Page 71 of Tico

The venom in his voice almost startles me and the first flicker of doubt goes through me about him being the rat.

A board out in the hallway creaks and both Corvus and I freeze. He mostly shuts the bathroom door, leaving just a sliver of light illuminating the room. Both of us point our guns towards the door.

“Stay back there, Queenie,” he whispers, “but keep your gun trained on the door. I’m going to see who it is.”

I give a silent, curt nod and he quietly creeps across the room. At the door, his hand hovers over the doorknob and he looks over at me. I give him another nod, letting him know that I’m ready.

He throws open the door and then breathes a sigh of relief, so I lower my gun, though Corvus doesn’t let in whoever it is, nor can I see who it is from where I am.

“Sorry, man. Is Tico done with his meeting?”

I start to move forward but then freeze when I hear the person’s voice.

“No worries, and naw, they’re still in there but he asked me to come up with everything going on.”

My blood freezes when I hear something unfamiliar—something colder and darker than usual—in Zane’s voice. Corvus must notice as well because something crosses his face and with his hand still on the doorknob. He flicks a finger up, silently telling me to raise my gun again but I was already moving. Unfortunately, Zane must notice Corvus’ hesitation as well because the door is forced open wider as he points a gun at Corvus and fires. Corvus moves but not fast enough—the bullet pierces his shoulder. It’s only then that I realize Zane has a silencer on because the sound is muffled. I take aim but before I can shoot, Corvus launches himself at Zane, knocking the gun out of his hands and towards me.

I kick it out of the way and without taking my eyes off them, I pull my phone out of my pocket, dialing Tico, but the call doesn’t go through.

“Fuck!” I curse as I hit the second predial, Taco, but get the same response. Each person I call, the phone refuses to connect. What the fuck is going on?

Pocketing my phone, I keep my gun trained on Zane and Corvus, who are still fighting, and I wait for a clean shot.

Footsteps come from behind me and I whirl but then something hard comes down on my wrist, making me drop my gun. I curse and launch myself at the masked man when suddenly I feel a prick in my arm. The guy gets in a cheap shot when I take a few seconds to glance down.

“Fucking son of a bitch,” I curse, my voice immediately slurring as my vision starts to swim.

Still, I keep attacking the masked man, hoping to buy us some time, but then I feel a second prick.

“You fucking pricks darted me again!” I slur and swing, but with my vision now insanely blurry, I completely miss.

My arms are wrenched behind my back as I’m thrown to the ground and I groan when I hear the sound of zip ties securing my hands. Right before I black out, I see Zane lifting his hand and I try to cry out a warning to Corvus, but nothing comes out. Right before black dots consume my vision, I see Zane bring the butt of his gun down, striking Corvus across the temple and knocking him out.

“Corvus,” I slur, but then everything turns black as I pass out.

Chapter 34

Tico

IpaceinDoc’soffice as he works on Corvus—several of us had carried the heavy fucker down earlier. Wire’s currently in his cave, cursing up a storm and trying to figure out how several of his cameras went black and why his failsafe’s had failed. His security system was supposed to tell him whenever a camera goes offline, but tonight, he didn’t get any notifications.

Corvus groans as Doc finishes stitching up his shoulder and my head whips toward him. Earlier Doc said he didn’t think Corvus had a concussion, just that he was knocked out.

“Em…Ember,” he groans and I quickly come to stand on the other side of the bed.

Then his eyes snap open, though they still seem a bit dazed, and he starts flailing, fighting us off until his eyes clear and he recognizes us. A moment later, the pain hits and he winces as he looks down at his shoulder.

“Fuck,” he hisses out and after a few seconds, his worried eyes snap back to me. “They got her, didn’t they? Ember?”

“Yes, but why the fuck were you even in my room to begin with?”

He looks at me, his forehead creasing in confusion. “What do you mean ‘what was I doing in there’? You texted me yourself that you wanted me in there while you and the other officers were in Church. Ember even texted you to verify before opening the door to let me in.”

I grit my teeth. “I didn’t text you or Ember. The only text I sent was to call for Church.”

He goes to move his arm and then hisses in pain. He uses his other hand to get out his phone and after a few moments, turns the phone around, showing me a text that I never sent.

Tico: Corvus—Since you’re still up, I need you to go up to my room and sit with Ember while I have Church with the officer’s. I don’t want her alone after what Wire just found out.