Page 47 of Prohibited

“Joey,” Ryan said, voice simmering with anger. One of his forefingers was pointed directly at him. “I swear to God.”

“Everyone calm the fuck down,” Lindsay said, raising his voice slightly. “Joey, Hilo, beat it, outside. Bring the car around and then post up at either end of the alleyway.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Hiloha said, snatching his hat and his coat off of the bar. He led the way out after throwing both Alex and Ryan a look, shaking his head as he went.

Joey saluted Lindsay with a grin and followed him out.

“It’s time to end this,” Lindsay said, limping closer to where the two of them stood on opposite sides of the barfrom each other. “I know you’re fucking pissed off about Tommy, but look at where this is leading up. You’re cat fighting and Walter Stanley is liable to show up on our doorstep any minute. Just give her back to him and let it go.”

Alex laughed, a bright sound of mirth as if he’d said something genuinely funny. “Give her back to him? Oh, Pony, my Pony. There’s only one way this story is going to end and it is not that.”

“If you don’t, there’s only one way that this is going to end, and it’s with a hell of a lot of bloodshed.” Lindsay threw his cane onto the bar with a clatter and gripped the back of his chair with his hands until his knuckles turned white. “I didn’t nearly get my leg blown off fighting fucking Germans to come home and be launched back into another war all over again.”

“You chose this life,” Alex said coldly.

“I’m a career criminal,” Lindsay said. “Not a career warlord.” He swallowed. “I chose you. I didn’t choose this.”

Another heavy silence between all of them.

“I’m going to get her.” Ryan turned on his heel and went to the secret door, snapping the candle back so hard he almost took it out of the wall.

“Tommy wouldn’t have wanted this,” Lindsay said.

Alex came around the bar, leveling a finger at him. The anger in his eyes was more intense than Lindsay had ever seen it. Still, he didn’t back down. Ryan paused at the doorway and slowly turned to look at him, anger and… remorse warring in his face?

These days the only thing Lindsay saw in Ryan was anger and conflict. It gave him hope that Ryan could be turned to his side of things.

“You don’t know a single fucking thing about what Tommy would have wanted,” Alex said in a voice that nearly burned.

“He wasn’t my brother,” Lindsay said, “but he might as well have fucking been. And he sure as fuck wouldn’t have wanted an innocent woman being maimed by your insane fucking vindictive blood quest.”

“You’re on very dangerous ground, Lindsay,” Alex said in a soft voice. The use of his given name was like a stab right through his heart.

“What are you going to do, Alex?” Lindsay said, spreading his hands, adrenaline and anger humming through his body. “Hit me? Go on. Fucking hit me.”

“Stop,” Ryan said in a voice that brooked no argument. “Knock it the fuck off both of you. Fighting like fucking children. Lindsay, quit provoking people like a bitch. We’re running out of time. We need to get her out of here. Lindsay, you go up to the alleyway. Alex, come with me.”

He and Alex stood staring at each other for a long moment. Lindsay’s hand twitched from his desire to slug Alex in the face. They’d only had a physical altercation once or twice and he wasn’t proud of it, but he was more than ready to have another one now. Still, the voice of reason that called from beyond the fog of anger filling his head said that Ryan was right.

Taking in a deep breath, he leaned forward and snatched up his cane. Alex watched him with hooded blue eyes. Lindsay met his look squarely one more time and then he turned and went back to the door. He looked over his shoulder at Ryan and Alex both and then he snapped it open, stepped into the stairwell, and slammed it shut behind him.

He took the steps carefully, hauling his bad leg up one at a time. On his way out of the back door into the alleyway, he banged his elbow and swore loudly. Hiloha was just bringing the covered Ford TT around when he got there. He pulled it smoothly to a stop right in front of Lindsay and put it into park.

“Good luck with the little madman,” Hiloha said, giving him a skeptical look and a salute.

Lindsay just shook his head. “See you later,” he muttered as Hiloha tossed his jacket over his shoulder and strode to the end of the alleyway.

God, it was hot and sticky outside, even in the shade of the alleyway. He looked back and forth at either end of the passage. Both Joey and Hiloha were smoking cigarettes. Joey was kicking rocks and looking especially impatient. Hiloha stood straight back and still, occasionally swiveling his head back and forth.

Finally, the door behind him opened. Alex preceded Ryan into the alleyway, who walked behind Evelyn with a gun pressed into her lower back. As Alex had stated, she was blindfolded and her hands were bound. She was also gagged for good measure. The sight of her in the trousersand shirt that Lindsay had furnished for her along with her short hair would have been charming, if not for the miserable scenario in which she found herself.

“I’ll ride in the back with her,” Lindsay said, firmly.

“Will you, now,” Alex said, lips tightening. He looked on the verge of protesting. And he went so far as to exchange a look with Ryan. But Lindsay reached out and took hold of her forearm, pulling her toward him. And neither of them stopped him. He steered her around the back of the truck and then gently pushed her backward until her backside hit the bed. Ryan, who had followed them, picked her up and lifted her inside.

“Keep moving back,” Lindsay said and watched her squirm awkwardly toward the back of the bed. “Stop, stop there.”

He threw his cane in with a clatter and then climbed in after her. He and Ryan exchanged a look that positively vibrated with anger. Once Lindsay was inside, Ryan yanked the cloth covering down in the back. The crunch of his boots followed him around to the front of the truck where he climbed in. Another door on the other side of the truck banged closed, and then after a moment the truck started slowly moving forward.

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