Rock Chick 03 Redemption (50 page)

She was staring at the place we last saw Hank and I could tel immediately that she’d slipped into another place.

I felt something strange coming from her, something immensely sad, almost to the point of longing.

I stood stock-stil as she continued. “He was a good kid, through and through. Good son to his parents, good brother, good friend to my nephew Darius. Things changed, for me, for Darius. Hank never changed. He tried, harder ‘n’

hel , more even than Lee and Eddie, to pul Darius back, to save him…”

She stopped on a whoosh of air, as if she’d been sucker punched in the gut. I was confused, not knowing what she was talking about but I had no chance to ask and I had the feeling she wouldn’t have told me anyway.

She carried on. “I know where his head’s at, so does Darius. We know where he stands. Even so… even so…” her voice had dropped to a whisper, so low, it was almost like she was chanting. “Even so, I admire it. If I’d had me a boy of my own, I’d want him to be just like Hank.” I felt her words hit me somewhere private, somewhere I didn’t even know existed. Somewhere that was a place that only women like me had. Women like me, which was I suspected, women like Daisy. I was also guessing (correctly, even though I didn’t know it at the time), women like Shirleen. Women who’d experienced bad things at the hands of men they’d opened their hearts to and women who hoped for something good to fol ow.

Daisy had found hers in Marcus, even though he was who he was to the world; he was something else to her.

I’d found my good in Hank.

Shirleen, wel , I didn’t know about Shirleen but I suspected she was no longer looking. Instead her longing was the saving grace of a child, a child just like Hank.

Tears hit my eyes and my hand reached out, found hers and I held on tight. I could only guess that I was correct at what was causing her emotion. What I did know, it was there and she was letting me see it. I also knew instinctively, this emotional display didn’t happen often.

She squeezed my hand and then pul ed hers away and downed her glass of champagne.

“I’m dry,” she announced, breaking the mood and not even looking at me. “Where’s that boy with the champagne?” she was looking around. “Hey! You!” she yel ed then walked away from me to pounce on a waiter with a tray of champagne.

She didn’t look back.

I didn’t get a chance to process her words because I felt a touch on the skin at the smal of my back. It was so light, there and then gone, it was almost like I imagined it. When I turned to see if it was real, I got an eye-ful of a tanned throat coming out of a light gray shirt surrounded by a black suit.

I looked up.

Luke.

“Where’s Hank?” he asked, deciding against any unnecessary pleasantries like “Hel o”. He was scanning the crowd and looking unhappy. I’d never seen Luke look unhappy. Mostly, he just looked hot or sometimes amused (which was just another form of hot). Now he looked plain, old unhappy (which was also somehow hot).

“He’s talking to Marcus.” I replied then went on. “You look nice,” and I moved a bit away from him mainly because he did look nice, real y nice.

His arms were at his sides. When I moved away, his hand came out to curl around my waist and he pul ed me back to him. I figured this was part of his not-outside-touching-distance bodyguard gig and decided to reassure him. “It’s okay, Luke. Hank’s here somewhere and Lee’s keeping an eye on me.”

I heard a cel phone ring somewhere but I ignored it because Luke looked down at me.

“You don’t move away from me. We’re findin’ Hank.

Now,” he ordered.

Immediately at his words and his tone, I felt fear crawl along my skin.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

Luke wasn’t looking at me anymore; he was looking across the room. I fol owed his gaze and saw Lee, cel to his ear, his eyes on Luke. Lee’s face was tight and he jerked his head towards the door. At the same time, he was repositioning Indy, moving her around to face one of the several doors leading out of the room. She looked up at Lee questioningly but that’s al I saw as Luke’s fingers pressed into my waist insistently.

“Let’s go,” Luke said.

He started moving me toward the door. I noticed something happening; Eddie and Carl either both sensed imminent danger or had received non-verbal, badass-boys communiqués gliding through the air like radio waves. They were also on alert and on the move.

“What’s happening?” I asked, not fighting it but going with Luke, fear was no longer crawling along my skin but biting into me. Then, panic hitting me, I said, “We have to find Hank.”

I no sooner said it when Hank and Marcus entered the room. Hank was striding with a purpose, his eyes locked on me, his face like stone. Marcus didn’t look much different and was moving in the same way, his eyes scanning the room, likely looking for Daisy.

“Hank’s here,” I told Luke, beginning to pul away to go to Hank.

Luke yanked me to his side then stopped dead.

I took my eyes off Hank and turned to look at Luke. In mid-swing, my glance caught on something familiar. My head stopped and I stared.

Bil y was standing in the doorway to the room.

His arm was raised.

In his hand was a gun and it was pointed at me.

I had to admit, Bil y looked good.

The man-on-the-run thing was working for him. Faded jeans, his beat-up leather jacket hanging on him just right, his thick, blond hair was messy, his eyes were wild.

Other people had noticed Bil y but I didn’t think they thought he looked good, mainly because they also noticed his gun.

I felt panic tear through the crowd. I heard smal screams, felt people moving and caught Eddie and Carl’s voices cal ing commands to the edging people.

Al of this happened as if it was far, far away. Mostly, in those first few moments, it felt like just Bil y and me in the room.

“Hand her over,” Bil y demanded, looking at me, stil pointing the gun at me, but addressing Luke.

Luke’s response was to shove me behind his back.

This meant Bil y was aiming his gun at Luke.

“No!” I shouted, coming out of my frozen bout with terror.

At the same time, Bil y screamed, “Godammit, give her to me!”

“Don’t even think about it,” I heard and my eyes swung to the left.

I saw Lee had a gun trained on Bil y.

“Fuck you!” Bil y said, swinging his gun wildly, aiming at Lee.

I felt my stomach clench and my lungs squeeze and visions of a tangerine and chocolate wedding faded into an even worse nightmare.

“Bil y, no,” I said, moving around Luke. “Don’t, I’l go with you.”

“Luke, get her out of here,” this came from Hank, who was several feet behind Lee and moving forward.

He also had a gun and it hit me, in a vague, slightly crazed (okay, maybe entirely crazed) way, how easily he handled it, just like he drove his 4Runner; natural, like he was one with the gun. His right hand around the butt, finger on the trigger, the left hand cupping his gun hand. Both his arms were up, but cocked loose, his head was tilted slightly to the side and his gun and gaze were aimed at Bil y.

Luke had already shifted in front of me, stepping back, forcing me to move with him. The crowd was stil easing away. I noticed people exiting the room just as I saw Marcus, also carrying a gun, sliding along a back wal .

“Don’t move!” Bil y shouted. He hadn’t noticed Marcus and he swung his gun back at Luke and me.

“Bil y, don’t. Please,” I begged, peeking around Luke’s body.

Luke kept moving back, he was unfazed by the gun as wel as unarmed.

Bil y didn’t listen to me. He fired.

Luke’s body jerked.

I screamed.

The gunshot caused pandemonium. My scream wasn’t the only one. People were no longer cautiously moving but now running everywhere, clearing the room.

Luke didn’t go down. Instead, he shoved a hand in his jacket and pul ed a gun out of a shoulder holster and trained it on Bil y. I barely noticed, because Bil y was now pointing his gun at Hank.

Both Lee and Hank were side by side, maybe three, four feet between them. They’d both advanced while Bil y had fired and were only six feet away from him.

Both brothers were in a faceoff with Bil y.

This isn’t happening
, I thought with dread and then I didn’t think anymore. Instead, I moved quickly, thanking my many years of practice in high heels, because they came in handy. I came wide around Luke so he couldn’t grab me and started toward Bil y as fast as I dared.

“Luke,
get her out of here!
” Hank’s voice cracked through the room.

“Bil y, I’l come with you,” I said, moving forward more quickly to avoid Luke, pul ing at a strength I had no idea I possessed and ignoring Hank. Al I could think was that if I had anything to do with it, Bil y wasn’t going to shoot Hank or anyone. I didn’t know if he’d hit Luke but if he had, that was the end as far as I was concerned.

“Shoot him, Luke,” Lee said.

“Roxie, get out of the way,” Luke ordered from behind me. Then when I didn’t do as he ordered he said to Lee, “I can’t get a clean shot.”

I made it to within arm’s length of Bil y and his hand came out and nabbed my arm, twisting me and pul ing my back to him so hard I slammed into his body. His arm wrapped around my waist.

He was using me as a shield.

Hank’s expression shifted, going from control ed rage to out-and-out fury.

Then Hank moved toward us.

Bil y shook his gun at him.

Hank halted, but then Lee moved forward.

“Stop fuckin’ movin’!” Bil y yel ed at Lee and Lee halted.

“This isn’t happening,” I whispered my earlier thought aloud.

Someone was going to get hurt, probably already had been hurt. Al I could think was that I had to stop it.

“We have to go,” I said to Bil y.

“I’m gonna kil him,” Bil y returned, stil pointing his gun at Hank.

“No! Don’t. Please, don’t. Let’s just go,” I cried.

“He tried to take what’s mine. I’m gonna fuckin’
kill
him,” Bil y yel ed.

He was crazed, out of control and I was scared he’d do it.

I put my hand up to his arm, my fingers curling around his bicep just at the moment Bil y fired again.

bicep just at the moment Bil y fired again.

Then, I didn’t think, I just moved.

I twisted and shoved him with my entire body. He wasn’t expecting it and we both teetered and then went down. Bil y on his back, me landing on top of him. I tried to rol away, I wanted to check Hank, needed to do it, but Bil y grabbed me and rol ed us both. Coming up, he brought me with him and held me, my back to his front again, arm stil round my waist.

He was breathing heavily now. I’d knocked the wind out of him but he was hanging on.

My eyes immediately went to where Hank was and he was stil standing, much closer now, nearly on top of us. He, Lee and Luke had used the tussle to close in.

Hank’s face was hard, a muscle moving in his jaw, he wasn’t in control of the situation and I knew it was pissing him right, the hel , off.

Al I felt was relief that he didn’t seem to be bleeding.

Then, everything happened at once.

Bil y whirled, taking me with him and pul ing us several feet away from Hank. Luke, Lee and I saw, now, that Vance was moving down the hal way toward us, gun raised. Then Bil y stopped pul ing back and whirled again and I saw two more men, both wearing black suits, white shirts and thin black ties, both arriving from another doorway and closing in. I had no idea who they were but they also had guns pointed at us.

Again Bil y whirled and there were two more men I’d never seen before, coming from even another doorway.

They were dressed a lot like Bil y, except they looked cleaner and their eyes were not wild but clear and purposeful. They also had guns pointed at us.

We were surrounded, with eight guns aimed in our direction and that didn’t count Marcus who I figured was somewhere in the room (although no one else was and, for that, I al owed myself a tiny prayer).

“Put down your gun, Flynn,” Hank demanded.

Bil y whirled again and we faced Hank.

“Fuck you,” Bil y retorted.

“
Put it down!
” Hank’s voice was like a whiplash.

“Desmond wants to talk to you, Bil y,” one of the leather jacketed men said from behind us, ignoring Hank’s order and al the other people in the room. Bil y whirled us to face him and he kept talking. “Let go of the girl.”

“Fuck you and fuck Desmond too,” Bil y returned, shaking his gun at his new target.

“Would someone please shoot him?” Lee asked, his voice sounding impatient, like he wanted another glass of champagne and this was an annoying delay.

“Where? I got a clean shot at the back of his knee,” Vance asked conversational y from behind us.

“Take it,” Lee ordered casual y and Bil y whirled us around to face Vance.

“Bil y, quit jerking me around. I’m getting dizzy,” I complained stupidly (but, in my defense, he was making me dizzy and not in a good Hank-way).

“Now I got a clean shot,” Luke shared. With our latest whirl, Luke was behind us.

“Just don’t hit Roxie,” Lee instructed.

“Just don’t hit Roxie,” Lee instructed.

Bil y whirled us around to face Luke.

“Oh for goodness sakes!” I snapped, beginning to lose my fear as wel as my temper. I’d never been held hostage, pre-abduction, so I had no idea they were playing with him, messing with his head.