Chapter 24

URIAH

“We’ve got everybody stationed along the perimeter for a few blocks. We’ve got eyes on every entrance and exit of that warehouse. Nothing will happen that we won’t see.”

“Except on the inside,” I said.

“Not on the inside. That’s why we got you. You up for this, kid? Last time it didn’t go so well.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got my head on straight. We’ll catch Rivera red-handed no matter what.”

“Security will be a lot tighter this time.”

“It doesn’t matter. I know you’re all watching my back. Rivera tries anything with me, that’ll just make it worse for him.”

It was a quiet night in the West Bay. The entire city was on pause. Nothing was moving. Not the traffic in the streets. Not the clouds in the sky. All that was there was the cold night breeze blowing through the air.

“All right,” I said. “No communication from this point on. Can’t risk them hearing anything. Just give me five good minutes and I’ll contact you.”

“I know you can do it, Kennedy.”

I grabbed the door handle to get out when Sanders grabbed me by the shoulder.

“Hey.”

He held a donut up to me.

“Take a bite,” he said. “Sugar. For good luck.”

Even at a time like this, the old man still managed to make me smirk. I grabbed the donut and took a bite then tossed it back to him.

“I’ll be right back.”

I got out of the car and braced myself. I pulled my hood over my head and looked up and down the streets. A car hadn’t passed by in so long. It was as if everybody in the West Bay had gotten the news and knew what was going down.

I moved quickly until I was in the darkened alleyways. The address of the meeting was in a storage warehouse a few miles from the last place. Most buildings in this area were abandoned and at night, that became even more apparent. With the police not bothering to patrol the area, it was the perfect place for someone like Rivera to do what he wanted to do. I grew more anxious with every passing second, knowing that tonight would be the end of it.

There were a couple of security guards standing at the door.

“Dammit…”

I looked up but there was no fire escape to climb. There were no windows to sneak through. All I could do was search for another way inside.

I kept my distance as I made my way around the building. There were a couple more guards posted on the other side.

Now what?

The only way I could get in was if I had a distraction. I had to get those guards away from the door.

I inched closer to the building, making sure to stay in the shadows of the alley I was in. I was only a few meters away from the entrance. The guards were at full attention, looking back and forth to make sure that nobody even got near.

Something… A distraction…

“Lost?”

My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice right next to me. Then I heard it. A hammer cocking on a handgun was the last thing anybody wanted to hear. And in most cases, it usually was the last thing anybody heard.

I slowly stood up straight and turned around. Cade stood right in front of me, his gun pointed right at my face.

“Right on schedule,” he said with a smirk.

“…It was all a trap. You gave Bryce the address—”

“I gave him the address because I knew there was no way of stopping you from coming.”

I clenched my jaw and looked him right in the eye. There was nothing I could do to Cade. I knew it would hurt Bryce more than anything if something happened to him.

“Are you going to shoot me?” I said as I put my hands up.

“With all these cops around? No chance. You’d work better as a hostage.”

Cade motioned with the gun and made me move toward the entrance of the warehouse. The guards stared at us but didn’t move from their spots.

“Open up,” Cade said. “The guest of honor has arrived.”

They opened up the doors and Cade pushed me forward.

The warehouse was a lot more spacious than the previous one. All of the equipment in the room looked like you would expect in a drug lab. And from my view, everything seemed to be in working order.

In the center of it all, Rivera stood there. His hands behind his back, he looked as proud and magnanimous as ever. All of the money. All of the power. All of the influence. It was all on display along with a couple of armed guards at his side.

“Well, well, well,” Rivera said as I approached him, Cade pointing his gun at me from behind. “The man of the hour…”

He pulled his sleeve up and glanced at his gaudy watch.

“…You’re late.”

“I had trouble finding the place,” I said. “It’s pretty dark in this part of town.”

“It is dark, isn’t it? Perfect place to do business.”

Rivera took a step toward me and looked me up and down. He wasn’t so tall that I couldn’t look him in the eye though.

Stay calm. You’ve still got your gun on you.

I reminded myself not to try anything. I had to wait for my chance.

“I remember you,” he said. “The man near the window. You’re a lot younger than I expected. I guess when you’re young you make mistakes like what you did before. I lost one of my facilities because of it. No matter, things will be up and running again. You can’t stop progress.”

“You won’t get away with this,” I responded. “Snow Falls won’t bow down to you like every other city.”

A smug grin formed on his lips that I wanted to wipe off with my fist.

“Do you know how many times I’ve heard that before?” he said. “All of my rivals have been trying to take me down. For years, they’ve attempted to get at me. The police have wanted to lock me up. But I’m still here. I’ll always be here. Snow Falls is no different.”

“You can do whatever you want to me. There’ll be somebody to take my place. You’ll always be followed. You’ll always be chased. Just like I caught you now.”

“What makes you think I haven’t been counting on that?”

What?

He took a step back from me and held his hands out.

“How do you think you even got this address in the first place?” he said. “I wanted you to come here. I wanted you to believe that you got a hold of me.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because once you’re dead, the police in this town will understand who they’re dealing with. They’ll fold. They’ll break. They always do. Everybody realizes it eventually. You cannot stop me.”

This was it. Rivera had me right where he wanted me. And with Bryce’s brother pointing a gun right at me, there was nothing I could do stop him.

I stared at Cade and shook my head.

“And you’re just gonna go along with this?” I said.

“Shut up,” Cade responded.

Rivera snapped his fingers. One of his guards moved over to the side of the room and picked something up. A large duffel bag that was so heavy that the guard had trouble carrying it.

He dumped it on the ground then unzipped it. All eyes in the warehouse were on the bag. I didn’t have to look long to see what it was.

“There it is,” Rivera said. “The money you asked for.”

“A million,” Cade said. “It’s all there?”

“Would you like to count it?”

Cade had a focused look in his eyes. He stared at the money like his thoughts were somewhere else.

“All right,” Rivera said. “I came to Snow Falls with the same intentions I have with every city. My arrival signals a chance for something great. It’s time, Cade.”

Rivera held his hands out and pointed at me.

“Prove your loyalty to me,” he said. “Kill this pest so we can dispose of him and get on with it.”

“You’ll never get away with this,” I said. “There are cops on every street corner on this block. You plan on moving weight—”

“You still don’t get it,” Rivera said, that damn smirk still on his lips. “We were never planning on moving anything tonight. It was all just a trap to lure you here. One by one, every man who tries to take me down will get taken out.”

“They’ll search this facility. They’ll find the equipment.”

“Private property. They can’t search without a warrant and probable cause. Do you think I wasn’t prepared?”

Dammit.

Rivera had every base covered and he smiled like he knew it.

The two guards both raised their guns up and pointed them at me.

“Well,” Rivera said to Cade. “What are you waiting for? Kill this man so we can get on with it.”

I turned toward Cade. All I could see in his eyes was Bryce though.

“You look so much like your brother,” I said, somehow working a smile onto my face.

“I get that a lot,” Cade said.

“What will he say when he finds out what you’re about to do?”

His throat bobbed up and down when he swallowed.

“My brother will understand,” he said.

I clenched my jaw. I did everything I could to hold my emotions back.

Bryce…

The thoughts of my Omega kept my thoughts clear. If this was my last moment, I wanted him in them. He would be the last thing I would ever think of.

Cade pulled the hammer back on his gun and pointed it right at me. I could feel Rivera’s eyes on me.

“Tell Bryce I love him,” I said.

Cade sighed a deep breath through his nose and smiled before he responded.

“Tell him yourself.”

In the blink of an eye, he pulled the trigger. A shot rang past my ear. I could almost feel the bullet zooming by me. I jerked my head and watched as it caught one of Rivera’s men right in the chest.

Cade turned his gun on Rivera but just before he could get his shot off, the other guard fired on Cade. The bullet caught Cade in the shoulder and knocked him to the ground.

In all of the sudden commotion, I pulled my piece out and caught the other guard and sent him to the floor with the other one.

Rivera quickly spun around and ran toward the exits.

It all happened so fast, that I wasn’t sure how to react.

“Cade!”

I fell to my knees to check on Bryce’s brother. The blood leaked out of his shoulder and spilled onto the floor.

“I need to get you out of here…”

“I’m fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

“You’re not fine—”

“I’m fine! You have to get him. Bryce will never be safe if he’s still out there.”

I raised my head up just in time to see Rivera and his men standing near the entrance. All of them were working together to set fire to all of the equipment in the warehouse.

“Shit,” I muttered. “Not again.”

“Go!” Cade said. “There’s no time. I’ll be fine. I’ll take care of myself.”

The warehouse quickly caught fire all around me. Every second that went by was precious. I looked up and Rivera and his men were getting ready to leave.

Dammit…

I jumped up to my feet and ran toward Rivera on the other side of the warehouse. I fired my weapon and managed to tag one of his men.

I chased after them as hard and fast as I could move. When I got outside, I turned the corner and saw all of them piling into their sedan in the parking lot.

I fired at the tires and took it out before they could move. Then I ducked back behind the corner just before they fired in response. I pulled my phone out and dialed Sanders as fast as I could.

“Back up! Now!”

I could only hope that I’d gotten through to him.

I peeked back around the corner and saw Rivera getting out of his car. He suddenly started running through the alleys. There was no chance he was getting away with all of the cops surrounding the area. But I knew I couldn’t take that chance.

I ran through the parking lot and ducked into the next alley as the bullets whizzed by me. I could barely make Rivera out in front of me. If it wasn’t for his expensive watch shining in the darkness, I would’ve lost him.

Don’t stop… Keep going…

For as big as he was, Rivera could move a lot faster than I expected. He jumped over every fence. He maneuvered up and down every alley with the speed of a man who’d done it before.

But Rivera didn’t know Snow Falls like I did. He couldn’t get away. Not tonight. Not in my city.

I kept running until I finally managed to chase him down one alley and into an abandoned parking lot. I caught up to him and dived as far as I could. My hand reached out and my fingers wrapped around his ankle. My gun fell out of my hand but that didn’t matter. He stumbled to the ground. I jumped back up to my feet and rushed over to him.

I met him with a hard right hand across the cheek.

“It’s over!” I shouted.

Another fist knocked his head back.

But Rivera wouldn’t go down so easily.

“Fuck you!”

He shouted at me and grabbed me by the collar. He pushed me off of him and made me stumble back.

His suit dirty. His jewelry scuffed. His face bruised and his hair out of place. Rivera no longer looked as proud as he always did.

“That stupid punk,” he muttered. “He could’ve had it all but he just had to go and do something stupid like that.”

“Cade did the right thing. That’s what you’ll come to realize about the people in this city. There’s no place for anybody like you in Snow Falls. It’s over… We’ve got every exit surrounded. You can’t get through the perimeter without running into a cop.”

“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I misjudged everything and I’m stuck here. But that won’t stop me from killing you.”

He charged at me and wrapped his arms around my waist. I fell back to the ground and landed on my back with a hard thud. I struggled with him but he managed to knock me on the side of the head.

“Should’ve given up,” he said as he slugged me again. “I would’ve paid you off. You could’ve been a rich cop. You could’ve had it all. All you had to do was mind your own fucking business!”

He threw another hand at me but I rolled my head out of the way. His fist crashed into the pavement and made him squeal in pain. It was just the opportunity I needed to push him off of me.

I got back up to my feet and felt the blood rushing on the side of my face. Rivera wasn’t in any better shape than I was.

“Give up,” I said. “There’s no escape.”

“Shut up!”

He suddenly reached behind his back and pulled out for something on the back of his waist.

Shit.

I rolled out of the way just as the shot went off.

Luck was on my side and the bullet sparked off the pavement behind me.

Rivera walked toward me, his gun pointed right at me.

“Nobody crosses me and lives,” he said. “You just had to learn the hard way.”

I gritted my teeth and stared back at him.

“Snow Falls is still here,” I said. “It’ll always be here, long after you’re gone.”

“Maybe. But you’ll be gone first.”

He raised his gun up. Something caught the corner of my eye.

I didn’t have time to think. I rolled toward it just as he fired.

In one motion, I managed to get my piece, raise up and fire.

Bang.

The loud shot rang through the air and echoed into the night before everything fell silent again.

Rivera stood there motionless. His gun fell down from his hand. He looked down and watched as the red stain grew larger and larger in the center of his chest. One last look of disdain appeared on his brow before he fell back.

I closed my eyes and sighed a deep breath.

“Kennedy!”

I turned around and saw Sanders rumbling toward me. He was breathing hard, sweat dripping all over his brow.

“Just in time,” I said.

“It looks like I missed the show. Then again, there are still fireworks going on back there.”

That’s when I realized that this wasn’t over.

“Cade… We have to go back.”