Razor The Wild Ones - Jessie Cooke Page 0,2

when he wanted or needed something was ask his family, his mother in particular. She never said no.

“Okay,” Bobby said, breathlessly. “I have some of the cash at the house. I was going to turn it all in, I swear I was. I just had a big-ass sale all at once and…” She heard one of the men say something in a low, threatening voice, but couldn’t make out the words. Bobby’s voice had a definite quiver in it when he said, “I’ll get it for you now…”

When Kayleigh thought about that night later, this would be the part she played over and over in her head. It was surreal, and yet she was listening to it play out in real time, so she knew she wasn’t dreaming. The man chuckled and said:

“Nah, we’ll get it ourselves.” And then the sound of a gunshot rang out and echoed off the walls of the warehouse. Kayleigh was so startled by it that it literally knocked her off her feet. Panicking, she scrambled back upright and almost ran inside the warehouse to check on Bobby…but what then? She’d be a witness, and they’d shoot her too. She didn’t even realize that tears were already streaming down her face when she heard another man say, “Let him bleed out right there, I don’t give a fuck. Howie, get over to that house and find that money he was talking about. Take Snake and Granite with you.”

“He’s got an old lady,” another man’s voice said. “What should we do with her?”

“Again, I don’t give a fuck. Just make sure you take her somewhere that no one can hear her scream…now go on.”

Kayleigh hadn’t meant to gasp out loud before she took off running, but she had. Before she turned the corner around the side of the warehouse, she heard another shot and the sound of it bouncing off the metal wall of the warehouse, only inches from her head. That one elicited a scream from deep in her throat, but she kept running. When she got to the car, her sweaty, slick palm slid off the door handle at first. The torrent of tears flooded her face and made it hard for her to see, and her shaking limbs were making just standing upright difficult.

The man who had taken a shot at her was running in her direction now and she had to get out of there. She finally got a grip on the door handle, pulled it open, and without even closing it she stepped on the brake and pushed the starter button. As soon as the V8 engine in her Dodge Charger growled to life, she hit the gas and pulled the door closed while the tires were spinning and filling the night with the smell of burning rubber. The man with the gun was about six feet in front of her car then and taking aim. Without thinking about anything other than self-preservation, she pulled the steering wheel hard to the right and saw his eyes go wide. The thud of his body against the front end of the car was sickening, but she ignored it. More men were coming toward her now, and several had climbed on their bikes. Kayleigh’s car reached upwards of sixty miles per hour before she even hit the road that led out of the warehouse lot. She pulled the wheel to the left and felt the car take the turn on two wheels. As soon as she was back on four, she accelerated again, leaving a cloud of dust behind her as she headed for the main road. She had to go to the police, or call 911…Bobby was dying, or dead. But those men knew about her, and they didn’t seem to have any qualms about killing her too…or worse. With a shaking finger she pressed in 911 and kept her eyes on the road in front of her.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“There’s a man at the Baton Rouge Warehouse who has been shot. Send help, hurry!” She ended the call quickly, sure that it would take them a fair amount of time to trace that call back to her. By then, she planned on being long gone. She could go to her father, but after he finished saying “I told you so” about Bobby, he’d lock her down like a criminal in order to keep her safe. She could go to Jason, but he’d only try to force her to tell her father. No…she