“Pierce!” Jeremy shouts, closer than before. “No matter where you go, I’ll find you! I’ll make you regret running!”
I keep moving forward until I reach the stairwell, gritting my teeth the entire way. Jeremy will burn this whole place to the ground, no matter the cost. Money. Resources. Lives. The kid is fucking insane.
“Pierce!” Lacy says with a gasp as I put my foot on the first step. She and Shannon bound down. They wrap their arms around me and grip tight.
I usher them toward the exit. “We’re going to the back,” I say.
“Try the exit!” I hear a man shout from the darkness of the hall.
The girls look at me, fear in their glassy eyes.
“Get behind the stairs,” I command. “And don’t come out for any reason.”
They rush to comply, and I take a moment to make sure they’re hidden well enough. When the bruiser rounds the corner into the stairwell, I lunge, taking us both to the floor.
Big mistake.
He effortlessly flips the tables and gets me on my back. I’m weak and struggling to breathe. He punches down, busting my lip, creaking my nose—I should’ve known I can’t grapple with someone at their full strength when I can barely muster a run.
The taste of copper fills my mouth on the third punch. Still conscious but limp, I figure it is better he gets me than finds the girls. He grabs me by the collar of my shirt, searches around for his dropped gun, and upon finding it, brings it up to my neck.
“Where’re the others?” he growls as he buries the barrel of the .22 deep into my jugular.
I don’t answer. I’d never answer.
Shannon exits her hiding spot, walks over with the stealth of a shadow, and stabs the man with Lacy’s needle, right in the soft of his back. I’d be willing to bet—based on the man’s unbridled scream—she hit his kidney dead on.
I twist the man’s gun around and fire, the muzzle flash a momentary bright spot etched into my eye as the bullet rips through the guy’s cheek and head. Shannon jumps back, both hands over her ears, and I throw the still-bleeding corpse off my body in order to stand.
Taking the gun, I motion for the girls to run. “C’mon!”
Lacy and Shannon bust out into the glory of the moonlight. Hot on their tail, I exit to find the beam of a helicopter spotlight rushing down on me. The beat of the propellers muffles all sound as it drops near the retirement home. The symbol for the Illinois State Police adorns both sides of the vehicle—a star over the silhouette of the state.
I have never been so happy to see the cops in my entire life.
Took Rhett fucking long enough.
“Miles!”
Lacy’s excited shout is almost lost to the helicopter. I whip around and spot Miles exiting the building. He’s covered in grime, splattered with speckles of crimson, and jogs over with heavy steps, but otherwise he appears unharmed. Once together, we move away from the building and cross the street. The sirens of police vehicles screech into the area. We’ll be swarming in blue uniforms before the dawn. It’s no wonder the hired guns fled.
“There were people inside,” Miles says between heavy breaths. “And I’m sure they’ll try to leave.”
“The trucks aren’t going anywhere now that the cops are involved,” I state. “Leave them.”
“What about the other vehicles? We should try to stop them.”
Of course Miles wants to save them all, but we’re lucky to have made it out with our lives. Orange flickers of flame lick out the windows, and black smoke blots out the last of the stars. It’s not the people in the trucks who need rescuing.
Miles glances off toward the building. His sister takes his arm. “Don’t go,” Lacy says.
Shannon nods. “You both should stay.”
I’m sure some of these assholes are going to escape. They still have cop buddies on the inside, at least tonight, and the smaller vehicles can, and have, escaped from the police in the past. Not the trucks, and not everyone, but that’s better than nothing, right?
I turn to Miles, who stares at the building with a look of conflicted desire. “When the fire engines get here, tell the firefighters,” I say. “You know they’re more capable of handling the situation than you are.”
Miles holds Lacy close. “You’re right. I… I’ll stay here.”
Shannon sticks to my side. “What’s going to happen?”
“The cops are gonna take us home.”
“But they brought us here!”
“These ones are good guys.”
Shannon rubs at her eyes. “And if they’re not?”
“I guess we’ll have to fight them too,” I say with half a laugh and half a sigh.
Miles gives me a one-sided smile before regarding Shannon. “Don’t worry. We won’t let anything happen to you two.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
NOTHING FEELS better than ice on my face.
I rest back in the chair, staring at the ceiling, as the ice melts inside its plastic baggie. Water pools, but I don’t mind. It’s still cold, and that’s all that matters. It soothes the pain.
The door to Rhett’s office opens. For the short period of time before it closes, I catch the cacophony of typing, talking, hustling, and shouting. Despite everything happening in Noimore, the Joliet City Police Department is just as swamped. Reporters want answers for the dozen crooked cops. It’s a scandal unlike the city has ever seen.
Miles sits up in his chair and places a hand on my leg. I straighten my posture and toss the half-melted bag of ice onto Rhett’s desk. The man looks overworked and stressed, like someone who patted themselves down after nearly burning to death. He doesn’t give my ice bag a second glance.
“Did you find anything about Worldwide Decurion?” Miles asks.
“The man I apprehended in the boathouse is willing to testify that they’re involved,” Rhett says as he paces back and forth. He stares down at the mess of paperwork on his desk and frowns. “And thanks to the evidence Shelby supplied
