Fuck. Never mind. A wave of bullets popped the tires and perforated the body of the sleek black car. There went my getaway vehicle.
“Screw it,” I sighed. “Looks like I’m shooting my way out.”
Gritting my teeth, I peered around to search for my attackers’ locations once more. There were more than I realized. Five or six hidden and a team of three all suited up in tactical black moving down the sidewalk toward my hiding place.
“This is going to hurt,” I whispered, then braced myself and popped back up with guns blazing. The three on the sidewalk were my first priority, but my body shots wouldn’t hold them off long. The lack of blood spray said they’d included Kevlar in their outfits.
To my shock, though, I wasn’t the only one firing back. Attacking shooters dropped like flies, and a cherry red Ducati came to a screeching stop directly beside me amidst all the gunfire. Like the rider thought they were bulletproof.
“Get on!” a woman’s voice barked from behind the helmet, and I didn’t need to think twice. There was only one woman in Shadow Grove who really was bulletproof—and drove motorcycles in Louboutin heels—and she owed me one already.
I popped off another shot as one of the dudes on the sidewalk tried to get up, this time capping him right between the eyes and painting the concrete red as I swung my leg over the Ducati.
A quick glance around as my driver revved her engine and took off at top speed told me where my backup had come from. Apparently KJ-Fit was training more than just MMA fighters.
I held on tight, leaning into the corners with the bike as we flew through the streets. We made it back to my rented house in just a few minutes, and my escape bike pulled to a stop in front of the gates for me to hop off.
“Thanks for the lift,” I said with a grin, patting my pockets to check the thumb drives were all still present. “You don’t want to come in?”
My driver flicked the visor of her helmet up. “I have a mess to clean up in West Shadow Grove, thanks to you.” Her glare was hard but curious. “You’re lucky my guys caught sight of those cut-rate mercs prepping up earlier, or you’d have been outgunned, Danny.” My rescuer essentially owned the whole damn town, so I had no doubt she’d be able to clean it up in no time.
I scoffed a laugh. “Outgunned, sure. But I’d have worked it out, I always do.” Then I wrinkled my nose. “Send me the cleanup bill and say thanks to D’Ath for the assist, too?” Manners mattered when fostering mutually beneficial relationships.
She gave a nod. “Do me a favor? Finish whatever you’re doing and leave town. The Guild brings nothing but trouble.”
I grinned, knowing Hades—queen of the Timberwolves—held little love for my employer. Except when it benefitted her. “I’ll see what I can do.”
She scowled, then shook her head and flipped her visor down again. Without another word, she revved her bike and took off down the street.
I keyed in the gate code and started walking up to the house. It was about damn time we found out what Layla had been hiding. What was so damaging that someone—I assumed Blanchet—was going to such extreme lengths to bury.
The anticipation was killing me.
44
After Danny called me, bubbling with excitement that she’d uncovered Layla’s data cache, I quickly abandoned my plans and jerked my steering wheel in a sharp U-turn. Danny was heading back to the house. I wanted to get there as soon as possible.
Call me crazy, but I fucking despised the idea of her being alone with that big-dicked shit stain for even a moment. I’d convinced her to leave this morning without having to suffer through another rage-inducing kiss between them, then promptly ripped up her note telling him where she was.
A cold smile curled my lips. I really wanted to beat her back so I could witness the blind panic the muscle-bound moron was experiencing at the thought she’d left him. Hell, I’d even stashed her clothes in another room to make him think she was gone for good.
Chuckling to myself, I pressed the gas harder. A red Ducati flew past me in the opposite direction, and suspicion spiked at my guts. The neighborhood that Danny’s rented mansion was in didn’t have a lot of motorcycles, and that one had been breaking the speed limit, which didn’t line up with the stuffy old rich people I’d seen cruising around in their Bentleys.
I had a bad feeling, and it only got worse when I passed through the gates and spotted Danny walking up the driveway to the house. Why the fuck was she walking? Where was Vega’s car that she’d stolen?
“DeLuna!” I shouted, leaping out of my car the moment I pulled to a stop. She was halfway through keying in the front door codes and cast a calm glance in my direction. “What happened?”
Her answering smirk was dagger sharp. “Apparently, we’re not the only ones looking for Layla’s cache.” She pushed open the door and indicated I come inside quickly. Once the door was closed behind me, she reactivated the security system, and I raised my brows in question.
“I’m assuming you’ve got a computer here with you,” she asked, heading through to the living room and tugging off her jacket. From the pockets, she produced two handfuls of USB sticks which she placed down on the table. “Whatever Layla found, I just had an entire merc team try to take me out.”
Panic washed through me, then I quickly reminded myself that clearly she handled it and was fine. Danny DeLuna was the definition of capable. The red Ducati… Oh, now I knew where I’d seen it before. “Hades helped out? That was nice… I didn’t know she had it in her.” Danny just parked her hands on her hips and gave me a long look. “I’ll grab my laptop,” I murmured, striding out of the room.
“Grab some weapons too, Bunny!” she called after me. “Just in case anyone followed.”
I chuckled as I hurried upstairs to get my computer. No way was anyone left alive to follow, but it did beg the question of who the fuck they were working for. Something about pinning it all on Blanchet didn’t sit right with me. It was too easy… and the pieces didn’t match up. How the hell did he even learn of Project Remus? It had been my responsibility to clean up evidence of the program after a militant group had started wiping out orphanages and medical labs. Kai’s fucking team.
I didn’t know what bullshit he had spun to Danny about their “mission” to take down Project Remus, but his team was willfully massacring people—children—and all because they were the next generation of Guild mercenaries. It didn’t truly anger me, until I put Danny in those kids’ shoes. Then it made me murderous.
Fuck, every day that passed, I came closer to slipping up and stabbing him through the eyeball. The only thing holding me back was her.
My instincts saw me duck when I rounded the corner to the bedrooms, leaving Kai’s punch to slam into the wall instead of my head. I snickered a mean laugh. “Idiot.”
“Where is she?” he roared like a bear with a toothache. “What did you do? You sneaky, lying, two-faced sack of shit, I’ll fucking kill you. Where the fuck—”
“Oh, I’m the liar here?” I sneered, cutting him off but staying out of reach as he tried to hit me again. If I started throwing punches today, I wouldn’t stop until I’d ripped his heart out and stomped it under my boot. “I’m the sneaky one, huh? Tell me something, Malachi, how’s Carlos doing?”