“Careful,” I said. “I wouldn’t talk about her that way if I were you.”
He chuckled darkly. “Tell me, Cam. How’d you manage all this?”
“I’m very enterprising.” I crouched down and looked around the corner. Ronan fired at me, but missed high. He had the table angled now so that he was slightly blocked in both directions. I couldn’t see if Sasha was there, but I knew she could hear us talking at least.
“Bullshit,” Ronan said. “So many other men in your little family have tried to take us down and failed. How the hell did you do this?”
“You didn’t see them,” I said as a figure appeared at the end of the hallway.
Sasha, grinning at me. She saluted with the gun. Her shoulder bled freely and her front was drenched in it, but she was alive.
I waved her over and pressed a finger against my lips. She nodded, standing just behind me.
“How’s that?” Ronan asked. “Didn’t see them? You’re so full of shit, Cam. You’re going to tell me that I underestimated the girls then, is that it?”
“That’s it,” I said. “You thought they were a bunch of strung-out junkies. Didn’t consider they might be willing to do something drastic for their freedom.”
“They’re ungrateful,” he said, growling the words. “We brought them to America, gave them work, gave them drugs and a home and meaning—”
“Careful,” I said. “Or those girls are going to rush you and end this.”
Silence for a second. I looked at Sasha and pointed at her then pointed up and toward Ronan. I pointed at myself, then down, then toward Ronan. She nodded once and seemed to understand that I wanted her to go high while I went low and distracted him.
I held up a hand to wait.
“What do you want?” Ronan asked, sounding wary and tired now. “I get it, I’m pinned down. Bitches to my left, bitches to my right. Tell me what you want, Cam.”
“You know what I want,” I said.
“You can’t have my head, if that’s all there is,” Ronan said. “You’ve got to want something else. Money? You want names and addresses?” His voice started to break. “Tell me how to get out of this.”
I started to drop my fingers down one at a time. “There’s no way out, Ronan. Be a man and face it.”
“Fuck you,” Ronan roared. “I am a man. I’m a man of the Healy family, son of my father, Colm, strongest leader in this city, I’m a goddamn—”
I dropped all my fingers then rolled forward. Ronan left cover to shoot at me, and I kicked against the ground, propelling myself along the hardwood floor. I slid along my side and shoulder and fired off a few wild rounds that were never meant to hit, only meant to keep him focused on me.
Ronan fired. Bullets slammed into the floor around me. Then Sasha came out of cover and shot him clean in the face.
The round took Ronan in the skull. His head snapped back and blood sprayed on the wall behind him. I lay there, breathing hard, feeling for blood or injury, but there was only the grazed shoulder. Sasha grimaced as she pressed against the bullet wound in her own shoulder, then looked down at me and grinned.
“Got him,” she said. “You’re crazy, you know that?”
I slowly got to my feet as girls began to come out of the kitchen. They looked scared and tired and terrified, but they kept hold of their guns as they gathered around Sasha.
I walked over to Ronan and stared down at this dead body. Then I took out my phone, snapped a picture, and put my phone away.
“Gross,” Sasha said.
“Don Valentino wants proof,” I said. “There’s his proof.” I spit on Ronan for good measure. “Bastard deserved this.”
Sasha looked back at the herd of scared girls then shook her head. “What now, boss?”
“Now we leave,” I said. “Everyone out. Grab your stuff, all the money you can, and let’s go. There are two cars out front, although whoever has to drive is going to get a little blood on them.”
“All right, you heard the man,” Sasha barked, and the girls started moving like they broke from a dream. They scattered toward the stairs and started running up to get their stuff.
“How are the other houses?” Sasha asked, worry in her tone. “Anna? The sisters?”
“All good,” I said. “We lost some, but not many. From what I can tell, all the Healy guys are dead.”
“Fuck.” Sasha leaned back against the wall. “Can you believe this shit?”
“I can believe it,” I said. “Come on, you’re with me. You need a doctor.”
“A doctor.” She laughed. “I don’t even have insurance. Actually, scratch that. I don’t even have citizenship.”
I laughed and steered her toward the hall. “Hurry up,” I shouted upstairs. “Cars out front. Head to the manor.” I looked at Sasha. “They know where that is, right?”