Page 86 of Rise of the King (Checkmate 5)

19

Reunion

Jay

Irun.

I turn away from the woman I love and pray no one is out here watching us, because if there is, they’ll see me, they’ll see Soph, and they’ll alert their man.

Whipping my nine-millimeter from the back of my jeans, I come to a screeching stop at the door and wait a beat. Running in without assessing the situation helps no one. For only ten more seconds, I can be a ghost.

“Let her go, motherfucker.” I don’t seehim, but I hear the voice from my past, the man who allowed me to sleep on his couch while I was dying from a dirty batch of cocaine. I was too afraid to go home to Kane, too ashamed to let him see me so weak, so I hid out in Officer Riley Cruz’s home, and I paid the price in the end when I was too slow in a club named Infernos.

Glancing back to Sophia, I bite off a bunch of fucking curse words when she pokes her head around the corner to watch me. “Get back!” I hiss. “Move!” Reaching up as Riley’s booming voice inside makes my heart race, I yank the front of my beanie down so it covers my face and hides my identity.

“It’s five against one,” Riley bites out. “Step the fuck down.”

I peek inside the dark garage and catch a glimpse of one man in the middle of the huddle clutching the girl to his chest. Riley stands with the barrel of his gun almost touching the dude’s forehead; Kane circles the prick, and his men – Spence, Eric, and Angelo – fan out to surround them.

Kane’s not in danger. The only man in trouble today is the dumb fuck who never expected five guns to come down on him so swiftly.

Six, if he turned around and noticed me.

“I’m looking for Kane Bishop.”

“Well, she ain’t him,” Riley spits out angrily, “and she lacks self-preservation skills. Using her was your first mistake.” He lifts his gun just a little higher when the guy starts to back up. “Let her go, then die like a man.”

He doesn’t release her. He takes a step back, then another. The satchel pulled over her shoulder squeals, and she, the girl, declares war on the fuckwit who makes her roll her ankle.

“I said ‘stop’!” Riley surges forward with barely a tremor in his voice. My eyes come down for a second, drawn to the silver glint of the prosthetic leg he now walks on. I knew it was there. Ace – Soph – had pulled that information for me months ago, but seeing it in real life is entirely different, and it makes my heart ache.

“Don’t step behind me,” the dude demands. “Give me Bishop, and I’ll leave you be.”

“I’m Bishop.” Carelessly, Kane steps forward and exposes his broad chest. Loosening his hold on the gun in his hand, he lets it dangle from his finger like a total poser. I know he has about six others loaded and strapped to his body. “What’s your beef with me, soldier?”

The man turns his body to face Kane and drags his belligerent hostage around with him. The animal in her bag screeches so loudly, it stings my eardrums. The sound flusters the guy, but his gun remains steady. “You’re making waves three thousand miles from here, Bishop. You have a price on your head, and it’s my job to deliver you.”

“Who sent you?” Kane replies easily.

Once a thug, always a thug. He doesn’t scare away from the gun or the contract on his head… until his blonde skids to a stop at the door with wide eyes and a heaving chest.

“What the fuck?” she snaps.

“Go back inside, Jessica, right now.”

“What the fuck?” she repeats on a screech that rivals the satchel-pet. Stepping down into the garage and cocking her very own Glock, she bypasses Angelo, then Eric, and stops beside Kane with a steady hand. She attempts to step in front of him, only to be yanked back and stuffed behind Kane’s back.

“I don’t need all of you,” the man hisses. It’s a hiss, because speaking like a man would reveal the way his voice cracks with nerves. “I need Bishop. There are other, badder men coming down on this town, so come with me, and I’ll make it easier.” He takes a large step back and makes his way toward me. “I just need him. I don’t have a problem with the rest of you.”

“You’re just plain stupid if you think you’re walking out that door with her.” Spence, all seven feet of brawn and straight-up crazy, shoots off a round at the man’s feet and sends Andi yelping and jumping into the air. She comes down again with a crash and whimper when the man clutches her short hair. “You won’t survive today’s stunt, son. You can only beg for an easy death.”

“I have the winning card,” the man declares shakily. “I’ve got the girl.” He pulls her back and ignores her cries. “I’m taking her, then you’ll exchange her for Bishop.”

“Why?” Kane circles around and crosses paths with a stalking Riley. “What did I do that warrants you stepping onto my property and losing your life?”

“You assassinated Abel Hayes.”

Kane nods as though killing a man is no big deal. “That’s accurate. I popped him between the eyes and sung him a fuckin’ lullaby.”

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