helmet on and loaded the directions to Ally on my phone. It said a two-hour drive, but I knew I could make it in less. I had to.

From the street, everything looked fine.

That meant no one would have any questions and this would be easy to clean up.

The gate was still working; I put in my code and drove in.

I made it here in an hour and fifteen minutes, it was the fastest I had ever pushed my bike, but the closer I got here, the more urgency I had to get here quicker.

I kicked out the kick stand, and chucked my helmet off next to King’s bike that still felt a little warm, meaning he had just gotten here too.

I walked around the corner and saw the aftermath.

Bodies littered the floor, I walked by them trying to see if I recognized any of them.

Arthur was talking to King as I recognized a few of Ally’s men surrounding a car I assumed she was in.

King nodded at me as I passed him. Arthur looked exhausted, with blood splattered all over him and a very bloody nose.

I walked straight to the car to the door that was open.

Slowly looking inside, my jaw clenched as I saw Ally in a corner, holding on to her knees, looking down at two men.

She was covered in blood, but the look in her eyes was haunted, reminding me of the night she had killed Kris.

“Little One,” I said softly.

She never took her eyes off the men.

“Little One,” I said a little louder.

She didn’t even flinch.

“Ally,” I said louder.

Her brown eyes snapped up to me. The moment we locked eyes she scrambled towards me.

A small whimper escaped her as she crashed into me.

Her body shook violently as she sobbed. Violence blazed through my body as she broke down in my arms. What the fuck had happened for her to react like this.

Not even when Kris’ men took and beat her, or when she watched one of the girls die or even when she took Nic’s life did she react like.

“What happened?” I growled.

She gave no response instead falling apart in my arms. King walked over to us with a murderous look in his eyes. He laid a hand on her back as he looked down at her. His jaw ticked as he studied her, then he glanced up at me.

“Arthur would like us to bring reinforcements,” he stated almost robotically.

I shook my head. “She leaves tonight, she is not safe here.”

“I agree,” he said. “He said Lance is gone, no one can find him.”

Ally pulled away, sniffling. “What?”

“Lance is missing,” King said again.

Ally scowled. “Missing as he was taken or missing as he did this?”

“Arthur suspects he did this,” King answered.

Ally shook her head. “No, No, not Lance… He… He wouldn’t do this.”

“Then where is he?” I snapped, ready to murder him.

“I… I don’t know but—” Her brows furrowed.

“We need to leave while your team secures the compound,” King said looking around. “I’ll send Mars and a team back to see what the fuck happened with the system. It would make sense someone disabled everything from the side and left you vulnerable.”

“They came through the town,” she said. “Right as we were closing.”

“The guard upfront let them through,” King stated as Arthur walked up to us.

“We have him,” he said as two men dragged a man who looked no more than twenty.

“This is who you had in the front?” Ally snapped.

“We had a rotation, I assumed Lance had it covered,” Arthur said, his face looking down.

“Why did you do it?” Ally asked, pushing away from me.

He stared at her without giving her an answer.

“Money? A raise? A chance to say that you helped get rid of me?” She growled getting close to him.

He said nothing and just as I was going to suggest taking him with us. Ally pulled a gun and shot him five times. I got hard seeing her handle her business, even if we could have used the boy for information.

She dropped the gun and went straight for King, who wrapped his arms around her.

“Secure Christmas Town and get more people to keep her safe while she stays with us,” King commanded.

Arthur glared at King as I stepped up to him, ready for him to give us a hard time.

“Ok,” he said immediately.

“Send files her way so she can look at the men you are wanting to hire, and I expect her to come back with no trace of what happened tonight,” I said, looking around at what I was assuming was the last of her men.

I might have to call back the triplets sooner than later.

“Do we really want her running away from?—”

One look at me had Arthur shutting up.

“Give me a day or two,” Ally said, pushing King away.

“I have some files on my desk, that Maverick vetted if we needed more men, let me grab those, and I will meet them in Halloween Town,” Ally said as she walked inside.