and One were doubtful to leave each other.
“Close by?”
He nodded. “A few hours. Down near Sacramento.”
Scooting to the edge of the bed, I put my feet on the ground, ready to move. “What are we waiting for?”
It only took a few minutes to pull on some clothes and load up on firearms before we were headed out the door.
“Here,” Six said, handing me one of his 9mm Glocks.
I glanced from him to it, then back to him. “Really?”
He nodded. “If we run into them, you’ll need it.”
The gesture left me shell shocked as I reached out and took the pistol from him. It was for more than my help or to protect myself. It was trust.
Six trusted me—the woman he was going to kill—with his life.
The restaurant on a cliff was spooky, but the old, falling down warehouse was a whole other kind of creep-tacular. Both looked right out of a survival horror video game, and the mess of bodies dressed in black we waded through was a perfect match.
A wetwork team had come, and a cleaner or two emerged victorious from the rubble.
“Fuck.” The carnage was unreal, blood everywhere, the floor a sticky mat of dark red. “This is about the same age as your email.”
“It was probably set up by the wetwork team to draw one or more of us out.”
“Looks like it worked,” I said as we waded through to the other side.
There had to be another side.
He stopped and held out his hand. I froze, eyes wide, ears listening intently, but there was nothing. Moving again, he headed toward a staircase that was also covered in blood, a body lying limp on the landing.
On the second story there was a wide open space with one light that held power. Lit up was a lump that looked like a possible body.
We inched closer, Six keeping all his senses on high alert. Wide open spaces probably made him nervous. No cover in case someone was waiting.
Within twenty feet, it was obvious it was a body. Within ten, it was obviously not one from the wetwork team.
Shit.
The body was beaten to hell with multiple knife wounds and topped off with a couple of bullets. The face was mashed in. So much so, it was hard to tell who it was.
Many of the visible features resembled Five.
My chest clenched. Of all the Cleaners besides Six, Five was the only one I liked. He didn’t try to kill me and stood up for me. He saw the value in me the others couldn’t.
“I don’t think they’re trying to be sneaky anymore,” Six said as he crouched down to try and identify the man.
Six’s arm snapped up and he fired, hitting the floor, scaring the shit out of me.
“Whoa!” Five yelled as he jumped back. “I just got here.”
My eyes widened and I ran forward, flinging my arms around his neck. “Five!”
“Hey there, baby,” Five wrapped his arms around me, making sure to give my ass a squeeze. “Ooh, Six, I think your woman is starting to see and appreciate what fine attributes I have.”
Your woman.
It was a title that I really liked. To be his. Our relationship was so different from the last time we’d seen Five, but still, maybe he saw something in Six I couldn’t.
“Let her go,” Six said. He still had his gun out and pointed at Five.
Five released me and I stepped back, glancing between the two.
“What are you doing here?” Six’s finger was on the trigger.
My eyes widened as I looked between them. Six was serious. He was going to kill Five if he didn’t give the right answer.
Five held his arms out. “Whoa, chill, man. It’s been radio silent, so I continued on with the mission.”
“What have you been doing?”
“I haven’t found Jason, but I located Seven and he told me what happened in Vegas.” Five gave me a sad smile. “Sorry about you friend, darling.”
I swallowed hard and nodded. “Thanks.”
“Jason’s dead.”
Five’s expression dropped. “Fuck.”
“It was Nine and One.”
“What?” Five asked in disbelief. He shook his head. “No. There’s no way.”
“They tried to blow us up.”
Five continued to shake his head. “He’s your brother. I mean, I know you two aren’t close, but still… Guess there really is no honor among killers.”
Six didn’t say anything, just kneeled back down and held out his hand toward me. “Give me your napkin.”
My brow scrunched as I looked at him. Napkin? He reached out and dug into my jacket pocket, pulling a folded-up napkin I’d stuck in there