“Back room!” somebody shouted.
I spun toward the hallway just as two men rushed out, shooting at me.
The first bullet missed my face by inches.
Pressure roared in response.
The bullet tore through his throat and dropped him where he stood.
The second man stumbled backward trying to run, but Booda chased him down, shooting while I walked forward, still firing beside him. Bullets ripped through the entertainment center, shattered the mounted television, and finally dropped him across the hardwood floor.
Smoke hung thick inside the house now.
Blood covered the walls.
Shell casings littered the floor.
People screamed downstairs while my soldiers tore through the rest of the property looking for money, drugs, and anybody stupid enough to keep shooting.
And through all of it, Booda stayed beside me.
Like we had done this a hundred times before.
A woman screamed upstairs, and my eyes immediately cut to Booda.
Then we moved.
We rushed upstairs with guns raised while another burst of gunfire exploded downstairs behind us. My heartbeat pounded violently against my ribs as we cleared room after room.
All were empty, and we were down to the last one. I kicked open the door, with Karma and Pressure raised, ready to blow a muthafucka’s face off. But the second I saw a woman curled on the bed holding a little girl, I froze.
The child couldn’t have been older than five.
Tears streamed down the woman’s face as she shielded the little girl with her body, trembling so hard the entire bed shook beneath them.
“Please,” she cried. “Please don’t hurt my baby.”
I aimed one Desert Eagle at her and the other at the child, so she’d understand exactly how serious I was.
“Where Rich at?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she sobbed. “He ain’t been here in two days.”
The child buried her face deeper into the woman’s side, crying hysterically.
A moment later, the gunfire ceased. Footsteps thundered up the stairs a second later, and three of my soldiers rushed into the room with rifles raised.
“House clear!” the one I now knew as City Boy said, his eyes focused on the bed.
“Take them with us,” Booda ordered.
The woman’s face drained instantly. “Please—we have nothing to do with what Rich has going on. I—”
“Yeah,” I cut in while lowering my guns. “If the bitch and the kid come with us, we really gon’ have that nigga where we want him now.”
Her face crumpled with panic, and she clutched the little girl tighter. “Please don’t do this.”
When I looked at my soldiers and saw them still standing there, I snapped. “What the fuck y’all standing around for? Grab them.”
