31. Cash

31

CASH

I watched Nick walk out of the bar and turned back to the bartender, raising two fingers for another glass. He immediately set a lowball down in front of me and filled it with whiskey. As I took a drink, I knew I would respond the same way if it were Eva in that situation.

I wasn't lying to him when I told him it was the only way. With such a short amount of time to fix the problem, I did what I had to do. And I was fucking right to leave him out of the decision-making process. He would have fucked it up for all of us. Sure, the added bonus of having good content for Zoe was a win, but the goal was to keep Raven alive. He'd see that before too long.

"Is there a reason you're sitting at the bar all alone?"

I turned, surprised to see Jack's face beside me. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"An old friend called in a favor."

"And that would be?" I picked up my drink to take another swig when his words stopped me in my tracks.

"To get your ass out of here alive at all costs."

I slowly turned to him, only then noticing that Johnny had taken up a post across the bar. Glancing behind me, I saw Jason not far away, his eyes roaming the room.

"What's going on?"

"Rafe is what's going on."

"Fuck," I hissed. "The Zavala job?"

He nodded. "It would seem that Zavala's found you and Nicholas. He grabbed Nick on the way out. They have another job to take care of, but you're the prize."

"In what way?"

"You're not stupid, Cash. You run OPS, and it won't be long until Zavala finds out. If he finds out you're Rafe's twin, you're fucked. With Zavala hanging around, it won't take long."

I shoved to my feet immediately. "I have to get to Eva."

He grabbed my arm before I could leave and tightened his grip. "If you go to Eva, you're killing everyone there," he hissed. "We've already alerted everyone at OPS. They know to be on high alert. Everyone's at the silo and on lockdown. But if you go there, you'll lead them straight to our families. The best thing you can do is lay low and follow our orders."

I smirked at him. "I think you're forgetting that you work for me."

"I do, but I also know how Rafe's mind works. Trust me when I tell you that if you get in his way, he'll abandon all his plans to keep you safe."

My brother keeping me safe. That was a new one. "That'll be the day."

"I'm serious," Jack said, his face showing just how sure he was about this. "Trust me when I tell you that something is going on that we don't know about. Whatever that is, Rafe isn't willing to fill us in."

"He never is."

"This is different. Whatever he's up to, you'll fuck it up if you go your own way, and get everyone killed."

I wasn't sure I believed for a minute that Rafe was trying to keep me safe. The only thing Rafe ever cared about was the bigger picture, and damn anyone who got in his way. Still, Jack was certain about this and I had to trust him, even if he hadn't worked with Rafe in a very long time.

"Alright, so what's your plan?"

"First, we need to get the hell out of here."

My eyes flicked to the door. "You're kidding me."

"Afraid not," he said, a slight grin pulling at his lips.

"What are you thinking?"

His gaze slid over my shoulder to Jason. "Maybe a can opener."

"We don't have everyone for that."

"We have enough. Besides, what's a few casualties between friends?"

He was right. If they were waiting for us outside, there was no way we were walking away without casualties. "Fine, but I get the roof."

"Sally is waiting for you in the back." He handed me an earpiece and headed for the front. Johnny followed me to the back.

"You probably thought you wouldn't have any fun on this trip," he chuckled.

"Since when are you excited to get involved in this shit?"

"Since things have been a little dull lately."

"I thought that was what you wanted," I said over my shoulder as I headed to the kitchen.

Johnny nodded to the cook, who reached below the counter and supplied my rifle. I didn't know how Rafe got his hands on Sally, and I had a feeling I didn't really want to know. Where Rafe went, there was always trouble.

"Tahlia is more than enough to keep my life exciting, but she's thrown herself into work."

Now it all made sense. "Then let's make sure this adventure is enough to keep you entertained for the foreseeable future."

He grinned at me, tipping his hat as we went out the back and immediately climbed the metal ladder to the roof. Keeping as low as I could, I followed Johnny's hand signals to the northwest corner of the building, overlooking the parking lot. The streets were busy tonight with cars lining the streets. Having a shootout at this hour was dangerous at best, but there was no other way to go.

"Three o'clock," Johnny said as I set up Sally.

I got on my belly and swung the scope to three o'clock. Leaning against a car was a man smoking a cigarette. By all standards, he didn't appear to be a threat, but the way his eyes kept flicking around the parking lot was the first clue that he wasn't just having a smoke.

Suddenly, he stiffened, his gaze locking on something in the distance. I swung my scope around, catching sight of Jason and Jack stumbling out of the bar, laughing as they went.

"He's on the move."

"I see him," I said, locking my sights on him. I slowed my breathing and gauged the wind as he maneuvered between the cars. With only so many routes to take, I chose the most likely scenario and took one final steadying breath. Pulling the trigger, I hit the target in the chest. He crumpled to the ground, and as expected, chaos erupted.

"Nine o'clock!" Johnny signaled.

I moved quickly as he called out the targets. One, I barely missed in the chaos of the men and women running. The target grabbed a woman, thrusting a knife to her neck as he backed away from the building. He didn't know where I was, but he was smart enough to realize that he was trapped with no way out.

"Jason, we have a target at?—"

"I've got him." I pulled the trigger, placing a bullet right between his eyes. The knife slipped from the woman's throat and she ran screaming from the scene. As the sirens sounded in the distance, I scanned the area one last time for any tangos, but the police scared them away as planned. I packed up my rifle and slung it over my shoulder, running flat out for the ladder with Johnny hot on my heels. We made it to the ground in mere seconds, just in time as Jack pulled up with a pickup truck, skidding to a stop beside us. I got in the back, tucking my rifle under the seat as he hit the gas and took an alley away from the bar.

We were only three streets over when headlights appeared behind us. "We haven't lost them yet!"

"I'm on it," Jack said, hitting the gas as he pulled out onto a busy street, running a red light.

The vehicle behind us didn't slow, not even when sirens appeared behind him. We were going to have a hell of a fight on our hands.

"Out of the city. We can't afford any civilian casualties," I ordered.

"Not gonna happen," Jack said, taking us down another road. "There's no time to get out."

"There's always time," I snapped. "Get us the hell out of here!"

But he ignored me and took a sharp right into a parking garage. As the truck roared up the incline, I knew there was only one way this would end. I just hoped it wasn't us that went flying off the tenth floor.

The truck was going too fast as we rounded one level to the next. We nearly side-swiped a car, narrowly avoiding hitting it. Now that I could see the vehicle behind us, I cursed under my breath. It was a fucking sports car, so much more capable of taking tight corners than the large truck we were in.

"Any brilliant ideas?" I asked Jack.

"Yeah, don't get dead."

"Nice plan," I retorted.

"It's my favorite kind. See, all of you have these crazy ideas for missions," he said, glancing over his shoulder at me.

"Watch the road!"

"But the way I see it, if your plan is always not to die, you can't lose."

"Unless you die!" I shouted.

He took the next turn harder than the last and sent the truck on two wheels as we rounded the corner. A car was backing out and Jack rammed into it from behind, saving the owner's life. If he had pulled out after us, he would have been killed for sure.

Metal scraped along the pavement as we hit the next incline. The car was gaining on us, pushing us to the limits. At the last second, Jack jerked the truck to the left, cutting through the center section of the parking garage. He drove into the oncoming traffic, pushing the truck even harder as we went full speed at the wall ahead of us.

The car came around the corner just as Jack slammed on the gas, ramming him into the wire barrier. The cables snapped as Jack pushed the car over the edge, hitting the brakes at the last second. But there was too much momentum and the truck started to go over.

"Ditch!" Jack shouted.

I didn't waste a second throwing open the door and leaping from the truck, just barely grabbing onto the wires. I yelled in pain as the wire cut into my hands, but didn't let go. The explosion down below sent flames soaring into the sky. Jack chuckled as he held onto the wires below me, then started pulling himself up.

"Fucking ridiculous," I muttered, hauling myself back into the parking garage. Johnny and Jason were already sitting on the pavement and came over to help Jack to his feet as he made the final climb.

Together, we sat on our asses and stared at the destruction below.

"Well, that's one way to take out the baddies," Jason laughed.

"My rifle was in that truck," I muttered.

"Don't worry about the evidence. I've got a cleanup crew," Jack retorted.

"Of course you do." But I wasn't thinking about the evidence. "Sally 2 was a good rifle. We've been through a lot together. I'll never forget her."

Johnny made the sign of the cross, then glanced my way. "May she rest in peace."

I climbed to my feet and brushed off. "So, what's next?"

Jason grinned at me. "We thought you'd never ask."