Page 45 of Once A Crime Lord

“Don’t worry about it.”

What did he have to do after he killed a drug lord? What was the next step? She opened her mouth and then closed it. Did she really want to know? Not really. If she knew what his agenda was for the day, she would get even less sleep than she already did.

Before they reached the elevator, the doors opened, revealing eight Mexicans. They were dressed in heavy jackets, jeans, and too long shirts. Tattoos covered what she could see of their skin.

Gavin halted, pulling her to an abrupt stop. The man standing in front of the group smiled, showing a mouth full of silver teeth. Even as he reached into his jacket, a deafening bang sounded from beside her. The man’s smile vanished as a hole appeared in the middle of his forehead. He staggered backward into two men who fell with him.

Gavin released her and squeezed off two more shots. A man clutched his chest. It looked as if a ripe tomato had been hurled at him. One of the men raised his gun and shot wildly. An agonized screamed sounded behind her. Even as she turned, Gavin ran forward.

8

Lyla

“Gavin!”She took a step after him, only to stop in her tracks as she got a firsthand glimpse of Gavin in combat mode.

He disarmed the man with the gun with a brutal chopping motion. She heard something break, and the man dropped to his knees with a scream. Gavin kicked him savagely in the face before he turned to the next man and executed an uppercut punch. There was a sickening crunch as the man collided into the wall. He crumpled to the ground, leaving a gruesome red smear in his wake. One of the gangbangers tried to run out of the elevator. Gavin hauled him back in just as the elevator dinged and the doors closed, locking him into the enclosed space with three armed men.

“No!” she screamed.

“Lyla.”

She turned and saw Blade on his knees beside the hospital director who lay in a pool of blood.

“No, no,” she whispered, shaking her head. “What’s going on? Who are they?”

“Santana’s men.” Blade rose, hand dripping with the director’s blood. “He’s gone.”

“He’s dead?” She couldn’t comprehend it. Everything had happened so fucking fast. Not even two minutes ago, the director had been talking passionately about the new wing of the hospital and now he was a lifeless heap on the floor. “This can’t be happening.”

“It is.” Blade pulled out his phone and speed dialed a number. “Z, access the hospital cameras. We’re gonna need some interference.” He hung up and looked at the other guards. “Two of you clean this up. The other two, follow me.”

Blade grabbed her arm and led her back through the new wing. A ding stopped them in their tracks. The elevator doors opened and Gavin appeared with bodies in disturbing positions at his feet. Even as she took a step toward him, his head turned sharply to the left. The guards standing over the director went down on one knee and cleared their guns even as distant shots rang out.

“Fuck, let’s go,” Blade snapped.

Gavin pulled the fire alarm. Lights flashed and a deafening blare echoed down the corridor. Her guards threw open the door that led to the emergency exit stairs. As Blade propelled her into the stairwell, she looked back and saw Gavin cut a man’s throat with a knife and then toss it into another man’s face. Men were converging on him like ants. None of the gang members seemed to care that she and her guards were getting away. They were here for Gavin.

“We can—” she began, not wanting to leave him.

“Gavin can take care of himself. He can’t focus with you around. We gotta get you out of here,” Blade said.

People filled the stairwell, so Blade and the guards were forced to holster their weapons. As they climbed down three flights, she focused on putting one foot in front of the other. She wanted to fight by Gavin’s side, but Blade was right. Her combat skills were sloppy and amateur at best. Gavin could hold his own.

The confusion and panic of the crowd around her amplified her own. The edges of her vision darkened with memories just waiting to latch onto her and send her spiraling into waking nightmares. It was happening again. Another battle, another tragedy, another scene with bodies in her wake.

Blade grabbed her arm in a painful grip as they entered the lobby, which was a hubbub of chaos. Patients in hospital beds and wheelchairs were everywhere. Medical personnel struggled to be heard over the blaring alarm. They yelled for help to get the patients onto the front lawn. Alice and Janice were in the midst of the fray, directing people outside.

When she took a step toward them, Blade hauled her back. “We have to get out of here.”

“But I can—”

“No. My job is to keep you safe. We don’t know how many more there are.”

She could barely keep up with his long stride. The guards pressed in close, and she struggled to keep her shit together. Of course, the day of the hospital event had to be the same day Gavin killed a drug lord.

They walked through the deserted emergency room and left the hospital behind as they crossed to the parking garage. Blade pulled out his phone and called the drivers.

“Lyla!”

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