Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

MINA

"That's not Kurt," Gianni whispered.

"No, it isn't," I agreed. "It's Leon Graves."

Fuck.

Fuck .

I knew there was a possibility it would be someone other than Kurt. That Leon had contacted Clarissa on behalf of himself. I'd wanted to assume it was Kurt so I could end this. If he was standing right in front of me now, I'd lodge my knife in his brain. Or somewhere lower, to give him a slower, more painful death.

It was some consolation that I was right about one thing. Leon arrived earlier than originally planned. The question was, why?

Clarissa's eyes swivelled from side to side, as though certain we were waiting in the shadows. She looked nervous, anxious.

So she should. If he'd contacted her to change plans and she hadn't told Damon, she might be taking her last breaths herself.

"I guess you can come on up," she said reluctantly. She didn't seem to want him near her any more than I did.

"Relax," Leon said. "I'll only be here for a couple of hours to put some things in place. Then you can drive me back to the airport."

"Great," she said flatly. "So you won't need a bed then?"

"Just a chair, coffee and Wi-Fi," he said. "As always, you'll be rewarded for your discretion."

"Yeah." Her expression suggested that was what she was worried about. She rattled the keys in her hand and walked over to unlock a door I presumed led up to her apartment. "After you."

Yeah, I wouldn't turn my back on him either. Apparently he had no such reservations where she was concerned. He nodded and headed inside.

Clarissa lingered near the door, her hand on the handle. Eventually, she stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

"Unless that locks automatically…" Gianni started.

"Then it's unlocked," Daze finished for him. "That could make life easier."

I hummed my agreement. "Let's give her a couple of minutes to get him settled, then we'll pay them a visit."

The hairs on the back of my neck rose. My skin prickled. Someone else was here. I hadn't heard them, but my instincts were screaming at me that we weren't alone.

I'd considered the possibility this was a trap, but until now I hadn't seen any sign to back that up. Of course, they'd wait until Leon was safely inside before converging on our position.

"I feel that too," Daze whispered. She must have felt me stiffen. "Behind us. On the corner. I saw a movement."

"There might be people in front of us too, trying to pin us in," I said. "We need to get out of here before that happens."

I cast a long look at Clarissa's apartment. Shadows moved past the blinds. Her and Leon. If he knew where to find Kurt, I couldn't let him slip away. But if this was a trap, I had no choice.

Fuck. I didn't like being pushed into corners.

"I'll lead them away from you," Daze said. "I'll try to give you enough time to confront Leon."

"Me too," Gianni agreed. "We can hold them off."

I wanted to tell them no, but I saw no other way. I could handle Clarissa and Leon by myself if I had to. If she wasn't on our side, it would be more difficult, but not impossible.

I sighed softly, but nodded. "Stay safe." I reached out to find Gianni's face and kissed him quickly.

"You too, sweetheart." He crept away, moving at right angles to whoever was at the corner.

Daze was right on his tail.

I waited until they were a few metres away, before I slipped through the shadows toward Clarissa's door.

As I'd hoped, it was unlocked. I winced at the slight creak of the hinges as I eased it open. It was only audible this close, but it sounded as loud as a gunshot to me.

Calm your tits , I told myself. No one heard it but you.

Lips pressed tight together, I slipped inside and closed the door behind me without making another sound.

The stairs were in near total darkness, broken only by a light that peeked under the door, at the very top. I paused to listen.

When I decided no one was waiting to ambush me, I headed up the steps, one at a time.

"The best thing about Dusk Bay is the fast Wi-Fi," Clarissa was saying. "One of the fastest in the world. Of course, the city is also a beautiful place to live, but the Wi-Fi is a bonus. I've lived in some places where it was barely better than dial-up. It's ridiculous, I know. In this day and age, we should all have decent Internet. But here we are."

Leon's response was mumbled, something along the lines of, "Good to know."

"I know, right?" she responded. "That's one of the reasons I moved here. That and the fact people are mostly nice here. For a bunch of criminals. I mean, not everyone is a criminal here, but you know that. Oh, sounds like the kettle has boiled. Excuse me for a minute, I'll make you a coffee. I might even have one myself, even though it's late. Wouldn't want to fall asleep when you want me to drive you. How do you have it? White with two sugars? Okay I'll just be a moment or two. I might even have some biscuits around here. You must be hungry."

"Yeah, whatever," Leon replied vaguely. Apparently he wasn't impressed with her hostess skills. Or maybe he was an ungrateful prick.

I pictured him hunched over a table, laptop in front of him while she hurried around the kitchen, making him a coffee and hunting around for a snack. She seemed to be making as much noise as she could.

She knew I was there, or at least suspected. She was talking to cover any noise I might make.

I smirked at the idea. I made mistakes, but never noise, not when I didn't want to. Who was she expecting, if she wasn't expecting an assassin?

She might assume Reuben would send the twins to collect Leon. A fairly accurate assumption to make, most of the time. If Reuben knew Leon was here, Hunter and Parker would be knocking the door down by now. Me, I preferred to catch Leon unaware.

That meant continuing to move soundlessly, like the shadow Damon once told me I was. At the time, his remark hurt, but I embraced it now.

I was part of the shadows. Darkness inside and out. I didn't need the sunshine to feel whole. I needed this. To be the cunning predator moving through the night, ready to claim my prey.

Like the door at the bottom of the stairs, the one at the top was unlocked. I pushed it open slowly and stepped through.

Damon

"Graves went inside with Clarissa," I reported.

What game was she playing? She'd sent me a message that would raise my suspicion. She must be hoping we'd turn up to take him off her hands.

We'd done the first. We could do the second, but it was too easy so far. If Kurt was thinking a couple of moves ahead of us, this was just about to go south.

If Clarissa was working with him, she'd also go south, to an early grave.

Although, was it really early, in our line of work? Now I thought about it, it was probably about average.

Either way, she'd end up dead, which would be unfortunate. Up until now, she'd been invaluable and trustworthy. Maybe she still was. There was time for her to prove herself yet. If she could.

She'd know as well as I did, once the seeds of suspicion were planted, they tended to take root and grow. Coming back from this would be difficult.

In the corner of my eye, I caught a hint of movement. Then another. There were two people on the opposite corner. No, three. Four. I couldn't make out any more, but fuck only knew who else was hiding in the dark around here.

Across from them I caught another hint of movement. Someone walking up the street toward them. Someone making no effort to avoid being noticed

Gianni. And someone else. Someone taller than Mina. Daze? What the fuck?

Neither of them were usually that sloppy. Given they were now, they were doing it for a reason. They wanted to be seen. They were trying to draw them away.

As far as I could tell, they didn't know we were there yet, so they weren't trying to distract attention from us.

Where was Mina then? She didn't seem to be with them. They were trying to lead any potential attackers away from her.

Was that brave, stupid, or both? It was classic Gianni. He'd take risks others wouldn't, especially when family was involved.

I made a mental note to throttle him later for trying to do this. Daze too.

Across the road, someone spoke. A light flashed on, aimed directly at Gianni. He threw himself to the side as a shot rang out. It must have missed him by a hair.

The bullet hit the wall instead. This was Dusk Bay, no one would notice another one lodged in the side of the building. Eventually, someone would come along and paint over it.

I didn't think.

I aimed for the light and squeezed the trigger. The gun recoiled in my hand. The gunshot echoed, followed by a cry of pain.

The phone dropped to the ground, offering a faint glow from the screen. It wasn't much illumination, and it'd turn off quickly, but it was enough.

Taking a leaf from Mina's book, I aimed for the visible feet.

"Fucking hell!" a male voice called out. He slumped to the ground, hands on his ankles until Hunter put a bullet in his head.

Parker took out another with a shot through his chest, but the last of the would-be attackers turned and ran.

"Go after him," Reuben told the twins.

"On it, boss." They both sprinted across the road and disappeared into the shadows.

Gianni emerged from them, followed by Daisy Lasalle. What the fuck was she doing here anyway?

Gianni picked up the phone and shone it across the two bodies. The third person lay a couple of metres away, groaning in pain.

It was a woman who held the phone; she was now missing a hand. A moment later, courtesy of Gianni's knife, she was missing a whole lot more. Bleeding out onto the footpath before dying quietly.

"Perfect timing," Gianni said cheerfully. He wiped his knife clean on his black T-shirt and tucked it back away, out of sight. "I'm guessing you have a few questions for me. Let me start by saying?—"

"Where's Mina?" Reuben interrupted.

"She went inside." Gianni gestured. "It wasn't Kurt that turned up tonight."

"We know." I clapped him on the shoulder. "It's good to see you, but if you sneak off like that again, I'll put a fucking bullet in your knee."

"I love you too," he said lightly. He drew me in for a quick hug.

I stiffened for a moment, before hugging him back. Later, I'd have time to think about how right it felt to hold him, but right now, we had work to do.

"Have you seen anyone else around?" It was possible Kurt only sent four people to ambush us, but none of us would rule out anything at this point.

"Just you reprobates," Daze said. "And these dead ones." She gestured towards them. "And Clarissa and Leon Graves. It's been pretty quiet apart from that."

"Right," Gianni agreed. "If Wolf Venom was still playing, we'd be able to hear them from here."

"Too quiet," Reuben said.

"Boss?" I asked carefully. He was visibly as torn as I was. We both wanted to go up those stairs to Clarissa's apartment. To Mina. If there were others around, they could pin us all in. Including her.

"Search the area," he said finally. "We need to make sure it's not?—"

"Full of people who look like they want us dead," Hunter interrupted. He and Parker trotted back toward us, guns still in their hands. "There's another four on the next corner over and four on the opposite one. Now might be a good time to call for some help."

Reuben grunted in annoyance. "Do it. We'll deal with them and then we'll go for her."

"Got it, boss," I said with some reluctance. I pulled out my phone and started to make the call.