Page 126 of Pretty Wicked Secrets

“Good. Stay on them.” Maddoc points toward the garage, giving me the signal to gear up and prepare to move as he pulls a few more details out of Shae.

I nod, then snag the keys to the Escalade, pulling Riley along with me.

“Come on, princess,” I murmur, knowing there’s no way she’ll want to be left behind even though she’s not at a hundred percent.

Logan and Maddoc follow, and the three of us grab some additional firepower from one of the locked cabinets we keep in the garage before piling into the Escalade. I drive with Madd in the passenger seat keeping Shae on the line to report on the weasels he’s following. Riley gets in the back with Logan without a word.

I think about arming her for a hot second, but I don’t know her capability and she doesn’t ask. In the future, we may have to change that, but for now, speed is the most important factor.

“My bet is on 1041 Terrace Way,” Logan says from the back seat as we approach the Rand District, a rundown mix of abandoned commercial buildings and state run housing. “The locals—” a minor gang with a chop shop, if I remember correctly, “—keep running squatters out of it, but if Chloe was looking for a place to hole up and stay out of sight, it’s a contender.”

“I’m following those shitheads down Alameda Avenue right now,” Shae’s voice comes through from Maddoc’s phone. “Does that track?”

“Yes.” Logan’s voice is clipped. “It intersects with Terrace Way and gives them access to the back of the building.”

“Get there first,” Madd says to me grimly.

I nod and push the Escalade a little faster, pulling up to the building in question as two silver Lincoln Navigators with blacked out windows screech to a halt from the other direction, coming from Alameda.

West Point. And Shae’s low-slung muscle car thunders up right after them.

“Go, Logan,” Maddoc says tightly.

Logan slides out the back passenger door, the body of the Escalade shielding him from West Point’s view. I don’t watch how he gets into the building, but if that’s where Chloe’s been squatting, I trust him to get in and get her out—or find any clues she left behind—while we take care of business out here.

“Stay in the car,” I tell Riley as Maddoc and I pile out and face off with McKenna’s people.

She doesn’t listen, but at least she has enough self-preservation instincts to stay behind Madd and I as Austin McKenna steps out of one of the Navigators. That bitch Sienna follows him, draping herself over his back as she sneers at Maddoc.

“This isn’t Reaper territory,” Austin says, spitting on the ground as his people spread out behind him.

Shae had a couple of our crew in the car with him, and they fan out behind the weasels as Maddoc stares McKenna down, ignoring Sienna.

“It’s not West Point’s territory either,” Madd says, his voice deceptively calm over a core of steel. “And neither is Whitton.”

Frank Sutton’s neighborhood.

McKenna’s eyes narrow, but then he smiles, the expression sadistic and cruel. “No clue what you’re talking about. We don’t do business in Whitton.” His eyes flick toward Riley. “That area is… dead.”

Riley makes a low, furious sound behind me, and McKenna’s eyes snap her way.

“Clear the fuck out,” Maddoc says coldly, moving to block McKenna’s view of Riley and giving the fucker a chance he doesn’t deserve to avoid this turning ugly. “The Six won’t be happy with how this goes down if you don’t.”

“We have business here,” McKenna says, crossing his arms over his chest. “If you want to get in the way of that business the way you did before, that’s on you. You cost me something in the warehouse district a couple of weeks ago. I’m here to get back what’s mine.”

“My sister doesn’t belong to you!”

I grab Riley’s arm before she does something stupid, just as Logan materializes next to us, moving like a shadow in the sun.

He’s alone.

When Maddoc shoots him a hard look, he gives his head a subtle shake.

“The tip was good. She’s been here. But she’s cleared out,” he murmurs under his breath. “Signs point to an extended stay.”

McKenna overhears. “Search the fucking building,” he shouts at his men, his face mottling with rage as he makes no pretense at all that they aren’t here for Chloe too.

“I wouldn’t follow that order,” Shae says, cocking a gun behind them.

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