“Security!” A voice boomed from within the warehouse. Three brawny men who were sitting comfortably on the couch jumped up and took their guns from their holsters. They all rushed for the door at the same time.

Shit!

This wasn’t good. Tonight’s transaction was supposed to go smoothly, yet there was chaos in the warehouse. I stepped to the side and looked through the one-way window. A woman dressed in black, wearing a face mask, kicked one of the body guards dead center in his chest. It was a professional move, one I’d seen my younger brother Brook practice many times in karate. Winded, the guy fell back and lost his gun. When she grabbed the doctor by his arm, a fire caught the side of the truck. It exploded, throwing them both backward. Seconds later they got up and ran out.

Fuck! My father’s heart was in that truck! Without the vital organ, it was time for me to leave.

Shots were fired, and I fell flat to the ground. The smart thing to do would have been to escape, but when I crawled toward the back door that led out of the office to the other side of the warehouse, I felt a gun jab into my ribcage, and so I stopped.

“You’re not going anywhere.”

“It doesn’t look like our business transaction will come to fruition tonight. I’m out of a heart and out of time.” I pointed to the blaze in the warehouse. “Cops will be here in a moment.”

“And we won’t be. Let’s go!”

Aaron Cortez pushed me forward, out the back door. Crossing him would have been almost as bad as crossing his father, Mateo Cortez. I’d never met the guy. I doubted that many had, but my options to find a viable heart for my father were limited.

Cortez’s name had come up more than once in my lifetime as a bounty hunter, but I’d never taken the risk. The offers were never high enough, and even if they had been, finding Cortez was impossible. Neither I nor any of my brothers would agree to a bounty for his head.

“Ease up on the weapon. I’m not armed.”

Unfortunately, not tonight.

He poked his gun harder into my ribs. I could have thrown Aaron’s gun right out of his hand, but that would have implied guilt. I was still hoping for an amicable solution to a disastrous evening, one that wouldn’t result in me becoming the hunted.

“You’ll be lucky if you get out of here alive.”

Yeah, maybe I was wrong. My defense mode kicked in after all, and before he realized what was happening, I turned around and struck his arm. The gun fell to the ground. I threw one punch, then another and another until Aaron was on the ground, heaving.

I sprinted to my car.

“Shit! She slashed my tires!”

If I’d ever found that bitch, I’d make her pay. Sirens wailed in the distance, and from the orange glow, I could tell that the warehouse fire was quickly becoming an inferno.

Pain exploded as someone struck the side of my head. “You’re going to pay for this,” Aaron grunted. The gun was back in his hand and he dug it into my side again, forcing me toward a black Hummer. The glimmer of hope that those tires were flat as well faded. The vehicle had been parked too far away from the warehouse, secluded and hidden between large bunches of shrubs. He pushed me forward until we reached the Hummer.

I was forced into the back seat between Aaron and a Hulk look-alike who reeked of sweat.

“Go!” Aaron said to the driver.

He took off before the door shut closed. How in the world had this night turn from a promising one to a disaster? And if I thought things couldn’t get any worse, I was wrong.

“Where are we going?”

“Shut the fuck up.” Aaron looked nervously through the window. Two minutes later, a firetruck passed us, followed by three cop cars. We drove for another half hour before parking underneath a bridge in one of Brooklyn’s industrial areas.

“Get out.”

I followed the Hulk and stepped out of the car. He pushed me to the side and forced my body against the hood. I twisted around and out of his grip, switching our positions only to feel the back of a gun handle on the same side of my head as before. This time, my skin gave way and split, and warm blood trickled down the side of my face. My eardrums rang, momentarily blotting out the world.

“You set this up.” Aaron pointed his gun at me and I lifted my hands up in the air.

“No fucking way, man. My deal was and is firm. You get me the heart, and I get you the money.”

“And where exactly is the money?”

“You think I’m stupid enough to carry over a million on me?”

“If you’re coming to make a deal with me empty-handed, you are.”

“My money was with the guy that bitch kidnapped. Listen, I’m sure we can still work this out. You get me that heart tonight and I can get another million. Simple as that.”

“I’m afraid it doesn’t work that way.”

Oh, how I wished I had my gun on me! That, and all three of my brothers at my side. These bastards wouldn’t stand a chance. But they were both nervous, looking around and constantly checking to see if they’d been followed, which was good news for me. It meant that I still had a chance to turn this night around, and at least to save my own life. One or two guns didn’t scare me.

“I get the heart, or we have no deal.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to get it? You want your heart, then you go back to the warehouse and get it from the charred van.”

“I didn’t make a deal for organ shish kabobs. I agreed for a vital heart and a surgeon, of which you don’t seem to have either.”

“Sue me, then,” he laughed. “I’m out of much more than just your fucking heart. But I can always serve you yours on a platter. Come to think of it, you’re a pretty healthy guy. I’m sure we could make a few bucks out of you.” He scanned from the bottom up as if he were adding up the money he’d make out of my lungs, kidneys, and more. Unfortunately for me, I only had one kidney, and I wasn’t parting with that one.

“You can’t be saying what I think you’re saying.”

“I ain’t going back home empty-handed.”

But he sure as fuck was willing to go home without balls, because the way he throwing threats around, his dick was quickly becoming number one on the chopping block.

Blue and red lights flashed on the bridge above us as another cop car sped toward the warehouse. Both men looked up. I used the moment of distraction to grab Aaron’s gun, and it fell on the other side of the vehicle. Hulk and the driver both flew at me with punches, but this time I was ready. I took a few, but gave a dozen extra more. The driver was passed out on the ground, Aaron was looking for the gun, and Hulk wouldn’t give up no matter how hard I hit him. By then, my face must have been permanently altered and I could already feel the bruises forming on my body where I’d taken some hits. As soon as I had the chance, I ran toward the bank and jumped over the wall.

I dove into the river. The good news was that the water wasn’t frozen but my body seized the moment it cut through the surface. I didn’t come up for air until I was sure I was too far away for a bullet to reach me. Except I was wrong. One did reach me, and it hit me in the side where one of my kidneys used to be.

The pain seared through like a heated iron rod from a forge. I pushed through the water toward the shore while Aaron screamed from behind, “You’re going to pay for tonight, Madden. I’m going to hunt you down, skin you alive, and feed you and your family to my hounds piece by piece.”

Fuck!

When my feet touched solid ground I felt spent. My body shook from the cold shock. I jogged through a park as fast as the wound would allow me to, toward a road. At least the bullet wasn’t inside, because I had an entrance and an exit wound, but blood was gushing out quickly. A set of headlights flashed ahead, and I stepped onto the middle of the road, waving and praying that it wasn’t one of Cortez’s cars. It wasn’t. The older gentleman drove me to the address I gave him. My brother left him a month’s worth of salary to stay quiet about the evening, then got on his phone while my other brother tended to my wound, pressing a cloth at the front and back.

“What happened?”

“A shitload. We’re not safe here anymore. None of us.”

My father rolled out of the living room on his wheelchair, and I felt a thousand apologies loom in my eyes and on my lips.

“I shouldn’t have let you go through with it,” he said.

“You know I would have, even if you disagreed.”

“Son, I’ve ruined your life.”

“You did nothing of the sort but we need to leave this house now. They’ll be here soon.”

My younger brother was already standing in the doorway with a silver suitcase that had everything we needed to move on and survive.

“We’ll drop you off at Mom’s. They won’t find you there,” he said to our father. Our parents had separated when we were young. After we were born, mother fell into depression and developed a fetish for a much younger generation. Mother used her wits to grow a very successful business venture, but one we chose not to partake in. She was the queen of disguise, and while everyone knew about her, no one really knew who she was. It was pure talent.

“Dad, I’m sorry,” I repeated.

“Don’t be. Just get yourselves to safety.”

“I’ll find them before they find us. I promise.”

“Come on. This place will be history in a moment. Hold this.” Dean, my youngest brother, pushed my hand onto the towel and helped me up from the floor.

Wrapped in bandages, I stood up. My head spun and my knees felt like rubber, and I wondered how much blood I’d lost. And if that wasn’t enough, as we pulled out of the driveway and onto the street, I saw my childhood home blow up into millions of pieces. Then nostalgia took over and I lost consciousness.