Bobby decided to wait and tell him when he got there.
Lord knows The Law can take care of herself, Bobby thought on a smile.
* * * * *
Shirleen
Shirleen heard her phone ringing; she rolled, reached out, grabbed it and put it to her ear.
“This better be good,” she mumbled.
“Aunt Shirleen,” Darius said in her ear.
Shirleen came instantly awake and sober. “What’s up, son?”
“Got word. Shard’s back.”
Shirleen felt a chill snake down her spine. Anyone with an ear to the ground knew what was on Shard’s mind, namely making Jules pay.
“I thought Lee’s boys –” Shirleen started.
“Shard’s back and he’s pissed. He’s goin’ after Law’s kids. Gonna draw her out.”
Shirleen threw back her purple, satin covers. “Call Lee,” she ordered.
“I’ll take care of it. I’ve got some boys out lookin’ for him.”
“No, boy. You call Lee. Let the professionals handle this.”
“Aunt Shirleen.”
“Boy –”
“I’ll handle it.”
Disconnect.
Shirleen stared at the phone in the darkness for two seconds. Then she turned on the light and ran to her desk to find Daisy’s home number.
* * * * *
Sniff
Sniff was running. He was running, crying, snot coming out of his nose, breathing heavy.
He had to get to Law. He had to get to her. He had to get to her now.
When Cordova took Roam, Sniff had seen it. He’d followed them, knowing that Cordova was an idiot and an asshole. Roam could handle Cordova. Hell, their geeky tutor Stu could handle Cordova. Sniff could even handle Cordova.
Sniff had caught a ride with some Mexican gang-bangers he knew who put up with Sniff because they thought he was funny. They took him to Cordova’s place then they’d peeled out, leaving him there.
Sniff had approached the house thinking to get a giggle while Roam kicked Cordova’s ass and when he saw what he saw through the window, he’d taken off.
He was so freaked out, he’d dropped his fucking, fucking (and he vowed to himself he’d never say “fucking” again if Law got Roam out of this) phone somewhere along the way and as usual he had no money to make a pay call.
A car came down the street and he stopped and put out his arm to flag it down, desperate, shouting.
The car passed him.
Without hesitation, he kept running and trying to keep the vision of Roam, bloody and what Sniff hoped was only unconscious, out of his brain.
Worse still, the vision of a dead Cordova.
It wasn’t working.
Sniff turned onto Colfax, running down the busier street, hoping he could flag down a ride.
He was miles away from Law, he’d never make it.
He saw a black Porsche pass him, the brake lights lit and then the Porsche pulled over. Sniff ran toward it, opening his mouth to yell when the door opened and Luke Stark knifed out the driver’s side.
Sniff could have jumped for joy.
Instead he stopped and as Luke approached him he doubled over, a stitch in his side, and sucked in breath.
“Sniff,” Luke put a hand to the back of his neck.
Sniff looked up at him, not caring even a little bit that this super cool guy was going to see his tears and snot and Sniff said, “We gotta find Law.”
Stark took one look at Sniff’s face and his own went hard in such a way that Sniff felt a thrill of fear mingled with hope.
“Get in the car,” Stark ordered.
Sniff ran to the car.
* * * * *
Roam
Roam was awake but pretending to be out.
Cordova was dead. Shard had shot him, like, seven times. Right in front of Roam. Roam had never seen so much blood in his life and Roam had seen a lot of shit in his life, including blood, including his own but not that much.
Roam had not put up much of a fuss when Cordova took him at gunpoint to his house, mumbling stupid shit about making Law pay, getting her attention. Roam figured he’d find some way out of it. Anyway, he knew Sniff had seen them and Sniff would call Law. His idiot, big-mouth friend had done it before, he’d do it again. Everyone knew Law could handle Cordova; she could handle just about anyone.
They’d got to his house, Cordova still ranting, telling Roam to sit, continuing to talk about Law and how she was just playing with him and she really wanted him and Roam thought it was kinda funny. It’d be a good story, it’d make Law laugh. He liked to make her laugh. She had a good laugh. She was one fucking hot white bitch normally but when she laughed her face was amazing.
Park made her laugh all the time. Park had worked hard at it. He loved to make Law laugh.
Hell, everyone did.
Then Shard had walked right in the front door, as calm as you please.
Cordova turned to him, saying, “What the –” and that was it.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
Dead.
Roam had been frozen in shock. He should have run.
If he’d been like Crowe he might have had his head together enough to do something, if not to save Cordova then to save himself.
Roam wasn’t like Crowe.
But when Shard turned to Roam he didn’t shoot him, he beat the shit out of him. Roam put up a fight but even all beaten up himself (his face was a swollen, bruised mess) Shard was still stronger, older and smarter than Roam.
So finally, nose bloodied, face cut, ribs burning and after he’d spit up blood the second time, Roam feigned being knocked out and went down.
And he waited.
Shard stood over Roam, Roam felt him there instead of opening his eyes. He listened as Shard called someone and said, “Got Roam. Tell the bitch I’m at Cordova’s. She comes alone or I put a bullet in his brain.”
Then he flipped his phone shut and waited.
Roam hoped Law wasn’t stupid enough to come alone. He’d never seen her in action personally but Martin and Curtis said she was the shit.
Still, Roam hoped she’d send Crowe.
* * * * *
Jules
Hector stopped his car and turned to me.
“Let’s roll,” he said.
I went out my side, he went out his.
He disappeared into the night.
I ran to the house Hector told me was Cordova’s, one block and three houses down.
Hector, still trying to protect his cover, couldn’t be seen. He was running backup for me only if I needed it and while he was positioning himself at the back of the house I was going to the front.
I hadn’t brought my phone and Hector didn’t know who had his tapped. We figured I could call the police or Vance once I sorted out Cordova. It wouldn’t take long.
It was a stupid plan.
* * * * *
Bobby
Bobby watched Vance shoot out of the underground parking area on his Harley.
He had his earpiece in his ear, phone on in his jacket pocket.
Bobby eyes were on the GPS screen and he was going to give Vance directions to Cordova’s house via speakerphone.
By the time Vance made it up to the offices, Bobby had heard Hector telling Jules why he’d broken in. Bobby had already had the GPS directions to Cordova’s house on screen when Vance opened the door and stuck his torso in.
“Keys,” Vance had said, obviously not intent on hanging around, he tossed the keys to Bobby without fully entering the room.
“We got a situation,” Bobby told him after he’d nabbed the keys, “Law.”
Vance’s face got tight and without hesitation he entered the room. Bobby briefed him in thirty seconds.
Vance had his earphone in his ear before the door to the surveillance room closed behind him.
“Turn left,” Bobby told Vance.
Jesus, Cordova’s a fuckin’ idiot, Bobby thought, Crowe
’s gonna feed him his balls for dinner.
“Next street, turn right,” Bobby said out loud.
* * * * *
Lee
The phone rang beside the bed. Lee gently rolled away from the soft, warm body of a dead-to-the-world Indy and snatched his cell off the night table, flipped it open and put it to his ear.
“Yeah?” he answered.
“Lee,” it was Darius.
Lee got tense.
Darius went on. “Shard’s in town. He’s got one of Law’s kids. Roam.”
“Fuck,” Lee clipped.
Lee was out of bed, dressed and out of the house in two minutes.
Indy didn’t wake.
* * * * *
Shirleen
Shirleen was pacing her living room.
The phone rang and she pounced on it.
“What?” she snapped.
“He’s got the brother. Kid’s name is Roam,” Darius told her.
Shirleen closed her eyes. “Call Lee.”
“Already did. We need to find Law’s other kid. I need Daisy’s number.”
“I called her. She’s got Marcus on it.”
“I’ll call Marcus.”
Disconnect.
Shirleen sat down on her white couch. She put her elbows to her knees and her head in her hands and for the first time in a long time, she prayed.
* * * * *
Luke
Luke listened to the phone ringing in his ear, it rang twice before connect.
“Yeah?”
“Lee. I got Sniff. He says Shard’s back in town. He’s got Roam. I’m headed to Cordova’s.”
“Why’re you headed to Cordova’s?”
“Sniff says Shard’s there. He looked through the window. He says Cordova is dead, Roam isn’t in good shape. I found Sniff runnin’ down Colfax headed to Law.”
“Darius called, told me about Shard and Roam, though he didn’t know where he was,” there was a pause then, “fuck!” Lee exploded and Luke’s mouth tightened as he heard Lee uncharacteristically lose control. “Luke, I don’t have a good feeling about this.”
Luke didn’t either. He had a fucking shitty feeling about this.
“Sniff’s leading me to the house, he doesn’t know the address. I’ll get it to you when I get there,” Luke said.
“I’ll call the office for directions,” Lee returned, “out.”
Disconnect.
Luke drove, Sniff gave directions. The kid had gotten control, stopped crying, wiped his face on his sweatshirt and was pointing the way with more certainty than Luke would have expected him to in his state.
Luke’s phone rang again.
Luke flipped it open and put it to his ear. “Yeah?”
“Pick up the speed, Luke,” Lee said. “I called the office. Hector got word about Roam, for some fuckin’ reason he went for Law to get him. She’s probably already there. Out.”
Disconnect.
“Fuck!” Luke snarled, flipped the phone shut, threw it on the dash, put his foot down and the Porsche shot forward.
* * * * *
Jules
Never, not in a million years, would I have thought Sal Cordova would have hurt Roam.
He wanted me then he was going to get me.
But he wouldn’t hurt Roam.
Maybe bore him to death with idiot stories about being a supposed ladies man but that wouldn’t be physically painful, just mentally painful.
That’s why, just like Luke, I went up to the front door, cocky as all hell, knocked three times and shouted, “It’s Jules!”
Then without hesitation I pulled out my gun, put my hand to the door handle, turned it and went in.
I saw in a quick heart-stopping scan of the room that considering Sal was dead, not just dead, very dead, that I was right, he couldn’t hurt Roam.
I also saw that somehow Roam was hurt, unconscious and bloody and lying on the floor.
Without a thought (I really should have thought), I ran into the room toward Roam but to my surprise he surged up shouting, “Law!” his eyes behind me.
I whirled and saw Shard, gun up pointed at me, his bruised and swollen face grinning, eyes hard.
“Fuckin’ bitch,” Shard said.
Then he fired.
Unfortunately Roam had enough chance to get himself in front of me. Roam’s body jerked when the bullet slammed into it and he went down at my feet.
Rage shot through me, I screamed bloody murder, lifted my gun, pointed and fired.
Shard fired too.
My first bullet hit him in the shoulder. I didn’t aim to hurt him overly much.
His first bullet hit me in the gut, he aimed to kill me.
The burning sensation in my belly was nearly overpowering.
The will to live thankfully put the “nearly” in my previous statement.
With a gut wound, knowing his intention, Roam at my feet not moving and his gun still aimed at me, I had no choice but to fire again, this time, with a different aim.
His second shot hit me in the chest.
My second shot went straight into his frontal lobe.
* * * * *
Luke
Luke saw the Harley in front of him, Vance astride it. Luke flashed his lights, Vance lifted his hand. Luke parked the Porsche behind the Harley two doors down from Cordova’s house.
“Stay here, kid,” Luke ordered Sniff.
Sniff nodded but Luke didn’t see him, he was already out of the car.
“I take front, you take back,” Vance said when Luke made it to him, already approaching the house at a jog.
Luke nodded, jogging beside him then separating, beginning to move across the lawn of the house next to Cordova’s, heading toward the back.
Then they heard the shot then the scream and the second they did, they both sprinted forward at a dead run to Cordova’s front door.
By the time they made it and Vance kicked in the door, four more shots had been fired.
* * * * *
Jules
I fell down on my ass, reached out toward a prone Roam, couldn’t find the strength or my breath, to make it to him so I fell to my back.
I closed my eyes, fighting the pain and thinking about getting to a phone. When I opened my eyes again Vance’s face was the only thing I saw.
“Hey,” I said because I figured I’d passed out (I didn’t think I died, the pain of multiple gunshot wounds hurt like a mother and I didn’t figure they had pain in heaven) and this was a dream so I smiled at him.
“Hey, Princess,” he replied, eyes on me, hands working somewhere else then I felt my shirt ripped open from hem to collar.
“Get a goddamned medic here,” I heard Luke bark from somewhere in the room.
I turned my head to see where Luke was but instead saw Hector kneeling over Roam.
I looked back to Vance. “Is Roam okay?” I asked.
“Let’s worry about you right now,” Vance said. He moved away from sight and I saw his hands catch something. When Vance wasn’t filling my vision I was pretty certain I was seeing things because I could swear I caught a glimpse of Darius and then Vance came back to me.
I was losing it, fading, and I knew it. My body was going into shock. I could feel the warm blood sliding out of me even as Vance put pressure on the wounds to stop the bleeding. I didn’t know if I went unconscious if I’d wake up again.
I blinked. “Crowe,” I called.
His eyes had moved from mine to my torso but they came back to me. “Yeah?”
I had a lot of things to tell him, a lot of things I needed him to understand and I knew I didn’t have a lot of time.
I lifted my hand but couldn’t keep it up. Before it fell Vance caught it.
I looked into his eyes as his strong fingers closed around mine and I said the only thing I could think to communicate everything he needed to know.
“Home.”
Then everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Waitin
g
Jet
It was the middle of the night and Eddie’s phone was ringing.
This happened a lot seeing as Eddie was a cop so we were kind of practiced at him answering it without disturbing me (too much).
I was curled into his side. His arm went to the nightstand, he nabbed the phone, flipped it open one-handed and said quietly, “Yeah?”
He listened for five seconds then I felt his body go completely solid.
My head shot up.
Eddie rolled away and turned on the light. When he rolled back, his black eyes were on me. I didn’t like what I saw and I pushed up, one hand at his abs, one hand in the bed.
“Where’re they takin’ her?” Eddie asked.
Oh no.
No, no, no.
My first thought was Mom. My Mom had a stroke nearly a year ago and it had been bad but she had made it. My greatest fear was that it would happen again and worse. Without asking, I whirled around, threw back the covers and jumped out of the bed.
“Right. Later,” Eddie said, his voice urgent.
I was hopping around, pulling on my jeans when Eddie caught me by the waist. “Jet,” he said softly.
I turned to him and pushed off, going back to pulling on my jeans but looking up at him. “Is it Mom? Where is she?”
“It isn’t your Mom,” I stopped and stared at him. He didn’t make me wait. “It’s Jules. She’s been shot.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed.
“It’s not good,” Eddie said.
I stayed still, I couldn’t move, I just stayed still, a foot away from Eddie, staring at him.
“How not good?” I finally asked.
“Chest and gut.”
I felt somehow as if an imaginary bullet tore through me in each place.
“Twice?” I cried, my voice shrill.
“Cariña,” he came forward but I jumped away, pulling up my jeans at the same time.
“Let’s go,” I said.
“There’s nothin’ we can do.”
I yanked off his t-shirt that I’d drunkenly pulled on before I’d fallen into bed what seemed like only minutes ago and I turned to the chest of drawers, pulled out a bra and put it on while I glared at him.
“Let’s go.”
He stared at me a beat then bent to grab his jeans from the floor.
Within five minutes we were out the backdoor and in the garage. I was yanking open the passenger side door to Eddie’s red Dodge Ram when Eddie shoved it closed. I turned to him, mouth open to ask him what he was doing when he put a hand to my belly and pushed me up against the truck, following me there and pinning me with his body.