Fracture (Unbreakable Bonds 6)

The younger man bobbed behind a truck and crossed the street. Snow and Jude followed, Jude’s desperation for answers making him run just a bit faster.

As Anthony hit the next sidewalk, he left behind the last of the residential buildings and crossed into the industrial side of Norwood. The sound of cars rushing by was a little bit louder as people raced along the Norwood Lateral Expressway, cutting east and west across the city as they likely headed home or to their job on the night shift. This wasn’t a part of town that Snow was extremely familiar with. He was pretty sure there was a chemical plant nearby and a recycling facility. As long as most of those places had high fences around their property, Anthony was going to start running out of places to hide.

Unless, of course, the fucker was also part monkey and he could out-scale them on the damn fences.

Fuck, why didn’t he bring his gun? He could have just clipped him in the thigh and stopped all this running much sooner.

Anthony hit a high fence surrounding a warehouse of some sort and bounced off. He paused, looked up at the fence and then over his shoulder at Jude and Snow before starting to run again. Apparently, he didn’t think he had enough time to climb the fence before they reached him.

Frustrated with running, Snow slowed his step as they crossed through the business parking lot of what appeared to be a recycling center and scooped up a rock. He took a few running steps and chucked it at Anthony. The rock cut through the lamplight just before it thumped against the back of his head. Anthony stumbled, holding his head, and fell to the ground.

“What the fuck!” Jude yelled as they closed in on Anthony.

“What?” Snow shrugged. “I was tired of chasing him.”

“Yeah, but we need answers from him. Can’t get them if you knock him out.”

Before Snow could answer, Anthony was shoving gracelessly to his feet. Snow and Jude were already grabbing him. Anthony swung wildly, clipping Jude hard enough to snap his head back. With a snarl, Snow fisted Anthony’s shirt and slammed him up against the wall.

Anthony grabbed at Snow’s hands, pushing them off. Chest heaving and eyes wide, he lifted his fists, ready to fight off both of them. “What the hell! Why are you chasing me?”

“Why’d you run?” Jude strode to him and pushed him into the brick wall behind him when Anthony tried to take a step away. “You know my brother.”

“Fine! Fuck! I know Jordan. We hung out. Drank. Bullshitted. Played some cards. Who gives a fuck?”

“Then what? He beat you at cards, so you shot him?”

“Shot him?” Genuine surprise filled his expression. “Jordan was shot?”

Even Snow believed the guy was truly shocked. He was too stupid to fake that emotion. “He was found beaten and shot four nights ago. What do you know about it?” Snow demanded.

“Nothing. I didn’t have nothing to do with that. I haven’t talked to Jordan in a week at least, I swear.”

“Where did you meet Jordan?”

“What? I don’t know. At a bar or through friends or something. Who gives a shit? We just hang out. I didn’t fucking shoot him!”

Jude swore under his breath as he paced away from Anthony. It looked as if the chase through the streets of Norwood had only made Jude’s temper worse. They certainly weren’t getting much useful information out of Anthony, and they didn’t have any other leads to follow.

The wind picked up, sweeping down the empty street and cutting through Snow’s sweater. The run had helped to hold the cold at bay, but the longer they stood there, the more it was starting to slash through his clothing. They needed to move this along.

“Why the fuck is Jordan hanging out with you in the first place?” Jude snarled as he swung back to face Anthony. He grabbed two handfuls of the smaller man’s shirt, pulled him forward, and then slammed him into the wall again. “My brother has a good job, a family that loves him. A good life. And you…you look like some junkie that’s just wasting his life and pulling down everyone around him. Did my brother get shot because of something you did?” Releasing his hold on Anthony’s shirt, Jude backhanded the man.

“Hey!” Snow grabbed Jude’s shoulders, pulling him back. Jude’s desperation was rising; he could feel it in the tension vibrating in his muscles from head to toe. This was not the man he loved. He’d been pushed too far, passed too many days mired in ever-worsening fear and worry. He was doing things he’d later regret.

“Fuck you, Torres!” Anthony shouted. “You think your brother is so sweet and better than everyone else, then maybe you don’t know your brother. You want to really know what he’s gotten himself into, go to Moneyshot.us and you see for yourself.”