The folder spilled from my hands. It hit the sidewalk and bounced, but I was already running. The first guy grabbing at Cara turned to me, surprise turning to fear as I smashed my fist into his face. He grunted, nose shattering, and fell backwards like death. The next guy shoved Cara against the car then attacked, fast and furious.
I danced back, taking a couple of punches, before I ducked in close. I hit him in the gut, then the neck, then smashed my forehead into his teeth. I felt the stitches snap, but the bastard went down in a tangle.
I hurried to Cara. “You okay?”
“I’m okay,” she said, blinking fast. “Oh, fuck, Luke.”
Maher sat on the sidewalk, paging through the folder with wide, shocked eyes.
I ripped my car door open and grabbed the gun from the console. By the time Maher looked up, I had the barrel pressed against his head.
“Hand it over,” I said.
He grinned and closed it slowly. “You’ve got to be kidding me here, Luke. You do realize what this is, right?”
“Give me the fucking folder. It’d be a shame if I got your blood all over the pictures.”
His smile faded. “The Lionettis are going to kill you, you know that, right? This is way too important to fuck around with.”
I grabbed the folder from his hands. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I checked his goons out of the corner of my eye. One of them was still down, out cold, and the other was trying to wake him up, slapping him lightly in the face. Cara sat in the car, face a white sheet of fear.
“Came to talk about the girl,” Maher said. “Been following you all afternoon. I thought you were up to something interesting, so I figured I’d sit back and wait. Then you came out with that thing, and I couldn’t help myself.” Maher laughed, shaking his head. “I didn’t plan on fighting.”
I believed him. If he did, I’d probably be dead. They had the drop on me, and if Maher or the other two were armed, they could’ve ended it quick.
As it happened, I got lucky. Once Maher was down, he was too busy looking at the pictures to get back up and rejoin the fight. If he had, things would’ve gone differently.
I backed toward the car. “You don’t know what’s happening here, Maher. Stop getting involved.”
“I’m already involved.” Maher slowly climbed to his feet and wiped his hands off on his pants. “You think I’m not going to tell the Lionettis what I just saw?”
I hesitated and held the gun out. “Maybe I should kill you here and now then.”
“Maybe you should.” Maher’s eyes shone with a wild, unhinged excitement. He was always riding on that edge between excitement and death, like he got off on the adrenaline. The bastard was crazy, even by the standards of the street.
I couldn’t kill him though. Marie stood in the doorway with her little grandson right behind her, staring out at me with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, horrible teeth and all. I couldn’t murder Maher right in front of the kid, and besides, killing Maher would only cause more problems. Maher was well liked in the underground community, and there were more than a few people that would come for revenge.
No, I couldn’t kill Maher. I’d have to get permission from my Pakhan first.
“Another time,” I said and climbed into the car.
Maher helped get his guys up off the street as I pulled out. I left them on the sidewalk, trying to wake the one guy up.
“He saw what’s in there,” Cara said softly, staring at the file folder in her lap. “That’s bad, right?”
I nodded once. “That’s very fucking bad.”
“You stopped them though. Those two guys, they were going to hurt me.”
I put a hand on her leg. “Nobody’s going to hurt you. I’m going to get us out of this.” I glanced down at the folder and took a breath as I headed back to my place.
Those files were my way out. They were my leverage, the one thing the Lionettis would do almost anything to get their hands on. So long as I had them, the Lionettis wouldn’t just come and kill me on the spot.
I had to play this smart, or else I’d get rolled over, and I couldn’t promise what would happen to Cara.
8
Cara
Luke spent most of the night going through the files. I sat with him, drinking a beer and staring over his shoulder at picture after picture of men sleeping with various prostitutes.
Some of the girls appeared again and again. Some of them even looked into the camera and smiled, like they knew what was happening. I could only guess at the sick sort of stuff the Lionetti family got into—not like I knew very much about them though.