Page 75 of Trust in the Fallen

The crazy fucker bolts before he can hear anything Bishop has to say, and Wyatt and I follow after him, leaving Bishop behind as the getaway driver. He’ll get the heads up from Crew once we take out the men surrounding the warehouse so we can make a quick exit once we have Leighton.

The warmth from the explosion licks at my skin as I turn the corner, and the warehouse comes into sight.

Kaos blew up a neighboring building, one he made sure was empty and owned by someone with more money than God, so he wouldn’t miss the piece of shit that was rotting by the docks. The fire burns bright, distracting the cops surrounding the building as we knew it would.

I have no idea what the commissioner told them they’re doing out here and if they actually know they’re holding his daughter against her will, but when something catches alight, their first instinct is to investigate.

I catch sight of Kaos as we approach the warehouse with our guns drawn. The heavy metal in my hands calms me, allowing me to focus on the task at hand instead of all the things that could go wrong, and the list is pretty fucking extensive.

One of the police officers turns toward us and opens his mouth to shout for help, but I pull the trigger before he can get a single word out, the silencer muting the sound.

Wyatt takes down another as we approach the building, and we wait for Kaos to join us.

“You good?” Kovu asks him.

“You know me. Any day I get to blow shit up is a good day.”

I let out a chuckle and carefully test the door to make sure it’s unlocked. It doesn’t really matter if it’s not because I’ll just blow the fucking handle off, but that will alert whoever is inside to our presence and give them a chance to prepare for us.

The handle turns all the way down, and a sigh of relief whispers past my lips. At least something is going right.

Kovu nods toward the side and I nod. We think there’s another entrance around the back, but the plans for this place are about fifty years old so there’s a chance things have changed.

We wait for thirty seconds, each one feeling longer than the last before I twist the handle again and throw the door open.

The first thing I see is Leighton and so much blood my stomach lurches at the sight.

The second is the gun held against her temple, her scumbag father holding it steady.

And the third is the swarm of men coming toward us. They’re not uniformed, but I wouldn’t put it past them to be police. I have no idea how the commissioner would have explained why he was holding a gun to the head of his own daughter, but hey, I don’t pretend to understand the going-ons of other peoples’ minds, that’s not my wheelhouse, and I’m happy to stay the fuck out of it.

“Gentlemen,” the governor steps forward from behind Leighton’s father with Jason at his side. His gray hair is messier than it was at the church, like he’s spent the day running his hands through it, and his eyes are more crazed than normal. “I’m surprised it took you so long to find us.”

I ignore the jab and nudge Wyatt before he can say anything as we take a few steps forward and allow the heavy steel door to close behind us.

“Where’s your boss?” the police commissioner asks.

“Crew had other shit to do.” Kaos shrugs. “So I guess your plans to take us all out are probably not going to happen tonight.”

The earpiece we each have fitted crackles, and Crew’s voice comes through the line. “Don’t antagonize them. We want to get Leighton out of there safely, not with a bullet wound because you were talking shit.”

I drag my eyes over our angel, over her blood-stained dress, her bruised arms, the open wounds across her face. They didn’t just kidnap her. They beat her, and from the looks of things, the asshole with the knife in the church stabbed her.

My finger itches to pull the trigger, to end the miserable existences of these men, but I won’t risk Leighton.

How long has she been bleeding? Have they patched the wound? Or has it just been bleeding for hours?

“What’s he paying all you assholes to bear witness to him holding his bleeding, barely conscious daughter against her will?” Wyatt asks, looking at the men moving toward us, each with their own weapon drawn. “Because this ain’t no law and order I’ve ever been a part of.”

The men don’t pause, continuing to move until there are just a few feet between us. “You’re the criminals here,” one of them says.

Kaos chuckles and rubs his jaw. “You don’t know much about what your bosses are doing behind the scenes it seems.”

“Don’t listen to them, they’re lying,” the commissioner growls.

“We just want Leighton. Hand her over, and we’ll leave peacefully,” I bargain.

“You think I’m going to hand my only child over to the likes of you?”

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