Black
I waited in the car while Team X grabbed the guy in the apartment building. I instructed them to bring him to my car. My mind kept drifting to Quill, but I shook it off as quickly as I could and tried to focus on the task at hand.
Sometime later, there was a knock on my window and Jaclyn stood with a scrawny man in her grip. I unlocked the door and she opened it, tossed him in, and slid in beside him. Her gun pointed at him, daring him to move.
“Before you speak and start saying stupid shit, let me introduce myself to you.” He narrowed his eyes but kept his mouth shut. “My name is Black. I run an assassin organization. By the looks of you, someone likely paid you a good fee to come here tonight to play decoy. Am I right?” He shook his head, his gaze shifting between me and Jaclyn’s gun. “Don’t pay her any mind, she won’t kill you unless I order it.”
The guy opened his mouth and shut it.
“What’s your name?”
“Henry. I’m nineteen. I was just sleeping under a bridge, some guy asked if I’d like to make some quick cash. Said I just had to sneak in a window and walk down a hall and out a door. That’s all.”
He was dirty, didn’t smell so nice, his hair stringy and oily. He had been on the streets a long time without a shower and by the hollowed-out cheeks, no doubt he was hungry.
“Who was the person who you spoke with under the bridge?”
My phone dinged, indicating I had a voicemail but I ignored it, waiting for Henry’s answer.
“I don’t know his name, wore a white hoodie, gave me fifty right there just for me to hear him out. He seemed legit about the offer and it was simple enough.”
“You’re an idiot,” I said as I massaged my temples. “You didn’t think maybe it was too simple?”
“How am I the idiot? You came here for me and you don’t seem too surprised to find me.” The boy had gumption, but I had no tolerance.
“I already have one moody man in my life, I don’t need another.” In one fluid motion, I grabbed the small knife from inside my jacket and jammed it into Henry’s hand and through the upholstery.
His scream was loud in the confines of the car, like nails on a chalkboard.
“I have four knives, Henry.” I raised my brows. “Now, tell me what you know. Don’t bullshit me.”
Henry was hysterical, screaming to take him to a hospital. I couldn’t reason with him like this.
“Jaclyn, take him to the van, get him cleaned up.” I spoke louder so Henry could hear me. “We can start again soon.”
After he was wrangled out, I laid my head back against the seat; silence was golden indeed. Taking a moment before I went to the van, I checked my voicemail. The sound of Quill’s terrified voice sent ice through my veins. Even if Nathan was shot, the others would surely handle it. Why was he hiding? How’d anyone get inside the house at all?
“Steve,” I hollered as I opened the door. He stood beside the van smoking a cigarette. “You sent team Y to my home with Nathan, right?”
“Of course, why?”
“Quill called, Nathan’s dead and they’re in the house. Locate Team Y. Jaclyn, secure Henry. We need to get back to the house immediately.”
Getting one past me wasn’t a common thing. Had Quill fucked with my concentration? What the Hell was going on?
We were five minutes from my house when Steve called. “What do you got?”
“No answer from Team Y, Sir. Cameras outside your house only showed a car pulling up and two men exiting the vehicle. How they got in, I don’t know.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck. “Drive faster,” I ordered, and the car zoomed up the hill toward my house.
There was no car in the driveway when we pulled up and I could only hope it was because they couldn’t find Quill, gave up, and left.
“Stay in the car, sir,” my driver ordered, but fuck that. I grabbed my gun from the small compartment in my car and got out. “Sir!”
“I give the orders, not you, now move.”
Leaving no room for argument, five of us walked down the garage. No signs of forced entry. It was like someone had let them in, but that was impossible. Steve and Leo went up the elevator while Jaclyn, my driver, and I took the emergency stairs.
Jaclyn pushed the door open, gun at the ready. It was eerily silent. No Christmas carols playing, no aroma of chocolate, cookies, or popcorn. All things I’d grown accustomed to with having Quill here the last few days.
We rounded the corner to the living room where Nathan’s body lay dead in front of the Christmas tree. Blood had flowed toward the skirt, saturating it.
I gestured two to go down the hall to the master bedroom and one to watch my back while Leo and I went into the kitchen.
Dishes laid on the floor in a million pieces, pots and pans were thrown across the room, shattering tiles in the wall. The hamper stood in place, untouched. God, please let him be in there…. Alive.
Leo pointed the gun at the hamper, just as a precaution, allowing me to slip mine in my belt and slowly lift the lid.
Linen. It was all I saw at first, then it trembled. The linen trembled.
“Quill,” I whispered like I would if I were talking to a scared animal. “It’s Black, baby, you’re safe.”
The fabric slid and his gunmetal gray hair was what I saw first, then his green, glistening eyes on the verge of tears. His lip wobbled and shakily, he lifted his arms to me. I didn’t hesitate a second, grabbing him, pulling him out, and cradling him as close to me as possible.
“Shh, it’s okay. I got you, you’re safe.” I thought he’d cry and sob, but there was nothing. Not a whimper. “Quill, baby, say something.”
His grip loosened, but he stayed wrapped around me. Eyes surveyed the trashed kitchen. I knew when he froze that he saw Nathan by the tree.
“I’m so sorry, Quill. I thought Team Y was watching the house. We can’t locate them. I…” He pressed a slim finger against my lips.
“You won’t, they’re dead. Nathan’s dead. He won’t stop, he can’t.” Quill spoke apathetically.
“How do you know?” Leo asked, lowering his gun but staying vigilant.
In the same detached tone, Quill answered, “He didn’t find me. I heard him screaming. I thought for sure he’d find me, and if he had more time, I’m sure he would’ve. As he searched, he talked. Told me the Sterlings were quite the powerful family. Talked about how they’d dismantle the Hart family and make this city theirs. He went on about their connections and how the Sterlings’ people taking out your team was easier than breathing. Even had tech people to get through your security systems.”
I didn’t like the vacancy in his green eyes. It was like he went into his own safe headspace to avoid feeling.
I couldn’t wait for Poe to get his head out of his ass. I needed all the information on the Sterlings that I could get. I knew Teddy meditated with him, but Bill seemed to know him more. I didn’t want to talk to Bill.
“Leo, get Christopher Manos on the phone. Use my cell, he won’t pick up for you. He’s the number that is under CM.” Keeping my grip tight on Quill, I reached in my pocket and handed my phone to Leo. “Put it on speaker.”
It rang three times before he answered. “I thought we were square, Black.” He was brusque, a tone I’d come to associate with the mob boss.
“I wish more than you know that I never had to hear your voice again.”
There was a chuckle on the other end, no doubt Christopher’s husband, Snow.
“Why are you calling me at, fuck, Black, it’s two in the morning. What the hell do you want… wait. Are you in jail? No way am I going near that.”
He couldn’t see me roll my eyes, but it was a reflex when it came to him. “No, you have a connection I can’t seem to wrangle in but need desperately.”
“Who?” There was rustling, likely bed sheets. It was two in the morning, I woke him up.
“Poe.”
“He isn’t my connection, he’s Snow’s friend, and while he seems to have a mysterious power about him, he’s not an asshole. He clearly knows you and what you do and realizes you’re a liability and wants nothing to do with you. Have you thought about…” Christopher was interrupted and the sound of muffled voices arguing sounded through the kitchen.
Quill turned, eyes on the phone like he just realized we were on a call.
“Black? Hi, it’s Snow. Don’t listen to my acerbic husband. I’m sure deep down past your murderous heart, you’re a real prince.” Christopher’s chuckle came through the phone. “Now, why do you need Poe?”
I started at the beginning, told them everything. Quill didn’t react much when I reiterated the things Dylan had done to him, or Ronnie. But by the time I was done, you could’ve heard a pin drop.
“Poe refused to help you?” Snow asked.
“Yes, but he didn’t have a lot of this info. I emailed him again, explaining, but he hasn’t answered me and after tonight, I can’t wait for him.”
Their voices were muffled again, I couldn’t make it all out. But it sounded like whatever Snow wanted, he was getting.
“Black, I am calling Poe right after I hang up with you. I am telling him to get his ass over to my house immediately. I suggest you get your bundle of brave in a car and head this way too. Your place isn’t safe anyway, so get hoppin’,” Snow said with a snap of his fingers.
“How do you know Poe will show up at your house?” I asked as I gestured Leo and the others to get things ready for a move.
Christopher’s laugh was booming. “You clearly don’t know my husband. Get a move on, Black, you heard the boss.”
Jaclyn found Lady Whiskers hiding in the closet in my bedroom and snagged all her belongings while Steve got Quill and my things. We were off and on our way in under fifteen minutes.
Quill telling me they had a tech guy made my next call inevitable. It rang once before he picked up.
“Lee, I need you.”