“And what about the rest of us?” Storm asked. “Who gets to decide when we fight and when we walk away? You sure as shit didn’t walk away when Morgan and Chance were in danger. That was going up against the cartels and you didn’t walk away then.”
“You’re talking about something completely different,” Derek cut in. “That was life and death. Now you’re talking about putting the company, all of our jobs, our families at risk. The kid is in the system. A judge made a ruling in his case. If we go against that now, you can kiss this company goodbye. None of us will ever work in this field again. The company will go bankrupt, and we just recovered from that once. How the fuck are we going to do that again when we all just put everything we have into this?”
“And that makes walking away okay?” Hunter asked. “Do or die for your brothers unless it’s inconvenient?”
“All of you shut up!” Lola shouted. She held her gun out, but I couldn’t tell what side she was on. “None of you are thinking clearly. This isn’t about rescuing someone from certain death. We have to be smart about this. Reid’s going to Utah. OPS is close. We can put a team on Reid; watch him and make sure that’s he’s being treated well. We cannot just kidnap the kid and pray for the best. And what the fuck is wrong with all of you, wanting to help Florrie escape? We always do shit together, but you’re talking about sending her out on her own with that kid. She’ll have no connections, because you know none of us can help her once she’s out there! The feds will be watching our every move. I want to help her too, but this isn’t the way to do it!”
“Why isn’t he offering to go with?” Jules jerked his head at me. “Can’t man up for your woman?”
“Kidnapping is against the law,” I reminded him.
“So is murder, but you snapped a guy’s neck for taking a shot at Florrie. Where’s that sense of justice now?”
“Look, I understand if you don’t want to help me. I know that I’m asking you to stand against Florrie, but there is only one side I’m on right now and that’s Florrie’s, even if she doesn’t see it. If I let her do this, her life is essentially over. And I know I’ll lose her if I stand in her way, but I would rather lose her by trying to save her, than to lose her by a bullet she would take trying to outrun the police. You don’t want to help? That’s fucking fine, but then it’s on your head when she gets hunted down and shot.”
We all stood in a standoff, each of us watching for any sign of movement. I saw Cap slowly pull his phone out and place it against his ear.
“Rob, we’re all in the panic room. Engage the final security protocols.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” Jules yelled, swinging his gun to Cap.
“Just do it right fucking now!”
The lights in the panic room flashed and a voice came over the speaker system, letting everyone know that we were on lockdown and that no one would be allowed to leave. Knight had installed the protocols after Kayla got out. It basically fully locked down the panic room to the point that none of us could override the system and get out. It was the only way that Cap could make sure that Florrie didn’t run.
“What the hell did you do?” Cazzo asked as we heard mechanisms locking into place. None of us knew exactly what happened when the final protocols kicked in. We just knew there was no getting out without an override from someone in the IT department.
“No one is going anywhere,” Cap said. “This shit stops right now. We’ve taken the law into our own hands before, but never when the law was breathing down our necks. I won’t allow this company to go down in flames when there are other ways to handle this!”
“Holy shit. What the fuck is going on?”
I glanced over my shoulder and saw Knight and Tony walking behind Coop, Craig, and Florrie. Reid wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
“Florrie, where’s Reid?”
“Knight stashed him in our suite,” she sneered.
“Florrie, you need to let this go. We’ll figure something out, but this isn’t the way to do this. The social worker is on the way over, if not already here.”
“And I would be gone already if it wasn’t for you,” she shot back. “If you loved me, you would let me walk out that door right now.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Then you never loved me,” she said, right as she launched herself at me. I blocked her fist, but she brought up her knee, immediately nailing me in the nuts. I had been hit there enough to breathe through it as I continued to fight. I did everything I could to keep from hitting her, but when she kicked me in the chest and I flew back into the table, crashing through the glass, I knew I was going to have to step up my game.
“Sinner, get the kid out of here,” I shouted. I barely saw him move before chaos broke out around me. Chris knocked Ice’s gun from his hands and tackled him to the ground. Derek and Hunter were throwing punches, each trying to knock the other out. Cap was fighting Jules. It was fucking chaos.
I jumped to my feet and sidestepped a kick, grabbing her leg and twisting her leg up behind her back. She threw an elbow back into my stomach, but I held tight until I could get in a better position.
“Florrie, knock it off. Someone’s gonna get hurt.”
“Then don’t try to stop me,” she growled, grabbing me around the throat and moving into a
