Page 13 of Puck
Colbie eyed me as I blinked through the dizziness and the lingering waves of pain. “You gonna make it, tough guy?”
“I dunno. I might need a little mouth to mouth,” I drawled. “I’m feeling a bit faint.”
“Nice try, but no.” She picked up the knife from the ground, opened it, and sliced open the package containing the cell phone. “How did you lose the finger, for real?”
I gestured at the crowd of women, most of whom were crowded around us, sitting, standing, some chatting to others who shared a language, most just staring blankly and trying to keep their shit together. “Long story. Short version is, I was with Lola and Temple, taking them to my cabin to hide out—”
“Hide out from what?”
“From Cain—I’ll explain him in a minute. The bad guys, the same group who snatched you, found us at my cabin, I’m still not sure how. There was a fun little shootout, during which I lost the upper half of my favorite finger, and then they snatched Lola and Temple, and I took off in pursuit. Fortunately for me, they used a small local airfield, which meant while they were looking the other way, I managed to sneak into the baggage compartment of the jet y’all were on.” I wiggled my stump, and then hissed because moving it hurt.
“While I waited for them to load the bags and get ready for takeoff and whatever, I realized my finger was still bleeding pretty heavily. I was on my own, alone, with women I’ve sworn on my life to protect no matter what. They were held captive on the plane, and it was about to take off. I didn’t have any supplies I could use as a tourniquet, there was no chance of medical attention, and I had to be ready to run as soon as the opportunity showed itself. Couldn’t let those assholes get away with my buddies’ girls, right? So I lit my cigar, got it glowing as hot as I could and did my best to sear that fucker closed so I’d at least stop it from bleeding quite as much.
“Yeah, I knew it was stupid, and yeah, I knew it was probably going to give me a really sweet infection, but what the fuck was I supposed to do? I was losing a lot of blood, and I couldn’t just say fuck it and let Lola and Temple and everybody sort themselves out, could I?”
Colbie just blinked at me for a couple seconds. “That’s the short version?”
“What, you wanted the unabridged?”
Layla pointed at me. “You keep an eye out for a minute, yeah? I’m gonna take a look around. We’ve been here awhile, and I’ve got a bad feeling.” She trotted off, pistol in both hands, heading for the opening of the alley.
As Layla walked away I shot a look at Temple, an idea had just occurred to me. “Now that I’ve had a second to think about shit, howdidthey find us at my cabin? Literally half a dozen people in the whole fucking world know where that place is, and all of them are with A1S.”
Temple frowned. “I’ve been wondering that myself. They kept just . . . showing up, no matter where we went. Duke assumed they were after him, that they had put a tracer bug sort of thing in him while he was unconscious.”
I groaned. “That was the assumption, wasn’t it? The tracker was in Duke, and the whole thing was part of Cain’s vengeance plan.” I rubbed my face with both hands. “Shit, shit, shit. This complicates things.”
Colbie raised a hand. “Wait, I’m confused. Who’s tracking who?”
I pointed at Temple. “We assumed Cain’s guys had put a tracker in Duke when they snatched him out of Denver. But they already had Duke when they showed up at my cabin in Arkansas, which was a secure location that’s nearly impossible to find if you don’t know exactly where you’re going. Yet those fuckers just showed up for a party within minutes of our arrival there. Point here is we all assumed wrong, the reason they snatched Temple was because she was with Duke at the time and Cain doesn’t like loose ends.”
Colbie nodded, understanding dawning. “But the fact that there was an entire airliner full of kidnapped women changes that theory.”
“He decided to kill several birds with one stone,” I said. “He had Duke, he had a good-lookin’, high-profile celebrity . . . why not grab you and Kyrie while he’s at it, right? What better way to really rattle Harris’s cage than to literally hurt everyone connected to him?”
“Who the hell is Cain?” Colbie demanded. “You still haven’t answered that question.”
“A bad guy. If it’s illegal and unpleasant, he deals in it. Drugs, guns, prostitution and human trafficking, smuggling, extortion . . . you name it, he has a hand in it somewhere on the globe. Nasty fucker. Once again, I’m just giving you SparkNotes version, here.”
“Layla’s husband, Harris, my boss—we provide personal security for Valentine Roth, which is why Kyrie is involved. We also hire our services out as . . . arbiters of hazardous situations, you might say, as well as routine celebrity security. One of the jobs we contracted for was to go after a kid who had gotten kidnapped for ransom, the daughter of Jon Lonigan and Callie MacPhereson. We did the job, brought the kid back, but the mission went sideways. See, Cain and Harris have what you might call a standing grudge, and Cain was the guy who had kidnapped the kid. Well, when he cottoned on to the fact that Harris was coming after the Lonigan kid, he decided to use the opportunity to get even. The rescue op turned into an ambush, which didnotgo well for Cain’s crew. We decimated those sloppy fuckers like shooting fish in a barrel. On top of it all, we got the kid,andkept the ransom cash,andkilled a bunch of Cain’s mercs. This turn of events pissed him off but good, understandably enough.”
I ripped open the package of cigars with my teeth, tugged one free, bit the end off and spat it out, lit it, and puffed till it was chugging nicely.
“God, this cigar is shitty.” I spat out a shred of tobacco and shrugged. “Still, a shitty cigar is better than no cigar.”
“Glad you’re happy.” Colbie rolled a hand in circles. “So . . . what? Cain was pissed off . . . and then what?”
“For a solid year, we all thought that was that, hoped he’d let it go. Then all of a sudden, we all started having our days go to hell all at the same time. Thresh picked up a tail, which turned into a gunfight down in the Everglades. Duke vanished right around the same time, and I picked up a tail of my own. I don’t take kindly to being followed, so I left the dumb fuck in a dumpster in Las Vegas, missing most of his head. Right about that same time, I got a call from Thresh and then Harris and then Lear all within about sixty seconds, so I met up with Harris and the boys just in time to see the end of a truly epic gun battle courtesy of Duke and Cain.” I gestured at the group of women. “Which brings us to Duke being snatched by Cain’s guys all over again, and Lola and Temple getting run off with, and our presence here in merry ol’ Kiev.”
Colbie frowned. “And your newest theory is that the tracker was in Temple the whole time?”
I nodded and shrugged at the same time. “Pretty much the only thing that fits.”
“Maybe this is a stupid question, but . . . did the tracker ever get removed?” Colbie asked.
I glanced at Temple, who paled.
“Oh my god,” she breathed. “So they can still track me? Right now? Here?”