Page 53 of Borden 3

“Another shooting. One of our guys is in the hospital. Fuck.”

I shut my eyes.

Fuck indeed.

When Hector pulled a U-turn and started driving in the opposite direction, I gave him a startled look. “Hector?”

“Just following orders, sweets,” he returned, pushing down on the gas pedal.

“Where are we going?”

“Safehouse.”

???

The safehouse looked more like an underground shelter at one of Borden’s warehouses. It was decked out with everything we needed for a long stay. It wasn’t fancy, but it was functional, and it was so hidden, Borden trusted very few of its location.

When we got there, Link and Granny were already there. Granny wasn’t fussing for once. She had a resigned sort of look about her as she scattered Link’s toys and boxes of puzzles in one of the rooms.

I couldn’t look her in the eye.

In a locked room was a small armoury full of guns and bulletproof vests. Borden was in there with Gerry. He heard us come in and popped his head out. He looked like fucking SWAT in his gear. His face was dark, the cold only lifting slightly at the sight of me. I felt the tension as I approached him slowly. This was bad. It had escalated so abruptly.

“Doll.”

“You look like you’re about to go raiding,” I said, unable to hide the trembles in my voice.

“They shot up Paolo,” Borden returned, angrily. “Put him in the fucking hospital. They weren’t even worried about fucking with my man.”

“Who did it?”

“They’re all the fucking same now.”

My heart battered in my chest. “What happens now?”

“We just got word these fucks are trying to get a shipment of something in.”

“Through the port?”

“No, a truck.”

I blanched. “Can’t you leave that for the bikers?”

“If it was outside of New Raven, I would,” he returned. “But they’re on our turf.”

My face fell. “Back to turf wars, then.”

Borden’s jaw tensed. “Doll.”

I looked up and down the small space, dread building by the second. “We have to be here for this?”

And then I saw it. The tightness in his face. For a split second, he almost held back, but then he looked at me.

“The alarms on the property went off,” he said quietly, and then he hesitated, frowning like he didn’t want to tell me too much. “I can’t risk it.”

My head spun.

The alarms went off?

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