Page 88 of Rise of the King (Checkmate 5)

And the young goofball in me doesn’t understand it.

Jess spins me back so I lose sight of Soph, then her blue eyes meet mine with heavy tears sitting in her lashes. “I’m so fucking confused right now.”

“I’m sorry about that. I’m not trying to scare you or anything.”

“Are you really Jay? Is there a third Bishop we don’t know about?”

“I’m Jay.”

“You’re not a bad guy who’s about to peel Jay’s face off and reveal our red-faced enemy?”

“Ah… no. This is my face.”

“Jessica.” Kane’s snapped word makes her jump in place.

She presses a hand to her heart and turns to him. “Hold on a sec.”

“Jessica!” he repeats. Stepping forward, he pushes through his teammates and snags her arm so hard, Jess cries out and rips it from his grasp.

“Don’t manhandle me, Kane Bishop! I said ‘hold on a sec.’”

“And I said ‘back the fuck up.’” He stuffs her behind his back and steps up to face me. He’s only half an inch taller than me, no broader, no badder. But his impenetrable stare guts me in ways I haven’t felt since I was a kid and our father kicked the shit out of us for some bullshit infraction.

Right in this moment, it almost feels like I’m staring into Colum Bishop’s eyes.

“You’re dead.” Kane’s nose flares. “This isn’t right.”

“I’m here.” I push Soph back when she leans around me and mirrors Jess’ stance.

“No!” Kane snaps. “You’re fucking dead.” His jaw ticks dangerously, and his hand remains clasped around the handle of his loaded gun.

“Like how you were dead, right?” I stuff Soph back again when she insists on seeing the crowd. “You were pulled back by Cap, and everyone believed you were dead. Your girl thought you were dead; the PD thought you were dead. Then you came back, and your girl didn’t believe you.”

“This is some kinda bullshit,” Kane seethes. “I don’t… I don’t know what to–” The soldier who lay sprawled on the concrete beside our feet lifts to his hands and knees with a groan, only to drop again when Kane’s steel toe boot shoots out and snaps his head around. Zero remorse, zero hesitation, Kane knocks the dude out cold and raises a hand to signal Spence. “Can you move him to the bunker?” Kane doesn’t turn. His eyes don’t release mine for a single beat. “Spence?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Spence steps forward and hefts the soldier up. Throwing him over his thick shoulder like he weighs only forty pounds and not two hundred, Spence slowly backs up, but he’s hesitant to turn away. “Bish?”

We both turn to him.

We’re both Bish.

“Secure him to the wall and wrap his leg,” Kane murmurs. “He’s gonna die today, but not before we speak to him.”

“Got it.”

As soon as Spence steps away, Kane’s furious eyes come back to mine. “Who pulled you back? Why?”

“Ace pulled me. And because this was always bigger than Abel Hayes.”

“Abel is dead.”

“I know.” I run a hand over my chin, then shoot my hand back again to wrap around Soph’s small wrist. “Abel’s dead. We thought he was the target, but he’s just a soldier. Same as Corrin, same as Aguilar, same as Neal.”

“You hit them?”

I nod.

With wary eyes, Eric moves around me so he’s closer to Soph. She crushes her chest to my back, but I can’t turn. Kane is my enemy right now. He’s the one who has a problem. Thankfully, Eric doesn’t come too close. Instead, he grabs the heavy garage door and manually closes it at my back and makes the garage that much darker. “I’m just making this shit more private,” Eric says. “Single door is twelve steps to your left. I’m not locking you in; you have an exit. I’m just taking this off the street.”

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