Page 22 of DOG Part 2
He spat blood, and every muscle in my body clenched, afraid that the man would die before he got the chance to reveal more.
“DiEmanuele only works for himself,” he continued. “You know that. He don’t care about anyone.”
I licked my lips, choosing my words carefully. “He set you up?”
“He’s playing a game with everyone,” Chavez said, each word coming out more strained. “He wants to merge the territories. He hired us to kill you off.”
My jaw clenched as Chavez hacked again.
“Kane,” Skate said, coming up behind me. “There are two dead on their side. No Rugged Angels were hurt.”
I nodded my acknowledgment at him. When I turned back to Chavez the man was dead.
“We did it,” Skate said breathlessly. “Let’s get the Hell out of here.”
“DiEmanuele is setting us up,” I said, not moving.
“What?”
“Chavez said DiEmanuele hired him to do away with us so that he could merge the territories.”
“Jesus,” Skate breathed, shaking his head. He stepped away, headed for the alley across the street that we had stashed our bikes in. “Are you coming?”
I nodded, trying my best to ignore the sudden wave of pain that had come over me. It was followed by a burst of dizziness, and I tried to shake it off by walking.
On the first step I collapsed.
“Kane!” Skate called, rushing to lift my shoulders up. “You’ve been shot.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but didn’t even know what was worth saying. The pain was growing greater, taking over every inch of my body, and the street light above us grew hazy as the others rushed over. The sound of their feet and voices reverberated all around before fading and growing further and further away.
Two people lifted me, and there was raucous chattering. “Where was he hit?” someone asked.
“Looks like his shoulder and the side of his stomach,” someone else, I think Kyle, said.
I was vaguely aware of us moving across the street and into the alley, then of the back of Big Tom’s pickup truck opening, then of me being laid in the bed.
That’s when the voices got even further away, and the dim outlines of the buildings above grew even less defined.
What came next was nothing.
