Beyond Possession (Beyond #5.5) (13 page)

"Maybe all four of us." She jerked her head toward Tatiana. "We can give her a gun. Obviously she knows what to do with it."

"Sure, honey. I didn't promise Zan I'd keep her safe or anything."

That stung Tatiana's pride—and lodged something ugly beneath the warmth lingering in her heart. This was how he'd break her—one offhand comment at a time. She wasn't Catalina, sheltered and spoiled and oblivious to the dangers of the world. She'd made her own damn place. She'd fought for it.

She wasn't going to sit and let it crumble because Zan felt better with her wrapped in gauze and silk.

"That's not his choice to make." She didn't let her voice waver. "I promised not to interfere with the rescue. But it's my shop, Lex. It's my life."

The woman paused with her glass to her lips and stared at Tatiana. "I suppose that's fair," she said finally. "Okay, then. We'll all go."

Relief flooded Tatiana, so intense she had to steady herself against the table. Six's chair scraped back, and she unclipped a key ring from her belt as she rose. "Knives or guns, guys?"

Emma shrugged. "The sectors have gone dark. Better take both."

Six grinned—actually
grinned
—and headed for the kitchen, and Tatiana found herself meeting Lex's eyes.

"I don't want to put you guys in danger," guilt made her say. "If I could have a gun..."

Lex smiled. "Shut up, Stone. You're not going out there alone."

"Are you sure?"

"Trying to make me change my mind?"

"No." She wouldn't turn down help. But she'd owe Sector Four's queen a different sort of debt after tonight, the kind that might sit heavy someday. "Thank you, Lex."

"Business as usual." The words were casual, but her expression was serious. Meaningful. "It's not a favor. We help each other."

Each other
. She wasn't one of them. She was the opposite of one of them. It had always felt that way, at least. Like the gulf was so wide she could never cross it. Like she'd plunge to her death if she tried.

Maybe all she had to do was reach out.

Silently, she extended her hand across the table. Lex wrapped her fingers around Tatiana's and nodded, as if answering a question. "Time for you to see how the O'Kane women roll."

It was hard to be stealthy when you damn near had a riot on your hands.

They had only made it halfway to Wallace's headquarters when the lights went out. By the time they reached the market square, looters and troublemakers had already begun spilling into the streets. They stopped to deal with the worst of it, but the situation was far from ideal. The longer they lingered, the likelier it was someone would give Wallace the heads-up about their presence.

Finally, Bren shook his head. "We can't stay, Dallas."

"Fuck it," Dallas growled. "We deal with Wallace and get the girl, and
then
we can put this shit down."

By that time, the rest of the O'Kanes would have it under control. Even knowing that, Zan wanted to check up on Tatiana's shop. The suggestion hovered on the tip of his tongue. It meant so damn much to her...

But her sister meant more.

Suddenly, he needed to hear Dallas say it again. "If Wallace won't cooperate?"

"You put a bullet in him."

"And if he does cooperate?" Cruz asked quietly.

Dallas didn't hesitate. "Zan gets the girl out, and one of us puts a bullet in him."

Wallace had used up the last of his chances. He had proved himself a danger, and Dallas's decision had nothing to do with the fact that the man had challenged him. He had sown discord, sure, but Wallace had sealed his fate when one of his men had threatened a citizen of Sector Four on his behalf.

You could piss on Dallas's foot and he'd punch you in the face. But the moment you tried to harm someone in his sector, he'd nail your ass to the wall.

The scent of wood smoke filled the darkness, along with the acrid tang of burning oil and plastic. The shouts and crashes were more distant than before. Word was getting around about their presence in the market, all right, and they needed to move fast.

Zan checked his pistols as he and Dallas rounded the back of Wallace's new shop. Cruz and Bren took the front. Stupid of the man to claim this building for his own, since it had previously belonged to wheezy old Walt Misham. Most of the O'Kanes had dropped thousands of credits on Walt's wares—and knew the building almost as well as any of their own.

Dallas held one finger over his lips as he and Zan crept through the alley toward the back entrance. One guard—one fucking guard—stood outside, smoking a cigarette and banging the back of his head softly against the beat-up metal door.

He didn't see them coming. He didn't see
Dallas
coming, not even when Dallas surged out of the shadows and smashed into him, cutting off his shout of warning with a rough arm across the throat and his struggles with a gun pressed to his temple.

"Where's the girl?" Dallas growled, easing up just enough to let the man rasp out an answer.

But he didn't. He bared his teeth in a feral grin. "Fuck you. Wallace is gonna take your sector and all your bitches—"

Dallas slammed his arm back into place. "Not if you're what he's got to work with." The man thrashed, his face turning ruddy even in the darkness. Dallas just leaned closer, digging the gun muzzle deeper into his skin. "Think about it while you're passing the fuck out. Think about whether or not you're going to wake up again. Maybe I'll let Zan here decide. You might not like that."

It seemed to take forever for the man's eyes to roll up. He slumped, and Dallas let him slide to the garbage-strewn alley. Zan patted him down and found a gun and two knives, one with a wickedly curved blade still stained with what looked like blood.

He clenched his teeth. "Fucking Wallace."

The back door was unlocked, but the shop was empty. He and Dallas made their way through to the front room, where Cruz and Bren had already come to the same conclusion.

Bren jerked his head toward the rickety wooden ladder against one wall and silently indicated the loft. Cruz scrambled soundlessly up it but shook his head as soon as he swung his flashlight around.

"Fuck." Dallas stalked toward the table loaded with empty bottles. "Help me move this. Walt had a trap door under here that led down to the cellar."

As soon as they picked up the edges of the table, a bullet blew up through the trap door. Bren dove aside, rolling to the floor and coming up with a gun. He held up a hand, crept toward the splintered trap door, and flipped it open.

Another shot exploded from below, and Zan fought to clear the fury from his vision. Catalina might be down there, though it was clear no one gave a shit whether she ended up caught in the crossfire of a gunfight.

Instead of firing back, he jumped.

He landed on the man with the gun, knocking them both to the floor in a sprawl. The butt of a pistol cracked across his face, but he shook off the pain and grabbed the man's wrist in a punishing grip. A quick twist resulted in a satisfying snap, and the man howled in agony as the gun went skittering across the rough plank floor. Zan hit him back, one hard cuff to the temple, and he went silent.

Zan listened carefully, but there were no other sounds in the cellar. "Throw me a light," he called up.

Bren snapped a glow stick and tossed it down. "Any sign of the girl?"

"No sign of anyone." He spun in a slow circle with the light held aloft, searching for any indication that the man at his feet hadn't been alone. "The bastard must've come down here to hide."

"Idiots and cowards." Dallas crouched near the opening. "So where would an idiot coward go?"

A sick wave of fear prickled over Zan's skin. It would take more than cowardice for Wallace to head for Tatiana's shop—it would take bravado that bordered on insanity.

He clambered up the ladder with a vicious curse. "I've got a pretty damn good idea."

Dallas caught his arm. "Zan? Is your head on straight?"

"Does it matter?" They were playing a whole new game now, and a level head would only get in his way.

Bren spoke up. "He could have headed for the compound, planned to hit us tonight."

"No." Zan was sure of that. Right now, there was only one thing Wallace wanted more than to overthrow the O'Kanes—to punish Tatiana.

And there were two surefire ways to do it.

The streets were anything but quiet, but Six had been right. Lex was one of the most recognizable people in Sector Four, and trouble melted out of their path.

Tatiana led them around the back of the shop, hands shaking as she fumbled with the first of three locks. The relief at seeing the building still standing was intense. She'd been picturing flames from the first moment the lights had gone out, but maybe Dallas and his crew were delivering all the trouble Wallace could handle tonight.

She pushed the door open, but Six caught her arm before she could step inside. She pulled her gun and flashlight, bracing one wrist over the other as she edged inside and swept the beam across the room.

"The office is clear," she said quietly. "What's through the open door?"

"My workroom."

Six stepped inside. "Emma?"

"Got it." She took up a position by the open doorway as Six walked through it.

Out of habit, Tatiana swung her own flashlight toward the picture by the door, and stopped cold.

The framed portrait of her mother was skewed at a wild angle.

Her stomach dropped out, and she tried to remember the last time she'd checked it. After the fight, maybe? After Stuart dragged Buzz's body out into the alley? But Zan had hauled her through the door, kicking and slapping. She could have bumped it with a knee or her boot and not noticed.

Or Catalina could be somewhere in the shop. And she wouldn't be alone.

Six and Emma had already cleared the workroom. Tatiana grabbed Lex's arm as she spun toward the door that led to her storefront. "Something's wrong."

Lex's brows drew together. "What?"

"The picture. It's a signal Catalina and I use." She stared at the door, trying to remember. Had she closed it for some reason? She couldn't remember...and couldn't take the risk. "I think I left that door—"

Lex swung around. "Six, Emma, get out—"

"Yeah, get out." The voice drifted in from the front room. Wallace, not lazy at all. Focused. Intent. Terrifying enough to chill her heart. "Better listen to the lady."

Flesh cracked against flesh. A woman cried out in pain—Catalina—and Tatiana knew she'd fucked up. She'd waited too long, and now her sister was going to suffer, maybe even die—

Unless she took her place.

Tatiana didn't look at Lex. "You should—"

Lex caught her wrist. "Not part of the deal."

The back door thumped shut behind them. Tatiana twisted and saw Six calmly checking her arm sheaths before dragging her sleeves down to cover them. She held up a finger to her lips and then pointed toward Tatiana's feet.

Her knife. She checked her boot and nodded as Six came to stand next to Lex. "Sorry, boss. We don't go back without you."

Any reply she might have made was cut off by Wallace's terrifying voice. "Of course, if anyone leaves, I'll have to kill the girl."

Oh,
God
. Humiliating Catalina in front of the sector would have been kinder than this. The love of her baby sister's life was threatening to end her life, and Tatiana would have given her up forever to spare her this. Rage replaced the ice, the kind she hadn't felt in years.

Stone-cold vengeance. Her father had made it a joke. Tatiana was about to make it a reality.

"What do you want?" she asked, hoping the blankness of her voice sounded like fear to him.

The door between the office and the front room slammed open, and two of Wallace's men stood there. For a moment, she could see the shadows of Wallace and her sister, driven away in an instant as the men clicked on blindingly bright flashlights.

Wallace laughed. "Now it's a party. Bring them in—and don't fucking forget to take their weapons."

One man approached warily, his gaze stuck on Lex even as he wrenched the pistol out of Tatiana's hand. He tucked it at the small of his back and turned to Lex, something mean flashing through his eyes. "Hand it over."

"Kiss my ass, you dickless bastard."

Two more men spilled through the door. The big one seized Lex by the arms while the other one leered. "More fun to frisk her anyway."

Six ejected the magazine from her gun and tossed it aside. "You want his fingers when this is over, Lex?"

"Why wait?" she gritted through clenched, bared teeth. "I'll bite those motherfuckers off right now."

"Shut the fuck up." The leering man backhanded her.

Her head whipped to the side. Blood welled at the corner of her mouth, but her feral grin didn't fade. Instead, it grew as she hauled back one leg and kicked him in the balls.

He went down retching, and the man holding her snatched her gun out of her waistband and shoved her into the room with Wallace. Emma followed, both hands raised in capitulation.

Tatiana didn't fight the man who grabbed her, either, letting him tow her roughly through the room. Her hip smashed into a display, sparking pain up her side and sending a dozen wrapped bars of soap and even more bottles clattering to the floor.