Chapter 22
The pounding at the door made Kate's blood run cold. There no good options for who could be banging their fist against the door.
She glanced over at Lacey, saw Lacey's look of concern.
"Kate!"
It was Johnny. He never ventured to their apartment. Even in the first weeks after Frannie was born, he had made less than minimal effort to stop by.
"Open up, Kate!"
"I'm coming," Kate called in response, wanting to buy enough time to keep him from breaking in the door.
Lacey immediately reached over and picked up Frannie, scooping up the toys that were on the floor with her. She glanced at Kate and Kate nodded. She'd deal with Johnny, Lacey would keep Frannie safe.
Kate flipped on the TV, turned the volume up enough to cover any sounds coming from Frannie behind the bedroom door, then went to the apartment door.
Steeling herself, Kate opened the door.
Johnny didn't look good. Cuts and bruises covered his face, two days' worth of stubble covered his jaw. But the look in his eyes was worse than anything else. His hazel eyes were hard, anger having settled into vengeance. Kate had seen the look before and it never led to anything good. It never led to anything less than violence.
"There's a rat," he snapped, shoving his way past Kate without looking around. "Two rats," he said.
Kate's blood froze. It took everything she had to keep from reacting.
Johnny turned back to Kate, pulling back his oversized coat and pulling out a gun.
Her heart stuttered and her mind reeled in a panic, she caught herself before she took a step back.
Johnny held the gun out to her and Kate looked at him. He shoved it in her direction again, motioning for her to take it.
Kate took the gun with numb fingers. Johnny handed her an extra magazine. Automatically, Kate pocketed the magazine, then checked the handgun, seeing it was fully loaded.
"Let's go," he said, settling his own gun back in place.
"Go where?" Kate asked, still trying to figure out how Johnny had found out about Carlos and Joe, scrambling to find a way to stop whatever Johnny was putting into play.
"Hunting," he said. "For rats." He started toward the door, then paused and looked back when Kate didn't immediately follow. "What are you doing?" he asked.
Kate tucked the gun into the waistband of her jeans, the magazine into her pocket. She grabbed her jacket and shrugged it on, then found a pen and piece of scrap paper. "Leaving a note for Lacey."
"Hurry up," he said, with little interest.
Kate scribbled out a phone number, flipped the paper over and anchored it with the salt shaker. She hurried after Johnny, not willing to do anything that would whittle away at his patience. She followed him out of the apartment, the gun cold against her lower back, the ice traveling all the way up her spine to solidify the fear that had stopped her heart.
#
Carlos shoved another stack of paperwork from his desk over to Joe's. Joe gave him a scowl and shoved it back.
"Doctor said not to strain my eyes," Joe said. "Paperwork is a lot of eye strain."
Carlos didn't make a move toward the stack of overdue reports. "Eye strain?" he said.
Joe held up his hands as if helpless to change doctor's orders. "That's what he said."
With a sigh, Carlos took half the stack and slid the rest over to Joe. "Next time, make sure some rubble hits me in the head."
Joe let out a laugh and took his half of the paperwork.
Carlos' cell phone buzzed somewhere under the file folders that covered his desk.
"Not answering it," he muttered. "Next time we go under, we don't avoid the precinct for this long. We stay on top of the paperwork."
"Amen," Joe agreed.
His phone vibrated again and he sifted through the mess to find it. He didn't recognize the number and started to set it aside, then eyed the evidence of bureaucracy. "I better take this," he said, offering up a look of mock apology for leaving Joe with the work.
He answered the phone, smiling at Joe's predictable grunt of annoyance.
The line hummed with silence.
"Hello?" he said again.
"I…is this Carlos?" The tentative voice on the other end of the line wavered.
"Lacey?" he asked, his smile falling. Joe stopped what he was doing and fixed Carlos with a look.
"Yeah…Kate wrote down this number. She—she left it for me when Johnny—when Johnny…" her voice shook and he could hear her holding back a sob.
"Johnny was there?" he asked. He was already shoving back his chair, reaching for his coat, Joe doing the same.
"He showed up and Kate went with him. I couldn't hear—I don't know why."
Carlos double checked his gun and took the keys to the undercover car. "Do you know where they would go?" he asked.
"No," Lacey said, and he could hear the tears in her voice.
"It's ok," he said, exchanging a look with Joe. Joe's face was tight. "Are you and Frannie safe?"
"I think so…"
Carlos covered the speaker on his cellphone and whispered to Joe. "Get a car to go sit on Lacey and the baby." Joe nodded and pulled out his own phone.
"Ok, just stay put. Keep the door locked and don't answer no matter what. We're going to find Kate." Carlos hoped he was telling the truth.
#
Kate rode in silence next to Johnny. Her mind had slowed its racing and was now honed in on every sense. She marked the streets mentally, tracking where they were going.
"What's the play?" she finally asked. As if she wanted any part of this.
Johnny adjusted his grip on the steering wheel with white knuckles. "We're going to teach them a lesson. Show them not to double cross me." He spit out a curse. "Setting off a bomb like a couple of amateurs and thinking they'll take over."
"A bomb?" Kate asked, her mask slipping with confusion.
Johnny glanced at her. "Wes and Rico planted that bomb," he said.
"Wes and Rico," she repeated, holding back the relief that threatened to escape. She looked out the window to hide the expression she couldn't conceal. They weren't going after Carlos and Joe.
"Who'd you think we were chasing down?" Johnny asked.
Kate shook her head in answer.
"Didn't you put it together?" Johnny's voice rose as he looked away from the road again. "Wes thought he could blow the deal to hell. Take us out and scare off the Aces." Another curse, and the engine revved as the vehicle sped up. "Scare off the competition and take over as leader. Wes is going to find out he messed up. Big."
Kate's relief was edged out by the knot of dread that started building. Johnny and Wes at war was a terrifying prospect. Without Hux alive to balance the situation, the bombing was going to be match strike compared to the inferno that threatened.
Hard metal pressed against her temple and Kate bit back the gasp that nearly escaped. She heard the sharp click as Johnny cocked the gun.
"Why are you so quiet?" he demanded.
Kate slid her eyes towards him. The streetlights that sped past made a carousel of colors across Johnny's face.
Her voice was tight and she fought to keep her voice steady. "I'm listening." Although she had already had her suspicions about the bomb, when Wes and Rico had somehow made it out before the explosion.
The engine revved again, building to a roar. Kate eyed the speedometer and saw it edging up. "You working with Wes?" he asked. One hand on the wheel and the other holding the gun to her head, the Suburban he drove weaved across the center line. Horns sounded from oncoming traffic and he jerked the vehicle back into the right lane. He pressed the gun harder against her skin.
"I'm working for you," she said through gritted teeth. "You know that."
"Do I?" The SUV started to veer dangerously over the line again. Johnny jabbed the gun at Kate and she bit back a sound of pain. "Because Wes has been talking. Saying things."
Kate's eyes darted around, taking in the oncoming traffic, the cars swerving to avoid them when Johnny jerked the wheel back to the right. The streetlights and headlights glinting off the gun she could only see out of the corner of her eye.
"He likes to talk, to rile people up. You know Wes," she said.
"Not as well as you," he snapped.
They crossed the center line again and this time a set of headlights came right for them. Kate yelled for Johnny to watch out and flinched back as the gun clattered to the floor and he struggled to regain control of the wheel.
#
