Page 105 of Cruel Debts
Just like my day.
"I swear to god, you're paying for this shirt," I tossed out at Liam, rounding the corner to climb the stairs. At the top, I put one more round in the center of the asshole who shot me's head, kicking his teeth in for good measure. And then we cleared the apartment.
It was a mess.
"Someone tossed the place." He used the butt of the assault rifle he lifted off the guy at the bottom of the stairs to flip over all the drawers and debris scattered around the little studio setup. "They must've thought there was something up here worth keeping."
"Trinity didn't bring anything with her, though. Just the clothes on her back and her identification." She'd admitted as much when we asked her what she needed put up for safekeeping.
"Maybe they thought Minnie had something here she didn't want anyone to see. The best place to hide it is in someone else's place." His feet tapped on the floorboards as he moved from one side to the other, looking for a loose one.
"Anything?"
He shook his head. "Nothing."
"Guys, not to break up this party," Hawke's voice called out from the stairs outside the door, "but we're on a tight schedule. I lifted one of the asshole's phones before he told me to get fucked. I think he's a driver. I lifted a set of car keys off him, too." He stepped into the apartment and held up a familiar little squarewith a telltale bejeweled case on it. "And I found him with this, too."
Trinity's phone.
"Can you get into his phone?" I asked quickly, rushing over to his side. "Anything good on it?"
"I was about to crack the motherfucker when my plan went kind of sideways." His eyes cut to Liam, and then to me. "Someone walked in on me beating the shit out of this guy, and shots were fired."
"Are you okay?" I asked, glancing up and down his body for signs of injury.
He looked pointedly at my arm, but said nothing, just quirked a brow. "I'm in better shape than you, that's for sure."
"We've gotta go," Liam said suddenly, peeking out the front windows that faced the street. "The party's over, and the cops are here to break it up."
Mistwood was in the wind, probably holed up doing his own shit, so there was no guarantee he would be on the beat with these assholes, or even a responding backup unit. We were on our own for this one.
"Let's go." I led the way, snatching up Trinity's phone as I flew past, Hawke taking the other one with a grin. We managed to get back down the stairs and to the back hallway without running into a single cop, but that's when our luck ran out.
The man we'd knocked out when we got here had woken up, and apparently, he never got the Get Out Of Dodge memo, because he was headed intothe club, not out. And the second he spotted us, he pulled a pistol and started firing like a madman.
Shit.
One more complication we didn't need.
Liam took decisive action and stepped out as he was reloading, landing a shot square in his forehead without even trying. The gunslinger put his skills to deadly use, clearing ourway in seconds, and I nodded my thanks as we made our way far, far away from this damn cesspool.
When we were safe, I turned to the others, taking a seat against the nearest alleyway wall with a grunt of pain.
My arm fuckinghurt.
"Debrief."
Hawke held out the Russian's phone with a grimace. "Looks like he's been in contact with someone recently with an unsaved number. Definitely a burner phone—oh shit."
The phone started to ring, and I motioned for him to answer it, but stay silent.
He put it on speaker for us all to hear.
"We're moving the girls. Get to Pier Six, fast. Bring the van. The club's in police custody, and we're shifting gears. We move tonight, not tomorrow."
The line went dead.
Pier six.
