“I don’t think we have a choice,” Santiago said.
“They’re not going to find anything criminal inside here. Maybe they’ll just take a look around and leave us alone?” I said, hoping for the best.
Cipher studied me, and I saw a glimpse of true fear in his eyes. “You need to keep quiet while they’re here.”
“I will,” I said solemnly.
“I won’t let them take you,” he said.
“If they try, I don’t want you blowing up the place to stop them,” I warned.
“Then you tell them it was me,” he said sternly.
I stayed silent, not making any promises. Cipher huffed in displeasure while my brother shot me a questioning look. I hadn’t told him what all went down in Promised Land. I would eventually, probably, but we’d been so busy preparing their home that I hadn’t really had a chance to reconnect with my brother. Cipher turned to address the Captain.
“All right, Captain, you have yourself a deal. I’m going to come down now and unlock the gate.” Cipher turned to me. “You stay here with Santiago. If they fire on us, you two take out as many as you can.” He pressed his Glock into my hand, wrapping my fingers around the cold, hard barrel.
“Yes, boss,” Santiago said while I only nodded. My hands were shaking and I felt like I was going to puke.
“No hesitation, Kitten,” he said as if knowing my thoughts. He kissed me hard on the mouth, then climbed down to where Crenshaw and three of her soldiers were waiting outside the gate. The other soldiers formed a human shield about thirty feet behind them.
“Fuck, this is intense.” Santiago shifted his stance, finding a more comfortable position. “Why is he so worried about you talking?”
“Some stuff happened in Promised Land,” I said.
“What kind of stuff?”
“I’ll tell you later. Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“Yeah, maybe.” He glowered at me and I gave it right back to him. We loved like brothers and we fought like brothers too. He wouldn’t be forcing anything out of me. His days of “say uncle” were over.
More of our crew had come out of the houses and were standing by, on guard. No doubt they’d heard the exchange outside. Artemis had her bow. Macon carried a bat, thoughhe was trying to look casual about it. Cipher and Crenshaw exchanged words, too far away for us to hear, but it looked like the soldiers were pairing off with our people in order to search the compound. Cipher shot me a warning look as Crenshaw headed for the watchtower and started climbing.
“Looks like she’s coming up here,” Santiago said.
“Crap.”
I attempted to settle my nerves. Deep, even breaths. Act normal. The gun slipped in my sweaty hand. She was going to ask questions. I couldn’tnotanswer her. That would be rude and suspicious. Cipher had briefed us on what we should say in this sort of situation. He’d made me repeat it several times to make sure I got it right. I just had to stick to the story.
“Gentleman, good afternoon.” Crenshaw said when she reached us. She stood up straight and dusted herself off, the gun still slung across her chest but lowered, for now. She looked even bigger in person, almost as tall as me with broad shoulders and a determined look in her eyes. The body armor only added to her general badassery. The scar on her face appeared to have happened a while ago but healed badly, stitched up by a crude hand. Maybe she’d done it herself? No doubt this woman had seen some shit. But then, who among us hadn’t?
“Good afternoon,” I replied politely while Santiago kept his gun trained on the soldiers outside the gate.
“And who might you be?” she asked.
I switched the gun to my other hand, wiped my sweaty palm on the side of my shorts, and held it out to her. “I’m Joshua Perrin-Rogers and this is my brother Santiago. We live in this house.” I pointed to it. “Well, I live in that one and Santiago lives in the one next door, but we both grew up here. I have the mortgage papers to prove it, if you want to see them?”
“That won’t be necessary, young man. We’re not here to evict you. We just want to have a look around. Make sure there are no captives or questionable activities going on.”
“There aren’t,” I assured her.
“How did Cipher hurt his arm?” Crenshaw asked.
“We were fighting off Rabids in a CVS and he fell on it. We were looking for an inhaler for me.” I reached into my pocket to pull it out and show her. “I actually found one right before the Rabids arrived.”
“Where did Cipher get his arm casted?” she asked.
