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Corey came down the stairs, his face a mask of pure fury and a gun in his hand. “They’ve been hiding him the whole time.” He kicked Jace in the side.
“No.” Val swung her gun to point at Corey, dropping to her knees when Bobby’s fist connected with her head. The pain was excruciating, and she had to blink to see.
Her vision blurry, she shot at Corey’s leg. But it didn’t stop him. Missed. Dammit.
The barrel of a gun was shoved against her skull. “Drop it,” Bobby repeated.
“Fuck off,” she slurred, and fired one more time before Corey raised his hand and brought the butt of his gun down on her head. She crumpled, landing on Jace, who moaned pitifully.
“Sorry, Val,” he whispered. “Tried to stop him.”
“Take her,” Corey snapped.
“Where is Cardozo?” Bobby demanded. “Where’s the kid?”
“Not here. Take her and go. The cops will be here any minute.”
“What do we do with him?” Bobby asked, pointing to Jace.
“Leave him. I don’t care anymore. If he lives, he can tell Cardozo that I’ve taken his woman.”
Val gasped when Bobby grabbed her collar, yanking her off Jace. She fought, but her head was spinning and she couldn’t see. Blood, she realized. Her head was bleeding from where Corey had hit her with the butt of his gun. She tried to wipe the blood from her eyes, but Bobby grabbed her hands, taping them behind her with duct tape. She kicked, but he rolled on her legs and secured her ankles. Another piece of tape was slapped across her mouth.
She bucked, but Corey hit her in the head again and nausea rushed over her in a wave.
“Take her guns and toss her phone,” Corey said. “Hurry. The cops have to be coming.”
“It’ll be fine,” Bobby said, removing Val’s backup gun from her ankle holster before hoisting her over his shoulder, jarring her joints. But she couldn’t move. Couldn’t fight.
Bobby took a giant step and Val wiped her eyes against Bobby’s back. Her cry of horror was muffled by the tape. He had walked over Burke, who lay on the front porch, not moving.
MaryBeth lay beside him, blood smeared on the front walk. It looked like she’d dragged herself from where she’d fallen. Burke’s gun was next to her hand.
That’s why Bobby and Corey took longer to enter the house, Val realized dimly. MaryBeth had tried to hold them off. Tears fell as grief and love mixed, making it hard to breathe. MaryBeth was her oldest friend. Together since high school. That she’d sacrifice herself was who MaryBeth was. Don’t you die, dammit.
Val cried out again when she was tossed into the back of MaryBeth’s van, another punch hitting her head.
“That was for Ed, you fucking bitch,” Corey snarled. Then the two climbed into the front seats and the van was moving.
“She’ll pay for killing Ed, too,” Bobby said viciously. “Dammit.”
“We’ll think about Ed when we’re out of here. We have to get away. The cops are going to be here any minute.”
“My buddy’s gonna slow the cops down,” Bobby said confidently. “Don’t worry.”
“Who’s your buddy that he has that much juice?” Corey demanded. “Don’t tell me it’s a secret. If he’s got that much power, I need to know.”
“Name’s Drysdale,” Bobby said smugly. “He’s one of André Holmes’s detectives.”
“Huh,” Corey grunted. “Gotta say I’m impressed.”
Drysdale? But André trusts him. Val thought of André getting stabbed right outside his own home. He would only have let someone he trusted that close.
“What about Ed’s guy?” Corey asked from the driver’s seat. “The cop? Alex Cullen.”
“I’m sure Alex is gone already,” Bobby said as they turned a corner.
“He didn’t tell us that Cardozo and the kid had left the house,” Corey fumed.
