Page 44 of Xerxes Ascendant
CHAPTER 13
Kyle
Kyle yanked on the door in the wall that led back into Club Luxe, but cursed quietly upon realising it had been locked behind them. Full of what his boss would undoubtedly call misplaced faith in humanity, he banged his fist on its battered surface and called for help that never came, while Akira watched the approaching gang members with wary anticipation.
He’d subtly shifted to put himself between them and Kyle, all protective in that equally adorable and scorchingly hot way of his. Head cocked and eyes blazing, he seemed ready to unleash his most fearsome and competent self, but there was admirable bravery and then there wasthis.Single-handedly taking on a dozen armed thugs was beyond the capabilities of even the great Master Epsilon, surely, and Kyle had already been through the horrendously agonising experience tonight of believing Akira dead.
“We don’t want any trouble, gentlemen. We have credits we can generously part with,” Kyle announced loudly.
Well, Akira did.Mayhave, although there was that exorbitant debt of his. It probably depended on whether or not he’d been paid upfront by Tyrone.
“The boss doesn’t want your credits,” one of the Carrions said with a low, sinister chuckle, shifting a metal bat from one hand to the other and giving it a testing swing. “She wantsyou.”
Oh dear. Here they went again. Why did everyone in this city seem to want a piece of them? Couldn’t Kyle and Akira just be left alone?
“Gonna come quietly, boys?”
“Kyle doesn’t doanythingquietly,” Akira muttered with dry amusement.
“I’m afraid we’re going to be a little busy tonight, making up for five years of lost time,” Kyle told the Carrions, offering them a dazzling smile because it never hurt. “If you could just step aside, we’ll be on our way…”
They moved, but not to the side. As one, they advanced closer with hungry eyes raking over the pair of them.
Akira tensed and fell into a defensive stance, fists raised. “I want to talk to Sinead.”
“That’s not how this works,” the Carrion said flatly. He gestured behind him and one of the men at the back of the group obligingly held up two sackcloth hoods.
Shit. This wasn’t good. It had been the Carrion gang that had come after them when they’d ventured outside the city that time, sent by the mayor to retrieve Kyle so he could be made into his brother’s personal fucktoy.
Kyle suspected a different fate awaited him now considering Miles was likely tucked up in bed at House Epsilon, but was this another of Benedict Mackenroth’s machinations, or did the Carrion have their own agenda?
Either way, he wasn’t eager to find out.
The lead Carrion raised the bat, looking huge and menacing as he faced off against a grim, unarmed Akira.
“Hey, are you…woah!” said a new voice, one that sounded too startled to belong to any of the Carrions. Kyle spared thestranger a glance and recognised him as the bouncer who had been posted on the front door of Club Luxe when he’d arrived earlier. One hand was held palm outwards in surrender, the other already stuffed down his trousers. He blinked at the congregation of men in the alley. Clearly, he’d expected their fun to have been a little more private.
“We need help!” Kyle shouted, waving to draw his attention. “They’re trying to kidnap us!”
But the man began to back away out of the alley’s entrance, eyes cast down to the ground in the posture of someone not willing to interfere. “Boss has a deal with you Carrions, right? I won’t get involved.”
That an arrangement was in place between the gang and Tyrone Court was interesting, but unsurprising. As Kyle knew from his own technically illegal career, the city’s nightlife and criminal underbelly were virtually indistinguishable.
Disappointment welled within him at the man’s refusal to help. But Akira was more ruthless than Kyle, and didn’t need a person’s cooperation to exploit what he frequently referred to as their usefulness. The bouncer might not be an ally…but apparently he did just fine as a distraction.
“Mayor Mackenroth!” Akira yelled at him. “Mayor, tell them we’re with you!”
The nonsense made them all turn to look at the retreating man. He froze under the Carrions’ collective accusatory stares, his long hair and young features nothing like those of the city’s mayor, but they hadn’t needed to be. In the tension of an almost-fight, in the dark, with a new element added to the mix thatcouldbe Mayor Mackenroth…a fraction of a second’s hesitation was enough.
Kyle leapt forward and clumsily shoved one of their bemused assailants aside to forge a clear path to freedom. Akira took out another. And then they were running, running, running, Kyle’sheartbeat in his ears and his shoes pounding pavement, as the pair of them ducked in and out of shadows, through tiny alleys and around darkened corners until Akira tugged on his hand.
“We’ve lost them, Kyle,” he panted, the emergency lighting far above their heads threading red strands through his dark hair. They both slowed to a walk to catch their breaths.
But four sectors wasn’t enough for Akira’s liking, and he made them cross another two – and ascend up to Level B, half the city away and now the top level of what was left of Lower Xerxes – before allowing Kyle to collapse onto a deserted bench. It was graffitied and sticky to the touch, but Kyle was beyond caring. The adrenaline of what had almost happened to them was still racing through his head.
“What’s Robby like?” he asked, so that he would hear the wonder in Akira’s voice again as he spoke of his daughter. See the way his face lit up with delighted animation.
“Amazing,” Akira murmured, his expression instantly turning to fond pride. “Incredibly intelligent, driven, and with an increasing tendency not to listen to me or her mother. Because teenagers know best, naturally.” He rolled his eyes.
