Canary by Tijan
Carrie
Raize parked, and when we got out, I was surprised to see him putting his gun in his seat’s zipper pocket. He held his hand out. “Give me your gun.”
“What?”
A few people walked past us on the sidewalk. They looked exhausted—maybe commuting for work. None of them were looking at us. In fact, I got the feeling this was a neighborhood where people minded their own business.
“I didn’t bring it.”
I ignored the flash in Raize’s eyes and started for the end of the truck.
“Stop.” He hooked his arm through my elbow, moving me closer as he reached inside and took his gun back out. He snagged the sweatshirt he’d just bought me and handed it over, unlinking our arms. “Put this on.”
I frowned. “It’s hot out.”
“Put it on.” He was back to being monotone.
I did, and then sucked in my breath when he reached for me, his hand snaking up through my shirt. “Hey!”
He ignored me, and I felt him putting his gun on the inside of my bra where there was some extra cushion in the sweatshirt. That’s why he’d bought this particular sweatshirt.
I tried to stop myself from glaring at him, but it was hard.
Everything he did was for a reason, an angle. He hadn’t bought me clothes to be kind. He’d bought them as an extra place to hide his weapons.
Raize stepped back, looking me over before giving a nod of approval. “They’ll run their hands down your back, but the hoodie should bunch up. They won’t do a thorough job with me there.”
I eyed him as he looked toward a building. “Why won’t they do a thorough job with you there?”
He lingered on the building for a moment. One story. Flat roof. The outside was of faded red brick. There were two narrow windows on both sides of the door. Both windows were blacked out. The door didn’t look any better than the brick. It was painted in velvet red, but the paint job was old and chipped.
He looked back to me.
Heat flashed in his gaze, and I almost stepped back. Tingling shot through me—what the hell was that? He smirked. I’d never seen Raize smirk before, but there it was. That’s how he looked hot to so many women. I saw it in that second, until I looked up and his eyes were still dead. That snuffed it out.
“They know me here. They’ll be nervous about insulting me.”
Well then. That explained nothing.
Everyone should be nervous about insulting Raize, as far as I was concerned.
He took off, and I stuffed my hands into the sweatshirt’s pockets. Oh. He might not want that bulge to be outlined, so I took them out. I followed at a more sedate pace, which he noted with a slight frown. Once he was ten feet from the door, it opened and two giant guys stepped out.
They nodded to Raize, who jerked his chin up. “I’d like to see Oscar.”
They both stared, not responding until one touched his ear. He had an earpiece there. He listened for a moment. “We gotta search you and your woman.”
Raize’s eyes were cool, but he didn’t argue. He raised his arms and spread his legs. The earpiece guy went to him, and the other guy came to me.
Raize growled when he touched my arm. “Be careful with her. She’s mine.”
She’s mine.
I gulped, a chill twining around that tingling sensation from before.
The guy gave Raize a dark look, but his hands barely skimmed me, and Raize was right. He didn’t plaster the sweatshirt against me so he missed the part smack in the middle of my back.
They stepped back when they were done, and the door opened once more. A guy in a yellow suit flashed a grin at Raize. He was bald, ebony skin, and dark eyes. Those eyes were lit up in amusement, but there was something more there. Knowing? Something else? I couldn’t tell.
A small grin tugged at his mouth before he ran a hand over his face, smoothing out the half-smile. “Well, well, well. I would never believe it if I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes. Can’t believe you came back, hombre.”
“Yeah. Well.” Raize shrugged. “You know this business.”
A more knowing look came over the guy, and his grin faded. “I do. You want to see him, huh?”
“I have to.”
“Got it.” The guy’s gaze lingered on me before he jerked his head. “Follow me then. He’s waiting.”
I was noting that neither said each other’s names. That was weird. Though, they weren’t acting like it.
Then we were going inside, and I didn’t know what I had thought it was earlier, but I wouldn’t have guessed a strip club.
It was a strip club.
Everything was so dark. I knew we were walking past people, but I couldn’t see them—could only hear them, sense them, almost feel the movement in the booths as we went past. The air in the room was heavy, with a lot of different smells. Cigar, sweat, booze, body lotion, self-tanner, perfume. I sneezed. I wasn’t used to perfume anymore, though Broo—nope. I needed to shut down those memories.
Why were they coming to me? Now? After being in this world for over a year?
We were taken down a back hallway. It had little lights on the floor until we came to an office.
The guy knocked on the door as he opened it into another dark room, but not as dark. A few lamps in the corners gave the room a soft glow. Behind a large desk, a guy sat in a chair with a girl giving him a lap dance. Behind them was a large, glass room. It was like a wine cellar, but there wasn’t any wine. Instead, a few heavily made-up girls lounged in bikinis behind another glass wall. Their hair was done in updos that must’ve needed an entire bottle of hairspray, and all of them were wearing high heels.
They looked miserable.
“Raize.” The guy wheeled his chair back and smacked the girl’s ass.
She got up, giving Raize a look before sauntering out of the room. None of the guys paid her any attention. All eyes were on Raize, with a few looks coming my way.
“Oscar.”
Raize was guarded, but no surprise there. He was extra alert. I could feel it. I didn’t know if this was a weird homecoming or we’d be involved in a shootout. Either way, Raize stood next to me, within reach of his gun in my bra, but he kept his hands free and loose at his sides.
Oscar looked tall and trim, his long legs kicked out and one ankle crossed over the other. He leaned back, his fingers drumming against each other. He wore what looked like an expensive suit with a few gold chains around his neck. His eyes were dark. His hair was dark as well. I couldn’t place an age on him. But the more I looked at him, the more slimy I felt. This guy was dirty, and not just because of the strip club and all the girls. If I’d met him in Target, he still would’ve made my stomach roll.
Then his eyes slid my way, and the dirtiness turned into a rotten sort of feeling.
He tipped his chin up. “Who’s this? I’ve never known you to take a traveling companion.”
Raize barely flicked a gaze my way. “She’s no one.”
A quiet snort came from behind me, from the guy who’d met us at the door. It was so quiet, I was sure only I’d heard it.
“Right.” Oscar’s tone turned mocking, but it seemed we were back to business. He stood up, and his voice dropped, getting serious. “What the fuck are you doing here? Walking into my business? I know Estrada wants you dead.”
I felt a bristling in the air at those words.
I tensed.
“I wasn’t aware Estrada wanted me dead.”
Oscar’s eyes flashed, and his lip curved in a sneer. “Right. Where’s Macca then?”
“They sent Macca for me as a nice fuck off.”
“I don’t know. I haven’t seen Macca in years. How’s he doing?”
“You’re a killer, Raize. Not a liar.” Oscar tilted his head to the side. “You a liar now?”
Raize’s eyes narrowed, and his tone went cold. “We’re starting with insults? It’ll be a short meeting, if that’s the case.”
I heard the yellow suit draw in his breath, and found myself doing the same.
Oscar shook his head. “When you left Estrada, you left all of us. You’re forgetting that.”
“And you missed me so much?”
Oscar’s face tightened. “Careful, Raize. I might kill your girl if you piss me off.”
Frozen. Me. Right now.
If I thought the room was alarming before…
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I could feel Raize coiling up, rising. He was going to strike. I felt it in my gut, and I was now just waiting, looking around for where I should dive to avoid the bullets.
Then I felt a presence behind me, it was the door guy. He murmured softly, “It’s a bluff, buddy.”
Those words weren’t for me, but Raize didn’t seem to pay attention.
The room was stifling now.
“I came here as a courtesy,” Raize said. “I’m in the area. I wanted you to know that.”
Oscar had been reaching for something in a drawer, but he paused, studying Raize again before bringing out a bottle of tequila. “Why am I the one getting this courtesy? Word is that you reached out to Estrada. You’re looking to work with him.”
“You control the girls in this section. I’m down here on behalf of my employer, and I want you to know there’s no interest in working girls. If you were worried I’d be competition, I’m not.” He paused. “You didn’t need to send Macca.”
“Oh, damn,” came from behind me.
Before I could sort out what had happened, Raize’s hand shot out, shoving up under my shirt. He pushed me into a corner as he brought his gun up and around. He shot at Oscar at the same time he shoved the door guy away.
I heard a growl as my knees hit the ground.
People were shooting.
I kept my eyes on the floor.
Someone shoved me farther into a corner. I went, gladly, and hid behind a buffet counter.
Raize was in front of me, and I felt body after body hitting the ground.
One after another, and I could see them. Some had their heads turned our way, others had their heads the other way. One guy didn’t have a head.
The room was thick with the smell of sulfur and blood.
When it stopped, I didn’t realize it at first. My ears were ringing, and Raize touched my shoulder. I heard him shouting, “Come up!” But his voice sounded muffled.
There was someone else moving around the room. He and Raize were checking the bodies and yelling at each other. It was the yellow suit guy—both had guns drawn, but pointing at the floor.
“We have two seconds—” He was cut off by a thundering of footsteps down the hallway. He cursed, dropping a gun clip and jamming another in its place.
Raize was at the desk, going through the drawers. He stuffed something in his pocket. “I didn’t ask for your help.”
“You needed it.”
A deep thump slammed into the door. Someone was trying to break it down.
Yellow Suit stepped back, pointing his gun at the door. “We gotta move, Raize. What’s your plan?”
Move.
They were coming.
We needed to go to live.
I needed to live.
I pushed up. My legs were unsteady, but I looked around. The glass room where the girls were. They were gone. A door had been left open, but no one was coming through it. Not yet.
I pointed. “There.”
Both guys looked, and Raize cursed. “Get over here. I need your pockets.”
I shoved away from the buffet counter and went to the desk.
There were more thuds at the door, more shouting.
Raize’s-I-Didn’t-Who was cursing, but he backed up, going into the glass room. “The girls left their door open. We can get out that way. No one’s remembered it yet. That’s a back entrance. They have to go outside the building to circle around. We’re not cut off yet. I bet we have thirty seconds.” He shoved open the door connecting this office to the first glass room. “We gotta go now, Raize.”
Raize kept looking through the door.
“Now, Raize! Right fucking now!”
Raize cursed, shoving things into my sweatshirt, but then he stopped and looked me in the eyes. “Are you okay?”
I lifted my chin up and down, not feeling connected to any other part of my body.
He cursed, but turned me and shoved me forward. “She’s in shock,” he told his friend.
The guy cursed again, but reached for me. Both guys had a hand on my arm, guiding me through the first door, into the glass room, then into the area where the girls had been and out another door. Raize’s friend was right. It opened into what seemed like a different building. There was a thick wall immediately to our right, and we had to pass down a tight hallway with doors every few feet. Those were rooms, and I could hear moaning from inside.
They were still working after a shoot-out just happened feet, yards from their room?
I was going to be sick.
This was a sex building.
Those girls—that could’ve been my sister.
My sister could be in one of those rooms.
The thought raced through me.
I braked to a sudden stop.
I had to look. I had to make sure.
“Carrie!”
NowI was Carrie?
I ignored Raize. Running to the first room, I threw open the door.
A guy was on top of a girl. It wasn’t my sister.
They didn’t stop.
The girl saw me, but she didn’t react.
I moved to the next room.
Different people, not my sister.
And the next.
“What are you doing?” Raize was in front of me.
I reached for the next door.
He blocked me. “We have to go.”
“No!” I ripped away from him, lunging for the door.
I had to know.
I had to make sure.
Was she here?
“We have to go!” He was shouting in my face, grabbing my arms. He lifted me, carried me, but I was struggling.
I needed to look.
I had to.
I was blind to anything but that.
“Fucking hell!” He hoisted me up, ignoring my kicking legs and the way I scrambled, trying to reach for the doors.
Another door opened, and sunlight lit the hallway.
Raize carried me out.
“No!”
“What’s wrong with her?”
I felt Raize’s grunt through my body. “No idea.”
Then we were running. I jostled up and down.
We rounded a corner.
Raize’s arm left my legs. He was pointing a gun, but there were no guys outside the door.
We walked past, to our truck.
I was shoved in the middle of the front seat. Raize went behind the wheel, and his friend sat on my right side.
As Raize gunned the engine, shooting away from the curb, I turned back, as if I could still see her, if she was there.
No one was there.
It looked like nothing happened...
