Unhinged by Onley James

By the time Adam pushed the doors back open, every muscle ached, his ears were ringing from the gunfire, and all seven of them were dripping in blood. Luckily, most of it wasn’t theirs. As suspected, none of those men managed to put up much of a fight. They were too busy trying to make sense of the situation. The few that were armed had been shaking so badly they hadn’t even had time to fire a shot. It was literally like shooting fish in a barrel. Or gutting fish in a barrel if you were August or the twins.

As soon as Noah saw them, he dropped the gun he had trained on the entrance and leapt into Adam’s arms like it was the end of a rom-com. Adam laughed as Noah clung to him, arms and legs encircling his body.

“I didn’t think you were ever coming out. I thought you were all dead,” he said as Adam set him back on his feet, gaze snagging on August, who was bobbing his head to a beat only he heard, eyes closed like he was attending Sunday morning service and he’d caught the Holy Spirit. “Well, maybe not August. But I thought the rest of you guys weren’t coming back. I didn’t know what to do. Do you have any idea how long you’ve been in there?”

Archer cocked a bloody brow. “Do you have any idea how much work it is to kill twenty men? I’d say we deserve a goddamn gold medal for our work today.”

Noah frowned, but Adam didn’t let him get caught up in Archer’s perpetually bad mood. “We’re fine. Everything’s fine. But we do have to find a working lighter. The fire still has to happen—somehow—or our next family gathering will be at our murder trial.”

Atticus sighed, looking down at his blood spattered hands. “When is Noah going to take care of the pedophile in my trunk? If he hasn’t already died of heat stroke, that is. He needs to be in there when we torch the place. At the moment, all roads lead to Gary being the culprit. His phone. His associates. If nothing else, it will buy us some time.”

Noah’s tongue darted out over his lower lip. “Now. Let’s do it now. Atticus is right. It needs to be here. I want him to see what happened to the others.”

Asa and Avi looked like they wanted to high five each other. “We’ll go retrieve him.”

Noah didn’t answer, so they just walked away in the direction of Atticus’s car. Adam took his hand and led him around the side of the building where they could be alone. He cupped his face, blood smearing across Noah’s fair cheeks. “I can do this for you. I don’t give a fuck what the others say. You are already a part of this family. You don’t have to kill Gary to prove that.”

Noah met his gaze. “I want to do it. He’s had this coming for years. I’m only sad that the other children he hurt won’t get their turn at him. It’s not right.”

“Maybe it’s enough just to know he’s dead,” Adam said, kissing Noah’s forehead.

“It’s not. Even if their victims see that they’re dead, the world will never believe they were monsters. Not unless we show them.”

“We knew that going in.”

Tears sprang to Noah’s eyes, but he blinked them away, seeming annoyed by the sudden display of emotion. “Yeah, but I don’t want these fuckers dying heroes…or martyrs. The world needs to know what they’ve done. They need to see who they really were.”

“Meaning what, exactly?” Adam asked, already knowing the answer.

“I want Calliope to turn over what we’ve found to the cops. She can send it anonymously. Through the internet. I want their victims to see that they’re no longer in danger and to know they’ll be believed when they come forward with their stories.”

Adam mulled it over. Noah had a point. None of those men should die with their reputations intact. Besides, they hadn’t gotten all of them, just the major players. There were so many others that participated or were, at least, complicit. They should all go down for it. Adam preferred they went down with a bullet to the head, but if Noah wanted them exposed to the world, so be it.

“Okay. If that’s what you want, we’ll do it.”

“Your father won’t like it.”

Adam shrugged. “My father didn’t like this plan either. But he respected your decision.”

Noah chewed on his lip for a minute before saying, “Why is that? He doesn’t even know me. I have no training, no experience. This almost blew up in our faces. Why would he just let me call the shots like that?”

That was a good question, but it was one Adam suspected he could answer. “You know, I always wondered what would happen to us if my father died. Atticus thinks he’d just take over as head of household, but that would be a lot like the inmates taking over the asylum, you know? As much as he tries to pretend he’s the level-headed one, it's all an act. You put a weapon in his hand and he’s just as lethal as the rest of us. Maybe more so.”

Noah frowned. “Okay?”

“And I think my father sees a lot of himself in you. I think he’s seeing if you’re…groomable.”

“Groomable isn’t a word,” Noah said, irritated. “What do you mean?

“I mean, I think he wants you to take over his work someday.”

If possible, Noah seemed to frown harder. “Like…take over as in deciding the fate of criminals? Who lives? Who dies? He wants me to be the Charlie to your angels?”

Adam snickered. “I don’t think any of us qualify as angels.”

“How can your father be so sure about me after only a couple of weeks?” Noah asked, bewildered.

Adam laughed, wrapping his arms around him. “What choice did he have? What choice did any of them have? They knew I’d never let you go.”

“That you’d tie me to the radiator if I tried to leave,” Noah said, voice muffled against Adam’s sweat and blood soaked shirt.

“I’d prefer the bed, I think,” Adam said, kissing the top of Noah’s head.

Atticus rounded the corner, looking annoyed at catching the two of them in an embrace. “Make out later, please. August found some matches in his trunk, so let’s get this dude dead already. I’m expected to attend a dinner for one of Dad’s charities tonight.”

Adam rolled his eyes before looking at Noah. “You ready?”

Noah nodded, taking a deep breath and blowing it out. “Yeah. Let’s do this.”