Page 96 of Guilty as Sin

“Do it,” Finn says.

The building quakes violently. But I’m ready for it.

The giant is not.

In his split second of surprise, I lunge. The man’s a solid wall. When I crash into him, he drops his guns with the impact, but keeps his feet, only a stumble to recover. A second later he’s got me by the throat, slamming me into the wall.

My head cracks against the cinder block. My vision flickers out. I feel consciousness slipping like oil through my fingers.

This man wants to kill my wife.

As I struggle for air, I grope at the wall beside me. My scrabbling fingers find a grenade. I grab it, then bash it into the giant’s head. It’s enough for him to lose his grip on my neck.

I slide down, heaving deep breaths, my vision returning.

Then he’s back on me, trying to pummel me into the floor. I throw an elbow into his face. Another elbow into his neck, a heel into his groin. Flailing, thrashing, I manage to get out from under him.

I leave the grenade beneath his stomach, the pin clutched in my hand. It takes every ounce of my strength to keep the giant bastard down on the floor. My shoulder screams with the effort.

Three, two, one.

The detonation’s disgusting. The giant’s guts splatter all over the floor, shards of bone sticking out of them. I push myself off him, spitting on his corpse. The dead man’s blood is slippery as I stumble out of the room.

“Finn?” I ask. “Blackbird?”

Then I realize I don’t have my earpiece. The giant must’ve torn it off during our fight. There’s no time to look for it, if it even still exists.

In the stairwell, I take two pistols off the bodies. I check they’re still loaded, nearly full clips in each. I keep one drawn and put the other in my Glock’s holster. Not quite the right fit, but close enough.

On the ground, one guy twitches, so I double tap him in the head. Blood sprays like pink mist in the fluorescent-lit stairwell. It patters back down onto Seven’s men. A beautiful rain.

Before it’s done falling, I’m sprinting up the stairs.

When I’m two floors below our penthouse, I kick off my boots and socks. I’m silent as I climb past the closed door to Finn’s place. Above me, the emergency door to our home is ajar. Scorch marks and bullet holes surround the broken lock.

I hurry closer, cocked gun in my hand.

“Where is she?” a gruff voice demands. One of Seven’s men, shouting at Connor.

From those three words, I can’t tell if they’re in league or not. And with my ears still ringing from the explosions, I can’t hear Connor’s reply.

I also can’t be sure if there’s a second Vanleusen man in there with them. I let two up the stairs. If only one of them is on this floor, I have to kill him quick and find the second man before he finds me.

I burst into my home and fire at the intruder’s head. My shot goes wide. But it blows off a chunk of his ear before he dives into the kitchen, out of my line of fire.

“Connor!” I shout.

And now for the test.

Time to see if my wife’s brother is the traitor I suspect him to be.

From where he’s standing, Muloney can see both me and Seven’s man. He’s holding the blank-loaded Smith & Wesson I gave him. But it’s pointed at the floor.

If he draws on Seven’s man, I’ll use the distraction to kill the goon myself.

If he draws on me, well. I’ve been hit with blanks before. It’s no picnic, but I’ll still be able to squeeze a couple rounds into Seven’s man before I kill Connor.

The kid’s hand is shaking, the gun trembling at his side. We don’t have time for this.