Smoke & Metal (New York Crime Kings Book 3) (3 page)

Emily

My index finger slides over the zero button and, by some miracle, the call connects. A few minutes ago, I decided to put a call through to my hospital. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to let them know what’s going on in my life at the moment. When all this is over I don’t want to have nothing. Nursing is all I got.

I turn my back to the door, hoping it’d block my voice from waking Jai up. I grip the strap of my heavy bag and pull it further onto my shoulder. I packed just about everything I own. One thing more and I’m certain my bag will snap and rip open.

My heart hammers in my chest and the feeling of doing something wrong lingers. I don’t like it…the way it wraps around my ribs and puts pressure on my lungs.

“Hel—”

The line goes dead.

“Hello?” I pull nervously on the long curly cord that sticks out from the hand piece and the severed end of it brushes along the top of my foot, tickling the skin.

Oh shit.

Slowly, knowing very well what’s behind me, I lower the ear piece, and peer over my shoulder. Angry blue eyes meet mine and I swallow hard as heat rushes over the surface of my skin.

“Really? You’re going to make a damn phone call in the middle of the mess we’re in?”

He drops the knife he used to cut the cord and I blink as the metal hits the semi-polished wood.

“It’s to the hospital.”

Jai reaches out and tugs on the cord, pulling the piece from my hand. It crashes to the floor, just missing my toes. “I don’t care who it’s to.
No
phone calls. We can’t risk it. Not until this is over.”

My eyebrows draw together as I clamp my hands on my hips. “This phone is twenty years old. Can it even be tapped?”

He steps closer in an attempt to intimidate me with his huge frame. “That’s not the point.”

“What
is
the point?”

“We have to play it safe. Until I’ve found my brother and Skull’s heart ceases to beat we have to lay low.” He holds his hand out for my bag. “We can talk about it later. Give me the bag, I’ll carry it for you. We’ve been here too long.”

With a huff, I slide the bag off my shoulder and put the strap in his hand. He weighs the plain, black bag before slinging it over his shoulder.

“I’m perfectly capable of—”

I stop. Judging by the way Jai’s eyebrows smooth out tells me he can hear it too. Sirens. They’re getting closer. My stomach plummets like a rock.

“Shit.” He swears, raking five stressed fingers through his hair.

I’m frozen, waiting for him to tell me what to do next. Our eyes meet, blue to brown, and I see it immediately. He’s as stuck as I am.

“Jai? What do we do?”

He curses again this time scraping his teeth over his bottom lip in frantic thought. My heart beats faster and faster every extra second he wastes thinking about what to do next.

“Jai?”

“All right. All right. Uh…” He runs his hand from his hair down over his face before expelling a rush of warm air from his lungs. “We gotta stick to the shadows until we find our next car—preferably an old one—one that won’t alert anyone of our presence.”

I nod, breathing way too hard. “That should be easy in this neighborhood.”

“Right.”

His large, warm hand snatches my wrist and he whirls around on his heels, pulling me along behind him. He moves fast, so fast we’re down the stairs and back on the street in no time. The sirens are loud. They ring in my ears, making my brain pulse and press against my skull. The sirens sound like they’re on top of us, but they fail to pierce my ears, telling me they’re on the next street. It’s only a matter of time before they find us hiding in the shadows. With a swift tug on my arm, Jai pulls me behind a large bin. My thighs scream and burn as I crouch low, resting the majority of my body weight against him. I’m not going to last much longer.

“Over there.” He whispers, thrusting out a long, thick arm and a finger to match.

I follow his line of sight to a beat up, pale gray sedan circa nineteen eighty something. Looking at its ratty paint makes me miss the first super-fast, super nice car we stole. This one is the easiest choice, I suppose. The driver’s side window is open a crack, making it all too easy for someone like Jai to break into.

“Come on.”

With quick steps, I follow him across the road. I barely have time to peer around his shoulder before he’s unlocked the car and pulled the passenger door open. He slips my bag off his shoulder and tosses it into the back seat. His blue eyes, black in this light, meet mine when he pulls back and straightens his spine.

“Last leg of the trip. Are you ready?”

“I’m ready.” I say without hesitation.

A strange, dense coil of excitement twirls in my chest. Adventure. The unknown—an unknown without Skull. How can I not be ready? We need to rest, recover and re-evaluate our plan. If I’m lucky Jai will come to his senses. If we couldn’t hurt him underground with next to no men, we sure as hell can’t hurt him out here. Not when he has everyone on his side. And, even if his brother is alive…the chances of him making it to the break of dawn after the stunt we pulled is next to none. Skull will kill Joel and when that happens Jai will be unstoppable. He will be a force as destructive and as terrifying as a tornado raging on the precipice of a hurricane. He will be filled with the unrelenting wrath of an erupting volcano.

And who is going to be able to stop it?

The Lake House

Jai

Honnnnk!!

I jolt awake as my stomach and my heart collide into each other in an attempt to squeeze up my throat. Instinctively, my hands clench the wheel and I jerk it to the side, forcing the car back into its designated lane. Panting, I glance in my side mirror and at the truck travelling in the left lane. The blonde woman behind the wheel flips me off with a shake of her head. I take it like a bitch. Driving when tired is a dangerous game and the amount of micro naps I’ve taken is frightening. Like a game of Russian roulette, it’s only a matter of time before I kill Kitten, myself and a bunch of other innocent people travelling on the same road.

By my calculations we’re an hour from our destination.
George Lake
. I stayed there during the summer a few times when I was a kid. It’s been fifteen years since we sold the lake house and we haven’t been back. As we were fleeing from the tunnels, I was driving myself insane trying to think of a place to hide until I’m ready to attack again.

Then it hit me.

The lake.

There are loads of houses out there—most unused outside of summer. Since it’s fall now I’m certain a particular lake house will be abandoned until next summer. It belongs to a man named Mr. Dooney. I knew him growing up. Mr. Dooney was a lonely man, getting on in years, and occupied the lake house down the road from ours. The lake house was a gift from a son that he hated, but his wife adored. He wanted to sell it loads of times, but couldn’t because she loved it so much. When his wife passed away he still couldn’t bring himself to get rid of the place. He even stays in it every summer as a tribute to the late Mrs. Dooney.

If life has been kind to him, and he’s still alive, his house will be empty, making it a perfect hideout for me and Emily. No one will find us there…if we’re smart.

Another honk and I jolt awake, unaware that my eyes had closed once again. To my right, a woman thrusts her hand and points to the sleeping child in the back—no older than three. I offer her the best sympathetic look I can muster. It must come off as a scowl because she flips me off straight after.

Flicking my eyes back to the road, I free a hand and run it over my face. I’m not going to make it to the lake. I’d ask Kitten to drive, but I noticed an uneasiness about her when she rides in a car—even a car going at normal speeds. I glance at her, then back to the road. I bet it feels good to sleep. She’s so out of it, she could pass as dead. Her dirty, black hair covers half of her face, and dirt taints her skin. She’s exhausted and looks it, even while resting.

I exhale. It feels never ending. Each mile we travel seemingly stretches into three. I glance at Emily again, then back to the road. Dawn is upon us, brightening the sky with its pale blues and the faintest hint of orange and red along the horizon. Not long until the sun is blazing and Skull begins his hunt—assuming he hasn’t already.

The nagging, stomach turning thought of the pain we’ve brought down on my brother because of our rebellion creeps into my mind, poisoning me with guilt and anger. I quickly push it out, choosing to revisit it once I’m refreshed. A tired man is an irrational one and I can’t afford to be irrational.

Not now.

I have to have a plan. I need to be smart. Only when Joel is safe can I go after Skull with reckless abandon, not caring if I go down in the process. However, in order to make it that far, I mustn’t kill myself on the way to the hideout. I have to make it to the lake alive before I can make Skull feel every slice of pain I want him to feel.

Just to the lake…
my eyes grow heavy.

I have to make it to the lake.

***

I could fucking cry. I pull on the parking brake and drop my head against the headrest. I made it. For the one millionth time my eyes threaten to close and this time I let them since it no longer threatens the lives of anyone around me. A fuzziness encases my brain and the bullshit that has followed me through the past few years of my life feels like a distant memory now. All that matters is sleep.

I force my eyes open and lean to the right to catch a glimpse of myself in the rear view mirror. My first thought when I look past the dirt caked onto my skin is:
I’m white!
I mean, I’ve always been Caucasian, but my skin tone has never resembled the color of milk. For as long as I can remember, my skin has always been a warm tan due to excess time in the sun. Now I look like I’ve never stepped foot outside in my life.

“Relax. There’s not a single scratch on your pretty face.”

I look at Emily. She squints her eyes, thinning them until I can’t see the color of her irises. Her skin has the same white hue as mine—if not whiter. Her black hair, that has become a deep brown around the edges, incandescent in the light of the morning sun, is in tangles, making her look wild and dangerous.

Stretching her long arms above her head and cringing, she smiles at me through the pain.

“I’m digging the cavewoman look.” I say, dragging a hand to my mouth to stifle a yawn. “Have you clubbed any baby animals today?”

She rolls her eyes and the tired bags underneath them become more prominent. “Hilarious.”

Emily takes in the two story lake house in front of us. I watch as her eyes scan every windowsill, door frame and potted plant. “This is it, huh?”

I nod. “Our hideout.”

Her thin, pink lips curl at the corners. “I should flee from mob bosses more often—especially if it pays off like this.”

I reach down and undo my seatbelt. Then I open the door. “Don’t make it a habit, Kitten. The last thing I want is for you to end up face down in a ditch somewhere.”

I groan as I swing my legs out of the car. My muscles are done. After remaining stagnant for the entire drive here, they’ve gone to sleep and are stuck in a permanently hard state. Behind me, I hear Emily groan and swear too. I can see the remainder of the day being lost to sleep, but first, I have to dispose of the car. Someone would have reported it stolen by now.

I push myself up and out of the car. The first thing I spot is the glistening lake at the back of the house. The perfect spot to sink a car.

“How’d you make it across the thruway?” Emily asks, as she hobbles up beside me.

“This car has a tag, can you believe it?”

“Really? Shit. That’s lucky.”

I tune her out as she talks and I scan the area for something heavy, something I can put in the trunk. The car itself will fill with water and sink, but you never know how strong a current can be until it washes the car up somewhere down the river. I don’t want to take any chances while we’re in the area. My stare stops at a tall pile of old bricks stacked against the left flank of the house. Enough of those and the car should stay at the bottom of the lake for a long time—possibly forever.

“…and I don’t understand—”

“There.” I state, cutting her off. “Bricks. They’ll do just fine.”

I look at her and she blinks her large eyes at me, confused. “For what?”

I smirk. For a girl from the streets, you’d think she’d put two and two together. “For sinking the car.”

Emily

Large pockets of air bubble along the surface of the lake, creating ripples as far as I can see. With one last, large ‘gloop’ the roof of the car disappears from sight. I’ve never had to sink a car before. It’s kind of fun.

Pulling my bag higher on his shoulder, Jai exhales and turns around to face the house. I watch the lake for a little while longer. I haven’t spent much time out of the city. To see colors other than the ones that paint the surface of dull metals, rust and dirty glass is refreshing.

Greens.

Reds.

Oranges.

Being stuck underground makes you miss the things you never really thought about before. Like colors. Never have I appreciated mustard yellow before.

“How does a hot shower sound?” Jai asks.

My knees tremble, weakening at the word. It carries an orgasmic tune, if that’s possible. I turn to face him.

“How hot are we talking?”

His dry lips quirk at the corners, darkening the rings around his eyes.

“Red skin, thick steam and wet walls kind of hot.”

A dreamy sigh lets itself out of my throat. “I don’t even know what that feels like anymore.”

He flicks his head towards the large house. “Let’s go find out.”

I follow him as he makes his way toward the pretty wooden porch. White and turquoise pots hang from polished chains. Thick ropes of green vines with cream flowers spill over the round edges. They’re definitely not the kind of flowers I would expect Jai to have.

The floorboards creak underneath our feet, sending a shiver down my spine. Two white, wicker rocking chairs sway gently in the cool fall air and then it hits me.

“This isn’t your place, is it?”

Jai laughs as he drops my bag to the floor and reaches over his head, gripping the collar of his filthy, green shirt. “You think I’d hide us in a place that I own? No. Those places will be the first to be hit by Skull.”

Places? He has more than one?

I fold my arms across my chest. “I can’t take someone else’s home.”

He pulls the shirt off over his head, exposing his glistening torso. “This house is vacant until the summer. No one will know we’re here.”

I take a slight step to the left as he cocks his arm back and sends his fist crashing into the glass. It shatters with a loud crack and large, pointy, skin piercing shards drop to the floor. It doesn’t feel right—the heaviness on my chest. I don’t feel comfortable taking someone else’s home, even if they do only use it in the summer. I watch, quietly—uncertainly—as Jai carefully reaches in past the glass and unlocks the door. He tugs on the door handle and it opens with a screech.

“It’s not right…” I mutter.

Jai steps aside, holding the door open for me, I meet his stare. He looks painfully tired. Amongst it is a hint of concern—or irritation. I can’t tell under the layer of dirt on his face.

“Right or wrong what choice do you have, Emily?”

I swallow. I guess he’s right. Now is not the time for an attack of morality. I have plenty of time to feel guilty once this over and I’m not being hunted by a mad man.

I suck in air and then expel it before slipping by him and entering the house.