Page 85 of Gunpowder

“I can’t find the safety,” complained a trembling boy who didn’t even look old enough to be out of highschool.

Blair held his hand out for the pistol. Too many kids joined Incindious because they thought being in a gang would be cool, or would miraculously give them control of their life, and now some of those newcomers were realizing for the first time what they’d signed up for. Blair turned the gun sideways to show the boy, “Trigger safety. It’s not on the side of the gun, it’s in the center of the trigger.”

“Oh. Um, thank you.” The boy took the gun back and amended uncertainly, “Thank you...sir?”

“No. No sirs.”

“Right. Okay.”

Blair ran a hand down his face as the teen melted into the throng of Incindious members packed into the bar. Only a few of them were going to College Point and the rest of the gang was staying to defend Flushing in case this was some ruse of Phantom’s to lure them away and then wreak havoc in their territory, but Blair doubted that was the case. Incindious wasn’t a small organization, and Phantom had pulled some reckless moves lately but they didn’t seem quite that stupid.

Shocked murmurs broke out in the crowd. Blair stood from the barstool he’d been occupied, his hand going to his guns. He pushed through bodies to get to the source of the commotion. He found it near the entrance and quickly realized why so many weapons were being drawn around him.

Reymond had Felix’s shirt clenched in his fist, the veins in his hands bulging with how forcefully he had snatched Felix forward. Felix had one hand raised in a clear sign for Incindious to stand down. Guns and knives slowly returned to their holsters, and Blair shouldered through the loose circle of onlookers, into the unspoken no-man’s land surrounding Reymond and Felix.

“The hell’s going on?” Blair asked.

“This is your fault,” Reymond snarled, his grey eyes turned molten silver with anger. He shoved something at Felix’s chest.

Blair dropped his eyes to the bundle pressed against Felix’s chest. Crumpled black fabric. It could have been anything, but his battered heart recognized it in an instant.

A black vest over a white dress shirt.

Wren’s voice cracking. “We weren’t a mistake.”

Blair didn’t realize he’d stepped forward until his fingers curled around the vest and yanked it out of Felix’s grasp. He slowly turned his eyes to Reymond. “Doc,” Blair said, voice coming out low and harsh. “Where is he?”

“They took him.”

Blood surged too fast through Blair’s veins, pounding in his ears.

Julian had been watching in silence from the edge of the crowd, and at Reymond’s words, he looked like he was going to be sick.

Reymond continued, “Someone followed Wren outside that I didn’t recognize so I went to check on him, but by the time I got out there, this was all that was left.”

Reymond and Blair looked to Felix as one, a silent accusation hanging in the air. Blair could see the confusion in Felix’s eyes and knew he was finally realizing what Blair had been trying to tell him since the day before: Felix was wrong.

Now Wren was gone. Taken.

“Describe the person who followed Wren out,” Felix said.

“Six-three, maybe taller. Long, dark purple hair. They looked Asian. I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, I only saw them for a moment.”

“Jinx,” Spencer said gravely. “They’re back.”

Blair hadn’t heard him walk up—all of his senses had zeroed in on the vest he held and the faint, familiar smell that clung to it. Where was Wren now? Had Jinx hurt him? Was he being tortured? With every question, the taste of bile became stronger in the back of Blair’s throat. Anger simmered in the pit of his stomach.

“I left him,” Blair said, staring at the black fabric between his fingers. “I fucking left him to protect him, and now—”

Spencer put a hand on his shoulder. “We’re gonna get him back, Kennedy.”

“He never should have been involved in this to begin with!” Blair yelled, all the volume returning to his hollow voice at once. He glared at Felix. Yelling at the boss was a death wish, but rage was making him either brave or stupid.

Felix shook off Reymond’s hand and turned to face Blair, stepping forward so they were almost chest-to-chest. “Then you never should have been involved with him. You knew the risks.”

“I would have been able to protect him, I would have been there if you hadn’t—”

“Kennedy,” Spencer said sharply.

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