Chapter 26

Raylan

26

While Sky is driving like the devil across Everton, I upload every single USB stick onto my laptop and send the whole motherlode of incriminating files over to Detective Amstaff. I make sure to BCC some of the major news outlets for good measure. One way or another, the truth about Henry David and the Black Hand is coming out tonight.

We might go down in flames, but at least we'll go down swinging.

My fingers are trembling after I hit send and put the laptop away. Up ahead, the cemetery rises with its gigantic oak trees and elegant grey stone fences. I can see the hilltop from here, the lights glimmering around the mausoleum. Tiny dark dots are moving around up there, but I can't make anything out. My heart is tightly wound, my nerves stretched to the point of snapping.

We're not alone anymore, though.

We've got the whole of the Steel Knights riding behind us. They joined us along the way, swerving in from side streets all over the city, ready and eager to answer our call. Although grateful for the help, I'd be a lot happier about it if Ariana and Kendric's lives weren't hanging in the balance. I have no idea what we're walking into but I do know we have to face it. There's no other choice.

"Grab the ammo from the back," Sky instructs me as we jump out of the truck and get ourselves ready. "We don't know how many hostiles we're dealing with."

I load my weapons and fill my pockets with additional magazines while Sky does the same. Spike takes his binoculars out and switches them to night mode as it's gone dark, taking a moment to survey the hilltop in what feels like the most uncomfortable silence. The rest of our crew are just as ready and fully loaded, but we need a plan.

"Four," Spike says.

"Only four?" I ask, sounding surprised.

"If it's four of their best, it's more than enough," Sky grumbles. "Kendric? Ariana?"

"They're still alive, for now, but guns are trained on them," Spike says. "No sign of the mayor."

"That fuck either ran off or trapped them up there," I hiss.

Sky gives me a solemn, dark look. "We need to come at them from every angle." He pauses and glances back at the guys. "Twenty of us. Four of them. We might have a shot if we move fast."

"Four groups of five," I suggest. "North, south, east, and west. We time our approach accordingly and advance upon them with our guns drawn. Ariana and Kendric will know to get down."

Something doesn't feel right, though. There's a consistent tingling on the back of my neck that is giving me pause, but I don't have time to ponder it. Every second that passes brings us closer to the worst possible conclusion.

Armed and geared to the teeth, we split up. Sky and I take Spike and two others with us through the south entrance of the cemetery. The other three groups handle the north, east, and west. We use our wristwatches to carefully time and measure our ascension up the hill, moving fast through the shrubs and the silent darkness of the graveyard as we make our way toward the mausoleum.

There's no room for error.

My semi is up, locked, and loaded, and my finger is itching to pull the trigger. This whole situation is bringing out the worst in me, and I will let the monster roam freely if that's what it takes to save Ariana.

I hold my breath as we approach the mausoleum. Fifty feet away.

"We could work together," I hear Kendric say to one of the gunmen. "You can't get the public opinion on your side, and you know it. We can get people on board so they would at least look the other way whenever you're running your guns and drugs through their side of the city."

"You're still trying to negotiate your survival," the gunman replies. "It borders on pathetic."

"You don't have to do this," Ariana pleads, her voice trembling with fear, her eyes filled with tears. It's killing me to see her in such a vulnerable position. One wrong move and she's gone forever. "We can find a consensus somewhere.My father's reputation won't survive this. We're not alone. There are people out there ready to go to the press, and soon, it will all be out in the open. You won't be able to stop them!"

"We've stopped worse," the gunman replies.

I see our men gathered around the hilltop, and I know we're ready. Sky is the first to go up and shout, loud and clear for everyone to hear: "Put your weapons down and your hands up! You're surrounded!"

"Don't fucking move!" I add, my voice booming into the night sky.

There are twenty of us, four of them. The math seems simple enough.

Ariana gasps upon seeing me, then Sky. Relief fills her wide eyes while Kendric exhales sharply. "Took you fucking long enough," he grumbles.

"We almost didn't make it," I reply with a smirk and a wink.

One of the gunmen chooses to be stupid and turns his weapon on us. Sky immediately shoots him down. Three bullets to the chest. The other three stare at their dead friend for the better part of a minute, then look at each other before they decide to put their weapons down slowly. This may be an open space, yet the air feels so thick that I could cut it with a knife.

I'm supposed to experience relief at this point. The killers have relinquished their weapons and put their hands up in the air. Kendric retrieves his gun from the ground, and Ariana is about to run toward us.

"You don't know what you're doing," one of the gunmen says.

"Fuck you," Kendric hisses. "Be thankful that I'm not blowing your head off right here, right now."

Gunfire rings through the air.

I hear the bullets whizzing past us. I hear one of our men grunting before he collapses in the grass. I see Ariana suddenly falling to the ground. For a split second, I'm horrified and paralyzed, but then she moves, and I am alive again.

POP. POP.

More bullets.

"Put your guns down!" someone shouts from farther down the hill.

Sky and I are the first to turn around, just in time to see a large group of gunmen rushing to join us around the mausoleum.

"You have got to be kidding me," Spike blurts out before turning his weapon on them, but Sky taps the barrel and forces him to put it down.

"Don't," he says. "We're outnumbered."

He sounds eerily calm. He's looking at them as they come up the hill, yet his gaze also keeps wandering somewhere past the cemetery gates. Once I realize what it is that's got Sky's attention, I make a point of sounding the order for the whole club.

"Do as he says!"

I'm met with grumbling discontent, yet our guys know better than to disobey a direct order from one of us.

"Ariana!" Kendric grunts as he reaches her, quick to take her in his arms in a bid to keep her as safe as possible for what's coming next.

"I take it Masterson failed to check in," one of the surviving gunmen says as he retrieves his weapon from the ground. His colleagues do the same, trying not to look at their dead partner.

"Masterson isn't checking in anywhere, ever again," I reply.

Within seconds, we're surrounded by the Black Hand. I can't see all of them, but I am well aware that we are indeed outnumbered, just like Sky said. There must be at least thirty of them, and we know at least one of our men is down, his shoulder blown out. I can see the finish line for this whole debacle from where I'm standing, but the next few minutes will be crucial in how it all plays out.