When he opens the door and steps down, I swing over the railing, grab him, and toss him over the side. The resulting fall tends to stun them, at least for a few seconds, which is long enough for The Duke to subdue them.
Tonight is a little different, but I don’t realize it until it’s almost too late. After I toss the guard over, I glance up, seeing a shadow at the doorway. Fuck. They don’t tend to work in pairs, not at this door anyway, so I wasn’t expecting another one.
“Franco?” he calls through the door, and I freeze, trying to decide what to do. He opens the door wider and catches sight of me. I don’t think, I just act. I fly at him in a tackle any college football coach would be proud of. His head bounces off the doorway with a sharp crack and a sickly groan comes from his mouth. Dragging him back in, I close the door behind me, then yank him down the stairs, uncaring that his head hits each tread on the way down.
“Two for one special tonight,” I announce to The Duke, who looks up from the first guy with a raised brow.
Her lips curl up into a smile, her eyes dancing. “Good. Two less fuckers for the others to deal with when they get here.”
Glancing down at my guy, I realize he’s missing a piece of his skull. Oops. Shrugging, I pull him into the clean-up room, tossing him in the dissolving tub. Not sure if that’s its actual name, but it’s what I’m going with.
The Duke follows a minute later, her guard struggling against the binds she’s tied him in. When he sees me pouring lye over his friend, his eyes grow wide in terror, and the stench of ammonia fills the room as he pisses himself.
“Fucking hell,” The Duke hisses, backing away from him. “Another mess to clean up.”
“Your guy, your clean,” I announce, putting the lye back in its cupboard. Setting the “tub” to heat to three hundred degrees, I back away. “Does he have anything interesting to say?”
The Duke’s mouth purses. “Not so far, but maybe watching his buddy dissolve will loosen his tongue?” She pokes the guy in the back, hard enough for him to stumble forward.
I have a better idea and take hold of his bound arms. Frog-marching him to the tub, I bend him over it while he screams, fighting against me. “Take a good whiff,” I demand, pressing his face closer to the chemicals. “You can answer our questions and we’ll let you go back upstairs or you can join your friend here. Except he has the good fortune of being dead while the lye eats his body. You won’t be.”
“Okay, okay!” he screams. “Just pull me up!”
I yank him up and throw him to the ground. I nod to The Duke, allowing her to take over. “What’s going on upstairs?”
The guy scoots back, keeping a wary eye on both of us. “What do you mean?” I step toward him menacingly, clenching his fists. “Stop! I just don’t know what you mean?” he stammers, and I come to a stop.
“Are there any new developments? Is Vincenzo acting differently? Do you suddenly have new orders that seem strange? Anything at all.”
He sits for a moment before starting. “He destroyed his office today. He was shouting something about houses and money. None of us know why, he doesn’t exactly confide in us. He orders us around, and we guard the property. That’s it.”
“Can you think of anything else?” I ask.
He gulps, then admits, “I overheard him talking to a group that has more experience than the rest of us. They’ve got special training or something. Vincenzo said something about picking up a package in three days.”
I meet The Duke’s eyes as worry slams into my chest. You’d only send the best to collect a package if the package is a person. When the guard has no further information to share, The Duke snaps his neck in one quick movement, and I help her shove the body into the tub after we’ve picked his pockets clean.
We’ve stashed the guards’ guns throughout this level, along with any keys we find. We’re as ready as we can be.
Three more days.
Chapter 62
Dutch
Everyonecrowdsontothelanding, some with darkened faces, others wearing brave smiles. I’m determined not to make an ass out of myself by tearing up at the show of support, but my fucking eyes betray me and do it anyway.
Quickly dashing the tears away, I hug everyone in the room, even the prickly ones like Trey. There’s no guarantee all of us will make it out of this alive so each of them is getting a damn hug, whether they want one or not.
We’ve spent the last three days doing everything we can. We’ve planned everything to within an inch of its life, there’s nothing more to be done. Each person has a role and knows what they have to do. It’s up to fate now.
The twins, wearing balaclavas, will be the ones dropping me off behind an abandoned gas station in New Rochelle. From there, I’m assuming I’ll be taken straight to Vincenzo. He’s been waiting too long to get ahold of me.
Theo and Justin come up alongside me, and as the elevator doors start to close, I give everyone a wave.
The drive isn’t long, only about thirty-five minutes, and it passes in relative silence. Theo turns the radio on low while I do my best to temper the panic rising in me the closer we get.Get a fucking grip, Buchanan,I lecture myself.If you fall apart, everything else will too.
The one thing keeping me grounded is the knowledge that I’ll see Cruz soon. But even that can’t fully prevent me from worrying. As we drive, I go over everything I’ve memorized one final time. Searching for any holes, anything that could destroy everything we’ve worked for.
