HARDCORE: Storm MC(219)

The door opened, and a man stepped outside. “That’s him,” Slate muttered in my earpiece. “That’s The Scarecrow.”



“You’re sure?” I asked.



“Yeah. I’ve seen him before.”



The two of them talked, and I watched the little guy hand a stack of bills to The Scarecrow. I wondered which one of them the money was for. It might have been for both of them. My stomach turned.



They went inside.



“Lance! We’ve gotta to!” Flash’s voice rang in my ear.



“I don’t want to put them in any more danger,” I insisted.



I heard screaming. That was all I needed.



“Let’s go!” They didn’t need me to say it twice. We all took off at a run from all directions, guns drawn.



The door flew open, and the little guy came out. He was holding a kicking, screaming thing. Gigi. I screamed, too, and that got his attention. He stopped, then looked at me running at him from behind his car. He looked left, looked right, saw my crew coming for him. He lunged for the driver’s side door.



“Don’t you fucking dare!” I went for him, gun to his head. “Let her go!”



“Get off! She’s mine! I paid for her!” He yanked his arm out of my hand. He still thought he could get inside the car. I pulled the gun away from his head just long enough to fire a shot into the air, the pressed it harder against his skull. I looked at Gigi for a second—she was fighting still. Kicking, punching. That was my girl, all right.



“Let her go,” I growled. “Or I’ll put a bullet in your fucking head so fast you won’t know what happened. Put her down.”



He dropped her. She landed on her stomach. My instinct was to go for her, to pick her up. I stopped myself. I had to hold onto him. No way I’d let him drive out of there.



“Run!” I tried not to scream at her. I didn’t wanna scare her. “Go to the guys! Go!” She scrambled to her feet and took off. I breathed a sigh of relief, but it wasn’t over yet. I held the buyer against me with an arm around his neck.



“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now,” I growled.



“It’s not personal!” He trembled. It sounded like he was gonna cry.



“You worthless piece of shit.” I didn’t shoot him, but I did bring the butt of the gun down hard on his head. He fell at my feet like a pile of bricks.



The rest of the club was at the door, standing at either side. “Lance!” Flash waved me over. I wondered why nobody went inside, then I saw what he was so careful of when I looked through the door to the inside of the room.



The Scarecrow. He stood there with a gun in his hand, pressed against Jamie’s head. He held her up—I could tell she was barely conscious, knees loose, feet dragging on the floor. Her head lolled from side to side. When it did, I saw blood on the front of his shirt. From her. Something screamed inside me. I glared at him, gun in my hand. My finger itched to pull the trigger.



“I’m coming out with her,” The Scarecrow hissed. “I’m gonna get in my car, and I’m gonna drive the fuck away. You’re not gonna stop me, or I’ll blow her head off. I swear to God I will. She doesn’t mean shit to me.”



“Let her go,” I said.



“No way. Give it up. Say goodbye. She’s gone.” He sneered and walked to the door. I didn’t have a choice—I had to back up, let him come out.



I walked slowly, talking to him as I did. “You don’t need her. You can have all the money you want. I’ll pay Rae’s debt.”



“Oh, you know about that?” He laughed. “She’s a lying bitch. So she’s still in town? I’ll deal with her, too. I don’t like people getting in my way.”



“Leave her alone. You did enough to her.”



“Oh yeah? Like what?”



“Like making her fuck you, telling her it paid off her debt. You’re slime.”



“Don’t tell me what to do. She was okay for a while, but I got tired of her bullshit. Bored with her, too. So I told her I want my money. She was smart, trying to keep the kid away from me as long as she did. I got through to her, though. I always do.”



He snarled at me, still walking. “Let her go now, and we can forget about this.”



“Don’t tell me what to do.” His hand moved, pushing the gun against Jamie’s head. She groaned, but her eyes stayed shut. I looked from her to him. He sneered at me.



“I’ll give you anything,” I said.



“You don’t have enough money to give me what I want. You don’t have shit. Besides, she already said she’d pay me a hundred grand to let the kid go.” He looked at the ground, where his partner was slumped over.