Page 34 of KingPin
“What the fuck happened?” I demand the minute I let Katie into my apartment.
One side of her face is blotchy and full of red and her lip is busted down the middle. I can see whoever got to her, grabbed her hair and was yanking her around. Just what Katie needed. Another beating.
“Luca! You can’t go after him. He knows you’re alive and he knows where you’re staying. It is only a matter of time before he comes looking for you here,” she wheezes as she holds onto her ribs.
“Why did you leave? What are you doing?” I yell at her. I’m pissed off that Katie feels the need to leave the apartment to find trouble. I never fucking asked her to leave and start throwing her weight around.
“I got a call from Trinity,” she mumbles. Instantly I know she’s talking about one of the street girls she’s trying to get off the streets. “She sounded scared and said she needed help.”
“What did you do?” I deadpan. The quicker we get to what happened, the quicker I can find Mason and get this shit over with.
“I went to go and get her. She said she was on the normal track she does. When I got there, I got jumped by Raul. He said he knows you’re still alive and he’s coming for you.”
I shake my head and begin to pace. This is fucking bull shit. We weren’t supposed to be having these assholes know about my being alive yet. Raul always wants to fuck with my plans.
“What did you say?”
“I told him that you were dead and have a new leader taking over your crew.”
I’m looking over Katie as we are talking and I know what happened. He didn’t like the answer.
What I want to know is who told him I’m still alive? I could have been pushing up daisies. He doesn’t know shit.
I begin to look around my apartment. I’m feeling paranoid and every street sense I have is telling me there’s eyes in here. If he has my apartment bugged, why hasn’t he made a move? He could have killed me a long time ago.
I’m looking at each part of the apartment to see what there is around. Nothing is out of the ordinary.
Until I get to the kitchen.
I throw open a cabinet next to the sink to see what is glowing in the darkness. There is something there and I want to know what it is right now.
“Katie, grab my phone and text Mason. Tell him to abort the mission and get his ass back here!”
I’m reaching my hand into the cabinet to grab whatever it is that is gleaming in the darkness. It’s soft to the touch with a metallic feeling to it.
“What are you doing?” Katie asks from the entrance to the kitchen.
“I see something shiny in the cabinet. Stay back!” I order.
I begin to pull at whatever it is. It doesn’t come easily and once I wrap my fingers around the smooth device, I know exactly what it is. It’s a camera and a mic.
“What the actual fuck!” I yell and pull it all the way out hearing it rip from the wall.
“What is it?” Katie asks from the entrance again.
Clearly, she doesn’t listen to me. If she were a part of my gang, I would have a bigger problem with this than I do at the moment. At the moment, I need to focus on who’s bugging my place.
Before I can snap at her, there is a sizzling noise coming from the cabinet and the smell of sulfate floods through my nose.
“Get down!” I yell at Katie as I run towards her to cover her with my body. I know I need to worry about myself too, but this is the woman who has tried to save everyone.
My body tackles her into the ground behind the divider to the kitchen. I shield her from the blow that shakes the floor. It is loud and deafening.
I hear a scream from far away and I don’t know if it is my own or if it is Katie. Something strikes me in the back of the head.
It’s not long before everything goes dark.
Chapter Twenty-Four
