“Get the other guy,” he ordered one of them. “You, get the money, and you, search the vehicle.” He ordered three of the five men over tot he van. He must’ve been new. This was clearly a training exercise for me to bust my name in his mouth—as many times as he needed.
I could see Artemis twitching in the passenger seat. I didn’t need him making any move right now. Flashing back to him in the dark readying a baseball bat even though he didn’t really know how to swing it. His hands were moving away from the dashboard in front of him.
Snapping my fingers, I pulled all of their attention, or at least enough of it. “Hey, you all. You know you’re all better alive here, I don’t want to have to get a couple snipers on you, would you.”
The man laughed. “I know why they hired you,” he said in a whisper stomping forward. “Because you’re the only way they might see a single dollar from it.” He rubbed two fingers together. “Besides, you should’ve aged out of this game. It’s not for the old guys anymore, you’re all useless.”
It happened in an instant. Artemis pushed the door open, knocking him to the ground, then aiming his gun at their apparent leader. I took that opportunity to grab both of their heads hands, spin him around like he was a ballerina, and place him in front of myself.
“What are you going to do now?” I asked as all his men aimed their gun in our direction. “I was glad I had some bulletproofing—besides theirleadersbody. “And who even are you?” I didn’t want to agree with him that I’d aged out the business, but he made a good point with me not even seeming to know them.
“I’m Andrew Morrell,” he said. “This money is stolen.”
“No,” I corrected him right to his ear. “This money is clean.”
“Stolen from a business on territory we own,” he said.
I made eye contact with Artemis, trying to figure out why he took the first move. Attention was divided between the two of us . “I hate to say this to you, the little traffic stop you set up ahead is going to get the police down here quick,” I said. “And you wouldn’t be stealing fromthem, you’d be taking from Sanctum, and if I had to look back, I’d see that you asked for protection once.” Jinksy was feeding the line right through me.
“Seems like the price of doing business,” he said, his body twitching to make a move and break free from me. I was waiting for it almost, knowing he was going to be the reason he was dead.
“Tell him Mercy will look over his application again,” Jinksy said.
“I’m gonna punch him,” Artemis added over it.
“Art, no,” I growled.
“I know you don’t have art,” Andrew said. “I want the cash. Go, he’s not going to do anything.”
All the still men with their hands either on guns or reaching for them. Artemis was such an unpredictability in all of this. Then I reminded myself of a prior job—and if I’d been alone, I would’ve rammed right into them knowing the van could handle it. Butwedidn’t want to make a sense.
Artemis took his shot, a punch I’d seen performed on the bag so often, it shouldn’t have surprised me as much as it did, maybe it was the defining crack to the man’s jaw. Downing him in pain. I tightened my grip on Andre’s body, knowing none of the men would shoot. It quickly came to a head as I was ready to put a knee into his back.
“Stop,” Andrew yelled. “We can’t steal from them. We’ll get it direct from the Bianchi’s.”
My hold tightened, as if I trusted him to keep to his word. “Make them get in their cars,” I said. “Or get a bullet in your foot. Nice sneakers, by the way.” He hadn’t noticed it at the moment,but with my hands behind his back, I was still able to angle the gun—a little movement and I’d get the Achillies—that would’ve been cruel.
As they went back into their cars and screeching off, I shot a bullet through Andrew’s shoe. Artemis flinched at the sound.
“No, you definitely won’t forget us,” I said as Andrew grappled with holding he leg. He took the center car and sped off.
In the van, I held my tongue for as long as I could. “You didn’t listen to me,” I said.
“You were about to be shot, they were about to have bargaining chips, what do you think was going through my mind?” he asked, pounding a fist into the palm of his hand. “You don’t trust that I can do this now.”
I hated seeing him all serious, mostly because I couldn’t take it. I pulled over to the side and put the hazard lights on. “I trust you,” I said. “And it was a great shot you got on that guys jaw.”
He continued jamming a fist into a hand. “But it hurts,” he let out and we both seemed to break character, before it all changed. I took his hand and looked across the knuckle ridge, feeling a little swelling appear between two of them. “Think I broke one.”
“You’re fine,” I said. “Grab the medical box from the glovebox, and you can wrap it a little. Now, I’m gonna get back on the road.”
As he wrapped his hand in the gauze from the first aid kit, I was focused on pressing forward, faster than the speed limit, but only by a small stretch.
“Do you think I broke his jaw?” he asked,
“Do you want to think you did?” I asked, It was something he might want to reflect on, violence was a messy business,especially to those who had a conscience—or started having one. “It’ll hurt for a bit, take some pain relief.”
Artemis grunted in a low growl, a sound I wouldn’t have expected from him. “This is what I have to do now,” he grumbled. “You know we’re gonna have to talk about it.”
