Page 105 of Intent to Kill
“Coming?” she asked.
To no reply, she placed her hands on his shoulders and patted him until he faced her.
“I think I fucked up here,” Adam said, softening. “I think I really fucked up.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I just–” He pushed her hands from his shoulders and turned his back, he couldn’t bear to see her face as he admitted failure. “I... I did this—everyone is in trouble because of me. I never thought he would actually beat us.”
“He hasn’t beaten us,” Mercedes said, wrapping her arms around him and resting her head in the small of his back.
“What he wants is me, if I cou–”
“Shut the fuck up right now,” Mercedes said, grabbing his shoulder and turning him until he was facing her again. “Handing yourself over is not an option. I don’t even want you thinking that.”
“You wanna fight this?” Adam said. “Really? This fucking huge empire that’s beaten us down this far already?”
“Of course, I want to fight it.”
Adam only frowned, but not at what she said. His spine was tingling with suspicion. There was a riot of noise approaching. But she hadn’t heard it yet.
“As long as we have each other, there’s nothing we can’t do.”
Still, he could hear something coming.
“Adam?”
His eyes darted wildly, but it was only a symptom of his ears working overtime.
“Do you hear that?” he said finally. At that moment the sound of gunfire burst ferociously in the background.
His feet reacted much faster than his brain. He started into a run, pressing for the edge of the alley to follow the sound.
The ringing of bullets got louder and louder with every footstep, as did the thrumming in his chest. He could vaguely hear Mercedes sprinting along behind him.
He slowed to a jog as he hit the intersection of the alleyway and the sidewalk. Across the road, Dan, Paul, and Carlos were crouching against the front steps of the liquor store, cornered by Blake’s men. The gunfire had clearly been even on both sides, with several of Blake’s men already dead. But his friends were being overpowered. To Adam, it looked like they had mere seconds until they were captured. Or worse.
He loaded his gun and charged out onto the street. But Mercedes was there a second sooner, grabbing the back of his shirt and pulling him back to pin him against the wall. She shielded his body with her own as they remained under the cover of the dark alley’s shadows.
“What are you doing?!” he said.
She slapped her hand across his mouth, pressing tighter against him. “It’s too late,” she whispered.
He cut his focus to the street. He’d been correct, his friends had only mere seconds. By the time he looked back, Dan, Paul, and Carlos were being captured. They’d been overpowered and knocked unconscious, their hands bound before they were dragged into capture.
It was far too late to do anything about it. Mercedes dropped her hand from his mouth.
“No, God, no,” Adam said. “I have to do something.”
He struggled against her hold, but she only pressed more, pinning him harder against the wall. “You don’t have a chance right now.”
“We can’t just leave them,” Adam said. “I did this. I did this to all of us. I can’t just let them take it!”
“We won’t! But you can’t just go barging in! We’ll get them back, I swear. But causing a big scene is not the way to do it. No matter how much you like it,” she smiled.
The joke was lost on him as his eyes remained glued to the street. There was an uncharacteristic panic rewriting him. He’d never cared what happened to him, but them...
“Look at me.” She pulled his chin toward her until he was looking in her eyes. “I promise, we’ll get them back.”
