Ballistic (39 page)

“He loves you Red,” she sa
id, slapping me hard. “Get with the fucking program, woman.”

“Ow dammit! I know he does but does he love me enough?”

“The fuck defines enough? Damn, when did you become so needy?”

“You’re right.”

“I’m always right,” she said, slapping me again. “And right now he’s right too. Keep fighting for him, Red. Some of us aren’t born fighters like you are. Some of us need training.”

In a rare moment
of Lina opening up, I knew that even though the topic was Max, she was speaking of herself. I wish she saw herself like I saw her. She was my fucking hero. Lina was the strongest person I knew and she had no clue the power she held.

Max and I are watching a movie and being lazy for a change. We left our phones in the kitchen to charge and when I hear mine buzz, I told myself the next time I got up to pee, I’d check it. Getting caught up in the movie it was close to an hour before I remembered to check it.

Once I did
, all of my training kicked in, right along with fear for my sister and the sinking feeling I failed her. “Maxwell!” I yell, grabbing my boots from the back door.

“What’s wrong
, Blue?” he asks, crashing into the kitchen.

“Call the guys, call everyfuckingone, Lina needs backup.”

“Location?” he shouts from the living room, rattling it off the team as in the whole fucking team including the shadow squad would rally a block before to make sure we weren’t detected.

“Blue,” he says
, stopping me from running out of the door. “Would you sit this one out if I asked you to?”

“I love that you would even ask.”

Pulling me to his solid chest, he whispers, “I can’t lose you.”

“You won’t,” I whisper back
. “I have to save her.”

“I know you do,” he says
, outfitting me in Kevlar and taking my hand. “Let’s go.”

There
is a park a half block from the residence. Macy is first to approach. “The house is owned by J. Perret,” she says to the group. “That’s Tony’s attorney, Julian.”

“You’re fucking kidding me?” Venessa
growls. “Julian?”

“We know this guy?” Bishop
asks, putting his arm around me.

“
W we know
of
him.”

“They both have to be in there and likely injured.” Venessa gasps when I continue and Rogan pulls her close to comfort her. “We have to assume Julian is the one she’s been
looking for. Unless I say otherwise, kill the bastard and anyone that gets in your way.”

Nods all around, I zoom in on Max
. “Have a unit on standby. Assume they both will need medical attention. Macy, once we’re secure, you tend to Tony first. I’ve got Lina.”

While everyone secures their Kevlar I make one last announcement
. “Keep this quiet. When this is done, I want a body count, understood?”

“Boss?” Saint
asks, releasing the slide and loading up. “You sure you---”

“I’m sure
, Saint,” I growl. “That’s my sister in there.”

“I got you,” he says
, pulling his tinted glasses forward. “Just making sure.”

Coming up around the block
, we all pause at what we’re seeing. Lina drove her Hummer through the front of the god damn house and she wasn’t kidding—that shit was parked in the living room. Had this happened anywhere else the block would be flooded with units but Julian is one of the two standing houses left on the street. Looking at the destruction I had to give Lina credit, she didn’t half ass it.

We each
find our designated spot surrounding the house. Duffy and Bishop are in place on either side of the front door to prep for my lead. Pushing in my mic I whisper “In 3, 2, 1…”

In any battle there is the calm before the storm. My mind is quiet, my hands are steady. Reaching back with my left hand, I make sure Max’s grip is tight on my vest so he can safely follow. Taking him in is a huge risk
, but he’s insistent that he goes where I go.  This is some serious on-the-job training and I’m the wife who brought her husband to work today. Once the door is kicked in, we flood the house with smoke and a seriously pissed off group of warriors.

“Clear
.” From Duffy in the kitchen.

“Clear
.” From Saint in the basement.

“Clear
.” From Bishop in the living room.

“Clear
.” From Rogan upstairs.

“Bodies
. Three in the master.” From Rafe

“Spare bedroom
. Get in here, boss,” from Jumbo and clearing the hall, I turn and my heart stops.

“Oh my god,” I whisper when I walk in to see Lina covering Tony with her tiny body. Max’s breath leaves him as quickly as mine did. Blood was everywhere and Lina was naked.  Oh my god, are those dead bodies her fucking parents? Setting my gun down and crawling slowly over to them both, I
try reaching for Lina. She isn’t the Lina I know or remember right now, and if her aggressive stance is anything to go by, she doesn’t remember me either.

In that moment my heart broke. I lost Lina for good.

And when her jet black clouded eyes meet mine, I backed the hell up.

“Look at her!” she screamed to my father who looked up from the paper to roll his eyes at me. “Aron she looks like a whore!”

“Jesus Ana,” he
groaned. “She is a whore. Find something else to bitch about.”

“Is that my blouse?” she
asked, tearing the sleeve. Seething with hurt and anger, I stood there debating what to do. No, it isn’t her blouse. She didn’t have the tits for the one I bought for tonight. She ripped the other sleeve and laughed at her accomplishment. “Now see how your pimp likes his whore with her clothes falling off.”

Taking the verbal beat down, I grab
bed my stuff and walked to the corner to wait for the bus to take me to the gymnasium where I was scheduled to speak with my recruiter prior to graduation. How fucking humiliating that I’d have to do it with two ripped sleeves and my bra showing. Fuck it, I decided. I needed this job, this scholarship, and it all starts with this meeting. My teacher pulled through. The woman and her husband forged my parent’s signature and fulfilled her promise to me. It was up to me to do the rest.

Let it be known
, I rocked the fuck out of that interview sleeveless blouse and all.

He sets me down on his bed, walks casually over to his dresser and places his pistol on it confident I’m no longer a threat because he’s broken me. He stares at me through the mirror with lust and I force myself to appear unaffected. He needed to believe he’s won, that I had nothing left.

And just when he
believes it, that’s when I would kill him. Sitting on the side of the bed, I want to wrap my hands around his throat and steal the air from his lungs. I want to reach in with my bare hand and rip his fucking heart out. The reality of all this is, I can’t do any of those things because I’m too small and outside of a movie, not too many other people could to it either. Physically, I don’t stand a chance with him or his cronies that wait outside the door.

“You know the rules,” I remind him
.

W
hen he reaches for me, he says, “Yes, Lina, I know the rules.”

“Just tell my why,” I whisper
. “I’ve never done anything to you. None of us have.”

Tipping my chin up he says
, “Venessa did me a favor, ridding the world of those two was a debt I cannot repay. What they did to her was wrong, disgusting and shameful. Macy was an opportunity, nothing more. However, for a genius she’s feisty. I seriously underestimated her. Hank was a business man, a greedy one, I’ll give him that, but he was a needed distraction. He was easy to influence and infect. With him out of the way, that club would have been mine. Jules forced my hand. All I wanted was that club. That club was my ticket. If I thought Macy was feisty, she doesn’t hold a candle to that bitch. Christ, that’s one mean cunt that just won’t die. No lie, those three impressed me until I met you.”

“You had a career,” I tell him
. “You were successful. You didn’t need to do this.”

“
You can never have enough power, Lina. My father knew that, my uncle knew it too. Hell, they even died believing it. With you by my side, I won’t simply be powerful I’ll be unstoppable. I’ll own you, Lina and I promise you’ll be grateful for it.”

“
What about the captain? You bought him off too, didn’t you?” I ask, ignoring his ownership comment completely.

“No money was exchanged,” he smiles
. “I promised him after he had my family mercilessly slaughtered, that if he cooperated I wouldn’t do the same to him. It turns out he really wanted to live.”

“By cooperate
, you mean look the other way?”

“He tried to be a good man and for years he was. In truth, I forgot about our deal until he tried to lie to me and started that fucking group behind my back. Then I really looked into him and saw how he used you too. I didn’t pay his group of misfits
much attention because they were looking under the wrong rocks. The captain though, he fucked up for how he treated you. You were just a kid. He should have protected you. He needs to pay for that. Face it, drugs, women, and weapons, Lina, it’s the American way. He started this war. Had he kept our bargain and not brought you into it, the losses would have been less. Hell, his own son could have been spared. He lied to me, so I led Gary to Venessa knowing she would do what needed to be done. She did and he suffered as he should. Paying cops off is easy. Keeping his son high and agreeable was cake. Same goes for all the others. Greed is good, Lina. It gets things done. Tony, though, he should have stayed out of it. I wanted to spare him too, until I met you.”

“You executed cops
, Julian. You gave them no choice,” I growl at him.

“I didn’t execute anyone,” he says
, shrugging. “They executed each other. Survival of the fittest and all that. Even your attempts to pay their debts won’t spare them. Good officers won’t survive here.”

“You wanted Lush to run your illegal shit
, and what? You plan to use me to tell you who’s double crossing you? Do you even hear yourself right now? No one else can use me, but you can?”

“Every ruler needs a queen,” he says
, running his hands down my open chest. “Why him, Lina? I’ve been here the whole time. I’d have given anything for you. I still will.”

“He doesn’t lie to me,” I tell him
, looking him in the eyes. “He
sees
me.”

“Not anymore he doesn’t,” he says
, pushing me to my back. “I never did thank him for the favor that brought you to me. That eats him I’m sure, fucking do-gooder.  Hanging out in that club, pretending to be someone he isn’t. Always wanting to save the damn world. If it wasn’t for him and his damn favors, I wouldn’t have had the edge I needed. Christ, now that I think on it, I probably should have thanked him before I shot him.”

“You killed the man I love, set
the captain up to fall, hurt my friends, and you hurt
me,”
I accuse. “How will you sleep at night?”

Kissing my neck and gripping my shoulders
, he growls at me, “On satin sheets with you beside me.”

Every word out of his mouth spoke true. He actually believed his own bullshit. While I loathe
the captain’s part in this, I can’t honestly blame him either. Escaping death would be one hell of a motivator. When I remain silent, Julian begins rubbing himself all over me like a fucking dog in heat. I’m already topless and he’s kissed and licked my entire upper body. As he removes my pants slowly, the dread in my stomach is a strong indicator, I cannot do this. Turning me onto my side now that I’m naked, he touches my back softly.

“This is new,” he says
, tracing my script. “Christ, you truly have the most beautiful skin.”

“Stop talking,” I order him
. “That’s not how this works.”

Pulling me back to climb over me
, he spreads my legs with his knees. “It is now,” he says, stretching my legs further than necessary. “Everything will be different now, Lina. This time I’m in charge and you’ll be obedient.”

Glaring at him
, he puts a hand around my throat but doesn’t squeeze. “Undress me,” he demands, applying a small amount of pressure. “Slowly.”

Using my good hand
, I undo his belt, open his button and slide his zipper down. I’m seriously close to throwing up, but manage to hold it back, barely. His cock springs free and then he orders me, “Use your fist,” and I do.

When his eyes close in ecstasy, mine close in humiliation. “Harder,” he groans
, in bliss. “Like you did for
him,
” my eyes fly open at this. Rage like nothing I’ve ever known fills my body like the sweetest poison giving me strength I never knew was in my possession. Crushing him in my fist, he tries to scream but I give him the harder he begged for, then I cut him off by backhanding his mouth with my cast. Even the pain blasting through me doesn’t stop me. Nothing was stopping me. At this moment I am immortal.

Channeling my inner pit bull and locking my wrist up, I grip him with everything I’ve got, knowing Anthony’s life depended on it. Right now, you’d need a crowbar to get this dick out of my hand. Using my body, I lower my head
, pushing it against his chest silently telling him to stand up. He does through grunts and whimpers because when he hesitates, I dig my nails into the flesh of his cock to drive my point home. Now he’s vertical and I’ve got seconds to act once I let go.

It’s him or Anthony.

Anthony won.

Releasing him
, he immediately yells so fucking loud, I almost stop to cover my ears. “They killed my family, Lina! He wanted to take you from me! We’re the same! How can you fucking do this to me?” While he grabs his cock, I lunge to the dresser grabbing the gun. He stops mid-step when he sees the barrel aimed at his head and I smile for him. “Look in my eyes, Julian,” I order him. “Do you see me now?” Then I release the slide, blink once and fire.

In seconds, the door crashes open and both cops flank me. They are so confused
by Julian bleeding out on the floor that they haven’t drawn and I don’t give them the chance to. I blink once and fire two more shots. One to my right, and one to my left, each is a kill shot. I blink again and I see three bodies.

I still don’t trust it.

Releasing the magazine, I see I have four shots left. Walking over to Julian I put one in his heart first. Turning around I do the same to both of the dirty cops, making sure it was done. Gun in hand, I walk over to the corner and vomit in it.

I vomit until there’s nothing left but bile and spit. Wiping my mouth on the back of my arm
, I grab the box of ammo on the dresser and load the mag fully. Anyone who came near Anthony would die today. I step over the two cops’ bodies and run back to Anthony. Opening the door I see him on his side with blood in a pool around him. Clutching the gun, I hit my knees and wrap myself around him in protection. The sane part of me tells me to go to the kitchen and find something to free him, but the part of me that starts to float, says to never leave his side.

So I
don’t.

If I left him for a second
, a threat could present itself from anywhere. The closet, the basement or even the kitchen. No, I need to stay and protect him so that’s what I do. Then there are voices. They came from all directions, each wanting to steal what belongs to me. I’d kill them all first. Only then would I be free to help him. I hear my name and her voice seems familiar to me. She says she brought back-up but for who, I don’t know. I hear my name again and it’s forceful this time, ordering me to listen. Ignoring it, I sense movement around me. Taking a defensive position, I raise the gun, not seeing or caring whom it’s trained on. One step closer and the threat would be no more. Easy. I wouldn’t miss. I would let it fly, making each one count.

“Lina,” the voice says
, cutting through me. “Enough.”

Like a rubber band had snapped, I blink twice and saw Jules.

That’s when I saw that I had the pistol aimed at my sister’s forehead. That’s also when I knew I’d lost it, because if she took another step, I’d drop her too.