38. Derrick

CHAPTER 38

Derrick

When the ramshackle shape of Cooper’s comes into view through the windshield, I debate bringing up for the third time that I really should be allowed to call for police support on this. According to Raleigh’s insight into her last meeting with Silver, he was ready and willing to fight. This time, we’re going in armed, and I tightened the straps on Raleigh’s body armor myself, but still. Will Iris and I be enough to fend off Silver and his usual bodyguards?

Raleigh seems to think so. And as much as I admire the vote of confidence, I’d rather be totally sure of this victory.

Iris parks us outside the bar and leads the way up the short stairs to the front door. She’s been very quiet since we climbed in the car and left the Warwick estate, and at first I wanted to believe she was just deep in thought. Now I wonder if she’s trying to figure out how to kill me during the fight that’s bound to happen and make it look like an accident.

Across the street from us, a biker stops on the curb to fiddle with straps on his jacket. Two men chat over steaming takeout coffees while waiting at the bus stop just beyond the parking lot. In a car idling at the edge of the lot, a man is talking into his phone, having an argument with a business partner.

They’re all Warwick men, and they’re ready to storm the building at a single word from Iris.

I’ve been inside Cooper’s before, as a cop sniffing around for mafia activity- back before I started taking bribes from said mafia. It smells worse in here than I remember, but it’s also… much quieter.

“Hello, are we early?” Raleigh asks, looking around at the empty tables and bar. There’s not even someone manning it.

“This is bad,” Iris says softly, already pulling her handgun from its strap at her thigh. I follow suit, my finger hovering over the trigger. At all times, the two of us are staying a step in front of Raleigh. “We should call in the others now.”

“No, wait,” Raleigh whispers. “Let’s search the building first. This could be a bluff.”

She would know, considering she marched in here last time accompanied by no one and armed with nothing but piss and vinegar.

Iris hesitates only a moment before nodding. Together, we step cautiously down the hall that leads to the bathroom and the employee entrance to the kitchen, guns pointed at the creaking floor and ready to be raised at a moment’s notice. I never thought I’d be searching a potentially active building with Iris Agostinelli at my side, but I suppose I couldn’t ask for a more perceptive and able partner. And every second, I know we’re both keeping one eye on our surroundings and one eye on Raleigh, who sticks close behind us like she should.

When Iris pushes open the bathroom door for me, I put my gun up and peek inside. There’s only the one square room lit a dingy yellow, and while it stinks, it’s also empty.

We move to the kitchen next, and it’s just as abandoned. We even check storage closets and pantries, but find no one.

“The oven’s not even hot,” Iris observes. “The staff didn’t come in this morning. Someone just turned on the lights.”

I nod in agreement. “This isn’t likely to be an ambush. Silver’s setting the stage.”

“Then it’d be a shame to be late to the show,” Raleigh says, her smile tight.

There’s one place we’ve yet to check. The private room at the back of the main seating area, where all mafia meetings take place. Silver is undoubtedly there, waiting and smirking over how he made us squirm.

Raleigh meets my eyes, and I nod my readiness. “Let’s go.”

Iris and I plant ourselves on either side of the door leading into the meeting room. Raleigh puts herself beside me, close enough I can feel her body heat. I’m nearer the doorknob, so I twist it and let the door creak loudly open. Iris peeks in, gun up, and I follow suit.

There’s the pool table, planted in the middle of the room and lit with a pathetically weak bulb. Standing to the side of it so his full body is visible, near the far wall, is Silver and his two bodyguards. Since I can see his hands resting at his sides, and his goons’ as well, I know immediately that whatever weapons they’re carrying are still sheathed. Iris and I straighten and reholster our weapons, and at that wordless signal, Raleigh steps around us into the room.

“You’re learning,” Silver rasps in greeting, sounding condescendingly pleased.

“It takes me longer than most people, but I always do eventually,” Raleigh says, not rising to that bait. “Hi ho, Silver. You’re familiar with Miss Iris Agostinelli?”

Silver nods appreciatively. “Most people in our line of work are. It’s an honor, ma’am.”

“The honor is not mutual,” Iris says coolly.

“And, of course…” Raleigh gestures to me with a flick of her wrist, like a woman on a gameshow. She’s showing off, and I can’t help but be equal parts thrilled and vexed.

Silver chuckles. “Our dear sheriff,” he crows. “Since he’s part of your retinue, I’m guessing this isn’t going to be the friendly handoff I wanted?”

“Nope,” Raleigh says, popping the p . “Sorry. I’m here because you ignored my oh so friendly warning last time. You’re still operating in Warwick territory, and you’re still not paying tithe. No matter what, that changes today. You can start coughing up our share, or you can die.”

Silver shakes his hooded head. “You keep making demands without promising anything in return. Let me show you a real equal exchange. You give me the sheriff, and I start paying tithe.”

“I give you the sheriff that didn’t actually kill your daddy?” Raleigh asks, tilting her head. “You’re really hung up on him, you know.”

“Yeah, well,” Silver shrugs. “I’ve already explained it to you. It’s a matter of pride, Miss Warwick. He took credit for the kill. If you ask me, the fact that he did without even firing the shot makes it even more insulting. It’s the optics of it. The fucking principles.”

Raleigh’s eyes narrow. “Yeah… you really do care about the optics,” she says slowly.

I know that tone. She’s considering something that hasn’t actually been said. I look Silver over again, trying to determine what’s caught her attention, but come up with nothing. His face mask, his hood, the militant way he stands- it all seems normal.

“Either way, you’re out of luck,” Raleigh goes on. “I’m not handing over Derrick. Not now, not ever.”

The silence stretches, filling the room like fog. Slowly, Silver shakes his head. “Why hold on to such an untrustworthy ally? He betrayed your people once, what’s to keep him from doing it again? Give him to me, and we’ll both be rid of a spineless loose end.”

“Ouch,” I mumble, and Iris snorts.

“He’s mine , Silver,” Raleigh says, a hint of anger creeping into her tone. My chest inflates with pride. “And he’s going to stay that way. You want him so bad? Just try to take him from me.”

“Fine then.” Silver tilts his head. “Fellas?”

One of the goons behind him puts a hand underneath his trench coat. The hairs on the back of my neck prickle. Iris rips her gun from its holster, but I grab for Raleigh and get her behind me. Which means I have no time to pull my own weapon when the shooting starts.

An explosive sound fills the room, setting my ears ringing. Heat flashes past my shoulder, so hot I’m not sure if it breaks my skin or just burns my shirt. I jerk aside, pulling Raleigh with me so we have the pool table between us and the enemy. Silver, too, lunges back behind his bodyguards- just as one falls with Iris’s bullet ripping through his throat.

The body drops like a sack of flour.

Two more gunshots ring out. Iris grunts, doubling over, and I fire to cover her while she ducks behind a chair. My bullet takes the other goon in the collarbone, and he screams before my second buries itself in his skull.

Silver ducks behind the pool table, but when he comes back up, he has his own gun in his hand. I fire a shot, but he’s not trying to be part of this fight. He tries to sprint past me for the door, and Iris’s impossibly long leg sweeps out to trip him. Silver vaults it just as I lunge. Inches from the exit, I catch him around the waist, and we slam to the floor.

The gun in Silver’s hand goes off, inches from my ear. Raleigh screams. My chest turns to ice.

If that wild shot hit her-

An elbow catches my jaw. Blood fills my mouth when my teeth rip through my tongue. Silver’s knee drives up into my stomach, but my body armor dampens the blow. I spit blood in his eyes, and his flinch gives me a chance to punch him square in the face. His hood falls back, and short platinum hair spills out.

Silver starts thrashing like a creature possessed. Now that I’m on top of him, I feel how small his body is under all his baggy clothes. I probably outweigh him by fifty pounds at least. I drop that extra weight on him, knocking the air out of his lungs. He’s stunned, but not for long. I grab for his gun hand, but it’s already swinging at my head.

Iris’s heel flashes across my eyes. Silver screams when it connects with his hand, sending the gun flying and breaking more than one finger with a horrible snap. There’s something… wrong about that scream.

I grab a handful of his hair right at the roots and slam his head back against the floor. His eyes lose focus. He fights to blink back the sky full of stars he’s probably seeing now. But this time, he can’t recover quick enough. I get my feet beneath me and drag his limp body up. Before he can get his senses back, I get my arms around his neck in a headlock. He claws at my arms, but then Iris steps in front of him, her gun’s barrel pressed under his chin.

My eyes search for Raleigh and find her, grabbing Silver’s discarded gun off the floor. She straightens, and the wildness in her hazel eyes makes me think for a second that she intends to shoot Silver right here, right now, even if I’m standing right behind him. But then she blinks, and that ferocity is tempered. She meets my eyes, and I feel my world refocus.

“Are you hurt?” I demand, looking her over with my heart in my throat.

Her eyes are too wide. She’s staring at my face. “Derrick-”

“ Are . You . Hurt ?”

She shakes her head. “I’m fine. But you-”

Finally, I can exhale. “I’m okay. I just bit my tongue.” I turn to Iris. “And you?”

“Bruised my pretty abs,” Iris grunts, feeling at the two holes where the bullets hit her stomach. “And my fucking shirt’s ruined. But I’ll live. Can we kill this shithead now?”

“Yeah, sure,” Raleigh agrees eagerly. “Just one last thing. For closure.”

She reaches out and rips the cloth mask off Silver’s face. I watch her blink in shock and take an alarmed step back.

And in stunned silence for a moment, I’m struck by the softness of the curve of Silver’s cheek, which is all I can see with his head locked in my arms. Raleigh is the one to give an answer to what I’m seeing, but when she says the name, I only have more questions.

“E-Emma Clarke?!”