Aidan was stretching his arm out to place it in Lucca's hand, but right before he dropped it into the man's palm, Lucca drew back his hand and cradled it. There were a few seconds that Aidan didn't know what was happening, but when he looked closer, he could see Lucca's hand bleeding profusely. What the fuckity fuck was going on? Aidan looked in the direction that the shot must have come from and was unable to see anything, but he knew for a fact that there was a man standing there. He didn't bring a gun with him because the door he entered was supposedly set up with an alarm, and Lucca said that he was going to be unarmed as well.
"Who's there?" Aidan said walking closer to the man. It looked like this may be his last day here on earth so he may as well know who was responsible for that. There was a sinister chuckle that came from the area he was headed to, and the noise sounded familiar but he couldn't place it.
"You do know your bike has a locator on it … don't you?" Crowbar stepped into the light with his gun drawn. The smirk on the man's face was daunting. It was like Crowbar had done something he thought was very cleaver. Aidan wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was, but since he still didn't know the slightly psychotic man's plan, he figured he'd get the full manifesto before he was taken out. He was backing away from Crowbar back towards Lucca when it hit him.
"So what … you followed me here?" Aidan didn't know when he'd ever been so shocked. How was that for trust? His team had put a tracker on his vehicle long before he'd ever gotten to this point. Here he thought he and Lorna were off the map, and his company was following his every move.
"You set me up?" Lucca was still cradling his arm, but he was standing upright. Aidan looked over to see how he was doing, and the expression on Lucca's face matched the way he felt inside. Shocked, dismayed and betrayed.
"Believe me I know what this looks like, but I had no idea he was going to be here. I was trying to find a way out of this and help get Lorna back home safely. I didn't have anything to do with Crowbar being here. You heard the man … they have my bike set up with some homing device. Plus you told me there was a metal detector on the door and would go off if I had a gun." He watched Lucca slightly smile at that one.
"No honor among thieves … that's what my uncle always said." The look he gave Aidan told him he didn't believe that Crowbar had come without his knowledge, and to be honest, he didn't know if he'd have believed that either, but now he didn't know how honest Lucca was being either. He saw in his peripheral vision that Crowbar had his gun raised, and when he turned back to look at Lucca he saw that he too had his gun raised. Oh … so now Lucca had a gun when he said there wouldn't be any. This was bullshit.
"What is happening here?" Aidan wasn't dense, but he felt like he was in a bad dream where all the things were happening, and you couldn't do anything about it. His thoughts felt slow and hazy like he'd had too much to drink.
"You can't be this stupid, Aidan. Did you think the crew didn't find out that you were screwing your hot piece of ass, and she had somehow got you to talk to the other side about working a deal? You know that's not how it works. We aren't arbitrators or go-betweens when someone wants something done, and they don't want their hands dirty … we do it. Dumbass." Crowbar wasn't the friendliest and his words were always harshest of the bunch, but there was truth to his words.
"I know that, Crowbar, but damn. This jump out of nowhere shit is crazy. What the hell … do you have a silencer on your gun?" Aidan's brain was beginning to catch up, but what he was seeing wasn't making him feel like it was going to end well.
"I like shit like this, so I don't know what to tell you, and of course I have a silencer. I wouldn't want to alert anyone who's waiting for that guy to walk back out the way he came that he wasn't coming. I'm sure the guy has some kind of system where his men check up on him." Crowbar smiled, and when he did, Aidan knew he was just a bit crazier than even he realized. He wasn't doing this for the notoriety or the money. He was doing it because he loved it, and that meant this wasn't going to end well for any of them. Aidan hadn't brought a gun inside with him because he thought he'd be patted down, and they'd agreed that there wasn't going to be any gunfire at this meeting.
There was a standoff when the two men, Crowbar and Lucca, stood there with both of their fingers on the trigger. No way in hell was Aidan going to get in between them, and it seemed like forever before he'd come to terms with the how truly horrible this was all going to play out.
"This isn't going to go well for any of us. Why don't you just put the guns down, Crowbar can leave us to talk, and I'll catch up with him later." Aidan didn't think either of them were in the right state of mind for the conversation he was suggesting, but he had to try.
"Why should I put the gun down? Both of you want me dead. Why shouldn't I take my chances and try to kill you both?" Lucca looked like he knew this was the end and wanted to cause as much chaos as possible and why not? Aidan would probably have done the same thing. Shoot the man with the gun first and the one without next.
"I can see where revenge would be in your mind, but this is not the way I thought it would go down." Aidan tried to compel to the man's intellect, but he could see he was running in his feelings, and he wasn't willing to compromise any more than he already had.
He looked over at Crowbar, but before he could open his mouth to squeeze out even one more word, two shots were fired, and he stood there looking at two bodies on the floor. Lucca was moving a bit, so he went over to him all the while wondering how he'd lived to tell this story while two men lay on the floor.
"Hey, I'm going to call for some help," Aidan said with his voice shaking a bit. It was one thing when he came in, shot a guy, and left, but he was thinking about how much he knew about this guy. How he liked baseball and the numerous occasions he'd helped his girl with this or that. He didn't usually get this involved in the case, but with the man being this ranked, he was harder than most to catch.
"My men were instructed to come in as soon as they heard gun shots fired. They can save me, but you are going to have a hard time explaining what happened to an angry mob. Pun intended." Lucca was losing blood quickly, but he still had a great sense of humor. That said a lot about what kind of man he was.
"I don't want to leave you here." Aidan tried again, but the man on the ground got agitated.
"I'm not playing with you kid. When my guys get here they are going shoot first and fuck questions. I'm dying, and if you don't leave, there are going to be three bodies they are going to have to find a place for. Go to Lorna, and tell her that you did your best." The weak man on the floor pushed him probably as hard as he could, but it wasn't very hard at all.
Aidan could hear the footsteps of what sounded like many men, and he took off the way he came in toward his bike. There wasn't much time because as he rounded the corner, he heard the gun shots ring out behind him. He could see his bike in the distance and didn't think they'd be able to reach him from as far away as they were but people did amazing things when they were pissed, and this mob looked ten times more than pissed.
He hopped on his bike and took off as if he was on his last ride because honestly, with the way things were going that morbid thought could be his reality. He didn't know what was worse: dying on this motorcycle or watching the feelings Lorna had for him turn to hate when she realized that her precious cousin is dead.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Lorna had cleaned and baked cookies trying to ease her mind. The cleaning she wasn't really used to, and the cookies didn't taste as delicious as when her mother made them, but she knew that Aidan would appreciate them and they were keeping her from going crazy. She knew she should have spent more time in the kitchen with her mother and less time running around with Lucca and her dad. What did it really matter? She could buy fabulous cookies anywhere. The real reason for the spirt of activity was that she was nervous about Aidan and what he was going through. She didn't want to call him. This wasn't like he was on a conference call. There were dangerous men out there that he was dealing with. She knew because she was related to most of them.
Should it take this long to return the bracelet and talk? Maybe they went out for a drink … that seemed unlikely. Lucca was a good natured guy, but she didn't think he'd want to imbibe himself with drinks when he was with a man he didn't trust very well. She also didn't want to think about how it was going. No one had called her, so everything must be alright. That's what she would tell herself as long as she could.