Page 32 of The Hitman and the Psychic

He stopped at the edge of the playground, and we waited for them to come to us. I chewed on my bottom lip, every muscle in my body tense, listening for sounds of footsteps approaching us. A second later, a figure emerged from the darkness and stalked toward us. He stopped far enough away that I could barely make out his features.

“I wasn’t sure you were gonna make it.”

“Joint.” Stone sent him a nod. “I hope we’re not too late.”

“Nah, man.”

“Are the new guys all here?”

Joint glanced behind him. “They’re here.”

My eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, and I could make out the man’s features more clearly. I recognized him from Razor’s place, but for some reason, he seemed more sinister in the dark. His hair was pulled back with an elastic, and a short beard covered his jaw. He twisted his head over his shoulders and called out. “All right boys, let’s make this quick.”

Five shadowy figures detached from the darkness and came to stand behind Joint. A few were young, no more than seventeen or eighteen. The others wore the hardened look of street toughs. My stomach squirmed. I did not want to touch any of them.

Joint glanced at the group. “This is Stone. I’m sure you’ve heard of him.” A few of the men straightened, and one even took a step back. “Razor owes him, so just tell him what he wants to know so we can get back to business.”

Stone edged closer, so I tagged along, glued to his side. He nodded toward Joint. “I don’t think you were introduced earlier. This is…” He paused, like he’d forgotten my name, but then I realized he wanted to protect me.

“Sen.” I held my hand out. “We saw each other at the shop.”

“Yeah.” Shocked that I wanted to shake his hand, it took him a second to reach out. Luckily his touch was brief.

“All right if I meet your men?”

Joint flicked a gaze between me and Stone, but finally nodded.

“Great, thanks.” Smiling, I quickly stepped to the next man and introduced myself again. “Hi. I’m Sen.”

“Uh, Staples.” After a quick shake, I moved to the next, meeting Ajax, Hammer, and Snake. I held out my hand to the last guy, but he didn’t make a move to touch me.

“Dude… you afraid of her or what?” Staples, one of the younger guys, laughed.

With a scowl, he finally gave in to the pressure. “Grizzo.” The brief touch was enough to let me know that he had a good reason for not getting too close.

My stomach fluttered, but I smiled as pleasantly as I could, and stepped back. Wiping my hand on the side of my dress, I glanced at the street. Were the cops already on their way? Did we have time to question these guys? I hadn’tpicked up a thing from them about Stone, so they probably didn’t have anything to do with the phone call that lured him to the blast. Crap. We needed to get out of there. “Well, it was good to meet you, but, uh… we’ve gotta get going.”

I grabbed Stone’s arm and started pulling him toward the car.

He turned around, but didn’t budge, sending me a questioning glare.

I leaned in close. “I think the cops are coming. All these guys are going to be arrested.”

“Wait! Did you just say the cops are coming?” Joint stood right behind us.

Jumping, I twisted to gape at him. “Uh… yeah. We all need to get out of here.”

Hearing that, the group scattered, each of them taking off in a different direction. All but Joint, who stared at me with narrowed eyes. “How do you know the cops are coming? Did you sell us out?” His wild eyes held accusation.

“No! I’ve got—I know things. Look—we all need to go. I am not getting picked up by the police tonight.”

“Fine, but this ain’t over.”

“We’ll talk later,” Stone replied.

“Yeah, we will.” With a scowl on his face, he lumbered off toward the houses across the street. He didn’t seem in any hurry, but I lost sight of him as we continued toward our car. I quickly opened the passenger door and jumped in.

Stone started up the car. Driving out of the parking lot, he glanced my way. “What did you see?”

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