“Raven. No. Put it down. I’ll help you. You don’t have to go to Kai.”
She shook her head, tears streaming down her face.
Raven cocked the hammer and pointed the gun at my leg.
“Raven. No. You don’t want to do this.”
“I … I … have to.” Her voice was a whisper of a shiver, and I could tell that she didn’t want to do it, but she thought she had no choice—that whatever was driving her made her do this.
“He doesn’t want you to hurt me, Raven. You have to protect me.”
She was shaking so badly I thought she’d pass out, her face pale and her eyes wild as she kept flinching from the noises made by Georgie and Alfonzo fighting outside.
Then suddenly silence.
Raven’s eyes darted to the screen door, and I leapt.
I tackled her, the gun sliding away across the orange carpet, and my body landing right on top of her. I almost wanted to say I was sorry, because it felt like her frail bones cracked under my weight and she didn’t even struggle.
Suddenly I was dragged off her by the leg and picked up with a hand latched around my upper arm. I started struggling until I heard the voice. “Stop.”
I did. I was shocked to see him. And terrified because this wasn’t Alfonzo—instead a man who was more than likely deadlier.
Kai exuded power, even more, I expected, than Raul, and that made him extremely dangerous. “Raven,” Kai said. Raven was on her feet and at his side. He didn’t even look at her. “Where is the transporter?”
Alfonzo had brought Georgie back inside. He kicked her in the back of the legs, and she winced as she fell to her knees. He had ropes on her wrists behind her back. All I could think of was Deck and how he was going to have a fit if he saw Georgie like that.
Alfonzo picked up his gun. “I promised you Raven. You have her. That’s our deal.”
Kai’s hand tightened on my neck. “Our deal has changed. What are you doing with that one?” Kai nodded to Georgie.
“She’s coming with us. And that bitch” he nodded toward me, “escaped Raul. No one escapes Raul.”
“Raul’s dead.”
Alfonzo kicked Georgie in the back, and she grunted and fell forward. “Once I’m done with their training, they’ll go on auction and never been found again. That’s if they live through it.”
I knew Georgie couldn’t keep her mouth shut no matter how much pain she was in. Her lips were pursed together and her brows were drawn down over her eyes. Suddenly, she slammed her head backward into Alfonzo’s knee.
I heard the sound of her skull hitting his knee cap; then Alfonzo was yelling.
“No!” I shouted as Alfonzo raised his gun to Georgie.
“Killing her is a waste,” Kai stated, his voice steady and cool. “Take me to the transporter. I need to see him.”
Alfonzo had his gun to Georgie’s head, his fingers weaved into her hair. “I can’t do that. That wasn’t the deal. Raven and the money. That’s it.”
“It’s the deal now.” Kai remained unflinching.
Alfonzo’s face turned beet read. “I’m selling you the girl for half her price.”
“I could have easily found Raven myself. I found you, didn’t I? What I want is the transporter.”
“No one gets to meet him. He doesn’t meet with anyone. Ever.”
Kai shrugged. “He will me. Call him.”
Alfonzo blanched. “You just don’t call him. It’s been set up already—”
“Raul is dead. That means you and your transporter no longer have a main source. Call him. Now. Or I kill you and take all three girls myself.”
“Fuck.” Alfonzo was fumbling and upset. His fingers were jerking on the gun, and it was obvious he was scared of Kai and what he’d do if he didn’t call this transporter guy. Alfonzo raised gun and hit Georgie on the head.
“Georgie.” I tried to pull away from Kai, but his grip was unrelenting. “Please don’t hurt her.”
Kai’s voice was low and almost inaudible as he said, “It’s better this way.”
Alfonzo tied a strip of cloth around Georgie’s arm and I saw the syringe. I didn’t know if it was street drugs or something else, but anything put into her system was not good. I struggled to get to her, my legs kicking out at Kai. “Please, don’t. Georgie.”
“Stop.” Kai yanked on my arm to the side and I cried out in agony.
Georgie didn’t move, but I could see her eyes flickering, looking dazed from the blow. Alfonzo slid the needle into her vein, and within seconds her body relaxed and her eyes closed.
I started crying, and my legs gave out, but I didn’t fall. Kai held me against him, his arm now locked around my chest. Whether it was to keep me upright or to stop me from running to Georgie, I didn’t know.
Alfonzo was on the phone mumbling something about Kai and a meeting. Then he hung up and nodded to Kai.
“Let’s go,” Kai ordered.
Alfonzo slung Georgie over his shoulder, and we walked out the back door.
I lay on the cement floor beside Georgie. We were in some kind of warehouse that looked like it had once been a factory. I could smell the distinct odor of the Don River which was the acrid scent of garbage. I guessed since we hadn’t driven very far that we were still downtown. Alfonzo had blindfolded me and tied my wrists together before he shoved me in the trunk, but I’d managed to slip off the blindfold about an hour ago.
Kai was standing with his arms crossed, leaning against a large piece of machinery looking completely relaxed. Raven knelt beside him, her hands in her lap and her head bowed.
Georgie was still drugged, and her eyes were glassed over and she was not responding to her name. Her breathing was slow, but steady, and I suspected whatever they’d given her wasn’t harmful enough to kill her.
Alfonzo paced back and forth constantly looking to the door then his phone.
Finally the metal door slid on its tracks and opened.