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I thought waiting down the street for her to show signs of distress in order for us to move into the house was hard, but it has nothing on seeing her step out on the front porch with blood on her face.
I'm frozen, fear that she's hurt making me move slower than Rivet, who wraps her in a blanket and pulls her to the side.
If she doesn't want me, if what she has said to me twice now is the truth, then that's something I'll have to accept, but there will never come a day when I'll accept someone hurting her. I don't give a shit about consequences or risks or the danger of getting hurt myself, her pain fucking stops today.
With determination, I move toward the house, my entire body on fire when I see that scarred motherfucker, Mr. Banks, as Nathan called him, step out on the porch.
"We fucking talked about this," someone says, walking faster than me.
I turn to look at them and see Ace rush past me toward the man on the porch.
"Goddamn it, Jericho. Again?"
My head tilts in confusion and I know I have to look like a dog hearing a weird sound for the first time.
"What the fuck?" I ask, but my words aren't loud enough for anyone else to hear.
"Is she okay?" Jericho or Mr. Banks or whoever the fuck he actually is asks.
"She's not your fucking concern," I growl at him, seeing the blood coating his hands. "Did you fucking hurt her?’
I'll rip the man to shreds if he fucking touched her.
He looks at me as if I've asked the stupidest question ever asked.
"Hurt her? I just blew my fucking cover to get her out of here," the man growls back at me.
Ace has strategically positioned himself between the two of us, hands out in both of our directions as if he's about to referee some sort of boxing match. My lip twitches as I think about wrapping my hands around his throat and squeezing until he stops breathing.
I blame adrenaline. It's clear the man has been undercover, working as one of Adair's goons through the same ICE program that Hemlock will be joining soon. I know Hemlock may also be included in Adair's world because it was specified that he doesn’t show his face outside of the hotel with Cerberus, but I don't know how that would work. Nathan knew me by name on sight so that tells he had someone watching us at some point in New Mexico, and if they saw me there’s a very good chance that whoever was watching us saw Hemlock as well.
I don’t have the luxury right now of worrying about what might happen down the road with Hemlock. I have more important things to worry about.
"Maybe we can salvage this," Ace says. "Tell him that Conroe tried to hurt her, and you protected Brielle."
"He was going to hurt her. I had to stop him, but you know that's not going to happen. How would we explain the girl being gone? Nearly every house on this street has someone paid by Nathan. You know it's like this everywhere." Jericho runs his hand over the top of his head, unconcerned with the blood on his palm. "Eight fucking months wasted."
"Not a waste," Ace tells him. "We need to debrief."
Ace and Jericho walk away. I'd like to say that a better understanding of what the man was really doing in that house makes me no longer hate the sight of him, but I'd be lying if I did. I can't just switch gears that easily.
I search the darkness for Rivet and Brielle, but I can't find them. I turn and rush back to the house we've been using as a command center, finding the front yard full of commotion.
I knew we'd have to get out of here quickly after we got Brielle out. We aren't exactly here with a blessing from any organization that operates in this jurisdiction.
Detective Calloway is standing to the side looking nervous as Cerberus and Blackbridge alike carry equipment and furniture out of the house and pack it away into commercial vans.
"Are you going to be okay?" I ask, my eyes roaming as I try to find Brielle.
She turns toward me, the stiffness in her back and the air of bravery she had earlier now gone. "You know as well as I do how stupid of a question that will be."
I want to argue with her before she can walk away and get into her car, but I just can't find the words.
I made promises to Brielle that I couldn't keep, so there's no sense in me trying to convince Alice to believe in false hope. The only thing any person involved can hope for is that there's so much going on that Nathan loses interest while exacting justice on someone else he deems has wronged him in some capacity.
I step to the side as Jinx and Tug carry a sofa out of the house before being able to get inside.
"You have no clue what you've done."
