Worcester Nights - The Boxed Set (29 page)

Javier smiled, solidifying his likeness to the Most Interesting Man in the World.

I don’t normally trigger Armageddon, but when I do, I make sure my trusty rapist, Raul, is right by my side.

Javier patted Raul on the shoulder, and the arm holding the folding-stock Ruger 10/22 twitched. Javier spread his arms wide, looking up at the stage, to where Seamus, Jimmy, and Sean stood motionless.

“Ah, my friends. So good to see you again. I believe you were just talking about us. I thought it might be useful for us to join into this conversation.”

Seamus’s jaw was tight. “Seems your gook rat was craftier than I thought. But you know this, you
rafter
. You strike us down, and like the phoenix, we will rise against you. You touch our group, and I fockin’ warn you, every Irish soul this side of Little Skellig will flay you alive.”

Javier beamed. “Oh, it’s Trai you blame for your predicament, is it? Certainly he has been useful at times.” His eyes swept across the three men on the stage. “And yet, you might be surprised to hear that Trai had nothing to do with our timely arrival at this little soirée of yours.”

My blood ran cold. The streams of white lights overhead crystallized into tiny stars, heralding our doom.

He knew.

Somehow, impossibly, Javier knew that Sean was an undercover cop. And, given that Javier had simply not opened fire, it was likely he was going to use this tidbit of information as a negotiating tool. He could demonstrate that the two gangs had a common enemy. They would merge and form a monstrous beast the likes of which had never been before seen.

With Sean as the sacrificial lamb on the bloody altar of their unholy marriage.

I desperately prayed for the cavalry to come streaming in, for the supporting police and S.W.A.T. and whoever else was involved to surround and take down both groups of soul-sucking criminals.

I silently screamed for Jessica, for Sean, for someone more eloquent to say something – anything – to halt the doom which was descending on us all.

I pleaded –

Javier’s voice echoed across the hall, smug, satisfied. “I don’t always share advice with my enemies, but –”

I snapped.

I launched to my feet, driving my hand to point at Raul. All eyes – and weapons – swung to me. In an instant I was drenched with cold sweat. A rush of adrenaline coursed through me, steeling me, and I wondered, once it left, if I would collapse onto the floor in a pool of quivering jelly.

I didn’t care.

My voice was strong, rich, and echoed off the cool brick walls of the warehouse.

“
I’d
like to share some advice with you, Javier, because even though you were my enemy, you treated me with respect. Let me give you some
advice
about your right-hand man, Raul. Did you know that while the rest of you were asleep, he crept into my room, gagged me, and attempted to rape me?”

The only sound in the room was my heart pressing against my rib cage, thunderously pounding.

Javier blinked, staring at me for a long moment as if attempting to drag my soul out through my eyes. Then his neck muscles steeled as he took in the gazes of the men and women around me, absorbing the fact that they held not shock, but bright fury. He slowly, carefully, turned to look at Raul.

His voice was a rasp of a file drawn across an anvil. “Raul, is what she says true?”

Raul’s face flushed beet-red, and he let out a low growl. “She’s a fucking
mucker
, Javier! A whore! And you had her –”

Javier’s hand flashed. He slapped Raul, hard, full across the face.

Raul howled in fury and spun.

The world stopped. And then three things happened simultaneously.

One. Raul fired, the recoil shuddering him back, shimmering his rage-filled face.

Two. A pair of shots sounded from the stage; a pair of crimson eyes blossomed in Raul’s chest, side by side, staring and gaping in wide-eyed vengeance.

Three. A massive fist punched me in the shoulder. I was whipped around, taken clean off my feet, and I plowed face-first into the polished wooden floor.

My breath was gone, and for an eternity I waited for it to return.

The world spun up again into sheer chaos. Tables were overturned to act as wooden shields. Deafening gunfire rang out from all sides. The brick walls echoed with shouts, screams, and the hellfire of purgatory itself.

Eileen crouched before me, her shattered-glass weapon in one hand. With the other she tossed her black pea coat over my body. Her shout echoed with glee. “You fucking showed them, Kate!”

Jessica grabbed several of the linen napkins from the table and pressed them against the wound at my upper arm, staunching the flow of blood which was billowing from my beautiful burgundy dress. Her voice was steady and sure. “Hang in there, Kate. You’ll be all right.”

Bridgit stepped forward to wrap her arm around my good arm, hauling me half to my feet. “We’re getting out of here,” she ordered. “Follow me.”

I looked back as Bridgit half-carried me toward the far side of the room. Sean, Seamus, and Jimmy had taken cover behind the stack of amplifiers waiting on the side of the stage for the later festivities, now undoubtedly called off. Sean’s eyes locked with mine. He leant out of his shelter, looking as if he’d make a run for it, to come like a guardian angel to my side.

A hail of bullets hammered in his direction, and Seamus pulled him back to safety.

Bridgit moved us into the nest of boxes and crates, coming up to one of the boarded-up windows. I looked at it in dismay. If she thought the three of them were going to pry those boards loose before the Cubans finished us all off, she must think we had some sort of Valkyrie power hidden within us.

She stepped forward, undid a latch, and easily slid the entire wooden barrier to the right on a set of small wheels.

My mouth fell open in shock. The full height window was completely open, and before us sat the black Escalade, glistening in the evening moonlight.

Bridgit tossed the keys to Eileen. “Seamus does things his way, but sometimes a woman has to plan for the worst,” she snapped. “You drive. We’ll get her into the back.”

Eileen raced for the driver’s side door, hitting the unlock button along the way, and then Jessica was climbing into the back seat, hauling me in after her while Bridgit shoved in my feet.

POW.

A shot whistled past Bridgit’s ear, shattering the passenger-side mirror.

Bridgit’s head snapped around. “Jesus fucking Christ!” She slammed my door shut and dove into the passenger seat, screaming, “Drive!”

I turned to look out the back window while the g-forces of Eileen’s acceleration pushed me into the leather. Four men were standing in the road, guns aimed, their faces bright with hellish delight.

Chapter 2

T
he Escalade squealed around a corner, I fell against Jessica, and she drew my body into her lap, bracing against the side door. She gathered the napkins more sturdily against my shoulder wound, looking down at me.

Her voice was soothing and steady.

“You’ll be all right.”

I shook my head. I felt fine. Sure, I could feel the warm, thick liquid trailing down my chest, ruining my gorgeous, beaded gown. Sean was going to photograph me in this. I wondered if he could Photoshop out the blood, the damage done to this work of art. It was nothing, really. A few little swishes with the blur tool, and –

BLAM.

The back window of the car burst inwards, a bullet slammed into the dashboard, and I buried my face into Jessica’s torso, a shower of glass cascading down onto me.

Bridgit’s voice was calmer than I’d ever heard it. “They’re gaining, Eileen. Take the right here. Get up onto 290.”

“On it,” responded Eileen, her voice a low hum of concentration. The car careened to the left, righted itself, and then there was the steady growl of acceleration as we rose up onto the highway.

There were a pair of pops, but they didn’t seem to make contact, or at least nothing valuable seemed to be hit. I saw the Cold Storage Warehouse location stream by, where six firefighters had died in 1999. It struck me how strongly this location could resonate, even though from the highway there was an empty hole. It was like a missing tooth that draws attention with its absence.

My upper arm twinged, and I suddenly wondered just how bad it was going to get.

Pop.

Bridgit glanced back at us, then past us to the car chasing beyond. “Four of them. If they catch us, we’d never take them.”

Jessica looked down to me, then up to Bridgit. “We could take a run at an emergency room. They’d let up if –”

Bridgit shook her head. “The bastards would shoot us all dead, then take out the nurses as well. My mother was a nurse. I’d never do that to one of them. They already kill themselves to keep us safe.”

Jessica held her gaze. “Maybe a police barracks –”

Bridgit scoffed. “They’ll be on donut patrol. By the time anybody came out to look, we’d be a sprawl of corpses, and the Cubes would be long gone.”

She shook her head. “No, if we’re going to live, we have to take care of ourselves.”

She turned to look forward down the road we were screaming along. I pushed up to follow her gaze. Eileen’s hands were clenched on the steering wheel, her focus solidly on the road before her, and the needle on the speedometer was quivering at the 120 mph bar. I wondered what the hell the Cubans were chasing us in, that they were able to keep up.

Pop.

Pop.

Bridgit nodded as if in agreement with an unseen voice. “Stay ahead of them, Eileen,” she instructed, as if she were laying out the cooking instructions for a nice loaf of soda bread. “They’re barely hanging in there. Get us down to Route 16, then go east, to Douglas.”

Jessica glanced up at that. “The Douglas state forest?”

Bridgit smiled. “Seamus loves that place. Enough open space in there to remind him of back home. He’ll get us back out again.” Her gaze hardened. “And those Cube bastards won’t last a minute against him.”

Eileen found an extra millimeter of juice, and the car edged ahead. The needle quivered to 125. “On it.”

I must have faded out. There was throbbing, tense voices, and suddenly there was a whirling and slamming on of brakes. I twisted, groaned, and a flurry of hands was helping me out of the car, tucking beneath me, and carrying me through a darkness fragrant with pine, juniper, and cedar. A moan lurched out of me, and a hand was immediately pressed, albeit gently, to my mouth.

I blacked out again.

Infinity drifted by, gentle, complacent.

Aching pain shuddered through me, and I blinked awake. The full moon’s soft, Champagne-colored light filtered through a dense network of trees. I had a black pea-coat over me, and I was pressed up against a sturdy, warm body on either side. My limbs ached, and I stretched.

Bridgit was instantly awake on my left, rising up and turning over. Her face creased into concern. “How are you doing, lass?”

Jessica, at my other side, was slower to rouse, but she blinked her eyes several times. She carefully pried the layer of napkins from my shoulder. “Nothing serious was hit, thank God. But we should still get her to a hospital.”

Bridgit’s lips pressed into a straight line. “Seamus is coming for us. We wait until he gets here. If we go out on our own, those Cubes will blast us into the next lifetime.”

I attempted a smile. “I’m fine. Really. And Sean will be here soon. I know he will be.”

Eileen reached over to pat me on my good shoulder. “Absolutely. I saw the way he looked at you, Kate. He’d have to be dead not to get to you.”

The blood drained from my face.

Sean could be dead
.

I could see it vividly. His body, peppered with bullet holes, sprawled on the stage. Blood seeping out from him, draining away …

Bridgit gathered me up, clucking at me. “Sean is fine,” she promised. “He’s a soldier, like Seamus. Nothing can hurt them. We just need to tuck in here. Seamus plans.
If he’s not fishing, he’s mending his nets.
He’ll be here, and Sean right by his side.”

My anxiety settled, and inexplicably my bladder eased into my awareness. I blushed. “I’m sorry, but I have to … ummm … pee.”

Bridgit chuckled. “Of course you do, lass. You’ve been out for hours. We’ve all had our turn. There’s a stream right over that rise there, by the granite rock.”

Jessica looked at me with concern. “You need any help? I’m happy to come along.”

I shook my head, putting my hand over the swath of napkins on my shoulder. “I’m sure I can manage. I just have a dress on; that should make it fairly easy.”

She nodded. “Well, call if you want help. I’m happy to lend a hand.”

I pressed down at the throbbing on my shoulder, and it eased the pain a bit. I climbed up to my feet, and the world swirled around me. Bridgit was there, sturdy, a rock, and I leaned against her for a moment in the shadows until the ground solidified again. Then I carefully hobbled forward, watching for branches and uneven ground. I went from tree to tree, negotiating the shadowed terrain.