Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Something fierce and deadly opened up within her chest at that thought. No. They were her friends, her family, her home. She wouldn’t make a mistake when it came to them. She’d kill before letting their attackers touch a hair on her friends’ heads.
“I have an idea,” Kierse rushed out, ignoring the sharp pain in her ankle as she darted between two more people. “Follow me. Just out of this mess.”
With a renewed burst of energy, she careened through the mass of people north toward NoHo. Gen took heaving breaths behind her. While Kierse and Ethan had trained, Gen was soft and malleable. Her specialties lay in other areas. Kierse had never cared about that before today.
“I’m fine. Keep going,” Gen said between pants.
So Kierse focused on the present and hurried past Prince and down the next left onto the mostly empty alleyway that connected to Lafayette. Kierse shoved Ethan and Gen in front of her. “Keep going!”
If she could get them out the other side, then she could face their attacker while they got away. She could see the opening like a beacon in the night beckoning to her as they raced toward the end of the street. Then, not twenty feet from the opening, the first man stepped into their pathway. And he had retrieved his gun.
The first gunshot ricocheted off the ground, barely missing Kierse. Gen cried out as Ethan flung them both sideways against the brick wall and out of the way.
“Get out of view,” Kierse shouted at Ethan as he helped Gen into a closed doorway.
As Kierse found her own cover, she retrieved the gun from her boot and aimed at their attacker. With him silhouetted in the mouth of the street, she couldn’t make out a single distinct thing about him.
“Put down your weapon,” he growled.
“You first,” she said.
“You’ve led us on a fun chase and took down Orla. Mighty impressive, if it wasn’t a wee bit infuriating.”
“Why are you here?” Kierse asked. “Why are you after us?”
“Not them. Just you,” the man said with a grin that didn’t sit right with her. “You’re working with the enemy. That means you need to be eliminated. Business. You understand?”
Kierse’s stomach twisted. So it was about Graves. Someone had found out that she had been at his house. She’d walked right out the front door.
A second man appeared at the mouth of the alley. “Got you cornered.”
Kierse shifted her gun to the new man. “If I give myself up, you’ll let my friends go?”
“No business with them. Only kill ’em if you continue to try to get away. Considering you’re out of options, now would be the best time to do it.”
“No, Kierse,” Gen cried.
“Absolutely not!” Ethan said.
“Declan, you can’t be serious,” the second man said. “Lorcan will gut you from nose to navel if you let them go.”
“Shut the feck up, Cormac,” Declan snapped. He tilted his gun, telling Kierse to have her friends walk out.
Lorcan. She filed the name away for later, when Gen and Ethan were no longer in danger.
“Kierse,” Ethan said, his voice barely above a whisper now.
The two Druids were arguing with each other. They thought that she’d chosen this building at random. She’d been putting on airs like she was beaten already. Like she’d actually give her friends up to them.
“Now,” she said just as she sent a bullet toward the first man.
Ethan yanked the door open and barreled through with Gen’s hand in his own. Kierse fell through after them. She took the extra second to relock the door and then was racing down the familiar apartment building. An ex-boyfriend had lived here for a few months before upgrading to a safer neighborhood. Kierse never forgot a layout.
The sound of shattering glass followed by boots on tile pounded after them as they raced toward the main entrance. A group of guys smoking weed backed into the mailboxes as they raced past them and out onto the much busier Houston Street.
Kierse stuck her hand out, flagging the first available taxi. She didn’t have time to think about the exorbitant price before stuffing her friends into the backseat and falling in after them. She yanked the door closed just as Declan and Cormac landed empty-handed on the sidewalk and the taxi pulled away.
“Where to?” the man asked impatiently as if not realizing the danger the trio had just been in.
Ethan and Gen looked at Kierse in question. They couldn’t go back to the brothel. It wasn’t safe. That was obvious now. There was only one other option.
“Five Points,” she said.
Chapter Eight
When the taxi finally came to a stop a block away from Five Points, she threw the fare down on the seat without preamble, jerked the door open, and jumped out. She held the door for Ethan and then Gen. Ethan clung to Gen, his eyes wide with barely suppressed terror. Gen was worse for wear from the chase, but otherwise the drive had returned her normal calm.