“Hey, guys,” I murmured as I put my binoculars down, “I got a black van pulling through the front gates now.”
Finn chuckled. “Bet you’re glad we bought a black van now, aren’t ya, Brooks?”
Brooks grumbled. “Shut up.”
I grinned. “It looks like they’re—shit, shit, shit. We gotta get in there.”
“Why? What’s happening?” Porter asked.
I stepped over all of them and took off for the entrance. “They’ve got Black Flag logos on the backs of their jackets!”
We all took off in a blaze of glory, maneuvering around the cameras and trying to get to the small security house before they took those guys out. We jumped into fake-ass bushes that had been planted for literally no reason and slipped between the closing gates before they finally locked back in place. And as I wrapped around the back of the security building, Brooks and Porter walked straight into the damned place, before locking those Black Jerk-off idiots into headlocks.
But we didn’t get there in time to save the two security guards that had been killed in the process.
“Got ‘em!” Porter exclaimed.
“Jesus,” Tanner sighed as he stepped over a bleeding body, “was killing them really necessary?”
Brooks shushed him as they held the guys steady. “Can you guys not announce the entire wharf to our presence?”
I emerged from the darkness. “Well, we should’ve all kept our fucking earpieces in like I said we should have.”
Finn flicked one of the guys on the ear. “Hey, you. What’s your name?”
But the guy simply glared at him.
“The man asked you a question,” Brooks growled as he tightened his grip.
Which made me smirk. “Any tighter and he won’t be able to respond.”
Brooks tightened up even more. “Yeah, because I’m gonna pop his fucking head off.”
“All right, all right,” Tanner said as he stepped into his “good guy” schtick, “let this one go. I want to talk to him.”
Porter dropped the guy to the ground and Tanner gripped his hair, pulling him back to his feet.
“What the fuck do you want?” the man spat.
Tanner slammed him against the wall. “Simple. I want to know who you work for.”
The man grinned. “Good luck with that.”
Tanner backhanded him across the face. “Let’s try this again before I give you back to my friend here: who the fuck is your point man? Who are you taking orders from?”
“Not the question you asked before,” the man behind me choked out.
Brooks released him. “What did you say?”
“Shut up, Brody,” the man that Tanner backhanded said.
I grinned. “Ah, Brody. Hello, there.”
Brody rolled his eyes. “Are you fucking kidding me, Kyle?”
Finn barked with laughter. “Brody and Kyle! Bunch of cracker-ass fuckwads if you ask me. So, who’s going to give Tanner what he wants and who’s going to die for their cause? Hmmm? Winner gets a milkshake they get to drink through their gums.”
Trust me, there was a reason Finn was called our guard dog.
The guys became nervous and I decided to capitalize on that. I pushed Finn off to the side and stepped into Tanner’s place, staring this Kyle guy down as he practically trembled in his boots.
“My dude, you don’t look like the kind of kid that can handle this lifestyle. What the fuck are you doing out here? Does your mother know you’re out here?”
He swallowed hard. “I just needed the cash, man. I don’t know who you are or what’s going on, but all I needed was the cash. My sister’s sick, and I—”
I stepped up to the forefront. “Look, I get it. I had a sister once, too. And if you want to keep your sister alive by any means necessary, you’ll tell us what the fuck’s going on and who you’re taking orders from.”
The guy swallowed hard. “What—what happened to your sister?”
I felt all eyes on me as I swallowed the knot forming in my throat. “I tried to rectify things myself, and I paid for it. We’re here to help you guys, and I can keep your family safe. But you gotta talk to us. That’s the price for your family’s safety.”
Brody spoke up behind me. “He doesn’t need your protection. He needs the fucking money.”
Brooks growled. “We’ll take care of that, too. Now, speak.”
The two guys fell silent for a while and Brooks and Porter geared up for a fight behind me. But these guys were two scared little kids. I mean, they couldn’t have been any older than, say, twenty-one? Twenty-two? One of the kids was still definitely in college, judging simply by the way he dressed and the fact that he reeked of ramen noodles and scrambled eggs.
They had no business getting into this kind of shit.
“Chops,” Kyle finally said.
I blinked. “Chops… is what to you?”
Brody sighed. “Damn it, we’re fucked.”
Kyle threw his hands into the air. “We were fucked from the beginning! Look, a guy cornered us in the alleyway and somehow knew all this shit about our families. He said he’d pay us five grand a piece—him and me!—to do a simple job. So, here we are.”
I took a step closer to Kyle. “So, you were paid five grand to kill security guards and do what?”
Brody blinked. “What!? We didn’t kill anyone! They were already dead when we found them!”
Finn murmured behind me. “That would explain the lack of gunshots.”
“Is this true, Kyle?” I asked as I stared the boy down in front of me.
But Porter answered my question before he did. “It’s true. Some of the blood has already coagulated on the floor. They’ve been here a while.”
I paused. “Uh, thanks Porter?”
Porter chuckled. “Hey, what can I say? I listen, unlike some of you suckers.”
Then, Tanner said what we were all thinking. “Fall guys.”
Kyle’s eyes widened. “Wait, what!?”
I rolled my eyes. “The guy you talked to? Chops? He’s set you up to be fall guys for this grand master plan. That’s why these assholes are already dead. You’ve trampled around in their blood, leaving footprints like idiots, and your hair will be all over the crime scene. You were never supposed to make it out of the wharf. So, the more you tell us, the more we can help. So, talk.”
Brody rattled off behind me. “We’ve been taking orders from this guy named Chops. He met us in the alley, like Kyle said, and he’s the one that’s been contacting us and telling us what to do. There’s been weeks of shit we’ve had to do in preparation for this. Everything from staking out the wharf and telling him what we see all the way down to skipping classes at school and meeting him for coffee. It’s been a hell of a ride, and we just want off.”
Brooks stepped up to the plate. “Well, then today’s your fucking lucky day.”
I slipped out of the security guard hut and ripped the hair net off my head. I hated these fucking things, but they kept shit clean, just like Cole said they would. I looked around to make sure no one was perched and watching us, but as I started my way back into the hut, my phone vibrated against my thigh.
And when I pulled it out, I saw it was Josie calling.
“What’s wrong?” I asked as I picked up.
“Archer, something’s happened. I can’t find Cole, he isn’t responding, and Chops ripped—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, beautiful. Take some breaths.”
Tanner rushed out to my side and slid close so he could hear the phone call, too.
“I don’t know where Cole is. I said the code word and he hasn’t responded. Chops forced me into a private dance and almost—he—well, he almost—”
Tanner spoke because I simply couldn’t. “Josie, it’s Tanner. Where are you right now?”
I heard the tears in her voice. “I’m in an abandoned room on the office hallway. The guys are looking for me. I jammed my heel into Chops’ ball sack when he tried to force himself on me and he’s bleeding. I don’t know how bad the damage is.”
I swallowed hard. “I’m fucking proud of you, Josie. Good for you.”
“Where’s Cole?” she asked as tears clouded her voice.
“Listen to me, are you listening?” I asked.
I looked over at Tanner and he nodded his head. “I’m heading back to the club right now. I’m going to come find you. Stay put and keep me updated if you move. I’ll figure out what’s going on with Cole and I’ll get you out of there.”
Tanner jogged off to inform the guys of what was happening as Josie cried to me over the phone. I wrapped up the phone call quickly and blew her a kiss through the receiver before I turned around and saw Brooks wave his hand at me, telling me to head on out. I made a break for the front gate, climbing over it as if it were nothing before I dropped down onto my feet.
And after running five blocks up the road from the wharf, I flagged down the first cab I could find.
Hoping, and praying, that no one found Josie before I did.
