27. Max

Fox pulled to a stop,and Dash and I rushed out, weapons ready as we approached the back door. I nodded to Dash and he pulled the door open. It was as if I’d never left the military as I stepped into the dark hallway and cleared the rooms at the back. I heard the sound of a chair scrape as it went deadly quiet in the front of the bar.

I glanced over at Dash, who was listening just as intently to what was going on. I signaled for him to take the right side of the hallway while I cleared the kitchen. I pushed the door open, staying low as I slipped inside and checked out the employees. There was only one person in the back at the moment, and he was nodding along to the music as he flipped burgers on the grill. I backed out and signaled it was all clear.

I peeked around the corner and watched as a burly man yanked FNG out of his seat and tossed him across the room. He crashed into a table, rolling off and falling into the chairs. With the distraction fully in swing, our suspect made his move. He rushed to the back hallway, right into our path. I grabbed him by the shirt just as he tried to make a run for it. Dash was on him next, pulling his hands behind his back. He quickly put zip ties on the fucker, then gagged him and shoved him toward the back door.

“Fox, we’re on the move.”

“Uh, you’ve got company. They’re headed right toward you.”

“How many?”

“Four. Looks like another team. Wait?—”

He cut out suddenly, and I pressed my finger to my ear. “Fox, come in.”

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed.

The man in my hold squirmed, trying to get out of my grasp. With one look at Dash, he pulled a syringe and shoved it into the man’s neck. He swayed in my arms as he tried to scream, but it quickly died out.

The door swung open and bright light filtered in as the team entered the hallway. With my weapon already drawn, I was about to pull the trigger when Fox rushed into the fray with a big grin on his face.

“Don’t shoot!”

I didn’t pull the trigger, but I also didn’t lower my weapon. “Fox, what the fuck is going on?”

The man in the lead pulled off his mask. “You’re interfering with our operation.”

“You’re interfering with ours,” I countered. “Move before I make you move.”

The man smirked at me, along with Fox. “I don’t think so.”

“I wouldn’t push him,” Fox whispered. “This is The Kamau!” he said, jerking his thumb at the man.

“The who?”

“Can we move before this operation is blown?” asked one of the other men in masks.

“Agreed,” Dash said. “We’ll work out the logistics later.”

“He’s ours. Whoever the fuck you are, you can have him when we’re done.”

“There’s a child’s life on the line,” The Kamau growled.

“I know. That’s why we’re here.”

One of the other men leaned in and whispered something to the man in black. He nodded and stood aside. “We’ll follow you to your location.”

Who the fuck did this guy think he was? I was about to tell him that when Dash agreed. “I’ll send you the address.”

I was fucking lost, but by the sound of the ruckus in the other room, we had to beat feet. “Dash, go save FNG before he gets himself killed.”

He turned around, firing a round into the ceiling. I hurried out the back door with the man’s limp body over my shoulder, then shoved the asshole into the back seat. “Let’s move!” I shouted to Fox as he climbed in the front.

“Man, this is so exciting. Imagine meeting The Kamau on the job!”

“Who the fuck is this guy?”

“Oh, he’s like the best assassin ever. Not that he does that anymore. He’s reformed. Yep, gave it all up for the little woman.”

“And why is he called The Kamau?”

“I gave him that name,” he said, turning around and grinning. “It means Quiet Warrior. And if you ever heard of his work, you’d understand why I gave him that name.”

Great. Fox had a crush on a man who was trying to take over our job. “Just get us out of here.”

He saluted me and peeled out, taking the corner too fast as he headed for the street in front of the building. I fell into the door as he swerved into traffic. He hit the brakes suddenly, and a large thump hit the front of the SUV.

“What the fuck was that?” I snapped.

“Oops,” he winced. “I uh…I think I might have run over FNG.”

Swearing under my breath, I flung the door open and raced around to the front of the SUV. FNG was lying on the ground with blood gushing from his head. This wasn’t good. I shoved my fingers through my hair as I tried to figure out what to do. The man needed a hospital, but we had a suspect in the back of the vehicle.

“He’s fine,” Dash said, running out to meet me.

“He’s unconscious on the ground,” I argued.

“Trust me.”

That was it? I was just supposed to trust that FNG was fine when it was clear he was practically dead? “We need to get him to a?—”

FNG shot up with a gasp. “Holy shit. What an adrenaline rush.”

I grabbed him under the arm and hauled him to his feet. “We’ll get you a doctor.”

“For who?” he asked, laughing as blood filled his mouth.

“You. You’re probably bleeding out.”

“Nah,” he waved off, nearly falling over. “I’m good. I can’t die, man. I already told you that. Remember? Right before you tossed me out of the plane.”

“I don’t remember fucking anything. I’m drunk most of the time!”

Whether he could die or not, I wasn’t getting my ass chewed out by Cash because I didn’t get him medical help. I shoved him into the back and slapped the back of Fox’s seat. “Let’s move. And try not to run over anyone else.”

“I make no guarantees,” he laughed.

He hit the gas, and we took off with FNG leaning heavily on me. I wasn’t sure what to do in this situation. I never gave a shit before about what was going on during a job. I drank and basically stayed out of anything that didn’t involve flying. But I couldn’t do that now. FNG had been run over. Fox was falling hard for a guy on a team that was interfering, and I wasn’t sure where the fuck Dash stood in all this.

I pulled out my phone and dialed the only number I could think of. I winced as Cash picked up the phone.

“Did you retrieve the girl?”

“Not yet. We have a suspect in our custody, but we have another problem. Or three.”

“Fuck, I don’t want to know,” he grumbled.

He might not want to know, but we were at the point where guidance was needed.

“Hang up the phone,” Dash grumbled.

“He needs to know.”

“I need to know what?” Cash asked.

“He doesn’t want to know,” Dash argued. “More than that, he’s going to wonder why we can’t handle the fucking job.”

“What don’t I need to know?” Cash shouted.

“Don’t you think things are just a tad out of control?” I asked.

“Oh, now you care,” Dash retorted.

“Would you fucking tell me what’s going on?” Cash’s voice echoed around the SUV, making me wince as I jerked the phone away.

“Fox ran over FNG.”

“Is he alive?” Cash asked.

“Yes, but we need to get him to a doctor.”

“He’s fine. Next?”

I sat there baffled for a second. “Cash, did you hear me? FNG was run over by an SUV. He has a head wound and?—”

“Yeah, I heard you. Trust me, he’s fine. The man can’t die.”

What the fuck was going on? Did I enter some bizarro world where people got injured and everyone thought that was perfectly normal? Fuck, I needed some fucking alcohol. At least everything made sense when I was drinking.

“What else is going on?” Cash asked, bringing me back to the conversation at hand.

“Another team showed up. Fox seems to know them. Someone called The Kamau?”

“Aw, fuck. What are they doing there?”

“Who are they?”

“Another security firm.”

“Are they bad news?”

He sighed heavily over the phone, and I was sure I was about to get bad news. “They’re good people.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Fox has a bit of an…obsession with one of them.”

“Yeah, I already picked up on that,” I retorted.

“Just… do your best to bring Fox home in one piece.”

“Meaning?”

“Don’t let The Kamau shoot him.”

“He wouldn’t really shoot Fox, would he?”

It was silent for a moment, and then Cash returned. “Ask yourself this: If Fox showed up at your house, watched you as you slept, tried on your boots and your jacket, and basically bugged the fuck out of you, would you be tempted to shoot him?”

I wasn’t quite sure what to say to that. “He watched him sleep?”

“Creepy as fuck,” Cash muttered.

I glanced up and caught Fox staring at me in the rearview mirror with a grin plastered on his face. He held up two fingers, crossing them so I could see. Then he mouthed We’re like this.

Yep. I totally got it now. “I’m not sure bringing him home will be an option, but I’ll do my best.”

“Good luck.” He hung up without another word.

I wasn’t sure what the point of calling him was. And now that I had talked to him, I understood why nobody ever called to fill the boss in on how the job was going.

“We’re two minutes out,” Dash informed me.

“When we get inside, I need you to check on FNG.”

“I’m totally fine,” FNG laughed. “I mean, there are two of you, but that’s normal after getting hit by a car.”

I ignored him and continued to think about our next steps. “And we’ll need to take this fucker to the interrogation room. Fox, do you have everything you need?”

“Oh, it’s all up here,” he grinned, tapping the side of his head.

Dash spun in his seat, looking at me strangely. “Are you sure he’s in the right state of mind for this?”

“He said he wants to do it.”

“Oh, I’m all over this.”

“His eyes went all dark. I’m assuming that’s a good thing.”

“I mean—” Dash looked at Fox funnily. “I guess it could be.”

“Guys, I’m right here,” Fox snorted. “Trust me, I won’t let you down. We’ll know where that girl is in less than an hour.”

“It never used to take you an hour,” Dash muttered.

“Just give him a chance. If it doesn’t work, we’ll figure it out.”

“Knight is here,” Dash grumbled. “I guess that’ll work. Even if he does work for another company.”

“In the end, it’s all about getting that girl back.” I glanced out the window, wondering when I was so concerned about what happened on the job. It had to be because there was a young girl’s life on the line. I shook it off as we pulled in the driveway. As soon as we were around back and out of sight from the road, I grabbed our suspect and hauled him out of the SUV. I tossed his unconscious body over my shoulder and carried him not-so-gently into the building.

“Do you have eyes on the second team?” I asked Dash.

“They just pulled in. Fox is waiting for them,” he said, shooting me a look.

“This should be interesting.”

“Trust me, you don’t want to be around them. It’s…disturbing.”

“So, this Kamau guy is pretty weird too?”

“Oh, no. He’s just your normal psychopathic killer. But watching Fox interact with him makes me want to puke.”

“Great,” I muttered as he pulled open the door to the interrogation room. I had never been here before, but apparently, Cash had buildings like this in all major cities in the United States.

I tossed the guy on the ground, ignoring the way his head cracked against the ground. I should probably have been a little more careful since we didn’t have the information we needed yet, but this fucker disgusted me. I could deal with a lot. I’d seen so much over the years, but messing with kids was too far. They were off limits, and taking advantage of that innocence and youth put them into the elimination category.

I tied him up, though there was really no point. Once Fox got his hands on this fucker, he wouldn’t be moving much. I slammed my fist into his face, then rotated my shoulder. I really needed to put more effort into staying in shape. Fucking wasn’t exactly an exercise routine.

When the fucker didn’t wake up, I hit him again. This time, he groaned. But then the door jerked open and Fox walked in. I knew I made the right decision the moment I looked into his eyes. Filled with darkness and rage, this interrogation would be quick.

I nodded as I walked past. “I’ll leave you to it.”