Page 68 of Flint

“And the girl? Want us to track her down too?” Another voice joins the group. He doesn’t talk enough for me to get a read on him, but that he still has Kitten on the brain makes me tense.

“Nah, she’s not worth it. Dumb bitch probably didn’t even know what she saw. Plus, she’s got Hounds all over her ass. We don’t need them finding out shit. This will also buy us some time to get our quota out to the big guy. He’ll think one thing, and I’ll be able to get a bit more off the top, especially since we been cutting the shit he’s sent us recently and jacking the prices up. We’ll have enough time to get the cash I need to play at the next table. Fuck knows I ain’t using my own dough to front that business. Why spend what you earn when you can just take it off the top?”

Laughter lets us know which way they start walking. Opposite from us, thank fuck.

I nod to Gator the area I saw someone, hoping to God it’s who I think it is. He gives me a chin lift in confirmation before I make my move. Keeping low, we both check the little hall that separates the cubicles from the glass offices. Seeing nothing, we enter and circle around quickly to use the desk as a barrier of sorts to block us from being seen.

That’s when I see her, my kitten. Knees huddled to her stomach, tears tracking down her face, staring at me but not much of a reaction other than that. I’ve never seen her like this, cold and stoic. I have half a mind to think Duke got to her first, but from his little speech earlier, he doesn’t know she’s here. If he did, she’d be sitting next to the dead guy with a matching hole in her head.

I lean close to her face; she doesn’t even move as I get right beside her ear. “Kitten, we’ve got to go.” I lean back and wipe a few of the tears away. She grabs my hand on her face and closes her eyes for a beat as she squeezes my fingers together. She nods, though I’m not sure at who, and then lifts herself up to sit. I help, because I’m a nice guy and all that, and she’s kind of scaring the shit out of me.

“You okay?” I ask as I look her over.

“Yeah,” she whispers, but even that comes out croaked and rough. I smear the other tears away with the pad of my thumb, and she smiles at me before turning to Gator. “Polo.”

“Kind of got that, sweetheart.”

Any other time I would punch the shit out of him for calling her anything but mine, but now ain’t the time. Mostly because she’s still locked up in her head a bit. Or at least I think that’s where she’s gone. She seemed terrified when I first saw her, but color is getting back in her cheeks and life back in her eyes.

“We’ve got to get moving before they set this place on fire.”

I nod at the kid’s assessment. Yeah, we’re trained and armed, but we got an extra with us, and four against two ain’t great odds when you’ve got an unknown with you. If Jules wasn’t acting out of character, I would have half a mind to go in shooting, fully expecting her to have my back. But the shit I just saw has me thinking, for the first time, that she’s fragile. I’ve seen her break tons of times by now, but that was just physical. What I saw just now, that was mental, and that shit gets you killed.

“You got eyes on them?” I look at Gator, who just shakes his head.

“I thought I saw movement in a few of the offices to the left, but if they left those and went to the opposite side, I couldn’t tell you. It ain’t pitch-black, but the shadows are playing with me, man.”

I nod again. I can see things, but I also feel like my eyes are playing tricks on me. There’s no sound and no movement. I look back at our little merry band and see Gator ready and willing to do anything I ask. Kitten just has her back to the desk, looking at the opposite wall, but at the feel of my eyes on her, she turns her head to me.

“You with me, Kitten?”

“Always.”

Good enough for me.

I grab her hand, and we move as one, me in front, Gator at our backs. We keep low as we exit the room, and I do the good thing all children learn as kids: look both ways before going between the cubicles. I’d rather use what little furniture we have as a barrier for whatever problem we have than just taking a straight shot in the open.

We ain’t far from the exit. The room is one giant rectangle. Offices line the outside, with all the cubicles in the middle, four per unit, four units across and down. Only walls are the ones that separate the four solo cubes in each unit. Nothing in our path as we go down two rows and stop. We just need to go through one, cross the hall, and out the door with the glowing Exit sign. It’s on the opposite side of the building with the elevators, which I’m hoping these lazy fucks use.

We hunker down, and Gator and I check once more for anyone. We haven’t seen anything, but I’m not risking shit till I get Kitten out of this place and on the back of my bike headed to the compound. I know the brothers will be arriving soon, if they haven’t already.

“Ready?” I ask.

Both nod, and I palm my gun, taking the safety off, noting Gator pulls a second one out from inside his jacket. Not even mad about it, more impressed than shit since I had no idea where he had that hidden.

We speed-walk past the cubicles, and just as I make the last step to be close enough to touch the door, I hear movement and look left.

A guy I’ve never seen but who’s wearing Devils Damned colors locks eyes with me, and they go wide a second before he pulls his gun. I fire on instinct, hitting him in the chest. I see him fall but nothing else as bullets start hitting the area we’re in. I fire back as Gator covers Jules. We rush the door, but more bullets pepper the wall, and I curse as our exit gets blocked. I lead the way as we round corners, ducking into cubicles, firing back when we know our heads won’t be shot off.

Three guys are firing at us from the outer square. We’re stuck in the middle of the damn place.

“Fuck,” Gator yells a second after two explosions have three of the offices on fire on either side of us.

I chance a look up and realize we’re closer to the elevators now. Two Devils are spraying shit all over the place—lighter fluid is my guess from the way the fire is catching to it. I don’t see the third till the light from the stairway spills out into the room and he exits first.

The other two follow, and Gator and I just let them have it, firing till we’re both out and have to reload. We get one, who drops by the door, but the other is out before our bullets get to him.

The fire is spreading like crazy. We run to the elevators, but the panel is smashed.

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