CHAPTER THIRTEEN

SHAW

Time's just passing by in this hellhole. At least I got a chance to kill something. That helped ease my nerves off. I dragged the body down to the cellar, unsure what to do with it. It's still down there now, lifeless and under a pile of old crates. It was a necessity, a problem that needed dealing with because of her stupid fucking shouting. I hope she's feeling guilty as fuck about it, because I'm not. He might have just been some guy, some relatively innocent passer-by, but my conscience doesn't get rattled easily about a death I caused.

That's one thing about my family's life that always came easily to me. It was protection at first. I had to give Abel the back-up he deserved that first time he took me out with him. I pulled the trigger, made sure he was alive, and then he made me go look at what I'd done. I can still feel his hand on the back of my neck, forcing me to look into that dead guy's eyes. It hurt for a minute or two, but then that was gone, and we were both alive and walking out. Killing is just another thing that needs doing in this kinda life, and the more you do it, the easier it gets.

She's been quiet for a long time now. No asking for food or water, no shouting for help. Eight. Number eight. I wish I could forget her name, but I can't. I know it, and I knew her intimately before I knew that number was what we gave her. Miri.

I pick up the phone and look at all the missed calls from Abel. There's even some from Dante now. My thumb hovers over the call icon, part ready to just get this done so I can get on with my life. It doesn't press, though. Just hovers there like a useless digit unable to make decisions for me.

Tossing bits of stone chips at the blackened, rotting walls, I watch them bounce off to pass the time. I'm not even sure what I'm waiting for or what day it is. A conscience to catch up with me? I snort and toss another, putting some weight behind it this time. It gets lodged in, stuck. I'm stuck, too. Stuck between doing right by my family and right by someone of no importance to me. Nothing's gonna happen either way unless I make it happen, though. Can't even do that right.

I'll just go fuck her again. Make myself like Elias would have been again.

That'll work.

Footsteps sound a way off after a while more. I look up and scowl, listening. They crunch hard through the stones and rubble, getting closer. I lift up slowly, grabbing a lump of old, twisted iron that's lying nearby. Maybe that's what I need – another killing. Sets me in the right mood normally, makes me pissed enough to deal with all the rest of the crap.

The steps get closer, close enough that I stand back against the wall and bring the iron up ready to strike. Another lands, then another and the final crunch makes me swing hard and turn out into the space. The iron's wrenched out of my grip instantly, torn away and slung until it crashes to the ground a way off. It isn't until I right myself on my feet that I realise who it is.

I back up, confused by Dante's arrival.

He looks me up and down and drops his cigarette. "At least it felt like you meant it."

Looking up at him, I scowl at his jibe and walk away. "Why are you here?"

"Come to bring you home. Sounds like your pansy ass got a little too invested in fucking the product." I keep walking on, pissed at his tone.

"So, he sends you to deal with me?"

"Doubt you'd rather he'd have come himself." I aim straight for the cellar, hoping to find more brandy down there. There isn't any. I know that already because I've searched hard enough, but who fucking knows – could've missed a bottle. "Shaw?" Dante questions, as we walk downwards.

"Need a drink." Or six. A bottle would be better because whatever fucking decision I was trying to make about Miri, just got taken out of my hands now he's here.

I look back at him as I start searching the crates and boxes again. "How are we getting her home?" He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a passport. Fake, no doubt. I snort and keep searching, annoyed that it's all been so easy for them. Knox probably made it or had it made. He'll have taken her picture from when they had her last time, dug it out from his hidden servers and forged the rest like the mastermind he is. And now this motha fucking hero is here to get a job done ‘cause I couldn"t. "We flying or boat?"

"Flying." Yeah, that's not gonna work.

"She'll never go quietly. She'll bitch and shout the whole way."

"No, she won't. Not if she wants to see her sister alive again."

I frown and knock a crate out of the way. The dead guy's arm falls out of its confine as I do. Dante doesn't even react, just sits his ass down on a step and watches me. Eventually, after fuck knows how many crates are moved, I slump my own ass down on one and look over at him again.

He flicks his lighter around and puts his stare anywhere but me. "You're damn lucky I just wanna get this shit done and get home, Shaw."

"Why? I deserve a beating for thinking?"

"Something like that."

Huffing, I look at my boots. Maybe he's right. It's just, well, I'm not him, and I'm never gonna be either. "You're back in now, huh?"

"I would be if I wasn't here dealing with your weak, whining ass."

"I'm not fucking weak."

He glowers at me and picks up some old rags, standing soon after to head for the crates. "This was your chance to prove that, and you couldn't even answer a goddamn call, Shaw. I've had to fly halfway across the fucking planet to deal. You think I want to leave Wren in New York while I'm doing what I'm doing back there?"

"You're already in New York? With Wren?"

He starts slinging crates at the dead guy. "Got an apartment up on Fifth. Knox can't commit enough time, and I'm running the first quarter under Logan. That cunt needs killing."

"And Wren's alright with that?"

He looks back at me, frowning, then turns back to whatever he's doing. "As long as I'm not touching the girls."

"And he calls me weak."

A piece of wood flies past my face, nearly knocking my goddamn head off.

I stand instantly, glaring at his actions.

He raises himself up, matching my glare, then amplifying it tenfold. "Watch your mouth, Shaw. I'm barely containing my fucking mood at the moment, and she's back there without me so I can save your ass from Abel's wrath. Try a little fucking gratitude, yeah?" Whatever defiance I was trying for dies on my face as he turns back to the crates. "I'm killing and cleaning up back there, bringing some order," he mutters, shoving bits of wood in holes. "No one likes me much for it. I don't know how long I've got before they target her. You're lucky I need you there with me. It was enough to bring Abel down from his thoughts so he'd stand guard."

My head rears up. "You need me?"

"Where's the girl?"

"Upstairs."

"Ready to leave?"

"Yeah. I'll just need my bag from the hotel." I stand and make my way over to him. "Did you just say you needed me?" He stops and sighs, his back still to me, like he's half a breath away from losing his cool. "Dante?"

"The fuck do you think this whole damn thing is about? You think Abel would get down on his fucking knees for Cane unless he was trying to protect us all?" I stare, not sure what he's trying to say. "This was your one job to finish so we could move the fuck on, be a family and be there for each other. One thing so he knew, without a fucking doubt, that he could trust you with anything he needed you to do and look where we're at? You being a pussy about a girl and me here trying to pull him off a ledge." He starts squirting some fluid on the heap of wood, then looks back at me, frowning. "You think you're worth trusting? ‘Cause I'm not sure anymore. You were thinking of letting her run, weren't you?" I look at the floor and scowl, knowing the truth of that question. "And that right there is why the only thing you're any good for is being by my side and not touching the women. So yeah, Shaw, I do need you with me because you sure as shit ain't gonna cut it any other way, and this is the only way you stay with us. You hear me? One more screw-up and no one's saving your ass. Not me, not Knox, and definitely not Mariana. You'll be gone."

He gets his lighter out and turns away from me, lighting it. "There's a car out back, no plates. Go get the girl, keep her quiet, and meet me by it. I'll deal with this."

"This whole damn place is gonna break if you–"

"Go."

I do, moving quickly because I know well what's about to happen in this cellar, let alone the rest of it with the state it's in. Stone steps pass by under my feet, and a few corridors later, and more rubble jumped, and I break out into the bit of the building she's in.

Miri, no,eight, looks up at me as I open the door to her room.

"Time to go." She sits there looking defeated, with no thought of moving. "You want to see your sister again, you'll get your ass up and start moving."

"Naja?" She crawls her way up and waits in the corner. I don't have time for that, so I move to her and start dragging her through the corridors and rooms. She starts bitching but doesn't fight as hard as she has done. It isn't until I get to the exit that I realise I'm gonna need to cover her mouth in case she starts screaming and shouting for help again. I smother her lips with my palm and push the door to get us outside, then look around the lot. There's not much more than crumbling stonework, bricks and barriers, but eventually, I see the dark outline of a car waiting for me.

Hurrying us both over to it, I get a smell of the smoke already starting to make its way out to us. "You stay quiet, you hear me?" She struggles in my grip, mumbling something. "If I take this away, are you gonna scream?" Her head shakes, eyes looking up at mine.

I pull my hand off slowly, easing it in case she does anyway.

"Where's Naja?" She flicks her panicked gaze around, trying to tug herself out of my hold. I clamp on harder and pull her ass into me to wrap an arm around her stomach.

"Not here." I keep my stare fixed on the building, waiting for Dante to emerge.

"But you said–"

"Keep that mouth closed down." I'm not interested in talking. "You"ll see her soon enough." The only thing I'm interested in is seeing him come out of that place alive and breathing. Fucking stupid. I shouldn't have left him. Should have left her instead. That might have been a better future for her.

Minutes tick by, and I watch the smoke start turning red. The old frame creaks and moans like a bitch under the pressure he's setting up. I swallow, eyes still fixed on the entrance we came out of. Nothing comes. I frown and look at the car, then back at the building. She struggles in my hold some more, trying to back us away from what's about to start really tumbling down.

"Stay the fuck still."

Flames start rising, heavy and steepled. They climb higher and spread sideways, forging a steady path to cause maximum damage to what's left. This is what it must have been like that night while Knox was searching the place for them. He must have been so fucking desperate to find them, to save them. I wasn't even here. I was out drinking and fucking that night. Can't remember who.

Miri shakes in my hold as I unconsciously push us forward towards the building. Guess she must remember it too, maybe like it was yesterday for her.

Still no fucking Dante.

My own sense of loyalty starts growing inside me. She's worth shit to me compared to him, and if I need to get in there and find him, I'll drop her the second I make that call.

"What are you doing? No," she stutters, fighting me trying to get us closer. "Shaw. What the fuck? Stop." I scowl and push on again, so focused on scanning through the smoke that I barely register the heat crawling over us. "Shaw! I can't go in there. No!"

"Quiet." I need to listen, to try hearing his footsteps or calls for help.

Nothing comes.

One final push, until we're about ten feet from flames that are creeping around the old entrance, and what's left of the building starts crippling in on itself. My hold loosens on her so I can get in there,and not a second later, I watch him walk from the smoke.

He dips his head under the flames, almost smiling about his work, no doubt. Cigarette in one hand and a bottle of brandy in the other.

Guess I did miss one.

The panic that was beginning to eat me up disappears as he gets closer to us. He doesn't speak; he just takes a few pulls on the bottle and then tears Miri from my hold. She's pushed and turned until he's got her on the car where he wants her, and then he's holding up his phone for her to look at something.

Her eyes go wide, lips faltering for words. "Naja. Oh god, no."

He leans his mouth down to her ear. "You remember me?" She swallows and shivers. "We're getting on a plane soon, Eight. She dies the minute you try making that journey hard; you hear me? And then you'll fucking die, too. Or worse." She's stock still in his hands, eyes fixed on that screen and whatever she's looking at. "Don't make me pissed. I'm not as nice as him."