Chapter 12
Toni
I knew what I wanted to do, but I asked anyway. I couldn't expect him to take my thoughts and desires into consideration if I didn't do the same for him. So, I blew out a soft, steady breath, and counted to twenty while waiting for an answer. When none came, I offered my opinion. “I think this would be a good time to call the cops.”
Ash made a face, tapping his fist against the steering wheel, but he didn't discount it outright, so I gave him silence as he thought. He didn't speak for the next few minutes as the activity behind the window we were watching grew more agitated. Shadows moved and merged, making it impossible for us to know what was going on beyond the fact that it didn't seem to be good.
Ash said something under his breath, his soft words lost as my phone began to ring. It was Vic's ringtone, and I gave Ash an apologetic glance. “It's my brother.” I didn't bother to specify which one until I answered, “Hey, Vic, make it fast. I’m kinda busy.”
“Ah...yeeeahhhhh...” He drew the words out. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”
The tone of his voice made a shiver go up my spine. “Spit it out, Victor.”
“It’s just...well, you wouldn’t by any chance be doing some...investigating of your own?” He hesitated, and then continued, “Because that might not be the best idea at the moment.” Off in the background, I heard my brother talking to somebody in a hurried tone. When he came back on the phone, his voice was stronger. And more concerned. “I’m serious now, Toni. You need to go. Shit is about to go down in all kinds of different ways.”
Adrenaline surged through me, followed quickly by a chill. “Trouble...”
“Yeah. Go!”
I shot a look over at Ash. He was still staring at the building, but I had a feeling he could hear the conversation clearly enough. Judging by his clenched jaw and the tense set of his shoulders, however, he wasn’t planning on going anywhere.
Shit.
I'd known this was a bad idea.
I looked over at the building too. The activity behind the window had gone still. But there was a sudden tension that hadn't been there before. Now that I thought about it, things had been oddly quiet before. Throat strangely dry, I looked up the street, and then down, noticing things I’d missed earlier.
The plain car parked a few spaces up from ours. Nothing fancy, but still a bit out of place.
The couple that looked almost too casual at the bodega. They were together, except they weren't. No touching and no lingering looks. They smiled and leaned toward each other, and others might have been fooled, but to me, it looked fake, forced. And they kept watching things besides each other.
Something was off.
Something was really off.
Just as that thought came into my head, I heard a noise. Tires, squealing as they rounded the street.
Then, another sound. Sirens.
I tensed.
A black SUV slammed to a stop next to my side of the car, and Ash wrapped his arm around me, hauling me back against him. The driver was focused in the opposite direction, but the man in the back seat was looking at me.
And his gun was pointing in my direction.
Shit.
Vic’s voice shouted at me from the phone I still held clutched in my hand.
“I’m here,” I said without lifting the phone to my ear. Vic’s shouting ceased. “Somebody’s got a gun pointed at us.”
Vic’s furious cussing reached my ears much better than his tinny response from a few seconds ago.
“It's going to be okay.” Ash's voice was low and steady in my ear.
My heart was racing. The body’s fight or flight response, I told myself. I knew which one I wanted to go with. Flight. Flight sounded really good. But I didn't have anywhere to go.
“Uh-huh.” I kept my eyes on the man with the gun. He was no more than ten feet away. Would be hard to miss us at this range.
“Son of a bitch...”
Behind me, Ash tensed.
The men and women I’d already guessed to be undercover cops were running, some towards us, some towards the apartment building.
“Get down,” Ash said.
“What?”
He didn’t explain, just pushed me down and covered me with his body.
A bang nearly deafened me, and I heard Ash swear again. He shifted and I felt something hard scrape against my cheek.
“Are you hurt?”
His voice sounded strange, muffled, and for a moment, I was afraid he'd been injured. Then I realized it was only that my ears were still ringing. I nodded.
“I'm fine.” I pushed back against him.
“Wait.” He kept his hand on my back as he lifted himself up slowly. “Fuck,” he muttered.
I sat up, confirming I wasn't in any danger when Ash didn't immediately protest. As soon as my head cleared the window – or what had been the passenger's side window – I saw what Ash was staring at.
Another gun being pointed at me, at us. Except I was pretty sure that the woman holding it was a cop, and a familiar one at that. She didn't look like she was about to shoot us, but she didn't look entirely friendly either.
“Stay where you are,” she said.
“Like hell...” Ash started to move, but stopped when I reached over and put a hand on his arm.
“I think it’s okay, Ash.” I was surprised at how steady my voice sounded.
Behind the cop, I saw two men being pulled out of the SUV. The driver was swearing, but the man who'd had the gun – the one who'd shot at Ash and me – looked almost bored. I cut my eyes toward the apartment building again and saw Trask being led out in handcuffs.
“All right, rich boy, let's get you and the lady out of the car nice and slow.”
We did as she ordered, but as I stepped onto the sidewalk, my eyes narrowed, as much at how familiar she seemed as the way she was talking to us. It was something about the way she cocked her head, the set of her chin...
“Son of a bitch.”
A man's voice caught my ear and I looked toward it.
“Vic?”
The cop scowled. Without looking back, she said, “Gallagher, I told you I’d handle this.” Pointing at me and Ash, she said, “You two, my car. Now.”
Suddenly, it hit me. Holding. The people. The smells. The hooker–
“It was you!” I shouted.
Her eyes darted away from mine. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Vic’s hand clamped over my arm before I could press the matter. “Come on, Sis. You should sit down. Now.”
I glanced behind me to make sure Ash was following. I wasn't surprised to see that he was right there, his eyes finding mine. He wasn't going to leave me.
Chapter 13
Toni
“Give me a reason.” Marcum glared at me.
“Ah...well, I can tell you that I didn’t think we’d see anybody.” I shrugged.
My head was pounding with all that had happened.
Finding out that my troublemaking brother who used to get in trouble with the cops so often was now one of their informants...and with the FBI.
The ‘hooker’ who'd been in the holding cell with me hadn’t been a hooker. She'd been undercover on Vice at the time and had chosen to stay in the cell as soon as she recognized me. Because she knew Vic.
The FBI was pissed at Ash and me for nearly getting ourselves killed by being where we weren’t supposed to be. Marcum had told us to wait, but we'd taken matters into our own hands. We hadn't called her with what we'd found. If we had, we might not have been shot at. We might not have left the house at all because Marcum might have told us that my brother had helped her find the dirty cop. And that the dirty cop had given her the name Lily Trask.